Upon attempting to put this together I realized I listened to a LOT less new music in the last year. Less than at any point in my life since I was probably 14. Not working at Best Buy anymore has really limited a lot of my exposure to unknown stuff. Because of this the list is more a list of my favorite artists that put out albums this year than anything else. The list is also much more arbitrary in it's rankings as well because nothing really blew me away this year. For the hip-hop fans I really wanted to listen to the new Raekwon and Mos Def albums but just never made the time. I also avoided live discs or compilations.
Honorable mention:
Ben Harper & Relentless 7 - White Lies For Dark Times: The heaviest CD Harper has ever made but doesn't sacrifice his soulful vocals.
Bob Mould - Life and Times - A nice summary of the styles Mould has played throughout his career from Husker Du style through Sugar and his previous solo work.
Blakroc - S/T: A really interesting album. Atmospheric Black Keys songs with a great selection of Hip-Hop artists on top. Plus it has ODB!
Dan Auerbach - Keep It Hid: Black Keys singer/guitarist solo album needs more of a rock edge to make my list but it's a great listen anyway.
Fastball - Little White Lies: A very underrated guitar pop band who most people likely think of as a 1 hit wonder. All their stuff is solid.
Gov't Mule - By a Thread: They don't do anything much differently than they've done for years and that's a good thing in this case.
Grant Hart - Hot Wax - The other songwriter from Husker Du can still turn out great Guitar rock when he gets around to making an album.
Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown: I don't like it nearly as much as American Idiot and I wish they'd bring more punk edge these days but they've gotten really good at writing anthemic rock songs.
Patterson Hood - Murdering Oscar: Drive By Truckers frontman's 2nd solo album was recorded over the last 5 years and has some great songs. "Back of a Bible" just kills me.
Son Volt - American Central Dust: A pretty contemplative album by Jay Farrar and crew. I really enjoy most of it but some of the lyrics don't seem to fit.
Them Crooked Vultures - S/T: It probably came out too late in the year and would likely be in the top 10 if I wrote this in a month. It's just a really good heavy rock album.
10. The Black Crowes - Before the Frost: It was recorded live but isn't really a live album. Either way it's just really good. Chris Robinson has never sounded better.
9. Derek Trucks Band - Already Free: Their most accessible album yet. Trucks still plays guitar like a madman and singer Mike Mattison's soul vocals play a much bigger role than past albums.
8. Cracker - Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey: Cracker's "punk" album shows they can still rock and their sense of humor still comes through loud and clear.
7. Bruce Springsteen - Working on a Dream: A fairly minor album in Bruce's career but still very enjoyable. It's more of a pop album than anything else.
6. Wilco - S/T: Another great album from Wilco. A nice mix of roots rock and their more experimental side as well.
5. Rancid - Let the Dominoes Fall: Their 1st album in many years shows off their diversity, from Hardcore to pop punk and some ska the deluxe edition even has acoustic versions as well.
4. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - S/T: It could use more pacing variations as most songs are mid tempo but Jason is an excellent songwriter and it shows.
3. Bob Dylan - Together Through Life: Like Bruce it's a minor album in his career and I'm probably overrating it but it's still fantastic and it really upped the ante on accordion use in rock.
2. Ike Reilly - Hard Luck Stories: I'm biased towards Ike but it doesn't matter his songs are great. They're funny and in a lot of cases poignant.
1. Pearl Jam - Backspacer: Their shortest album ever is fantastic. They don't waste any time with a mediocre song. All killer no filler is appropriate here.
There's my list. Ask me again in 2 weeks and it will probably be different.
