Annual Best-Of CD Lists
Partly as a joke and partly as the price of admission for an online discussion, I started compiling lists of my favorite new releases in 1999. Although my participation in the discussion ended years ago, I keep making the lists. Some of my best friends receive compilations of tracks from those CDs in late December (or early January) each year. Periodically, I’ll post my musings about what I’ve been hearing on the Musings page. What you see below are the best-of lists for the last three years. To see others, use the More… link to the right.
- 2007:
- Apostle of Hustle, The National Anthem of Nowhere
- The Besnard Lakes, The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse
- Björk, Volta
- Blonde Redhead, 23
- Celebration, The Modern Tribe
- Crowded House, Time on Earth
- Feist, The Reminder
- Grinderman, Grinderman
- PJ Harvey, White Chalk
- Joe Henry, Civilians
- His Name Is Alive, Xmmer
- Hanne Hukkelberg, Rykestrasse 68
- Low, Drums and Guns
- Nick Lowe, At My Age
- Menomena, Friend and Foe
- Múm, Go, Go Spread the Poison Ivy
- David Murray/Black Saint Quartet, Sacred Ground
- Me'shell Ndegéocello, The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams
- New Buffalo, Somewhere, Anywhere
- Panda Bear, Person Pitch
- Piano Magic, Part Monster
- Radiohead, In Rainbows
- Fionn Regan, The End of HIstory
- St. Vincent, Marry Me
- A Sunny Day in Glasgow, Scribble Mural Comic Journal
- Suzanne Vega, Beauty and Crime
- Rufus Wainwright, Release the Stars
- Wilco, Sky Blue Sky
- 2006:
- Asobi Seksu, Citrus
- Jessica Bailiff, Feels like Home
- Patricia Barber, Mythologies
- Richard Buckner, Meadow
- Califone, Roots and Crowns
- Neko Case, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
- Cat Power, The Greatest
- Lloyd Cole, Antidepressant
- Ornette Coleman, Sound Grammar
- Toumani Diabate’s Symmetric Orchestra, Boulevard de l’Independance
- Donald Fagen, Morph the Cat
- Kenny Garrett, Beyond the Wall
- Lisa Germano, In the Maybe World
- Miho Hatori, Ecdysis
- Van Hunt, On the Jungle Floor
- Junior Boys, So This Is Goodbye
- Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins, Rabbit Fur Coat
- Mahogany, Connectivity!
- Eric Matthews, Foundation Sounds
- Rose Melberg, Cast Away the Clouds
- Juana Molina, Son
- My Brightest Diamond, Bring Me the Workhorse
- Sol Seppy, The Bells of 1 2
- Sparklehorse, Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain
- Tom Waits, Orphans
- Cassandra Wilson, Thunderbird
- Thom Yorke, The Eraser
- 2005:
- Akron/Family, Akron/Family
- Andrew Bird, Andrew Bird and the Mysterious Production of Eggs
- Broadcast, Tender Buttons
- Broken Social Scene, Broken Social Scene
- Kate Bush, Aerial
- Freakwater, Thinking of You…
- Edith Frost, It’s a Game
- Robin Guthrie and Harold Budd, Mysterious Skin—Music from the Film
- Hanne Hukkelberg, Little Things
- Eric Matthews, Six Kinds of Passion Looking for an Exit
- Mercury Rev, The Secret Migration
- Murcof, Remembranza
- My Morning Jacket, Z
- Nine Horses, Snow Borne Sorrow
- Pajo, Pajo
- Piano Magic, Disaffected
- Ron Sexsmith and Don Kerr, Destination Unknown
- Sigur Rós, Takk…
- Spoon, Gimme Fiction
- Sufjan Stevens, Illinois
- Erwin Thomas, Songs from My Apartment
- Chad VanGaalen, Infiniheart
- M. Ward, Transistor Radio
- 2004:
- Air, Talkie Walkie
- The Album Leaf, In a Safe Place
- Arcade Fire, Funeral
- Devendra Banhart, Rejoicing in the Hands
- Björk, Medúlla
- Califone, Heron King Blues
- Fiery Furnaces, Blueberry Boat
- Van Hunt, Van Hunt
- Interpol, Antics
- Lamb, Between Darkness and Wonder
- George Michael, Patience
- Múm, Summer Make Good
- Joanna Newsom, The Milk-Eyed Mender
- Sam Phillips, A Boot and a Shoe
- Prince, Musicology
- Ron Sexsmith, Retriever
- Sufjan Stevens, Seven Swans
- TV on the Radio, Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes
- Vetiver, Vetiver
- Rufus Wainwright, Want Two
- Jim White, Drill a Hole in That Substrate and Tell Me What You See
- Wilco, A Ghost Is Born
- 2003:
- Blur, Think Tank
- Cristina Branco, Sensus
- Cat Power, You Are Free
- Grandaddy, Sumday
- Joe Henry, Tiny Voices
- Massive Attack, 100th Window
- My Morning Jacket, It Still Moves
- Mya, Moodring
- Radiohead, Hail to the Thief
- Damien Rice, O
- Seal, Seal IV
- Sun Kil Moon, Ghosts of the Great Highway
- Waterboys, Universal Hall
- Gillian Welch, Soul Journey
