#10 (MA) Adele - 21

I love a consensus.

# 11 (TM) - The Rural Alberta Advantage - Departing

After an avalanche of hype and well-deserved love showered on Hometowns, their minor masterpiece of a debut, The Rural Alberta Advantage returned in 2011 with a barely noticed follow-up, the even better Departing.

Finding a soft spot between the mopey bleat of Conor Oberst and the boozy, urban strum of Deer Tick, the RAA are warm and inviting like a best friend's patience, but they hold you at arm's length while they luxuriate in winter's icy loneliness. And they seem to like it. Singer Nils Edenloff's nasal stabs at breakups and breakdowns are somehow comforting, because who doesn't want the last word in a split? Especially when it's "Good Night", a woozy, elegiac album closer that leaves everything behind except the possibility of love.

The Rural Alberta Advantage - "Good Night" (from Departing)

The Rural Alberta Advantage - "Eye of The Tiger" (Survivor cover)

#11 (MA) Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring for My Halo

Listening to this album is like enjoying a nice Scotch. The amber glow, the slow burn, the smoke, the hazy, stray notes that reveal themselves over time. Smoke Ring for My Halo is a gentle record that implies violence, riding the line between Neil Young and Lou Reed. It's a dark record that casts off light. It's a nighttime record that can carry you to morning. In short, a gem.

# 12 (TM) - The Head and The Heart - The Head and The Heart

The Head and The Heart are a loose-limbed collective of indie folkies whose "Sounds Like Hallelujah" sounds like Rufus Wainwright leading a midnight reverie with Mumford and Sons. The Seattle group join a growing list of young bands (Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver, Avett Brothers, Felice Brothers) who sound like old souls blending acoustic roots music and heavenly harmonies to create nu-folk sounds that can reach across generations. Lovely.

For all you haters and Pitchfork nerds, keep pretending  tUnE-yArDs is listenable.

The Head and The Heart - "Sounds Like Hallelujah" (from The Head and The Heart)
The Head and The Heart - "Rivers and Roads" (from Fuel/Friends Chapel Sessions - 3/12/11)

Davy Jones, 1945-2012

#12 (MA) Telekinesis - 12 Desperate Straight Lines

Whereas Army Navy (Trip's number 13) hail from power pop's retro jangle division, Telekinesis approach the form from the overdriven post-punk point of view of Redd Kross and the Cure, complete with stomping beats and jagged, sludgy guitars. This is cotton candy with a kick, part shiny sun, part ominous moon, all songs that buzz around your skull without asking permission or forgiveness.

# 13 (TM) - Army Navy - The Last Place

Power pop lives on in the skinny jeaned, parallel striped shirt world of Army Navy. Lead singer Justin Kennedy writes about affairs of the heart and sings with the airy, well-scrubbed breeziness of Glenn Tillbrook. Their sophomore release, The Last Place, finds our hero at Relationship's End (what a perfect band name) with someone who might be a celebrity and might be married. Every sad-sack song is crafted for maximum sing-along-ability, blurring the acidic effects of heartbreak like greasy burgers ease hangovers.

If you like Squeeze, Teenage Fanclub, early REM and the dB's (especially the dB's on "I Think It's Gonna Happen"). you will love this record. If you don't like these bands, maybe it's time you started seeing other blogs.

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Army Navy - "Ode to Janice Melt" (from The Last Place)

Army Navy - "I Think It's Gonna Happen" (from The Last Place)