check out the individual reviewer lists here.ddd

20

 Laika - Good Looking Blues - Too Pure Records
The music on Good Looking Blues is, for the most part, inventive and very compelling. Laika uses different wind instruments throughout the album to great effect. Not many of these post-rock bands are using flutes and clarinets, so the sound of this album doesn’t sound derivative or tired.
19 Cat Power - the Covers Record - Matador
Who would have thought that a covers album could be brilliant?
18 Papa M - Live From A Shark Cage - Drag City Records
Continue to #17.
17 The For Carnation - self-titled - Too Pure Records
The guys from Slint had their best year since Spiderland. I thought the For Carnation was a waste after their last album, but this one is the best album ever to crank up really loud when you go to sleep. Papa M turned up on a Gateway Computers commercial, but that didn’t surprise with Dave Pajo’s laid back yet excellent guitar work. The best album ever to put on at about five on the volume knob and got to sleep to.
16 The Firebird Band - The Setting Sun and Its Satellites - Cargo Records
This album serves as a testament for optimism and deserving of a reward for not being a derivative of Braid.  Get in on the ground floor and buy this record, it is well worth it.
15 Outkast - Stankonia - Too Pure Records
Not only do these motherfuckers have some dirty ass shit holes for mouths, but they are the most versatile and variable element in Hip-Hop's periodic table.  Four brilliant albums and the sky is the limit.
14 Sleater-Kinney - All Hands On the Bad One - Kill Rock Stars
Throwing their RIOTGRRRL merit badges into the fire was a risky move for the female quartet but the pop songwriting talent hidden under the snarls and defiance was worth releasing.
13 Don Caballero - American Don - Touch & Go
New wave, Brit-pop Casio stars do it again.
12 Modest Mouse - The Moon and Antarctica - Epic Records
Nobody thought they could do it, but they did it, and they did it with style, wit, alcohol and some fucked up dreams about the devil. Scarier than Kid A?
11 Turing Machine - A New Machine For Living - Jade Tree Records
The tempos shift but never fall.  The drums tickle your adrenaline gland.  The guitars take you there.  The Turing Machine plays visual rock.  A seven song chase scene.  Get this disc and write a movie around it, please.
10 Summer Hymns - Voice Brother & Sister - Misra Records
Being turned on to this album in the middle of winter was somewhat of a bitter-sweet blessing.  Made for summer loving and relaxing, this album makes my ass ache for a hammock.  Brilliant laid back melodies and somewhat puzzling vocals.
09 Yo La Tengo - And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out - Matador Records
A perfectly subtle album from the perfectly something band who lives somewhere near everybody else and keep doing stuff that everybody who is anybody likes.
08 Engine Down - To Bury Within The Sound - Lovitt Records
Cutting out the screaming was something I didn't expect but Engine Down found a power and a statement in the brilliance of the music itself.  Highly surprising.  Highly rewarding.
07 God Speed You Black Emperor! - Lift ... - Kranky Records
This double-album is the shoegazer and indie rock snob's answer to the record breaking Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness by the Smashing Pumpkins, proving that sometimes having too much of a good thing is nearly impossible.
06 Bright Eyes - Fevers & Mirrors - Saddle Creek Records
Fevers & Mirrors is a magnum opus of brooding American pop music, its scope and effect unparalleled in my experience. If you haven't been mesmerized by this album yet you surely will.

Cut your wrists and sing along ... "jeez that guy seriously needs to take a chill pill duuuuuude"/ "Conor has anime hair'"
05 Faraquet - The View From This Tower - Dischord Records
Quite possibly the band that will bring math-rock to the masses, Faraquet presents track after track of progressive DC post-rock on the grandest scale imaginable.
04 Q And Not U - No Kill No Beep Beep - Dischord Records
The importance of this record coming out now is apparent in so many ways.  With these songs and this intensity Q And Not U will change the way we listen to post-punk rock and roll.
03 Grandaddy - The Sophtware Slump - V2 Records
" have never heard broken ass keyboards and guys with beards sound so inviting and homey. It's like they invited you over to a secret drug and drink induced recording session/house party and convicned you that you knew how to use Protools.
02 Death Cab For Cutie - We Have The Facts ... - Barsuk Records
"Death Cab for Cutie is like a '69 Chevelle SS at the '69 Fourth of July picnic; quick and clean, everyone wants a ride, and guaranteed to get you a few sexy looks."
01 Radiohead - Kid A - Capitol Records
"I need say that only Radiohead could write an album that would dwarf OK Computer, and Kid A is that album."