One of these used to make the rounds at the record store I worked at. Figured, why not here?
1. TOP 3 ALBUMS OF 2009
2. TOP 3 SONGS OF 2009
3. WORST ALBUM OF 2009
4. BEST CONCERT OF 2009
5. WORST CONCERT OF 2009
6. BIGGEST SURPRISE OF 2009
7. BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT OF 2009
8. COMEBACK OF 2009
9. I WANNA GROW UP & BE JUST LIKE...
10. THREE TO WATCH IN 2010
Ggggiddy-up.
1. TOP 3 ALBUMS OF 2009
Dirty Projectors- Bitte Orca
Annie- Don't Stop
Decemberists- Hazards of Love
2. TOP 3 SONGS OF 2009
Annie- Songs Remind Me of You
Dirty Projectors- No Intention
Great Lake Swimmers- Pulling on a Line
3. WORST ALBUM OF 2009
I'm sure there were many albums much worse, but from what I heard, I'd say Raditude.
4. BEST CONCERT OF 2009
Only went to two so 50/50... Why? at the Triple Rock Social Club in Mpls.
5. WORST CONCERT OF 2009'
Bob Mould I guess by default. I didn't like the acoustic setting and I could barely see plus the sound wasn't great. Too bad, but at least it was free.
6. BIGGEST SURPRISE OF 2009
Annie. I was expecting the worst.
7. BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT OF 2009
Jay Reatard- Watch Me Fall
8. COMEBACK OF 2009
Not sure on this one. Was there really a comeback artist this year?
9. I WANNA GROW UP & BE JUST LIKE...
Me 
10. THREE TO WATCH IN 2010
I'm not hip enough to know the up and comers before the album is released so here are three albums I'm looking forward to AKA early candidates for disappointment of the year.
Vampire Weekend
Arcade Fire
Goldfrapp
1. TOP 3 ALBUMS OF 2009
1. Annie- Don't Stop
2. Bat for Lashes- Two Suns
3. Yeah Yeah Yeahs- It's Blitz!
2. TOP 3 SONGS OF 2009
1. Annie- "Anthonio"
2. Bat for Lashes- "Daniel"
3. Annie- "Songs Remind Me of You"
3. WORST ALBUM OF 2009
I can't honestly answer that, but the one I was most disappointed by was Passion Pit's Manners.
4. BEST CONCERT OF 2009
Grace Jones, twice! She is a force of nature.
5. WORST CONCERT OF 2009
My wife dragged me to see Lily Allen.
6. BIGGEST SURPRISE OF 2009
Interpreted as in "the most pleasant surprise", I'd actually say Prince's LotusFlow3r album.
7. BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT OF 2009
That Prince paired it with the much weaker MPLSound and the abominable Elixer from proteslut Bria Valente.
8. COMEBACK OF 2009
Annie!
9. I WANNA GROW UP & BE JUST LIKE...
Me!
10. THREE TO WATCH IN 2010
LCD Soundsystem
The Strokes
Gorillaz
1. TOP 3 ALBUMS OF 2009
Wild Beasts - Two Dancers
Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion
The Horrors - Primary Colours
2. TOP 3 SONGS OF 2009
The Horrors - Sea Within A Sea
Tempa T - Next Hype
Animal Collective - My Girls
3. WORST ALBUM OF 2009
Out of all that I heard, Belle Orchestre did absolutely nothing for me.
4. BEST CONCERT OF 2009
Pixies @ Brixton doing Doolittle OR Blur @ Hyde Park. Too tough to call. In terms of exuberance and showmanship, Pulled Apart By Horses win hands down.
5. WORST CONCERT OF 2009
Kings Of Leon's headline set at Reading was a crock of shite (from what I can remember at least, I was mashed).
6. BIGGEST SURPRISE OF 2009
The sheer volume of records I got through. And that while I count only a few as genuine favourites, and on balance 2009 hasn't held up as well against some other years of the decade ('02-'05, '07 especially) it was a good one all round.
7. BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT OF 2009
Muse. I mean, the record is actually fairly decent, but if I think about it for a band that have Sunburn, Bliss, Stockholm Syndrome, Map Of The Problematique, Plug In Baby, Hysteria, Knights Of Cydonia, Butterflies & Hurricanes, Starlight, New Born, Citizen Erased and many other balls-out classics to their name, it's just not good enough.
8. COMEBACK OF 2009
The Horrors. What's that you say, humble pie? I'd love some! Nom nom nom.
9. I WANNA GROW UP & BE JUST LIKE...
Dean Spunt of No Age. Sick name, sick band, sick guy.
10. THREE TO WATCH IN 2010
New acts? There seems to be a startlingly low number of fresh acts that I'm fussed about. This is neatly offset by the wealth of acts with at least one releas under their belt who return, so I'll plump for those instead:
Interpol
The Strokes
Arcade Fire
1. TOP 3 ALBUMS OF 2009
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - IT'S BLITZ
Passion Pit - MANNERS
Editors - IN THIS LIGHT AND ON THIS EVENING
2. TOP 3 SONGS OF 2009
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Skeletons"
Editors - "Papillon"
Passion Pit - "Moth's Wings"
3. WORST ALBUM OF 2009
Did Nickelback release anything?
4. BEST CONCERT OF 2009
5. WORST CONCERT OF 2009
Didn't see any. Color me disenfranchised by live music.
6. BIGGEST SURPRISE OF 2009
That the YYYs discovered melody and made an amazing record.
7. BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT OF 2009
Matthew Good - VANCOUVER. I expected better.
8. COMEBACK OF 2009
Can't think of any.
9. I WANNA GROW UP & BE JUST LIKE...
Ron Wood. He's played in a rock band longer than all of us have been alive, and now he's banging some hot twenty year-old. Livin' the dream.
10. THREE TO WATCH IN 2010
Easy. Arcade Fire. Expect their third album to be a stone classic. When recently asked what the new songs were like, producer Markus Dravs simply answered: "better". Fuuuck!
Sigur Ros. I wasn't at all disappointed by their last effort, so if their anticipated 2010 release is even half as amazing as everything else they've done, it'll be a dynamite record.
Band of Horses. New album on the horizon. I loved their first two, and I'm hoping for a great third effort.
1. TOP 3 ALBUMS OF 2009
Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Fever Ray
Tinariwen - Imidiwan
2. TOP 3 SONGS OF 2009
La Roux - In for the kill (Skream Remix) (very different from the original)
Fol Chen - Cable TV (attitude)
Norah Jones - Chasing Pirates (can't get it out of my head)
3. WORST ALBUM OF 2009
Sunset Rubdown - Dragonslayer (irritates my every time I hear even one song of it)
4. BEST CONCERT OF 2009
Grace Jones
5. WORST CONCERT OF 2009
?
6. BIGGEST SURPRISE OF 2009
Phoenix
7. BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT OF 2009
Rap/R&B in 2009 did nothing
8. COMEBACK OF 2009
Leonard Cohen
9. I WANNA GROW UP & BE JUST LIKE...
Me
10. THREE TO WATCH IN 2010
LCD Soundsystem
Arcade Fire
Radiohead
1. TOP 3 ALBUMS OF 2009
The Antlers - Hospice
Wild Beasts - Two Dancers
Leonard Cohen - Live In London
2. TOP 3 SONGS OF 2009
The Antlers - Two
Bruce Springsteen - The Wrestler
Bon Iver - Blood Bank
3. WORST ALBUM OF 2009
Tokio Hotel - Humanoid
4. BEST CONCERT OF 2009
Live In London
5. WORST CONCERT OF 2009
Dunno.
6. BIGGEST SURPRISE OF 2009
Woody Guthrie
7. BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT OF 2009
Empire: Total War (can't think of anything in music)
8. COMEBACK OF 2009
Woody Guthrie
9. I WANNA GROW UP & BE JUST LIKE...
Why would I want to grow up?
10. THREE TO WATCH IN 2010
The National
LCD Soundsystem
Fleet Foxes/MGMT/Band Of Horses
1. TOP 3 ALBUMS OF 2009
Micachu and The Shapes - Jewellery
Blue Roses - s/t
Super Furry Animals - Dark Days Light Years
2. TOP 3 SONGS OF 2009
Blue Roses - 'I Am Leaving'
La Roux - 'In For The Kill (Skream's Let's Get Ravey Remix)'
Arctic Monkeys - 'Cornerstone'
3. WORST ALBUM OF 2009
Probably between U2, Wavves and Flaming Lips.
4. BEST CONCERT OF 2009
Blur at Glastonbury
5. WORST CONCERT OF 2009
n/a
6. BIGGEST SURPRISE OF 2009
Universal, cross acceptance across many publications for the XX, akin to Portishead in 1994.
7. BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT OF 2009
People thinking that The Flaming Lips album isn't an overlong, boring heap of shit.
8. COMEBACK OF 2009
Blur
10. THREE TO WATCH IN 2010
Washed Out
Beth Jeans Houghton
First Aid Kit
1. TOP 3 ALBUMS OF 2009
Fever Ray
The XX
Wild Beast - Two Dancers
2. TOP 3 SONGS OF 2009
Dirty Projectors - Stillness is The Move
Fever Ray - Keep The Streets Empty For Me
The Antlers - Bear
3. WORST ALBUM OF 2009
There probably is much worse out there (I mean, didn't Black Eyes Peas release an album this year ?) but the worst I listened to is clearly Muse - The Resistance
Well... I don't know which one I would pick if I had to choose to hear between Sunn O))), Wavves and Muse to be honest
4. BEST CONCERT OF 2009
Blur @ Hyde Park
5. WORST CONCERT OF 2009
The Pixies @ Paris, Zénith. Advice for any band live : don't make a concert if you clearly don't want to play, don't sing songs you obviously hate playing, don't play in a band when you can not stand each other
6. BIGGEST SURPRISE OF 2009
I would go for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, I did not like Fever to Tell much and really disliked the 2nd, so quite a good surprise that I enjoy It's Blitz
Oh ! Orelsan too, I expected a shitty hip-hop album with pathetic lyrics and it ended very well produced, with some great gimmicks and wittier lyrics than expected
7. BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT OF 2009
The whole Benicassim festival (except Wave Pictures and 2 Many DJs)
Jay-Z, YACHT, Grizzly Bear, Arctic Monkeys, Girls, Dizzee Rascal...
8. COMEBACK OF 2009
Built to Spill, discrete come back but it was clearly their best album since There is Nothing Wrong With Love
9. I WANNA GROW UP & BE JUST LIKE...
Josh Homme (or Dave Grohl... well, even John Paul Jones would be great)!
10. THREE TO WATCH IN 2010
I'm never aware of bands before they release an album so :
Beastie Boys, Vampire Weekend, LCD Soundsystem
1. TOP 3 ALBUMS OF 2009
1. XX
2. Fever Ray
3. DM Stith - Heavy Ghost
Saint Dymphna (2008) by Gang Gang Dance was better than any of those. I got that album in early January.
2. TOP 3 SONGS OF 2009
1. Animal Collective - Into the Flowers
2. Dirty Projectors - Stillness Is the Move
3. Fever Ray - Keep the Streets Empty for Me
3. WORST ALBUM OF 2009
I'm sure I haven't heard that. The biggest disappointment was definitely Air - Love 2.
4. BEST CONCERT OF 2009
TV on the Radio
5. WORST CONCERT OF 2009
Underwater Sleeping Society
I've seen a lot of concerts this year and I've liked most of them. Underwater Sleeping Society wasn't that bad either but I had seen that day enough concerts (8 in a row) and they played too loud (I've forgotten my earplugs).
6. BIGGEST SURPRISE OF 2009
I was also surprised how much I liked new Yeah Yeah Yeahs album.
7. BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT OF 2009
Air - Love 2
8. COMEBACK OF 2009
-
9. I WANNA GROW UP & BE JUST LIKE...
-
10. THREE TO WATCH IN 2010
Liars
Björk
Vampire Weekend
Ah Built To Spill. Forgot about that album, but still, they are comeback of the year. I agree about Flaming Lips, and I don't see it making many waves at the end of the year.
1. TOP 3 ALBUMS OF 2009
It’s Blitz
Merriweather Post Pavilion
Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
2. TOP 3 SONGS OF 2009
Pass.
3. WORST ALBUM OF 2009
Search me. My top 3, above, constitutes over half of the new releases I bought this year (5).
4. BEST CONCERT OF 2009
Phoenix @ ACL.
5. WORST CONCERT OF 2009
Walkmen @ ACL.
6. BIGGEST SURPRISE OF 2009
White Lies.
7. BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT OF 2009
The number of people I know who think it’s funny/ironic to like Lady Ga Ga.
8. COMEBACK OF 2009
Me. I’ve actually listened to (just) enough music that I feel I can contribute to this thread. I listened to more current music in ’09 than in any year since…I’ll say 1995.
9. I WANNA GROW UP & BE JUST LIKE...
…And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead.
10. THREE TO WATCH IN 2010
Damon Albarn is doing the work of at least three people at the moment—a Gorillaz album, a new side project with Flea and Tony Allen, an opera with Alan Moore, a Blur documentary, and possibly gearing up to be artistic director of the 2012 London Olympics. So I’ll just say him.
Ggggiddy-up.
“Wood, Jerry…wood.”
1. TOP 3 ALBUMS OF 2009
Prefab Sprout - "Let's change the world with music"
Paul Steel - "Moon rock"
David Mead - "Almost and always"
2. TOP 3 SONGS OF 2009
Prefab Sprout - "Earth: the story so far"
The Leisure Society - "A matter of time"
Lamar Holley - "Pretend that she's ugly"
3. WORST ALBUM OF 2009
Not the "worst of 2009", just the "worst of the 2009 records I've purchased" : Circulatory System - "Signal morning"
4. BEST CONCERT OF 2009
Camera Obscura (twice !)
5. WORST CONCERT OF 2009
I never go to concerts of artists I don't like
6. BIGGEST SURPRISE OF 2009
I'd never believed that there would be a Prefab Sprout release this year and that this record would be my #1.
7. BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT OF 2009
Phoenix
United > Alphabetical > It's never been like that > Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
I just don't understand all the hype around their last album while nobody didn't give them attention at the time of their first album "United" (a masterpiece, a perfect pop record) in 2000.
8. COMEBACK OF 2009
Cheap Trick !!!
9. I WANNA GROW UP & BE JUST LIKE...
Paul McCartney
I've been to his concert yesterday in Paris. This 67 year old guy just kills me.
10. THREE TO WATCH IN 2010
I've got great expectations for these :
Midlake
Hot Chip
The Red Button / Seth Swirsky
It's funny how a billionaire who wears a suit is cooler than anybody else in rock and roll.
1. TOP 3 ALBUMS OF 2009
Animal Collective- Merriweather Post Pavilion
Dirty Projectors- Bitte Orca
Fever Ray- Fever Ray
Honorable Mention: Antlers- Hospice
2. TOP 3 SONGS OF 2009
Fever Ray- If I Had a Heart
Dirty Projectors-Stillness is the Move
The Antlers- Bear
3. WORST ALBUM OF 2009
Bruce Springsteen- Working on a Dream
4. BEST CONCERT OF 2009
The Antlers. It was beautiful.
5. WORST CONCERT OF 2009
Atlas Sound, not so bad as much as it was my least favorite
6. BIGGEST SURPRISE OF 2009
Tune-Yards: The BEST opening act i've ever seen. Opened for the Dirty Projectors, go see them if you can.
7. BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT OF 2009
Green Day: they released an album.
8. COMEBACK OF 2009
Flaming Lips
9. I WANNA GROW UP & BE JUST LIKE...
Avey Tare
10. THREE TO WATCH IN 2010
Panda Bear
Sufjan Stevens?
TV on the Radio?
1. TOP 3 ALBUMS OF 2009
White Denim - Fits
Animal Collective - MPP
BLK JKS - After Robots
2. TOP 3 SONGS OF 2009
Animal Collective - My Girls
Florence + The Machine - Kiss With A Fist
Bruce Peninsula - Steamroller
3. WORST ALBUM OF 2009
Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown
4. BEST CONCERT OF 2009
TV On The Radio/Dirty Projectors
5. WORST CONCERT OF 2009
Didn't see any I didn't at least like a little
6. BIGGEST SURPRISE OF 2009
Manic Street Preachers - Journal For Plague Lovers
7. BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT OF 2009
Neko Case
8. COMEBACK OF 2009
Flaming Lips
9. I WANNA GROW UP & BE JUST LIKE...
Dylan. I want to be 70 and still put the youngsters to shame.
10. THREE TO WATCH IN 2010
Joanna Newsom
Arcade Fire
Sufjan Stevens
1. TOP 3 ALBUMS OF 2009
Yusef - Roadsinger
William Elliott Whitmore - Animals In The Dark
Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse - Dark Night Of The Soul
3. WORST ALBUM OF 2009
Of those I listened to: Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
6. BIGGEST SURPRISE OF 2009
Mandy Moore's surprisingly good "Amanda Leigh"
7. BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT OF 2009
The Flaming Lips
8. COMEBACK OF 2009
Cat Stevens/Yusef's second "return to pop music" album is, at worst, equal to anything he made in his prime.
9. I WANNA GROW UP & BE JUST LIKE...
Tom Waits
10. THREE TO WATCH IN 2010
oh my god i want to add The Horrors' Primary Colors to my list of top 3 of the year. i just got it and love it.
Superb, ain't it?
P.s. Having heard the new Yeasayer album, I'm confident it will be smashing the 2010 lists square in the jaw. Brilliant.
TOP 3 ALBUMS OF 2009
1. Mulatu Astatke & The Heliocentrics | Inspiration Information
2. Tinariwen | Imidiwan: Companions
3. Broadcast and The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults of The Radio Age
TOP 3 SONGS OF 2009
Long songs:
1. Sunn 0))) | Alice
2. Mulatu Astatke & The Heliocentrics | Anglo Ethio Suite
3. James Blackshaw | Cross
Short songs:
1. The Roots | How I Got Over
2. Phoenix | Lisztomania
3. Big Boi feat. Gucci Mane | Shine Blockas
WORST ALBUM OF 2009
(Most disappointing) Grizzly Bear | Veckatimest
BEST CONCERT OF 2009
(Only one I saw, but great) Bruce Springsteen, United Center (played Born to Run in its entirety)
WORST CONCERT OF 2009
n/a - I have kids and don't get out much
BIGGEST SURPRISE OF 2009
Near-universal acclaim for Animal Collective; I always thought they would stay somewhat fringe
BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT OF 2009
IMO, no classic albums released in pop/rock genre (and I listened to a lot of 'em)
COMEBACK OF 2009
Mulatu Astatke
I WANNA GROW UP & BE JUST LIKE...
My kids
THREE TO WATCH IN 2010
1. Stock market
2. Unemployment reports
3. Final season of "Lost"