The 60 Best Albums of 2009

PopMatters turns 20 years old this October and we're beginning to celebrate our history by taking you back in time a decade ago. Obama was in the White House and the musical times were very good indeed. Revisit 2009 through its best albums.

                                      
Music
    
        Bill Callahan: Have Fun With God
    
Nathan Stevens

        30 Jan 2014
    
Music
    
        Bill Callahan: Dream River
    
Marshall Gu

        26 Sep 2013
    
Music
    
        Bill Callahan Releases Video for &#8220;Riding for the Feeling&#8221; Amid Extensive Tour
    
PopMatters Staff

        12 May 2011

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Music

Bill Callahan: Apocalypse

Bill Callahan makes a record best experienced in the desert sun, worn leather boots on your feet and a lump in your throat.

Music

Breathe Owl Breathe: Magic Central

Quirky workhorse indie-folk band land a cut above contemporaries like Horse Feathers and Bowerbirds in this engaging and unique label debut.

Music

Various Artists: Stroke: Songs for Chris Knox

Jeff Mangum, Yo La Tengo, Will Oldham, Stephin Merritt, the Mountain Goats, the late Jay Reatard, and dozens more pay tribute to one of the best songwriters no one has ever heard of -- and what a joy it is to listen to.

Music

Bill Callahan: Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle

As if in an attempt to gain the attributes of the album’s namesake bird, the songs on Eagle feel like they’re rising on thermals, shifting and soaring effortlessly where the wind takes them. And occasionally they dive right for your throat.

Reviews

The Swell Season + Bill Callahan

Anyone that’s ever stepped foot in Nashville, Tennessee knows the Ryman Auditorium is a place of myth, magic, and miracles.

John Bohannon

Reviews

Bill Callahan

Free of his smog. moniker, Bill Callahan searches for new ground on which to lay his guitar and shaker. The question: can he survive the search, and, if he does, is there any uncharted land left?

Vijith Assar

Music

Bill Callahan: Woke on a Whaleheart

Callahan ditches the Smog moniker and delivers a surprisingly upbeat collection, though one that in the end feels a little slight.

Reviews

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Bill Callahan: Have Fun With God

Bill Callahan: Dream River

Bill Callahan Releases Video for “Riding for the Feeling” Amid Extensive Tour

Bill Callahan: Apocalypse

Bill Callahan makes a record best experienced in the desert sun, worn leather boots on your feet and a lump in your throat.

Breathe Owl Breathe: Magic Central

Quirky workhorse indie-folk band land a cut above contemporaries like Horse Feathers and Bowerbirds in this engaging and unique label debut.

Various Artists: Stroke: Songs for Chris Knox

Jeff Mangum, Yo La Tengo, Will Oldham, Stephin Merritt, the Mountain Goats, the late Jay Reatard, and dozens more pay tribute to one of the best songwriters no one has ever heard of -- and what a joy it is to listen to.

Bill Callahan: Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle

As if in an attempt to gain the attributes of the album’s namesake bird, the songs on Eagle feel like they’re rising on thermals, shifting and soaring effortlessly where the wind takes them. And occasionally they dive right for your throat.

The Swell Season + Bill Callahan

Anyone that’s ever stepped foot in Nashville, Tennessee knows the Ryman Auditorium is a place of myth, magic, and miracles.

Bill Callahan

Free of his smog. moniker, Bill Callahan searches for new ground on which to lay his guitar and shaker. The question: can he survive the search, and, if he does, is there any uncharted land left?

Bill Callahan: Woke on a Whaleheart

Callahan ditches the Smog moniker and delivers a surprisingly upbeat collection, though one that in the end feels a little slight.

100 gecs Remix Debut with Help From Fall Out Boy, Charli XCX and More

Ivy Mix's 'Spirits of Latin America' Evokes the Ancestors

Joshua Ray Walker Is 'Glad You Made It'

'How to Handle a Crowd' Goes to the Moderators

DMA's Go for BritElectroPop on 'The Glow'

Regis' New LP Reaffirms His Gift for Grinding Industrial Terror

The Beths Are Sharp As Ever on 'Jump Rope Gazers'

The Jayhawks Offer Us Some 'XOXO'

What 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' Taught Me About Unlearning Toxic Masculinity

Considering the Legacy of Deerhoof with Greg Saunier

On Infinity in Miranda July's 'Me and You and Everyone We Know'

Contemporary Urbanity and Blackness in 'New Jack City'

Steve McDonald Remembers the Earliest Days of Redd Kross

Rock 'n' Roll with Chinese Characteristics: Nirvana Behind the Great Wall

Creative Disruption in 'Portrait of a Lady on Fire'

Why I Did Not Watch 'Hamilton' on Disney+