Let’s face it: 2009 was a shitty year for this country. We went through an economic downturn, we were engaged in wars that will never end, we lost a lot of famous (and non-famous) people, Jon and Kate divorced, we had terrorist threats and attempted attacks. Not great. Personally, 2009 was a year of change. Moved to Denver, got a new job, and basically gave my life the shot in the arm it needed to break out of the slump. I’ve been exercising, I slightly altered my appearance, I’m living alone and loving the freedom, liking the city and being able to walk to wherever I want to go, and enjoying having the free time to actually live the life a 26 year old should be living, instead of the life of a corpse I was living in Fort Collins. 2009 was the year that I realized my family will not live forever, and it was a hard realization to come to, with my grandma having a massive stroke that she’ll probably never fully recover from, and my grandpa Murray becoming gaunt and racked with rashes. I made new friends, met new people, and started writing this blog again. This year I decided to do a few “Top” lists, and I also decided instead of writing paragraphs about each thing, I’d just write a sentence, so that this post isn’t any longer than it already will be. Here are the lists:

Music
1. Lucero – 1372 Overton Park: Horns, keyboards, and some of the best songs Lucero’s ever written. Not a dud on the disc.
2. Neko Case – Middle Cyclone: Her most mature album yet, worth spending an entire day trying to find it.
3. The Avett Brothers – I and Love and You: I miss the old rockers, but they know how to write a piano ballad.
4. Manchester Orchestra – Mean Everything to Nothing: Leaps and bounds better than the first album, these guys have a bright, bright future.
5. The Mountain Goats – The Life of the World to Come: Quiet and rocking alternately, this is their best album since The Sunset Tree
6. Propagandhi – Supporting Caste: Didn’t hit me as hard as Potemkin City Limits, but continues their tradition of being the best hard punk band out there.
7. Mastodon – Crack the Skye: Metal!
8. Decemberists – The Hazards of Love: Not as good as The Crane Wife, but I still like the way they weave themes and repeat songs throughout their albums.
9. Brother Ali – Us: Hands down the best rapper on the planet.
10. The XX – XX: Sexy music about sex.
Honorable mention – John Paul Keith and the One Four Fives – Spills and Thrills: If this came out in 1959, these guys would be millionaires

7”s/EPs
1. Lawrence Arms – Buttsweat and Tears: The Slowest Drink At the Saddest Bar on the Snowiest Day in the Greatest City is one of the best songs of the year.
2. John K Samson – City Route 85: Sounds like The Weakerthans, and that’s never a bad thing.
3. Paint it Black – Amnesia/Surrender: I’m not much into hardcore, but I am much into Paint it Black.

Movies
1. The Fantastic Mr Fox – I loved every glorious second of this movie. Wes Anderson’s best since The Royal Tenenbaums.
2. Adventureland – I did not expect this to be so good, but it was so good. Funny and touching and meaningful.
3. The Hangover – Best comedy of the year, and an entertaining movie to boot.
4. Inglorious Basterds – No one can make two people talking in a room more suspenseful than Quentin Tarantino
5. District 9 – Best science fiction movie in a looooong time.
6. Zombieland – I love zombie movies. This is a movie for people who love zombie movies.
7. Up – Good year for animated movies. This one has the best opening sequence of any movie of the year.
8. Drag me to Hell – Finally, someone made a horror movie that isn’t this torture-porn, let’s be as graphic as possible shit. This was scary and funny as hell.
9. The Road – As good an adaptation of the book as anyone could hope for.
10. I Love You Man – I had to pick a 10th. I actually thought this was a little weak as far as this crew normally goes, but it was still okay.

Concerts
1. Against Me/Ted Leo/Future of the Left – One great band, two great bands, three great bands. Perfect show.
2. Lucero/Jack Oblivian/John Paul Keith and the One Four Fives – Jack Oblivian kind of sucked, but the new Lucero is amazing, and JPK was the best opening band I heard all year.
3. Neko Case/Some dudes from Calexico – Calexico bored me, but Neko Case sounds just as good in concert as she does recorded, and her banter is hilarious. And she’s hot.
4. Flobots/Kinetix/Houses – Surprise show of the year! Houses is a solid rock band, Kinetix surprised me with some bring-you-to-your-knees awesome lead guitar and really talented musicianship, and the Flobots were also good.
5. Gaslight Anthem/Murder by Death – I was super hyped for this, and it was good, but not transcendent. Performances were uninspired.

I have one New Year’s Resolution: Keep being awesome.

If anyone has any Top lists of their own, or any comments about 2009, please put them in the comments below.

See you in 2010!