Best New Underwater Trends of 2009...

Ok, not really. That would be ridiculous, though possibly hilarious. I did think, however, that I would give a go at listing my favorite albums of 2009 (of the ones I have listened to, of course). Without further ado, my top 10, counting down:

10. Wilco (the Album) - Wilco
Notable songs include One Wing, Bull Black Nova, and Wilco (the Song)

9. Two Suns - Bat for Lashes
Notable songs include Daniel, Siren Song, and Traveling Woman
Also, Daniel may be the best song of the year--check it out here

8. Where the Wild Things Are Soundtrack - Karen O and the Kids
Notable songs include All is Love, Rumpus, and Heads Up

7. It's Blitz! - The Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Notable songs include Hysteric, Runaway, and Zero
*For my less attentive readers, both 7 and 8 acknowledge the huge splash Karen O (and her band the Yeah Yeah Yeahs) have made on the music scene this year.

6. Sainthood - Tegan and Sara
Notable songs include Hell, The Cure, and The Ocean

5. The Hazards of Love - The Decemberists
This album is a concept album--listen to the whole thing many times through.

4. Middle Cyclone - Neko Case
Notable songs include This Tornado Loves You, I'm and Animal, and Magpie to the Morning

3. I and Love and You - The Avett Brothers
Notable songs include I and Love and You, Laundry Room, and Tin Man

2. Wait for Me - Moby
Notable songs include Shot in the Back of the Head, Mistake, and Jltf 1

1. Ordinary Riches - Company of Thieves
Notable songs include In Passing, Under the Umbrella, The Fire Song, and Quiet on the Front
I debated putting this album in the top spot, but I am a sucker for bands with incredible debut albums. And this album is incredible. Genevieve's voice is ridiculously good and the guitar is phenomenal. Trample people at Best Buy, rush to amazon mp3, or pay an obscene amount at Barnes & Noble--I don't care how you do it, just get this album.

"When we're older and full of cancer...

...it doesn't matter now, come on get happy. 'cause nothing lasts forever...but I will always love you." -Neko Case, Don't Forget Me

While the introduction to this post has nothing whatsoever to do with the further content of the post, it acts as a shout out to the marvelous Neko Case and the song Don't Forget Me off her year-topping album, Middle Cyclone.

Anyways, I've been recently thinking about the importance of worship through corporate song. Rather than go into a long-winded monologue on the subject, I thought I would provide y'all with three quotes to chew on:

"My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God...Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise!" -Psalm 84:2,4 ESV

"The duty of singing praises to God seems to be appointed wholly to excite and express religious affections. No other reason can be assigned, why we should express ourselves to God in verse, rather than in prose, and do it with music, but only that such is our nature and frame, that these things have a tendency to move our affections." -Jonathan Edwards

"Some of us are afraid of getting too emotional when we sing. But the problem isn't emotions. It's emotionalism. Emotionalism pursues feelings as ends in themselves. It's wanting to feel something with no regard for how that feeling is produced or its ultimate purpose. Emotionalism can also assume that heightened feelings are the infallible sign that God is present. They're not. The emotions that singing is meant to evoke are responses to the truths we're singing about God--his glory, his greatness, and his goodness. Vibrant singing enables us to connect truth about God seamlessly, with passion, so that we can combine doctrine and devotion, edification and expression, mind and heart." -Bob Kauflin