2009: the year in lists

The year is over. It's been over. It's old news now...

Far too much of my life is spent living in the past.

These lists were a while in the making. I was on vacation at the end of the year and didn't get my things together 'till recently (still getting things together mentally). Anyway here goes: my 2009 year-end lists...

Best Movies
When compared to previous years (especially the last three), 2009 was a downright terrible year for movies. Still, there were a few gems. Although I'm still playing catch-up, I'm always playing catch-up and I've seen enough movies at this point to feel comfortable with this list.

Films I haven't seen: The Messenger, La Nana (The Maid), Les Plages d'Agnès (The Beaches of Agnes), Tokyo!, Sugar, District 9, Goodbye Solo, Still Walking, Crazy Heart, Tyson,  Inglourious Basterds, and a couple of others.

24. Star Trek
23. Julie and Julia
22. Away We Go
21. Duplicity
20. Moon
19. Los Abrazos Rotos (Broken Embraces)
18. Cold Souls
17. Gake no ue no Ponyo (Ponyo)
16. Avatar
15. Food Inc.
14. An Education
13. A Single Man
12. Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
11. Where the Wild Things Are
10. Fantastic Mr. Fox
9. The Hurt Locker 
8. The Brothers Bloom
7. A Serious Man
6. The Cove
5. Bright Star
4. Up
3. (500) Days of Summer
2. The White Ribbon
1. Up in the Air

Honorable Mentions: Good Hair, Coraline, and Whatever Works.

Best Songs
In alphabetical order because... well, YOU try putting these in preferential order. Not even I'm that crazy! However, I have bolded my very favorite tracks.

In 2009 more than ever I noticed the way I lean towards the melodic and my unabashed love of hooks and catchy tunes. Now that doesn't mean I'll listen to anything that'll make me dance on my drive from work. It has to be smart too. And this year it seems there was plenty of fun, clever, catchy stuff. Heck, even notoriously tough-to-like bands like Animal Collective and The Fiery Furnaces  made fun, accessible albums (the former being far more successful than the latter).

...And there were lots of other songs that weren't necessarily catchy but just as great...

A.A. Bondy - When The Devil's Loose
Animal Collective - My Girls, Brother Sport, and In the Flowers (in that order)
Atlas Sound - Quick Canal (featuring Laetitia Sadier) and Walkabout (featuring Panda Bear) (in that order)
Au Revoir Simone - Anywhere You Looked and Trace a Line (in that order)
The Big Pink - Sweet Dreams (Beyoncé cover)
The Bird and the Bee - My Love
The Black Eyed Peas - Meet Me Halfway and I Gotta Feeling (in that order)
Blue Roses - I am Leaving
Camera Obscura - French Navy, My Maudlin Career, and Careless Love (in that order)
Crystal Stilts - Crystal Stilts
Dan Deacon - Snookered, Get Older, Surprise Stefani, and Build Voice (in that order)
Dead Man's Bones - Flowers Grow Out of My Grave and Paper Ships (in that order)
Delorean - Deli
Dirty Projectors - Useful Chamber, Stillness is the Move, and Fluorescent Half-Dome (in that order)
Discovery - Orange Shirt
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros - Home
The Fiery Furnaces - Keep Me in the Dark
Girls - Hellhole Ratrace and Lust for Life (in that order)
Grand Archives - Silver Among the Gold
Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks
Japandroids - Young Hearts Spark Fire and Wet Hair
Jay-Z - Empire State of Mind (featuring Alicia Keys)
Kelly Clarkson - Already Gone
Lady Gaga - Paparazzi
Lily Allen - Chinese
Little Girls - Growing
M. Ward - Jailbird and Blake's View (in that order)
Matt & Kim - Daylight
Mayer Hawthorne - Just Ain't Gonna Work Out
Metronomy - A Thing for Me
Mew - Sometimes Life Isn't Easy and Tricks of the Trade (in that order)
Neko Case - This Tornado Loves You
Noah and the Whale - Blue Skies
Noisettes - Don't Upset The Rhythm (Go Baby Go)
Nurses - Caterpillar Playground
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - A Teenager In Love, Contender, and Young Adult Friction (in that order)
Passion Pit - The Reeling
Patrick Watson - Beijing and Big Bird in a Small Cage (in that order)
Phoenix - 1901, Lasso, and Lisztomania (in that order)
Q-Tip - Gettin' Up
Real Estate - Saturday Morning
St. Vincent - The Strangers and Actor Out of Work (in that order) 
The Temper Trap - Sweet Disposition
Think About Life - Havin My Baby
Vampire Weekend - Horchata
The xx - VCR, Infinity, Heart Skipped a Beat, Crystalised, Islands, Shelter (yes it's almost the entire album... in that order)
Vivian Girls - Can't Get Over You
Washed Out - Feel It All Around
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Zero
Yeasayer - Ambling Alp
Yo La Tengo - More Stars than there are in Heaven

Most Listened to Songs

 
Best Albums
The album isn't dead... yet. At this point I'd say it's on life support and in need of serious rehabilitation. However, there were a handful of albums that tried to be just that: beginning-to-end "albums" rather than simply collections of songs. Below are many that attempted to make cohesive albums and succeeded, though that's not their only redeeming quality.

This list is in order and doesn't include any real surprises or anything out of the ordinary (besides maybe Max Richter). Sadly, I haven't seen Au Revoir Simone, Q-Tip, nor Patrick Watson on very many year-end lists.

23. Vivian Girls - Everything Goes Wrong
22. Girls - Album 
21. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz! 
20. Dead Man's Bones - Dead Man's Bones
19. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
18. Noah and the Whale - The First Days of Spring
17. Neko Case - Middle Cyclone
16. Q-Tip - The Renaissance
15. Discovery - LP
14. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
13. St. Vincent - Actor
12. Mew - No More Stories Are Told Today, I'm Sorry, They Washed Away No More Stories, The World Is Grey, I'm Tired, Let's Wash Away
11. Atlas Sound - Logos
10. M. Ward - Hold Time
9. Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career
8. Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
7. Au Revoir Simone - Still Night, Still Light
6. The xx - xx
5. Max Richter - 24 Postcards In Full Colour 
4. Patrick Watson - Wooden Arms
3. Japandroids - Post-Nothing
2. Dan Deacon - Bromst
1. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion

Most Listened to Artists