Okay, So I'm making a top albums of the year list, only really because the pitchfork one was so ridiculous. It's interesting. The Pitchfork lists are all vaguely worded - what is a "top" album? Is it the best? The one you liked the most? The most popular? The one you listened to the most?

So, here is my methodology: Aside from the first two, which I think are pretty undeniable in terms of impact and excitement, and are artistically solid enough to (more or less) merit their placement, this is pretty much my play count from iTunes for the year, filtered to full length, non-live, non-reissue albums, roughly in order, though I did make slight modifications.

1: Radiohead, In Rainbows - Being album of the year in Pitchfork, I suppose, is an honor, or at least greatly helps a more or less unknown band. Maybe Pitchfork thought they got enough recognition already. Maybe everyone at pitchfork is old like me and secretly wishes they'd put out the rockin followup to OK Computer everyone claims the last two albums were going to be. And hell, Panda Bear is pretty awesome. But calling any other album Album of the Year in 2007 is like calling someone other than Churchill leader of the year in 1940. A one hundred year old industry died this year, and we all know the date - October 10, 2007. At the time I downloaded it for free but in the end they got another hundred bucks or so of my money for the deluxe edition. Is it as good as it could be? No, but I'm starting to realize every Radiohead album isn't as good as it could be for me, because I keep thinking they are going to be perfect. Because I keep thinking they're going to change the world. It's an irony that even though it's not as perfect as I'd love it to be, it did, in fact, change the world like no other album.

2: The Arcade Fire, Neon Bible - if anyone, or anything, could come close to In Rainbows, it was The Arcade Fire. The first nine, ten months of this year were so clearly "their year." Their February return to live shows - the Judson Memorial Church shows in New York, the London Shows - were so eagerly anticipated it was overwhelming. Never have I seen ever irony-laced, obscure loving, unrelentingly unemotional indie posse work themselves into such a lather for a live show. Could they live up to that hype, after taking such time off from the live shows? No, probably not. But by the time I finally caught the Neon Bible tour at Coachella, they were ready, willing and able to live up to the insane expectations of a crowd literally filed with grown men crying. Does the album live up to it? God, how could it, really? But it's gotten better over time, and though I still love it less than Funeral, I recognize now that it's probably the more accomplished and remarkable of the two albums.

3: Low, Drums and Guns - I will love this band till the end of time, and there's only been one Low album ever that didn't immediately make me in awe with them all over again (that was Trust). This one is no exception. "The Beatles and the Stones" is so weird, and the sound effects are all so quirky. Not as overwhelmingly insane as The Great Destroyer, but in the end the album I listened to more than any other this year, even more so when you include the excellent Daytrotter Sessions EP.

4 : Stars, In our Bedroom After the War - YES. God, weren't we all nervous? Especially after the last one? And especially upon first listen? Man what the hell is going on on this album? I remember Judi and I listening to it for the first time as we were driving through Alaska this summer, and I remember how confused and nervous we were. But in the end, its just so brilliant and surprising, and diverse - from Genova Heights to Personal to Meet Me at the Barricade to the rockers. Wow. Awesome. It is my big regret of this year that for all my shows, I missed this tour completely, despite trying like four times.

5: Shellac, Excellent Italian Greyhound - It's no secret I'm obsessed with Steve Albini, and it's no secret I've been waiting for this album to come out since "Steady as She Goes" made an appearance on one of the Burn To Shine DVDs. I didn't love the End of Radio live at Touch and Go, mainly because I was obsesed with hearing "Prayer to God" as soon as possible, and we had just seen freakin Big Black, but the album is solid and awesome and I listen to it all the time. "Kittypants" is pretty wonderful, and "The End of Radio" totally works on the album. He's still doing it, and I am eternally grateful, even if he won't let us license his music for some website or something.

6: Grinderman, Grinderman - I'm so proud of ole st. Nick for stepping out into the air and taking a deep breath, and a stretch, and shaking off the songs about his hospice care Nurses and the bells of St. Edmunds informing him of the time and getting back to singing about the No Pussy Blues and consensual rape in the morning. I think he made the album in like a week and it sounds like it, but damn it, that's what he needed, and we're all better off for it.

7: Jesu, Conqueror - OMG I couldn't stop listening to it for like three months as loud as humanly possible, and then I saw them and they were so awesome and loud and man they just make you want to bang your head real slow, with your fist in the air.

8: Band of Horses, Cease to Begin - I thought "Funeral" was an awesome song, and then I heard "Ghost in y House" and... lordy. They are so strong, and so getting stronger, and man I can't wait to see them again next month. Crank that song up when driving a winding road in the english countryside and man, that's a good time right there.

9: Sunset Rubdown, Random Spirit Lover - I grabbed this from work cuz Kenji said if you liked Caribou/Manitoba you'd like these guys, and I sorta liked Caribou/Manitoba so why not, right? I didn't realize how magical, timeless and complex it would be. I think it's perhaps more a spiritual brethren to Neutral Milk Hotel. They're living in their own universe, and in that way they remind me of early Devendra or In Gowan Ring, but they're so much more accomplished, diverse and sprawling than that. Unfortunate name, though.

10: Gravenhurst, The Western Lands - Randomly picked this up on the recommendation of my coworker Phil, who knows that I have a soft spot for the Shoegaze, but it turned out to be so much more. I can't put my food on it. You're listening to it thinking it's kind of pretty and maybe like Auburn Lull or something, and then it gets to the tune "trust" and it all clicks together and it's pretty weird. Phil and I tried to put our finger on it, but we couldn't, and I can't here, but maybe check it out.

11: Til We're Blue or Destroy, This Train - If I had any pull in the music industry, these guys and every one of their 20 individual solo bands would be signed to Merge or something and they'd be touring the country like they need to do so that everyone can see easily one of the best live shows in america right now. Like up there with BSS and the Arcade Fire, and I'm not saying that hyperbolically. I waited for this self-released debut all year, and it captures them fairly well - it's nothing compared to the live show, but enough to get you roped in, and "Don't Ever Let Those Bastards Win" is a timeless classic and "All Shook Up" is just achingly beautiful in its chorus and simplicity.

12: Ulrich Schnauss, Goodbye - It was sad to see his live show crash a few times, but god damn is this a beautiful record, as are all of his records. There's no one like him, except maybe Trentemoller, and they reassure all of us who are accused of hating electronica that we don't, in fact, hate electronica, just that most of it is derivative and shit. Oops I'm swearing a lot now. I'll pull it back, sorry.

13: Super Furry Animals, Hey Venus! - they haven't had a perfect "hit" since "The Man Don't Give a F***" (see? I stopped) and the "Juxtabosed With You/No Sympathy" pairing, but this album is solid, compelling, weird, immaculately made and supremely entertaining, as all of their albums are. The smart man's Ween, maybe.

14: The National, Boxer - The thing about this album is I remember getting it, listening to it in order and going "holy moly, that is one solid band and one solid album," but not remembering any of the specific songs. Then throughout the year there were four songs on my iPod that I just loved and I kept going "god, who IS this" and then it always end up being them, so toward the end of the year I started listening to the whole album in order again, and yeah, man, holy moly that is one solid band and one solid album. Pitchfork called it a mix between Joy Division and Springsteen, and given my overwhelming obsession with both this year, I think that can explain my love of it as well as anything else.

15: Modest Mouse, We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank - They got back on track, they got JOHNNY FREAKIN MARR in their band, and they made their first album I can be proud of for ten years. Sweet lord, We've been listening to Modest Mouse for 11 years. It's shocking how much better they've gotten. It's shocking how good they are now - especially since the Moon and Antarctica going into the top 40 weirdness, I think, alienated a lot of us (not that they probably noticed, what with their fifteen million new fans), but now I can say I like Modest Mouse, and don't have to feel like one of those curmudgeonly old people who talks about how bands sold out or got lame. Nice job, Isaac.

16: Loney Dear, Loney Noir - I discovered this band at SXSW and had the pleasure of seeing them two more times this year, and man, they are wonderful. They make you so happy. The vocals are so otherworldly. Everything is so well done, and they're so... beautiful and unique.

17: Frost, Love! Revolution! - We discovered these guys randomly at Iceland Airwaves and I can't stop listening to it. Cold norwegian synth pop with a nice little old school melancholic twist and a cover of OMD's "messages" - what's not to love?

18 : Broken Social Scene Presents Kevin Drew's - Spirit If... - This is as good as any BSS record and gets mad props for bring this hip hop model of solo record releasing over to the indie rock and the TTs show was an awesome time and there are some genius tracks on here that I keep listening to over and over.

19: Feist, The Reminder - I liked her previous records, but this one just clicked for me, especially "Brandy Alexander," which might just be the song of the year.

20: New Young Pony Club, Fantastic Playroom - I know this is like kid's music and I'm supposed to be old but every time I hear a track from this record I love it, and it took me like six months of the year to realize it was all the same album, and since then I've been an unapologetic fan.

21: Stars of the Lid, And Their Refinement of the Decline - Rick of yesteryear probably would have put this at number one - I've seen this band live like ten times through the 12 years and 7 albums they've released, and their shows have been everything from one note to an hour to some of the most majestic, massive orchestrations you'll ever here. They could fart out a record I'd love, but instead they put out a totally solid one,

22 : Section 25, Part Primitiv - Did you know this came out this year? It has been nineteen years since a section 25 album and you'd never know it. It's like your cool older brother was all like "what you didn't know they had another album?" God, talk about a bonus in life. The world's caught up to section 25 - it sort of sounds like a mix between early 90's Wire and the Faint, but man, it's awesome. In a perfect world "Poppy Fields" would be played in clubs worldwide.

23: Blonde Redhead, 23 - okay I am being facetious placing this album at number 23, but it was a solid album. And though me and my pal Vanesco argue for the sheer unbridled enthusiasm of older Blonde Redhead shows (god, another band I've been going to see for 12 years), they are so so good live, and this album is so amazingly constructed it makes me jealous.

24: Sister Vanilla, Little Pop Rock - It's awesome this album exists - it was the little white hope that maybe the Brothers reid would patch things up, and boy did they. And the song "Can't Stop The Rock" is pretty wonderfully genius.

25: LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver - It's like when I first read Eggers and I was pissed because it was clear I could have written that book. I feel so much sympathy and alignment with James Murphy it's a little awkward and I don't talk about it much. From going to see him DJ in 2004 in London all alone through "Losing My Edge" which is still probably the song I feel most autobiographical affinity to ever. The new album's maybe not quite all that but damn did I listen to it a lot, and damn were the live shows good.

Runners Up:
PJ Harvey, White Chalk
Apes and Androids - Blood Moon
Explosions in the Sky- All of the Sudden I Miss Everyone
Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
Dinosaur Jr - Beyond
Mandy Moore, Wild Hope
Rihanna - Good Girl Gone Bad
A Northern Chorus - The Millions too Many

And a final note, I know this list is light on the hip hop. I tried, I really did. The Kanye album was so not as good as his old ones. The Jay Z album was decent. I've always hated MIA since I saw her like three times on her debut tour and she treated the audience with obvious disdain. I even bought a copy of an Umbrella remix without the rap on the beginning. In my defense, SAW a lot of hip hop this year and I did hear "OPP" more times than in any year in the last 15 or so, and man, oh man, did I dance to a lot of it.

Tags: bands, rock, rocktourist, year in review
Current Music: "" by Panda Bear, From Young Prayer