The Best Music Of 2009 : NPR

All Songs Considered Listeners Pick The Best Music Of 2009

December 7, 2009 • We could tell early on that 2009 was going to be an outstanding year for music. Here are the top 25, as selected by All Songs Considered listeners.

All Songs Considered Listeners Pick The Best Music Of 2009

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2009's Best Music For Kids, And Their Families

Robbert Bobbert is the alter ego of Apples in Stereo frontman Robert Schneider. Todd Webb hide caption

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Todd Webb

2009's Best Music For Kids, And Their Families

XPN

December 2, 2009 • This year has seen a lot of "quirky" kids' music, wherein the sweet-voiced folkies of the past were replaced by growling rocker moms and clear, intimate harmonies. The quality was high this year, with albums rooted in reggae, electronica, folk and rock aimed at young ears.

Best Music Of 2009, From Robin Hilton

December 15, 2009 • We all have our own system for making a list of favorite albums. All Songs Considered producer Robin Hilton goes entirely by memory. When December rolls around, which albums stand out?

2009's Top 12 New Discoveries, From KEXP

KEXP

December 21, 2009 • As 2009 winds down and the year-end best-of lists come flooding in, a lot of the same bands pop up again and again. In the spirit of looking out for the underdogs (small-town bands, basement-based indie labels, self-released self-starters), here are 12 albums worth checking out from artists you might not have heard.

Best Music Of 2009, From 'Song Of The Day'

December 24, 2009 • Though critical consensus formed around some sonically beautiful records, Song of the Day editor Stephen Thompson is far more likely to dwell on albums and songs that exude a fair bit earned insight, even ache. Thompson's Top 10 may be the equivalent of a single teardrop in a vast sea of year-end reflection, but the music is pretty glorious.

Decca Classics

Classical 2009: Next Generation And Beyond

90.9 WGUC

December 4, 2009 • With these 2009 releases, you'll find a few fresh faces: musicians hovering around age 30, including the young Jonathan Biss and the sublime Dutch fiddler Janine Jansen. Plus, this year proved exceptionally strong for music by and from Russians. Enjoy a sampling of both classic and less-familiar fare.

10 Albums You're Too Cool To Like, From KUT

KUT 90.5

December 17, 2009 • No, no — the headline's not referring to you. Heaven forbid. But people like you listen to a lot of cool and/or unusual music, and refuse to sample the good stuff right under their noses because it's "mainstream." It's best not to think these hipsters omniscient — after all, there's lots of great music they're too cool to notice. Here are 10 examples from 2009.

The Best British Bands Of 2009, From WFUV

WFUV

December 8, 2009 • While American hitmakers like Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift climbed the British charts in 2009, here in the U.S., we saw a serious influx of great music from the U.K. You wouldn't necessarily call these bands chart-toppers, either here or there, but they do add up to something resembling a British Invasion.

The Top 10 Folk Songs Of 2009, From Folk Alley

WKSU

December 10, 2009 • Compiling a Top 10 list for Folk Alley is difficult because it wears so many different musical hats. Each hour, the music stream from WKSU presents more than just the typical folksinger, so care was taken to create an all-encompassing list of great songs. The songwriter still prevailed, though — probably because there are so many of them.

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Take Five's Top 10 Jazz Records Of 2009

December 6, 2009 • Looking back on the year in jazz, much of the focus naturally falls on young talents such as Vijay Iyer. Still, some of 2009's key records also evoked bygone jazz eras with such creativity that they might signal a new wave of New Orleans and Brazilian jazz.

courtesy of the artist

The Top 10 Albums Of 2009, From 'World Cafe'

XPN

November 30, 2009 • At any given point in 2009, World Cafe host David Dye's Top 10 list would inevitably look different. So consider this a snapshot — and otherwise subject to change at any time. Some picks won't be new to most readers, but others qualify as left-field musical discoveries.

courtesy of the artist

Best Music Of 2009, From Bob Boilen

December 15, 2009 • These are All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen's favorite albums of 2009, the records he looked to for comfort. This year, Bob needed songs with stories and melodies, not agitation or anger.

Viking's Choice: Metal And Outer Sound In 2009

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All Songs Considered

Viking's Choice: Metal And Outer Sound In 2009

December 28, 2009 • As has become customary in the past few years, NPR Music producer Lars Gotrich's near-OCD list-making habit revealed a certain strain of outer sound that pervaded his headphones in 2009.

Viking's Choice: Metal And Outer Sound In 2009

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Egon's Favorite African Funk Reissues Of 2009

December 16, 2009 • It's been an amazing year for all kinds of music, including reissues of long-lost '70s music from Africa. Resident funk archaeologist Egon offers up a list of his favorite reissues, featuring artists from Benin, Ghana, Ethiopia and more.

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Desert Rock And 21st-Century Traditions: New Sounds From Africa In 2009

December 28, 2009 • The best new music releases out of Africa in 2009 reveal two strong trends. First, the whole notion of blues and rock intermingling with their ancestral precursors in West Africa continues to yield fruit, and the blends just keep getting better. New uses of technology provide the other big story, as hybrids of tradition and techno turn a new generation of listeners on to Africa.

The Year In Blues, From KPLU

KNKX Public Radio

December 22, 2009 • This year, the 10 best blues albums feature many younger artists who play original music; their work is rooted in the blues but headed somewhere else. Some purists may be put off, but this is a fascinating moment, in which the music is evolving right in front of us. It's also a demonstration of how deeply blues has become embedded in our culture.

Discussion: The Year In Music, 2009

December 14, 2009 • On this edition of All Songs Considered, host Bob Boilen talks with Carrie Brownstein, Stephen Thompson and Robin Hilton about the year in music.

Discussion: The Year In Music, 2009

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2009's Best (Mostly) 'New Music,' From Q2

WNYC Radio

December 1, 2009 • In classical-music terms, "New Music" is always complicated to define. Yes, it's the current manifestation of the classical tradition, but these days, the edges of so-called New Music tend to bleed into the realms of ambient music, indie rock, jazz and even folk. So, rather than get bogged down in picky rules, Q2's Nadia Sirota simply opts for the 10 records from the past year that she can't stop playing.

The Year In Music: The Current Picks 10 Songs Of 'Home'

The Current

December 3, 2009 • Not every year-end Top 10 list has to be a strict list of the 10 best albums, nor does it have to be a scientific ranking of music by merit. Two years ago, The Current's Mark Wheat began assembling a year-end best list in the form of a 10-song soundtrack, in the hopes that it would reflect the way he experienced the year. He says that 2009 marks the first time it's really worked.

The Rake's Song

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Classics Off The Beaten Path In 2009

American Public Media

December 9, 2009 • In keeping with the musically offbeat direction of his weekly show ("The New Releases") on Minnesota Public Radio, host Michael Barone introduces 10 overlooked but excellent classical albums from 2009.

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Wax Nostalgia: Hip-Hop On Vinyl In 2009

December 16, 2009 • Hipsters and aging nostalgists are driving the resurgence of vinyl, but the hip-hop community has been curiously quiet. Which is odd, given how closely the genre has been linked to vinyl culture over the years. Here are a few great hip-hop records that did come out on wax this year, and a few more that we wish would have.

Hitting The Sweet Spot: Best Classical Of 2009

WGBH Radio

December 18, 2009 • When classical musicians literally play to their own strengths, magic can happen. Hear today's top classical musicians revisit the music they know and love best in recordings chosen by Boston's WGBH.