However early in the voting period we may be, Drums and Guns will undoubtedly go down as one of 2007's strongest albums.

While the record pleases on most all levels, the flavor of sound at times feels somewhat generic and a bit too lethargic, which keeps the disc from being great.

Deerhunter have indeed created a masterpiece. While it's not perfect, it has the charm and scope and full realization that was lacking in the band's earlier work.

Black Dialogue: a hip-hop classic? Maybe not, but pretty damn close.

The creativity on display here is jaw-dropping.

If Of Montreal were previously a bit on the superficial side with their beatific pop, Hissing Fauna adds a welcome additional ingredient: a sense of gravity.

Tastefully fashionable, Saunier's truly grandiose drumming bits serve to keep the listener well entertained while never flagging as the band's backbone; Dieterich, now bolstered by Rodriguez, sharpens the material with catchy guitar riffs; and Matsuzaki's well-timed and particularly soft voice provides plenty of flavor. Never conventional, bordering on the impractical, the formula nevertheless works.

Although not nearly as hot as early 2006’s Donuts, The Shining shows for a handful of great collabo’s and bangin’ beats and further paves the way for Dilla’s powerhouse legacy.

At 48 minutes, Icky Thump has enough genre-hopping, rip-roaring tunes to get even the 70s rock purist nodding his head again.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a music snob who can’t be won over by Cantrell’s lovely compositions.

A captivating release from start to finish.

Mixing breeds of folk, psychedelica and white bread hip-hop, Why? is genetically predisposed to the same experimental tendencies as Pavement, Grandaddy, Enon, the Beta Band and They Might Be Giants. Each song is a musical Frankenstein, pieced together with live parts of the bodies of all those acts.

After their breakthrough, The '59 Sound, the Jerseyian punks appear to have taken a Green Day-like career shift: finding a concept that struck a chord and beating it to death like one of the down-and-out ciphers in the B-movie quality Springsteen worldview they've constructed.

On the whole, The Sunlandic Twins makes almost everything else today seem diluted and stale.

There are some very danceable tracks on the outfit's second release, but nowhere is there a worldwide hit to be found.

Triumphant, bitter, despondent, but never false or insincere, The Last Romance is one of the early great listens of 2006.

Superwolf is collaboration in the truest sense of the word, and the talents of the two musicians involved feel revitalized and meaningful in ways that they may not have for some time.

Kortedala is a touch shy of a great album because Lekman's ornate tendencies towards full-on kitsch get the best of the still A-level songwriting.

Rainwater Cassette Exchange certainly finds creative ways to transform their music and expand their already impressive catalogue, even if most of the songs are quite short and leave the listener yearning for more.

One either engages with the gears of this get-up, or not. If you do, the delights abound from start to finish, and it really makes no difference whether each song intends to evoke a different French city, as they do on The Flying Club Cup.

Transference is a challenging, mature statement from a band generally known for more for refining their approach with each release.

Clever, catchy, and moody, Maudlin Career is what contemporary pop music should be. It is wholly as satisfying as Campbell is unsatisfied.

Superbly imaginative for someone still considered a "lad."

The Wedding is certainly a new direction in some ways, but it’s still the same brainiac rock that Oneida has been dishing out for the past eight years.

If you bought Nouns and wondered what the big deal was, this is your chance to find out. No Age continue to grow as conceptual artists and songwriters, and after a summer of dumbed down garage band shenanigans (cough, Best Coast, cough) it's fun to have something that's both challenging and fun to listen to come out of that scene.

Her ability to draw out more and more truth with each album is indisputable, and on The Greatest, she reaches a golden landmark of self-assurance.

Depending on how interested you still are by the record's third act, this can be either good or bad. It depends on your taste for disorientation.

Whether or not you choose to accept it, the FACT is that Scotland's own Hutchinson brothers have created a sweet and powerful collection of tunes with The Midnight Organ Fight.