It was a rather tight race, and here are the records that ultimately secured a spot in our top 10. Blog buzz was as sweeping as it’s ever been in 2009 and year-end lists reflected that as many of the same albums appeared on various lists. They’re awfully good albums though. Enjoy, and be sure to check out albums 25-11 in case you missed it the first time around.

#25-11
#1

10. Odawas – The Blue Depths
That old adage “works best as a whole” can be applied here. From the first moments of the opening track ‘The Case Of The Great Irish Elk’, the listener is transported to the world of The Blue Depths. One can’t help but draw comparisons to Neil Young, which is no small task. The Blue Depths finds Odawas exploring new areas in every song, yet ,somehow not disrupting the seamless flow of the album. The album has a bit of everything; from the electric piano and layered vocals on ‘Secrets Of The Fall’ to the drowned out vocals and percussion on ‘The Sound Of Lies’. Odawas have crafted a fantastic work that should be heard in full in order to fully inhabit the world they’ve created. – Joe Mateo

9. The Antlers – Hospice
This record is one whose purpose slowly unravels throughout its duration, and delightfully succeeds through its beautiful foreshadowing. The weathered, minimalistic ringing of the opening track suggests that Hospice may not end so well, and the calming piano melody of ‘Kettering’ reassures your heart that something is wrong. When Silberman finally chimes in with his feeble murmur of distress, we know there is a heartbreaking story to tell. He faintly whispers “I wish that I had known in that first minute we met, the unpayable debt that I owed you”, and the suffering vibe in his vocals ensures that you start listening through the cold, deceptively frantic atmosphere. From recurring melodies to the barely audible bleeps and hums of the hospital room, every speck of this album has a purpose. Every subtle turn tells another piece of a shattering story of conflict, futility, and acceptance. Behind the singing, morphine alarms, and sliding curtains, Hospice offers a deep experience of enlightenment and discovery. – Rick Southwick

8. Tyondai Braxton – Central Market
Albums in the classical style don’t usually make many year-end lists like the one we have compiled, save for perhaps efforts from the Kronos Quartet, but it helps when the composer in question is the mastermind behind Battles, one of the most innovative indie-rock groups of the decade. Tyondai Braxton has released several solo LPs, and this his latest shows the same originality and progressive thinking that won so many fans over with Battles, but applied to orchestral composition. Featuring the looping and voice-manipulation that has defined Braxton’s work, Central Market impeccably depicts the business of a marketplace, with each instrument (including the kazoo) and section playing a definable role. Rather than being overly dense or inaccessible for the casual fan, the result is an exhilarating ride through a bustling city with one of the premier creative minds of this generation. – Paul Bulow

7. Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca
Over the last decade, Dave Longstreth has delved into the twisted realm of experimental folk-music, releasing fantastically bizarre records (like 2005’s The Getty Address, a glitch opera about Don Henley) that were so convoluted most listeners were unsure of what exactly he was trying to say. As a result, Bitte Orca took the world by storm. Its cover, a picture of band members Amber Coffman and Angel Deradoorian, actually illustrates Longstreth’s attempt pay homage to them, signifying a new chapter in the band’s history. And with one listen, it’s obvious that the girls are all over the record. Lonstreth’s soaring falsetto is still there in all its glory, but Amber’s and Angel’s voices dominate the songs, whether they’re taking the lead on tracks like ‘Stillness Is The Move’, harmonizing with Dave on ‘No Intention’, or turning their voices into strange, alien instruments on ‘Remade Horizon’. Their coordination and timing is simply breathtaking, to say nothing of their heavenly voices themselves. Of course, Dave still gets his due spotlight on songs like the meandering centerpiece ‘Useful Chamber’. Though his repetition of the titular “Bitte Orca” (literally meaning “please whale”) as the soft strings and chimes fade into furious electric guitars seems nonsensical, we know it’s more than that. Dave tells us himself right before: “I don’t know what I’m looking at/But I will look wherever I’m told.” He’s caught up in the moment of beauty of this strange phrasing and sweeps us all in his wake. – Shane Lawless

6. jj – jj no.2
It is safe to say that the biggest surprise of this year for me, musically, was jj no. 2. My colleague Vinh Cao reviewed their album and had nothing but great things to say about it. At first, I thought perhaps I was the only one who wasn’t familiar with this band. I came to learn that no one knew much about them, other than that they hail from Sweden and make poppy, enjoyable music. The album opens with ‘Things Will Never Be the Same Again’ and what might have been an average track is transformed, by singer Elin Kastlander’s glorious voice, into one of the year’s most memorable tracks. A lot of the people with whom I’ve discussed this album with have called it “trippy” and there is no better example of this than on the aptly named ‘Ecstasy’. One of the refreshing aspects about jj no. 2 is that you can feel the enjoyment jj has making this music and that flows through the notes and into your ears. I don’t want to tell you too much about the actual album, because half of the fun is the mystery surrounding what you’re listening to. Take a chance and enjoy one of the year’s most pleasant surprises. – Joe Mateo

5. Wild Beasts – Two Dancers
Two Dancers is a perfect example of how less is more. The indulgence of their 2008 debut effort Limbo, Panto is traded in for a minimalistic approach, where hypnotic build-ups rule the day. Where Limbo, Panto was harsh and abrasive, Two Dancers is smooth and pleasing. This is showcased by the evolution of Hayden Thorpe’s falsetto. What was once the biggest turnoff has become a sensational strength. The front half of the album is laden with dreamy tracks about sensual desires whereas the latter half allows the violent, more dangerous side of Wild Beasts to shine through. You would have thought such an accomplished, controlled album would take more than a year of evolution to craft. – Joe Mateo

4. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
Grizzly Bear’s third album Veckatimest certainly solidifies the band as the king of the Brooklyn music scene, but it’s more than that. It’s a watershed moment for when the band finally became more than a sum of its individual components. Their debut was basically an Ed Droste solo record with Chris Bear on drums. 2006’s Yellow House saw the band grow with the additions of guitarist and songwriter Dan Rossen as well as multi-instrumentalist Chris Taylor, but still the band was fragmented, each song belonging to Droste or Rossen and the others merely filling up guest spots. With Veckatimest, the band is finally a true collaboration of their individual abilities and their shift in sound to delicate chamber-pop reflects this. The sounds are bigger, more expansive and evocative of far away Massachusetts. ‘Two Weeks’ with its giddy melody juxtaposed with vague, curtailed phrasings (“would you always/maybe sometimes/make it easy/take your time”) is a clear standout. On ‘While You Wait for the Others’, Rossen sings about biding one’s time with dead-end conversations and relationships, hoping for something real to finally come along. The harmonies on tracks like ‘Fine For Now’ are absolutely breathtaking, and my personal favorite ‘Ready, Able’ delivers an earnest confession, hopeful that through honesty, there’s a chance to make that place we all look for: home. Ultimately, Veckatimest is all about confidence and, most importantly, channeling it to take you where you want to go. – Shane Lawless

3. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz!
No album grew on me more in 2009 than the third studio effort from Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I was ready to write this album off on first listen as a massive disappointment, due to my fears coming to fruition: the increased presence of synths had essentially eliminated the punk edge in the band’s sound. But as the months passed by, I found myself coming back to It’s Blitz! more and more. It was becoming clear to me that this new sound was not a mistake, in fact it was a logical step in the band’s journey. It may not be as in your face as previous efforts, but the subtleties in these tunes make each listen more enjoyable than the last. Karen O’s vocal prowess is on full display throughout the album, but the real shining star is guitarist/keyboardist Nick Zinner, who uses the “less is more” approach to great success on the love letter that is ‘Skeletons’, the twinkly-piano and rumbling orchestra ballad ‘Runaway’, and the haunting closer ‘Little Shadow’. But if there’s any track that best demonstrates why this new sound works, it’s the opening anthem ‘Zero’. Featuring a soaring chorus the likes of which we’ve never seen from Karen O before, it really takes off in the second half of the track with a driving synth/guitar combination, backed by the steady percussion of Brian Chase. When Karen O yells: “Was it the cure?/Shellshock!/Was it the cure?/Hope not!”, It’s Blitz! approaches a state of total bliss. – Max Logan

2. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
It seems that Merriweather Post Pavilion is an album that will always be connected with the amount of hype it received. While it exposed the band to many that would have never otherwise heard of them, it seemed to be a turnoff to just as many others. What was most unfortunate about this was that the actual music seemed to be completely forgotten. If you clear your mind of the expectations and statements of others, I’m sure you’ll see that they’ve really created something wonderful with their jungle-electronic-pop sound, and made arguably their defining album. As others have said: there’s something incredibly natural in these songs, transporting us to landscapes of unspoiled beauty. ‘In The Flowers’ begins with the slow building of guitar, keyboard, and handclaps, but they return back to earth without a resolution. After a few times around, you’ll think the song has run its course, but it is at that moment you’ll be startled by the arrival of erupting synths and pounding drums. It’s a remarkable transition, and it leads to Avey Tare delivering some of the best lyrics of his career, describing that unmistakable feeling of dancing and meeting eyes with that special person. ‘My Girls’ and ‘Summertime Clothes’ are probably the poppiest tracks Animal Collective has ever written, combining tropical beats with brilliant choruses preaching the simple pleasures of life. The album closes out in memorable fashion with ‘Brothersport’, which contrasts Panda Bear comforting his brother after their father’s death with the most euphoric synths and random percussion noises imaginable. You will find it hard to resist the urge to dance around your room as he repeats the final lines on the album: “Until fully grown/You got a real good shot/Won’t help to hold inside/Keep it real keep it real shout out.” After listening, you should realize that Merriweather Post Pavilion doesn’t need to be the album of the decade, or even the album of the year. It’s just a record that celebrates the pure things in life, those things that will always be timeless to us. – Max Logan