For me 2009 was a good music year where I had no trouble finding entire albums that I loved to play over and over.

Since I am not a musician, nor have I studied music, nor am I a professional music critic, I base my list of favorite albums and songs of the year on what I call “thrill factor,” that indefinable something that makes me keep going back to an album or song again and again. I might think something is good, but if I experience no yearning to listen to it again, it is lacking in thrill factor.

I like the first three of my top 10 albums of 2009 so much that they all could have been number 1, and almost any song on these three could be my favorite from the album. Over the year, I played my top 5 albums more times than I can count, and also went back to the second five over and over, especially for particular songs.

I notice there are more Canadian bands than U.S. bands in my Top 20: Woodpigeon, Handsome Furs, the Faunts, and Rural Alberta Advantage. Scots are represented in my Top 10 with Franz Ferdinand and The Phantom Band.

1. Franz Ferdinand - Tonight: Franz Ferdinand

The initial singles that preceeded the release of Tonight did not capture my interest. It was only when I bought and listened to the whole album that it clicked for me.
As a single unified work, the album is a flashy tale of a confirmed bachelor out on the town wanting only to relieve his boredom. This Ulysses never intends to return home to wife and family.

But quick as the wink of a siren’s eye he is ensnared during a cat-and-mouse game of flirting. Each song builds on the theme while providing dance beats that won’t let your feet be still. Do not deprive yourself of the wonderful bonus disc, Blood [Buy]

Alex Kapranos’ supple lyrics kept me hooked on this album, especially the disarmingly self-deprecating lines in “No You Girls.”

“Sometimes I say the stupid things that I think
–Well I mean I–
Sometimes I think the stupidest things!”

Hear my intro for this song for the Contrast Podcast Festive 50 HERE
Franz Ferdinand - No You Girls from Tonight: Franz Ferdinand
website | MySpace | Buy | Franz Ferdinand at Coachella - Photos

2. Woodpigeon - Treasury Library Canada

In Treasury Library Canada, Woodpigeon’s Mark Hamilton presents an amazing 14 songs of incredible beauty, tender humor, and romantic philosophy. Wandering musician friends provide a loose-knit orchestra of guitars, violins, cellos, harpsichords, and mandolins that weave a framework around Hamilton’s tenor.

Two songs from Woodpigeon’s next album, Die Stadt Muzikanten, due for release January 12, can be heard on the MySpace site and provide proof that Hamilton can keep on turning out amazing and beautiful music. I have already pre-ordered my copy HERE.

Woodpigeon - I've LIved a Lot of Places from Treasury Library Canada

website | MySpace | Buy | Album Review: Treasury Library Canada

3. Fever Ray - Fever Ray

The minute I heard “When I Grow Up” and saw the video, I was pulled in by Fever Ray’s combination of child-like wonder and wizard-like enchantment. Spells are woven around tribal drums and primal chants, with Karin Dreijer Andersson’s voice distorted and disguised in astonishing ways.

I am completely in love with the percussion in “Now’s the Only Time I Know,” my favorite from the album.

Fever Ray - Now's The Only Time I Know from Fever Ray

MySpace | Buy | Fever Ray Album Review | Fever Ray Concert Review

4. Rainbow Arabia - Kabukimono

Rainbow Arabia is the perfect name for the fusion of musical influences channeled by Los Angeles duo Danny and Tiffany Preston. Polyrythmic beats and tribal bass riffs are punctuated by Tiffany’s Betty Boop on ecstasy vocals. Only 7 songs, but every one is a riotous wealth of fun. I keep thinking, “Why isn’t everyone crazy about this?”

Rainbow Arabia - Harlem Sunrise from Kabukimono

MySpace | Buy | Kabukimono Album Review

5. Loch Lomond - Night Bats EP

Loch Lomond prove that less is more on this gem of a 5-song EP. I am under the spell of “Night Bats” and their eternal enmity with day bats. I never found an official site for lyrics, but I think I have these correct:

Night bats are lazy and they sleep all day
They know one thing and that thing is today
But the day bats look forward and they work all day
They have their lives and they laugh and love to play
You know their faces are nice and their hair is very long
That’s why the night bat hates day bat cause they do
Cause they do

Loch Lomond - Night Bats from Night Bats EP

MySpace | Buy | Night Bats Album Review

6. Soulsavers - Broken

I once described Broken as dark and full of despair, however after several more listenings, I feel I need to revise that assessment. I had missed the strong undercurrent of faith that makes enduring the darkness possible. This is a gorgeous album of great depth. Mark Lanegan provides most of the vocals, as here on “Death Bells,” the rockingest track, but Aussie singer Red Ghost (Rosa Agostino) is also spectacular, as on “Praying Ground.”

Soulsavers - Death Bells from Broken

MySpace | Buy | Broken Album Review

7. Faunts - Feel.Love.Thinking.Of.

Faunts created a low-key gem of an album that grew on me slowly since I heard the first songs from it beginning last February. Now I see how every song fits perfectly in its place among its fellows. “Lights Are Always On” melds swelling washes with jangly chords.

Faunts - Lights Are Always On from Feel.Love.Thinking.Of.

MySpace | Buy | Feel.Love.Thinking.Of. Album Review

8. Beirut - March of the Zapotec and Realpeople: Holland

I still don’t believe that two EPs made up of five songs Zach Condon recorded with the Jimenez Band in Mexico and six songs dredged up from his Realpeople recordings is the big followup to Beirut’s wonderful first two albums. I think Mr. Condon, whose MySpace says he is “perdu à Casablanca” is currently buried in concocting his next masterpiece, which he may have intended to finish this year. Still, Condon’s toss-offs are better than the great majority of albums released this year. This song in particular makes the release worthwhile.

Beirut - The Akara from March of the Zapotec EP

MySpace | Buy | The Beirut EPs Review

9. Handsome Furs - Face Control

I have always loved Dan Boeckner the best of the Wolf Parade boys, and I think this album showcased the best of his musical talents. I especially liked “I’m Confused” and this song with its links to the old “Summertime Blues.”

“Baby’s out of step with the occupation
No one’s gonna notice if you disappear
I heard somethin’ ’bout reclamation
Do anything you want, but just not here”

Handsome Furs - Talking Hotel Arbat Blues from Face Control

MySpace | Buy

10. The Phantom Band - Checkmate Savage

From the first time I heard “Left Hand Wave” I was fascinated with it. I am such a sucker for a thick Scottish accent. But besides that, Checkmate Savage is a fierce, feral wolf of an album that contains a quota of nearly equal songs like “Burial Sounds,” “Throwing Bones,” and the jungle-beat instrumental “Crocodile.”

“Your silver cross-borne smile
Could lay me on a grave
O specter, say my name
Come alive in a left-hand wave
Oh my lovin’ heart, underneath the rocks and stones
Shall I stray from love, breathless as stars?”

The Phantom Band - Left Hand Wave

MySpace | Buy

Next: My Favorite Albums of 2009: 11 through 20 and Uncle T’s Top 10 Albums of 2009

Filed under: Favorites of 2009, Beirut, Faunts, Fever Ray, Franz Ferdinand, Handsome Furs, Loch Lomond, Rainbow Arabia, Soulsavers, The Phantom Band, Woodpigeon

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