everybody's doing it. unfortunately, and pathetically, i don't think i even LISTENED to enough records this year to make a top ten list out of them, even if i had hated some of them. this is what you get for turning 25 (almost 26! holy cripes!). you get old; you get lame; you pass the torch to the littlest andrews who, for the past few years, have been asking you to buy them cds for christmas by bands who names have never even skimmed your consciousness. sigh. oh well. at least i can claim a peak of music coolness from 1995-1999, MAYBE 2000, and that's a pretty good run. anyway, here are the records i can claim to have really enjoyed in the past year. i present, with much fanfare, my TOP FOUR ALBUMS LIST. yes, i liked four albums over the whole past year. but that also may have to do with the fact that i am old and can't remember anything anymore. maybe i liked six. but i forgot 'em.

1. new pornographers - twin cinema
i can't tell you how initially disappointed i was with this record. WHY ARE NOT ALL THE SONGS HUMMABLE, was my primary thought. but i knew what carl newman was capable of, so i stuck with it, and i'm super glad i did. there are classic pop gems on this album (obviously sing me spanish techno and bleeding heart show), but most of the reward comes from the layers and lushness of the more dramatic and serious songs. and now i must go be executed because i just said layers and lushness when talking about indie rock and that means immediate death by smothering of rolling stone magazines.

2. spoon - gimme fiction
frankly, i also thought this record kind of sucked at first. it seemed too pensive and, um, like, a little melodramatic? or something. they were always so brilliantly spare before, making it work with the basics, and there seemed to be too much production stuff going on on a lot of the songs here. and many of the songs were not immediately catchy (aka catherine not willing to work hard enough to appreciate non earworms). but, lo and behold, the album is one of those "grower" things, and thus it grew. into my cold, black heart. it's got sass. and it's totally sexy. somehow weird coming from britt daniel who perpetually looks and sounds like he's going to sneeze a sheet of snot all over you, but it works.

3. brendan benson - alternative to love
kyle says he immediately thought of sloan when listening to this record, and i totally agree. the sheer popiness of it all is likely to make your ears bleed from the catchiness. it's got some depth to it too, but mostly i like it because it hurts my head if i have to listen to too much music that doesn't immediately present itself as accessible. i am easy for the pop.

4. nada surf - the weight is a gift
i always feel a little guilty for saying i like nada surf so much because i am pretty sure most of the indie rock hawtness people think they are thorougly mediocre, but, oh well. beautiful pop music for the over-25-easy-listening set. and gorgeous harmonies. i'm a sucker for those.

UPDATE: oh yeah! i forgot bloc party's silent alarm. that's a good'un too.