#100:  Sunn O))) – Kannon

The drone-doom-noise band finally follows up 2009’s transcendental Monoliths and Dimensions with a more immediate and visceral trio of noise-soaked dread.

#99:  Rose McDowall – Cut With The Cake Knife

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you ever missed spiky, snotty Eighties pop, look no further.

#98:  BC Camplight – How To Die In The North

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Velvety and yet dangerous, like the upholstery on a late-70s vintage Buick.

#97:  Lupe Fiasco – Tetsuo & Youth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He’ll spend the rest of his career living down his ill-fated sophomore album (he recently grudgingly encouraged the destruction of physical copies of it) but Tetsuo & Youth shows where his career should have gone.

#96:  Thee Oh Sees – Mutilator Defeated At Last

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Six albums, five years, and a couple of big lineup changes finds John Dwyer’s day job band rocking out bigger and harder than ever before.

 

#95:  Destruction Unit – Negative Feedback Resistor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blown-out industrial noise-punk, like Big Black with a better appreciation for depth.

#94:  No Joy – More Faithful

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The alternagaze duo returns for a murkier, more complex record that plays directly to their strengths.

#93:  Hot Chip – Why Make Sense?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A strong mid-career album for the veteran indie-dance group, with solid grooves and a touch of early 90s UK rave.

#92:  Carly Rae Jepsen –       E-MO-TION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An 80s banger of a pop record, once you get over the essential Robin Sparkles nature of E-MO-TION it becomes a great soundtrack to an energetic night.

#91:  Prurient – Frozen Niagara Falls

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A double album of shapeable, moldable pure sound from longtime noise artist Dominick Fernow.

#90:  Echo Lake – Era

This record is liquid, in that the sound expands to fill whatever room you play it in.  Expansive dream-prog with an ambient touch that is deft and subtle.

#89:  Alabama Shakes – Sound And Color

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brittany Howard looks a third grade teacher and sings like the Goddess of Soul. The band is okay too.

#88:  Ghostpoet – Shedding Skin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mercury Prize nominated UK hip hop artist goes full out in an amalgamation of grime, U.S. hip hop, and electronic influences.

#87:  Mount Eerie – Sauna

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The calmest, quietest sense of dread you may ever experience, and something of a comeback for the former Microphones frontman.

 #86:  Zun Zun Egui – Shackle’s Gift

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A truly world-reaching experience, the Bristol band draws on a number of diverse influences to create hard-hitting, crunchy songs that are close in approximating rock n roll.

#85:  Belle & Sebastian – Girls In Peacetime Want To Dance

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The band takes a hard skew towards dance pop on their umpteenth album, bringing some much-needed fresh air into their act.

#84:  EL VY – Return To The Moon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A meeting of the minds between indie stalwarts The National and Menomena, EL VY is one of the rare side projects that hits all the same pleasure buttons as their respective member’s day jobs.

#83:  The Roadside Graves – Acne/Ears

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a rustic country album, if it were made by a less-crappy Gaslight Anthem, or if The Men took the folk-country side of New Moon and ran with it. Which is to say, it’s as Jersey as anything else you can name.

#82:  Wilco – Star Wars

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The veteran alt-country band keeps that train a-rollin’, not letting age or maturity get in the way of a good rock n roll hook. It may be “music for dads with receding hairlines” as Shameless put it, but it rocks all the same.

#81:  Insect Ark – Portal/Well

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dana Schechter creates a bedroom electronic record that shifts and transforms as much as it makes a serious attempt to claw up your face and wriggle into your ear.