A week since last update. (kinda using this to keep track of my top 20.)

01) "picaresque" the decemberists
02) "cold roses" ryan adams & the cardinals
03) "illinois" sufjan stevens
04) "i'm wide awake, it's morning" bright eyes
05) "twin cinema" the new pornographers
06) "late registration" kanye west
07) "jacksonville city nights" ryan adams & the cardinals
08) "silent alarm" bloc party
09) "nashville" josh rouse
10) "a certain trigger" maximo park

11) "digital ash in a digital urn" bright eyes
12) the magic numbers
13) "gimme fiction" spoon
14) "the sunset tree" the mountain goats
15) "plans" death cab for cutie
16) "pixel revolt" john vanderslice
17) "frances the mute" the mars volta
18) "the mysterious production of eggs" andrew bird
19) "witching hour" ladytron
20) "black sheep boy" okkervil river

21) "apologies to the queen mary" wolf parade

[#2 vs #1 & #4 vs #5 are big battles] (i'm currently reviewing the entire top 20, with 11-20 already done.)

Need more listens:

"playing the angel" depeche mode
"you can imagine how much fun we're having" atmosphere

not-yet-released shot at top 20:

"29" ryan adams

[EDIT: damn smileys]

that's funny, i was gonna go find this thread earlier so i could find my last top 10.

Thanks for doing my legwork, pal.

after a half-year inner struggle, bloc has moved ahead of rouse

1. Illinoise – Sufjan Stevens
2. ER – Nils Pettar Molvaer
3. Z – My Morning Jacket
4. The Mysterious Production of Eggs – Andrew Bird
5. Black Sheep Boy – Okkervil River
6. Chavez Ravine – Ry Cooder
7. Twin Cinema – The New Pornographers
8. Broken Social Scene – Broken Social Scene
9. Black Forest – A- Frames
10. Zweite Meer – F. S. Blum
11. Miniatures – Alog
12. Multiples – Keith Fullerton Whitman
13. Pine Cone Temples - Thuja
14. Gimme Fiction – Spoon
15. Black Mountain – Black Mountain
16. Alligator – The National
17. A Bigger Bang – The Rolling Stones
18. Apologies to Queen Mary – Wolf Parade
19. On My Way to Absence – Damien Jurado
20. Nashville – Josh Rouse
21. Belladona – Daniel Lanois
22. Caribou – The Milk of Human Kindness
23. Architecture in Helsinki – In Case We Die
24. Le Fumeur de Ciel – Julien Neto
25. Get Thee Behind Me Satan – White Stripes
26. Face the Truth – Stephen Malkmus
27. Kinski – Alpine Static
28. Some Cities – Doves
29. Brigadoon – P:ano


Very tentative and incomplete

I wonder why I've never read anything about Damien Jurado on this board. It seems he has qualties that match Hayden, or Iron and Wine, or Smog, or other artists that have been mentioned a lot.

Edit: Six Organs of Admittance (see this is impossible)

There are a fair number of Damien Jurado fans here. I like his stuff alright, but have never found his songwriting (lyrically or otherwise) nearly as compelling as, e.g., Sam Beam's.

[bump]

i like damien jurado all right - I think the I Break Chairs album is his best. But billyg is right - not as good as some of those others....more of a 2nd tier guy for me.

I had him at the top of my list in 2003, at least on one list. There were a few different albums that topped my list at one point or another that year, including Califone and the Shins and Broken Social Scene and Songs:Ohia. But here's what I said on the day he was at the top of the pile ...

1. Damien Jurado - Where shall you take me?
Wow, beautifully disturbing album. Opens with a murderer confessing "first came the screams and blood on the floor" and closes with a plea to "come save me from this fire". Not exactly what one would call a cheery evening of entertainment. But it's one of the hardest albums to stay away from in recent memory. Very compelling, for me. Abilene is surely one of the finest songs I've heard in recent times and the whole album is a gut wrencher. Many comparisons come easily to mind, most notably Springsteen's Nebraska. Or something more recent like Gillian Welch's excellent Time (The Revelator), but Jurado also evokes a Neil Young feel too, the ragged Neil Young that mourned for his lost friends on Tonight's the Night. More consistent than his Ghost of David album, but maybe not quite the severe emotional ups and downs and stellar highlights of songs like Medication and Great Today and Rosewood Casket from that one. And very short at only about 32 minutes. But nearly absent of anything I would consider a misstep as well. After a couple dozen listens, these songs just won't go away, so maybe it's wrong to say the highlights don't reach the same level as in the past. Not number one every day of the week, but it is today, so that's why it's up here at the top.

I'm guessing you are referring to some offhand remark I made about not having any great respect for Damien Jurado as a lyricist in my thread asking for who today's top songwriters are. I'll stand by that remark, but at the same time say I don't consider Jurado a 2nd tier guy if the comparison set are his contemporaries. I like him more than Sam Beam, Sufjan Stevens or Hayden in fact.

Rehearsals for Departure is my personal favorite and one of my favorite albums of this decade. I was listening to his new one yesterday and its better than I remembered although its still probably borderline top 20 and a bit disappointing relative to some of his better work.

[bump -- last big purchase made]

A week since last update. (kinda using this to keep track of my top 20.)

01) "picaresque" the decemberists
02) "cold roses" ryan adams & the cardinals
03) "illinois" sufjan stevens
04) "i'm wide awake, it's morning" bright eyes
05) "twin cinema" the new pornographers
06) "late registration" kanye west
07) "jacksonville city nights" ryan adams & the cardinals
08) "silent alarm" bloc party
09) "a certain trigger" maximo park
10) "nashville" josh rouse

11) the magic numbers
12) "digital ash in a digital urn" bright eyes
13) "gimme fiction" spoon
14) "the sunset tree" the mountain goats
15) "pixel revolt" john vanderslice
16) "the mysterious production of eggs" andrew bird
17) "witching hour" ladytron
18) "frances the mute" the mars volta
19) "black sheep boy" okkervil river
20) "apologies to the queen mary" wolf parade

Need more listens:

"29" ryan adams [on initial listen, this'll drop between #8 & #13]

01. M. Ward - Transistor Radio
02. Silver Jews - Tanglewood Numbers
03. Tom Vek - We Have Sound
04. Animal Collective - Feels
05. My Morning Jacket - Z
06. Spoon - Gimme Fiction
07. White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan
08. Beck - Guero
09. Black Mountain - s/t
10. Boards of Canada - The Camfire Headphase
11. BRMC - Howl
12. Low - The Great Destroyer
13. LCD Soundsystem - s/t
14. Caribou - Milk of Human Kindness
15. Sufjan Stevens - Come on Feel the Illinoise
16. Doves - Some Cities
17. The National – Alligator
18. Neil Young - Prairie Wind
19. Black Dice -Broken Ear Record
20. Nickel Creek - Why Should the Fire Die?

last one before I do the final shmoo poll list:

01. Deerhoof - The Runners Four
02. Smog - A River Ain't Too Much to Love
03. Orthrelm - OV
04. Animal Collective - Feels
05. Devendra Banhart - Cripple Crow
06. Akron/Family - s/t
07. Silver Jews - Tanglewood Numbers
08. Jackie-O Motherfucker - Flags of the Sacred Harp
09. Badgerlore - Stories for Owls
10. Iron & Wine/Calexico - In the Reins
11. Gospel - The Moon Is a Dead World
12. Angels of Light & Akron/Family - Akron/Family & Angels of Light
13. Gang Gang Dance - God's Money
14. Need New Body - Where's Black Ben?
15. Bonnie "Prince" Billy and Matt Sweeney - Superwolf
16. Autechre - Untilted
17. Sunburned Hand of the Man - Complexion
18. Lightning Bolt - Hypermagic Mountain
19. No-Neck Blues Band - Qvaris
20. Mike Ladd - Father Divine

21. Mouthus - Slow Globes
22. Low - The Great Destroyer
23. Wilderness - s/t
24. Serena Maneesh - s/t
25. Antony and The Johnsons - I Am a Bird Now
26. Six Organs of Admittance - School of Flower
27. High on Fire - Blessed Black Wings
28. Dälek - Absence
29. Edgar 'Jones' Jones - Soothing Music for Stray Cats
30. Jamie Lidell - Multiply
31. Black Dice - Broken Ear Record
32. Caribou - The Milk of Human Kindness
33. Busdriver - Fear of a Black Tangent
34. OOIOO - Gold and Green
35. M. Ward - Transistor Radio
36. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
37. Animal Collective - Prospect Hummer
38. Pelican/Mono - Split (Hydra Head Industries Version)
39. Mike Ladd - Negrophilia
40. Magnolia Electric Co. - What Comes After the Blues

Still would like to hear Konono No.1 and Edan, but I've got enough things to consider already.

I've whittled this sled-dog down to 25. Thought it'd be easier this year.

1) smog – a river ain’t too much to love
2) oneida - the wedding
3) jens lekman – oh you’re so silent jens
4) shugo tokumaru - LST
5) spoon - gimme fiction
6) edan – beauty & the beat
7) six organs of admittance – school of the flower
8) deerhoof – the runners four
9) bonnie 'prince' billy/m sweeney – superwolf
10) black dice - broken ear record
11) calexico/I+W – in the reins
12) silver jews - tanglewood numbers
13) dalek – absence
14) a. collective – feels
15) crooked fingers - dignity & shame
16) lightning bolt – hypermagic mountain
17) lcd soundsystem – s/t
18) black mountain – s/t
19) low – the great destroyer
20) sunn 0))) – black one
21) akron/family - s/t
22) tom vek – we have sound
23) sufjan stevens – illinoise
24) the clientele – strange geometry
25) d yellow swans – demonic yellow swans