Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

Every year, I make a list of the best albums of the year; I've been doing it for the last twenty years, and I think I've still got most of them somewhere. But prior to this year, I've never actually posted the list. In part, that's because I only joined Gaia in 2005, and I didn't feel all that comfortable in the Music forum until much later; so I was convinced that any list I might post would get torn to shreds. Actually, I'm still a little concerned about that; but I'm not letting it stop me this year. xp

It's actually more accurate to describe my list as three lists, as it's subdivided into broad categories: Pop/Rock/Etc., Jazz, and Classical. The first of these may seem a little vague; I know many on Gaia are extremely particular about genres and subgenres. But dividing the list into tons of different microcategories, and still keeping it within reasonable limits, is impractical. Therefore, the Pop/Rock/Etc. category contains anything that is not jazz or classical, regardless of subgenre. So please keep that in mind before posting any comments about how Ali Farka Toure isn't pop.

Each of the three lists is limited to twenty slots. I've tweaked the number a few times over the years, but I've found that it's pretty much ideal: go beyond twenty, and I have to stretch to find enough to fill out the list; go below that number, and too much gets left off. At that, there were several albums I was tempted to include that I ultimately didn't, most notably Camera Obscura, Donald Fagen, Miho Hatori, Matmos, and Joanna Newsom.

You'll also notice the Jazz and Classical lists are heavily biased towards releases from ECM. That's because ECM is my favorite record label, I buy everything they release even if I've never heard of the musicians before, and I've only rarely heard an ECM album I didn't like. There were probably plenty of jazz and classical releases better than some of the ECM titles on the list; but I didn't hear them, so they aren't on here.

Enough of the introduction-- on to the lists!

Pop/Rock/Etc

1. Morrissey: Ringleader Of The Tormentors (Attack/Sanctuary)
2. SunnO))) & Boris: Altar (Southern Lord)
3. My Chemical Romance: The Black Parade (Reprise)
4. Pet Shop Boys: Fundamental (Rhino)
5. Neko Case: Fox Confessor Brings The Flood (Anti)
6. Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Show Your Bones (Interscope)
7. Ali Farka Toure: Savane (World Circuit/Nonesuch)
8. Jarvis Cocker: Jarvis (Rough Trade)
9. Tom Zé: Estudando o Pagoda (Luaka Bop)
10. Scott Walker: The Drift (4AD)
11. Bob Dylan: Modern Times (Columbia)
12. Bic Runga: Birds (Columbia)
13. The Dresden Dolls: Yes, Virginia (Roadrunner)
14. Belle & Sebastian: The Life Pursuit (Matador)
15. Juana Molina: Son (Domino)
16. Lindsey Buckingham: Under The Skin (Reprise)
17. Lupe Fiasco: Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor (Atlantic)
18. Mastodon: Blood Mountain (Reprise)
19. Ray Davies: Other People's Lives (V2)
20. Vienna Teng: Dreaming Through The Noise (Zöe)

Jazz

1. Andrew Hill: Time Lines (Blue Note)
2. Fred Hersch: In Amsterdam- Live At The Bimhuis (Palmetto)
3. Patricia Barber: Mythologies (Blue Note)
4. Keith Jarrett: The Carnegie Hall Concert (ECM)
5. Nik Bärtch's Ronin: Stoa (ECM)
6. Martin Speake: Change Of Heart (ECM)
7. Paul Motian Band: Garden Of Eden (ECM)
8. Chick Corea: The Ultimate Adventure (Stretch)
9. Gonzalo Rubalcaba: Solo (Blue Note)
10. Dave Holland Quintet: Critical Mass (Dare2/Sunnyside)
11. Martial Solal & Dave Douglas: Rue de Seine (CamJazz)
12. Mark Feldman: What Exit (ECM)
13. Ornette Coleman: Sound Grammar (Sound Grammar)
14. Trio Beyond: Saudades (ECM)
15. Tomasz Stanko Quartet: Lontano (ECM)
16. Frank Kimbrough: Play (Palmetto)
17. Frequency: Frequency (Thrill Jockey)
18. Jane Bunnett: Radio Guantanamo: Guantanamo Blues Project Vol. 1 (Blue Note)
19. Kenny Garrett: Beyond The Wall (Nonesuch)
20. Pierre Favre Ensemble: Fleuve (ECM)

Classical

1. Kurtág: Kafka-Fragmente (performed by Juliane Banse and Andràs Keller) (ECM)
2. Andràs Schiff: Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Vol. II (ECM)
3. Susan Graham: Poèmes de l'amour (Warner Classics)
4. Mitsuko Uchida: Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Opp. 109, 110 & 111 (Philips)
5. Stephen Stubbs: Teatro Lirico (ECM)
6. Magdalena Kozena: Enchantment (DG)
7. Noriko Hisada: Prognostication (hat[now]ART)
8. Kaori Muraji: Lumières (Decca)
9. Renée Fleming: Homage- The Art Of The Diva (Decca)
10. Véronique Gens: Tragédiennes (Virgin Classics)
11. Alexei Lubimov, Alexander Trostiovsky, & Kyrill Rybakov: Mysterioso (ECM)
12. Rolf Lislevand: Nuove Musiche (ECM)
13. François Couturier: Nostalghia- Song For Tarkovsky (ECM)
14. Michelle Makarski: To Be Sung On The Water (ECM)
15. Tigran Mansurian: Ars Poetica (ECM)
16. Eleni Karaindrou: Elegy Of The Uprooting (ECM)
17. Thomas Demenga: Chonguri (ECM)
18. Giacinto Scelsi: Natura Renovatur (ECM)
19. Gojilov: Ainadamar (performed by Dawn Upshaw and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Robert Spano) (DG)
20. Boulez: Notations & Piano Sonatas (performed by Pi-Hsien Chen) (hat[now]ART)