So this week I finally upgraded to an iPod Touch. It’s really a nifty piece of technology, though I find the lack of continuous video playback to be a bit stifling. That said, it’s not as frustrating as having to decide what music was going to be taken off of my 4GB iPod Mini whenever I purchased something new.

I should be raving about how awesome it is to be living in the year 2007. But instead I’m lamenting one of the other purchases I made on Wednesday—Joanna Newsom’s Have One on Me.

I don’t know why I picked it up.

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Today I had my mind blown.

I was hanging out with my friend as he went to pick up his kids from school. Now since his kids are in preschool and elementary school, there’s really nothing on the radio for them to listen to. It sucks and I empathize with his plight.

I mean, this is my former roommate—my best friend, with whom I initially bonded over our admiration for The Lox. He’s from New York. He lives and breathes hip-hop, but he’s a parent, so he’s got to pay attention to what his kids are absorbing.

Anyway, I’ll toss together a random mix, burn it and throw it his way from time to time. (Incidentally, he shares his birthday with my coworker.) Sometimes I’ll make a mix of songs that I know he’s been dying to hear and other times I’ll make it a theme. Since it was has birthday, for instance, I created a Cake mix.

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I’ve got a coworker whose birthday is on Sunday. She’s quite the character. We’re pretty much on the same page when it comes to matters of pop culture and even events at work. She’s certainly one of people that I’d miss if I ever left the place.

Oh, and she gave me the name for my vanity band when I’m a celebrity: Jumpsuit Sweatpants.

It stemmed from her constant inability to spit out a name. For instance, when asking if I’d heard a new song by a female singer songwriter her description was “y’know, the one who cut her hair” (The answer: Norah Jones).

So when we were talking about the Katy Perry/Russell Brand coupling, I remarked that I was surprised that she broke up with her ex. I was struggling to come up with his name and in an effort to aid me she said “oh, the guy from Jumpsuit Sweatpants.” At which point I promptly burst out laughing. It was the funniest thing I’d heard that day and it stuck with me.

Since her birthday is on Sunday I figured I’d make her mix and she requested songs by females. Here is that mix:

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So I’ve spent the majority of the last week sitting in my room because of the two massive snowfalls that we’ve had in Baltimore. We’re talking feet of snow, here. We’re talking so much snow that I had to miss three days of work, two because the place wasn’t even open. That’s not going to be good for my paycheck. That’s a pretty substantial amount of snow.

But what’s weird is that in the five days that I’ve been snowed in, I haven’t really listened to too much music. I’m really trying to figure out why that is and I’m sort of at a loss.

I mean, I always listen to a base amount of music; every night before I turn in I put five discs on repeat. And when I wake up, I generally continue listening until the disc changes and then I begin my day, so that much of my routine survived the snow.

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2009 really was a remarkable year. Things that shouldn’t have succeeded did; we saw a rap-rock album, a long-anticipated sequel, yet another Jack White side project, and a “hot” rapper release a much-hyped debut. Those things shouldn’t have worked, yet they were all really impressive.

So here’s my belated “Ten Best Albums of 2009” (as always, in alphabetical order).

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I know, I know… I promised you guys that I’d give you my best of 2009 and I contend that I’ll still give it you in the relative future. I’d even meant to offer it up this week, but then just this afternoon I felt really strongly about something.

But what’s funny is that now, twelve hours later, I don’t feel quite as strongly. I got sucker-punched by reality. It was the sort of hit that causes you to reevaluate things and really take stock. Unfortunately it’s got nothing to do with music, so I won’t dwell on it here.

Instead, I want to attack the current musical climate, yet again.

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So, Vampire Weekend is a pretty popular band right now. In fact, their Contra is the highest profile release of the year thus far. And I’m really seriously debating picking it up.

But I’m torn. I’m all for good music and I enjoy trends as much as the next guy, it’s just that Vampire Weekend still seems like a ton of hype and I’m not really one to buy into hype.

Plus, I feel like I’ve heard their stuff before. And I sort of have.

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A new year has arrived, and with it come expectations. There are debuts that should be followed up on. There are delayed albums that should finally be released. There are artists that are due to release something new. The beginning of a new year is a wondrous time to be a music fan.

And being the music fan that I am, I’ve compiled a list of artists that I expect to see albums from this year. For some of them, I’m just being greedy. For others, I think that something new is due. And for still others, albums have been announced, so I’m well within my rights to have expectations.

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[Editor's Note: My Top 21 of the 21st (So Far...) is a retrospective feature where our writers were invited to write a list of top 21 favorite songs, albums or anything else music-related, of the new millennium, explaining why it was picked, or what particular significance it has had over the past ten years. (There is an ongoing debate on whether or not 2000 A.D. counts as part this millennium. For sake of argument, we're going to go ahead and count it. Hey, a lot of good music came out that year, anyway, so suck it up, and enjoy the feature.)]

It’s nutty. This was the first decade where I was an adult through the entire thing, thus it’s the first decade where I’ve really been able to have an opinion about the “best of the decade” topics. It’s a weird feeling; it’s excitement coupled with obligation.

There were so many albums that having to winnow it down to just over twenty of my favorites was difficult. I literally obsessed over this list.

Anyway, here it is. And as I always do, it’s in alphabetical order.

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I’ve finally accepted that I’m an old man.

I guess I’m not that old, and not in the “old guy still clinging desperately to his youth” stage of my life, but I’m your standard Gen X cat. I’ve never tried to be a hipster and I’m fully content in my age bracket.

That said, I’ve finally accepted that I’m an old man and that hip-hop in its current state is for kids. It’s no longer designed to appeal to me and it no longer does.

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