20.

The New Pornographers "Electric Version" (Matador) 

19.

The Postal Service "Give Up" (SubPop) 

Cursive "The Ugly Organ" (Saddle Creek) 

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks "Pig Lib" (Matador) 

Prefuse 73 "One-Word Extinguisher/Extinguished: Outtakes" (Warp) 

Polysics "NEU" (Asian Man) 

The Thrills "So Much for the City" (Virgin) 

The Decemberists "Her Majesty, the Decemberists" (killrockstars) 

Death Cab for Cutie "Transatlantacism" (Barsuk) 

The White Stripes "Elephant" (V2) 

The Locust "Plague Soundscapes" (Epitaph) 

Crash, bang, boom. The Locust are back and more brutal than ever. The songs barely last a minute and shred every bit of eardrum you have. The lyrics are crazy and confrontational. And the song-titles are confusing and amusing all the same. The Locust know precisely what they're doing: making a soundtrack for the coming apocalypse.  I can only think of a few bands with such technical expertise who try and achieve such a thing. The Locust make it look easy with their 300+ BPM science fiction grindcore. Be forewarned, this is dangerous stuff.

The Darkness "Permission to Land" (Atlantic) 

With enough skin tight jumpsuits to make Freddie Mercury blush, the Darkness make excellent and amazing hard-rock that'll have you playing air-guitar all day. Gimmick? Could be. Do I care? Not a bit.  Of the 10 songs on this debut LP, there are about 7 or 8 solid singles that should be clogging up the airwaves. Can you remember the last time somebody else did that? Nope, neither can I.

Clearlake "Cedars" (Domino) 

Clearlake take a sound started by bands like the Wedding Present and Boyracer and continue on into uncharted territory, making their 2nd album, Cedars, one that might never leave your stereo. Hard driving british rock music with a pop appeal and a familiarity you can't shake. I can't wait for record number 3.

Broken Social Scene "You forgot it in People" (Arts and Crafts) 

Wow. What a great find. This is the first of many of the captains discoveries thanks to www.pitchforkmedia.com. A supergroup of Canadian musicians, Broken Social Scene stunned the indie community and took it by storm, with this, their second album. Each of the 13 tracks delights in such a grand and beautiful way, you're kicking yourself wishing you had written it. Beginning with the ethereal instrumental "capture the flag", rolling right into the brilliantly soaring guitar-rock heights of "kc accidental", and the beat driven hand-clapping "stars and sons", you know this album is something special after only just 3 songs. Everything about You forgot it in People sounds so fresh and new: The vocals are delicately sung, the drums are there to anchor you and keep your head bobbing. And the innocence and passion for pop music shows right through. BSS must have had a blast making this. And what a live show. Have you ever seen four amazing guitarists playing at once? I didn't think so.

Radiohead "Hail to the Thief" (Capitol) 

Radiohead continue their reign as brit-rock's most tortured experimentalists, making a slight return to form with one of the most heralded albums of the year. Sure, this is pretty much on every year-end list and it deserves to be: the guitar rock sound is back and the noodling of Amnesiac is gone for the most part. But don't expect The Bends or even Ok Computer part 2. Hail is more of an amalgamation of the best parts of their back catalog, fleshed out to hit major strengths: hummable riffs and choruses, cryptic lyrics and Thom's beautiful voice, the playful use of a variety of instruments, sounds and the experimental programming. Even the overall pretension can still be found as well (does each song need to have two different titles?). Regardless, it's still fresh, inventive and a damn near perfect rock album and it could be one of the most addictive listens on this year's list.

01.

The Shins "Chutes Too Narrow" (SubPop) 

The Shins return with their 2nd full length and wow, if this one isn't amazing. Filled with 10 gloriously-catchy psychedelic pop-rock delights and clocking in at a slim 34 minutes, every song is a majestic delight. Poetic and tuneful, we dare you not to sing along. F*** that, we double-dare you not too. And it contains one of the greatest odes to sex ("Turn a square"). What more could you ask for? Many bands have worked years to make this sort of masterpiece. The Shins do it with album number two. Hands down, this is the definitive record of the year.