BBC News - UK — Dance act Animal Collective's record Merriweather Post Pavilion is hailed album of the year in a critics' poll. more info

Scotsman.com — PSYCHEDELIC dance act Animal Collective's record Merriweather Post Pavilion is today hailed album of the year in a prestigious poll of music critics. more info

Persona Sauna — I've let my obsession with the holidays get to me and not allow for any time to concentrate on keeping updated on music.My apologies.I will be back.In the meantime, here is a nice little list compiled by Spinner of the best songs of 2009. Go over to... more info

Stereogum — Seems like Animal Collective couldn't keep themselves from topping most every list that came out this Listmas, even that of the Norwegian singer-songwriting Brooklyn transplant Sondre Lerche. Instead of conforming to the consensus pick of "My Girls,"... more info

55 30 Seconds to Mars 70 AC/DC 70 AFI 80 Matias Aguayo 65 Air 70 Alice In Chains 52 Kris Allen 78 Amerie 70 Tori Amos 86 Animal Collective 78 Annie 76 Anti-Pop Consortium 64 Asobi Seksu 82 Atlas Sound 77 The Avett Brothers 67 Backstreet Boys 59 Bad more info

52 Kris Allen 78 Amerie 70 Tori Amos 86 Animal Collective 78 Annie 76 Anti-Pop Consortium 64 Asobi Seksu 82 Atlas Sound 77 The Avett Brothers 67 Backstreet Boys 59 Bad Lieutenant 68 Devendra Banhart 71 Lou Barlow 88 Baroness 69 Basement Jaxx 75 Beak> more info

411 Mania — 411 staff unveils their top 15 albums of the year today. See if Mastodon's Crack the Skye, Eminem's Relapse, Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion or another top contender takes the #1 spot for 2009! more info

The Good, The Bad and The Unknown — Well, here it is...the annual epic 111 best albums of 2009...as voted on by you. Usually it's a close race...but this year, Animal Collective ran away with it. In fact, the entire top ten was leaps and bounds above the rest. And...if you have a p... more info

Rollo & Grady — The Guardian – Top 50 Albums of 2009 01 The xx – xx 02. Fever Ray – Fever Ray 03. Wild Beasts – Two Dancers 04. Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca 05. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavillion 06. Florence and the Machine – Lungs ... more info

The Vinyl Villain — Being a blog that is largely of the retro variety, I'm not all that fussed about publishing a rundown of what I reckon to have been the best songs/albums of the year/decade. Yes, I do admit to making a few suggestions last month of stuff that you mi... more info