- 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
MARC HAWTHORNE
1. Rilo Kiley, Under The Blacklight (15)
After a three-year break spent tending to side projects, Jenny Lewis and Blake Sennett returned to Rilo Kiley with a bold statement, one that removed them from the indie-rock ghetto and left some fans behind. But those who stuck around know that Under The Blacklight is the most exciting, eclectic pop album of the year, effortlessly jumping from sultry rock to disco to an LL Cool J-like slow jam while touching on everything from sex to post-relationship freedom. Rilo Kiley has actually gotten more adventurous here, unafraid to blow out a chorus with gospel singers, release an anomalous Heart-like rocker as the first single, or get all Fleetwood Mac when the mood strikes. Even when things get serious, there's a playfulness that makes the twists and turns fun to follow, and the whole band (especially Lewis) exudes the confidence necessary to pull it off.
2. Bloc Party, A Weekend In The City (14)
They say that you have your whole life to write your first album, and a sr for your second. While that may seem daunting, even more intimidating is having to follow up a wildly popular left-field debut that had people calling you the next version of an international phenomenon. The Franz Ferdinand comparisons now seem kind of silly, as does the assumption that Bloc Party would suffer a sophomore slump: A Weekend In The City doesn't have a perfect single like "Banquet," but it's more interesting than Silent Alarm, offering lots of energized, epic moments and clever hooks to go with Kele Okereke's bleak pictures of the world around him. But as with all good pop creations, a song like "Hunting For Witches" can be enjoyed simply for its driving guitar, electronically assisted danceable beat, and catchy chorus, even as Okereke sings about racism and blood.
3. Tegan And Sara, The Con (13)
On their fifth studio album, the twin-lesbian-sisters-from-Canada team of Tegan and Sara Quin has really hit its stride, matching every unorthodox impulse and otherworldly vocal with little magical hooks made extra sharp by co-producer Chris Walla (Death Cab For Cutie). Some of the keyboards give The Con an '80s flavor, but for the most part it's a modern pop-rock classic filled with unshakable sentiments like "Maybe I would have been something you'd be good at / maybe you would have been something I'd be good at / But now we'll never know / I won't be sad but in case I'll go there every day to make myself feel bad."
4. Band Of Horses, Cease To Begin (12)
It was hard to believe that Band Of Horses' debut album was filled with Ben Bridwell's first attempts at songwriting, and naturally it begged the question: Was Everything All The Time a product of beginner's luck, or did he have more tricks up his sleeve? Cease To Begin proves the latter, and erases any fears that Bridwell's move back to South Carolina would turn BOH into a freedom-rock band. There's still some country twang, but Cease To Begin leans toward dreamy indie rock propelled by Bridwell's wonderful voice, which melts any room confronted by "No One's Gonna Love You."
5. Vanessa Carlton, Heroes And Thieves (11)
You know it's going to be an uphill battle when your biggest and best song is released before you even have an album out, but more than five years after the success of "A Thousand Miles," Vanessa Carlton continues to make gorgeous piano pop for a fan base that's big enough to have a nickname (members call themselves Nessaholics). Like 2004's Harmonium, Heroes And Thieves—which, oddly enough, is on Irv Gotti's The Inc. Records—features Carlton's now-ex Stephan Jenkins (Third Eye Blind) in the production chair, as well as Linda Perry on a couple of tracks and Stevie Nicks adding vocals to "The One." There's definitely some high-school poetry on here and it's certainly not edgy, but Heroes And Thieves is one of the prettiest things released this year.
6. 1997: …A Better View Of The Rising Moon (9)
If you're out of high school and hang out with people your own age, it might be tough to get anyone you know to give 1997 a fair shake, unless, of course, you mention that the young Chicago group sounds like the version of The Anniversary that made Designing A Nervous Breakdown. The female component on …A Better View Of The Rising Moon has already been replaced, so who knows if 1997 will still be worth listening to in 2008, but in 2007, its poppy emo is downright addictive.
7. Mark Ronson, Version (8)
True, it's hard to go wrong when you pack your album with covers of tried-and-true gems like The Smiths' "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before," Radiohead's "Just," and The Charlatans UK's "The Only One I Know," but producer and DJ Mark Ronson isn't just riding coattails here. His horn-blasted second full-length sports all sorts of creative revisions and great guests, including Lily Allen on Kaiser Chiefs' "Oh My God," Amy Winehouse on The Zutons' "Valerie," and Robbie Williams on "The Only One I Know."
8. The New Trust, Dark Is The Path Which Lies Before Us (7)
"A Spoiled Surprise, A Cheap Reveal" by The New Trust
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The New Trust isn't new, but this is the first full-length from the band led by former Velvet Teen bassist Josh Staples. The most atheistic group in indie rock specializes in driving melodic blasts that share some characteristics with pre-embarrassing emo, and it's not afraid to admit that it's cut from a different cloth: "And you'll see, all through the annals of history / motherfuckers just like The New Trust / keeping a lid on the mystery / of what makes motherfuckers like us, us."
9. The Pipettes, We Are The Pipettes (6)
Like The Spice Girls for the indie-rock set, The Pipettes are a bunch of cute Brits who sing about dancing, kissing, and one-night stands to an updated version of '60s-girl-group pop. We Are The Pipettes has been out overseas since last summer, but the remixed U.S. edition has a pair of extra tracks, including one of The Pipettes' best songs, "Dance And Boogie."
10. Robert Francis, One By One (5)
"Little Girl" by Robert Francis
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Wise beyond his years, 20-year-old singer-songwriter Robert Francis plays engaging folk that gets even better as it gets dreamier, bringing to mind everyone from Conor Oberst to For Stars to Jason Lytle. On his debut album, which includes appearances by Ry and Joachim Cooder, Francis doesn't shy away from examining the darkness that inspires him: "I wanna kill myself / just to kill the pain / but then you know you'd feel like you're the one to blame."
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