Everyone's got a year-end list.  I'm not exempt from giving my two cents.  So here's what I've cobbled together.



10.  Octavarium/Dream Theater
-- I think my days of being a super Dream Theater fan have passed me by.  The still put out good albums, but after Met 2, I've really cooled on them.  Don't get me wrong, they're still brilliant in their own right.  Having this album in my top 10 is proof enough.




9.  Silent Alarm/Bloc Party
-- I got bit by the Bloc Party bug badly last January.  I downloaded everything I could on them and kept listening to those tracks in my iPod for weeks until this record hit stores a few months later.  I couldn't even wait for the April US release and picked up an import copy to satiate myself.




8. Arular/MIA
-- It can't be helped to like this record.  It's an amazing party platter.  From hearing them off computer speakers on KEXP to becoming the Honda Civic's ad campaign soundtrack voice, this Sri Lankan has gone a long way in just a year.




7.  Plans/Death Cab For Cutie
-- Going to the Ben Gibbard tsunami benefit earlier this year was one of the few small pushes that turned me into an avid DCFC listener.  With a much bigger budget to play with on a major label, these guys have come up with one of the best-produced albums of the year.




6.  Tukish Tagish/Pedicab
--  Filipinos can come up with really good indie rock.  This is just a small example of the many that have also been released this year.  It easily topped Hale, Oranges and Lemons, Sugarfree, etc.  I still don't have Shiela and The Insects's Flowerfish or Urbandub's Embrace, so by default this disc wins it for the Pinoys.

I'll post the last half in a bit, okay?