I thought the new Arctic Monkeys was really good on first listen, need to hear it a couple more times though.
I listened to the Horrors' disc (partly due to this thread's suggestion) and it was great, easily in my top 5 of the year. The guitars sometimes sound like loveless.
The new Jay Reatard was good too, I just like these other two more.
Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Antony & The Johnsons - The Crying Light
Dan Auerbach - Keep It Hid
Mos Def - The Ecstatic
(not that these next three are the best of the year, but they really deserve more credit)
YACHT - See Mystery Lights
Mulatu Astatke & Heliocentrics - Inspiration Information
DOOM - Born Like This
01. Animal Collective- Merriweather Post Pavillion
02. Grizzly Bear- Veckatimest
03. Antony & The Johnsons- Crying Light
04. Wilco- Wilco (The Album)
05. Bob Dylan- Together Through Life
Nirvana Live At Reading and Raekwon's Only Built For Cuban Linx II would make my top 5 of the year. The Flaming Lips might too, despite not having many conventional songs. They changed it up enough to keep my attention for most of Embryonic's 70 minutes.
1. The Antlers - Hospice
2. Passion Pit - Manners
3. The xx - xx
Those are three pretty damn good album, with "Hospice" being in the running for one of the best albums of the decade - it's that good. The other two aren't too bad either (hanging around my Top 100 albums list).
Random goodness: M. Ward, Franz Ferdinand, White Denim, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Miranda Lambert, Monsters of Folk, Jay Reatard and the XX.
Random pretty goodness: Animal Collective, Jay-Z, Yo La Tengo, Grizzly Bear, Anni Rossi and Wilco.
Random not that goodness: The Flaming Lips, Wild Beasts, Dirty Projectors, Bruce Springsteen and U2.
I'm sure I'm leaving a few out, but that's what comes off the top of my head.
My faves this year are the albums by these artists. Overall I think this year the albums are really weak compared to the prior two years:
Karen O and the Kids
Sunset Rubdown
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Prodigy
White Lies
Florence and the Machine
Regina Spektor
Thao and the Get Down Stay Down
IDA Maria
Bat For Lashes
M Ward
Camera Obscura
Big Pink
Noisettes