This was complicated. When I first sat down to compile my favorite albums of the past year, I thought it was going to be difficult to find 25. After all, according to my last.fm profile, I must’ve spent more time listening to dance singles and old post-punk, shoegaze, and Krautrock records over the past 12 months. Then I realized there were 30 albums I really loved that were in fact released this past year. Then I was like, well, I could stretch it to a top 40. Then that went to 50, and even that left out some albums I liked. So I settled on 28 just because I liked the sound of it.
I had short reviews written for each of these, but decided to scrap them. These albums already speak for themselves.
Remember, these are MY favorite albums, so if you disagree with me…no hard feelings. Feel free to leave comments about what YOU think was deserving this year.
Honorable Mention (Varying from “could’ve easily made the list” to “have their moments”): The Walkmen “You & Me”; Fuck Buttons “Street Horrrsing”; Benzi and Diplo Present Paper Route Gangstaz “Fear and Loathing in HuntsVegas”; Clipse “Road to Till the Casket Drops”; Abe Vigoda “Skeleton”; Broken Social Scene Presents: Brendan Canning “Something For All of Us”; The Gutter Twins “Saturnalia”; Earth “The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull”; The Breeders “Mountain Battles”; Nine Inch Nails “The Slip”; Mogwai “The Hawk is Howling”; Girl Talk “Feed the Animals”; The Bug “London Zoo”; Fleet Foxes “Fleet Foxes”; Young Jeezy “The Recession”; T.I. “Paper Trail”; Sun Kil Moon “April”; Silver Jews “Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea”; Hot Chip “Made in the Dark”; Sigur Ros “Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust”; No Age “Nouns”; Beck “Modern Age”; Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy “Lie Down in the Light”; Evangelicals “The Evening Descends”; Department of Eagles “In Ear Park”; British Sea Power “Do You Like Rock and Roll?”; Genghis Tron “Board Up the House”; The Verve “Forth”; of Montreal “Skeletal Lamping”; The Fireman “Electric Arguments”; Coldplay “Viva La Vida”; Kanye West “808s and Heartbreak”; Vampire Weekend “Vampire Weekend”; Times New Viking “Rip it Off”; Foals “Antidote”; Mr. Oizo “Lambs Anger”
My apologies to: Santogold, The Magnetic Fields, Stereolab, Squarepusher, Matmos, Beach House, Marnie Stern, Free Kitten, Dungen, Morgan Geist, GZA, Q-Tip, Enslaved, Krallice, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Deerhoof, The Notwist, The Howling Hex, John Maus, Blitzen Trapper, Parenthetical Girls, WHY?, The Dodos, Growing, Larsen, Diamanda Galas, Einstürzende Neubauten, and the multitudes of albums that I either haven’t spent enough time with or gotten around to yet.
28. Atlas Sound – Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel
27. Destroyer – Trouble in Dreams
26. Lil Wayne – Tha Carter III
25. Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – Real Emotional Trash
24. High Places – High Places
23. Crystal Castles – Crystal Castles
22. Wolf Parade – At Mount Zoomer
21. Leviathan – Massive Conspiracy Against All Life
20. Xiu Xiu – Women as Lovers
19. The Very Best – Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit are The Very Best
18. Harvey Milk – Life…The Best Game in Town
17. Hercules and Love Affair – Hercules and Love Affair
16. Nachtmystium – Assassins: Black Meddling, Pt. 1
15. David Byrne & Brian Eno – Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
14. TV on the Radio – Dear Science
13. Autechre – Quaristice
12. Cut Copy – In Ghost Colours
11. Kangding Ray – Automne Fold
10. Mount Eerie – Lost Wisdom
9. M83 – Saturdays = Youth
8. Spiritualized – Songs in A&E
7. Erykah Badu – New Amerykah, Pt. 1: 4th World War
6. Portishead – Third
5. Grouper – Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill
4. Lindstrøm – Where You Go I Go
3. Deerhunter – Microcastle/Weird Era Cont.
2. Fennesz – Black Sea
1. Gang Gang Dance – Saint Dymphna
