90 Okkervil River - Great. Potential top 3 of the year for me.
90 Belle & Sebastian -
87 M.I.A. - I like this a lot, but not as much as the hype or as much as my 6 year old son likes it.
87 Sleater-Kinney - Haven't spent enough time with this yet.
87 Blueprint -
86 Edan -
86 The Go-Betweens - Nice, but doesn't compare to their early work.
85 The Magic Numbers -
85 Saint Etienne -
85 Spoon - Due to my huge disappointment with KTM, I probably won't pick this up.
85 Eels -
85 System Of A Down -
84 Shakira -
83 The Hold Steady -
83 Kraftwerk -
83 Engineers -
83 The Decemberists - Good. Should give it a spin again soon.
83 Ry Cooder -
82 The Mountain Goats -
82 The Russian Futurists -
82 The Lucksmiths - I really like this one a lot. I think the addition of another guitar really gives this a nice sound and it's packed with good tunes.
82 Common -
82 Mice Parade -
81 Akron/Family -
81 The Books -
81 Annie -
81 Bloc Party -

And Antony and the Johnsons is really growing on me. Has top 5 potential for the year.

Okkervil River was a bit of a letdown for me, especially after their last album and the EP from last year. Several great songs, but there is some filler (in my mind) between those great songs that just kind of plods along and doesn't do much to carry the album forward for me. I tend to skip through those songs. I guess its kind of like a pr0n video in that respects.

Spoon alternates with The National (yes, yes I know) as my favorite release so far this year.

MIA is decent. I tend to listen to it every once in a while rather than overplaying it a lot. I think it tends to have a novelty factor for me since I haven't listened to a lot of similar music to it (does Gwen Stefani count?). Once that novelty wears off, we will see.

The Books is a bit disappointing after the last two records, which I admittedly only heard within the past 6 months. I don't listen to it enough to have formed a real solid opinion of it; I just know that its a let down after the other albums.

The only other ones from that list I am interested in hearing are System of a Down and Common.

It's great to see Okkervil River getting their (at least in my opinion) due, and to see that LooGAR and Yail agree with me on something. The list does seem pretty boring in general, but I haven't actually heard many of the albums. Is that B&S just the b-sides collection or whatever? It's surprising that a b-sides collection from them would garner such praise when their albums have been receiving tepid reviews for years.

The B&S B-sides are better than any of their albums, except maybe Tigermilk.

If you could only own one thing by B&S, I'd even say it should be the B-sides collection.

I already had more than half of the EPs collected on it, but I still bought it mostly because I didn't have "This is Just a Modern Rock Song", which might contain the best song they've ever done.

"B-Sides" is kind of a misnomer for the stuff on the B&S comp. I'm pretty sure it contains EPs in their entireity (as opposed to b-sides from singles), and I don't think any of them contain songs that are also on their albums* other than "State I Am In" (and the version on Tigermilk is much weaker IMO). The only stuff of theirs I really care about is their early EPs, and those pretty much make up the first disc of that comp. The second disc is good, too, and I think the whole thing is pretty cheap. I'd recommend it.

*I haven't heard their last two albums so I could be wrong about this.

I hope it's better than their last one.

In less than five words:

90 Okkervil River - ZZZZZZ
90 Belle & Sebastian - GROW THE FUCK UP
87 M.I.A. - OVER IT
87 Sleater-Kinney - BEST EVER
87 Blueprint - HOTNESS
86 Edan - SUB-BLUEPRINT HOTNESS
86 The Go-Betweens - DECENT MUSIC (FOR CODGERS)
85 Saint Etienne - PLEASE BREAK UP
85 Spoon - BLEW IT
85 Eels - VAGRANT
85 System Of A Down - ZAPPA
84 Shakira - FUCK YOU
83 The Hold Steady - LYRICS AWESOME, MUSIC DATED
83 Kraftwerk - HOT AS HELL
83 Engineers - SPIRITUALIZED
83 The Decemberists - COOL FOR DORKS
83 Ry Cooder - WHO CARES?
82 The Mountain Goats - FUCK OFF AND DIE
82 Common - WACK BEATS
82 Mice Parade - NIFTY
81 Akron/Family - BEARDS
81 The Books - PITCHFORK
81 Annie - OVER IT
81 Bloc Party - DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE

Those will be in consideration for me at the end of the year.

Where's Of Montreal on that list? I would rank that above Montain Goats.

In fact, that could make a top 5 for me.

Spoon
S-K
Okkervil
Of Mtl
B & Seb

definitely...I wasn't impressed with the previous disc either...they're back on their game with this new one though

That's cool. I kinda felt like the last one was more like a solo album for the lead singer and that the rest of the band didn't really have much to do with it.

Yeah their last one sucked, but this is their best yet in my opinion.

Definitely. Will be in my Top 10 for sure at the end of the year, and is actually a good candidate for my Top 5.

i don't see much dislodging this. I spin this almost daily now.

Internal logic malfunction. Please reboot. "I don't like things I have never heard."

Additionally, Chavez Ravine is a brilliant evocation of time and place, I like it much better than Buena Vista Social Club.

And while I am at it, Bloc Party is fairly forgettable, nice to hear something try to rock a bit, but please, please tell me why Anthony and the Johnsons isn't the Yoko Ono screeching of the 00's... unlistenable... makes me want to give him the links to "how to off yourself" websites. That empress has no clothes.... <shudder>.

90 Okkervil River - interested
87 M.I.A. - yes, I like it, yes because of the beats
87 Sleater-Kinney - really digging this, love the drums on it
85 Spoon - its alright
83 Engineers - kind of meh, didn't really stand out
83 The Decemberists - May pick this up
83 Ry Cooder - better than Buena Vista eh, Harry? i'm intrigued
82 The Russian Futurists - this could be worth checking out more fully
82 Mice Parade - this is on my "to buy" list...i think it got there based on an obnerian recommendation...i can't recall who though
81 The Books - kind of a let down
81 Bloc Party - is OK

It's really fascinating in that sense. Very well constructed and executed. I like this more and more with each listen.

There's a lot of non music in that list. I'm not down with this whole anti-everything movement going on. It's worse than the whole retro thing that started it. Well here's to next year.

90 Okkervil River - very good
90 Belle & Sebastian - fantastic (but shouldn't be on this list)
87 M.I.A. -
87 Sleater-Kinney - great
87 Blueprint -
86 Edan - pretty good
86 The Go-Betweens - have it but still haven't listened to it.
85 The Magic Numbers - very good. kinda got a british polyphonic spree thing going on.
85 Saint Etienne -
85 Spoon - my favorite of theirs...but i've never been a huge fan.
85 Eels -
85 System Of A Down -
84 Shakira -
83 The Hold Steady -
83 Kraftwerk -
83 Engineers - meh good.
83 The Decemberists - very good.
83 Ry Cooder -
82 The Mountain Goats -
82 The Russian Futurists -
82 The Lucksmiths - very good.
82 Common - pretty ok good.
82 Mice Parade -
81 Akron/Family -
81 The Books -
81 Annie -
81 Bloc Party - favorite song on the radio good.

e-stone, how about 88 - antony & the johnsons "i am a bird now"?

damn, i thought i quoted the entire first post over...must've deleted that by mistake?

anyways, i'm gonna bring that in to listen to tomorrow. i haven't listened in a while, and i really need to. all i can remember is that the last time i heard it, it really annoyed me.

it was somehow skipped by the original poster. antony & the johnsons annoyed me too on first listen. after a month+ passed, i tried again, liking it next time around.

90 Okkervil River - I don't like it as much as their last album but do like the song "Black"...I still need to listen to this more.
90 Belle & Sebastian - is this the singles comp - I already have them
87 M.I.A. -
87 Sleater-Kinney - good and hard
87 Blueprint -
86 Edan -
86 The Go-Betweens - only listened to snippets but pretty cool
85 The Magic Numbers -
85 Saint Etienne -
85 Spoon - quite good - also need to really listen to more but I love the song Sister Jack
85 Eels - i have one eels album and never listen to it
85 System Of A Down -
84 Shakira - like i would buy a mother fucking shakira album
83 The Hold Steady - I really like it but all the songs sound the same
83 Kraftwerk -
83 Engineers - i work with a lot of these bastards and they don't make very good managers
83 The Decemberists - love it - 16 Military Wives is great and I also love a lot of the ballads
83 Ry Cooder -
82 The Mountain Goats -
82 The Russian Futurists -
82 The Lucksmiths -
82 Common -
82 Mice Parade -
81 Akron/Family -
81 The Books -
81 Annie -
81 Bloc Party - i may be going against the grain but I really like this album - much better than recent albums by similar artists

[rev horton]I wanna take to steppin' with a hard-chargin' big black buck... I wan' him to pick me up in his Chevrolet pick-up truck... It's interracial cowboy homo kind of love[/rev horton]

For some reason, this popped into my head from reading the Fu's snap and Idiopath's snap-back. I believe you both to be caucasian, though. So, it's not really interracial.