10. Wilco – Kicking Television:
It used to be that I loved Wilco for Jeff Tweedy’s off-kilter poetry and songcraft, and not so much for their feeling as a band. But times change and Wilco have become the best group (perhaps after Deerhoof) of musicians working on the fringes where rock’n’roll and experimental music meet.
9. M. Ward – Transistor Radio
Infinitely pleasant and listenable in a nostalgic way from beginning to end; an especially perfect attempt at creating a sound.
8. Frank Black – Honeycomb:
While he made headlines this year for the Pixies reunion, Frank Black’s excellent new album, made with numerous Nashville greats, came out to little fanfare. For those that let themselves be drawn in (his appeal is very much a pull), Frank Black’s solo career is infinitely rewarding.
7. The Books – Lost and Safe:
A unique experience in listening. The Books use disparate elements (sampled conversations, strings) to create a fascinating soundscape.
6. The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema:
Thank you, New Pornographers, for reminding me that music can be poppy, sugary, summery, sing-a-longy, and profound all at the same time. I don’t know what the hell A.C. Newman is talking about (”The phantom taste drinking wine from your heels”), but to me he’s saying, “Relax, kid, music is fun!”
5. (Smog) - A River Ain’t Too Much To Love:
Bill Callahan’s new songs have the mark of matured genius. Family, home, and universal harmony are the themes of this album; the last line of the last song is, “Is there anything as still as sleeping horses?”
4. Matthew Sweeney and Bonnie Prince Billy – Superwolf:
“On a bench with your twisted fingers in me / In the rain with my sundress torn off of me / Sliding down grassy slopes to where we can be alone”- Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy has become one of the most confounding and rewarding personas in music.
3. The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree:
There’s a devastating clarity to the best of these songs. Love and violence face off on the stage of memory.
2. Deerhoof - The Runners Four:
Greg Saunier’s drumming comes from the same pool of primordial genius as the guitar playing of Jimi Hendrix and the voice of Bob Dylan. It is beyond history and music- it’s nature at work.
1. Sufjan Stevens – Illinoise:
More than just the next “Great American Songwriter,” Sufjan’s vision is personal and difficult. “John Wayne Gacy, Jr.” is the most beautiful song of the year, as much for it’s melody as for its unflinching responsibility to its subject. Sufjan is the anti-snide, the anti-cool, who will lead the march against L.A. on judgment day and who will strike down those who would snuff out the divine and sacred in music.
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