junior boys
lhasa
mouse on mars

When people say, but it's LORETTA FUCKING LYNN, wtf, you just need to tell 'em, nah, bro' it's "MRS. FUCKIN' LEROY BROWN." I've literally hated some of her songs in the past, but not this record.

1.Razorlight
2.Madvillian
3.TVOTR

i'm going to keep this going a little longer now that i have 20+ votes. put your last minute votes in while you can. it's no "win ben stein's money" but it -is- on obner.

1. Brian Wilson - SMiLE
2. Shrimp Boat - Something Grand
3. Brinsley Schwarz - Cruel To Be Kind

I tried to pick three from these six. I couldn't do it.

Arcade Fire - Funeral
Neko Case - The Tigers Have Spoken
Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans
The Ponys - Laced With Romance
Elliott Smith - From A Basement On A Hill
Luna - Rendezvous

i'll let this go until 3pm eastern today. a winner is emerging.

consensus

Arcade Fire - Funeral
Modest Mouse - Good News...
Elliot Smith - From a Basement on a Hill

Architecture in Helsinki - Fingers Crossed
GBV - Half Smiles of the Decomposed (this has grown from meh to totally dig)
The New Year - End is Near

Fiery Furnaces - Blueberry Boat
The Bees - Free the Bees
Shugo Tokumaru - Night Piece

1. Blonde Redhead- Misery is a Butterfly
2. Autolux- Future Perfect
3. Razorlight- s/t

I think that's the order of my top 3 so far. At least as of today.

Of the hundreds of CDs I've heard this year, I've still haven't heard Animal Collective or Razorlight and have only heard Arcade Fire in bits and pieces online.

(Been trying to get Clever Cactus to work, but My Account window won't stay open and it seizes up when I try to adjust preferences)

Yeah, that's one album that I think really benefits from repeat listens as a whole, at least for the opening suite of 4 or 5 songs. My only complaint, and don't take it as a diss all of you that have it in your top 3, is that after all those repeat listens I started to get a little tired of it. Some of the initial charm wore off. Partly, I think, because the production can't hope to match the grandeur of the songs when recording on a small budget like this. It just doesn't have the depth of sound their influences had. Even in those drugged out years in the 70s, Bowie was still cranking out at least one mostly excellent album per year - or maybe it was because of the drugs, I don't know - but he had much more money funding his works so they sound more professional than the Arcade Fire and most of the other small indie releases. Still love Funeral and it'll likely be in my top 10, just not quite the mind-blowing experience that it might've been with the right production and a top flight producer/engineer helping them clean up some of the rough edges and streamline the flow. I could say the same about the Fiery Furnaces, but I think they made it work better for their sound, except for a couple missteps. Could have used some top flight studio people, especially an ace guitar player, but I think their vision is better realized (for me) than the Arcade Fire. Can't wait for the next edition of both, though. That Augie March Strange Bird that I posted about recently trumped all the new retro psych-popsters in the PopMatters list. Now that's one where I really wanna hear the whole enchilada, now that I've tasted a couple appetizers

ok, done. top 3 i don't have:

01) "our endless numbered days" iron & wine [18pts]
02) "abbatoir blues/[the other one]" nick cave [7pts]
03) "your blues" destroyer [5pts]

Easy winner in iron&wine. i have "creek drank the cradle" already and wasn't fully self-convinced on buying his next. Buying it now.

i'll probably also buy at least 1 of the nick cave discs through emusic.com once my next month's worth kicks in. i've also looked up reviews on the destroyer disc and it looks good too, so maybe i'll fit it in between now & february.

Thanks all for giving me your input.

I'm actually very surprised Iron & Wine ranked this high. I didn't even think it was top 20 worthy.

1. Blonde Redhead
2. Masta Ace
3. Ghostface

I thought I remembered you really liking it and the Devendra Banhardt when they came out. What happened?

The Banhardt didn't hold up for me but I thought the Iron & Wine was pretty damn good. I thought it bested the first one. It's pretty damn intricate and his guitar playing doesn't get enough credit. To be able to sing and play some of those fingerpicked tunes has to be pretty difficult.

queued the I&W to d/l before i left the house, looking forward to seeing what he's about. the only song that i know that i've heard is that postal service cover.

I thought the exact opposite. I liked Iron & Wine a bit, but didn't think it was particularly special. And the Banhardt held up pretty well and he's a much better guitar player IMO.

I don't want to spoil the suspense about to commence on 12/12...

Best thing about this thread is, you really get a handle on people'e tastes, and you can remember who to COMPLETELY disregard (as I'm sure many of you do to me)

for the record, my current top 3 are:

01) "good news for people who love bad news" modest mouse
02) "a ghost is born" wilco
03) franz ferdinand