In my very humble opinion, here are the 15 best independent records of 2009. What’s most striking to me about 2009 is the diversity of good records, and I think this list represents that pretty well.

Listen to the Best of 2009 show now, via archived streaming. 

15. Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears, Tell ‘Em What Your Name Is!
Lost Highway, March 17

Sometimes, a dude just wants to dance. And no other record helped me accommodate that request in 2009 as well as Tell ‘Em What Your Name Is! Out of Austin, Texas comes Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears, an act that is essentially one giant ball of energy manifested in the form of soulful ‘60s vocals, comical lyrics, driving bass and drums, group choruses and a helluva horns section.

14. Timber Timbre, s/t
EMI, June 30

The often spooky sounds of this Toronto-based experimental folkie are soft and delicious and reminiscent of the traditional sounds of the South. Taylor Kirk, aka Timbre Timbre, loves to combine reverb, rusty-sounding strings and organ. The result is Timber Timbre’s third release—a seemingly sparse record that adds complexity in all of the right places.

Music blog, The Consequence of Sound, sums up the record as such, “It’s a heavy album, but not so heavy that it can’t be listened to on a regular basis — quite the opposite, really. Kirk engages you in such a way that you’ll want to go back for more and pick deeper into his troubled simplicity.”

13. The Generationals, Con Law
Park the Van, July 21

The Generationals are a sunny indie pop offshoot of indie veterans the Eames Era. Con Law is the first effort from this outfit, and it’s fun, happy and loud, full of jangly guitars and catchy chorus vocals. In addition to releasing a very good record in 2009, the Generationals may have produced my favorite song of the year, too: “Exterior Street Day.”

12. The Avett Brothers, I and Love and You
American, September 29

The latest in an already impressive catalog from the Avett Brothers was released this past fall. But thanks to the early release of its title track single, Internet leaks, and a busy summer tour schedule, I and Love and You was so anticipated that much of the record felt familiar by its release date.

I and Love and You helped the North Carolina band introduce themselves and their energetic live shows to a much wider audience across the U.S. Musically, these are generally sparse compositions. Rarely does the instrumentation exceed acoustic guitar, upright bass, piano and drums, but a rootsy charm shines throughout the recording. Full of quips and catchy lyric (see “Ain’t it like most people / we love to talk on things / we don’t know about” or “Aw, Brooklyn, Brooklyn take me in / Are you aware the shape I’m in / My hands they shake, my head it spins”), I and Love and You may be the sing-along record of 2009. Catch the Avett Brothers live and chances are, the majority of the audience will be singing along loudly to the album’s namesake, along with many of the other cuts from I and Love and You.

11. Neko Case, Middle Cyclone
Anti, March 3

In early 2009, Neko Case, long recognized as one of the strongest voices in all contemporary music, released her sixth record, Middle Cyclone, easily her best solo work since the 2002 classic, Blacklisted. Unlike her first three records, Middle Cyclone isn’t chock full of heartbreak and despair. However, in spite of its brightness, it fits better with the first half of her catalog—the fan favorites, I might add—than it does with her last couple of releases.

10. Girls, Album
True Panther Sounds, September 22

The breakout record of the year—at least as far as those folks in the skinny jeans are concerned—has to be the debut release from San Francisco band, Girls. Simply entitled Album, the record is deceivingly simple with its stripped-down, DIY-feel. But beneath its simple exterior, Album offers lovely melodies and strong songwriting. It’s full of surf rock guitar hooks and all-too-honest lyrics.

Truthfully, there have been plenty of records in the last few years that offer a similarly vintage sound as Album, but for some reason, the effort from Girls rings true and sincere, while the others often come off as kitschy and forced. So, does Album hold up to the immense hype it’s received? Maybe not. But it comes pretty damned close.

Girls play in Salt Lake City on February 12.

9. Passion Pit, Manners
Frenchkiss, May 19

While this may only be an anecdotal observation, it seems to me that Passion Pit’s Manners is one of the records that most often appear on the end-of-year lists of professional critics and music bloggers alike. And with good reason. Manners may disprove the notion that you can’t please everyone. From the opening moments of “Make Light” through the closing track, “Seaweed Song,” Passion Pit’s debut full-length offers up fun, vibrant electronic music, juxtaposed with dark, but catchy lyrics.

AllMusic.com noted that in spite of all the polish, this record still shines. “…you have a record that could have been a total clustercrash of influences and sounds that ended up sounding hollow and pointless. Instead, thanks to the meticulous production values, the insane catchiness of the hooks, and the pure and true emotional underpinnings below all the gloss, the album is a total success of both sound and vision.”

8. Fruit Bats, The Ruminant Band
Sub Pop, August 4

One record that I particularly found to be good company this year was the latest effort from Eric Johnson and his band, the Fruit Bats. Entitled The Ruminant Band, it was the first release from the band in four years as Johnson was busy gallivanting with bigger acts, like Vetiver and the Shins.

Some critics note that the word “ruminant” in the album’s title referred to cows chewing to make cud, just as a human brain might chew on a decision. This makes sense, since Johnson seemingly chewed on every decision possible for this record, including the band’s lineup, which he completely altered. The results though are pretty damned perfect. For some, Johnson’s voice may be a bit too nasally, or his songs may sound too similar from one to the next, but therein lays the beauty of The Ruminant Band. None of the tracks stand out individually; instead, this is a full record, a complete product that stands together.

7. Grizzly Bear, Veckatimest
Warp, May 26

Somehow, Grizzly Bear have only released three records—even though it feels like the band has been a mainstay throughout the last decade. Beloved by critics and the band’s peers, Grizzly Bear is not the most accessible of bands. Indeed, I believe the 2009 release, Veckatimest, is the band’s most approachable album yet—and its best.

Veckatimest features better production, adds more instrumentation (most notably a string quartet), and even more ambitious songwriting than Grizzly Bear’s previous efforts. The sound is rich, varied and often feels heavy. In spite of its musical complexity, the band relies on the use of traditional pop vocal harmonies to complete its unique sound. Veckatimest, like its predecessor, the 2007 album, Yellow House, is a true artistic accomplishment.

6. The Swell Season, Strict Joy
Anti, September 29

Sundance Film Festival darlings, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, returned with their second release in 2009 and the first under the new moniker, The Swell Season. Hansard’s other band, Irish veterans, The Frames, provide the capable music backdrop on Strict Joy. In spite of being much stronger musically than Irglova, Hansard and the boys didn’t strike it rich until Irglova’s quiet charm met his booming voice on screen in the 2007 film, Once.

Strict Joy picks up where the Once Soundtrack and many of The Frames’ records leave off. In fact, it doesn’t necessarily feel wholly contemporary. While it fits nicely into the closing year of this decade, it might feel just as comfortable in the early 1970s, too.

Truthfully, Strict Joy took me several listens to fully appreciate, but once I did, I noticed that it’s more a collection of stories rather than songs. That’s a compliment, as any Irishman will tell you.

5. AA Bondy, When the Devil’s Loose
Fat Possum, September 1

Here’s a record that didn’t make it on many other top ten lists, making this selection wholly subjective. In fact, some of the reviews weren’t great—Pitchfork graded When the Devil’s Loose a mediocre 6.6. The most oft-cried complaint from critics, this record too closely resembles A.A. Bondy’s first effort, American Hearts. But that’s just fine with me. This album is simple, soothing and familiar. It’s comforting in a way that no other release was this past year. And according to my iTunes statistics, When the Devil’s Loose is the 2009 album I turned to more than any other.

A.A. Bondy plays Salt Lake City on January 27.

4. Dan Auerbach, Keep it Hid
Nonesuch, February 10

Certainly, Dan Auerbach’s solo debut sounds like it’s coming from one-half of the band The Black Keys. But it’s not all blues. Rootsy, yes, but there’s more of an element of British guitar rock here, all wrapped up with his strong, distinctive vocal. In fact, Keep it Hid is an incredibly inappropriate title, because this record explodes out of the speakers, even on the quiet and earnest ballads, “Whispered Words” and “When the Night Comes.”

Back in February, PopMatters.com summed up Auerbach’s accomplishment with Keep it Hid and his overall prowess as such: “In sum, Dan Auerbach was responsible for helping make one of the better albums of 2008, and Keep It Hid is already a contender in 2009. Should we go ahead and call him the current King of the Hill? Based on all available evidence, he’s that guy, and the competition for his crown is not particularly close at this time.”

3. Phoenix, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Glass Note, May 26

French outfit, Phoenix, have been crafting pop music for nearly a decade, but Wolfgang Amadeus represents the band’s first significant rise in popularity in the U.S. Indeed, tracks from the record have been lifted for a Cadillac commercial, a trailer for Where the Wild Things Are, and episodes of Entourage and CSI.

However, Wolfgang is more than just a couple of ear-catching tracks. Instead, this is a record that begs to be played, again and again. And unlike many electronic pop albums, it’s versatile enough to take the lead and dance to, or to step back and play soundtrack to just about any activity.

Phoenix claims it put more effort into Wolfgang than its previous records, painstakingly considering every moment of the album. The extra attention shows. It doesn’t exactly feel overly polished, but there’s no waste here, either. Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix moves cleverly and efficiently from the first beat to the last.

2. Dirty Projectors, Bitte Orca
Domino, June 6

Internet hype may have carried acts like The XX and Girls this fall, but before them, it was all Dirty Projectors. Amazingly, the Brooklyn-based band has put out seven releases in six years—that’s Beatlesesque production—but it was this last effort, Bitte Orca, which proved to be the breakout for the Projectors, landing the band on late night television and in the iPods of many. Indeed, Bitte Orca proved to be not only one of the best records of 2009, but easily the album of the summer; its sounds heard blaring from car stereos and its melodies hummed by the most unlikely of Dirty Projectors fans.

Before Bitte Orca, Dirty Projectors had been regarded as “difficult listening.” This record is no less challenging than previous releases—people either love or hate David Longstreth’s lead vocals and the band avoids traditional songwriting structures at all costs. But somehow, Bitte Orca does prove to me more welcoming to a wider audience. Pitchfork, which ranked Bitte Orca the second best release of 2009, wrote, “Bitte Orca is whimsical (and gorgeous) enough to make the “difficult” bits seem less like work than glorious play.”

1. The XX, XX
XL, August 18

Congratulations to this young London-based trio, whose debut record XX has been recognized by many as one of, if not, the best record of the year. Notably, The Guardian UK called it the album of the year, and NME, Pitchfork, and Rolling Stone all ranked XX within the top 10 albums of 2009.

XX is by far my favorite record of the year. It sounds different than anything else on my list, and yet, it is nothing incredibly new. It’s a formula that is tried and true, but here, is executed without error. The call-and-response duet vocals of Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sim speak so sincerely about love and sex (and the joy and awkwardness that come with both) that you’ll have a hard time believing these two are not only “just friends,” but that they haven’t spent the last 30 years breaking up and getting back together.

Make no mistake: with its sultry R&B influences and subtle elements of electronica, this is the poppiest record on my list. Indeed, this is a pop record. It’s a wonder that it’s not widely featured on Top 40 stations throughout the US. But as the band gains more attention in its home country, and is beginning to earn write-ups in giant publications like Rolling Stone, Spin and The New York Times, it may only be a matter of time.

***

Listen to the Best of 2009 show now, via archived streaming >

See the honorable mentions >

Read the odds-and-ends-best-of list >

Check out others’ best of 2009 lists >