"What's your resolution?"--25 songs I couldn't get out of my mind in 2009.

OK, let me be honest. For all the talk of great music this decade and talks of which bands and which albums dominated the 'Noughts, 2009 was a relatively tame year for music. Take Merriweather Post Pavilion for instance. Animal Collective released this album in JANUARY and it still remains at the top of almost every year end list. I don't agree with that placement personally but it is a good album and has been generally regarded as the year's best. It seems that from the beginning of 2009, albums were picked as the year's best months before they were actually released. Grizzly Bear's Veckatimest contained new tracks played live by the band on television months prior, plus album itself leaked early. Dirty Projectors' Bitte Orca was refreshing but an expected progression for such a talented outfit. There was little to nothing to surprise us this year.

Besides Album by Girls (my choice for debut of the year, hands down) and Dragonslayer by Sunset Rubdown, there really wasn't much that I'm willing to say will stand up against some of the past great albums from this decade.

So, in lieu of my usual countdown of the best albums of the year, I'm providing this mix. 25 songs that knocked my socks off. Some come from my favorite albums, some are the only good tracks released by that band this year. All of them were played on repeat almost immediately after I first heard them. While 2009 may not have been a deep year for LP releases, it sure did provide us with some great tunes.

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1. "Lust for Life" by Girls -- from Album

2. "Stillness is the Move" by Dirty Projectors -- from Bitte Orca

3. "While You Wait for the Others" by Grizzly Bear -- from Veckatimest

4. "Home" by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros -- from Up from Below

5. "Idiot Heart" by Sunset Rubdown -- from Dragonslayer

6. "Actor Out of Work" by St. Vincent -- from Actor

7. "I Am Goodbye" by Bonnie "Prince" Billy -- from Beware

8. "VCR" by The XX -- from XX

9. "Ledmonton" by Clues -- from Clues

10. "Young Adult Friction" by The Pains of Being Pure at Heart -- from The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

11. "Genesis 30:3" by The Mountain Goats -- from The Life of the World to Come

12. "Walkabout" by Atlas Sound feat. Panda Bear -- from Logos

13. "Hey Dad!" by Franz Nicolay -- from Major General

14. "Say Please" by Monsters of Folk -- from Monsters of Folk

15. "Rain On" by Woods -- from Songs of Shame

16. "Now We Can See" by The Thermals -- from Now We Can See

17. "Here to Fall" by Yo La Tengo -- from Popular Songs

18. "Daylight" by Matt & Kim -- from Grand

19. "The Sound" by Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson -- from Summer of Fear

20. "No Hope Kids" by Wavves -- from Wavvves

21. "Indiana" by Cymbals Eat Guitars -- from Why There Are Mountains

22. "Wilco (The Song)" by Wilco -- from Wilco (The Album)

23. "Lisztomania" by Phoenix -- from Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

24. "Hunchback" by Kurt Vile -- from Childish Prodigy

25. "This Blackest Purse" by Why? -- from Eskimo Snow