When I review a new release, I also give the album a score based on the quality of each individual track and the album as a whole. The following albums have scored highest this year so far. I update these Standings every time a new album breaks into my Top 20. Cursive’s Happy Hollow is the latest addition to the list, as Keane Under the Iron Sea falls off.
1. The Coup Pick A Bigger Weapon (Anti-/Epitaph)
2. Yeah Yeah Yeahs Show Your Bones (Interscope)
3. Blood Meridian Kick Up the Dust (V2)
4. Matisyahu Youth (Epic/JDub)
5. Roisin Murphy Ruby Blue (Echo)
6. Cursive Happy Hollow (Saddle Creek)
7. Neko Case Fox Confessor Brings the Flood (Anti-)
8. Regina Spektor Begin to Hope (Sire)
9. Elbow Leaders of the Free World (V2)
10. Man Man Six Demon Bag (Ace Fu)
11. Hot Chip The Warning (DFA/Astralwerks)
12. Hard-Fi Stars of CCTV (Necessary/Atlantic)
13. Arctic Monkeys Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not (Domino)
14. Rise Against The Sufferer & The Witness (Geffen)
15. AFI Decemberunderground (Interscope)
16. Belle and Sebastian The Life Pursuit (Matador)
17. Ghostface Killah Fishscale (Def Jam)
18. The Streets The Hardest Way To Make an Easy Living (Vice/Atlantic)
19. Taylor Hawkins & The Coattail Riders Taylor Hawkins & The Coattail Riders (Thrive)
20. The Essex Green Cannibal Sea (Merge)
No Raconteurs?
I had them on the list up until a few weeks ago, but they got bumped off by some better ones. It’s definitely good, but there are very few standout songs on there…just a lot of good ones.
As of now, they’re my #24 album of the year.