The Decemberists made our favorite record of 2009 and continue to be one of our favorite bands.

Trade an email for a new track from The Decemberists. Do it here.

The song is called “Down by the Water” and is expected to be part of the band’s next full length, expected to drop early next year.

By Rube Ambler

Let’s just start by saying we were inspired to create this post this way by Paste Magazine’s Josh Jackson. Like Mr. Jackson we’re only going to list those shows where we can post some kind of YouTube video stream from the show.

We know from friends, and rumors, and the interwebs that there were many great shows that we missed this year, here in Atlanta and elsewhere.  This list is (sorta) comprised only of shows where we got to be blown away in person (gotta read to the end to get that earlier parenthetical).

10. The Long Ryders at the EARL, 01/09

This was an impressive performance by a band that hadn’t been to town in 20 years.

9. Dead Confederate at the EARL, 3/27/09

Show courtesy of Stomp & Stammer. Video courtesy of Ohmpark.

8. Modern Skirts at 500 Songs for Kids (Smith’s Olde Bar), 5/14/09

500 Songs for Kids always delivers several great performances and for those in the know (not necessarily us) those performances usually don’t happen on the last night. We were lucky enough to see Athens’ power poppers Modern Skirts get old school with this one. Abbreviated clip…

7. Those Darlins at the Star Bar, 11/6/09

Not the best audio, but this clip does express the energy brought to the stage that night in November.

6. Today the Moon, Tomorrow the Sun at the Drunken Unicorn, 7/10/09

This superslick video almost doesn’t do justice to this band’s live energy. Check them out in 2010.

5. Wilco at Classic Center (Athens), 4/20/09

Playing classics like this one made the drive to Athens (and the otherwise uninspiring venue) more than worthwhile.

4. The Decemberists at the Tabernacle, 6/3/09

I don’t know if a video can really capture the theatre and power of this show, but here’s the best one I could find. Many more clips from this viewer at this show are on YouTube.

3. Blitzen Trapper at the EARL 10/ /09

In my view, the best thing you can say about a live performance is that you left a bigger fan than when you arrived. This show proved that principle.

Okay, these last two videos are not from the shows I actually attended this year. The first of the two (Judi Chicago) is not even the same venue (but the venue where we first saw them nonetheless – EAV’s 529).  The dates and venues indicated below were where I saw my two my two favorite shows of the year.

2. Judi Chicago at Star Bar, 2/14/09

Wow, how cool is your girl when you say, “For Valentine’s Day, let’s go dance to Judi Chicago at Star Bar” (yes I speak in bold & italics, don’t you?) and she not only says yes, but tells you tomorrow morning what a great time she had? Let’s say it again. Wow.

1. Alejandro Escovedo at Eddie’s Attic, 4/15/09

I already ‘fessed up to the video not being from the show I attended, but even though this video is a year old, it is still a show I was at (oh yeah, best of oh-eight too). I wrote extensively (even for me) about this year’s performance. Read about what I think you missed right here. Thank you Al for being a gentleman and, in our world, an unparalleled superstar.

This was really hard for me this year. Spending more time with this project (i.e., the blog), intentionally listening to more music, and talking to more people about music, exposed me to more music in the past twelve months than I think I have ever heard in that same period of time in my entire life which, for better or worse, is long enough to mean something. (Did I mention it was more?)

I heard all kinds of great sounds from all kinds of bands – some on record, some on MP3, some on CD and some only on stage. As I spent the last few weeks thinking about this list, it kept getting longer and longer. Finally, I realized (or simply resigned myself to the fact) that a year-end best of list is really supposed to be just that – only the best. I had to make a cut.

Of course, just like last year, the only criteria we really have for determining what is a “best record” is to think about how many times we listened to it. We returned to all of these albums repeatedly and excitedly throughout the year. What’s more, they were albums we listened to thoroughly. Which is to say we think there’s a lot more than just one good song on them. We hope to put out a short list of best songs of the year to recognize some of those artists who captured our imagination with a tune or two, or maybe make a record that just missed this list, but that’s next – not now.

Right now, I’m going to start the list by borrowing three from Alex’s List – Wilco (the album); David Bazan, Curse Your Branches; and Phoenix, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix – and tell you that had he not listed them already I would have. (Yeah you can call it cheatin’, but once again I am the one footing the bill for the economy server package around here.)

Thanks to Alex’s head start, I came up with 11 more albums that we think you might want to hear this year.

11. Conor Oberst & the Mystic Valley Band – Outer South

Mr. Oberst’s best work of the year.

10. John Doe & the Sadies – Country Club

Having been on the front edge of the American punk scene, John Doe seems no longer interested in doing something new. What he did here was take some old songs and remind us how much we love that classic country sound – especially the Bakersfield sound. We actually got around to reviewing this one. Read about it here.

9. Those Darlins’

We wrote a little bit about this record when they were headed to town this fall, that’s here. We love it. They’re coming right back, January 15 at the EARL.

MP3: Those Darlins – DUI or Die

8. Sea Wolf – White Water, White Bloom

Alex Brown Church does this sound as well as, if not better than, anybody else out there.

7. The Winter Sounds – Church of the Haunted South

I spent half the year meaning to write about this record. I think I listened to it almost every day in August. I even chatted with band member Clayton about the grand ideas behind the record, and still intend to capture that conversation in advance of their next visit to Atlanta (hopefully early next year), but for now let me just say I think it was an easy choice for this list.

MP3: The Winter Sounds – Trophy Wife

6. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

This record grew on us over the course of the year eventually climbing into the rarified air (?) of this list. Really, it’s a great record.

5. Band of Skulls – Baby Darling Doll Face Honey

Made this list like a bullet. I can’t stop listening to this disc.

4. Manchester Orchestra – Mean Everything to Nothing

These local boys crushed the sophomore slump with this record. Powerful (in every meaning of that word) from front to back.

3. Metric – Fantasies

One of our first record reviews! Read it here. Still love it.

MP3: Metric – Gimme Sympathy

2. Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca

I wrote about this record in my answer to Alex’s Short & Skinny column. It’s called Abbreviated Attention (Span). Check it out here.

1. The Decemberists – Hazards of Love

This was the easiest pick of all for us. We loved the record, loved the performance at the Tabernacle, loved the new video on iTunes. Great stuff.

By Rube Ambler

We let Alex have his crack at this and we have to admit his taste is good. (We rediscovered Jets to Brazil since that post…wow). But we (which is to say me [rube]) wanted to take a shot at our favorite records of the past 10 years or so.  Fortunately, Alex knocked off some of the decade’s best, which allowed us to get a little deeper into the list and apparently even father from what’s on most of those mainstream lists (i.e., no Strokes).

As with the Best Books of the Decade list we posted a little while ago, this might be better described as “records we listened to a lot in recent years.” We don’t pretend that these albums are important or otherwise changed the way music is made, recorded or heard. We do like them a bunch though, so here you go.

Ryan Adams – Gold (2001)

Yes, Heartbreaker may be the standard answer for this artist but this is the record we will never forget.  Everything from the steady rhythm to the line about the church on the upper west side and the reference to Avenue B will always remind me of my time and my affairs in New York City.

Old 97′s – Satellite Rides (2001)

Rhett Miller is a great songwriter and back in 2001 he saved all his best for the band.

MP3: Old 97′s – Rollerskate Skinny

Gnarls Barkley – The Odd Couple (2008)

This did not produce the mega hit that the first album did, but from start to finish it is one of the best, most consistent records of the decade that isn’t Satellite Rides.  The deeper you get the better this album holds up.

The Hold Steady – Boys and Girls in America (2006)

Craig Finn seems to have so much fun telling his stories of kids, drugs, aimlessness and drunkenness…and I seem to have so much fun listening to them.

Alejandro Escovedo – Real Animal (2008)

You are an amazing musician when you can write your autobiography through a series of compelling, memorable, and remarkably diverse songs. And if you have never seen him live, then let me please offer just one reason why you should.

MP3: Alejandro Escovedo – Real Like an Animal

Ha Ha Tonka – Buckle in the Bible Belt (2007)

This record could make the list based on the brilliance that is the first three tracks alone, but when you see these boys do their live a cappella version of “Hangman” or take a close listen to “Cure of the Common Cold”, you realize how much more is lurking beneath the surface.

Gomez - How We Operate (2006)

I have called it the best pop record of 2006 before and I stand by it.

MP3: Gomez – How We Operate

Wilco – Kicking Television (2005)

This is the record that merged the old with the new and brought me back to Wilco. No, it is not as good as their actual live performance but, that being said, it stands with At Folsom Prison and few others one of my favorite live records of all time.  ”Let’s get this party started…with some mid-tempo rock n, roll”

Grace Potter & the Nocturnals – This is Somewhere (2007)

Say what you will, but I like rock n’ roll and Ms. Potter from Vermont will pick you up by the lapels and rock you.

MP3: Grace Potter – Ah Mary

Josh Ritter – The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter (2007)

If I could only write one song ever it would be “The Temptation of Adam.”  There, I said it.

Two Dollar Pistols – Hands Up (2004)

I fell in love with this band half way through the first song I ever heard by them. “I got a book a records and a stereo/just in case I get to feelin’ low/you see, it doesn’t matter much to me”

MP3: Two Dollar Pistols – It Doesn’t Matter Much To Me

The Decemberists – The Hazards of Love (2009)

I still get excited about, thinking about listening to this record.  A triumphant return for the concept album.

Did I end up with more than 10 again?  If you find something here you like, please go buy the album and enjoy the last couple weeks of those double 00s with something a little old that may be a little new for you.

We think this is quite cool and we’re not even going to be coy about the fact that we think The Hazards of Love by The Decemberists was one of the best records of the year, so we’re pretty excited about this.