I spent the first part of this year listening to great music from 2008 that I discovered at the end of that year, then spent the bulk of the past several months rotating between these three, without ever settling on a favorite, other than whichever is currently playing:

Dirty Projectors, Bitte Orca
Grizzly Bear, Veckatimest
Phoenix, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

Meanwhile, liking but not spending enough time with:

Antony & the Johnsons, The Crying Light
Jarvis Cocker, Further Complications
Marianne Faithfull, Easy Come, Easy Go
Ida Maria, Fortress ‘Round My Heart
Regina Spektor, Far
Sunset Rubdown, Dragonslayer
Tegan & Sara, Sainthood
Yeah Yeah Yeahs, It’s Blitz

And now only discovering—but really loving:

The Antlers, Hospice
Noah & the Whale, The First Days of Spring

Also, I remain firmly pro-GaGa and delight in whatever Rihanna chooses to sing—under her own name, as a guest on someone else’s song, on Saturday Night Live, or, probably, in the shower.

Oh, and: Jeff just reminded me that we both really liked the Killers’ Day & Age. And judging by the number of times I’ve seen Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion listed this week, I’m likely to really get into that next. Putting it on right now…

Presented in alphabetical order, with some trepidation because this includes my three favorite albums of this year, but nothing from last year; Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes, MGMT, Santigold, and the Ting Tings might be left off due more to timing than actual enjoyment. But probably not.

Antony & the Johnsons, I Am a Bird Now
Arcade Fire, Funeral
Death Cab for Cutie, Plans
Dirty Projectors, Bitte Orca
Feist, The Reminder
Grizzly Bear, Veckatimest
Idlewild, The Remote Part
Interpol, Turn On the Bright Lights
The Killers, Hot Fuss
Angela McCluskey, The Things We Do
Phoenix, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Radiohead, Kid A
Damien Rice, O
Regina Spektor, Begin to Hope
Rihanna, Good Girl Gone Bad
The Strokes, Is This It
Sufjan Stevens, Illinoise
Tegan & Sara, So Jealous
U2, All That You Can’t Leave Behind
Wolf Parade, Apologies to the Queen Mary

* Favorite, not Best, meaning this list is based on affection more than critical judgment. The ability to define a particular time and place in my memory influenced some choices as well (see, especially: the Strokes).