For this year's best-of music poll, we asked the 19 writers who regularly contribute to our music coverage to spread 100 points across their favorite discs. No disc could receive more than 15 points per writer, and each writer's main list could be no longer than 15 items. Below you'll find each writer's individual ballot—which includes how they assigned their points—and some extra commentary and songs.
***
- Christopher Bahn
- Andy Battaglia
- Aaron Burgess
- Andrew Earles
- Scott Gordon
- Marc Hawthorne
- Jason Heller
- Steven Hyden
- Trevor Kelley
- Genevieve Koski
- Gregg Lagambina
- Michaelangelo Matos
- Chris Mincher
- Josh Modell
- Noel Murray
- Sean O'Neal
- Keith Phipps
- Nathan Rabin
- Kyle Ryan
CHRISTOPHER BAHN
1. Arcade Fire, Neon Bible (12)
2. Sloan, Never Hear The End Of It (11)
3. Iron & Wine, The Shepherd's Dog (10)
Sam Beam's third album as Iron And Wine continues his impressive evolution from lo-fi folker to refined popsmith. Clearly inspired by his stellar 2005 collaboration with Calexico, In The Reins, The Shepherd's Dog embraces a lushly gorgeous sound that wraps itself like a blanket around Beam's understated singing. It subtly shifts styles, too, mixing indie-folk with funk rhythm ("Wolves (Song Of The Shepherd's Dog)") one minute and sitar ("White Tooth Man") the next.
4. M.I.A., Kala (10)
5. Jose Gonzalez, In Our Nature (10)
6. Feist, The Reminder (9)
7. Cloud Cult, The Meaning Of 8 (8)
"Take Your Medicine" by Cloud Cult
Download MP3 (right-click and save)
On The Meaning Of 8, Craig Minowa and his band broaden both the sound and the thematic scope of 2005's Advice From The Happy Hippopotamus, though both albums have roots in the Minowa family's grief at the loss of their son Kaidin. It's an album about a delicate subject—finding meaning and joy in life while confronting the inevitability of death—and Minowa handles the subject masterfully. 8 is emotionally open without being maudlin, introspective without being navel-gazing, spiritual without being wooly-headed (the mystical significance of the number 8 is a unifying theme), and full of hard-won wisdom about how to deal with life's worst tragedies: "Look at all those skeletons running from their closets: Get them in the light."
8. Gogol Bordello, Super Taranta (7)
"Supertheory Of Supereverything" by Gogol Bordello
Laughing gypsy idol-smashers Gogol Bordello whipped up what may be the ultimate party album for atheists, anarchists, particle physicists, heavy drinkers, and men who wear scarves on their heads. (Anyone else that wants to join in is more than welcome.) Seriously, when's the last time an album that was this much fun referenced a book by Carl Sagan and included the lyric "la la la la, accelerate the protons"? On "American Wedding," singer and Ukrainian émigré Eugene Hutz complains that our country's wedding dances are stuffy, boring affairs: "The word celebration just doesn't come to mind." Super Taranta doesn't have that problem at all.
9. Tinariwen, Aman Iman: Water Is Life (6)
"Cler Achel" by Tinariwen
Where the hell do you plug in an electric guitar in the middle of the Sahara Desert? This band of nomadic Tuareg wanderers whips up a sizzling and hypnotic blend of droney Arabic and West African traditional music and blues riffs inspired by Led Zeppelin and Carlos Santana. Live, the band is even better, and turns the audience into a giant percussion machine—I literally clapped so hard that I bruised my hands.
10. Brother Ali, The Undisputed Truth (5)
"Take Me Home" by Brother Ali
Download MP3 (right-click and save)
Working once again with Atmosphere producer Ant, Rhymesayers rapper Brother Ali returned with a sophomore album that more than lived up to his earlier records. The combination of Ant's funky beats and Ali's politically conscious, anti-war lyrics sometimes make Truth a modern update of Marvin Gaye's What's Going On, but there's also a deeply personal element here as Ali spills his guts about his painful divorce, his mother's death, and his love for his young son. Rap often falls into the trap of being self-involved, but when Ali talks about himself, it's much more than that; it's autobiography.
11. Low, Drums And Guns (4)
War and violence lie at the heart of the eighth album by Duluth trio Low, which moves at the minimalist pace of previous works but more than ever fills the silences with rumbling bass, booming drums, and rough-edged guitar squall, the better to capture the sound of destruction—both the kind made by 500-pound bombs and the more private dark night of the soul.
12. Andrew Bird, Armchair Apocrypha (2)
Violinist, whistler, experimental loop artist, and consummate pop craftsman Andrew Bird created another album of unique, thoughtful beauty, aided and abetted by a troupe of Minneapolis musicians including electronic loop artist Martin Dosh and indie-folk singer Haley Bonar.
13. Tegan And Sara, The Con (2)
14. Modest Mouse, We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank (2)
15. Radiohead, In Rainbows (2)
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Richard Thompson, Sweet Warrior
Richard Hawley, Lady's Bridge
Apples in Stereo, New Magnetic Wonder
Black Dice, Load Blown
New Pornographers, Challengers
REISSUE OF THE YEAR
Robyn Hitchcock, I Wanna Go Backwards
***
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | Next »
- Comments