When I review a new release, I also give the album a score based on the quality of each individual track and the cohesiveness of the album as a whole. To be eligible for this list, the album needs to be released in the U.S. between December 1, 2006 and November 30, 2007. The following albums have scored highest this year so far. I update these Standings every time an album or albums break into my Top 20.

Update: This week Bright Eyes (no stranger to the upper ranks of my year-end lists this decade) enters the list at #2 with Cassadaga and Blonde Redhead sneak in at #20 with 23. Meanwhile, Team Shadetek’s Pale Fire and Low’s Drums and Guns get pushed off the list.

1. Menomena Friend and Foe (Barsuk)
2. Bright Eyes Cassadaga (Saddle Creek)
3. Macromantics Moments in Movement (Kill Rock Stars)
4. Youth Group Casino Twilight Dogs (Anti-)
5. The Bird and the Bee The Bird and the Bee (Metro Blue/Blue Note)
6. Tim Fite Over the Counter Culture (Anti-)
7. The Beauty Shop Crisis Helpline (Believe Music)
8. El-P I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead (Definitive Jux)
9. The Shins Wincing the Night Away (Sub Pop)
10. Andrew Bird Armchair Apocrypha (Fat Possum)
11. Elvis Perkins Ash Wednesday (XL)
12. Arcade Fire Neon Bible (Merge)
13. Maria Taylor Lynn Teeter Flower (Saddle Creek)
14. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists Living With the Living (Touch and Go)
15. Ligion External Affairs (Maple Jam/Bellum)
16. Peter Bjorn and John Writer’s Block (Almost Gold)
17. VietNam VietNam (Kemado)
18. Rob Crow Living Well (Temporary Residence Ltd.)
19. Modest Mouse We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank (Epic)
20. Blonde Redhead 23 (4AD)