These lists don't mean a whole lot, I admit. They're little more than the product of our individual tastes meeting the releases we manage to come across during a given calendar year. Still, I can't resist. Once upon a time, I lost a lot of sleep considering things like an album's legacy and Importance (yes, with a capital "I", real or imagined), but these days I'm resigned to simply include the albums I enjoyed the most over the past year. And a great year it was-- ten spots was hardly enough, and this easily could have been stretched to fifty, if only to mention every record that deserves it. Hopefully 2008 brings with it the same kind of problem.

10) PJ Harvey: White Chalk (Island)

Vid: "The Mountain"

Vid: "Grow Grow Grow"

9) Spoon: Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (Merge)

MP3: "The Underdog"

Full album stream

8) Menomena: Friend & Foe (Barsuk)

MP3: "Wet & Rusting"

Vid: "Evil Bee"

7) The Shins: Wincing the Night Away (Sub Pop)

MP3: "Australia"

Vid: "Turn On Me"

6) Wilco: Sky Blue Sky (Nonesuch)

Vid: "Impossible Germany"

Stream: Live in Berkeley, 8/24/07

5) Pseudosix: Pseudosix (Sonic Boom)

MP3: "Under the Waves"

Full album stream

OPB in-studio

4) Avett Brothers: Emotionalism (Ramseur)

MP3: "Will You Return?"

Vid: "Paranoia in Bb Major" (Live on Conan O'Brien)

OPB in-studio

3) Arcade Fire: Neon Bible (Merge)

MP3: "Black Mirror"

Vid: "Keep the Car Running" (Live)

2) Radiohead: In Rainbows (ATO)

Vid: "Reckoner" (Live from their Nov. 9th webcast)

Full album stream

1) The National: Boxer (Beggar's Banquet)

MP3: "Fake Empire"

Vid: "Apartment Story"

OPB in-studio

Honorable Mention:

Super Furry Animals: Hey Venus!
Sea Wolf: Leaves In the River
Southern Culture On the Skids: Countrypolitan Favorites
Bill Callahan: Woke On a Whaleheart
Jarvis Cocker: Jarvis
Jens Lekman: Night Falls Over Kortedala
Richard Hawley: Lady's Bridge
The Sadies: New Seasons
The Good, The Bad, & The Queen: s/t
Laura Veirs: Saltbreakers

Posted by jpetersen on Monday, December 31 at 5:28pm