1. Friendly Foes - Born Radical
2. Raveonettes - In and Out of Control
3. Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears - Tell 'Em What Your Name Is!
4. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
5. Deer Tick - Born On Flag Day
6. Hard Lessons - Arms Forest
7. Wooden Birds - Magnolia
8. The Thermals - Now We Can See
9. Fun. - Aim And Ignite
10. Marked Men - Ghosts
11. VonBondies - Love, Hate and Then There's You
12. Jay-Z - The Blueprint 3
13. Big Pink - A Brief History of Love
14. The XX - XX
15. Neko Case - Middle Cyclone
16. Julian Casablancas - Phrazes For The Young
17. Mos Def - The Ecstatic
18. Pearl Jam - Backspacer
19. Rancid - Let The Dominoes Fall
20. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!
21. The Riverboat Gamblers - Underneath The Owl
22. Harlem - Drugs
23. Silversun Pickups - Swoon
24. Japandroids - Post-Nothing
25. Dinosaur Jr. - Farm

As usual, a whole buncha stuff I probably should've heard and would've liked but didn't. I thought this was an unremarkable year until I started looking through other lists and seeing things that I really liked earlier in the year but had moved on from. It was that kinda year; play the hell out of something for 2-3 weeks and then it winds up sitting when I discover something new. So the top 10 are records that stayed in some sort of consistent rotation for most of or a nice chunk of the year. The rest kinda floated in and out and so the order is in no way set in stone.

Nice list - there are a few I need to listen to. OK, there's a lot I need to hear, since I'm so behind on the music this year. Michigan reprezent yo!

Great list again. For being such a fan of AmAnSet I need to give Wooden Birds more attention than the quick click I did. Raveonettes made a great album. They were on my periphery. I've got a missing ear bone on that Deer Tick, though. Many of you all that have similar taste dug it, but damn if I could not sit a few seconds without giving it a toss.

How does the Riverboat Gamblers compare to older stuff?

If I'd published a full list it would probably have shared as many with you as with anyone else although I don't seem to rate them as highly as you.

The Von Bondies album was OK, an improvement on their recent material but not as good as the first album. Again the Neko Case album was OK but probably her weakest effort in her solo career so far, after the first couple of tracks there wasn't much to write home about. I liked the Dinosaur Jr album but its a bit same-y taken as a whole. I hadn't heard any Thermals since their debut but I picked up 'Now We Can See' and thought they were treading water a bit.

I have the Mos Def album also but I've not heard it enough to pass comment yet.

I have the Phoenix album on order simply because its turned up on so many lists and it looks like I'm going to have to check out Deer Tick as well for the same reason.