more. coming. soon. promise.

first: which will it be?

Every important song I heard this last year. Sequenced in a playlist.

• Of Montreal: “The Past Is a Grotesque Animal”
• Marilyn Manson: “Heart-Shaped Glasses (When the Heart Guides the Hand)”
• Black Moth Super Rainbow: “Drippy Eye”
• The Good, The Bad & The Queen: “Nature Springs”
• Dizzee Rascal: “Bubbles”
• Twisted Black: “New Boot”
• Prodigy f/Un Pacino: “7th Heaven”
• Chamillionaire: “Money Already Made”
• Devin the Dude f/Snoop Dogg & Andre 3000: “What a Job”
• Lupe Fiasco: “Dumb It Down”
• Brother Ali: “Listen Up”
• Kanye West f/Dwele: “Flashing Lights”
• Jesu: “Silver (Original Beats)”
• Modeselektor: “The First Rebirth”
• Bloc Party: “I Still Remember”
• Menomena: “The Pelican”
• Dan Deacon: “The Crystal Cat”
• Justice: “D.A.N.C.E.”
• Battles: “Atlas”
• Diplo: “Work Is Never Over”
• El-P: “Up All Night”
• Nas: “Where Are They Now?”
• Lifesavas f/Fishbone: “Dead Ones”
• Aesop Rock: “Fumes”
• C-Rayz Walz & Sharkey: “We Speak Animal”
• Dizzee Rascal: “Sirens”
• Lil Wayne ft. Juelz Santana: “Black Republican”
• Kanye West: “Good Morning”
• Jay-Z f/Bilal: “Fallin’”
• Joe Budden: “Star Inside”
• Common f/Lily Allen: “Driving Me Wild”
• Amy Winehouse: “He Can Only Hold Her”
• The White Stripes: “You Don’t Know What Love Is (You Just Do as You’re Told)”
• Okkervil River: “Our Life Is Not a Movie or Maybe”
• The Arcade Fire: “Neon Bible”
• Radiohead: “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi”
• Wilco: “On and On and On”
• Swayzak: “Distress and Calling”
• Panda Bear: “Comfy in Nautica”
• Deerhunter: “White Ink”
• Band of Horses: “No One’s Gonna Love You”
• Kings of Leon: “Knocked Up”
• Menomena: “My My”
• Radiohead: “All I Need”
• Spoon: “You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb”
• Frog Eyes: “Reform the Countryside”
• Los Campesinos!: “You! Me! Dancing!”
• Old Time Relijun: “Garden Of Pomegranates”
• M.I.A.: “$20″
• Kanye West: “Can’t Tell Me Nothing”
• UGK: “Underground Kingz”
• Jay-Z: “Say Hello”
• Royce Da 5′9″: “Gorilla Pimp”
• Pharoahe Monch: “What It Is”
• Lifesavas: “Double Up”
• NY/OIL: “Y’All Should All Get Lynched”
• Prodigy: “Stuck on You”
• Trae: “Dreaming”
• Jay-Z: “No Hook”
• Wu-Tang Clan ft. Gerald Alston: “Stick Me for My Riches”
• Brother Ali: “Walking Away”
• Freeway: “It’s Over”
• Aesop Rock ft. John Darnielle: “Coffee”
• Mavis Staples: “Down in Mississippi”
• Amy Winehouse: “You Know I’m No Good”
• Kanye West: “Interviews (Interlude)”
• Kanye West: “The Glory”
• Lil Wayne: “Outstanding”
• Justice: “Let There Be Light”
• No Age: “Sun Spots”
• SOUND Team: “Color of the Love You Have”
• Lymbyc Systym: “Fall Bicycle”
• Band of Horses: “Detlef Schrempf”
• Okkervil River: “A Girl in Port”
• Foreign Born: “Letter of Inclusion”
• Sunset Rubdown: “The Taming of the Hands That Came Back to Life”
• Deerhunter: “Hazel Street”
• Caribou: “Sundialing”
• Shocking Pinks: “This Aching Deal”
• The Field: “A Paw in My Face”
• Common ft. D’Angelo: “So Far to Go”
• Panda Bear: “I’m Not”
• Black Moth Super Rainbow: “Rollerdisco”
• 50 Cent ft. Justin Timberlake: “Ayo Technology”
• Scarface: “‘B’ Word”
• UGK ft. Talib Kweli & Raheem DeVaughn: “Real Women”
• Talib Kweli ft. Justin Timberlake: “The Nature”
• Dizzee Rascal ft. UGK: “Where’s Da G’s?”
• Redman: “Gilla House Check”
• UGK ft. Big Daddy Kane & Kool G Rap: “Next Up”
• Sean Price ft. Ruste Juxx & Reek: “One Question”
• Pharoahe Monch: “Body Baby”
• Jay-Z: “Party Life”
• Lifesavas: “Shine Language”
• Kanye West ft. Little Brother & Lil Wayne: “Breaking My Heart (Mick Boogie RMX)”
• Dizzee Rascal: “Old Skool {Pussyole}”
• Redman ft. Erick Sermon, Keith Murray & Biz Markie: “Walk in Gutta”
• CRS: “Us Placers”
• Royce Da 5′9″: “Hit ‘Em!”
• Cam’ron: “Why They”
• Lil Wayne: “Swizzy (RMX)”
• Scarface: “Never”
• WC: “Paranoid”
• Prodigy: “Legends”
• Beanie Sigel ft. Rock City: “Go Low”
• Aesop Rock ft. El-P: “39 Thieves”
• El-P: “Smithereens (Stop Crying)”
• Battles ft. Joell Ortiz: “Leyendecker (DJ EMZ RMX)”
• Shocking Pinks: “Yes! No!”
• No Age: “I Wanna Sleep”
• Spoon: “Love Makes You Feel”
• Modest Mouse: “People as Places as People”
• Rilo Kiley: “The Moneymaker”
• Augie March: “One Crowded Hour”
• Queens of the Stone Age: “Make It Wit Chu”
• Sunset Rubdown: “Stallion”
• The White Stripes: “Catch Hell Blues”
• Kings of Leon: “Ragoo”
• Wilco: “Impossible Germany”
• Dinosaur Jr: “Crumble”
• Band of Horses: “Marry Song”
• Dr. Dog: “The Girl”
• Shocking Pinks: “Smoke Screen”
• Bloc Party: “Kreuzberg”
• LCD Soundsystem: “Someone Great”
• LCD Soundsystem: “All My Friends”
• Kevin Drew: “TBTF”
• Gui Boratto: “Scene 1″
• Menomena: “Wet and Rusting”
• Lymbyc Systym: “Birds”
• The Arcade Fire: “Keep the Car Running”
• Bruce Springsteen: “I’ll Work for Your Love”
• Okkervil River: “Unless It’s Kicks”
• Sunset Rubdown: “The Mending of the Gown”
• Modest Mouse: “Fire It Up”
• Radiohead: “Reckoner”
• Battles: “Leyendecker”
• El-P: “The Overly Dramatic Truth”
• C-Rayz Walz & Sharkey: “Pain to the Picture”
• Ghostface Killah ft. Raekwon & U-God: “Rec-Room Therapy”
• Joe Budden: “Still My Hood”
• Scarface ft. Z-Ro: “Burn”
• Wu-Tang Clan ft. Sunny Valentine: “Gun Will Go”
• Twisted Black: “Coldest Summer Ever”
• Beanie Sigel: “Dear Self (Can I Talk to You?)”
• Kanye West: “Everything I Am”
• Crooked I: “Imagine [Freestyle]“
• Brother Ali: “Daylight”
• Aesop Rock: “Five Fingers”
• Dälek: “Abandoned Language”
• The Good, The Bad & The Queen: “Kingdom of Doom”
• Spoon: “The Ghost of You Lingers”
• Spoon: “Dracula’s Cigarette”
• Vampire Weekend: “Mansard Roof”
• Animal Collective: “Peacebone”
• Frog Eyes: “Bushels”
• Of Montreal: “Gronlandic Edit”
• Battles: “Tonto”
• Lifesavas ft. dead prez & Vernon Reid: “Freedom Walk”
• NY/OIL: “The Hate That Love Made”
• Royce Da 5′9″ ft. Black Milk & Guilty Simpson: “Sound the Alarm (RMX)”
• Lupe Fiasco: “Go Go Gadget Flow”
• Sean Price ft. Sadat X & Buckshot: “Da God”
• Little Brother ft. Darien Brockington: “Two-Step Blues”
• Young Bleed ft. Money Waters & Ol’ Mann: “Bac Road Mississippi”
• Delaware Rag: “Grovetown”
• Panda Bear: “Bros”
• Foreign Born: “Trial Wall”
• The Arcade Fire: “(Antichrist Television Blues)”
• Miracle Fortress: “Poetaster”
• Bloc Party: “Sunday”
• The Octopus Project: “I Saw the Bright Shinies”
• Interpol: “Rest My Chemistry”
• The Field: “Silent”
• Lymbyc Systym: “Love Your Abuser”
• Spoon: “Finer Feelings”
• Caribou: “Sandy”
• The Bird & The Bee: “La La La”
• Modeselektor: “Edgar”
• Justice: “Genesis”
• Diplo: “Must Be a Devil”
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs: “Rockers to Swallow”
• Los Campesinos!: “Don’t Tell Me to Do the Math(s)”
• M.I.A. ft. The Wilcannia Mob: “Mango Pickle Down River”
• The Hives: “T.H.E.H.I.V.E.S.”
• The Go! Team: “Grip Like a Vice”
• Junior Senior: “Can I Get Get Get”
• will.i.am: “Fantastic”
• Justice: “Phantom”
• Le Loup: “We Are Gods! We Are Wolves!”
• M.I.A.: “Paper Planes”
• Jay-Z ft. Kanye West: “Roc Boys (And the Winner Is)”
• Dude ‘N Nem: “Watch My Feet”
• Rich Boy ft. Nelly, Jim Jones, Andre 3000, The Game & Murphy Lee: “Throw Some D’s (RMX)”
• Lupe Fiasco ft. Matthew Santos: “Superstar”
• Turf Talk: “Super Star”
• Skyzoo ft. Guilty Simpson: “Play Your Position”
• Ghostface Killah ft. Raekwon & Method Man: “Yolanda’s House”
• UGK ft. Z-Ro: “Trill Niggas Don’t Die”
• C-Rayz Walz & Sharkey: “My Way”
• El-P: “Dear Sirs”
• Royce Da 5′9″: “Go Gettem!”
• Wu-Tang Clan: “Take It Back”
• Joe Budden: “Ventilation”
• Dizzee Rascal: “Excuse Me, Please”
• M.I.A.: “The Turn”
• Project Pat: “Motivated”
• Jay-Z ft. Beyoncé: “Pray”
• Joe Budden: “Thou Shall Not Fall”
• T.I.: “Help Is Coming”
• Cam’ron: “I’m a Hustler {Barry}”
• Benny Blanco & Spank Rock: “Bitch!”
• Lil Wayne: “Promise”
• will.i.am: “She’s a Star”
• Lupe Fiasco: “Gold Watch”
• Pharoahe Monch: “Bar Tap”
• Busta Rhymes & Jay Dee: “Step Up”
• Styles P: “Da 80’s”
• Prodigy: “Take It to the Top”
• Twisted Black: “S.W.A.C.”
• UGK: “Candy”
• Crooked I: “Get Away [Freestyle]“
• Lil Wayne: “Blooded”
• Common ft. Dwele: “The People”
• Lupe Fiasco ft. Nikki Jean: “Hip-Hop Saved My Life”
• Kanye West ft. T-Pain: “Good Life”
• Spoon: “Don’t Make Me a Target”
• Deerhunter: “Tape Hiss Orchid”
• Liars: “Sunset Rodeo”
• The Good, The Bad & The Queen: “80s Life”
• Black Lips: “Veni Vidi Vici”
• No Age: “Everybody’s Down”
• Shocking Pinks: “Cut-Out”
• Parts & Labor: “Knives & Pencils”
• Menomena: “Air Aid”
• Panda Bear: “Ponytail”
• The Field: “The Deal”
• Evidence: “Mr. Slow Flow”
• Busta Rhymes & Jay Dee: “Other Side of the Road”
• M.I.A.: “World Town”
• Lil Wayne: “Boom”
• UGK ft. Too $hort: “Life Is {2009}”
• C-Rayz Walz & Sharkey: “Might She Shoot”
• Joe Budden: “Talk 2 ‘Em”
• Busta Rhymes & Jay Dee: “How We Roll”
• Sean Price: “Like You”
• Trae: “Bitches Ain’t Shit”
• Cam’ron: “No Delaying”
• Dizzee Rascal: “World Outside”
• Lupe Fiasco: “Gotta Eat”
• Prodigy: “Bang on ‘Em”
• Queens of the Stone Age: “Into the Hollow”
• Burial: “Dog Shelter”
• Magik Markers: “Pat Garrett”
• Rilo Kiley: “Dreamworld”
• Okkervil River: “John Allyn Smith Sails”
• Kings of Leon: “True Love Way”
• Dinosaur Jr: “Almost Ready”
• Old Time Relijun: “Indestructible Life!”
• Modest Mouse: “Missed the Boat”
• Dappled Cities: “Vision Bell”
• Beirut: “Forks and Knives (La Fête)”
• Iron & Wine: “Wolves (Song of the Shepherd’s Dog)”
• Delaware Rag: “So Blind”
• Hoots & Hellmouth: “West of Where the Sun Goes Down”
• The Arcade Fire: “No Cars Go”
• Band of Horses: “Is There a Ghost?”
• Rilo Kiley: “Silver Lining”
• The White Stripes: “Icky Thump”
• Kings of Leon: “On Call”
• Foreign Born: “Keep It All Inside”
• Wilco: “Either Way”
• Deerhunter: “Spring Hall Convert”
• The Battle of Land and Sea: “The Beautiful Ones”
• The Arcade Fire: “Ocean of Noise”
• Jens Lekman: “Your Arms Around Me”
• Les Savy Fav: “Comes&Goes”
• Interpol: “Wrecking Ball”
• Radiohead: “Nude”
• T.H. White: “Blue and Cream”
• Gui Boratto: “Malá Strana”
• Pole: “Warum”
• Edit: “Battling Go-Go Yubari in Downtown L.A.”
• Swayzak: “Pukka Bumbles”
• Gui Boratto: “Xilo”
• Parts & Labor: “New Crimes”
• Animal Collective: “Fireworks”
• Dr. Dog: “Weekend”
• Caribou: “Eli”
• Junior Senior: “Hip Hop a Lula”
• Dizzee Rascal: “Wanna Be”
• Consequence ft. Kanye West: “Don’t Forget ‘Em”
• Lily Allen: “Smile”
• Rihanna: “Umbrella”
• Amerie: “Gotta Work”
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs: “Kiss Kiss”
• Spoon: “My Little Japanese Cigarette Case”
• Amy Winehouse: “Back to Black”
• Rilo Kiley: “Close Call”
• The Bird & The Bee: “Because”
• Old Time Relijun: “Veleno Mortale”
• Lil Wayne: “I Can’t Feel My Face”
• Redman: “Put It Down”
• Freeway ft. Jay-Z: “Roc-A-Fella Billionaires”
• Crooked I: “Kill Us All [Freestyle]“
• Houston Heavyweights: “Won’t Let You Down (RMX)”
• Ludacris ft. Rick Ross & Bun B: “Down N Tha Durty”
• T.I. ft. Alfa Mega & Busta Rhymes: “Hurt”
• Jay-Z: “Blue Magic”
• UGK: “Swishas & Dosha”
• Pastor Troy: “Digital”
• Kanye West: “Stronger”
• Shop Boyz: “Party Like a Rock Star”
• Beanie Sigel: “The Day”
• Justice: “Waters of Nazareth”
• Dizzee Rascal: “Da Feelin’”
• Ghostface Killah ft. Kid Capri: “We Celebrate”
• Amy Winehouse: “Rehab (Hot Chip RMX)”
• C-Rayz & Sharkey: “Jumping Off at the Jumpoff”
• Lil Wayne: “We Taking Over (RMX)”
• M.I.A.: “Boyz”
• Jamie T: “Calm Down, Dearest”
• Lily Allen: “LDN”
• Bloc Party: “Cain Said to Abel”
• The Arcade Fire: “Windowstill”
• Modest Mouse: “Little Motel”
• Animal Collective: “For Reverend Green”
• Radiohead: “Bodysnatchers”
• Magik Markers: “Taste”
• Nine Inch Nails: “The Beginning of the End”
• Parts & Labor: “Long Way Down”
• Spoon: “The Underdog”
• Against Me!: “Borne on the FM Waves of the Heart”
• Bruce Springsteen: “Radio Nowhere”
• The National: “Fake Empire”
• Kevin Drew: “Safety Bricks”
• Feist: “I Feel It All”
• The National: “Mistaken for Strangers”
• Interpol: “No I in Threesome”
• Ted Leo & The Pharmacists: “The Sons of Cain”
• Miracle Fortress: “Little Trees”
• Rilo Kiley: “The Angels Hung Around”
• The Killers: “Romeo + Juliet”
• The National: “Guest Room”
• Dappled Cities: “Beach Song”
• Band of Horses: “Cigarettes, Wedding Bands”
• Augie March: “Mother Greer”
• Kevin Drew: “Lucky Ones”
• Deerhunter: “Heatherwood”
• Celebration: “Fly the Fly”
• The National: “Brainy”
• Miracle Fortress: “Five Roses”
• The Twilight Sad: “Cold Days from the Birdhouse”
• The National: “Squalor Victoria”
• Radiohead: “House of Cards”
• Kevin Drew: “F–ked Up Kid”
• Matthew Dear: “Deserter”
• Pole: “Schöner Land”
• Swayzak: “By the Rub of Love”
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs: “Down Boy”
• Bloc Party: “Hunting for Witches”
• Parts & Labor: “The Gold We’re Digging”
• Gemini Wolf: “Bittersweet Dirts”
• Battles: “Rainbow”
• Animal Collective: “Cuckoo Cuckoo”
• Shocking Pinks: “The Narrator”
• Gemini Wolf: “Sleep, Marchers, Sleep”
• Dälek: “Paragraphs Relentless”
• Esoteric: “Typhoons in Japan”
• Aesop Rock: “None Shall Pass”
• Burial: “Homeless”
• Dan Deacon: “Big Milk”
• Swayzak: “Silent Luv”
• Miracle Fortress: “Have You Seen in Your Dreams?”
• The National: “Slow Show”
• Foreign Born: “Never Wrong”
• Miracle Fortress: “Maybe Lately”
• Spoon: “I Can Feel It Fade Like an AM Single”
• Wilco: “Hate It Here”
• Dan Deacon: “Wham City”
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs: “Isis”
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs: “10 x 10″
• El-P: “Drive”
• Lupe Fiasco ft. Bishop G & Nikki Jean: “Little Weapon”
• Cam’ron: “Child of the Ghetto”
• Kanye West ft. Lil Wayne: “Barry Bonds”
• Redman: “Gimmie One”
• Prodigy: “Stop Fronting”
• Jay-Z ft. Beanie Sigel: “Ignorant Shit”
• Little Brother ft. Jozeemo: “That Ain’t Love”
• Dizzee Rascal: “Flex”
• Jamie T: “Back in the Game”
• Amy Winehouse: “Tears Dry on Their Own”
• UGK ft. Outkast: “Int’l Players Anthem (I Choose You)”
• Scarface: “Girl, You Know”
• Plies ft. T-Pain: “Shawty”
• Cam’ron ft. Penz: “Bum Bum”
• M.I.A. ft. Afrikan Boy: “Hussel”
• Holy Fuck: “Echo Sam”
• DJ Drama ft. Outkast & Marsha Ambrosius: “Da Art of Storytellin’ (Part 4)”
• Freeway ft. Scarface, “Baby, Don’t Do It”
• Jay-Z: “Sweet”
• WC ft. The Game: “West Coast Voodoo”
• Crooked I: “Deep Cover [Freestyle]“
• Jay-Z: “American Dreamin’”
• Lupe Fiasco: “The Coolest”
• Ghostface Killah ft. Method Man & Masta Killa: “Killa Lipstick”
• Kanye West ft. Mos Def: “Drunk & Hot Girls”
• Battles: “Tij”
• Les Savy Fav: “Brace Yourself”
• Ted Leo & The Pharmacists: “Who Do You Love?”
• Miracle Fortress: “Fortune”
• The Arcade Fire: “Intervention”
• Menomena: “Rotten Hell”
• The National: “Start a War”
• Bruce Springsteen: “Magic”
• The White Stripes: “Effect & Cause”
• Spoon: “Black Like Me”
• Deerhunter: “Fluorescent Grey”
• Gui Boratto: “Acróstico”
• Wu-Tang Clan: “Windmill”
• Battles: “Bad Trails”
• Pole: “Achterbahn”
• Dälek: “(Subversive Script)”
• Of Montreal: “No Conclusion”
• The Twilight Sad: “I’m Taking the Train Home”
• Explosions in the Sky: “Catastrophe and the Cure”
• Miracle Fortress: “Beach Baby”
• The National: “Green Gloves”
• Radiohead: “Videotape”
• Gui Boratto: “Beautiful Life”
• The National: “Racing Like a Pro”
• The Killers ft. Lou Reed: “Tranquilize”
• Miracle Fortress: “This Thing About You”
• The Twilight Sad: “Walking for Two Hours”
• Menomena: “Muscle’n Flo”
• Wilco: “Walken”
• The National: “Apartment Story”
• Kanye West: “Big Brother”
• Lupe Fiasco: “Put You on Game”
• Jay-Z ft. Nas: “Success”
• Crooked I: “Oh My God [Freestyle]“
• Saigon ft. Swizz Beatz & Jay-Z: “Come On, Baby (RMX)”
• Styles P ft. Black Thought: “Because I’m Black”
• Jay-Z: “American Gangster”
• UGK ft. Scarface: “Still Riding Dirty”
• Freeway: “Free at Last”
• Common ft. Kanye West: “Start the Show”
• Esoteric: “Watch the Pro”
• NY/OIL: “Unreal”
• Joe Budden ft. Mr. Probz: “Long Way to Go”
• Kanye West: “Champion”
• Cam’ron: “Just Us”
• Amy Winehouse: “Wake Up Alone”
• Joe Budden ft. Emanny: “Invisible Man”
• Prodigy: “My World Is Empty Without You”
• Freeway: “Spit That S**t”
• Busta Rhymes & Jay Dee: “Trying to Kill You”
• Dälek: “Isolated Stare”
• Grizzly Bear: “Alligator (Choir Version)”
• Radiohead: “Unravel (Pocket Mix)”
• Yeasayer: “2080″
• Deerhoof: “Matchbook Seeks Maniac”
• Animal Collective: “Unsolved Mysteries”
• Black Dice: “Toka Toka”
• Pole: “Jungs”
• Deerhoof: “The Galaxist”
• The White Stripes: “300 M.P.H. Torrential Outpour Blues”
• Old Time Relijun: “The Tightest Cage”
• Spoon: “Don’t You Evah”
• Jamie T: “Operation”
• The Virgins: “Rich Girls”
• Caetano Veloso: “Odeio”
• The Field: “Sun & Ice”
• Black Dice: “Drool”
• Animal Collective: “#1″
• Kevin Drew: “Backed Out on the…”
• Les Savy Fav: “Patty Lee”
• The National: “Ada”
• Yeasayer: “Sunrise”
• Rilo Kiley: “Under the Blacklight”
• Miracle Fortress: “Hold Your Secrets to Your Heart”
• Deerhoof: “Cast Off Crown”
• Les Savy Fav: “The Year Before The Year 2000″
• Sunset Rubdown: “Winged/Wicked Things”
• Dälek: “Tarnished”
• The Good, The Bad & The Queen: “Green Fields”
• Scarface: “The Suicide Note”
• Yeasayer: “Germs”
• The White Stripes: “St. Andrew (This Battle Is in the Air)”
• The White Stripes: “Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn”
• Yeasayer: “No Need to Worry”
• Bloc Party: “The Prayer”
• Holy Fuck: “Choppers”
• Wu-Tang Clan: “Get Them Out Ya Way, Pa”
• M.I.A.: “XR2″
• Black Dice: “Gore”
• Old Time Relijun: “Liberation”
• Sunset Rubdown: “Magic vs. Midas”
• Yeasayer: “Red Cave”
• The Arcade Fire: “Black Mirror”
• Les Savy Fav: “Pots&Pans”
• Sunset Rubdown: “The Courtesan Has Sung”
• Burial: “Untrue”
• Spoon: “Don’t You Evah (Diplo Mix)”
• Justice: “Valentine”
• Bloc Party: “On”
• Kanye West: “I Wonder”
• Beanie Sigel ft. Raheem DeVaughn: “Prayer”
• Scarface: “Who Do You Believe In?”
• Lupe Fiasco ft. Sarah Green: “Intruder Alert”
• Burial: “Near Dark”
• Gui Boratto: “The Blessing”
• Burial: “Shell of Light”
• Holy Fuck: “Frenchy’s”
• Deerhoof: “Kidz Are So Small”
• Rilo Kiley: “Breaking Up”
• Les Savy Fav: “Scotchgard the Credit Card”
• Holy Fuck: “Royal Gregory”
• Grinderman: “No P***y Blues”
• Old Time Relijun: “A Wild Harvest”
• Magik Markers: “Four/The Ballad of Harry Angstrom”
• Les Savy Fav: “Slugs in the Shrubs”
• Deerhoof: “Look Away”
• The Arcade Fire: “Black Wave/Bad Vibrations”
• Kevin Drew: “Gang Bang Suicide”
• Yeasayer: “Forgiveness”
• Deerhoof: “Believe E.S.P.”
• Old Time Relijun: “In the Crown of Lost Light”
• Magik Markers: “Bad Dream/Hartford’s Beat Suite”
• Gemini Wolf: “Phantom Digits”
• Lupe Fiasco: “Streets on Fire”
• Aesop Rock: “No City”
• Dizzee Rascal: “Hard Back (Industry)”
• Esoteric: “Zombie Combat”
• Joe Budden: “Roll Call”
• Dälek: “Bricks Crumble”
• El-P: “Tasmanian Pain Coaster”
• Burial: “UK”
• Ticklah: “Want Not”
• M.I.A. ft. Timbaland: “Come Around”
• The Good, The Bad & The Queen: “Herculean”
• Burial: “Raver”
• Holy Fuck: “Safari”
• Dan Deacon: “Pink Batman”
• Gui Boratto: “The Verdict”
• Kevin Drew: “When It Begins”
• The Arcade Fire: “The Well & The Lighthouse”
• Lupe Fiasco ft. Matthew Santos: “Fighters”
• Kanye West ft. Chris Martin: “Homecoming”
• The National: “Gospel”
• Wilco: “Sky Blue Sky”
• Electrelane: “To the East”
• Magik Markers: “Empty Bottles”
• Kevin Drew: “Bodhi Sappy Weekend”
• Sunset Rubdown: “Setting vs. Rising”
• The Arcade Fire: “My Body Is a Cage”
• Menomena: “Ghostship”
• Okkervil River: “The Stage Names”
• Explosions in the Sky: “So Long, Lonesome”

2007, under review:

Top 20 Favorite Albums

These albums are not nearly as bad as their covers would lead you to believe:

It’s been too long for smooth segues. Moving right along…

• Foreign Born: The definition of underrated.
• Rilo Kiley: The definition of justified.
• M.I.A.: Flying high.
• Wayne: Conceding to his conceitedness.
• Graduation: More conceding.
• Lord Finesse: Come back. We need you.

Brother Ali’s long-overdue follow-up is an early contender for album of the year, obviously.

It’s the P, same as he ever was.

Christopher O’Riley: hates Coldplay, loves Kid A.

Just what does Brian Burton do that’s so appealing?

Say hello to another year’s goodbye.

* * *

THE YEAR’S BEST RELEASES

60. Tomato Can  Self-Titled Demo
Blues powerhouse. One of these kids is 23, the other is 16. Can you believe that? (They’ve added a bass player and a drummer since forming last year.)

59. The Black Angels  Passover
Cacophonous, Jefferson Airplane-splicing Vietnam rock.

58. Tha Dogg Pound  Cali Iz Active
As stated here, I’m old enough to recall 1995’s seminal Dogg Food, and Cali Iz Active, fortunately, updates and sharpens those formulas – rather than retreads them – while Kurupt, Daz, and Snoop keep their chemistry fun and loose.

57. Agallah  Propane Piff (Mixtape)
Agallah’s full-length, You Already Know, also is worth mentioning, but Propane Piff is mixtape eloquence.

56. Liars  Drum’s Not Dead
Hated this until a few months ago, actually. There was a light somewhere, and I found it.

55. Calexico  Garden Ruin
Not as multicultural as previous affairs, Garden Ruin is softer, quieter, relationship-between-leaves-and-trees music.

54. The Sleepy Jackson  Personality
Yes, yes, just as if The Beach Boys and Suede were the same band.

53. M. Ward  Post-War
More everywhere-at-once than last year’s Transistor Radio, and slower to reward, but more powerful, maybe?

52. Tortoise & Bonnie “Prince” Billy  The Brave & The Bold
Abstract, disjointed, and sometimes difficult reinventions of songs familiar and obscure.

51. Tom Waits  Orphans
Waits’ plentiful strengths – farmhouse jamming, tears-in-beers balladry, spooky flashlight-storytelling – boxed up and neatly divided.

50. Cam’ron  Killa Season
I had a minor panic attack after I realized I was the only music writer who actually liked this. But what Cam lacks in accessibility, he more than makes up for in focus and direction, and – why pull punches now? – guts.

49. Nocturnal Ron  Beat Lovers, Vol. 2
Lazy-day DJ, kaleidoscopic tastes.

48. Clipse  We Got the Remix (Mixtape)
Far-out beats that complement layered Clipse/Re-Up Gang bars, many of them borrowed from last year’s We Got It 4 Cheap series. The “Re-Up Anthem” over Clapton’s “Cocaine” is brilliant.

47. Peter Bjorn & John  Writer’s Block
Metro music; a million runway soundtracks waiting to happen; perfect Euro-pop.

46. Crystal Skulls  Outgoing Behavior
Squeaky-clean indie lo-fitronics.

45. Molemen  Killing Fields
Production trio from Chicago who proved several times this year that they could play well with others. Killing Fields has Saigon, Kool G Rap, and Rhymefest absolutely murdering stuff, plus Vakill’s “V,” the year’s best buried gem.

44. The Capitol Years  Dance Away the Terror
Philly’s Capitol Years love The Beatles, and I hate The Beatles, but that doesn’t mean I can’t love The Capitol Years.

43. Caural  Mirrors for Eyes
Dizzying dream-loop beats, hissy patchwork instrumentation, floating vocal bits, something for a colorful fall day.

42. William Fields  Timbre
A “Treefingers”-inspired electronic composer from Arden, Del. Truly.

41. Green Lantern  Alive on Arrival (Mixtape)
DJ Green Lantern broke away from/got kicked out of the Aftermath/Shady/G-Unit camp for siding with the much better Jadakiss during 50 Cent’s dis track rampage last year; he acknowledges it here on an interlude, and he shows why it’s integrity over feelings everywhere else.

40. k-the-i???  Broken Love Letter
Passionate, honest slam poetry forced over frustrated backdrops. Or, a new form of hip-hop.

39. Rhymefest  Blue Collar
A great illustration of the discrepancy between art and commerce. Blue Collar sold something like 15,000 copies the week it came out, back in July, and I’d be surprised if it’s cracked the 100,000-mark by now. Not that you should care. Just another reason why Chicago hip-hop is killing it right now without getting its full due.

38. Beck  The Information
The Information isn’t groundbreaking or artistry-shifting in a Sea Change or Odelay sense, but it’s something of an arrival: exciting, playfully comfortable, and wonderfully consistent. Done with pillaging his own influences, Beck’s finally borrowing from himself.

37. J.R. Writer  History in the Making
Dipset’s only other worthwhile rapper, who had no push, no convenient beefs, one minor hit of a single (“Grill ’Em”), and one massively overlooked debut album.

36. The Product  One Hunid
Scarface protégés who remind me of 2nd II None, without the no-freestyling bullshit. Dark, direct street-rap.

35. Spank Rock  YoYoYoYoYo
New age electro-rap or, what Beck might try next.

34. Justin Timberlake  FutureSex/LoveSounds
Barring unforgivable garbage like “Losing My Way” and, possibly, the Three 6 Mafia collabo, F.S.L.S. stole the year as far as interesting pop muzik was concerned.

33. The Rapture  Pieces of the People We Love
Not as varied as Echoes, which feels like eons ago, Pieces is a far more upbeat, rhythm-minded outing that’s weak on brute strength but heavy on clever spastics.

32. Man Man  Six Demon Bag
Man Man, another great band from Philly, totally ’fess up to their Trout Mask-thievery. There’s a pop song or two in here as well, something they’re less likely to admit.

31. Band of Horses  Everything All the Time
Band of Horses are My Morning Jacket for people who think My Morning Jacket are becoming the next Dave Matthews Band. Try “The Great Salt Lake” when (if?) “The Funeral” trails off.

30. The Knife  Silent Shout
Not that I know much about the geographic influence of a place like Stockholm, but it’s a bit hard to believe Peter Bjorn & John and The Knife both share in it, one being so light and comedic, the other being Donnie Darko-horror. Silent Shout sounds like Japanese death-disco, and, up until recently, I thought it was. Like Dabrye discovering European atmospherics.

29. The Gossip  Standing in the Way of Control
Punk & soul & dance collide, clash, go home together on this engine of a record, just 10 songs, a half-hour, countless repeats.

28. Belong  October Language
One time, it was oceanic waves of static and hiss, swelling into an unlistenable swirl that can only be likened to watching a nuclear detonation in slow motion. Another time, it was the long-lost follow-up to Loveless.

27. Grizzly Bear  Yellow House
Spooky warmth, like a crackling fire on a softly raining day. The gentler bits of Pink Floyd’s Meddle amplified, made personal.

26. Thom Yorke  The Eraser
Thom Yorke’s debut solo album is exactly what you’d expect from him given the pop-on-an-electronic-field approach his band has taken for the last six years. And you know what? There really isn’t anything wrong with that. If this is Radiohead’s new, final direction, it’s hardly anything to be disappointed with.

25. Cat Power  The Greatest
If you knew nothing of Chan Marshall, a.k.a. Cat Power, before The Greatest, you knew everything about her after it. It wasn’t just her revealed history with stage fright and booze that made the album a glistening achievement; The Greatest is a powerfully naked record, each moment feeling tenderly placed, like flowers on a gravestone.

24. Dabrye  Two/Three
Ann Arbor, Mich., producer/DJ Tadd Mullinix (Dabrye) is big on drum-beast instrumental hip-hop with squirts of synthery and discordant melody structures; on Two/Three he fleshes things out with rappers like MF Doom and Kadence, and keeps the guest shots short and useful. It all comes off like The Knife discovering hip-hop.

23. Micah P. Hinson & The Opera Circuit
See Power, Cat. Micah Hinson made an album that starts and ends with every track, mini-symphonies of madness that crumble with pieces of his chipped heart.

22. The Twilight Sad  Self-Titled EP
Something so touching about a singer that doesn’t try to hide his pronounced accent, even as the killer-crazy guitars and drums brew up a storm and try to blow him out of the way, very Jesus & Mary Chain-style. A full-length waits.

21. The Roots  Game Theory
Not their best album (Things Fall Apart), or their most experimental (Phrenology), or their most stripped down (Do You Want More?!!!??!), or their most soulful (Illadelph Halflife), or their most accessible (The Tipping Point). But Game Theory is far and away the most cohesive and focused, and also the edgiest, record The Roots have made yet.

20. Girl Talk  Night Ripper
Funny how I hate about 75 percent of the songs used in this mash-up, and, of the ones I do like, I’ve heard too many times. Sometimes, two (or three or four or five) wrongs can make one untouchable right.

19. Lil Wayne  Tha Carter 2
I didn’t care for Dedication 2, and Weezy’s not breaking into my top five anytime soon, but this album never really left my sight this year. Especially “Mo Fire,” “Shooter,” and, ironically, “Best Rapper Alive.”

18. Trae  Restless
Much of the indifference, non-existent marketing, and horrible packaging Rap-A-Lot lazily brings to its releases washed away with Restless, rapper Trae’s incredibly solid art-rap breakthrough. This young guy is the next Scarface.

17. TV on the Radio  Return to Cookie Mountain
Album of the year, in some circles. In mine, Cookie Mountain was a spurting challenge: some parts brilliant immediately (“Province,” “A Method,” “Dirtywhirl”), other things that needed time to warm up (“I Was a Lover,” “Wolf Like Me”), still others that I’ll never like (“Blues from Down Here”). In the end, though, fewer records were worth the effort.

16. “Marie Antoinette”  Film Soundtrack
Is it right to so highly praise a soundtrack if you never saw the film? Probably not. In this case, the soundtrack was so vivid, so rich with aching imagery, so real, that I felt like watching the movie was merely a footnote.

15. Ghostface  Fishscale
True, Ghostface has never made a bad album, but, with the exception of Supreme Clientele, they’ve always been spotty, a bit suspect in terms of cameos and guest producers and single-pushes. Fishscale marked a return to unfiltered street rap; even “Back Like That” felt too raw for radio. I didn’t believe Def Jam would actually put the thing out until I had it in my hands.

14. Joe Budden  Mood Muzik 2 (Mixtape)
This year’s We Got It 4 Cheap, Vol. 2 had New Jerz MC Joe Budden fighting for his rap life and modestly destroying tracks with nimble delivery and incredible stamina. A full-length waits.

13. The Coup  Pick a Bigger Weapon
Public enemy number one: The Coup made a superb return with arms full of funky, fearless, revolutionary rap, and even helped a pair of friends (Black Thought and Talib Kweli on the excellent “My Favorite Mutiny”) get there, too. The OutKast record that didn’t happen.

12. The Killers  Sam’s Town
Very easy to hate what Flowers & Co. do here, but also easy to champion, since The Killers were upfront from the get-go about their ambitious intentions (e.g. hijacking the bleak rock world and splashing it with Born to Run-color). With the exception of the big “When You Were Young” single, they didn’t succeed, really, but there’s not much about the rest of Sam’s Town to be ashamed of, either.

11. The Game  Doctor’s Advocate
So The Game got dropped by his label and lost pretty much all contact with his mentor in the months leading up to the release of the now-oddly-named Doctor’s Advocate. Then the album comes out and everyone realizes The Game didn’t need Aftermath or Dr. Dre to make a compelling West Coast street record, just fresh fire and revelations. Meanwhile, Aftermath CDs (especially when followed by the “G-Unit” stamp) end up with longer shelf-lives than Tabasco sauce.

10. Dilla  Donuts
Released on his birthday and three days before his death, Jay Dee’s Donuts is a tragically poetic eulogy: it’s all the sounds of one man loving music more than the life that birthed it.

9. The Sword  Age of Winters
What I had in mind when everyone started talking about the new Mastodon album. If all metal sounded like this, I’d stop listening to hip-hop.

8. 7L & Esoteric  A New Dope
I’m still bugged out over how they did this, using played-out samples and rhymespeak and buying into every indie-rap stereotype laid before them. Ridiculous robot-beats and self-deprecating swagger = the new soul-baring. To wit: “My Boston accent’s re-tah-ded” – the line gets me every time.

7. Clipse  Hell Hath No Fury
The album that almost became the coke-rap SMiLE proves every bit jaw-dropping as promised, rounded out with eerie Casio alleyscapes and even eerier verses, each one intricate and spit from the pits of fire-belly stomachs. Seriously, no one’s coming close to these guys.

6. Sunset Rubdown  Shut Up I Am Dreaming
I walked into this blindly and curiously, like a naive outcast looking for acceptance in the home of a crazy person. I found Spencer Krug. He let me in.

5. National Eye  Roomful of Lions
Lush, fragile guitars; warped fuzz-tones; crackling melodies – Philadelphia doesn’t feel or sound like this; I can’t think of a city that does.

4. T.I.  King
Measured, raw, gassed up and overconfident, and yet, entirely owed. An album begging for its green light, and T.I. was the only rapper this year whose kingdom actually came.

3. The Decemberists  The Crane Wife
I’m not an advocate of indie bands staying on indie labels, and The Crane Wife (and Return to Cookie Mountain) are reasons why – warm, polished end caps on the production; loose songwriting; same bloated ideas; integrity intact.

2. Beirut  Gulag Orkestar
Apparently, there was a lot of hype heaped onto this and the shoulders of its creator, Zach Condon, which quickly mutated into ugly scorn and jealousy – exactly why I couldn’t care less about things like blog hype and internet pundits. There’s a marching band and drunken sing-a-longs blasting out of Condon’s apartment – can you do that?

1. Vakill  Worst Fears Confirmed
“Show me a hero and I’ll write you a tragedy”: Vakill is from the South Side of Chicago, he works with Molemen, he raps with brimming swagger and soul-torn responsibility, and Worst Fears Confirmed is one of the best hip-hop albums ever made.

THE YEAR’S BEST SONGS, AS A 5-PART MIX CD SERIES

CD-1
T.I., “What You Know”
Christina Aguilera, “Ain’t No Other Man”
Lil Scrappy ft. Young Buck, “Money in the Bank”
Dabrye ft. Doom, “Air”
Spank Rock, “Bump”
Rhymefest, “Devil’s Pie”
Destroyer, “European Oils”
The Sky Drops, “Hang On”
Liars, “The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack”
Daedelus, “Nouveau Nova”
Justin Timberlake, “What Goes Around Comes Around”
Dilla, “Stop!”
7L & Esoteric, “Perfect Person”
Cam’ron, “Wet Wipes”
DJ Drama & Lil Wayne, “Georgia Bush”
The Knife, “Forest Families”
The Roots ft. Malik B & Porn, “In the Music”
Clew Rock, “Hood Rich”

CD-2
Naledge & Lupe Fiasco, “Mean & Vicious”
Chamillionaire ft. Jae Millz & Papoose, “Riding Dirty” [RMX]
Rick Ross ft. Akon, “Cross That Line”
The Gossip, “Listen Up!”
Junior Boys, “In the Morning”
The Rapture, “Down for So Long”
Man Man, “Feathers”
The Sleepy Jackson, “You Needed More”
Camera Obscura, “Let’s Get Out of This Country”
Band of Horses, “The Great Salt Lake”
National Eye, “Silver Agers”
M. Ward, “Poison Cup”
Sunset Rubdown, “Shut Up I Am Dreaming of Places Where Lovers Have Wings”
The Capitol Years, “Oh, Lord”
The Situation, “Pine Street”
Ayatollah, “Highway to Heaven”
Belong, “All Equal Now”
TV on the Radio, “Dirtywhirl”
Gemini Wolf, “Sugar Low”

CD-3
Vakill, “When Was the Last Time?”
Trae, “Real Talk”
OutKast ft. Lil Wayne & Snoop Dogg, “Hollywood Divorce”
Madlib, “Electric Company”
Papoose ft. Busta Rhymes & Raekwon, “Address Me as Mister”
Joe Budden, “Outcast”
Z-Ro, “Man Cry”
Ghostface ft. Megan Rochell, “Momma”
The Product, “Read”
DJ Drama ft. Busta Rhymes, T.I., J-Hood, Gravy, Ludacris, Uncle Murder, Lil Wayne, Freeway, Willie The Kid, Detroit Red, Juice, “Cannon” [Megamix]
Styles P ft. Fat Joe, “Shotgun Season”
Currency, Lil Wayne & Remy Ma, “Where Da Cash At?”
J.R. Writer, “Grill ‘Em”
Talib Kweli, “Listen”
Clipse, “Hard or Soft” (Joey Fingaz Freestyle)
T.I. & DJ Drama, “Fresh”
Lil Wayne, “Shooter”
The Coup, “The Stand”

CD-4
Cat Power, “The Greatest”
William Fields, “Seaglass”
Caural, “Hallucination Broadcast”
The Scenic Route, “Nosferatu”
The Twilight Sad, “That Summer, at Home, I Had Become the Invisible Boy”
Calexico, “All Systems Red”
Micah P. Hinson, “It’s Been So Long”
Thom Yorke, “Cymbal Rush”
Owen, “Bad News”
Dosh, “mpls rock & roll”
The Blow, “True Affection”
Crystal Skulls, “Baby Boy”
The Decemberists, “The Crane Wife, 1 & 2″
The Black Angels, “The Prodigal Sun”
Spindrift, “Beauty” [RMX]
Vakill, “Under the Gun”

CD-5
The Fray, “How to Save a Life”
The Killers, “Bling (Confession of a King)”
Editors, “Munich”
Peter Bjorn & John, “Paris 2004″
Beirut, “Postcards from Italy”
k-the-i???, “You’re Not That Beautiful”
Vakill, “V”
Yeah Yeah Yeahs, “Gold Lion”
The Sword, “Freya”
E-40 ft. Kanye West, Ice Cube & The Game, “Tell Me When to Go” [RMX]
Beck, “Cellphone’s Dead”
Clipse, “Hello New World”
Snoop Dogg ft. Dr. Dre & D’Angelo, “Imagine”
Tom Waits, “Lord, I’ve Been Changed”
Grizzly Bear, “Plans”
Sparklehorse, “Shade & Honey”
Johnny Cash, “God’s Gonna Cut You Down”
The Game ft. Nas & Marsha, “Why You Hate the Game?”

Artist of the Year: T.I.
Band of the Year: TV on the Radio
Producer of the Year: Molemen
Mixtape DJ of the Year: Mick Boogie
Beat of the Year: “When You Were Young”
City of the Year: Philadelphia