10. The Mars Volta - The Bedlam in Goliath
There are few bands like The Mars Volta period, but there are even fewer hard-rock bands who have been as consistent and interesting as this band. Bedlam is much more song based, and yet manages to impress as a full album. Thomas Pridgen replaces Jon Theodore effortlessly, and the overall feel makes this one of the bands best. Sadly, it's still in the bottom half of there studio albums, for me.

9. El Guincho - Alegranza
Spanish Panda Bear? Maybe, Maybe not, but this album fuses international and experimental/sample based music perfectly. A very fun and worthwhile listen.

8. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
There isn't much I have to say about this album other than I like it. I've never listened to My Morning Jacket, so I can't say if they're a rip-off or not (which is the main complaint I hear about these guys). This album is very soothing, almost nostalgic, and I don't know why

7. Fuck Buttons - Street Horsssing
I'm relatively new to the drone/noise genre, so this was really one of the first albums that introduced me to the genre. Fantastic. The cryptic vocals belted through child microphones and other distorted shit along with the awesome pitched noisy drones were what drew me in on the first listen. One of the best parts on this album is the beat on Okay, Let's Talk About Magic, which takes most of the ideas throughout and condenses them into a downright danceable beat. Nice work, an excellent experimental listen.

6. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
This album and band have so much hype surrounding them that it's almost as hard to like them (in the hipster circles) as it is to like Coldplay. Whether it's TinyMixTapes or Rolling Stone, Vampire Weekend are the next best thing. And I fucking hate Rolling Stone, so I know there opinion is about as respectable as People magazine, but when it's just the music, the songs are just irresistible. The album pulls from several different influences (both bands and genres) and blends them together to add their own little twist to the pop rock quartet.

5. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
I was obsessed with this album for a solid 2 weeks, and really wish I hadn't listened to it so much because now I'm just burned out on Bon Iver, but major props must be given to Justin Vernon for his take on the solo folkish/singer-songwriter genre. The recording quality and production is reminiscent of Iron & Wine's first album, and the music reminds me of a modern Nick Drake. And although the lyrics seem a little sappy at times, the music and ostensibly the song-writing are what make this album a little Wisconsin gem.

4. Earth - The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull
This album is a downright tortoise-race upon first listen, which is aweseome, I guess. But after many more listens, the morbid/sulking/sprawling drones of both the guitars and drums come through to blend into a memorizing hypnotic experience. Bill Frisell's guest appearance is one of the best and most appropriate additions that this band could have asked for. I'm not too familiar with their background, which makes it better? I actually have know idea what it makes it, but this album has become one of my favorite rainy day albums. It's not much of a rainy day album either.

3. No Age - Nouns
Brian Eno and Times New Viking. That was my initial impression of this fantastic album, and I still like to describe it like that to other's who know them. The first 3 tracks play like your typical (not really typical) noise/punk-rock singles, and then Things I Did When I Was Dead comes on, and an Animal Collective, Brian Eno, My Bloody Valentine Universe engulf whatever your music player of choice used to be. I love that track, and the other ambient noise experimentation, Keechie makes this albums seem more and more like a modern Eno album. Great.

2. Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band - Season Of Changes
I guess Pat Metheny and Maria Schneider had a child together (they're both two pretty good looking people), and their conception happened to be a black drummer by the name of Brian Blade. Now we all knew that Brian Blade could get down with his funky self, and could support the hell out of one Joshua Redman, or Wayne Shorter, but I guess what we didn't know (maybe it's just me) was that he could compose both a band and an album that rivaled Pat Metheny as the new king of Modern Jazz and the modern creative movement. Now, maybe Pat Metheny may no longer be sitting on a throne ruling over every major artist (maybe just guitarist) who tries to play a note in the jazz idiom, but The Way Up sure cemented his reign (in my book) on that throne. Season of Changes is one major challenge, both to the disciples of Wynton Marsalis's stuck up jazz purist bull shit, and Metheny's loyal fanbase. The prior because of obvious reasons, and the latter because of Kurt Rosenwinkel's amazing playing on this album. Honestly, I haven't been this impressed with a jazz record, hell, A RECORD in several years. I'm scared to see where this one takes us. Maybe it will finally usher in a new and loyal fanbase to the mastery of Maria Schneider's compositional skill and bring more attention to her and the jazz sub-genre she's been so diligently working away under. I strongly doubt that the jazz purists will have a easy time accepting this as music (because Stanley Crouch love's him some good 4/4 swing), and I really do think that Blade is too obscure a name to make a solid dent, and that's a shame. There are so many genre's that Blade and his band tamper with that he's approaching a John Zorn-like genre categorization enigma. I didn't really describe the music much if you got lost in my name dropping (I'm so pitchfork, aren't I?), but it's amazing. Go buy it.

1. The Ruby Suns - Sea Lion
The blend of genres that I love came together so perfectly that this album was just asking to be listened by me. Psychedelic Folk World Jazz (a stretch) Experimental Lo-fi music. Yes, all of those. And I know that this album probably wasn't intended to be such a psychedelic experience, and yes, it probably needed to be recorded in an actual studio if McPhun wanted to avoid that pitfall (is it a pitfall?), but The Ruby Suns put out a Ruby (a gem) in this masterwork. I'm not going to write as much as a I did on the last album because frankly, I don't know as much about these guys. I fell like they came out of nowhere, and they still don't have a lot of listeners on this damned website. I'll describe the music a little more, maybe in one word: warm. A Ruby Sun is really what I feel like I'm laying under when I put this on. The mix of weird and familiar instruments and mixed male and female vocals create lush , wonderfully rich music. For a long time, There Are Birds was the standout track for me, and I still think it might be the best, but Sea Lion has become one large track now. Please support these guys and buy their albums and go see them so we can get some more wonderful music.