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This week we’re happy to present you with three individual Top 20 Albums of 2009 lists, from all over the globe. Agree? Disagree? We don’t really care, but leave your comments below.

P.S., My list is the best!

20. Matt & Kim – Grand

Matt & Kim’s sophomore album is beaming of Brooklyn-energy and explosive party numbers with their percussion-lead pop. So yes, it’s formulaic – but in a good way. The album is full of songs that are original, inviting and entirely modern. And though Grand clocks in at only 30 minutes, the short span doesn’t reflect a lack of substance; instead the record’s 11 tracks just get played twice as often.

19. Peter Bjorn & John – Living Thing

While Writer’s Block was all about undeniable melodies and shameless adorableness, Living Thing takes on an evolved, more mature sound. It’s an obvious quest for the band to find a new persona after the cult-hit ‘Young Folks’, and the album’s unexpectedly dark and convoluted turn might surprise fans. The clunking rhythms and semi-industrial tones might be new but PB&J’s immediacy and unabashed enthusiasm is still alive and well.

18. La Roux – La Roux

La Roux’s debut album is an unmistakable throwback to 80′s synthpop that fits perfectly in 2009. Depeche Mode, Eurhythmatics, Yazoo – you name it. Even though its roots may be clear cut, La Roux has managed to break away from the synthpop norms with a striking ease and modernity.

17. Tegan & Sara – Sainthood

While the same infectious hooks remain from Tegan & Sara’s previous works, gone are the folk elements from The Con. Instead, it’s replaced with 80′s power pop and new wave. There’s a new energy with vocal layers, harsher guitars and keyboard play but it’s still distinctly their own.

16. Regina Spektor – Far

Spektor’s latest album couples inventive figurative language with memorable melodies to convey her poetic view on the world. Her lyrics have colourful literary details that surprise and immerse. It’s full of interesting stories, unique observations, memorable images and even more memorable melodies.

15. Wilco – Wilco (Album)

You can tell Wilco has loosened up a bit after their last couple of attempts of following up Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. The album cover of a camel wearing a party hat is the first indication. Upon listen, the band is self-assured and much more relaxed. It’s like they sound comfortable with being Wilco again and in that sense, the title is oddly appropriate.

14. Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career

In My Maudlin Career, Camera Obscura revels in their eminently catchy brand of twee-pop. Some tracks do go more towards bigger alt-girl-group, while others bring a sad sway & twang, while still others have an orchestral sound. While the band’s 60′s pop/folk keeps chugging cheerfully along, it’s frontwoman Tracyanne Campbell’s voice that keeps it all tight.

13. Girls – Album

Part Beach Boys romanticism, part plenty Elvis Costello punch, Girls might sing with a laid-back, sunshine-laden teenage idealism but underneath the faultless pop exterior is a fragile, darker side. The blend of pop simplicity and subversive complexity is the exact reason why it’s a keeper. It’s a record to get introspectively immersed in alone, just as much as it is to blaze out with your closest bros.

12. We Were Promised Jetpacks – These Four Walls

Scotland’s quite the little bed of buzz band these days. It must be the weather. Or the pubs. Who cares? We love the Scots here at threevue. We Were Promised Jetpacks distinguish themselves by carving out a sound that is boldly dynamic and heartily youthful. It’s a constant tidal wave of rhythm from start to finish and it’s an exciting listen.

11. M. Ward – Hold Time

Hold Time harkens back to the days when the sounds of Roy Orbinson crackled on the AM and the naivete of blissful adolescence still existed. It never gets too drench with nostalgia, though. I see it as more optimistic than anything else. With his uplifting and folksy rock style, M. Ward does a much more convincing job than many of the artists out there who are trying to cover the same beat.

10. Fever Ray – Fever Ray

Compared to The Knife’s work, Fever Ray is far less banging – the shimmering synth pads and thumping beats are gone, replaced by dubby sound textures and minimalist percussion. Combined with Dreijer’s distorted vocals, the songs twist and bend into a catalogue of surreal reverberations. Sometimes it doesn’t make much sense – but then again, dreams aren’t supposed to.

9. Metric – Fantasies

“Who would you rather be, The Beatles or The Rolling Stones?” Emily Haines poses the age-old question in one of the album’s singles, “Gimme Sympathy”. Ultimately, Metric saddles between the two. Melody and harmony keep each track awash in sunny bliss, while aggressive guitars and Haines’ lyrics provide a Jagger-like swagger, drenching everything in dirty rock and roll abandon.

8. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz!

We all knew the Yeah Yeah Yeahs were a dance band at heart. It’s Blitz! is the sound of the band furthering their pop sensibilities by smoothing some of the edges and letting their perverseness run. The glossy beats and synth-padded melodies fit the band so well, you wonder why it took them so long to see them in full gear.

7. The xx – xx

This London indie pop outfit have created a debut that is vivid, understated and magical. It’s a refreshingly sparse take on how instrumentals should be presented within a song. Combine this with hushed, chatty, tag-team vocals and you get a sound that is unique in an era of too-loud music production. They say it’s night music, but I see it more as insomnia at 4am. Otherworldly and not quite normal.

6. Fanfarlo – Reservoir

Fanfarlo has arranged a beautiful soundscape here that’s incredibly powerful from top to bottom. It may draw parallels to plenty of other bands (CYHSY, Arcade Fire, Neutral Milk Hotel…), Reservoir stands on its own with honesty and style. The record is a breath of fresh air musically, even though there’s very little trickery involved.

5. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion

In, what is possibly the most blogged about album of the year, Merriweather Post Pavilion is a sonic playground for the ears and sees Animal Collective at their very best (and most accessible). They constantly explore new directions and noise. Layers and layers of it – it all sounds ready to combust. Each song has its own identity, though the albums flows brilliantly through its widely arrayed sounds.

4. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest

Over time Grizzly Bear’s sound has shifted incrementally from its experimental roots with the songwriting becoming much tighter and more immediate while the sound more organically symphonic and luscious. Everything on Veckatimest, from the loftiest harmony to the subtlest string pluck, serves a purpose. It’s a pursuit in perfection that’s been arranged in painstaking detail. Where Merriweather was defined by its transcendence of simply being an ‘electronic’ album, Veckatimest is defined by its transcendence of being a ‘folk’ or ‘indie’ record.

3. The Antlers – Hospice

Hospice is an intense personal story of Peter Silberman’s loss of a loved one and the final moments of love and eventual heartbreak. The songs sound more like a series of overhead conversations, capturing a raw intimacy I rarely see. It’s no melodrama – it’s pure and simple music with texture and layers of depth.

2. Neko Case – Middle Cyclone

Neko Case’s voice is seductive, smart and varied, undulating through the album with such potency and assertiveness that you can’t help but be drawn into Middle Cyclone. She sings about animal attacks, tornadoes falling in love and prison girls; her lyrics are steeped in poignant but precise metaphors and each song is wrapped in its own distinct country-noir flavour. Never too sentimental, but always heartfelt, this album proves that Case is the rightful heroine of the year.

1. The Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca

On first listen, Bitte Orca may seem widely complex, but at its core you’ll see a wonderful play and deconstruction of pop. Melody, harmony, arrangement, vocal gymnastics and guitar are all intertwined into a swirl so ornate and compelling. They warp, fragment, bend, tickle, twist and mutate so many conventions that it’s almost impossible to work out how they pull it off.