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Like last year, I’m not going to rank these:

• Edan – Beauty and the Beat: Diverse and succinct. Best hip-hop album this year.
• My Morning Jacket – Z: Beautiful, country-tinged rock. Much like Edan’s album, elegant and brief with no filler.
• Andrew Bird – The Mysterious Production of Eggs: Consistent, excellent album that reminds me of the best parts of Jeff Buckley, Rufus Wainwright, and Jon Brion.
• Wolf Parade – Apologies to the Queen Mary: People compare them to the Arcade Fire for a reason — although I liked Funeral better, this comes close.
• Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Clap Your Hands Say Yeah: I avoided this album for a while because of the hype, and then listened to it for a week non-stop. Upbeat, melodic, and consistently strong.
• Cloud Cult – Advice from the Happy Hippopotamus: A brilliant, sprawling, diverse album. I’m surprised this band remains so obscure.
• M.I.A. – Arular
• Four Tet – Everything Ecstatic: Slightly better than The Campfire Headphase
• Bloc Party – Silent Alarm
• DangerDoom – DangerDoom: Has surprising staying power given its gimmicky nature. Got me to watch Adult Swim a few times.

Also notable:

• Kanye West – Late Registration: Maddeningly inconsistent and full of filler, but the few high points make it worth while.
• Go! Team – Thunder, Lightning, Strike: Fun and eclectic, but gets old quickly.
• Clor -Clor: Quirky and fun.
• Other “almost-great-but-not-quite” albums of this year: LCD Soundsystem, Run the Road, Franz Ferdinand, Boards of Canada, the White Stripes, Gorillaz, Beck, Spoon …

Once again, there are many albums I haven’t had a chance to listen to: Weareamonster, I Am A Bird Now, and Feels to name just a few. There’s too much good music out there to hear it all.