Great placements for TV on the Radio and the Roots. Critics whiffed on those two albums.

TV on the Radio is the most puzzlingly overlooked album of the year to me. Sure it's not as good as Dear Science, but DS finished number 3 for 2008, and it's not that far off. The Fleet Foxes also put out an album that is universally considered not as good as their `08 effort, yet it was way more acclaimed. Why is TVotR not cool all of a sudden?

10 | St. Vincent | Strange Mercy



Score: 226 points (13 votes)

Biggest Fans: Moonbeam (#2); Reed (#2); Chris K (#3); BillAdama (#5)

Critics' Rank: #9

Genre: Art Pop, Indie Pop

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9 | M83 | Hurry Up, We're Dreaming



Score: 241 points (9 votes)

Biggest Fans: Greg (#1); musictoad (#1); Matski (#2); Moonbeam (#3); Chris K (#5)

Critics' Rank: #8

Genre: Synth Pop, Indie Electronic

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8 | Radiohead | The King of Limbs



Score: 250 points (14 votes)

Biggest Fans: Chris K (#4); Michel (#4); Gillingham (#5); Mindrocker (#5); Slick (#5)

Critics' Rank: #13

Genre: Electronic, Experimental Rock

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7 | James Blake | James Blake



Score: 267 points (10 votes)

Biggest Fans: Mindrocker (#1); antonius (#2); Nick (#2); Otisredding (#3); Charlie Driggs (#4)

Critics' Rank: #3

Genre: Indie Electronic, Dubstep

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6 | Destroyer | Kaputt



Score: 272 points (12 votes)

Biggest Fans: Reed (#1); Petri (#2); Zorg (#2); Jonah (#3); Nick (#3); Evan (#5)

Critics' Rank: #5

Genre: Sophisti-Pop, Art Pop

I'm surprised at the high placement of Destroyer, considering Destroyer's Rubies never placed that high and I think it's far better than Kaputt. Kaputt seems kind of like Destroyer-by-numbers.

Nine Types Of Light is a good album, but it's not top tier for me. It's not as consistent and doesn't hold up as well to repeated listening.

Good to see St Vincent in top 10, Tom Waits in top 5.

Just because the FF album isn't as good as theit previous doesn't mean it's a bad album
It's still an excellent album IMO. So it deserves good reviews. If I follow you then bands should be given just ONE acclaimed album ? That makes no sense.
And that Radiohead cover is definitely hideous. But should they shit on their covers people here would still love that (i'm kidding)

happy for Ry Cooder's placement, that all he could hope considering the number of people who probably didn't even listend to it. It's spot on the music I love with an expertise on roots music (the JLH imitation, but also the 2 first tracks). The myrics are so great. Looks like only the old guys seem to be concerned about what's happening in their country (see Waits' Hell Broke Luce). here again a nicolas provocation

I think the point Jackson is trying to make is that Nine Types of Light is always compared to Dear Science, and is therefore dismissed because critical opinion says it's less good. Similarly Helplessness Blues is always compared to Fleet Foxes, and most people agree that it's less good, but it doesn't suffer from the same level of dismissal that Nine Types of Light has suffered. The hype surrounding Dear Science was huge, but for some reason, Nine Types of Light seems to have passed by with no one noticing.

These results are great! The only one in the top 10 that I haven't heard properly is M83, but they verge on the annoying to me.