thanks Davey for the props...I don't know earlier Elbow but will surely dig it. I think this last one was pretty great but I've also seen the collected EP-thing work pretty well...No Age 'Weirdo Rippers' was this and it blows away the lately touted 'Nouns'. An incredible collection of tunes I thought, that is a touch shoegazey but delves into the punk/graffiti/sludge side of it. Makes Nouns seem pretty tame and considered by comparison.

Fleet Foxes didn't make my list though, by all accounts, they should've. I equate them more with Fotheringay or Fairport Convention than the Eagles....a touch of the Byrds maybe...problem is, I would Never want to listen to their album vs. the Notorious Byrd Brothers or the incredible Fotheringay or Unhalfbricking album (both with Sandy Denny). They're pretty good for 2008-versions of this type of sound but they can't touch the stuff they're referencing. Seeing them live? sure, I'd do that, but best album of the year? That was Fairport Convention's Unhalfbricking in 1969.