Max's Albums of the Year

10. Swan Lake - Beast Moans
What amazes about this record is the textures, and what these three managed to do and what they chose not to do with them. What originally feels underdeveloped eventually proves to be beautifully ragged, and while Swan Lake could undoubtedly have written an ear-melting rock record, the guys opted to restrain themselves to make something remarkable. Frustratingly, the album feels like there are unexplored ideas left in the room, but for a 'supergroup' effort, this is about as good as you're likely to find.

9. Junior Boys - So This is Goodbye
Electronic music generally falls into one of a couple of categories - that which is cool and mathematical, and that which is hot-blooded and theatrically sexy. This record impeccably bridges the gap with clinically precise beats but hooks that are anything but sterile. Few groups making this sort of music can make you remember a memory you never had. Here is one that does it flawlessly.

8. Cat Power - The Greatest
Although Chan sounds like her usual nonchalant self, The Greatest strikes you with an emotional immediacy rarely seen in pop music. The songs are alternately funky and crestfallen, forlorn and buoyant, but always heartfelt. This record is mythically gorgeous, and Chan seems destined to be a Siren who enchants everyone but remains tragically, beautifully alone.

7. The Fiery Furnaces - Bitter Tea
True to form, Matt Friedberger packs as many infection melodies in one record as most bands manage in a lifetime. The sprawling epics that made Blueberry Boat so endearing aren't here, but this effort is as focused as any they've put forth, and if not for the fact that you expect this sort of greatness from the Furnaces, this album would be making a lot more noise than it is. By any other name, this Furnaces record smells like an album of the year.

6. Yo La Tengo - I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass
Yo La Tengo have always sounded supremely confident and comfortable, but here, as much as any previous effort, everything truly falls into place. There aren't any missed opportunities to rock or reflect or to do whatever it is that they want to do. The blessing and the curse, as always, of being YLT, is that none of the songs can individually do justice to the whole, and repeated listens are required to fully appreciate this gem.

5. Belle & Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
By far the most thought-out and least rambling album of theirs to date, Belle and Sebastian are able to produce near-perfect pop songs like so many widgets. The difference is that you can feel that each song was crafted with such care. If a band's life is analagous to a human life, Belle and Sebastian have become confident adults and may have just accomplished their life's great work.

4. TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
From its stutter-stepping opening to the jazzy closing number, this album never fails to take you in the direction you least expected to go. So many times we hear a song and know where it's going before it goes there. These guys seem to relish experimentation, but it never compromises the substance that underlies each song. There is something to discover with each listen - as proof, check the drum fill in "A Method" that might only be paralleled in modern times by the one featured in "There There". TVOTR fit rather rockin' rhythms into wonderfully abstract arrangements in a way that Brian Wilson would approve.

3. The Flaming Lips - At War With the Mystics
The Lips have done it again, and while the music may not feel as groundbreaking as did the Soft Bulletin, the quality of the songs stands up to anything they've done. Amusing, uplifting, and superbly weird music is in abundance here - the fact that they've done it again is a miracle. From the rollicking, Floydesque "Pompeii am Gotterdammerung" to the robot vocals of "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song" to the clamorous chorus of...well, every song, no band manages to be so fun and so profoundly good at once.

2. Islands - Return to the Sea
To call this pelagic album a grower would be a gross understatement. Supposedly inspired by Graceland, this screwy odyssey is not nearly as easily placed as that Paul Simon opus. Although the songs unmistakably bear Nick Diamonds' thumbprint, it does not evoke just one style of music. There are enough clean melodies and intricate arrangements to keep this album a repeatedly fresh listen. The grooves are on par with the Unicorns, making this a sublime album that doesn't take itself too seriously, made by one of indie rock's most brilliant artists.

1. Destroyer - Destroyer's Rubies
This album's density comes across first as off-putting and then as challenging and finally as completely engaging. Dan Bejar's nasally vocals and intrepid explorations produce a piece of indie rock gold. There is not a single throwaway here, not one misstep; suggesting that improvements could be made would both miss the point and be audacious - unlike so many cluttered contemporaries, this album sounds exactly the way it's supposed to. From the second listen to the hundredth, this album fascinates rather than confuses - a profound entry in a year so fleeting.