1. "Wincing the Night Away" -The Shins
Deeper and darker when compared to the other Shins' records, still pretty damn baroque and poppy. The melodies of their debut, minus the coyness, plus the thoughtfulness and whit of "Chutes Too Narrow". Very memorable.
2. "The End of History" -Fionn Regan
A record that was kept under the mattresses and underneath the floorboards this year, like an old family heirloom, but still has that unspeakable shine too it. A mix of the rush of urban life with the sullen air of the old family farm in the Irish countryside. These songs are heartfelt and strong, doused with Regan's own abstract diction.
3. "Person Pitch" -Panda Bear
Sample heavy, melodious, shimmering, dark, quasi-Indian beats, all while leaving enough room for your soul to start growing.
4. "Strawberry Jam" -Animal Collective
If an obsession with the past is like a dead fly, then an obsession with Animal Collective is like the cover of this record; colourful, weird, and something that's sort of hard to tell your friends about. Once you can appreciate the more conventional aspects of AC, you build a tolerance for all the weird things they do, and make them even more beautiful.
5. "Wild Mountain Nation" -Blitzen Trapper
It's like The Grateful Dead met Syd Barrett at an old saloon in the Wild West.
6. "In Rainbows" -Radiohead
7. "Dan in Real Life Soundtrack" -Sondre Lerche et al.
8. "Cease to Begin" -Band of Horses
9. "Favourite Worst Nightmare" -Arctic Monkeys
10. "Places Like This" -Architecture in Helsinki
11. "Neon Bible" -the Arcade Fire
12. "Raising Sand" -Robert Plant and Alison Krauss
13. "Under the Blacklight" -Rilo Kiley
14. "We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank" -Modest Mouse
15. "What the Night Said" -Will Stratton
