| 5.0 classic |
| Animal Collective Merriweather Post Pavilion |
| This album changed my perception of music. truly. after hearing this album non stop when it came out back in January (it STILL is in heavy rotation on my ipod) i realized what ELSE music could be. the music is almost fully made up of electronics and samples of anything from water drips to a didgeridoo. all this is swirled together with sincere and psychedelically modified vocals from 2 singers who blend their voices in a way reminiscent of the Beach Boys. this is the psychedelic music of the future. this album is also their most "pop" album but this is far from anything you'll be hearing on the radio. their use of extensive sampling and the amount of electronic sounds is something that can only be done now in the age of information and technology. for that this album feels like a work of art that is pushing things to the limit with what is available now. and, well, its also the most emotionally impact-ful album of the year. this is music backed by serious passion. its dynamic, engrossing, and hypnotizing. this is one of my favorite albums not ONLY for the year but of all time. check this album out. now. |
| Pink Floyd The Dark Side of the Moon |
| Radiohead Amnesiac |
| Radiohead Kid A |
| The Mars Volta De-Loused in the Comatorium |
| The Mars Volta Frances the Mute |
| The xx xx |
| A stunning first album from these british young-uns. their sound is made up of male and female vocals trading back and forth over restrained guitar and bass and simplistic drum machine beats and most importantly; silence. yes silence. the use of space and silence on this album is why it ranks so highly for me. they never seem to get too loud, yet somehow it feels overwhelming powerful. these songs will stay ingrained in your head, and all the while you'll wonder "how the hell do they do it?" if these guys continue making albums this good in the future i may have to question if they are actually aliens sent to create beautifully restrained music for us humans to learn from. that or just ANOTHER brilliant british band. |
| 4.5 superb |
| A Perfect Circle Thirteenth Step |
| Angel Olsen Burn Your Fire for No Witness |
| Animal Collective Feels |
| Animal Collective Strawberry Jam |
| Animal Collective Fall Be Kind |
| Animal Collective Honeycomb/Gotham |
| Arcade Fire Funeral |
| Battles Mirrored |
| Blonde Redhead 23 |
| Cold War Kids Robbers and Cowards |
| Daft Punk Alive 2007 |
| Danger 09/14 2007 |
| Devendra Banhart Rejoicing in the Hands |
| Devendra Banhart Nino Rojo |
| Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros Up From Below |
| Fleet Foxes Fleet Foxes |
| Fleet Foxes Helplessness Blues |
| Girls Album |
| This SF band essentially made the PERFECT album to listen to in SF. the songs are a mix of surf, garage / lo-fi, shoegaze / wall of sound, and AWESOME. you know...the genre? after seeing these guys play their album release party at Ameoba Records in SF i was sold. they are INCREDIBLE. every song on the album is a deranged pop song that will somehow pull at your emotional strings AND make you wanna go lay on the beach in SF and watch the fog roll in. support these guys! come on, they named their debut album "Album". sold? |
| Gnarls Barkley The Odd Couple |
| Honeycomb Honeycomb EP |
| iamamiwhoami To Whom It May Concern |
| Ima Robot Ima Robot |
| James Blake James Blake |
| Justice † |
| Matt and Kim Grand |
| Fun, quick, awesome punk / pop songs are sometimes all you need. this album is just under 30min and there is no messing around. 11 songs that rarely go over 3min. this album is like snack food, except reeeally good snack food. i'm talking like deep-fried nachos smothered in chocolate sprinkles and whipped cream. |
| Metric Fantasies |
| Mew No More Stories |
| the albums full title is an entire poem which is the lyrics to a stunning song in the middle of this album. so yeah, these guys are conceptual prog-rockers. this album, however, shows incredible range. there's some beautifully quiet lullabies, some full force dance-able rock songs, some twisted time- signature stuff that will have you scratching your heads to uncover what all the instruments are playing, and even a backwards / forwards song. yes a song that can be played backwards AND forwards with lyrics that are only uncovered by playing it both ways. this album is brilliantly paced and each song is seriously a masterpiece. truly a musicians album. this is difficult and remarkably beautiful music. |
| MGMT Oracular Spectacular |
| Muse Black Holes & Revelations |
| Panda Bear Tomboy |
| Pendulum Hold Your Colour |
| Pink Floyd The Wall |
| Radiohead Hail to the Thief |
| Radiohead In Rainbows |
| Rancid ...And Out Come the Wolves |
| St. Vincent Strange Mercy |
| Surfer Blood Astro Coast |
| Tame Impala Innerspeaker |
| The Clash London Calling |
| The Dresden Dolls The Dresden Dolls |
| The Dresden Dolls Yes, Virginia... |
| The Faint Danse Macabre |
| The Faint Wet From Birth |
| The Flaming Lips Embryonic |
| SPEAKING of returning to the weird, The Flaming Lips did. in a BIG way. this double-album will seriously piss off fans who expected them to continue down the path of the pop (as they were slowly beginning to do the last couple albums) but for me....well its just about the best album they've ever put out. this album is weird as hell, but holy shit is it good. 60's Psychedelia is back in style and The Flaming Lips are paving the road in new directions. it's also hard not to mention their incredible live show when talking about them. so ill reduce it to this string-of-words sentence: space-bubble dancing-animals confetti-cannons birthed-band-members. yeeeah. well anyways this album is incredible. LONG LIVE THE WEIRD!! |
| The Killers Hot Fuss |
| The Kills Midnight Boom |
| The Knife Shaking the Habitual |
| The Mars Volta Amputechture |
| The Mars Volta The Bedlam in Goliath |
| The Mars Volta Octahedron |
| The Mars Volta are still my favorite band, and as much as i feel like i need to talk about why i DIDNT give it a higher place on my top 10, i'd rather say why its on here in the first place. this is an AWESOME album. if you've never heard The Mars Volta this is probably the easiest place to start. they consider this their "Acoustic" album. it isn't really acoustic, but it is definitely their most restrained album. the songs aren't epically long, they contain very digestible song structures, and the melodies are beautiful. this album is amazing, but i do hope they return to the weird for the next album. |
| The Shins Chutes Too Narrow |
| The Shins Wincing the Night Away |
| Thom Yorke The Eraser |
| tUnE-yArDs w h o k i l l |
| tUnE-yArDs Nikki Nack |
| TV on the Radio Dear Science |
| White Rabbits It's Frightening |
| the single off this album "Percussion Gun" is one of the best songs of the year, and the rest don't disappoint either. if you like Radiohead, check these guys out. like Matt & Kim these songs feel absolutely crammed with brilliant ideas. unlike Matt & Kim the songs also have emotional value. the use of piano is unique and extremely interesting. you'll have to hear it for yourself. |
| Yeah Yeah Yeahs Fever To Tell |
| Youth Lagoon Wondrous Bughouse |
