The second part of our look at our favorite albums of the past year takes us from 10 to 6, with the remaining albums tomorrow.  We hope everyone is having an excellent week to this point.

Harlem // Hippies

The second album from this Austin, TX trio is a bombastic, smug shamble of an album, held together loosely with spit and scotch tape; it sounds like everything could fall apart at anytime, which sounded great to us. -A

[mp3] Harlem – Friendly Ghost

Crocodiles // Sleep Forever

Stepping past the haze and feedback that saturated their first album, San Diego’s Crocodiles proved that they were not, in fact, just another Wavves.  Sleep Forever is well-rounded, displaying excellent songwriting and hooks while still retaining some of the noise that got them to this point. -A

[mp3] Crocodiles – Sleep Forever

Arcade Fire // The Suburbs

To those who say The Suburbs wasn’t a great album, I ask this – what if it wasn’t Arcade Fire who gave it to us? In a year that started slow but ended fraught with excellent music, Arcade Fire deserve this top ten spot due to their typically excellent work. -D

[watch] Arcade Fire – Ready to Start

Vampire Weekend // Contra

Despite – or perhaps because of – the fact that Vampire Weekend has become one of the biggest indie bands around, with their music soundtracking myriad movies and commercials, it became lost that Contra is actually a pretty damn good album. -A

[mp3] Vampire Weekend – Cousins

Tokyo Police Club // Champ

Perhaps we’re biased. Champ hasn’t shown up on a lot of year-end best-of lists, and everyone is entitled to their opinion. But we can’t be alone in thinking this was an immensely enjoyable and logical step-forward for a rather talented band that resides often within a genre that isn’t quite conducive to lauding. -D

[mp3] Tokyo Police Club – Wait Up (Boots of Danger)

Upon first listening to Crocodiles’ new release Sleep Forever, I immediately got an impression of early Black Rebel Motorcycle Club; to be clear, I enjoyed early Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. For one reason or another, I never got around to listening to last year’s Summer of Hate, so I don’t know whether or not that particular comparison rings true of their other work. On certain tracks like “Sleep Forever” they project an aura of grunge-y edge, with a rough bluesy guitar rock sound armed with zero pretense.

As for “Hearts of Love,” I actually get more of a Raveonettes impression in its twinkling bell accompaniments, simple melodic guitars, and soaring choruses. This is impressive stuff, and makes me question further why I never got around to listening to Hate last year. If only there were enough time in the day.

Crocodiles – Hearts Of Love (mp3) from Sleep Forever

Sorry about the lack of posts this weekend.  Between family, friends, food and beer, we were quite busy.  We hope you all had a spectacular Thanksgiving weekend.

Today we’re starting our Best of 2009 list with a few albums that didn’t make our year’s Top 40 (which we’ll start counting down tomorrow).  To make the final list, we both made individual Top 40′s, weighted our results and combined them.  We think it’s a pretty fair and accurate representation of the year in music.  We’re just one of many of these type of lists that have been and will be cropping up, so we’re happy you’re coming to our small corner of the blogosphere to get it.  With that, let’s dive in:

Crocodiles – Summer of Hate
Andy’s Rank: 28 :: Dave’s Rank: Unranked

Wavves led the lo-fi noise-pop charge out of San Diego in 2009 with their curious festival appearances, willingness to feud, and a unique ability to polarize over whether or not their music was actually good.  But while Wavves grabbed headlines, their San Diego counterparts Crocodiles made an album that was equal parts noise and pop, and equally headline worthy.

Crocodiles – I Wanna Kill (mp3) from Summer of Hate

Jay Farrar and Ben Gibbard – One Fast Move or I’m Gone: Music from Kerouac’s Big Sur
Andy: 30 :: Dave: Unranked

Not unlike the documentary for which this album was written, this Farrar/Gibbard partnership feels long and winding; it captures in song form a small piece of the uniquely American viewpoint that the open road creates.  The album meanders, takes its time, stops at Scenic Overlooks – and will easily score your next automotive venture into unfamiliar parts of the world.

Jay Farrar and Ben Gibbard – One Fast Move Or I’m Gone (mp3) from One Fast Move or I’m Gone: Music from Kerouac’s Big Sur

Wilco – Wilco (The Album)
Andy’s Rank: Unranked :: Dave’s Rank: 34

I truly wanted to love this album yet was ultimately disappointed, though mainly due to expectations. While assuredly polished and concise, it contained little of the feeling so magnetizing in the band’s other efforts. Instead of the usual experimentation of seeing where a Wilco album would meander towards, the record sounded regimented. That is not to say there aren’t moments of brilliance (the attached song being exhibit number one), and after all I did have it within my top forty. But overall I didn’t love it, and Andy was actually further disappointed with it than I.

Wilco – One Wing (mp3) from Wilco [The Album]

Julian Casablancas – Phrazes for the Young
Andy’s Rank: Unranked :: Dave’s Rank: 32

Another album I wanted to love and ended up liking, Julian Casablancas’ solo effort left something to be desired. Often times moments of brilliance mixed in with a steady dose of good makes for favorite record material. Moments of very good mixed with a steady dose of meh makes for what could have been.

Julian Casablancas – Glass (mp3) from Phrazes For The Young