Two thousand and nine was perhaps not the greatest year for music. Perhaps this was simply a balance for the glut of good games; after all, we only have so many entertainment dollars, and it helps if one industry can help carry the burden by sucking a little bit. There were some pretty high expectation disappointments, like the double EP from Beirut, the new Incubus... thing, and The Decemberists' continuing march toward boring prog. I didn't even get to a fraction of the year's notable releases, but that's always the case for a reasonable human being with interests other than music. Of what I did get to, here's what I found notable:

Balmorhea - All is Wild, All is Silent - All is Wild, All is Silent is easily my album of '09, and Balmorhea is easily my band of '09. They're the year's entry on my New Favorite Bands list, the one act you should not miss. Their debut (or at least the other album you can buy), Rivers Arms, is also excellent, but All Is is simply superb. I listened to it again and again and again. Expansive, emotional, and incredibly pretty, All is Wild, All is Silent is a fantastic album.

Mono - Hymn to the immortal Wind - It's Mono. What did you expect? If they release an album, they're on here. It's not a revelation or a masterpiece, but it's damn good. And that noise solo in Pure As Snow - that is quality shit.

Jonsi and Alex - Riceboy Sleeps - This one barely snuck in before the end of the year for me, but damn is it a fine work of music. It's fragile, emotive, and surreal, like Sigur Ros gone ambient, which is essentially what it is. Strings, choirs, piano, and the creaking of an accordion bellows all blend together into a wash of wonderful sound. Anyone with even the slightest interest in it should give it a go.

We Were Promised Jetpacks - These Four Walls - We Were Promised Jetpacks win the awards for Most Mostly Unrealized Potential and Best New Basically Just Rock Band. These Four Walls is effectively a good rock disc with two awesome songs, It's Thunder and It's Lightning and Quiet Little Voices. If they can match the quality of those two for a full album, it will be an awesome set of songs indeed.