Yeasayer
Odd Blood
Secretly Canadian

This might just be on here because I totally thought the album was going to be more like its opener. Then again, I guess the upbeat unicorns-and-rainbows direction they’re taking is growing on me with every listen—like a lot. I’m growing soft methinks. Guess I’ll have to ramp up my obsession with serial killers and crime novels to maintain appearances.

The Knife (in collaboration with Mt. Sims and PlanningToRock)
Tomorrow, In a Year
Mute

This concept album is such a spectacular, grandiose undertaking that even more intriguing than its inspiration (life, literally from the beginning) is the fact that it’s actually coherent. The album has dual appeal: it will blow away the right-brained “creative” types and fascinate the left-brain Science Olympians. This was, like, my entire undergraduate degree summed up in the matter of an hour or two. It’s almost as cool as Michael Keller’s idea to turn On the Origin of Species into a graphic novel.

The Books
The Way Out
Temporary Residence

I love this album mainly for the track “Beautiful People” and its sheer abstract and genius layering. The rest of the album was good too, but man, oh, man, “Beautiful People” is a beautiful song indeed.

Foals
Total Life Forever
Sub Pop

I’m a sucker for post-punk, no matter how crowded the genre. This year, I was particularly excited for the second album from British darlings, Foals. The frenetic Antidotes was a hard act to follow, but thankfully Total Life Forever is a veritable rollercoaster ride, twisting unexpectedly on a whim and proving that Foals are a band for whom growth is certain.

Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti
Before Today
4AD

Though arguably a bit scattered, this album takes a great leap forward for the heretofore relatively unknown eccentric front man and his psychedelic band. Whether cooking, redecorating, drinking, writing, solving crossword puzzles, I found myself reaching for this record for a solid few months straight, and inevitably, ended up sliding around the living room in my socks, singing happily and making weird hand gestures.

Surfer Blood
Astro Coast
Kanine

It took spending a long while in a comic store in Brooklyn with this album on repeat before I realized how great it really is. Once I was ready to embrace the catchy melodies cleverly masked amid fuzz and distortion, the clouds broke and the sun shone, and now I can speak in tongues and long for muted flannel shirts.

Beach House
Teen Dream
Sub Pop

Once in a while, an album will come along and I really can’t articulate anything beyond the feeling it evokes in me. Teen Dream is one such album. It’s beyond me to find words to clearly describe, but I can tell you it makes me feel hopeful and content and longing all at the same time. There’s a true versatility and mystique behind the tracks. I’ve heard reactions to the same song range from “this is totally going to get me laid tonight” to witnessing a tiny baby falling into a naptime slumber. Sheer magic, I tell you.