My top 15 albums of 2009.

If you don't know this.  I LOVE music.  I am always listening to it or playing it.  A TON of albums came out in 2009 and I picked up or downloaded a chunk of them.  I should honestly do a top 20 because there are so many albums I feel I am leaving out. They are somewhat in order, but naming albums that I love is almost like parents saying which kid is their favorite.  I am not a music critic by any means... but here i go... EDIT so i tried doing a top 10 and couldn't do it so I had to change it to a top 15...

1 After Midnight Project - Lets Build Something to Break I discovered this band on Warped Tour this year... absolutely amazing live show. The songs are well written and I can say hands down this was my favorite album of '09  If you haven't heard AMP they are like a slightly heavier version of Jimmy Eat World.

2. Jay-Z - The Blueprint 3 I like hip hop and rap. I don't love it.  But damnit, I love this album.  I think it's honestly the only rap album I own besides old school Beastie Boys and Dr. Dre albums that I can listen to all the way through.  Kanye West, No ID, and Timbaland produced the majority of the tunes and really kept the album fresh.  The songs have good structure to them and are very enjoyable on many levels.   

3. New Found Glory - No Without a Fight I was honestly worried about this album.  Their last full length, Coming Home, sucked. But thankfully NFG left the major label, signed with Epitaph, and got Mark Hoppus from Blink 182 to produce this album.  What I like about this album was it was a return to their early 90s pop-punk roots, but at the same time had some of the most mature song writing they have ever done.  I also enjoyed they are letting guitarist Chad Gilbert, who used to sing in Shai Hallud, sing more backups.

4. Kelly Clarkson - All I Ever Wanted I am a huge Kelly Clarkson fan.  I think she is the only American Idol that is worth a damn.  This album showed a lot of growth from her last album and was back to a poppier feel than My December, which was a downer of an album.  Good mix of pop and rock songs on this album.  She co-wrote a handful of the tunes on it and even produced a track or two. 

5. Lamb of God - Wrath It's LoG, do i really need to say anything more?  These guys are pretty much the kings of current heavy metal.  Wrath was a solid album. It had a lot more energy than Sacrament and I was very happy for that. It was straight forward kick you in the ass metal album.  I got to see them around Derby this year and it was a fantastic show.   

6. For The Fallen Dreams - Relentless I have yet to see this band live and I will hopefully do so in 2010.  My friend Mike Barnes turned me on to them because they are a lot like Parkway Drive whom I am a major fan of.  This album along with their first album Changes has been on constant repeat while driving around.  

7. Gallows - Great Britain Gallows are probably the last real punk band left besides Rancid. I have seen them live a few times and it is always a hell of a show.  The lead singer Frank Carter spends more time in the crowd than he does on stage.  The songs are a bit less sporadic than Orchestra of Wolves.  They go out on a limb and are more experimental on this album.  Some slower jams.  

8. Between The Buried and Me - The Great Misdirect BTBAM are pretty much what would happen if you crossed Pink Floyd and a death metal band.  Every album gets more and more epic.  This album starts out with some of the heaviest songs they have written but then by the ending of the album breaks down into a lot of mellow atmospheric music.  I really like how the vocals are mixed on this album  I should be checking this band out live in January when they come to Headliners.

9. A Day To Remember - Homesick ADTR are the pop punk of hardcore. I love them. Many people hate them.  I think they write super catchy tunes. The songwriting is great.  I think they balance the moshing, screaming, hardcore with the sing-songy, catchy, punky tunes better than any of the other bands out there trying to do it.   I got to see them on Warped Tour this summer.  They were good, but not as good as they are on album, but I kind of expected that.

10. Dashboard Confessional - After The Ending This was an interesting DC album.  They are really trying to rediscover themselves on it.  A lot of critics bashed them for that.  I think its cool that they are trying a lot of different styles.  They have a good mix of rock. pop. folk, and even some dance/pop tunes on the album.  I downloaded the version that had the extra disc with all the songs redone acoustic, that is the best way to listen to it.

11. Converge - Axe to Fail Holy crap.  Converge FINALLY figured out how to produce an album.  This album shows of how creative and talented this band is.  Heavy and rifftastic.  The drums and bass sound huge.  They finally came out with an album that captures this band's live show.


12. Rancid - Let the Dominoes Fall As I mentioned earlier Rancid is one of the only real punk bands left.  They are an interesting band.  I tend to only enjoy every other album.  This was one of the good albums.  It seemed to be a throwback to ...And Out Come the Wolves.  They lost their original drummer, Brett Reed and picked up the Used's Branden Steineckert and he was a great fit to the band.  Lots of good tunes that will become staples in their live set on this album.


13. Born of Osiris - A Higher Place I liked A Higher Place because it was a lot less produced than the album before, A New Reign.  The songs are a lot more melodic and not a chopped up as they were on their first album.  This is a young band who will keep putting out great albums.  I look forward to more from them in the future.

14. Company of Theives - Ordinary Riches My good friend and fellow musician, Justin Lewis, turned me on to this band.  They are like if Catpower took uppers.  Very poppy indy rock tunes.  The lead singer Genevieve Schatz has a really cool raspy voice. I got to see them at a Waterfront Wednesday show and they put on a great live show.  They even did a Smashing Pumpkins cover.

15. Set Your Goals - This Will Be The Death of Us I was not a huge fan of this band live.  Mainly because they have six members... and for the music they are making that's like two or three too many.   I loved this album though.  A lot angrier than their first album.  A whole lot more substance too.  They also had some great guest vocalist.  My favorite was the song they did with Haley Williams for Paramore.  Way better production on this album too.  Hopefully their live show will improve.