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Steve: I also enjoyed a couple EPs that I generally disqualify when it comes to rankings. The always reliable Sam Phillips had a great EP come out this year called Magic for Everybody that was a good listen. I also discovered a band hilariously named Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. that sounds like a cross between Animal Collective and The Beach Boys. Anything else in the way of a preamble or do you want to highlight your first album?

Noah: Let's get to it. #10 on my list is The Besnard Lakes - ...are the roaring night. It's a soaring wall of noise that swirls around you. That's about as goofy a description as I can come up with.

Steve: They're a band I've been meaning to check out as well - Greg Kot, who we both like, had this album as his #2 of the year.

Noah: What do you have at number 10?

Steve: Number 10 on my list is The Love Language - Libraries. The Love Language does lazy, washed out surf garage and they do it with a winking flair that pays homage to their roots as it plays off them. I really love the sound on Libraries - it's a beach party soundtrack from blown out speakers, with slightly distorted vocals, harmony, big bass drum beats and hand claps. The Love Language is the answer to the question no one asked - what would the Beach Boys sound like if they grew up listening to Nirvana instead of Pat Boone?

Noah: I'm a big fan of Libraries as well. It's an album that might end up higher on my list in retrospect (I'll know more on that in a few months).

Noah: Number 9 on my list is one of the bigger surprises I had this year. Free Energy - Stuck on Nothing. If Weezer had ever evolved past their own worst urges, they might sound a little bit like Free Energy. Begging to be played loud in a car, Stuck on Nothing is a fun album that actually has cowbell unironically opening the first song on the album (creatively titled “Free Energy”).

For me, power pop tends to fall into a couple of categories – crap (Fountains of Wayne), self-parody (Weezer), and unironic fun (Free Energy).

Steve: Free Energy is an aptly named band, listening to them puts a big hop in my step. Stuck on Nothing came in at 23 on my list and, in a year like was just had I think anything in the top 25 is a sign of a quality release. My number nine album was one I saw mentioned on a lot of best of the year lists. I'll admit I'm a new fan of LCD Soundsystem - I missed the boat on their first two albums, but This is Happening was a standout album from 2010. At nine songs, each is a confident statement that surpasses mere dance music with inventive structure and wit. What most impressed me was the absence of the elements that I generally don't care for in dance music - endless repetition, an over emphasis on beats, insipid lyrics - but LCD Soundsystem is like the antidote for dance music.

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