...that you haven't seen on many (or any) other lists, that you think would have been on more lists if more people had heard it. Then tell us a little about the album, and based on what you know of their musical tastes, who from the board might enjoy the album.

I'll start with:

Gingersol---Eastern

I've only seen this album on one other list---Radcliffe's, and he was the one who introduced me to this band. The vocals and lyrics remind me a bit of Summerteeth-era Wilco and Paul Westerberg, and the sweet melodies recall the Pernice Brothers at times. It contains one of my song-of-the-year candidates (A Great Day For War), with other standout tracks being None of My Friends and Rome's Behind Us But The World Is Round. The more I've listened to this album over the past couple of days, the more I've grown to appreciate it---probably should have ranked it higher.

Based on what they seem to like, I think rparis and Charli would enjoy this album---give it a listen.

There are couple, but since there is one, in particular, that I've discussed at length, I'll go with:
Brinsley Schwarz - Cruel To Be Kind
It's Nick Lowe, people; one of the greatest pop craftsmen of the last 40 years, in an early incarnation. It's all live, recorded at the BBC and is simply near-perfect roots-pop. Think The Band meets Big Star and you'll have a pretty accurate picture of what the sound is.

Includes great versions of the BS classics:
"Surrender to the Rhythm" (with possibly the greatest Hammond part in the history of rock music... certainly one of my favorites)
"Silver Pistol"
and many more, including an EARLY version of what would become Nick's biggest solo hit, 5 years later
"Cruel To Be Kind"

Great stuff.

i'm a selllout. i have no hidden gems.

cLOUDDEAD - but this has been talked to death and I know that it's a love it or hate it record.

looks like something i'd like too.

Monk Hughes & The Outer Realm - A Tribute To Brother Weldon
&
Frausdots - Couture, Couture, Couture
&
Max Ricther - The Blue Notebooks
&
John Legend - Get Lifted
&
Jason Forrest - The Unrelenting Songs Of The 1979 Post Disco Crash

I grabbed this, and like "The Train Wreck...", I find it to be pleasant but not otherwise memorable. I shelved it after a week and felt little compulsion to dig it out again.

Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks leading the Flaming Lips? Hehehe, that silly description apparently comes courtesy of Rolling Stone, at least according to the review blurbs for the Augie March Strange Bird album at amazon.com. Just got this one on Christmas Day but I've been listening to it a lot and it really is very nice. Enough so that it quickly moved up my best of the year list and I've been championing it with comparisons to my much beloved, charming and insightful chroniclers of life in the village green, the Kinks. A comparison that doesn't really do it justice since it doesn't sound at all like an imitation, but that's just what comes to my mind when I hear it since it does have much of the same charm and that uniquely British sound, even though in this case from a different continent and hemisphere. This one is very likely gonna cost me some money to explore how they got to this point, especially since at least one person here told me that this isn't even their best work.

Of course, a band that takes its name from the great American novel by Saul Bellows would be expected to have a literary bent, and they do, I guess. But the words never get in the way of the music, they work together as they should, both supporting each other. Apparently it was released in their native Australia way back in 2002 on BMG and received a great deal of critical acclaim, but spinART just recently released it here in the US, also to a bit of critical acclaim. So what to call it, a 2002 or 2004 release? Well, my copy says 2004 on the back and so that's what it is. A song or two remind me a bit of David Kilgour from New Zealand's Clean, but moreso from his recent solo work with both Lambchop and the Heavy Eights backing on the excellent Frozen Orange. Some of it is on the precious side, like that BW/VDP connection mentioned above. It has a lush sound that could almost be described as ornate. Reminds me a bit of the experimental pop side of Robert Wyatt, fragile but not as quite soft and feathery like Wyatt. Lots of piano and strings. Comes with a couple videos that you can also watch at their site. It is mostly on the quiet side but they do also amp it up a little at times , although not too much.

Yeah, this is kind of a recycled post, but hey, it's Monday!

Nectarine No.9 - I Love Total Destruction

I gave it 1 point and I'll bet it's the only point it gets. Which is a surprise to me because not only is this a good album with some great tracks (I Love Total Destruction, I Am The Sky, Hanging Around, End Of Definition) but Davy Henderson's old band, the influencial post punk group The Fire Engines started to get some recognition amongst the hipster fraternity (I guess Gang of Four just aren't obscure enough now).

Pitchfork would have had an orgasm if they'd heard it.

Elf Power-Walking with the Beggar Boys
Maybe people felt it was too pop for their taste but i happen to like an excellent power pop album and i think this was the best this year (better than the one everyone points to-AC Newman)

On my list.

Yeah I know. But he said that aren't on many. I think we're the only 2.

Yeah, I wouldn't expect this to be your cup o' tea, Bill.

I don't listen to much hip hop or rap, but Quiche introduced me to Typical Cats, and I really liked "Civil Service." Justice Coming was one of the better tracks I heard last year, and the album as a whole is smooth, varied and intelligent.

I'm extremely unoriginal and listened to nothing that wasn't at least on a few peoples' lists. High on my list is The Mendoza Line. It's great alt-country but I think everyone has probably heard it who likes alt-country.

See how unoriginal I am?

the weird part about that is that i've never thought of the mendoza line as "alt-country", but the one song that i've heard off this album ("Throw it in the fire") definitely fits your description. is the rest of the album any poppier?

Laura Veirs - Carbon Glacier.

I know I've seen this album mentioned here and there but it doesn't seem to have made many lists. I think it's very excellent, reminiscient somehow of early Bjork without being precious. Great songwriting. A quiet but intense pleasure.

Most of the album is more upbeat (and poppier) than that song (although it's a good one). My favorites are It's a Long Line and Before I Hit the Wall. The guy and girl trade off lead vocals which makes for a cool sound. By alt-country I mean more like The Jayhawks and less like The Bottle Rockets. I consider it alt-country but others may not.

The Nanobot Auxiliary Ballet The Nanobot Auxiliary Ballet

Totally infectious, bizarre robot rock (on awesome picture disc).

The New Year - The End is Near

Maybe it was the lukewarm Pitchfork/Ott review, the lack of a sustained promotional push, or the "well this is just more of the same" vibe, but I have to think this is the most underrated album of the year. Although it has the classic Bedhead/Kadanes sound (which some viewed as a redundancy), never before has the lyrical content of a Kadane-Kadane effort been this impressive. Nor have I heard a record that deals with loss, decline, and mortality so astutely as Matt Kadane does throughout the End is Near. The song 18 may drag on longer than we'd like, but the saving grace of the song, if not the entire record, is the first 3 minute lyrical passage, switching narrators, contemplating a coming loss, etc. It's this kind of thing, along with the ponderous subject matter of A Ghost is Born, that really does it for me, so...this is definitely not for everyone.

And I doubt you'll be able to find a better drum sound anywhere this year...

KPH

My #4:

Sunset Valley
Goldbank 78 Stack

After waiting three years for a new album from Sunset Valley, I had just about given up hope, when I just happened to stumble upon news of their latest release while surfing the Barsuk website one afternoon between my fourth and fifth meals of the day. Even though the album was being self-released by the band, Barsuk was still kind enough to offer online distribution, so I decided to take the plunge and cough up the money I had been saving for my desperately needed breast reduction surgery. While I'm still lugging around these double-Ds, I still have to say my cash was wisely spent.

Goldbank 78 Stack is relentless in its objective to rock your ass off, coming out swinging with a 1-2-3-4-5 punch of full-throttle songs to start the onslaught. The second of these, "Grubby Cartoon Hands," has an uncompromising elastic riff that just might make it THE song of the year. And just because the album starts amazingly strong doesn't mean there's a letdown from there, as evidenced by such irresistable bizarreness as "Mr. Extreme Jeans," which scores bonus points for managing to reference the single most underrated Looney Tune, Foghorn Leghorn. I say, I say it's a travesty this album has gone virtually undetected. If they would just let the chicken hawk handle promotion...

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My write up from Hip Displeasure

Who do I think would like it? Let's see...including, but not limited to:

))type((
a mighty good leader
aerodynamics
aFreshStart4Me
alongdrive
ayah
Billzebub
bitterbuffalo
bort
Death To Shoegaze666
DHRjericho
DiggityDawg
dnorwood
drewbeatty
DunwoodyDude
el_scorcho
Gordo
HideousLump
huskerpunk
Kung Fu Reference
mojo
newt
NeZ
Northern Soul
Nude Dude
Odds Bodkins
onebrownjeff
PopTodd
Radcliffe
robotboy
rparis74
schadenfreude
seafoamrush
shiv
Sketch
Spade Kitty
SpontaneousPoet
swiateck
teenage caveman
tentoze
The Dreaded Marco
The Lemur
the lockness lobster
tthorn
Watt

ouch, ft. ouch.

I figured you've already heard it, Andy, being from Portland and all.

I'm just glad I didn't waste my time on it

Key verbage there, people!