And now, presented so you
can find the writer you most closely resemble (or despise), this year's
best-of-music ballots. First, some fun facts:
— Of the 30 records on the
main list, 22 received a grade of B+ or higher in their initial A.V. Club review. Two were not reviewed (Flying Lotus and The
Gaslight Anthem) when they came out. Three got straight Bs (Erykah Badu,
Hercules And Love Affair, and Lil Wayne). Two got B-minuses (Vampire Weekend
and Wolf Parade). And one got a whopping D+ (sorry, Mates Of State!).
— Of the 19 people who
voted, there were 18 different number-ones.
— We haven't heard of most
of the records on Aaron Burgess' list, either.
— The Abe Vigoda and Nick Cave records were cited four times
each, but didn't come anywhere near charting.
— Please use the comments
section not only to decry the lameness of our lists, but also to publish your
own.
The Ballots
Joshua Alston, freelancer
1
Erykah Badu
New Amerykah Pt. 1
(10 pts)
2
TV On The Radio
Dear
Science
(10 pts)
3
The Foreign Exchange
Leave
It All Behind
(10 pts)
4
Portishead
Third
(9 pts)
5
Flying Lotus
Los Angeles
(9 pts)
6
Raheem DeVaughn
Love
Behind The Melody
(8 pts)
7
Q-Tip
The Renaissance
(8 pts)
8
Jazzanova
Of All The
Things
(7 pts)
9
Koushik
Out My Window
(6 pts)
10
Black Milk
Tronic
(6 pts)
11
Nicholas Payton
Into the
Blue
(5 pts)
12
Stereolab
Chemical
Chords
(5 pts)
13
Daedelus
Love To Make
Music To
(3 pts)
14
Peter Hadar
Well Dressed
For The Art Show
(2 pts)
15
The Sea And Cake
Car
Alarm
(2 pts)
[pagebreak]
The Ballots
Christopher Bahn, Minneapolis
city editor
1
Cloud Cult
Feel Good
Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes)
(15 pts)
2
Death Cab For Cutie
Narrow
Stairs
(10 pts)
3
Wreckless Eric and
Amy Rigby
Wreckless Eric And Amy Rigby
(9 pts)
4
Kasai Allstars
In
The 7th Moon, The Chief Turned Into A Swimming Fish And Ate The Head Of His
Enemy By Magic
(8 pts)
5
The Hold Steady
Stay
Positive
(8 pts)
6
Ladytron
Velocifero
(8 pts)
7
Bon Iver
For Emma,
Forever Ago
(7 pts)
8
TV On The Radio
Dear
Science
(7 pts)
9
Atmosphere
When Life
Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold
(7 pts)
10
Retribution Gospel Choir
Retribution Gospel Choir
(7 pts)
11
Cat Power
Jukebox
(4 pts)
12
Firewater
The
Golden Hour
(4 pts)
13
James
Hey Ma
(2 pts)
14
Paul Westerberg
49:00
(2 pts)
15
DeVotchKa
A Mad And
Faithful Telling
(2 pts)
[pagebreak]
The Ballots
Andy Battaglia, New York city
editor
1
M83
Saturdays=Youth
(12 pts)
M83's earlier albums brimmed
with promise, but their comely electronic textures sounded lifeless in the
end—like dramatic gestures that aspired toward grandeur but got hung up
where bombast goes to live and die. Saturdays=Youth corrected for that by cleaning up the edges and
leaning hard against melody. The result is an album that traffics in songs
rather than atmospheres, and even if the songs sound wedded to a sort of Breakfast
Club memory of the 1980s, they play
as distinctly modern for the space they luxuriate in.
2
Erykah Badu
New Amerykah:
Part One
(10 pts)
Erykah Badu came back after a
few years away with the calmest kind of vengeance, with an evocative series of
R&B; sketches sung by a star so starry that she sounds most powerful when
barely there.
3
Luciano
Fabric 41
(10 pts)
A worldly DJ/producer (grown
from a mix of Swiss and Chilean roots), Luciano reconciled dance music's
appetite for ecstatic thrills and austere minimalism on a DJ mix that plays
just as well on any scale—big vs. small, palpable vs. obscure, hands in
the air vs. hands drawing diagrams of beats that build and recede when the mood
calls for it.
4
Deerhunter
Microcastle
(10 pts)
5
Lil Wayne
Tha Carter III
(8 pts)
6
Frightened Rabbit
The
Midnight Organ Fight
(8 pts)
Indie-rock done totally
right—with more passion than poise, and absolutely no
anxiety-of-influence to fight against.
7
Of Montreal
Skeletal
Lamping
(8 pts)
8
Los Updates
First If You
Please
(8 pts)
More than any other album I
loved this year, First If You Please
came out as a viable candidate for what pop might sound like in 20 or 30 years.
It was made in a minimal-techno mold—as fashioned by the likes of Ricardo
Villalobos and Luciano, among many rustling others. But Los Updates mastermind
Jorge Gonzalez upends the album's propulsive purpose with songs about sex that
writhe, churn, and moan—sometimes awkwardly but also automatically, like
songs about sex should.
9
Blitzen Trapper
Furr
(8 pts)
It's hard to place what
exactly about Blitzen Trapper can make a listener flash so hard on The Band.
But it's hard to place Blitzen Trapper in almost every way—save for
somewhere near the sweet spot where rootsy rock retains its formative swagger
and faith in chance.
10
Bon Iver
For Emma,
Forever Ago
(5 pts)
11
Quiet Village
Silent
Movie
(5 pts)
12
Atlas Sound
Let The
Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel
(3 pts)
13
Nico Muhly
Mothertongue
(3 pts)
14
Theo Parrish
Sound
Sculptures Volume 1
(1 pts)
Maker of a magically patient
kind of dance music, Theo Parrish wrings more out of the ephemeral aspects of
rhythm and swing than most producers can hope to swallow in a lifetime. His
slow, sensuous (and let's just say it: stoner) style of house-music is big in
his native Detroit, but Parrish sounds like he'd be at home wherever a few beats
can be given time to glisten.
15
Raphael Saadiq
The Way I
See It
(1 pts)
HONORABLE
MENTIONS
- 2562, Aerial
- Amp
Fiddler/Sly & Robbie, Inspiration Information - Carl
Craig, Sessions - Flying
Lotus, Los Angeles - Kid
Creole, Going Places: The August Darnell Years 1976-1983 - The
Mole, As High As The Sky - Paavoharju, Laulu Laakson Kukista
- Ricardo
Villalobos, Vasco - Stefann
Goldman, The Transitory State - Kylie
Minogue, "Wow"
[pagebreak]
The Ballots
Aaron Burgess, freelancer
1
Opeth
Watershed
(15 pts)
2
Meshuggah
obZen
(14 pts)
3
Fucked Up
The Chemistry
Of Common Life
(14 pts)
4
Satyricon
The Age Of Nero
(12 pts)
5
Enslaved
Vertebrae
(10 pts)
6
Gojira
The Way Of All
Flesh
(10 pts)
7
Harvey Milk
Life… The
Best Game In Town
(9 pts)
8
Paint It Black
New
Lexicon
(8 pts)
9
Leviathan
Massive
Conspiracy Against All Life
(6 pts)
10
Ceremony
Still Nothing
Moves You
(6 pts)
[pagebreak]
The Ballots
Scott Gordon, Madison city
editor
1
Earth
The Bees Made
Honey In The Lion's Skull
(10 pts)
2
DeVotchKa
A Mad And
Faithful Telling
(10 pts)
3
Deerhoof
Offend Maggie
(10 pts)
4
Fucked Up
The Chemistry
Of Common Life
(10 pts)
5
Wye Oak
If Children
(10 pts)
6
Bound Stems
The Family
Afloat
(10 pts)
7
Ponytail
Ice Cream
Spiritual
(5 pts)
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Abe Vigoda, Skeleton
Black Mountain, In The
Future
Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever
Ago
Nick Cave And The Bad
Seeds, Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
The Dears, Missiles
Dengue Fever, Venus On
Earth
Doomtree, Doomtree
Damien Jurado, Caught In
The Trees
Flying Lotus, Los Angeles
Horse Feathers, House With
No Home
Land Of Talk, Some Are
Lakes
The Magnetic Fields, Distortion
The Night Marchers, See You
In Magic
Oneida, Preteen Weaponry
Parts And Labor, Receivers
Retribution Gospel Choir, Retribution Gospel Choir
Shearwater, Rook
Subtle, ExitingARM
Thee Oh Sees, The Master's
Bedroom is Worth Spending A Night In
We Versus The Shark, Dirty
Versions
Jim White, Transnormal
Skipperoo
[pagebreak]
The Ballots
Marc Hawthorne, San Francisco
city editor
1
Coldplay
Viva La Vida Or
Death And All His Friends
(10 pts)
2
American Music Club
The
Golden Age
(10 pts)
3
Sun Kil Moon
April
(10 pts)
4
Loquat
Secrets Of The Sea
(10 pts)
5
Kate Nash
Made Of Bricks
(10 pts)
6
Sigur Rós
Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust
(10 pts)
7
The Teenagers
Reality
Check
(10 pts)
8
Vampire Weekend
Vampire
Weekend
(10 pts)
9
The Helio Sequence
Keep
Your Eyes Ahead
(10 pts)
10
Kaki King
Dreaming Of
Revenge
(10 pts)
[pagebreak]
The Ballots
Jason Heller,
Denver city editor
1
Off With Their Heads
From The Bottom
(15 pts)
2
Black Mountain
In The Future
(12 pts)
3
Fucked Up
The Chemistry Of Common Life
(9 pts)
4
The Dears
Missiles
(9 pts)
5
Jay Reatard
Matador Singles '08
(9 pts)
6
Trash Talk
Trash Talk
(9 pts)
7
Vivian Girls
Vivian Girls
(8 pts)
8
The Gaslight Anthem
The '59 Sound
(8 pts)
9
Young Widows
Old Wounds
(6 pts)
10
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band
13 Blues For Thirteen Moons
(6 pts)
11
Gentleman Jesse And His Men
Gentleman Jesse And His Men
(3 pts)
12
Ponytail
Ice Cream Spiritual
(3 pts)
13
U.S. Christmas
Eat The Low Dogs
(1 pts)
14
Titus Andronicus
The Airing Of Grievances
(1 pts)
15
The Estranged
Static Thoughts
(1 pts)
RUNNERS UP
Earth, The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull
Pierced Arrows, Straight To The Heart
The Magnetic Fields, Distortion
Torche, Meanderthal
Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Lie Down In The Light
Saviours, Into Abaddon
No Age, Nouns
New Bloods, The Secret Life
R.E.M., Accelerate
Times New Viking, Rip It Off
Russian Circles, Station
[pagebreak]
The Ballots
Steven Hyden, Milwaukee city
editor
1
Sun Kil Moon
April
(15 pts)
2
Drive-By Truckers
Brighter Than Creation's Dark
(15 pts)
3
The Felice Brothers
The
Felice Brothers
(10 pts)
4
Nick Cave And The Bad
Seeds
Dig, Lazarus, Dig!
(10 pts)
5
The Hold Steady
Stay
Positive
(10 pts)
6
Of Montreal
Skeletal
Lamping
(4 pts)
7
Mudcrutch
Mudcrutch
(4 pts)
8
Bon Iver
For Emma, Forever Ago
(4 pts)
9
Jay Reatard
Singles
06-07/Matador Singles 08
(4 pts)
10
Lupe Fiasco
The Cool
(4 pts)
11
Jason Anderson
The
Hopeful And Unafraid
(4 pts)
12
Parts & Labor
Receivers
(4 pts)
13
The Broken West
Now Or
Heaven
(4 pts)
14
Willie Nelson and Wynton
Marsalis
Two Men With The Blues
(4 pts)
15
Black Mountain
In The
Future
(4 pts)
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Deerhunter, Mircocastle
Headlights, Some Racing, Some Stopping
The Championship, Midnight Golden
Beach House, Devotion
Alejandro Escovedo, Real Animal
Elusive Parallelograms, And Everything Changes
Evangelicals, The Evening Descends
The Black Crowes, Warpaint
Todd Snider, Peace Queer
Marah, Angels Of Destruction
Constantines, Kensington Heights
Conor Oberst, Conor Oberst
[pagebreak]
The Ballots
Genevieve Koski, copy editor
1
Santogold
Santogold
(12 pts)
2
Los Campesinos
Hold On
Now Youngster
(12 pts)
3
Flight Of The Conchords
Flight Of The Conchords
(10 pts)
4
The Gaslight Anthem
The
'59 Sound
(10 pts)
5
The Cool Kids
The Bake
Sale
(10 pts)
6
The Hold Steady
Stay
Positive
(8 pts)
7
Drive-By Truckers
Brighter
Than Creation's Dark
(8 pts)
8
Girl Talk
Feed The
Animals
(8 pts)
9
Robyn
Robyn
(6 pts)
10
Marnie Stern
This Is It…
(4 pts)
11
Duffy
Rockferry
(4 pts)
12
Jamie Lidell
Jim
(4 pts)
13
Lupe Fiasco
The Cool
(4 pts)
[pagebreak]
The Ballots
Chris Martins, freelancer
1
Fucked Up
The Chemistry
Of Common Life
(15 pts)
2
Why?
Alopecia
(15 pts)
3
Mt. Eerie
Lost Wisdom
(12 pts)
4
Subtle
Exiting Arm
(10 pts)
5
Hercules And Love
Affair
Hercules And Love
Affair
(10 pts)
6
Bon Iver
For Emma,
Forever Ago
(10 pts)
7
TV On The Radio
Dear
Science
(8 pts)
8
Fuck Buttons
Street
Horrrsing
(5 pts)
9
Sebastien Tellier
Sexualityg
(5 pts)
10
Beach House
Devotion
(5 pts)
11
No Age
Nouns
(4 pts)
12
Facing New York
Get
Hot
(4 pts)
RUNNERS UP:
Lykke
Li, Youth Novels
Tobacco,
Fucked Up Friends
Dr.
Dog, Fate
Flying
Lotus, Los Angeles
Abe
Vigoda, Skeleton
Nick
Cave, Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
Department
Of Eagles, In Ear Park
Parenthetical
Girls, Entanglements
The
Cool Kids, The Bake Sale
Radiohead, In Rainbows
Vampire
Weekend, Vampire Weekend
Restiform
Bodies, TV Loves You Back
BEST
UNOFFICIAL RELEASES
1.
Buck 65, Dirtbike 2/3
2.
Buck 65, Dirtbike 1/3
3.
Buck 65, Dirtbike 3/3
BEST
REISSUE OF A FAMOUS PIMP DOING SPOKEN WORD:
Iceberg
Slim, Reflections
[pagebreak]
The Ballots
Michaelangelo Matos,
freelancer
1
Ne-Yo
Year Of The
Gentleman
(15 pts)
2
Various Artists
Poplife Presents Poplife Sucks
(15 pts)
3
Erykah Badu
New
Amerykah Part 1
(10 pts)
4
Raphael Saadiq
The
Way I See It
(10 pts)
5
Hercules And Love Affair
Hercules And Love Affair
(10 pts)
6
Portishead
Third
(10 pts)
7
Lil Wayne
Tha Carter III
(10 pts)
8
Flying Lotus
Los Angeles
(10 pts)
9
Fucked Up
The
Chemistry Of Common Life
(5 pts)
10
Solange
Sol-Angel
And The Hadley St. Dreams
(5 pts)
[pagebreak]
The Ballots
Chris Mincher, freelancer
1
Jim Noir
Jim Noir
(15 pts)
Jim Noir's 2006 debut Tower Of Love was one of the best collections of songs
this decade, but that's also what it felt like: a weird, wonderful mix-tape of
sorts. On his follow-up, the bowler-hatted one has turned his spaced-out
aesthetic into an actual album, and the result is a delightful one-two punch of
songwriting and artistic cohesion. There's a surging immediacy to this set,
exploding on the opening "Welcome Commander Jameson" and soaring into the
stratosphere with the bouncing electronic-pop gem "All Right." By its end,
Noir's sophomore effort is the embodiment of perfect pop music as opposed to pop songs.
2
American Music Club
The Golden Age
(14 pts)
3
TV On The Radio
Dear Science
(13 pts)
4
Fleet Foxes
Fleet Foxes
(12 pts)
5
These United States
Crimes
(12 pts)
Jesse Elliott has found a good way to ensure his music never gets
pigeonholed: Release two albums in seven months, each eclectic in its own right
and yet starkly different. On These United States' March debut A Picture Of
The Three Of Us At The Gate To The Garden Of Eden, Elliott found an unusually seamless mix
of Postal Service-esque indie electronica ("First Sight") and coolly compelling
psych-folk ("Burn This Bridge" and "Slow Crows Over"). Then, in September, he
rounded up a full band and released Crimes, a rousing, stylistic romp through roots music and
rockabilly. Recorded in Kentucky, Crimes is an ambitious throwdown at a crowded, bourbon-drinking
roadhouse, a type of blues-rock not made whatsoever for fans of blues rock.
6
Alejandro Escovedo
Real Animal
(10 pts)
Who knows what "rock 'n 'roll" even means anymore? You can take
almost any word in the dictionary, add a hyphen and stick "rock" on the end of
it, and it's a genre someone's tried to create. "Rock" may now be too
ubiquitous for simple characterization, but, if there's any value left in the
term's original definition, Alejandro Escovedo's Real Animal is rich indeed. On his ninth studio
album, decades into his musical career, Escovedo has an astounding level of
passion for the kind of rough, unapologetic rock that finds strength in focus
and power in simplicity. Escovedo is not dabbling in artfulness here; Real
Animal brings together
the swagger of his punk roots and the emotion of his bluesier days.
7
Vampire Weekend
Vampire Weekend
(9 pts)
8
Eric Hutchinson
Sounds Like This
(7 pts)
Those looking for an obvious crack on, say, Lindsay Lohan can
trust Perez Hilton to supply that to them. Serious music fans would not put
much stock in his personal playlist—but after gushing about Hutchinson's Sounds
Like This, it appears he
at least got one right. Not that it's too hard to find merit in Hutchinson's
sophomore studio effort; front to back, Sounds Like This is a playful, piano-powered pop album
that brings to mind Stevie Wonder's most freewheelin' days. Sure, on first
impression, Hutchinson looks like one of those dime-a-dozen sensitive
pretty-boy songwriters who dominate the adult-alternative-driven soundtracks of
certain TV network drama series, and, yes, the album is sure to get play in all
the mainstream places that will make music snobs gag. But one can't knock the
guy for putting out such an energetic, supremely catchy collection of sharply
penned songs that people outside of the local independent CD shop will
appreciate it.
9
Zox
Line In The Sand
(5 pts)
Beginning as a sort of reggae-ska-jam-band, then turning into a
sort of generic funk-rock group, Zox never merited much attention, only hinting
at any break with conventional "alternative" crapola best kept at community
festivals and college bars. Which makes Line In The Sand, the group's third effort, a wonderful
reminder that the most unlikely bands can create something worthwhile when they
earnestly push themselves to. And Zox certainly have pushed themselves here,
with a show of musicianship that lasts long after the CD has stopped spinning.
On Line In The Sand,
reggae and ska are just diverse elements in a larger musical formula that's
open and without limits—whether it's substituting lead guitar with
electric violin (it works), or borrowing qualities of The Police and their '80s
brethren, or grounding songs in a weepy synth hook (as on "Goodnight"),
everything fits and nothing feels forced.
10
Wolf Parade
At Mount Zoomer
(4 pts)
[pagebreak]
The Ballots
Josh Modell, managing editor
1
Frightened Rabbit
The Midnight
Organ Fight
(15 pts)
2
Los Campesinos
Hold On
Now Youngster
(15 pts)
3
Death Cab For Cutie
Narrow Stairs
(12 pts)
4
The Walkmen
You & Me
(12 pts)
5
Wolf Parade
At Mount
Zoomer
(9 pts)
6
Future Of The Left
Curses
(9 pts)
7
Sigur Rós
Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust
(9 pts)
8
Tokyo Police Club
Elephant Shell
(4 pts)
9
Spiritualized
Songs In
A&E;
(4 pts)
10
Retribution Gospel Choir
Retribution Gospel Choir
(4 pts)
11
Eef Barzelay
Lose Big
(4 pts)
12
Snow Patrol
A Hundred
Million Suns
(3 pts)
AWESOME SONGS FROM ALBUMS
THAT DIDN'T MAKE THE LIST
Deerhunter, "Little Kids"
R.E.M., "Horse To Water"
Titus Andronicus, "My Time
Outside The Womb"
Land Of Talk, "Some Are
Lakes"
Forward Russia, "We Are Grey
Matter"
Okkervil River, "Calling And
Not Calling My Ex"
Bloc Party, "Zephyrus"
Dead Confederate, "The Rat"
Abe Vigoda, "Dead City/Waste
Wilderness"
Elbow, "The Bones Of You"
Crooked Fingers, "Let's Not
Pretend (To Be New Men)"
The Wombats, "Let's Dance To
Joy Division"
Sun Kil Moon, "Moorestown"
Lil Mama, "Lip Gloss"
Los Campesinos, "We Are
Beautiful, We Are Doomed"
Cold War Kids, "Something Is
Not Right With Me"
M83, "Graveyard Girl"
Coldplay, "Lost!"
The Hold Steady, "Stay
Positive"
Pink, "So What"
Santogold, "L.E.S. Artistes"
[pagebreak]
The Ballots
Sean O'Neal, Austin city
editor
1
TV On The Radio
Dear
Science
(10 pts)
2
Fucked Up
The Chemistry
Of Common Life
(10 pts)
3
The Walkmen
You & Me
(10 pts)
4
Department Of Eagles
In
Ear Park
(10 pts)
5
Shearwater
Rook
(10 pts)
6
Future Of The Left
Curses
(5 pts)
7
Spiritualized
Songs In
A&E;
(5 pts)
8
Lupe Fiasco
The Cool
(5 pts)
9
Foals
Antidotes
(5 pts)
10
British Sea Power
Do You
Like Rock Music?
(5 pts)
11
Parenthetical Girls
Entanglements
(5 pts)
12
Fleet Foxes
Fleet Foxes
(5 pts)
13
These New Puritans
Beat
Pyramid
(5 pts)
14
Bon Iver
For Emma,
Forever Ago
(5 pts)
15
Constantines
Kensington
Heights
(5 pts)
NEAR
MISSES:
The
Fall, Imperial Wax Solvent
Wire, Object 47
DeVotchKa, A Mad And Faithful Telling
Nick
Cave, Dig Lazarus Dig
Why?, Alopecia
Hercules
And Love Affair, Hercules
And Love Affair
Delta
Spirit, Ode To Sunshine
M83, Saturdays = Youth
Atlas
Sound, Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel
The
Childballads, Cheekbone Hollows
Mt.
Eerie, Lost Wisdom
Cool
Kids, The Bake Sale
The
Dears, Missiles
The
Kills, Midnight Boom
White
Denim, Exposion
The
Black And White Years, The
Black And White Years
Re-Up
Gang, Clipse Presents: Re-Up Gang
Hello
Lovers, Gone With The Wind
Crystal
Stilts, Alight Of Night
The
Physics Of Meaning, Snake Charmer And Destiny At The Stroke Of Midnight
Abe
Vigoda, Skeleton
31Knots, Worried Well
Blood
On The Wall, Liferz
GOOD
SONGS FROM ALBUMS NOT ON THE LIST
MGMT,
"Time To Pretend"
R.E.M.,
"Living Well Is The Best Revenge"
Kanye
West, "Welcome To Heartbreak"
Cold
War Kids, "Something Is Not Right With Me"
Antony
And The Johnsons, "Shake That Devil"
The
Cure, "This. Here And Now. With You"
Duffy,
"Mercy"
Facing
New York, "Cops On Bikes"
GZA,
"Life Is A Movie"
The
Lemurs, "Yours Mine And Ours"
Cadence
Weapon, "House Music"
David
Byrne/Brian Eno, "Strange Overtones"
Subtle,
"The Crow"
School
Of Seven Bells, "Wired For Light"
Dead
Confederate, "The Rat"
Does
It Offend You, Yeah?, "With A Heavy Heart (I Regret To Inform You)"
MOST
IRRITATING SONG OF THE YEAR
TIE:
Katy Perry, "I Kissed A Girl" / Lil Wayne, "A Milli" / Yael Naïm, "New Soul"
BEST
REISSUE/REDISCOVERY
Arthur
Russell, Love Is Overtaking Me
BIGGEST
DISAPPOINTMENT
TIE:
The Streets, Everything Is Borrowed / Of Montreal, Skeletal Lamping
ALBUM
THAT DIDN'T MAKE THE LIST OUT OF PRINCIPLE, BUT WHICH IS NEVERTHELESS A LOT OF
FUN TO LISTEN TO:
Girl
Talk, Feed The Animals
THE
ROGER MURTAUGH "I'M TOO OLD FOR THIS SHIT" AWARD:
The
Death Set (and anything else from "Wham City")
[pagebreak]
The Ballots
Amanda Petrusich,
freelancer
1
No Age
Nouns
(10 pts)
2
Fleet Foxes
Fleet Foxes
(10 pts)
3
Department Of
Eagles
In Ear Park
(8 pts)
4
Bonnie "Prince"
Billy
Lie Down In The Light
(8 pts)
5
Bon Iver
For Emma,
Forever Ago
(8 pts)
6
The Tallest Man On
Earth
Shallow Grave
(8 pts)
7
Various Artists
Como Now: The Voices Of Panolo Co., Mississippi
(7 pts)
8
Wolf Parade
At
Mount Zoomer
(6 pts)
9
David "Honeyboy"
Edwards
Roamin' And Ramblin'
(5 pts)
10
Black Mountain
In
The Future
(5 pts)
11
Erykah Badu
New
Amerykah, Part 1
(5 pts)
12
TV On The Radio
Dear Science
(5 pts)
13
Lykke Li
Youth
Novels
(5 pts)
14
Hercules And Love
Affair
Hercules And Love
Affair
(5 pts)
15
Abe Vigoda
Skeleton
(5 pts)
[pagebreak]
The Ballots
Keith Phipps, editor
1
Los Campesinos!
Hold On
Now Youngster
(15 pts)
2
Mates Of State
Re-Arrange
Us
(14 pts)
3
The Walkmen
You &
Me
(13 pts)
4
TV On The Radio
Dear
Science
(12 pts)
5
Portishead
Third
(11 pts)
6
R.E.M.
Accelerate
(7 pts)
7
The Helio Sequence
Keep Your Eyes Ahead
(7 pts)
8
Nada Surf
Lucky
(7 pts)
9
Vampire Weekend
Vampire Weekend
(7 pts)
10
Kanye West
808s &
Heartbreak
(7 pts)
[pagebreak]
The Ballots
Nathan Rabin, head writer
1
Steinski
What Does It All
Mean?
(10 pts)
2
The Cool Kids
The Bake
Sale
(10 pts)
3
Rhymefest featuring
Michael Jackson
Man In The Mirror
(10 pts)
4
Nas
Untitled
(10 pts)
5
The Mighty Underdogs
Dropping Science Fiction
(10 pts)
6
Girl Talk
Feed The
Animals
(10 pts)
7
Kidz In The Hall
The In
Crowd
(10 pts)
8
Lupe Fiasco
The Cool
(10 pts)
9
Illa J
Yancey Boys
(10 pts)
10
Madlib
Beat Konducta
Volume 5-6
(10 pts)
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Jake One, White Van Music
J-Zone featuring Chief
Chinchilla, Live @ The Liqua Store
[pagebreak]
The Ballots
Vadim Rizov, freelancer
1
The Walkmen
You & Me
(10 pts)
2
David Byrne And Brian Eno
Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
(10 pts)
3
Elbow
The Seldom Seen Kid
(10 pts)
4
Vampire Weekend
Vampire Weekend
(10 pts)
5
Beach House
Devotion
(10 pts)
6
Lil Wayne
The Carter III
(10 pts)
7
TV On The Radio
Dear
Science
(10 pts)
8
Neon Neon
Stainless Style
(10 pts)
9
Sparks
Exotic Creatures
Of The Deep
(10 pts)
10
The Dø
A Mouthful
(10 pts)
10 GREAT SONGS FROM
NON-TOP-10 ALBUMS
No Kids, "Great Escape"
Rivers Cuomo, "Can't Stop
Partying"
Grand Archives,
"Sleepdriving"
T.I. featuring Rihanna, "Live
Your Life"
The Donkeys, "Nice Train"
Tindersticks, "The Organist
Entertains"
Radar Brothers, "When Cold
Air Goes To Sleep"
The Dodos, "Park Song"
Margot & The Nuclear So
& So's, "I Am A Lightning Rod"
Dominique Leone, "Duyen"
[pagebreak]
The Ballots
Kyle Ryan, associate
editor/Decider editor
1
Mates Of State
Re-Arrange
Us
(10 pts)
2
Death Cab For Cutie
Narrow
Stairs
(10 pts)
3
The Hold Steady
Stay
Positive
(9 pts)
4
Flight Of The Conchords
Flight Of The Conchords
(9 pts)
5
The Gaslight Anthem
The
'59 Sound
(9 pts)
6
Rise Against
Appeal To
Reason
(9 pts)
7
Parts & Labor
Receivers
(8 pts)
8
TV On The Radio
Dear
Science
(8 pts)
9
The Roots
Rising Down
(8 pts)
10
Crooked Fingers
Forfeit/Fortune
(7 pts)
11
Eef Barzelay
Lose Big
(7 pts)
12
Lupe Fiasco
The Cool
(3 pts)
13
ohGr
Devils In My
Details
(2 pts)