Okay, not better, but hopefully a bit different than most lists out there. 2009 was not my favorite year for music or for Jennifer Garner/Matthew McConaughey romcoms, but we’ll save that hot-button topic for another day. For the most part, the belles of the blog ball left this cranky old fella yawning, not fawning — either too twee or too quirky or just too lifeless, take your pick — but I won’t harp on that. I’m here to offer you only sparkling gems and I promise not to mention any of the listless turds of ’09 like Monsters of Folk, Wilco and Kings of Leon, I swear, not a peep about them. Here’s the goodness in no particular order.

Click song link to download. Click arrow to play. Click CD title to buy.

Malcolm Middleton – “Subset Of The World”
CD: Waxing Gibbous

Tegan and Sara - “Hell”
CD: Sainthood

The Lawrence Arms – “The Slowest Drink At the Saddest Bar on the Snowiest Day in the Greatest City”
CD: Buttsweat and Tears

Propagandhi – “Night Letters”
CD: Supporting Caste

Sky Larkin – “Molten”
CD: The Golden Spike

Kevin McAdams – “A Different Kind of Love Song”
CD: “It’s My Time to Lose My Mind”

Obits – “Pine On”
CD: “Good Friends, Bad Habits”

Owen – “Good Friends, Bad Habits”
CD: New Leaves

Mumford & Sons – “Little Lion Man”
CD: Sigh No More

Chris Wollard And The Ship Thieves – “All the Things You Know”
CD: Chris Wollard & the Ship Thieves

Tortoise – “Prepare Your Coffin”
CD: Beacons Of Ancestorship

No Age – “You’re a Target”
CD: Losing Feeling

Ted Leo – “Even Heroes Have To Die”
CD: The Brutalist Bricks (March, 2010)

The Bomb – “The Kids”
CD: Speed Is Everything

Paint It Black – “Bliss”
CD: Amnesia

O Pioneers!!! – “The Architect of Disney World”
CD: Neon Creeps

Frank Turner – “The Road”
CD: Poetry of the Deed

Maserati - “Monoliths”
CD: Passages

We Were Promised Jetpacks – “Quiet Little Voices”
CD: These Four Walls

Mystery of Two – “Repeat It”
CD: Mystery of Two

Mission of Burma – “1, 2, 3, Partyy!”
CD: The Sound the Speed the Light

And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead – “Bells of Creation”
CD: The Century of Self

Bonus Videos!

Hell from Tegan and Sara

Sky Larkin – Molten

Tortoise – Prepare Your Coffin from Thrill Jockey Records

Owen – good friends, bad habits from Hobbledehoy Record Co

Munford & Sons – ‘Little lion man’ from Ben Magahy

We Were Promised Jetpacks – Quiet Little Voices from WWPJ

Interviews: Music: Nickodemus, Comedy: Bert Rotundo of Generation Awesome

Topics: UsedWigs Live Recap, The Fleeting Fame of Megan Fox, Golf Ruins Everything, LARPing, Todd Gets Angry at Magazines, Pavement, Doug Benson’s “I Love Movies,” iPhone ToyCamera, iPhone Pano and Paste Magazine.

Playlist: Kevin McAdams, Oppenheimer, Nickodemus, We Were Promised Jetpacks and Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks

Preview: “Giant forearm tattoos? They’re so out.”

Play Now: http://www.usedwigs.com/pod/podcast63.mp3

iTunes: Download