Yep, another year of calling them albums. Maybe there’s a new word and I don’t spend enough time on Twitter to know what it is.

My list has a decidedly alt folk thread running through it, which is fine, I love that music, but I think it’s time for the next big thing in loud indie rock, a la Wolfmother.

By the way, if you want to buy any of these in good old CD form or MP3 download, I’d be delighted if you’d use my Amazon.com affiliate link. Anyway, here they are:

1. Iron & Wine – Kiss Each Other Clean
2. Bon Iver – Bon Iver
3. Black Keys – El Camino
4. Cut Copy – Zonoscope
5. Decemberists – The King is Dead
6. Kurt Vile – Smoke Ring for My Halo
7. Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
8. Florence + The Machine – Ceremonials
9. Wilco – The Whole Love

Things from Earlier That I Played a Lot in 2011

New Pornographers – Together
City and Colour – Bring Me Your Love
Frightened Rabbit – Midnight Organ Fight
Black Keys – Brothers

It’s the end of 2010, so it’s time to publish my Favorite Albums of 2009. Yes, of 2009. I can’t make my picks before the year even ends, as so many others do. Heck, I can’t even seem to decide until many months have passed. I need time for the music to settle into my bones, for that initial infatuation to wear off (where are you now, Titus Andronicus?), for the true cream to rise to the top.

That time has finally come. So, without making you wait another minute, here’s my list of 2009′s best albums. (If you’re going to buy one of these – CD, vinyl, or MP3s – why not use my Amazon affiliate link and show me how much you appreciate me, 4% at a time?)

Decemberists – The Hazards of Love
Califone – All My Friends Are Funeral Singers
Avett Brothers – I and Love and You
Local Natives – Gorilla Manor
Silversun Pickups – Swoon
Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca
Here We Go Magic – Here We Go Magic
Visqueen – Message To Garcia
Wolfmother – Cosmic Egg
Built to Spill – There Is No Enemy
Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
Dinosaur Jr – Farm

By the way, it feels a little weird to still call them albums. I mean, it was weird enough when they were CDs. For the past couple of years, most of my purchases have been a stream of downloads from iTunes or eMusic. But it’s hard enough picking my favorite albums for the year (even a year later); I’m not going to add the task of coming up with a new name for albums. Maybe you can share your ideas in the comments.

This is really taxing my memory, but I tried to put dates with these. If you were with me at one of these shows, please leave me a comment, and include any corrections if you spot any.

David Gates and Bread 1978
Ian Matthews 1978
Earth, Wind, and Fire 1979
George Thorogood (3) 1980, 1982, 1983
Con Funk Shun 1981
Head East 1981
Jetzons 1981
Rolling Stones 1981
Styx 1981
Dan Fogelberg (2) 1981, 1983
Go Gos 1982
Pat Metheny 1982
Police 1982
Commodores 1983
George Benson 1983
Karla Bonoff 1983
James Taylor (2) 1983, 1994
Neil Young 1983
George Winston (2) 1983, 1985
Romantics 1983
Cars 1984
Liz Story 1985
Return to Forever 1985
REM 1986
William Ackerman 1986
Bruce Hornsby 1987
Crusaders 1987
Dead Hot Workshop 1987
Gin Blossoms 1987
Stevie Ray Vaughn 1987
Albert Collins 1988
Pink Floyd 1988
Forbidden Pigs 1989
Mutts 1989
Social Distortion 1989
Spinning Jenny 1989
Todd Rundgren 1989
Tori Amos 1989
Big Head Todd and the Monsters 1990
Blues Traveler 1990
David Crosby 1990
Dramarama 1990
Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians 1990
Grateful Dead 1990
Indigo Girls 1990
Jackson Browne 1990
Jesus Jones 1990
Pearl Jam 1990
Shawn Colvin 1990
They Might Be Giants 1990
Timbuk 3 1990
Butthole Surfers 1991
Eddie Money 1991
Galen Herod 1991
Ice-T & Body Count 1991
Jane’s Addiction 1991
Living Colour 1991
Matthew Sweet 1991
Nine Inch Nails 1991
Peter Himmelman (3) 1991
Ramones 1991
Rollins Band 1991
Siouxsie and the Banshees 1991
Tom Petty 1991
Chris Whitley 1992
Smithereens 1992
Toad the Wet Sprocket 1992
Cure 1993
Goo Goo Dolls 1993
Lloyd Cole 1993
Robyn Hitchcock 1993
Steely Dan 1993
Juliana Hatfield 1994
Rush 1994
Tragically Hip (2) 2000, 2002
Kristen Hersh 2002
Zwan 2003
Bloc Party 2006
Cat Power 2006
Devendra Banhart 2006
Giant Drag 2006
Sleater-Kinney 2006
Son Volt 2006
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists 2006
Tool 2006
My Morning Jacket (2) 2006, 2007
Wolfmother 2006
Band of Horses 2007
Built to Spill 2007
Camper Van Beethoven 2007
Cracker 2007
Great Lake Swimmers 2007
Minus the Bear (2) 2007, 2009
Modest Mouse 2007
Shins 2007
Silversun Pickups 2007
Viva Voce 2007
Allison Moorer 2008
Meat Puppets 2008
Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers 2008
Steve Earle 2008
Atlantic Aftermath 2009
Vetiver 2009
Richard Swift 2009
Green Day 2009
Tim Rutili (of Califone) 2010
Sergio Mendoza y la Orkesta 2011
Calexico 2011
Jesse Valenzuela (of Gin Blossoms) 2011
Marshall Crenshaw 2011
Blair 2011
Yellow Ostrich 2011
Say Hi 2011
Local Natives 2011
Arcade Fire 2011
Stone Foxes 2011
Cage the Elephant 2011
The Black Keys 2011
Menomena 2011
The New Pornographers 2011
The Persuaders 2011
Jed’s a Millionaire 2011
Love Me Nots 2011