If you couldn’t tell by the silence around here the last week, I’ve been taking a bit of a break from the blog for the holidays. I plan on getting back into the swing of things next week, but for now I figured I may as well get around to doing my “Best of 2009″ list. However, since my “Best of the Decade” list was such a time-consuming endeavor, I’m gonna keep this one simple.

So, without further ado, here are my favorite 12 albums of the year, with absolutely no discussion whatsoever, and in no particular order. Why 12? Because I’d hate to leave any of these albums off the list.

Oh, and if this list looks at all familiar, you may be remembering my mid-2009 list. Guess this means that the second half of 2009 kinda underwhelmed me. If you look at everything on that list that didn’t end up making this list, those album would essentially be my “Honorable Mention” albums.

Finally, if I had to pick an overall #1, odds are I’d pick The Century of Self. Welcome back, fellas.

…And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, The Century of Self
The Antlers, Hospice
The Deep Vibration, Veracruz
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Seven-Mile Island
The Jet Age, in “Love”
Kid, You’ll Move Mountains, Loomings
My Latest Novel, Deaths and Entrances
The Rest, Everything All At Once
Sean Walsh and the National Reserve, Homesick
Tereu Tereu, All That Keeps Us Together
The Twilight Sad, Forget The Night Ahead
We Were Promised Jetpacks, These Four Walls

So here we are. It only took me a month to unveil my top 50 albums of the decade. And by “only” I mean – what the hell is my problem?

In case you missed it, the first part of the list (##31-50) is here, the second (##21-30) is here, and the third (##11-20) is here.

Let’s get this over with, shall we?

	#10: Future Clouds and Radar, Future Clouds and Radar (2007) The fact that I haven’t seen this album mentioned on any other Top Whatever list for the decade bothers the hell out of me, and, I assume, can only mean that people simply haven’t listened to it. Because, if they had, they’d know that Robert Harrison provided us with one of the most moving albums of the decade that also doubled as possibly the best pop (with a healthy dose of psychedelia) album of the past 10 years. If John Lennon were alive and making music today, it would sound a lot like Future Clouds and Radar.
	#9: Hey Rosetta!, Into Your Lungs (2008) I first discovered Hey Rosetta! via Battering Room Chris, who told me that if I liked The Frames, I’d like Hey Rosetta!. He couldn’t have been more right. Like The Frames, Hey Rosetta!’s music is epic – the songs build and build and build until they finally explode into a musical catharsis. In that sense, they also share a lot in common with the Arcade Fire and, more recently, Fanfarlo, yet for some reason can’t seem to get even a tenth of the attention of those – in my opinion – far less deserving bands. I can only hope that the band’s next album (its third), will bring the band the attention it sorely deserves.
	#8: Shearwater, Palo Santo (2006) I hadn’t listened to much of Shearwater’s music before this album came out, and to the extent I had, I’d always preferred the Will Sheff songs. So the first time I hit play to listen to the album, I wasn’t expecting much. Boy was I wrong. This album is absolutely stunning. I know they released a remastered version of the album in 2007, but I’m sticking with this version. Hell, I never even listened to the remastered version, because I simply do not believe that this album could be made any better.
	#7: Miracle Fortress, Five Roses (2007) Along with my #6 album, Five Roses was very much the soundtrack to my first six months or so living in Washington, D.C. in 2007. And I think that’s pretty appropriate. After 11 years living in New York, and after 8 years in the same job, I had uprooted my life to move to a new city to start a new business; it was all very surreal. So the dreaminess of the album fit my mood well. Guess that’s probably why I’ve been listening to it a lot recently, after moving yet again to Chicago.
	#6: Earlimart, Mentor Tormentor (2007) I’ve been a fan of Earlimart going back almost ten years now, but as much as I liked their earlier albums, I honestly had no idea that they had an album as good as Mentor Tormentor in them. A lot of it has to do with the expansion of Ariana Murray’s role in the band, including taking leading vocals on several songs and increasingly piano-driven nature of their songs. All in all, this might be the prettiest album on this list.
	#5: Low, The Great Destroyer (2005) I consider myself a fan of all of Low’s discography, but this is the only album of theirs that I truly love. The Great Destroyer found the band turning away (slightly) from its slow-core roots to deliver a guitar-rock album akin Neil Young and Crazy Horse. Yet what makes this album truly special is that it’s not just a guitar rock album — it manages to marry loud, distorted guitars with the band’s trademark musical deliberateness and patience. As a result, the album maintains all the weight an emotion of the band’s other work, but just does it in a much louder way.
	#4: Wilco, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002) I’m not sure there’s much I can say about this album that hasn’t been said by every critic, blogger and even casual music fan over the last 7-8 years. It was both the band’s artistic peak as well as its breakthrough record; and it’s the last album from the band that I truly loved. For many years I was sure that this would easily be my favorite album of the decade, but, to be honest, after seeing the band upwards of 25-30 times this decade, I’ve grown sick to death of most of the songs and can barely bring myself to listen to this album anymore. But considering how much I used to love it, and for how big a role it played in my life this decade, I honor it with a placement as my #4 album.
	#3: The Antlers, In the Attic of the Universe (2007) The band’s fantastic 2009 release, Hospice, may be the album that "broke" The Antlers, but this was the EP that first turned me onto the band (thanks, again, to Chris), and it remains my favorite Antlers release to date. It’s pretty amazing listening to this album today – I knew at the time it came out that it was the statement of an incredible young musician, but couldn’t have guessed how quickly that talent would continue to blossom, or how soon the rest of the world would notice. It’s truly been a joy to see the band’s success over the last year, and I can’t wait to see how many albums they have on my Best of the 2010′s list.
	#2: The National, Boxer (2007) It’s kind of amazing how The National’s music grows on you, and digs into your head. When I first heard Boxer, I was pretty disappointed. It didn’t have the rock songs like "Mr. November" or "Abel", and, on first listen, the slower songs didn’t grab me as much as the slower songs on Alligator ("Daughters of the Soho Riots", etc.). But with repeated listenings, the songs started to take hold, and pretty soon I couldn’t get them out of my head. And soon enough it had surpassed Alligator as my favorite album by the band – easily. Oh, and on a completely different tpic, and I can’t hear "Mistaken For Strangers" without missing living in New York.
	#1: The Wrens, The Meadowlands (2003) I briefly considered putting Boxer as my #1 album of the decade, but on a 6-hour drive to Cleveland last month for Thanksgiving I listened to both albums back-to-back, and, by the time The Meadowlands had ended, I had no choice but to (a) move it to my #1 spot, and (b) listen to the album again. This album is everything I want from an album – beauty, emotion, musicianship and a healthy dose of flat-out rock and roll. There has not been a time in the seven years since this album came out that I didn’t feel better (even if I’d felt good in the first place) after listening to this album. And that, to me, is what great music is supposed to do.

Here’s the next installment of my favorite albums of the decade. Sorry for the lengthy delay between the first two posts and this one – holidays, job interviews, blah blah blah.

Anyway, expect the final 10 sometime between now and January.

	#20: The Hold Steady, Separation Sunday (2005) I love The Hold Steady, and I doubt that they’ll ever release anything that I dislike, but I also have a feeling that they’ll never again reach the same heights as they did with Separation Sunday. The stories of Hallelujah, Gideon, et al. were still fresh; the band itself was still young enough to relate to its characters and the dirt and confusion of their lives; and we all still thought that Franz’s moustache was ironic. Their followup albums have been excellent, but to me this marks the last album where the band was truly the "best bar band in the world."
	#19: The Delgados, Universal Audio (2004) Sadly, I didn’t get into The Delgados until this, the final album of their career. And when the band hit New York during its final ever US tour, I was stuck working in Japan. And when, miracle upon miracle, they actually came to Tokyo while I was there, they played a club in Shibuya where shows started at 7pm – two hours before I got out of work. But while I never got a chance to see the band, this album became the soundtrack to my time in Japan, and I can’t listen to it without thinking of shitty banks, Don Quixote, the 42nd floor bar, or David Brent. And, no, I don’t expect anyone to know what I’m talking about.
	#18: Silversun Pickups, Carnavas (2006) This is probably the most commercial album on my entire Top 50 list (although, according to the Grammy’s, the band didn’t exist before 2009), and while that usually scares me off from albums, I absolutely adore Carnavas. Yeah, the Smashing Pumpkins comparisons are pretty accurate, but I don’t care. I loved the Pumpkins’ early output and I can only listen to Gish so many times. And if I were doing a "Top Songs of the Decade" list, "Melatonin" would be very, very high.
	#17: The Rural Alberta Advantage, Hometowns (2008) Kinda funny to think that this album didn’t even make my top 10 for 2008, though to my credit I did caveat its placement by saying that, if I’d had more time to listen to it, I’d likely have put it in my top 5 for the year. Looking back now, there’s a good chance it might have been #1. More than a year later, I still listen to the album every few days, and I don’t see that stopping anytime soon. Can’t wait to hear album number two.
	#16: The Twilight Singers, Powder Burns (2007) The Twilight Singers have put out several excellent records since forming in the late 90′s (around the time of the demise of Greg Dulli’s prior band, The Afghan Whigs), but to me, this was the first album that reached the same level of the Whigs’ earlier work. It’s huge sounding, emotional, and absolutely devastating. Its sole downside (IMO) is that it’s a tad over-produced, but not so much that it makes it anything other than an incredible album.
	#15: Interpol, Turn On The Bright Lights (2002) I’ll admit, I haven’t listened to this album in a couple of years. Not because it’s not a fantastic album. It is. But if I had to guess, I’d say that’s because of what this album has come to stand for to me — even though it didn’t come out until 2002, this album, more than any other, reminds me of what it was like to live in New York during and after 9/11. It’s dark; it’s moody; it’s the musical equivalent of the detachment from normalcy that I (and many others) were feeling then. Yet there’s a resiliency to the music, something akin to hope bubbling up beneath the darkness, that was exactly what we were looking for at that time. It truly was the perfect album for 2002. And maybe that’s why I have such a hard time listening to it now.
	#14: Lightspeed Champion, Falling Off The Lavender Bridge (2008) I still can’t believe this album came from one of the guys behind Test Icicles. To go from that band’s spazzy noise-punk to the perfect Americana pop of Falling Off The Lavender Bridge – and to do so in less than two years – is just astounding. Pitchfork described the album as a mix of Brit pop and country-rock, and that pretty much hits the nail on the head, although it fails to impart the absolute beauty – and the emotional core – of these songs. I have no idea how Dev possibly follows up this album, though I suppose we’ll know soon enough, when Life is Sweet! Nice to Meet You comes out in February.
	#13: The Frames, For The Birds (2001) The album that first introduced me to my favorite "active" band in the world. (I sure hope those quotation marks aren’t necessary much longer.) It’s also far and away the best album that the band has released, combining many of the band’s best songs ("What Happens When The Heart Just Stops", "Headlong", "Santa Maria", etc) with incredible production from Steve Albini. Whereas much of the Frames’ recorded output suffers for its failure to capture the essence of the songs that the band brings out in a live setting, For The Birds succeeds precisely because it doesn’t even try. Instead, it turns the dials down and lets the songs speak for themselves. And do they ever.
	#12: And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead, Source Tags and Codes (2002) This was supposed to be the album that re-made underground rock and roll in America. Yeah… not so much. But even though it didn’t quite set the world on fire, it still holds up as an amazing disc, doing everything that a rock and roll album is supposed to do – it’s loud; it’s dangerous; it feels like it’s about to collapse at any second yet nevertheless manages to push to even greater heights with each song. And, most importantly, it sounds just as vital in 2009 as it did in 2002.
	#11: The National, Alligator (2005) I’m still a little surprised that this album didn’t make it into my top 10. It’s the album that introduced me to the band (yeah, I came to the game a bit late), and the album that includes many of my favorite songs from the band ("Abel", "Daughters of the Soho Riots", "Looking for Astronauts"). But despite that I listened to the album pretty much non-stop in 2005 and 2006, it was quickly overshadowed – to my ears, at least – by the band’s followup album… which I’ll discuss a little bit later.

So here’s part two of my “Favorite Albums of the Decade” list. Part one resides here.

I think the plan is to take a break on lists after today for the holiday (I’m driving to Cleveland tomorrow… fun), and then pick up again next week. I may actually switch for a day or two to my “Best of 2009″ lists, and then pick back up with the end of my decade list at the end of the week. Or not. I really haven’t decided yet. So we’ll have to wait and see.

Until then, enjoy ##21-30… (oh, and yeah, the rest of the lists will go in descending order… not sure why I did this one this way.)

	#21: Bright Eyes, Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground (2002) This was the album that raised Conor Oberst from "emo kid" to "next Dylan" status, and rightfully so. Although I had been a fan of Fever and Mirrors, it wasn’t an album that you wanted to listen to all that often, lest your wrist accidentally fall into a serrated knife while listening. Lifted, on the other hand, while not the cheeriest album in the world, showed an ambition and growing range in Oberst’s music that hadn’t been evident before, including a hint ("Make War", "Laura Laurent") at the alt-country/Americana leanings that would start to dominate his music over the coming years.
	#22: Blueline Medic, The Apology Wars (2001) As discussed below (see #30), 2001 was pretty much the end of my 7-year love affair with all things emo/post-punk (which had begun with my purchase of Diary in December 1994). But what better way to go out than with The Apology Wars, an album that picked up where Jawbreaker’s Dear You had left off five years earlier — loud guitars, singalong anthemic choruses, a singer who sounded like the brother of Blake Schwarzenbach… what is there not to like? Oh, and they were Australian, which explains why you’ve never heard of them.
	#23: The Dears, Gang of Losers (2006) This album deserves to be on this list on the strength of its first single ("Ticket to Immortality") alone, which I can’t hear without thinking of the final days of WOXY.com Mark 2, when this song was getting a ton of play. But, amazingly, the rest of the album is just (or nearly) as good, finding Murray and the rest of the band (most of whom are now gone) paring back the arty ambitions of their earlier work and creating a beautiful, powerful rock album with nods to Blur, The Smiths and more.
	#24: Glen Hansard/Marketa Irglova, The Swell Season (2006) More than any other album on this list, this pick conflicts me. When I first picked up the album – essentially marketed as a Glen Hansard solo album on its initial release in 2006 – I fell in love with it. While not boasting the big, anthemic sound of Glen’s work in The Frames, it was possibly the most powerful, honest and heartwrenching music of his career. And then came the (very good) movie, and with it the hordes of NPR listeners more interested in lifestyle music and gossip over the relationship between Glen and Marketa. As a result, until the other day, I hadn’t listened to it since 2007. But on listening again, it was clear that, despite everything, it’s still a fantastic album. And that’s why it’s on this list.
	#25: Alkaline Trio, From Here to Infirmary (2001) Along with The Apology Wars (#22), the Alkaline Trio’s From Here to Infirmary was one of the last emo/post-punk albums that made up my "emo phase". There’s nothing fancy about the album, nothing that separates it sonically from a lot of other post-punk bands of the era – yet it manages to be one of the catchiest albums of the decade. And, more importantly, it’s catchy without being sugary. Just the opposite, the album is punishing, barely letting up on the throttle, and addresses topics of death, depression and loss. Pretty much everything that 25/26 year old EmoStew was looking for in a rock band.
	#26: Wussy, Funeral Dress (2005) I use the term "underappreciated" several times throughout the course of this "Best Of" list, but I’m not sure it applies to any band or album as well as Cincinnati’s Wussy. The band has released three exceptional albums filled with catchy, fuzzy, brutally-honest post-Americana, yet is barely known outside of their hometown of Cincinnati. If you haven’t already, you need to listen to this band now, and you need to start with this, their first album. It’s incredible.
	#27: Lucero, That Much Further West (2003) When I discovered this album in 2005 (after hearing the band’s followup, 2005′s excellent Nobody’s Darlings), I remember describing it to people I knew as a companion piece to Whiskeytown’s Stranger’s Almanac. Listening to it again, it’s almost uncanny – it’s almost as if Lucero took the Whiskeytown album, rearranged it, and added Ben Nichol’s much gruffer vocals to the mix. And, honestly, I’m ok with that. Unique or not, it’s a beautiful, powerful album, and one that I still listen to regularly.
	#28: Bloc Party, Silent Alarm (2005) There was a time that I absolutely adored this album, and this band. And then they put out their second album. And then their third. And it became very easy to forget just how good Silent Alarm had been. It’s moody, it’s tense, it’s even dancey. And, when it wants to, it absolutely kicks your ass. Such a shame that they haven’t been able to recapture the magic of this first album since.
	#29: Guns n’ Roses, Chinese Democracy (2008) You knew this was coming. And you know both that (a) I’m serious, and (b) I’m right. Set aside the album’s back-story, set aside the jokes about Axl’s hair plugs and personal gurus, set aside the dude with a bucket of fried chicken on his head. The simple reality is that this album fucking rocks. And if Slash had been on this album – with no other changes to the album whatsoever – the rest of the world would agree.
	#30: Nothington, All In (2007) Although I was at one time a huge fan of late-90′s era guitar-driven emo/post-punk, by 2001 or so the genre had kinda run its course – every band sounded like a carbon copy of the last, or chose to go the "pop punk" path of Blink 182 (ick). So I was pretty surprised when, six years later, I heard All In, an album that reminded me of everything that I’d loved about late-90′s emo, and felt as vital as anything the genre had produced a decade earlier. It’s loud, it’s anthemic, it’s powerful… everything a great rock and roll album ought to be.

You know, I kinda hate putting together “Top __” lists, and especially when it comes to music. I find it unbelievably difficult to compare one album to another, and to try to decide whether I like an album from 8 years ago more than one from 2 years ago. And, to be honest, my decision often changes from day to day (or even minute to minute).

As a result, much of what you’re about to see – i.e., my “Favorite Albums of the Decade” list – is pretty fluid, and subject to change depending on exactly when you ask me.

That said, there are only a few albums that I think might move completely out of the list if I were to sit down and go through this process again in a month (god forbid). What would be pretty likely to change, however, is the exact order and placement of the albums on the list. (The only exception being my 1-10 list, which I feel pretty good about.)

So, to give myself a little bit of wiggle room, I’m only going to be giving actual rankings to my top 20 albums of the decade. The rest of the list – 21-30 and 31-50 – are just going to be set forth in alphabetical order. That way I won’t be second-guessing myself nearly as much.

Anyway, without any further ado, here are albums 31 through 50 on my “Favorite Albums of the Decade” list.

##31-50 (alphabetical order only)

	Bad Religion, The Empire Strikes First (2004) Long-running punk band’s best album of the decade – an angry, energetic anti-Bush diatribe that made me remember why I fell in love with the band 15 years earlier. Too bad the dude got re-elected right after it came out.
	Chris Mills, Living in the Aftermath (2008) One of the best pure, unadulterated power pop records of a decade that had little use for power pop. Deserves so much more attention than it got.
	Cotton Mather, Kontiki (2002) Robert Harrison’s masterpiece… until his even better masterpiece a few years later (see higher in list). Absolutely perfect Lennon-esque pop songs.
	Crooked Fingers, Dignity and Shame (2005) I had a hard time choosing among Eric Bachmann’s six releases this decade, but settled on Dignity and Shame if for no other reason than it included the sublime “Sleep All Summer”. I listened to this album a ton while I lived in Tokyo in 2005.
	Damien Rice, O (2002) There was a period in late ’02/early ’03 (I got the Irish import) where this was pretty much the only album that mattered to me. Then, like many albums, I overplayed it; then it got huge; and then I completely lost interest. And then his followup was pretty bad. This is still a great disc, though.
	The Decemberists, Her Majesty (2003) Another band that I lost interest in as the decade wore on, as a result of diminishing returns and increasing pretentiousness and preciousness (and decreasing emotion) of each subsequent release. But the first couple of albums and EP were fantastic, and this album represents the band’s peak for me.
	The Delays, Faded Seaside Glamour (2004) Talk about underappreciated. The Delays released three excellent pop albums this decade, but got almost no attention whatsoever on this side of the Atlantic, with the exception of some airplay on WOXY for this, their first (and best) album.
	Devin Davis, Lonely People of the World, Unite! (2004) Another WOXY discovery, and another lost power-pop classic akin to Chris Mills’ Living in the Aftermath. He’s been working on a followup for the past few years, but as of now there’s still no release date or other info. I’ll keep waiting.
	The Exploding Hearts, Guitar Romantic (2002) One of the truly tragic stories of the decade. Young punk band in many ways the second coming of 70′s-style power pop/punk (a la The Undertones). Put out this incredible album and, while touring, flipped their van, killing three of the band’s four members and the band’s manager. They are missed.
	Frightened Rabbit, The Midnight Organ Fight (2008) The second album from young Scottish band (led by two brothers) in less than a year was a huge step forward, marrying the grandiosity of modern Scottish rock with a folkier, generally cheerier disposition. Their live act is even better than their albums.
	Jay Bennett and Edward Burch, The Palace at 4am (Part 1) (2002) This was the album that first proved to me how much of a pivotal role Jay Bennett had in making Wilco my favorite band in the world in the late 90′s and early 00′s. All of Wilco’s subsequent albums have continued to prove that point, in increasingly pointed fashion. You are missed, Jay.
	The Jet Age, What Did You Do During The War, Daddy? (2008) Quite possibly the most underappreciated true “rock and roll” album of the decade. This album – a concept “rock opera” about political disillusionment and homegrown terrorism – showcased both a musicianship and songwriting skill surpassing the vast majority of the bands on this list (or any list). If this album had come out in 1994, it would have been huge.
	The Long Winters, When I Pretend to Fall (2003) I honestly don’t know how John Roderick isn’t a rockstar. He writes absolutely amazing, intelligent, catchy pop songs, and more importantly he’s one of the funniest people I’ve ever seen on a stage. And his dispatches from Bonnarroo a couple of years ago were utterly hilarious. Maybe the next album will finally be his breakthrough? One can hope.
	Margot and the Nuclear So & Sos, The Dust of Retreat (2006) Sometimes you just need to hear some really pretty, sad music. And this album is about as pretty, and sad, as any album as I heard this decade. If I were doing a “Favorite Songs of the Decade” list – and I don’t think I am – “Skeleton Key” would be very near the top.
	The New Pornographers, Mass Romantic (2000) This is still pretty much the only New Pornographers album that I listen to. The band’s subsequent albums have been good (though Challengers didn’t do much for me), but none has felt as fun or loose as their debut. And it’s the only one where I’ve found Dan Bejar’s songs to be endurable. (Sue me – I don’t like the guy.)
	Okkervil River, Down the River of Golden Dreams (2003) I assume that most people would pick Black Sheep Boy or The Stage Names – both excellent albums – as their favorite Okkervil River albums ahead of this one. But I find this album the most consistent, and the most emotionally honest, of the band’s discography. And Will’s plaintive delivery of “It Ends With A Fall” – where it almost sounds like he’s on the verge of breaking down mid-song – is absolutely stunning.
	Pela, Anytown Graffiti (2007) While I liked this album the first time I heard it, it’s one of those few albums that I’ve come to like more and more with each listen, and with each year. In fact, if I’d made this list last year, Anytown Graffiti probably wouldn’t have been on it. Along with Ted Leo’s Tyranny of Distance and an album that features in my Top 10, this album makes me feel like I’m back living in New York. I’m still pissed they broke up.
	Rocket From the Crypt, Group Sounds (2001) I, for one, loved 1998′s RFTC, but by 2001, there were a number of Rocket From the Crypt fans wondering whether the band would ever return to the tightly-wound, angry (yet ready to party) form of its earlier albums. The fact that the band had signed to pop-punk/emo label Vagrant Records only raised further questions. Thankfully, though,Group Sounds found the band in a fierce, fighting mood. Possibly my second favorite album from the band after Scream, Dracula Scream!
	Ryan Adams, Heartbreaker (2000) Ryan’s first solo album, and possibly the pinnacle of his musical output in my opinion (though Stranger’s Almanac is close). Everything after this album – both the good and bad – seemed too self-conscious and too weighed down by Ryan’s eccentricities and ego. This album, though, was simply the sound of an amazingly talented musician whose heart had been utterly shattered honestly laying everything out on disc, more concerned with his art (and heart) than his press.
	Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, The Tyranny of Distance (2001) I had a hard time deciding between this and 2003′s Hearts of Oak. While the latter was the album that got me into Ted’s music, this was the first album of his that I truly fell in love with. I can’t hear this album without thinking of walking around the Lower East Side, or without wanting to move back to New York as soon as humanly possible.

Editor’s note: I meant to post this a couple of weeks ago, but got bogged down with some work stuff. If I were writing this now I’d probably add a couple of albums, but since this is technically a mid-year list, I’ll stick with the January-June period.

Holy crap has 2009 been a great year for music so far.

I can’t remember a year where I discovered as many great new bands, heard so many great new albums from established bands, and even watched as a once-great band rose from near-ashes to release what just might be, if I were forced to choose, my favorite album of the year so far (that would be The Century of Self, if you were wondering).  And we’re only half-way through the year.

Thankfully, though, I make the rules around here, and instead of doing a “Top 10″ or “Top 5″ or whatever list, I figured I’d do things a little differently. Basically, I have a handful of friends who I talk to every few weeks or so and, among other topics, we talk about what we’re currently listening to. Over the last month or so, I’ve probably had this conversation 5 or 6 times, and I’ve found myself answering the question in categories. Instead of just saying “I’m listening to A, B and C”, I’ve been telling people “Well, there have been a couple of great new albums from Scotland… and there are three new Canadian bands I’m really excited about… and it sure seems like there’s an alt-country renaissance right now… .” You get the idea.

So rather than try to create some sort of arbitrary order for these albums – and because there are so many albums that I’ve loved so far this year – I figured I’d split them up for you the same way I’ve done it for my friends. Not that you aren’t my friends. You totally are. I love each and every one of you. Well, maybe not you. But most of you.

Two quick notes about the list. First, a handful of the albums listed below actually came out in 2008, but I didn’t discover them until 2009 – I’ve noted those with stars (**). Second, I’ve also bolded the albums that, if forced to choose, I’d probably put in my Top 10.

Anyway, without further ado, here’s the music that I think has made the first half of 2009 just about the best 6 months of music that I can remember.

Best Albums From Young Americans
The Antlers, Hospice
**The Henry Clay People, For Cheap or For Free
Mittenfields, Demos
**Motel Motel, New Denver
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, S/T
Tereu Tereu, All That Keeps Us Together

The Alt-Country Renaissance
The Beanstalk Library, Demos
The Deep Vibration, Veracruz EP
Frontier Folk Nebraska, Pearls (see also: WOXY Lounge Act)
Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, Seven-Mile Island
Sean Walsh and the National Reserve, Homesick

The Canadian Invasion
Dark Mean, frankencottage EP
The Rest, Everyone All At Once
**The Rural Alberta Advantage, Hometowns

From The U.K./Ireland
Favours for Sailors, Furious Sons
Future of the Left, Travels With Myself and Another
**Let’s Wrestle, In Loving Memory Of
My Latest Novel, Deaths and Entrances
So Cow, So Cow
We Were Promised Jetpacks, These Four Walls

Best WOXY Lounge Acts
The Antlers
The Dears
The Deep Vibration
Frontier Folk Nebraska
Future of the Left
The Rural Alberta Advantage
Wussy

Disappointments
A.C. Newman, Get Guilty
Bishop Allen, Grrr…
Bon Iver, Blood Bank
The Decemberists, The Hazards of Love
Wilco, Wilco (The Album)

Eagerly Awaited Late 2009 Releases
Grand Archives, Keep In Mind Frankenstein
Magnolia Electric Co., Josephine
The Jet Age, TBA
The Temper Trap, Conditions
The Twilight Sad, Forget the Night Ahead
Title Tracks, TBA (probably)
Vandaveer, Divide & Conquer

A few final bits and pieces to throw on the year-end list. I may add more to this as I think of it.

5 Good Albums That Didn’t Get Mentioned In My Top 20
Birdmonster, From The Mountain To The Sea
Dead Confederate, Wrecking Ball
Parts and Labor, Receivers
R.E.M., Accelerate
The Secret Life of Sofia, Seven Summits

5 Favorite Concerts of the Year (i.e., yeah, June was pretty good)
Drive-By Truckers, 9:30 Club [5/10/08]
Frightened Rabbit, Black Cat (backstage) [6/30/08]
My Bloody Valentine, Roseland Ballroom, NYC [9/22/08]
Lightspeed Champion, Black Cat (backstage) [6/3/08]
Waco Brothers, Rock and Roll Hotel [6/5/08]

5 TV Shows I Obsessed Over this Year
30 Rock
Generation Kill
Lost
Presidential primary and general election coverage
The Wire

6 Things I’m Looking Forward to in 2009
Going through the AFF program
Lost, Season 5
President Barack Obama
Terminator Salvation
Wilco, Album #7
Wussy, Happiness Bleeds

Edited 1/1/09: So I managed to finish one more book right before the end of the year, and I’ve added it to the list (at #10). So only three David Mitchell books after all. Yay.

This year was a little unusual for me when it came to books. There were two reasons. First, much like my experience with music this year, I haven’t really read anything since before I joined the Obama campaign in September. So my overall numbers were down a bit this year.

And second, of all of the books I read, about 2/3 of them were written by one of two authors – Haruki Murakami and David Mitchell. In fact, I went through both authors’ entire collected novels in the past year. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but I’ll be damned if most of Murakami’s stuff doesn’t all blur together for me now.

So I’ll do my best to try to put these books in some sort of order. I’ll gonna leave out the Murakami books that don’t really stand out for me. I liked them all quite a bit, but I figure if I can’t remember much about them, then that means they don’t really have a place on the list. Right? Right.

So, without further ado, the books I read in 2008, in order of how much I liked them.

1. Norwegian Wood, Haruki Murakami
2. Ghostwritten, David Mitchell
3. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell
4. Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, Haruki Murakami
5. Number9dream, David Mitchell
6. The Yiddish Policeman’s Union, Michael Chabon
7. The Virgin Suicides, Jeffrey Eugenides
8. Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut
9. Wild Sheep Chase, Haruki Murakami
10. Black Swan Green, David Mitchell Gun, With Occasional Music, Jonathan Lethem

Notably, I’m also in the middle of two other books right now – Gun, With Occasional Music by Jonathan Lethem; and Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson. There’s a chance I finish one (but not both) of them before the end of the year, and if I do, I reserve the right to stick it into this list if so no other reason than to drop the list down to just 3 David Mitchell books.

Oh, and one quick honorable mention goes to Nick Hornby’s Slam. It wasn’t great, but it didn’t suck either, and coming after A Long Way Down, that’s saying a lot. Here’s hoping his next book continues the upward trend.

And so here it is… the stunning climax to my 2008 “Best Of” list.

And by climax I mean that I already posted what was supposed to be the final post in this series. And I mean that I may go back and add one or two more albums to my “disappointment” list. And I mean that I reserve the right to post a few additional lists, including favorite concerts of the year, favorite books read, etc. etc. Because, seriously, I know you really care about these things.

So without any further ado…

Ten Albums That Renewed My Faith In Humanity,
As Well As Music’s Ability To Heal The Human Soul,
And Made Me Wish (As I Always Do) That I Knew How
To Write A Damn Song And/Or Play A Freakin’ Instrument

Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever Ago [buy]
Not a surprise, I assume. Seems like everyone’s into this album these days, even my much-hated NPR. (Yes, I’m that much of a cultural snob that I even look down on NPR. Congratulations to me.) But there’s no denying how raw, powerful and real this album is. And it’s one of those few albums that can function both as a make-out album (see: “Skinny Love”) and devastatingly depressing drink-yourself-comatose music (see: “The Wolves (Act I and II)”). So it’s kinda got everything.

Chris Mills, Living In The Aftermath [buy]
Someone needs to explain to me why no one knows who Chris Mills is. And someone needs to explain to me why I had to accidentally discover this album through eMusic, rather than through Pitchfork, Brooklyn Vegan, or any of the today’s other leading purveyors of rock music taste. If you’re a fan of actual rock songcraft and songwriting, and hooks, and flat out rock and roll, do yourself a favor and get this album ASAP.

Frightened Rabbit, The Midnight Organ Fight [buy]
There was a period there that I really thought this would be my #1 album of the year. Who knows, if I were actually ranking albums, maybe it would be. Few things excite me more in life than heart-on-your sleeve, shamelessly earnest, catchy rock and roll (there’s a reasons that The Frames are my favorite band). And this album has that in spades. And their live show is pretty spectacular too.

Grand Archives, The Grand Archives [buy]
Pretty much the definition of the “sad sack” album. With maybe one exception (the Broken Social Scene-esque “The Crime Window”), the songs on this album are pretty, breezy, and entirely without testicles. But there were times this year that that’s exactly what I needed, and this album fit the bill to a T. There are very few albums in my collection that are better to listen to while sitting on the couch putting out resumes via email. (Feel free to use that in your PR materials, fellas.)

Guns N’ Roses, Chinese Democracy [buy]
Let’s get this out of the way – this ain’t Appetite for Destruction; this isn’t the greatest rock album ever made; this is a grandiose, overproduced testament to Axl’s ego. But, honestly, I don’t give a crap – it’s a spectacular album. The 1-2-3 punch of “Chinese Democracy”->”Shackler’s Revenge”->”Better” that opens the album is among the best examples of true rock and roll of the decade. And songs like “Street of Dreams”, “There Was A Time” and “Prostitute” are the logical followups to “Estranged” and “November Rain” (both of which I love). And then there’s “Catcher In The Rye”, which I already mentioned is one of my favorite songs of the year. So, yeah, make your jokes, tell me how it’s not GnR without Slash and Duff, and tell me that Axl is a crazy, ego-driven jerk. I don’t care. This album rocks.

Hey Rosetta!, Into Your Lungs [buy]
So Chris over at The Battering Room has sadly been a little quiet this year in terms of blogging, but he still had a massive affect on my year in music by introducing me to Canada’s Hey Rosetta!. As Chris told me, if you like The Frames, you’re gonna like Hey Rosetta!. In other words, if you like songs that start soft and build and build and build to huge resolutions, and (here’s that term again) wear their hearts on their sleeves, well, you kinda need to introduce yourself to this band. Start with Into Your Lungs, but be sure to get their excellent first disc, Plan Your Escape, too.

The Hold Steady, Stay Positive [buy]
Almost as soon as I named The Hold Steady’s Boys and Girls in America as my favorite album of 2006, I regretted it. I liked the album a lot, but in retrospect I think I kinda felt like I owed it to the band after years of being a fan. If I had to rewrite that list now, Gang of Losers would be my easy #1. So I’ve been very careful with Stay Positive since it came out this summer, and tried to make sure that I didn’t overpraise it or be too standoff-ish with it. Looking back on the year, though, I’m now confident that Stay Positive is a fantastic rock album from start to finish. And, more importantly, it’s a true album, where you actually need to listen to the whole thing to truly enjoy it. So this is a pick that I’m not gonna regret down the road.

The Jet Age, What Did You Do During The War, Daddy? [buy]
I mentioned the other day that Julie Ocean’s album is one of the two or three best albums that you hadn’t heard. Without question, What Did You Do During The War, Daddy? is another. If there’s one word that sums up this album, it’s power: powerful guitars; powerful bass; unbelievably powerful drums; and a powerful message – the story of one man’s search for meaning in an increasingly-crazy and violent world. I honestly don’t think there was an album released this year that will kick your ass as hard as this album. And I’m not just saying this because I know these guys. This is a legitimately great disc.

Lightspeed Champion, Falling Off The Lavender Bridge [buy]
Who knew that one of the guys who used to be in Test Icicles would turn out to be an amazingly talented songwriter with a taste for orchestral Americana-inspired indie rock? Definitely a front runner for my #1 album of the year if I were actually doing real rankings.

Mystery Jets, Twenty One [buy]
It took me a while to get into this album. Its 80′s-inspired feel is a drastic departure from the band’s proggy debut, Making Dens. But once I took a step back and accepted the album for what it was, I started to love it. Considering how many dour, depressing albums made my list this year, Twenty One’s youthful exuberance was the perfect antidote. Not a bad song on the album.

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Editor’s note: So I lied. I had intended that this post would be the last in my series of “2008 List” posts. But when I was starting to put together my remaining posts and lists, my song list was the one that I was most interested in drafting. As a result, it’s the one that’s done and ready to go. And, because I’m as impatient a person as I’ve ever known, I’m just gonna go ahead and post it. So there.

As I said when I started this “Best Of” process, this has been a weird year for me musically.  For a lot of reasons, I didn’t have an opportunity to form relationships with as many albums as I normally do.

Thankfully, though, I did, have a chance to find a number of songs through the course of the year that came to define 2008 for me.  And, as music is wont to do, for better or for worse, many of them are forever connected to certain people that I interacted with throughout the year.

Anyway, I’m only posting links to 12 of my top 13 songs here, though, because the 13th song (#7, to be specific) is a GnR tune, and I don’t really want to get sued, arrested, or in any way delay Axl from releasing more new music down the road.

Oh, and although I hadn’t intended to, I went ahead and ranked these songs in some semblance of the order of how much I liked them, listened to them, or came to identify 2008 with them. I reserve the right to change this order at any time, or to deny ever having ordered them in the first place.

1. Grand Archives, “Torn Blue Foam Couch”
2. The National, “Santa Clara”
3. Hey Rosetta!, “Handshake the Gangster”
4. Frightened Rabbit, “Head Rolls Off”
5. Bon Iver, “re: Stacks”
6. The Rural Alberta Advantage, “Don’t Haunt This Place”

7. Guns N’ Roses, “Catcher in the Rye” [no song linked]
8. Hey Rosetta!, “There’s An Arc”
9. The Hold Steady, “Slapped Actress”
10. Birdmonster, “Born To Be Your Man”
11. Okkervil River, “Lost Coastlines”
12. The Secret Life of Sofia, “Fifty Fourteeners”
13. Human Highway, “The Sound”

OK, so I’ve covered my list of 2008 disappointments. Now it’s time to focus on the positives from the year.

Here are the albums that I would normally call ## 11 to 20, but am calling my Honorable Mention list because (a) I’ve had a hard time ranking them in any sort of order, and (b) I’m lazy.

Great Albums That Deserve A High Level of Distinction, But
Weren’t Quite My Favorite Albums of the Year, But They Were
Close, So No One Should Feel Bad About It At All I Assure You

Earlimart, Hymn and Her [buy]
2007′s Mentor Tormentor remains one of my favorite albums of the decade, and I was amazed to hear that the band was following up that album with a new disc so quickly. Hymn and Her didn’t quite reach the same heights as that album, but was still a solid disc with a number of standout tracks (“Face Down In The Right Town”, the haunting “Time For Yourself”). I just wish they’d come to DC for once instead of Baltimore.

Julie Ocean, Long Gone and Nearly There [buy]
One of the two or three best albums this year that you never heard. Ten songs of pure, unadulterated power pop goodness. I dare you to listen to this album and not have a huge smile on your face. The band sadly called it a day when singer/guitarist Jim Spellman moved off to Denver, but I have a feeling that we ought not write off the other 3 band members quite so quickly. Hopefully they’ll be bakin’ up something new before long.

Liam Finn, I’ll Be Lightning [buy]
Definitely the biggest surprise for me of the year. Based on a friend’s recommendation, I saw Liam perform at SXSW in one of the huge halls in the Austin Convention Center, and after about 3 minutes I moved to the back of the room to read a magazine and wait for my friends. I was unimpressed. But then I ended up with a copy of the album, dug it, and managed to see Liam a couple more times in much smaller rooms (DC9, Rock and Roll Hotel), and it all started to come together for me. Not a perfect album, but a damn fine debut that rewards more and more with additional listenings.

Magnetic Fields, Distortion [buy]
Can’t say I was ever a huge MF fan before this, but I’m a sucker for just about anything remotely shoegaze-y/Jesus and Mary Chain-y, and this disc had that in spades. Though I suppose it’s not a huge surprise that I actually prefer the songs that Shirley Simms sings on to Stephen’s songs.

Raveonettes, Lust Lust Lust [buy]
Continuing in the shoegaze-y/Jesus and Mary Chain-y vein. Indeed, a lot of reviewers suggested that this disc should be thought of as a JAMC cover album. Honestly, I have no problem with that.

The Rural Alberta Advantage, Hometowns [buy]
I feel really guilty about this pick, because I’m fairly sure that if I’d had more time to spend with this album, it would be in my top 10 list. Hell, it might even have inspired me to do actual rankings so that I could put it in my top 5. But I’m just not there yet. If you’ve been waiting patiently for (or impatiently) for Jeff Magnum to issue that followup to In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, you may be well advised to just pick up this disc and call it a day. A stunning album.

Sad Day for Puppets, Unknown Colors [buy]
You know how I said that I’m a sucker for shoegaze? Well, the same pretty much goes for it’s step-sister dream pop. If you liked Lush, you’ll love Sad Day for Puppets. Pretty, ethereal vocals, loud guitars… what more do you want?

Shearwater, Rook [buy]
I’ll be honest… I almost put this on my disappointment list. Not because it’s bad – it’s absolutely not. It just didn’t have the same resonance with me as the band’s prior album, Palo Santo. But as I’ve been putting this list together I’ve been listening to the album again and realizing how good it actually is. No, it’s not Palo Santo, but it’s definitely one of the 20 best albums I’ve heard this year.

Silver Jews, Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea [buy]
As with the Magnetic Fields, I wasn’t a huge Silver Jews fan before this album came out. And I know that the long-time Jews fans weren’t really enamored with this disc. For me, though, it the album that finally brought me to the band, for whatever reason. After getting into LMLS, I went back and picked up the band’s earlier works, and can finally call myself a fan. But I still stand by the fact that this is an excellent album.

The Whigs, Mission Control [buy]
While this wasn’t quite as good of an album as I had hoped it would be, it was still one of the best straight-ahead rock and roll albums of the year. How “Like a Vibration” and “Hot Bed” didn’t break through on internet radio or elsewhere I will never understand. Nor do I understand why the band refused to headline in DC at all this year. My eardrums are bored, fellas – get your asses back here.

SeeqPod – Playable Search

Sorry for the delay between ##6-10 and this post. Things have been a tad hectic.

Anyway, if you’ve been reading the blog this year (and watching the “What I’m Listening To” feature in the sidebar), you probably won’t be too surprised by my top five. That said, if you haven’t had a chance to listen to buy any of these albums yet, I can’t recommend strongly enough that you do so now.

5. Wussy, Left For Dead
Another unbelievable album from the most underrated band in the country. If there’s any fairness in the world, these guys are gonna be a hit at SXSW in March and make a lot of fans on their East Coast tour. If there’s only a modicum of fairness in the world, then at minimum I’ll have a chance to see them do a show this tour that’s longer than 20 minutes.

4. Earlimart, Mentor Tormentor
I’ve liked Earlimart’s earlier albums, but prior to Mentor Tormentor I would never really have labeled myself a “fan” of the band. That has changed, drastically. I mentioned the other day that I’ve been reading a lot of Haruki Murakami this year. This album has been the perfect soundtrack to his books — beautiful, dreamlike, yet with an undercurrent of dislocation and alienation. I haven’t stopped listening to it for the last 6 months.

3. Nothington, All In
I’d never heard of Nothington before Eric at Can You See The Sunset From The Southside? posted about them a few months ago. There have been few days since then that I haven’t listened to at least one song from this album. Easily the most visceral, powerful, sing-along, pure rock and roll album that I’ve heard this year. I can’t wait to finally have a chance to see them play live.

2. The Antlers, In the Attic of the Universe
I listen to a lot of music, and make an effort to continually find new music and new bands. Yet I can’t remember the last time I discovered a band that left me so speechless, so amazed and so in awe as The Antlers’ In the Attic of the Universe. The fact that this album was made by a 21-year old makes it even more astounding. While only #2 on my list, this may in my opinion be the most important release of the year, as it marks the arrival of what could be a truly great American band. My neverending thanks to Chris for turning me onto this album.

1. The National, Boxer
What can I say about this album that hasn’t already been said by everyone else in the world? This album was the definitive “grower” for me — I didn’t love it the first few times I listened to it. But with each listen I noticed something different about the album; on each listen a different song, or a different melody, or a different passage would sink its hooks into me. Before I knew it Boxer had become not only my favorite National album, but my favorite album of the year. And their live performances this year were phenomenal. Truly a band at the absolute peak of its powers.

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(My apologies if it looks like I’m moving things around. I forgot to make a couple of last minute changes before I put this post up. Shows just how malleable these lists are, I guess.)

10. Okkervil River, The Stage Names
I didn’t really connect with The Stage Names until I caught the band live at the Rock and Roll Hotel a couple of months ago. It still doesn’t reach the levels of the band’s earlier work for me (my favorite of their albums is still Down The River of Golden Dreams), but it’s clearly the album that “grew on” me the most this year. And you gotta love an album that seamlessly incorporates “Sloop John B” into a song.

9. Parts and Labor, Mapmaker
Easily the most brutal and pummeling (in a good way) album I heard this year. There are few albums that can reach of point of pure ferocity but still remain tuneful, but this album manages it in spades. Quite possibly the best driving album of the year (as long as you’re not driving in speed-trap crazy Virginia). Sadly, the band’s longtime drummer recently left the band, and his drumwork is absolutely vital to the sound of this album, so I’m curious how the band will sound going forward.

8. Rogue Wave, Asleep at Heaven’s Gate
I’m not sure why some people have come down so hard on this album (other than the fact that they’re on Jack Johnson’s label now). To me, this is the logical extension of Descended Like Vultures, which began the process of taking the band’s quirky, catchy songs and turning them into more complicated, powerful compositions. For the first time, the band produced an album that really connects (with me at least) on an emotional level. But for a couple of clunkers toward the end of the album, this album could have been a serious contender for my #1.

7. Dead Confederate, Dead Confederate EP
I went from not knowing these guys at all to having them at #7 on my list in the space of about two weeks. Their live show with Dinosaur Jr. last month absolutely blew me away, and I haven’t stopped listening to their EP since. I don’t really agree with the numerous Cobain references they’re getting, but there’s no question that there’s a healthy grunge influence in the band’s music. I’d call it a mix of shoegaze and grunge (shoegrunge? grungegaze?). Whatever you call it, it absolutely kicks ass.

6. The Broken West, I Can’t Go On, I’ll Go On
A wonderful debut from one the most promising young bands in America. In my mind, this album picks up where Wilco left off after A.M. — an upbeat mixture of pop, rock and country influences and a serious focus on songcraft. From start to finish the album is just one great song after another. And, from what I’ve heard of the new songs the band is playing live, there’s a good bet that album #2 will be even better.

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Before I post the remainder of my Top 25, I figure now is as good a time to post my miscellaneous other thoughts on my “Best of 2007″ list.

Honorable Mention – great albums that didn’t quite make my list

Bishop Allen, The Broken String (with different production, could have been a Top 25 album)
David Vandervelde, The Moonstation House Band (fantastic, but too short)
Future Clouds and Radar, Future Clouds and Radar (just got recently – had I spent more time with it, it might have made my Top 25)
Pela, Anytown Graffiti (one of the year’s most underrated albums)
Spoon, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (I’m still waiting for their “great” album)
Steve Earle, Washington Square Serenade (a nice return to form)
Super Furry Animals, Hey Venus! (half is incredible, half I skip)
Voxtrot, Voxtrot (not as good as it should have been, but still very good)

Lost in a Time Warp – great albums not technically released in 2007
Eef Barzelay, Eef Barzelay (coming out in 2008 – deserves to finally break Eef big)
Elvis Perkins, Ash Wednesday (fantastic – get it ASAP if you don’t have it)
The Frames, The Cost (made my 2006 list, but released in US this year)
Glen Hansard/Marketa Irglova, Once (almost identical to The Swell Season, which made my 2006 list)

Biggest Disappointments – not bad, just not as good as I’d have liked
The Arcade Fire, Neon Bible
Bloc Party, A Weekend In The City
Bright Eyes, Cassadaga
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Some Loud Thunder
The Decemberists, The Crane Wife
Josh Rouse, Country Mouse City House
The New Pornographers, Challengers
Ryan Adams, Easy Tiger
The Shins, Wincing the Night Away
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Living With The Living

15. Josh Ritter, The Historical Conquests of…
Consistency, thine name is Josh Ritter. Four albums in seven years, each one better than the last. Of all of the people that the media has dubbed “the new Dylan” over the past few years, Ritter may the most deserving, both for the quality of his songwriting, his musicianship, and the adventurousness of his albums. I’m still kicking myself for missing his show at the 9:30 Club a few months ago.

14. The National Lights, The Dead Will Walk, Dear
I discovered this one on eMusic a few months back, and it was probably my best accidental discovery of the year. The album is an amazing contradiction — its songs are as beautiful as anything I’ve heard this year, yet its lyrics are unbelievably dark, covering topics such as murder and statutory rape. As the band describes on its website, the album “roughly documents the passions, trials, and regrets of a Midwestern murder.” Don’t let the subject matter scare you off though — it’s a fantastic album, and I can’t wait for the band’s followup (due next year).

13. Babyshambles, Shotter’s Nation
Finally, Pete Doherty gives us reason to believe that he really is the “fallen genius” that the British press like to portray him as. While Shotter’s Nation isn’t as consistent as his former bandmates’ (Dirty Pretty Things) debut CD last year, the best songs on this album are as good (if not better) than anything that DPT or even the Libertines ever did. Now if Pete can only keep his shit together and keep making music of this quality, he may finally start truly living up to his billing.

12. Apples in Stereo, New Magnetic Wonder
Pretty damn close to a perfect pop album. Song after song of head-bopping, singalong fun. And they even created a whole new musical scale for the album (although that effort, as well as several other songs at the end of the disc, probably should have been jettisoned before release). It’s great to have these guys back in business, although given the strength of her contributions to the album, Hilary will definitely be missed.

11. Vandaveer, Grace and Speed
If you haven’t heard of Mark Charles Heidinger yet, it’s a pretty safe bet that you will before long. Between his quasi-solo work as Vandaveer and his work as frontman of The Apparitions, Mark has been responsible for some of my favorite music over the last year or so. (Many, many thanks to WOXY.com for introducing me to both bands.) That said, though, Vandaveer’s debut album showcased a depth to Mark’s songwriting that I had no idea existed. If I were doing a “top songs” list this year, “However Many Takes It Takes” would certainly be near the top.

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