It finally happened. Winter arrived. Snow fell and we woke up this past Sunday with about three inches of the stuff. I’m glad it didn’t arrive earlier, as Friday saw me at KSVR for a four hour stint of music.

The HHBTM team has sent me two lovely little packages in the past few months, the second of which arrived just last week. I figured it was high time to give them coverage… in list form! HHBTM, if you’re not familiar with the label, is short from Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records, and they’ve released several favorites over the years; bands like Patience Please, Fishboy, The Superions, Bunnygrunt, Casper And The Cookies, Velcro Stars and Eux Autres. Their singles club even includes the likes of Apples …

2009 is a tough year to judge. I’ve checked out more albums this year than any year in the past. Well over 1,000. And there have been quite a few great ones as well. When this list began, it had 110 albums. I abandoned my top 33 and 1/3 for 45, and then said “screw it” and upped the number to an even 50. These are the top notch albums of the year, all worthy of praise.

This may come as a surprise: Ohio is a hot spot for up-and-coming indie pop artists. There’s Pomegranates out of Cincinnati and Bears in Cleveland. Rounding out the power trio is Cleveland’s Afternoon Naps. Catchy melodies and memorable vocal hooks can be found throughout their sophomore release, Parades. But there’s much more behind the music of Afternoon Naps that makes them one of the most promising pop bands around.