10. Bike For Three! - More Heart Than Brains: This odd paring is twice as beautiful as it is strange. Buck 65 leaves his turntables and folk hop behind, and just let's his lyricism float wonderfully over the fully electronic beats of Greetings From Tuskan. "All There Is To Say About Love" should be enough to motivate anyone. 9. Why? - Eskimo Snow: It took a while for me to get behind this album, it wasn't like the Yoni of the past, most of the Hip Hop elements were removed. Eventually songs like "Against Me" & "The Blackest Purse" would not get out of my head and forced me to see the truth. Piano driven Indie ballads, but so clever and dark, Yoni can do anything. 8. Moodring - Scarred Of Ferret: I had never heard Moodring, and don't know anyone else that has (maybe some friends in Portland? cuz that's where they come from) but I reviewed this CD for the station and was hooked. They pull so many influences and make them work. It's a really sweet find. 7. Sole & The Skyrider Band - S/T Remix LP: OK to be fair to Sole and the guys, Plastique also came out this year and was great, but the remixes to their debut album were amazing. After already falling completely in love with the songs on the S/T album, now they are completely given new life as they are remixed by a group of diverse and talented artists such as, Astronautulis, Telephone Jim Jesus, Pictureplane, Odd Nosdam, & Fog. 6. Obits - I Blame You: When I first heard that Rick Froberg (Pitchfork, Drive Like Jehu, Hot Snakes) was giving up on making influential hardcore and punk music in favor of just playing rock and roll, I was crushed. I had to listen to it regardless, and boy am I glad I did. Rock and Roll has never sounded so good to me. The last track "Back and Forth" could be listened to on repeat, over and over again. 5. Victor Villarreal - Alive: Victor is probably one of my favorite guitarists, his work with the instrumental Ghosts And Vodka is great, and Owls - S/T has some of my favorite guitar work ever, not to mention how he helped redefine emo while in high school with Cap'n Jazz. Well, his guitar playing is still good but much more simplified on his first solo release, and first release of any kind in a while. Alive is raw and simple, as much about his drug dependency as other things, this album shows the possibility of a bright future for Victor, but then again, when has an album he's been on not? 4. Eyedea & Abilities - By The Throat: Man, they really took their time on this one. Abilities has always been a good DJ and Eyedea, a good MC but this album just takes it to a whole new level. It's passionate, progressive, and has some beautiful scratches. Even though it's probably the single, I dare you to listen to the track "Spin Cycle", you can't deny it. 3. Joan Of Arc - Flowers: Good ol' Joan Of Arc, every year they give me a great record, or in the case of 07 two good records and a good record from a side project. This years Flowers was fantastic, playing around with more electronics and still show casing some great guitar. Tim is as lyrically sharp as ever, even giving me one of my new favorite JOA lines, "As funny as I've ever been, is as funny as I'll ever be." Somewhere in the middle of the record is a long set of sampled count offs that I'm still trying to identify, so far I've got the beginning to Ten by cLOUDDEAD and one from Against All Authority. 2. Mi Ami - Watersports: I had been waiting for this album since I heard of the band, just one member of the now defunct band Black Eyes is enough to make me excited, but two, wow. Screamy, semi psychedelic dub rhythms drive their music as the percussion takes full strength. With a trail of singles including the insta-classic "African Rhythms" leading up to it's release, Watersports did not disappoint. Starting with "Echononecho" all the way through "Peacetalks/Downer", every track is mindblowing and trance conducing. 1. Themselves - CrownsDown: What can I say about this album that I haven' yet. This album is brilliant, and should redefine Hip Hop for the next decade and at the same time keeps it as close to classic as possible. In fact, if in ten years, this album isn't given at least a third of the credit it deserves, I will lose all faith in humanity, it's seriously that good. Well, to quote Dose himself, "crowns down on the table and left to rust or rule". God let us chose rule!!!

Joan Of Arc - Live In Chicago, 1999 (Tim Kinsella as a poet influences me greatly, as does all his music, but this album especially captures multiple aspects of what makes JOA great, and still early enough to have some of his youthful angst)

Why? - Oaklandazulasylum (The cut and paste feel of this album is something I imagine my work having... sure things end up going together very well, but I'm sure all songs on this started out as bit's and pieces)

Milemarker - Futurisms (Such a good album, so angry, so synthesized, so punk! My musical mission statement is that I want to be the Tim Kinsella of Hip Hop, the Why? of Punk, and the Al Burian of singer/songwriters, so obviously 1 from each had to make my list)

Olivia Tremor Control - Black Foliage (the ability to write such catchy pop tunes and cohessively put them together through noise collage and studio tricks is something no other band could demonstrate this well...)

Sole & The Skyrider Band - S/T (hearing one of my favorite MCs over almost post rock songs was just unbelievable... more proof that rapping doesn't have to be limited to sampling, laptop, or keyboard beats... not that those are always bad, but that it can be so much more)

Paul Simon - Graceland (Maybe I just included this one because I really think it needs to be covered in it's entirety... but in the vein of Xiu Xiu) Black Eyes - Cough (I don't know what to say about this one... it just blows my mind)

cLOUDDEAD - Ten (More Hip Hop can be more mentality, Dose & Why? Yell, sing, rap, and whisper, all while remembering the importance of the power drill solo)

The Mountain Goats - Full Force Galesburg (It's weird for me to think back to a time when TMG was my favorite "band" (it certainly wasn't a band back then!) but the rawness and the emotion behind this album still move me greatly... and never forget, tape hiss is an instrument!)

Built To Spill - Perfect From Now On (Another band I'm not into like I used to, but long before The Decemberist tried their hand at Indie Prog, BTS wrote this, quite possibly the most epic Indie rock record... I also would love to do a sludgey, synthy, screamy cover of "Randy Describes Eternity")