Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Dimensions

Monoliths & Dimensions is the latest album of the refrigerator-duo Sunn O))) consisting of doom veterans Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson.
Jokes aside, this is by far Sunn O))) most accessible and in my opinion their greatest album.
They've nearly abandoned the strictly bass/guitar drone doom formula and incorporated other elements such as choirs and classical instrumentation.
At first this sounds like their old stuff; droning mindbendingly low drone doom riffs with Attila Csihar as their vocalist/gibberish mumbler. But as you progress through the album, you realize that they've changed their style, most notably on the last song, which has close to none of the old drone doom elements.
So check it out and be amazed.

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Regina Spektor - Far

Ah! Yes, yet another wonderful album from my all-time favorite artist, Regina Spektor.
Far is (in my incredibly biased, fanboy-opinion) an incredibly good album.
It's not nearly as good as her early work (pre-Begin To Hope), but it's still amazing.
The reason why it's not as good as her early work is that these new albums are over-produced.
She should just have stuck with her piano instead of incorporating cellos, drums and electronic elements into her music. She's gone from anti-folk to indie pop.
With that said, this is still one of my many favorite albums and Regina is still my favorite artist.

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Mono - Hymn To The Immortal Wind

There's nothing like a little post-rock whenever you're feeling gloomy or just want to relax.
And this right here, is a great, great post-rock album. Just amazing.
It's so fragile and beautiful, yet majestic and powerful. Not much more to say than that.
It's an awesome album. Listen to it.

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Mastodon - Crack The Skye

I'll be honest with you here. At first I considered not even including this a lbum in the list.
It had gotten terribly boring and everytime I listened to it, I felt nothing. It wasn't special anymore.
But then I remembered what it was like the first times I heard it, before I'd listened to it too much.
And I recall it to be an amazing experience. The vocals twisting and intertwining with each other, the delicate, yet heavy and technical riffs that shook the world by it's foundations, the drum work by Brann Dailor that was so flawless, technical and intricate that it would make you believe that this album was descended straight from heaven and the creeping, thick basslines that would make any challengers of Mastodon's might cower in fear and shame.
This is a masterpiece. And I'll be damned if Mastodon ever makes an album that surpasses Crack The Skye's greatness. For that, ladies and gentlemen, would indeed be an admirable feat.
This album will send you to another dimension.

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Kylesa - Static Tensions

There are bands that play this sort of pseudo-sludge, it sounds like sludge but has a whole lot of other stuff and it's a bit "watered down". Bands like Mastodon and Baroness play this kind of sludge.
Then there is the proper sludge, a clean fusion of crushing doom metal and furious hardcore.
Kylesa are one of these "proper sludge" bands.
And on this album they sure show it. It's a full-length of pure sludge carnage where the masterfully fuse the heavy, chugging doom riffs together with the fast paced aggressiveness of hardcore and create something amazing.
This is awesome. Download it.

DOWN-FUCKIN-LOAD, MAN

Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca

This is another "indie pop" masterpiece of 2009. Got a lot of hype, deserved most of it.
It's just insanely catchy and well-though out. Nice vocals, good instrumentation, just a great album really.
They're also a bit new weird america (and apparently quite experimental, according to all the indiefags over at last.fm), so they sound kinda like Grizzly Bear and other bands like that.
I'd write a bit more if I wasn't getting a bit tired of all this writing (I making all these AOTY posts today). Download it and fall in love.

FUGGEN WEBSHERIFF'D

(new megaupload is in the comment section below)

Converge - Axe To Fall

FUCK YEAH IT'S CONVERGE Y'ALL! Converge, the world's most solid (hardcore) band is back with yet another album.
And you know what? I'm not gonna waste my time by writing a long description. Just download it and once you hear THE RIFF in the first song (you'll know which one I'm talking about), you will literally shit you pants. That's how awesome it is.
This may not be as great as Jane Doe, but it's pretty, pretty, pretty fuckin' good.
Oh and there's also this awesome folky song featuring Steve Von Till that ends with a epic Neurosis-like part. Sound good enough for ya? Thought so.

FUCKING WEBSHERIFF'D

Baroness - Blue Record

I can start off by saying that this is probably the best album art of 2009. It was made by Baroness' frontman (whom I can't remember the name of right now, so whatever).
Constantly I hear people complaining about how Red Album was far better and that Blue Record was a big disappointment. I firmly believe that these people are all fucked in the head.
This album is godlike. From the sweet, melodic riffs reminescent of Thin Lizzy's twin lead guitar setup to the strained, raspy hardcore-like vocals that all fall together into one big, wonderful and undiscernable mess of sludge and prog.
This album is awesome. FUKKEN DOWNLAOD IT MAYNE

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A Place To Bury Strangers - Exploding Head

80's revival, fuck yeah! This album is filled with amazing shoegaze/post-punk and VERY NOISY guitars.
It starts out with a hard-hitting and poppy (yet kind of depressing in a no wave kind of way), post-punk/industrial beat and a lot of noisy instrumentation (as is the tradition with shoegaze).
This album feels like it came straight from the eighties, but still feels new and fresh.
Every song is great and as a whole this album is just wonderful.

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The Antlers - Hospice

Here's another over-hyped album. I mean, it's not bad. Far from it. It's just not as good as people made it seem. Still a fantastic album (trust me).
After a few listens it's really grown on me. The songs are incredibly gloomy and have incredibly beautiful melodies.
The singer kind of sounds like Antony from Antony and the Johnsons, which can take a while to get used (I thought they were incredibly creepy at first). But when you do, this album is awesome.
It's a pretty sad album, but not that sad, not enough to get you all depressed and shit (at least not for me).

DOWNLO-SYYYLVIIAAAA, GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF THE OVEN!

Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion

HOLY SHIT IT'S MOVING (the album cover). That was pretty much everyone's initial reaction to this album. It didn't really matter if the actual music was good or not; if the cover was some sort of awesome optical illusion, it was already AOTY.
No, but seriously this album is amazing but maybe not deserving of all the hype it got.
Animal Collective are one of time's most original and innovative artists (in my opinion) and they basically sound like a modern version of the Beach Boys mixed with a whole lot of neo-psychadelia.
This is not their greatest work, but it is damn good. But you've probably heard this already. Oh well.

THIS DOWNLOAD IS THE JAM OF A LIFETIME

Andrew Jackson Jihad - Can't Maintain

Everyone's favorite folk punkers are back again with another great album! Hooray!
Ok, I should start off by saying that I'm a bit disappointed with this album. Mainly because it feels a bit bland and boring and because People Who Can Eat People....etc was a lot better.
Don't get me wrong, this is still great. Just not as catchy and punky as the first one, I guess.
You could say that they've matured their sound (for the worse). But still, you should listen to this; I mean, come on. It' s AJJ.

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Alpinist - minus.mensch LP

The minus.mensch LP is by far one of my favorite releases this year, and quite surprising that an obscure band like Alpinist would put out such a well-made album.
The genre is basically crust but incorporates elements of traditional hardcore as well as screamo (most notably in the riffs).
It's hard to what makes it such a great album, besides that just about every song is amazing.
Definitely check this out.

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Agoraphobic Nosebleed - Agorapocalypse

Are you ready for some crazy-ass grind? You are? Good.
Because that's what this is. With Agorapocalypse, grind masters Agorapocalypse push the boundaries of grindcore further yet with unusually long song lengths, crazy (and awesome) guitar solos and insane drumming by a drum machine programmed by frontman Scott Hull himself.
This right here is a grindcore masterpiece. Check it out.

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Absu - Absu

Absu is back in 2009 with their self-titled album, and what a comeback! This album punches you in the face with mindblowing black- & thrash metal riffs that have a really nice melodic feel to them.
The incredibly catchy, melodic riffs on this album coupled with excellent production and blastbeat drumming at a blistering pace (and ridiculously long song titles) make this one of the best metal releases this year.

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Clark - Totems Flare

Yeah, I know I haven't posted a single album in four days. So I'm going to post at least two today to catch up. Also I'm sick (which is why I haven't updated), so you're going to have to do with shorter descriptions. I'm too tired to write long ones.
So, I've decided to post what is one of my favorite electronic albums of all-time (I know, it's only been out for like 4 months, but still). It's kind of hard to describe, so I'll just say fuckawesomely amazing IDM (dude's signed to Warp btw, so he has to be great). Just download it, you're gonna love it.

AWW YEAH BOYIEEE DOWNLOAD DIS SHIT