Hello everyone.

First of all, I want to thanks our 40 voters (just as much as the number of wrestlers in past Sunday's Royal Rumble which had the less exciting result of any Royal Rumble but I guess that's not the topic).

Here they are :
Alex D
antonius
BillAdama
Brad
Brose
Charlie Driggs
Chris K
Dan M
Ddiamondd
Drew
Evan
Gillingham
Greg
habes
Harold Wexler
Henrik
HRS
Jackson
John
Jonah
Jonathon
Lethem
Michel
Mindrocker
Moonbeam
Nassim
Nick
nicolas
Petri
Rocky Raccoon
Romain
Sean Pak
Slick
sonofsamiam
SR
Stephan
SuperFurry
Tim
Vanilla Fire 1000
Zorg

With 9 more voters than last year, only 167 albums have been nominated, 32 less than for 2009. Blame it on our top 3 albums who all bested past year winner's total points.

Before unveiling the top 25, let's start with a few dubious honors :

Highest ranked albums in Megacritic not to get any points :
Mount Kimbie - Crooks & Lovers (Megacritic rank : 32)
Neil Young - Le Noise (Megacritic rank : 37)
Oneohtrix Point Never - Returnal (Megacritic rank : 43)

Highest ranked albums in AM EOY list not to get any points :
Roky Erickson With Okkervil River - True Love Cast Out All Evil (EOY rank : 14)
Paul Weller - Wake Up The Nation (EOY rank : 16)
Wyatt/Atzmon/Stephen - For The Ghosts Within (EOY rank : 17)

Worst average for an album with more than 1 vote :
Jamey Johnson - The Guitar Song : 1,6667 points by ballot (5 points with 3 ballots)

Highest ranked album with only 1 vote :
Jeremy Messersmith - The Reluctant Graveyard (18 points from John)

Most votes for an album out of the top 25 :
Four Tet - There Is Love In You (33rd with 6 ballots)

SO EXCITED TO SEE THIS!

co-sign

This will be interesting.

25. Black Keys, The - Brothers
28 points



Rank in the AM Top Albums of 2010 (End of year lists) : 11
Rank in the Mega-Critic 2010 EOY : 18
Appeared on 5 ballots out of 40
Biggest fan : Gillingham (11 pts)

24. Pantha du Prince - Black Noise
30 points



Rank in the AM Top Albums of 2010 (End of year lists) : 35
Rank in the Mega-Critic 2010 EOY : 11
Appeared on 2 ballots out of 40
Biggest (and well, only) fans : Henrik (20 pts), antonis (10 pts)

Every year an album cracks the top 25 with only a couple of votes, here is the one for this year.

To quote some of the greatest lyricists of our time, let's get it started.

Alberto Del Rio is NOT ready to main event Wrestlemania!

All the previous winners, except Yokozuna, were already big stars when they won their Royal Rumble ; he does not seem to be able to get the status that any of them had back then. But well, we'll see.

Back to our list :

23. MGMT - Congratulations
34 points



Rank in the AM Top Albums of 2010 (End of year lists) : 25
Rank in the Mega-Critic 2010 EOY : 118
Appeared on 4 ballots out of 40

Biggest Fan : Brad (20 pts)

Here comes the worst Mega-Critic ranked album of our top 25, bursting in the top 25 (well, in the top 50 in fact) thanks to the 40th, and last, ballot.

Ah, excellent. Here's hoping My World 2.0 crushes the opposition.

22. Owen Pallett - Heartland
40 points



Rank in the AM Top Albums of 2010 (End of year lists) : 44
Rank in the Mega-Critic 2010 EOY : 37
Appeared on 7 ballots out of 40

Biggest Fan : Petri (18 pts)

And here comes our worst AM EOY ranked album of our top 25, meaning that our whole top 25 was included in critics top 50. One little more point for Anaïs Mitchell and that would no longer had been the case !

21. The Roots - How I Got Over
41 points



Rank in the AM Top Albums of 2010 (End of year lists) : 41
Rank in the Mega-Critic 2010 EOY : 101
Appeared on 8 ballots out of 40

Biggest Fan : Slick (10 pts)

Boo to the omission!

I guess in order to get critical attention for a mythological folk opera, you have to be eaten by a whale.

After giving it a lot of thought I decided not to give the albums I ranked between numbers 11 to 20 any points. Maybe I should have, because then she would have made the top 25. Regardless, Hadestown remains the most underrated album of 2010 IMHO. Hopefully she will gain recognition as time goes by.

just as much as the number of wrestlers in past Sunday's Royal Rumble which had the less exciting result of any Royal Rumble.

I liked it. Alberto is cool and now that they hired Mistico those to Luchadors are going to put on a clinic. At least a suprise entrant didn't win like the past 2 or 3 years where the person wasn't even expected to be in the Rumble.

20. Robyn - Body Talk
43 points



Rank in the AM Top Albums of 2010 (End of year lists) : 19
Rank in the Mega-Critic 2010 EOY : 52
Appeared on 10 ballots out of 40

Biggest Fan : John (11 pts)

Body Talk is the album with the most "1 point" votes, with 3 of us giving it the minimum score

19. Swans - My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope to The Sky
46 points



Rank in the AM Top Albums of 2010 (End of year lists) : 33
Rank in the Mega-Critic 2010 EOY : 38
Appeared on 4 ballots out of 40

Biggest Fans : Jackson (20 pts), Sean Pak (15 pts)

18. The Tallest Man on Earth - The Wild Hunt
51 points



Rank in the AM Top Albums of 2010 (End of year lists) : 42
Rank in the Mega-Critic 2010 EOY : 90
Appeared on 4 ballots out of 40

Biggest Fans : Stephan (23 pts), antonius (15 pts)

With an average of 12,75 pts by ballot, The Wild Hunt is only bested by the winner of the poll and by albums appearing in a single list


17. Caribou - Swim
54 points



Rank in the AM Top Albums of 2010 (End of year lists) : 8
Rank in the Mega-Critic 2010 EOY : 31
Appeared on 10 ballots out of 40

Biggest Fans : Jackson (15 pts), Romain (10 pts)

After a difficult start, Swim made a great finish earning half of its points on the 8 last ballots

Awesome placements for Swans and Caribou; I'm glad I was able to get those into the top 20.

So far, the albums seem to have very few votes considering their placements. Either the votes were spread out across many albums, or the albums at the top completely dominated the ones appearing so far (I'm thinking it's the latter).

Damn, I was hoping The Wild Hunt would at least get top 15, but #18 is quite a lot higher than AM and Megacritic, so I shouldn't be too disappointed.

16. Gorillaz - Plastic Beach
60 points



Rank in the AM Top Albums of 2010 (End of year lists) : 16
Rank in the Mega-Critic 2010 EOY : 6
Appeared on 8 ballots out of 40

Biggest Fan : Ddiamondd (15 pts), Slick (11 pts)

15. Titus Andronicus - The Monitor
63 points



Rank in the AM Top Albums of 2010 (End of year lists) : 30
Rank in the Mega-Critic 2010 EOY : 55
Appeared on 10 ballots out of 40

Biggest Fan : Evan (12 pts), Ddiamondd (10 pts)

Two albums which have waited the late voters to gain momentum, The Monitor earning 2/3 of its points from the last 72 hours of the poll

Yes! I like these two albums quite a lot (though I didn't have any points to spare to give Titus Andronicus), they would both quite handily make my top 10 for 2009.

My babies

Seriously though, Plastic Beach - imo - continues to be slightly underrated

My guess at the top 14:

Arcade Fire
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti
Beach House
Big Boi
Deerhunter
Flying Lotus
LCD Soundsystem
Janelle Monae
Joanna Newsom
Kanye West
The National
Sleigh Bells
Sufjan Stevens
Vampire Weekend


I bet the top three are Kanye, Janelle, and AF in that order.

EDIT: Thought Titus was 16, I took out the Walkmen.

Titus in top 15! I was hoping for even more, but that's still a heck of a lot better than where the critics have placed them.

Nice to see underrated albums appearing! Hadestown was inside my top 10, but guess it wasn't enough. Titus too. Gorillaz was close, unfortunately didn't make it and this is coming from a big Damon Albarn fan.

Well, seeing as we've already had #15, I'd leave out The Walkmen. But yeah those 14 look a lock. My revised predictions:

14/ Flying Lotus
13/ Big Boi
12/ Vampire Weekend
11/ Sleigh Bells
10/ Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti
9/ Joanna Newsom
8/ Beach House
7/ Deerhunter
6/ The National
5/ Arcade Fire
4/ LCD Soundsystem
3/ Sufjan Stevens
2/ Janelle Monae
1/ Kanye West

Yeah i agree that it's underrated, but I think (genius me) I worked out why. It's too eclectic. In the songs poll nomination round, I though Glitter Freeze (beautiful song) and Some Kinda Nature would coast through. Turns out they didn't get nominated. Instead we have Empire Ants, Stylo, Rhinestone Eyes and On Melancholy Hill, one of which I actually dislike. Turns out everyone has their one favourite on Plastic Beach. Perhaps the mashing of styles can't completely work for everyone.

That's fair justification. I suppose I've listened to it enough that it's wrapped itself around my head and even some my 'filler' tracks - Plastic Beach, Sweepstakes, White Flag - look quite good now.

New top 14 predictions

14. Flying Lotus
13. Vampire Weekend
12. Sleigh Bells
11. Joanna Newsom
10. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti
9. Big Boi
8. Deerhunter
7. Beach House
6. Sufjan Stevens
5. The National
4. Arcade Fire
3. LCD Soundsystem
2. Janelle Monae
1. Kanye West

It's my favorite Gorillaz album ever. And the best of the three at having a shot of growing respect over the years. Hopefully.

Top 14 guess:

14. Sleigh Bells
13. Ariel Pink
12. Vampire Weekend
11. Flying Lotus
10. Joanna Newsom
9. Big Boi
8. The National
7. Deerhunter
6. Janelle Monae
5. Arcade Fire
4. Beach House
3. Sufjan Stevens
2. LCD Soundsystem
1. Kanye West

14. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today
82 points



Rank in the AM Top Albums of 2010 (End of year lists) : 10
Rank in the Mega-Critic 2010 EOY : 20
Appeared on 12 ballots out of 40

Biggest Fans : Petri (18 pts), habes (12 pts)

13. Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma
85 points



Rank in the AM Top Albums of 2010 (End of year lists) : 14
Rank in the Mega-Critic 2010 EOY : 5
Appeared on 7 ballots out of 40

Biggest Fans : Sean Pak (25 pts), Jackson (25 pts), Evan (13 pts), Gilligham (13 pts)

Cosmogramma is the last album to have received less than 10 votes, but as you can see some gave it big support

I agree that Plastic Beach is pretty great! I don't think it's quite up to par with Demon Days, but I think it's definitely better than the debut. "Empire Ants", "Plastic Beach", "On Melancholy Hill", "Stylo", "Some Kind of Nature", "Glitter Freeze", "Rhinestone Eyes", "Cloud of Unknowing", "Pirate Jet" and "Broken" are all top notch!

One piece of technical advice : when you want to re-quote sbdy please try to isolate the very words you want to quote then put then between the

brackets and ERASE THE REST. It will make the whole page much more easy to read.

12. Sleigh Bells - Treats
96 points



Rank in the AM Top Albums of 2010 (End of year lists) : 17
Rank in the Mega-Critic 2010 EOY : 30
Appeared on 15 ballots out of 40

Biggest Fans : Zorg (16 pts), SuperFurry (10 pts)

Treats spent most of the counting of votes ranked 14th, but it made a good finish

11. Vampire Weekend - Contra
110 points



Rank in the AM Top Albums of 2010 (End of year lists) : 12
Rank in the Mega-Critic 2010 EOY : 25
Appeared on 13 ballots out of 40

Biggest Fans : Slick (16 pts), Rocky Raccoon (13 pts), John (11 pts), Alex D (11 pts), habes (10 pts), Vanilla Fire 1000 (10 pts),

Kicked out of the top 10 by the last ballot !

Ouch!

My guess:

10. Joanna Newsom
9. Sufjan Stevens
8. Big Boi
7. Deerhunter
6. The National
5. Beach House
4. LCD Soundsystem
3. Janelle Monae
2. Arcade Fire
1. Kanye West

There were so many Sufjan Stevens songs inside the songs poll and so much support on this website to the album and even his EP that i just can't see it not making the top 5. I can see Joanna dropping inside the top 10 at number 9 or something and me being responsible for like 1/4 of the votes, though.

Slightly less than a sixth in fact !

10. Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest
113 points



Rank in the AM Top Albums of 2010 (End of year lists) : 6
Rank in the Mega-Critic 2010 EOY : 4
Appeared on 17 ballots out of 40

Biggest Fans : Michel (17pts), Chris K (15 pts), Gillingham, Henrik (10 pts)

7 points from the last voter made it overtake Contra

9. Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty
121 points



Rank in the AM Top Albums of 2010 (End of year lists) : 9
Rank in the Mega-Critic 2010 EOY : 9
Appeared on 16 ballots out of 40

Biggest Fans : Nassim, Brose (15 pts), SR (12 pts), Ddiamondd, Rocky Raccoon (10 pts)

9th in AM EOY, Mega-Critic and in our poll, looks like Big Boi has found its perfect ranking

Oh Lord, she had more votes than i thought




It deserved more than Contra to me. Deerhunter out of the top 10 would come as a shock to me and i guess that a lot of other people.



It is a good number, though.

All good albums near the top of the list, but it'd be nice to see more genres represented than alternative/indie and rap.

I know you said near the top of the list but we have had Swedish pop, warm dubby electro, stripped-back soul/blues rock, retro-sounding soft-rock, minimal electronica, an acoustic singer-songwriter and some unclassifiable IDMy-glitchy-bassy-space opera so far. All acceptable within the alternative spectrum, granted, but there is diversity there.

It's just the nature of consensus that the 'safe' choices - either by established or buzz bands - will be the ones running away with the votes. This won't be news to you of course, but it is the way things go.

What records might you be looking out for instead of the usual LCD Fire West brigade?

8. LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening
145 points



Rank in the AM Top Albums of 2010 (End of year lists) : 5
Rank in the Mega-Critic 2010 EOY : 12
Appeared on 20 ballots out of 40

Biggest Fans : SR (16 pts), Jonah (14 pts), Nick (12 pts), Vanilla Fire 1000, Moonbeam (10 pts)

I guess this one was expected higher, but even though it is the first album to appear in half of the ballots, it is also the one with the most votes below 10 pts : large acclaim, but few strong love

Wow! Didn't see that coming.

Neither did I! I'm glad it placed in the top 10, though.

I expected it to be placed inside the top 5, one of the main reasons i left it out of my list to add Hadestown.

7. Joanna Newsom - Have One on Me
158 points



Rank in the AM Top Albums of 2010 (End of year lists) : 13
Rank in the Mega-Critic 2010 EOY : 10
Appeared on 15 ballots out of 40

Biggest Fans : Brose (30 pts), HRS (25 pts), habes (16 pts), SuperFurry (15 pts), Dan M (12 pts)

Have One on Me was the first album to receive a 30 pts vote (giving it a very brief place on the podium). But appearing "only" in 15 ballots, the fewest for a top 10 album, it fell short against the other mastodons of the poll.

LOVE IT!

And someone loved this more than i did! Now THAT'S a surprise!

It appear in a few ballots, which i guess it proves that people who liked this, really did and people who didn't couldn't care less. Looks like there is no mid term when it comes to Joanna Newsom. Really happy and I wish it had made the AM top 10, though.

Nice surprise.

Well, it'd be nice if we could get enough conversation and listening going to generate local favorites on the board. On the old Metacritic boards, unknown bands like Rural Alberta Advantage made the year end polls because one person posted a link to a stream and lots of other people listened to it.

Other than the one you expect me to say (Hadestown), there are other folk albums like Mumford & Sons, there's Dum Dum Girls who are like Elastica with distortion, there's R&B/soul singers like Mavis Staples. There's also all the non-english pop various regulars hear in their European countries that speak the language.

All the albums that made the poll are good albums, but it'd be awesome if we got that kind of exchange of recommendations going throughout the year, so we could have local favorites that aren't the same as the ones getting critical buzz.

Dum Dum Girls, Fang Island, Wavves, Avi Buffalo and plenty of other minor artists all delivered the goods this year. Maybe the forum didn't have a strong consensus about it. We need to remember that there were more than 120 albums listed, so basically they do have supporters over here.

Jail La La is one of my favorites tracks of the year, if it hadn't came out in 2009, i'd have listed inside the songs poll.

I get where you're coming from. I voted for four acts that received no other votes apparently - I'm guessing Wavves, Darkstar, Guido and Fang Island - alongside big-hitters like AF, Yeezy, Big Boi etc.

- Wavves and Fang Island + Pulled Apart by Horses and the Drums

The artists I was the most surprised to see in only one ballot are The Radio Dept, These New Puritans, Drake and Zola Jesus.

Until we reached the top 15, I was keeping my fingers crossed that my beloved Queen of Denmark (#2 on my list) might sneak in somehow. I'm curious to know how it did overall.

6. The National - High Violet
189 points



Rank in the AM Top Albums of 2010 (End of year lists) : 2
Rank in the Mega-Critic 2010 EOY : 7
Appeared on 21 ballots out of 40

Biggest Fan : antonius (25 pts), Stephan, Gillingham (18 pts), BillAdama, Jonathon (15 pts)

I have to say I don't really understand the love for High Violet. I love the National, on the last artist poll I think I put them fourth of all time, but High Violet seems a bit...tame. Apart from a few choice songs (Runaway, England, Vanderlyle perhaps, and maybe Lemonworld) everything seems a bit average. Compare that to Alligator, where every song was a hit, or with Boxer, which merged beautifully into one, and I can't help but feel a bit disappointed with this effort. This is relative of course, I still gave it 6 points, putting it eighth.

Yeah I think they kind of sat on their hands with this album. Critics were ready to crown them the indie kings and they didn't really take the next step forward. Obviously, fans loved that, but casual listeners like myself felt it was just ok.

I wonder if we could have some sort of game that encourages sharing of new albums the critics are ignoring.

Maybe something like, each month we nominate four albums with the sole requirement that they came out in the last twelve months and their rating on Mega-critic be under X. We have all month to listen to them then vote on them at the end of the month, then at the end of the year the winners go against each other.

How would we decide the four albums? Everybody gets a turn, order of turns is picked by random drawing.

I would volunteer to run this if I weren't already running a game.

Yes, in some ways High Violet is a formulaic extension of The National's previous two albums, with added stadium-sized noise in an attempt to appeal to a larger audience. Yet none of their previous albums are as perfect for late-night listening after a few drinks as High Violet is. They've been attempting a balancing act between paranoia and optimism for quite a while now, but this was the first time I could really relate to it.

I think this is an excellent idea. Stefan's incredible Mega-Critic chart has been great for discovering acclaimed music as each year progresses, but what about the albums left behind? I started a thread called "European Albums of 2010" recently because I felt we should also have the opportunity to become familiar with music that aren't necessarily reviewed by the American and British critics only, as is the case on sites like Metacritic. (Don't get me wrong - most of the time I think the albums that are dominant on Mega-Critic or the year-end lists are actually also the best albums of the year). But your idea of a game that encourages listening to music ignored by critics sounds like a breath of fresh air to me, and I'd be happy to run it.

5. Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz
192 points



Rank in the AM Top Albums of 2010 (End of year lists) : 15
Rank in the Mega-Critic 2010 EOY : 48
Appeared on 16 ballots out of 40

Biggest Fans : Lethem, Moonbeam (30 pts), habes (18 pts), Nassim, Alex D (15 pts)

Even though it is doing much better than in both Mega-Critic and AM EOY, by receiving ballots I thought it would rank higher : it was 2nd after the 10 th ballot and until the 30th ballot when it went directly at #4, finally losing one last rank with the last ballot.

Awww, I was hoping The Age of Adz would place in the top 3, and especially beat the pitiful The Suburbs. Still, top 5 is a pretty great result!

PHEW.........just when I was getting scared that "the Age of Adz" was going to win the whole thing.....

It should have!

hahaha I did give it a point though, and I think I put it at number 19 or something on my EOY list. It's just that the remaining 4 albums were all top ten of the year for me. But to each his own!

One of the remaining albums was my #2. Another one is in my top 20, but I didn't give it points. Another one I haven't heard. And then there's The Suburbs.

Top four are my #1, two in my top 30 (Kanye and Arcade Fire), and one I don't really care for.

4. Beach House - Teen Dream
210 points



Rank in the AM Top Albums of 2010 (End of year lists) : 4
Rank in the Mega-Critic 2010 EOY : 8
Appeared on 21 ballots out of 40

Biggest Fans : Henrik (30 pts), Brad, Gillingham (22 pts), HRS (20 pts), Romain (15 pts)

Such a beautiful work

I don't think this necessarily needs to be a game. If we have more discussion threads about new releases instead of just lumping everything into one thread, people are bound to post about their new favorites--which may or may not be critical favorites.

If we stopped right now, I would be really content.

It's nice to see that Stevens is loved more by us than by the critics.

3. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
224 points



Rank in the AM Top Albums of 2010 (End of year lists) : 1
Rank in the Mega-Critic 2010 EOY : 2
Appeared on 22 ballots out of 40

Biggest Fans : Drew (21 pts), John, Rocky Raccoon (18 pts), VanillaFire1000, HRS (15 pts)

I hadn't time to listen to the Sufjan album, but i have to admit there are really great songs in it that I'm listening to now (for thr songs poll)

And here are our winners :

2. Janelle Monae - The ArchAndroid (Suites II and III)
255 points



Rank in the AM Top Albums of 2010 (End of year lists) : 7
Rank in the Mega-Critic 2010 EOY : 3
Appeared on 23 ballots out of 40

Biggest Fans : BillAdama, Greg (30 pts), sonofsamiam (25 pts), Moonbeam, nicolas (20 pts)

1. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
348 points



Rank in the AM Top Albums of 2010 (End of year lists) : 3
Rank in the Mega-Critic 2010 EOY : 1
Appeared on 26 ballots out of 40

Biggest Fans : SR, Greg, Jonathon (30 pts), Vanilla Fire 1000 (25 pts), Harold Wexler (22 pts)

Almost 100 points ahead of The Archandroid, best average score of any album that received multiple votes, highest number of votes, on the lead from 1st vote till the end... MBDTF totally dominated the poll this year

Thanks Nassim!
Great presentation. And great list of course.
The dominance of Kanye is impressive. Didn't see that coming. I wasn't even sure it will win this game. When I sent my lists I said to Nassim that I have listened to only ones Archandroid and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (and didn't give points neither of them). I guess it's time to give both albums another chance.

Yeezy reupholstered our album poll!

For a minute i thought AF would win or Janelle would surprise us! But now we know Kanye ruled AM last year!

Very very thankful for this poll! Tanks again Nassim! Can't believe we have to wait a year to have another one...

Thank you so much for this, Nassim! I enjoyed the timing and the presentation.

I haven't heard the Kanye album outside of the singles. Maybe I'll give it a chance.

Congrats to Kanye. It looks like he'll do the sweep with Runaway in the songs poll as well, which is excellent. While none of my favourites did particularly well, I still think all of the top 10 are top notch.

And congrats to Nassim!

Really think Sufjan 's album will be the one that is talked about most 10 years from now. Was hoping for a stronger finish. Although...The Adz placement in the #5 spot shows a swing in approval in just a few months. What will he do next?

Thanks a lot Nassim!

2010 was a good year.

Nassim, thanks for the presentation!

Great job, Nassim!

Great job running the poll, and I'm mostly pleased with the results. Any way we can see the list below 25, though?

Wish granted :

1 - 348 pts Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
2 - 255 pts Janelle Monae - The ArchAndroid (Suites II and III)
3 - 224 pts Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
4 - 210 pts Beach House - Teen Dream
5 - 192 pts Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz
6 - 189 pts National, The - High Violet
7 - 158 pts Joanna Newsom - Have One on Me
8 - 145 pts LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening
9 - 121 pts Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty
10 - 113 pts Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest
11 - 110 pts Vampire Weekend - Contra
12 - 96 pts Sleigh Bells - Treats
13 - 85 pts Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma
14 - 82 pts Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today
15 - 63 pts Titus Andronicus - The Monitor
16 - 60 pts Gorillaz - Plastic Beach
17 - 54 pts Caribou - Swim
18 - 51 pts Tallest Man on Earth, The - The Wild Hunt
19 - 46 pts Swans - My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope to The Sky
20 - 43 pts Robyn - Body Talk
21 - 41 pts Roots, The - How I Got Over
22 - 40 pts Owen Pallett - Heartland
23 - 34 pts MGMT - Congratulations
24 - 30 pts Pantha du Prince - Black Noise
25 - 28 pts Black Keys, The - Brothers
26 - 27 pts
Anaïs Mitchell - Hadestown
Liars - Sisterworld
28 - 26 pts
Hot Chip - One Last Stand
Women - Public Strain
Yeasayer - Odd Blood
31 - 25 pts
Agalloch - Marrow of the Spirit
Warpaint - The Fool
33 - 24 pts
Four Tet - There is Love in You
John Grant - Queen of Denmark
35 - 23 pts
Free Energy - Stuck on Nothing
Grinderman - Grinderman 2
37 - 20 pts
Best Coast - Crazy For You
Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part Two
39 - 18 pts
Dum Dum Girls - I Will Be
Girl Talk - All Day
Jeremy Messersmith - The Reluctant Graveyard
42 - 17 pts
Big K.R.I.T. - K.R.I.T. Wuz Here
Katerine - Philippe Katerine
Midlake - The Courage of Others
School of Seven Bells - Disconnect from Desire
Wavves - King of the Beach
47 - 16 pts
Menomena - Mines
48 - 15 pts
Fall, The - Your Future, Our Clutter
Lindstrom & Christabelle - Real Life Is No Cool
Radio Dpt - Clinging on a Scheme
Scuba - Triangulation
Spoon - Transference
Tame Impala - Innerspeaker
54 - 14 pts
Gil-Scott Heron - I'm New Here
These New Puritans - Hidden
56 - 13 pts
Belle & Sebastian - Write About Love
Fang Island - Fang Island
Voice of the Seven Thunders - Voice of the Seven Thunders
Various Artists - Stroke : Songs for Chris Knox
60 - 12 pts
Ali Farka Toure & Toumani Diabate - Ali & Toumani
Broken Bells - Broken Bells
Yodelice - Cardioid
63 - 11 pts
Angus & Julia Stone - Down The Way
Charlotte Gainsbourg - IRM
Walkmen, The - Lisbon
66 - 10 pts
Brian Ferry - Olympia
Bruce Springsteen - The Promise
Emeralds - Does It Look Like I'm Here?
Massive Attack - Heligoland
Oceansize - Self Preserved While the Bodies Float Up
71 - 9 pts
Actress - Splaszh
Drake - Thank Me Later
Femi Kuti - Africa for Africa
Florent Marchet - Courchevel
Laura Veirs - July Flame
Sun Araw - On Patrol
77 - 8 pts
Black Angels - Phosphese Dream
Chromeo - Business Casual
Crowded House - Intriguer
Foals - Total Life Forever
Gonjasufi - A Sufi And A Killer
No Age - Everything in Between
Phantom Band - The Wants
Shining - Blackjazz
Twin Shadow - Forget
Ty Segall - Melted
Villagers - Becoming a Jackal
88 - 7 pts
Emmanuel Tugny & The Lady Guaiba's Swing Bang - Emilyandiwe
Girls - Broken Hearts Club
She & Him - Volume 2
Surfer Blood - Astro Coast
92 - 6 pts
Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night
Brandon Flowers - Flamingo
Laura Marling - I Speak Because I Can
M.I.A. - Maya
Mark Ronson - Record Collection
Morning Benders, The - Big Echo
Teenage Fanclub - Shadows
Ville Leinonen - Majakanvartijan uni
100 - 5 pts
!!! - Strange Weather, Isn't It?
AfroCubism - AfroCubism
Barren Earth - Curse of the Red River
Baths - Cereulean
Das Racist - Shut Up, Dude
Harlem - Hippies
Jamey Johnson - The Guitar Song
Kylie Minogue - Aphrodite
Mi Ami - Steal Your Face
Rose Elinor Dougall - Without Why
Salif Keita - La Différence
Screaming Females - Castle Talk
Sleepy Sun - Fever
Sword, The - Warp Riders
The-Dream - Love King
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - The Social Network Soundtrack
Ufomammut - Eve
Watain - Lawless Darkness
Zs - New Slaves
119 - 4 pts
Aloe Blacc - Good Things
Asmara All Stars - Eritrea's Got Soul
Bibi Tanga & The Selenites - Dunya
John Mellencamp - No Better than This
Magic Lantern - Platoon
Pulled Apart by Horses - Pulled Apart by Horses
The Knife in Collaboration with Mt. Sims and Planningtorock - Tomorrow, in a Year
126 - 3 pts
Dreamers, The - Ipos: The Book of Angels Volume 14
Drums, The - The Drums
Georgia Anne Muldrow - Ocotea
Gold Panda - Lucky Shiner
Guido - Anidea
Laurie Anderson - Homeland
Little Women - Throat
Micah P. Hinson - Micah P. Hinson & the Pioneer Saboteurs
Mount Camel - Mount Camel
oOoOO-oOoOO
Rita Indiana & Los Misterios - El juidero
Salem - King Night
Scissor Sisters - Night Work
Sun City Girls - Funeral Mariachi
Tamikrest - Adagh
Tokyo Jihen - Sports
Yellow Swans - Going Places
143 - 2 pts
Darkstar - North
Jonsi - Go
New Pornographers, The - Together
Shit Robot - From the Cradle to the Rave
Weezer - Hurley
148 - 1 pt
Arp - The Soft Wave
Band of Horses - Infinite Arms
Cee-Lo Green - The Lady Killer
Corin Tucker Band - 1,000 Years
Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles (II)
Drive-By Truckers - The Big To-Do
Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster - Blood & Fire
Eminem - Recovery
Endless Boogie - Full House Dead
Gunn-Truscinski Duo - Sand City
Hold Steady, The - Heaven Is Whenever
Jack Johnson - To The Sea
Jaga Jazzist - One-Armed Bandit
John Legend & The Roots - Wake Up!
Local Natives - Gorilla Manor
Lonelady - Nerve Up
Los Campesinos - Romance is Boring
Rangers - Suburban Tours
White Panda - Rematch
Zola Jesus - Stridulum II

Great presentation Nassim, and thanks for the whole list. I'm surprised I was the only person to give points to No Age.

Just listened to The Archandroid for the 1st time. Very interesting! Vigorous genre hopping while remaining a consistent performance. Something for everybody!

Great presentation, Nassim...

Let me recommend this fascinating (but sadly incomplete) exercise from the #1 album: