Top 10 National
Despite Austin's musical omnipresence, some national albums merited rating
Fri., Jan. 6, 2012
Greg Beets
1) Tune-Yards, Whokill (4AD)
2) Wild Flag, Wild Flag (Merge)
3) Thee Oh Sees, Carrion Crawler/The Dream (In the Red)
4) Cloud Nothings, Cloud Nothings (Wichita)
5) St. Vincent, Strange Mercy (4AD)
6) Gang of Four, Content (Yep Roc)
7) Obits, Moody, Standard and Poor (Sub Pop)
8) Mikal Cronin, Mikal Cronin (Trouble in Mind)
9) Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Unknown Mortal Orchestra (Fat Possum)
10) Mind Spiders, Mind Spiders (Dirtnap)
Jim Caligiuri
1) Richard Buckner, Our Blood (Merge)
2) Ha Ha Tonka, Death of a Decade (Bloodshot)
3) Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, Here We Rest (Lightning Rod)
4) Amanda Shires, Carrying Lightning
5) Abigail Washburn, City of Refuge (Rounder)
6) Ry Cooder, Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down (Nonesuch)
7) Nick Lowe, The Old Magic (Yep Roc)
8) Ron Sexsmith, Long Player Late Bloomer (Thirty Tigers)
9) Guy Clark, Songs and Stories (Dualtone)
10) Shannon McNally, Western Ballad (Sacred Sumac)
Thomas Fawcett
1) Raphael Saadiq, Stone Rollin' (Columbia)
2) Charles Bradley, No Time for Dreaming (Daptone)
3) TV on the Radio, Nine Types of Light (Interscope)
4) Tune-Yards, Whokill (4AD)
5) Big K.R.I.T., Return of 4eva (Def Jam)
6) Black Keys, El Camino (Nonesuch)
7) Pharoahe Monch, W.A.R. (We Are Renegades) (Duck Down)
8) Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi, Rome (Capitol)
9) Shabazz Palaces, Black Up (Sub Pop)
10) Adrian Younge, Something About April (Wax Poetics)
Doug Freeman
1) My Morning Jacket, Circuital (ATO)
2) St. Vincent, Strange Mercy (4AD)
3) Atlas Sound, Parallax (4AD)
4) Cut Copy, Zonoscope (Modular)
5) The Decemberists, The King Is Dead (Capitol)
6) Girls, Father, Son, Holy Ghost (True Panther Sounds)
7) Jessica Lea Mayfield, Tell Me (Nonesuch)
8) Yuck, Yuck (Fat Possum)
9) Bahamas, Pink Strat (Universal Republic)
10) Ben Howard, Every Kingdom (Universal)
Melanie Haupt
1) The Black Keys, El Camino (Nonesuch)
2) Fleet Foxes, Helplessness Blues (Sub Pop)
3) Tune-Yards, Whokill (4AD)
4) The Antlers, Burst Apart (Frenchkiss)
5) Handsome Furs, Sound Kapital (Sub Pop)
6) Tom Waits, Bad as Me (Anti–)
7) Feist, Metals (Cherrytree/Interscope)
8) Bon Iver, Bon Iver, Bon Iver (Jagjaguwar)
9) Adele, 21 (XL)
10) PJ Harvey, Let England Shake (Vagrant)
Chase Hoffberger
1) Tune-Yards, Whokill (4AD)
2) St. Vincent, Strange Mercy (4AD)
3) J Mascis, Several Shades of Why (Sub Pop)
4) The Roots, Undun (Def Jam)
5) Nive Nielsen, Nive Sings!
6) White Mystery, Blood & Venom (Swirly)
7) Kanye West & Jay-Z, Watch the Throne (Def Jam)
8) Shabazz Palaces, Black Up (Sub Pop)
9) Gaby Moreno, Illustrated Songs (Paisley)
10) Bosley, Honey Pig
Margaret Moser
1) Lucinda Williams, Blessed (Lost Highway)
2) The Decemberists, The King Is Dead (Capitol)
3) Adele, 21 (XL)
4) Tom Waits, Bad as Me (Anti-)
5) The Civil Wars, Barton Hollow (Sensibility Music)
6) Black Keys, El Camino (Nonesuch)
7) Cornell Dupree, I'm Alright (Dialtone)
8) Amy Winehouse, Lioness (Universal Republic)
9) Gregg Allman, Low Country Blues (Rounder)
10) Gillian Welch, The Harrow & the Harvest (Acony)
Austin Powell
1) Girls, Father, Son, Holy Ghost (True Panther Sounds)
2) Tune-Yards, Whokill (4AD)
3) Orchestre Poly-Rhythmo, Cotonou Club (Strut)
4) Wilco, The Whole Love (dBpm)
5) Josh T. Pearson, Last of the Country Gentlemen (Mute)
6) Yuck, Yuck (Fat Possum)
7) Paul Simon, So Beautiful or So What (Hear Music/Concord)
8) My Morning Jacket, Circuital (ATO)
9) Atlas Sound, Parallax (4AD)
10) EMA, Past Life Martyred Saints (Souterrain Transmissions)
Jay Trachtenberg
1) Adele, 21 (XL)
2) If by Yes, Salt on Sea Grass (Chimera)
3) Lee Konitz, Brad Mehldau, Charlie Haden, Paul Motian, Live at Birdland (ECM)
4) Laura Marling, A Creature I Don't Know (Ribbon)
5) Paul Simon, So Beautiful or So What (Hear Music/Concord)
6) Tyshawn Sorey, Oblique-1 (Pi)
7) St. Vincent, Strange Mercy (4AD)
8) Tune-Yards, Whokill (4AD)
9) TV on the Radio, Nine Types of Light (Interscope)
10) Miles Español: New Sketches of Spain (Entertainment One)