Now that the dust has settled on the year that may or may not be the end of a decade, no doubt a lot of best-of lists have been popping up around the web (yours truly included). Among them, shoved in the corner of Pitchfork’s ridiculous amount of year-end coverage, is a four-page article highlighting artists’ personal favorites of 2009.

Ranging from hyperactive electronic performer Dan Deacon to Canadian hard-rockers Fucked Up and pretty much everything in between, Pitchfork provides an opportunity for the music fan to see not only what their favorite group has been spinning all year but also their potential influences — something that is pretty hard to do unless you personally know the band. Now I know there are a bunch of P4K haters in the bunch, but I think we can all agree that this compilation sure beats developing carpel tunnel trying to track down interviews through repeated google inquiries.

Below are just some of the many interesting tidbits I gleaned going through the article:

• There’s some love for little-known Detroit punk-rock pioneers Death (well, little-known before this article) as LA garage rockers No Age listed them as their favorite.
• There was a mutual love-affair between tour mates HEALTH and Pictureplane, as they both mentioned each other as “Best of the Year”.
• Unfortunately Anand Wilder of Yeasayer didn’t take the list seriously, opting to enumerate the Top Ten diseases of the year.
• Best write-ups go to New York indie bands Pains of Being Pure at Heart and Cymbals Eat Guitars, Thermal‘s bassist Kathy Foster, sample-master Girl Talk, and Alan Palomo of Vega/Neon Indian fame who could probably get a job as a writer if this whole “music thing” falls through.
• El Perro del Mar and I seem to have identical tastes (Fuck Buttons, jj, The xx, Nite Jewel, Fever Ray, etc…)
• Paul Collins of Beirut gets the prize for the most eclectic mix with Sunn O)))) and Jewels of the 78 RPM Era 1918 to 1951 Compilation going 1-2.
• I have a hard time believing that Langhorne Slim listens to the metal band Russian Circles, but then again I thought the same about John Darnielle. Regardless, what he says about Dawes being damn good live is 100% true.

These are just a sample of the great things mentioned in the article, so check it out!

In the era where CD sales are plummeting faster than Tiger Wood’s reputation, the music industry seems to be reverting to the old school format of vinyl records to at least make up a part of their losses. Although wax sales are only a fraction of one percent of total revenue, it is the fastest growing format (90% growth in 2008, projected 60% growth in 2009) and it’s starting to catch the attention of every record label out there.

Although vinyl tends to be geared towards the “indie” crowd, the top ten selling albums of 2009 in that format are only halfway composed of such titles. Here’s the complete list [via]:

1: The Beatles // Abbey Road – 34,800
2: Michael Jackson // Thriller – 29,800
3: Animal Collective // Merriweather Post Pavilion – 14,000
4: Wilco // Wilco – 13,200
5: Fleet Foxes // Fleet Foxes – 12,700
6: Pearl Jam // Backspacer – 12,500
7: Grizzly Bear // Veckatimest – 11,600
8: Guns N’ Roses // Appetite for Destruction – 11,500
9: Dave Matthews Band // Big Whiskey… – 11,500
10: Radiohead // In Rainbows – 11,400

With all the hubbub surrounding whether or not Animal Collective was going to break into Billboard’s Top 100 albums of the week on vinyl sales alone back in January of ’09, I was surprised to find that they only pushed out 14K copies total. Other surprises is that the overlap between Dave Matthews Band listeners and vinyl lovers is not the expected 0% and Wilco sold only 13K in records even though every time I go to a record shop it seems that I’m surrounded by camels.

Now I’m going to get all meta with this post and blog about a blog because my e-friend Emmanuel down at the Delicious Scopitone has put together an awesome compilation chronicling some of his favorite found tracks of 2009. Now if you are one of the unfortunate people who haven’t heard about this French blog, the brief rundown is that it’s a website whose chief priority is to discover new talent on a daily basis — regardless of the location or the obscurity of the band. With mp3s or video samples accompanying each post, there’s really no reason why you shouldn’t be checking them out right now. Now I know what you’re going to say, “but Bryant, there are PLENTY of sites like that”. While that might be the case, where the Delicious Scopitone is different is that it doesn’t suck, and I’m not the only one to notice this.

Emmanuel’s twenty-song mix, going by the quasi-Latin title of Ecliptic Odious One, features a different Scopitone-unearthed artist for each track. Certainly there are some duds in the bunch (but even the less talented bands have charming characteristics that make them better than about 90% of the acts out there), but the compilation as a whole is a wonderful listen that would make for a great spin at the next get-together with your friends.

While the compilation opens up nicely (the Grizzly Bear/Fleet Foxes sounding “All Packed Up” by Lexington’s Idiot Glee especially), it doesn’t really start getting the ball rolling until the fifth track, the beautiful constructed “The Watcher”, gets to the plate. Sounding like some sort of incantation full of repetitive Gregorian-like chants and isolated drums, Fielded is able to slowly gain momentum and reach a satisfying climax using only layered vocals and scant instrumentation — something that few bands are successfully able to pull off. In similiar haunting fashion, Michigan’s Creepy Crawl’s “Pretty Tendrils” starts off with a sound akin to a Grouper and Burial crossbreed — dark and, as the band name would suggest, definitely creepy — however, when vocals are entered into the equation, the song morphs into an interestingly bizarre track reminiscent of Gang Gang Dance’s “Afoot”.

The mix also features the Washington-based band Pill Wonder, whom I’ve had the ability to see live when they played alongside Real Estate back in November. The song chosen, the animalistic “What We Know”, certainly was a set highlight from that night, causing a slight stir in the form of some “hipster head-nodding” that broke the ice off of the typically motionless crowd.

Now I don’t know if Emanuel or his partner-in-crime Leslie, who has put out an awesome mix of her own, trudges the deep dark depths of the myspace graveyard to find these acts (most have under 50,000 profile views which, for a band, is not that much) or if they happen upon them by chance. One thing’s for certain though, at the rate their going you’re going to be seeing a lot more [via: Delicious Scopitone] credits on your favorite blogs in 2010.

You can hear a sample of the compilation with the mp3s below and, if you like what you hear, you can download Emanuel’s mix here.

Mason Lindahl // Serrated Man Sound [via]

Fielded // The Watcher [via]