Amazing turnout this year. We had roughly 177 votes which makes me never want to look at a spreadsheet again. But it makes for some interesting results. These will probably come a little quicker than the singles results just because I don't need to upload audio, but I'll still pace them out so there is enough time to discuss. Also, this is a preemptive warning not to be a dick in this thread.

#100 will be up in a few minutes.

Also, I'm still waiting on a few blurbs. Please get them to me as soon as possible if you want them to go up with the results. Big thanks to everyone that has already gotten them to me. You're in for some good reading once we hit the top 40.








SPOILERS









1 LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver
2 Radiohead - In Rainbows
3 National, The - Boxer
4 Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
5 Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
6 Panda Bear - Person Pitch
7 Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala
8 Kanye West - Graduation
9 Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
10 Burial - Untrue
11 M.I.A. - Kala
12 Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer
13 Battles - Mirrored
14 Vampire Weekend - Blue CD-R
15 Feist - The Reminder
16 Caribou - Andorra
17 White Stripes, The - Icky Thump
18 Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
19 Dinosaur Jr. - Beyond
20 Field, The - From Here We Go Sublime
21 New Pornographers, The - Challengers
22 Akron/Family - Love Is Simple
23 Deerhunter - Crptograms
24 Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank
25 Stars Of The Lid - And Their Refinement Of The Decline
26 Josh Ritter - The Historical Consequences of Josh Ritter
27 Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
28 King Khan and the Shrines - What Is?!
29 Good, The Bad & The Queen, The - The Good, The Bad & The Queen
30 Iron & Wine - The Shepard's Dog
31 Liars - Liars
32 Les Savy Fav - Let's Stay Friends
33 Sunset Rubdown - Random Spirit Lover
34 Klaxons - Myths of The Near Future
35 Bright Eyes - Cassadaga
36 Besnard Lakes, The - The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horses
37 Okkervil River - The Stage Names
38 Alcest - Souvenirs d'un Autre Monde
39 Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare
40 Shins, The - Wincing The Night Away
41 Kevin Drew - Spirit If…
42 Apples In Stereo - New Magnetic Wonder
43 Yeasayer - All Hour Cymbals
44 Blonde Redhead - 23
45 Menomena - Friend Or Foe
46 Justice - †
47 Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity
48 Super Furry Animals - Hey Venus!
49 Art Brut - It's A Bit Complicated
50 Explosions In The Sky - All Of A Sudden, I Miss Everyone
51 Beirut - The Flying Cup
52 High On Fire - Death Is This Communion
53 Witchcraft - The Alchemist
54 Field Music - Tones Of Town
55 Baroness - The Red Album
56 Wolves In The Throne Room - Two Hunters
57 Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Living With The Living
58 Ween - La Cucaracha
59 Kings Of Leon - Because Of The Times
60 Jay-Z - American Gangster
61 Earthless - Rhythms From A Cosmic Sky
62 Studio - Yearbook 1
63 Patrick Wolf - The Magic Position
64 Sally Shapiro - Disco Romance
65 Pig Destroyer - Phantom Limb
66 Ryan Adams - Easy Tiger
67 Jesu - Conqueror
68 White Rainbow - Prism of Enternal Now
69 Thurston Moore - Trees Outside The Academy
70 Boxcutter - Glyphic
71 Band Of Horses - Cease To Begin
72 Eluvium - Copia
73 Clientele, The - God Save The Clientele
74 Blitzen Trapper - Wild Mountain
75 Fiery Furnaces, The - Window City
76 PJ Harvey - White Chalk
77 Neurosis - Given To The Rising
78 Twilight Sad, The - 14 Autumns & 15 Winters
79 Pantha Du Prince - This Bliss
80 Black Moth Super Rainbow - Dandelion Gum
81 Om - Pilgrimage
82 Queens Of The Stone Age - Era Vulgaris
83 Bill Callahan - Woke On A Whaleheart
84 Bloc Party - A Weekend In The City
85 Radical Face - Ghost
86 Durrty Goodz - Axiom EP
87 Dillinger Escape Plan - Ire Works
88 !!! - Myth Takes
89 Neil Young - Chrome Dreams II
90 Cloud Cult - The Meaning of 8
91 Stars - In Our Bedroom, After The War
92 Between The Buried And Me - Colors
93 Bruce Springsteen - Magic
94 Grinderman - Grinderman
95 Freeway - Free At Last
96 Mark Sultan - The Sultanic Verses
97 Melt-Banana - Bambi's Dilemma
98 UGK - Underground Kingz
99 Aliens, The - Astronomy For Dogs
100 Dungen - Tio Bitar

My blurbs are coming!

You sexy, sexy man, you!

Hmmmm.... whomever could you be talking about?

Bring the pain, Paul.

EDIT: I won't have my ass glued to this seat until after one or so, so take your time getting there.

On the woxy boards, we had 126 votes...and 628 albums that received points. Can't imagine how many were on your list, Paul.

Buy that man a drink the next time you see him. Shit's more work than you can imagine.

#100.




Dungen - Tio Bitar

US Chart Position: n/a

UK Chart Position: n/a

Charting Singles: n/a

Acclaimed Music Ranking: n/a

Pitchfork Review: "Now, three years after that album's first release, Dungen has issued Tio Bitar, album number four. Worth the wait? Well, bad news first: There's no "Panda". But then, it's a different, imperfect monster: Tio Bitar explores the mellower side of psychedelia, working largely as the dusk-backdropped counterpoint to the band's earlier fireworks. Dungen mastermind Gustav Ejstes has spent the past few years studying fiddle with a Swedish master, and while it adds another distinctive layer to the group's distinguished sound, its omnipresence lends the album a decidedly different feel. Perhaps the album's strangest attribute, though, is how even a few of the best songs here-- excluding, of course, tracks like "Gör Det Nu" or "Du Ska Inte Tro Att Det Ordnar Sig", on which the band unequivocally succeeds-- come off as something gorgeous in the background, rather than the in-your-hair, fist-pumping rockers Dungen seems to have intended." (7.0)

Ranked Highest By: Sid Hartha (#1)

Amazon Link

There were 1065 albums that received votes.

Christ. Can't imagine how long that took to tabulate.

#99.




The Aliens- Astronomy For Dogs

US Chart Position: n/a

UK Chart Position: n/a

Charting Singles: "The Happy Sun" (#81 UK), "Robot Man" (#151 UK)

Acclaimed Music Ranking: n/a

Pitchfork Review: "The album is full of such moments where sonic reference trumps songwriting, a problem that also sometimes befalls other recent purveyors of record-collector rock like Band of Bees and the Earlies (if I mention Girl Talk I might get fired). The Aliens skip from the close Cyrkle harmonies and Del Shannon guitar arpeggios of plaintive kiss-off "Tomorrow" to join Midlake's 70s soft-rock revival on long-haired piano whimper "Honest Again". Token krautrock droner "Only Waiting" exhales India-scented melodies until tripping into a hyperactive "I Am the Walrus"-meets-Psycho orchestral psyche-out. And so on." (4.7)

Ranked Highest By: cerebalcaustic (#1)

Amazon Link

#98.




UGK - Underground Kingz

US Chart Position: #1

UK Chart Position: n/a

Charting Singles: "International Players Anthem (I Choose You) (feat. Oukast)" (#70)

Acclaimed Music Ranking: n/a

Pitchfork Review: "Throughout Underground Kingz, Pimp and Bun wield their legacy like a club. They repurpose two rap classics, Too Short's "Life Is...Too Short" and Scarface's "The Fix" on "Life Is 2009" and "Still Ridin Dirty", songs that feature Too Short and Scarface, respectively. (The latter doesn't rap; he just shows up singing histrionic fake-gospel on the hook. It's awesome.) Other rap legends show up as well: Geto Boys bulldog Willie D snaps at region-dismissers on "Quit Hatin' the South". Houston depressive Z-Ro waxes elegiac on "Trill Niggas Don't Die". Big Daddy Kane and Kool G Rap, both old-school New York royalty, spit weathered threats all over Marley Marl's hard, simple track on "Next Up", and Pimp and (especially) Bun sound perfectly at-home alongside them. Most transcendently, the two trade verses with another legendary Southern duo, Outkast, on the gorgeous single "Int'l Players Anthem". Three 6 Mafia's DJ Paul and Juicy J throw enormous drums under a joyous loop of Willie Hutch's classic blaxploitation ballad "I Choose You", and Andre 3000's tender, lovestruck verse perfectly offsets Pimp C's megaton sneer. "Int'l Players Anthem" finds UGK in an uncharacteristically euphoric mood, and it just might by my favorite song of the year." (8.4)

Ranked Highest By: gil-scott heroin (#1)

Amazon Link

I voted for Dungen. Very good album.

They're one of these bands who are embracing the retro, kind of like Witchcraft have been doing although with added originality. Favourite tracks would be Familj and C Visar Vagen (2 and 4 respectively) . Plus, some of the stuff at the end album is pretty great aswell.

Great start.

UGK seems low.

I should have listened to Tio Bitar more.

Solid list, maybe!

fish

#97.




Melt-Banana- Bambi’s Dilemma

US Chart Position: n/a

UK Chart Position: n/a

Charting Singles: n/a

Acclaimed Music Ranking: n/a

All Music Review: "Even when at their most accessible, Melt Banana is still one of the more challenging punk rock outfits in recent history, and with their seventh full-length studio album the band that harnessed chaos to perfection in 2003's Cell-Scape continues to make music that is as thoroughly outrageous and dizzyingly hilarious as ever. While Bambi's Dilemma may not cohere as a whole quite as effectively as Cell-Scape did -- at times it feels like the missing link between that album and their previous release Teeny Shiny -- it does have moments of manic brilliance that are sure to please longtime fans and perhaps even win over a few converts. Whereas Cell-Scape operated on an almost sci-fi level thanks to the introduction of more electronic elements into the band's sound, Bambi's Dilemma largely goes back to the basics by stripping the sound back down to its roots (with the notable exception of the hypnotic "Type: Ecco System" of course). It seems that by previously experimenting with their sound the band was able to grow and expand, but don't mistake maturity for selling out because despite the "Rock Banana" moments scattered throughout Bambi's Dilemma, the band never misses a chance to catch the listener off guard with a little well-placed insanity. Perhaps nowhere on the album is this point better displayed than in "Dog Song," a tune that's sure to have listeners tapping their toes before it explodes into one of the most ear-splitting verses ever recorded. A decent introduction for newcomers and a somewhat unexpected surprise for longtime fans, Bambi's Dilemma proves without question that while they may well have the ability to craft the catchiest pop song imaginable, Melt Banana will never miss an opportunity to twist that perfection into something wholly unexpected. As with most of the releases in Melt Banana's catalog Bambi's Dilemma will likely take a few listens to truly sink in, but when the album finally clicks most will likely agree that it was well worth the effort." (3.5/5)


Ranked Highest By: Bruegel (#3)

Amazon Link

#96.




Mark Sultan- The Sultanic Verses

US Chart Position: n/a

UK Chart Position: n/a

Charting Singles: n/a

Acclaimed Music Ranking: n/a

Pitchfork Review: "The Sultanic Verses' 12 tracks are part-rockabilly, part-garage rock, and soaked in late 50s fuzz; Sultan runs Sultan Records from his hometown of Montreal-- he's released a handful of garage rock masterpieces from bands like the Deadly Snakes and the Daylight Lovers-- and he's clearly well-versed in both the limitations and potential euphoria of his chosen genre. Here, Sutlan plays pretty much everything himself, and the clamor consists of jangly, distorted guitar and thick, scratchy vocals. While it all starts to sound a tiny bit familiar after awhile, it's still a glorious mess (the fact that only two songs ever manage to break the three-minute mark certainly helps). "Something Wrong" is a vaguely off-kilter homage to imperfection ("There's something wrong/ No matter what I do/ I'm much too civilized/ There's something wrong with you," Sultan cackles) with a weirdly lilting chorus and a bouncy guitar melody. "Warpath" is a slightly less friendly offering: the track sounds like it was written to accompany a pocketknife throwdown at the drive-in soda fountain-- think black leather jackets and blue jeans tangling into each other, girls slipping in puddles of pomade and strawberry milkshake. "Unicorn Rainbow Odyssey" (which has already been covered by Atlas Sound, the alias of Deerhunter frontman Bradford Cox) channels Phil Spector's early work with girlgroups like the Ronettes and the Crystals; "100 Little Women" is a spare-- if echoing-- singalong ("100 little women/ let's rock!")." (7.5)

Ranked Highest By: Pavement Ist Rad(#2)

Amazon Link

Like I said, solid list.

It's all downhill from here.

Melt-Banana! This is an incredible album. I think I had it #4. One of the best pop albums of this year, even though its technically metal. Seriously. The amount of hooks in this is ridiculous.

Shame to see it so low.

More people need to listen to Mark Sultan, obvs.

sucks I have to head out soon as I was looking fwd to this. I'm flying down to the Cactus state today. So far tho, I'm striking out.

I've havn't heard Mark Sultan. Whats it like?

#95.




Freeway - Free At Last

US Chart Position: #42

UK Chart Position: n/a

Charting Singles: n/a

Acclaimed Music Ranking: n/a

Pitchfork Review: "Freeway's first album since 2003, Free at Last unsurprisingly often nods to the salad days of Roc-A-Fella, with the MC frequently decorating his verses with Sigel and Jigga quotes. "This Can't Be Real" catches you up to speed ("They say Free's nekkid/ He won't sell another record/ Y'all talkin' reckless!") with enough ambivalence to rise above rumor mongering, and on single "Roc-A-Fella Billionaires"-- a maddeningly catchy tribute to outlandish buying-- you can hear the difference between new money's hunger and the shit-eating satisfaction of CEO wealth as Jay-Z simply flips his "Dirt Off Your Shoulder" flow while detailing his spending habits ("I just copped me of all things/ A professional ball team")." (7.7)

Ranked Highest By: jigga (#2)

Amazon Link

Hopefully, this list will be as awesome as I am hoping. Good start

We having links for these like the singles poll eventually?

Great start to the list, especially seeing Mr Sultan make it in there. Bottom end of the list should have some nice surprises.

Not from any one person, that would be too much. Ask for fishes in another thread, though.

This was one of the best years for music ever.

#94.




Grinderman - Grinderman

US Chart Position: #1 Heatseekers

UK Chart Position: #23

Charting Singles: n/a

Acclaimed Music Ranking: #27 of 2007

Pitchfork Review: "Grinderman, then, is Cave's considered decision to set aside those rules and make a sideways move into the realm of stripped down-- but far from mellow-- rock. Inspired by the creation of the most recent Bad Seeds release, Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus, Cave took his cohorts Warren Ellis, Martyn Casey, and Jim Sclavunos into the studio to slash and burn their way through new ideas until they'd amassed enough for an album. Unlike Abattoir/Lyre however, Cave kept the remaining Bad Seeds on the sidelines and, rather than flesh out the results, left them raw and stinging, setting aside his piano in favor of guitar." (7.7)

Ranked Highest By: boyo (#3

Amazon Link

I'll let the man Paves whip up the hyperbole but I'll say this: rock and fucking roll. And by that, I mean the old-school fifties and sixties shit, recorded in a tin can lying out the back of some greasy diner while Sam Cooke's long-lost nephew sings lost chart-toppers in an abandoned shed.

That's it.

I realize it's extra work for Paul, but I would be interested in seeing a total for the number of people who voted for an album.

I'm going to want that Mark Sultan when I get home tomorrow.

#93.




Bruce Springsteen - Magic

US Chart Position: #1

UK Chart Position: #1

Charting Singles: "Radio Nowhere" (#102 US, #96 UK)

Acclaimed Music Ranking: #21 of 2007

Pitchfork Review: "But then there are the songs that get everything exactly right, like the gorgeous "Girls in Their Summer Clothes" and "Livin' in the Future". On the latter, the E Street Band are given freer rein to revive and even update the boardwalk strut and namesake shuffle of their early days. Clarence Clemons' sax is integral to the modified doo-wop groove, drummer Max Weinberg swings easily, guitarists Steve Van Zandt and Nils Lofgren trade out licks, and Patti Scialfa's tender vocals echo Springsteen's excited performance. While he doesn't have the youthful eye for detail and narrative he once had, Springsteen's more concise songwriting style allows for some nice observations and surprisingly playful comparisons. "Then just about sundown, you come walkin' through town," he sings on "Livin' in the Future", "your boot heels clicking like the barrel of a pistol spinning 'round." He-- and the E Street Band-- actually sound hungry and, yes, just a little pissed off. It's an angry song, with a rumbling undercurrent of dread ("Woke up Election Day, sky's gunpowder and shades of gray"), but damn if it doesn't sound awesome when you're speeding down a back road with the windows rolled down." (6.8)

Ranked Highest By: thundering boredom (#4)

Amazon Link

The top 40 will have the number of points and votes listed. Hopefully sometime after we're done I'll get up a list of the top 250 or 500 or something that has all the points and votes with it as well.

whoa, I thought that most of these actually got a fair number of votes, now I'm really curious for whats in store.

Great start so far (minus Springsteen)

I bought the last Dungen album which I like enough to listen to occasionally, but, I confess, not enough to have sought out the latest one. Maybe I should do that now.

Freeway and Grinderman both seem low, but perhaps that's because I liked them both way better than the Springsteen.

Great list so far.

Thanks.

I'm pretty stoked for this, thanks paul. My brother and his fiance are visiting and I'm sneaking in my room to check this out here and there. He doesn't know I'm a message board nerd, and I don't intend on revealing, haha

avec's leading a double life. Secret's out.

#92.




Between The Buried And Me - Colors

US Chart Position: #57

UK Chart Position: n/a

Charting Singles: n/a

Acclaimed Music Ranking: n/a

Punknews.org Review: "Keeping in step with their trend of progression, Colors is essentially one 64-minute song broken up into 8 tracks. The album flows as if it was recorded in one take and retains a truly amazing fluidity. The songs are distinguishable from one another but at the same time draw on ideas from earlier times and embellish them. Colors is a relatively light listen, considering its running time. It isn't weighed down with needless instrumental noodling and interludes, yet it contains more speeds, notes, tones and ideas than the majority of music today combined. The music swells and pounds, crescendos and decrescendos multiple times in each song. The album is all about balance. Enough musical experimentation but not too much to get boring is the key to the flow of the album.

The music stays similar to past offerings by BTBAM, just more fleshed out. When they thrash (see beginning to "Ants of the Sky"), they do so better than most bands that define the genre. When they hit the epic melodic high points (towards the end of "Sun of Nothing," f.e.) they let the melody hang out just long enough so that it leads right into the onslaught again. The album breathes very well, due to an effective amount of piano. They aren't interludes, they simply tone down things for a bit, as if the music is relaxing for a moment. It is brilliant to see all the styles of music encompassed by this album. Apart from the obvious styles of metal they touch upon, there are jazzy romps, electronic sessions and, yes, a country hoedown (that somehow manages to sound completely relevant and in place)." (4.5/5)


Ranked Highest By: velocity (#2)

Amazon Link

the aliens too, but i'm really surprised about the low placement of UGK...

yah. I'm supposed to be watching the Bears game.

so far, I haven't heard any of these albums.

how come i still haven't heard this record?!

#91.




Stars - In Our Bedroom After The War

US Chart Position: #10 Heatseekers

UK Chart Position: n/a

Charting Singles: n/a

Acclaimed Music Ranking: n/a

Pitchfork Review: "Growing more staged, warier, and a little less playful with age, Stars don't quite match the wily rush of Set Yourself on Fire here. After three albums of artistic quantum leaps, they slow down gracefully on Bedroom, replacing Fire's indie-symphony twists and turns with more overt dramatic airs that can fall into blubbering melodrama, e.g., the title track, which suffocates under its own ticker-tape parade epic-ness. But when they're on, Stars are one of only a few current bands that can make war seem so appealing." (7.4)

Ranked Highest By: azupanda, RabbiSchmoiley (#4)

Amazon Link

The Stars record was okay, but it did very, very little for me.


I'm imagining this is going to be a punch-out between LCD, AF, & Radiohead.... but I always like surprises.

#90.




Cloud Cult - The Meaning of 8

US Chart Position: n/a

UK Chart Position: n/a

Charting Singles: n/a

Acclaimed Music Ranking: n/a

Pitchfork Review: "In usual form, Cloud Cult vent their sadness through songs that combine emotional release with heterogeneous arrangements, and often, head-nodding beats. The most successful tracks-- such as the soaring elegy "Dance for the Dead", with its stomping percussion and room-filling harmonies-- exhibit some of the unpretentious abandon that made earlier records so exhilarating. "A Good God" envisions Jesus as He-Man before skidding into an extended, distorted breakdown, while "Alien Christ" is a more cynical look at the supernatural. Upbeat rocker "Please Remain Calm" even shares one of Hippopotamus's themes, imagining a boy "with the helmet of an astronaut."" (6.9)

Ranked Highest By: gwa, farawaysoclose (#1)

Amazon Link

Maybe throw Burial and Stars of the Lid in there too.

I feel like that Stars album got into the top 100 on a lot of end of list meh votes

No.

Panda Bear and AC, anyone?

And Arcade Fire doesn't stand a chance.

I see Josh Ritter in that list as well. But I think it's going to be:

1. LCD
2. Radiohead
3. Arcade Fire

Ritter isn't going to make our top ten, no.