Greg Beets
1) LCD Soundsystem (DFA/Capitol)
2) The New Pornographers, Twin Cinema (Matador)
3) The High Dials, War of the Wakening Phantoms (Rainbow Quartz)
4) The Go Team!, Thunder, Lightning, Strike (Memphis Industries/Columbia)
5) Apes, Baba’s Mountain (Birdman)
6) The Knitters, The Modern Sounds of … (Zoë/Rounder)
7) Susan Cowsill, Just Believe It (Blue Corn)
8) Louis XIV, The Best Little Secrets Are Kept (Pineapple/Atlantic)
9) Inside Deep Note Vol. 2: Music of 1970s Adult Cinema (O.S.T. Grammofonpladen)
10) Nic Armstrong & the Thieves, The Greatest White Liar (New West)
Jim Caligiuri
1) Nic Armstrong & the Thieves, The Greatest White Liar (New West)
2) Laura Cantrell, Humming by the Flowered Vine (Matador)
3) Caitlin Cary & Thad Cockrell, Begonias (Yep Roc)
4) Rodney Crowell, The Outsider (Columbia)
5) Robbie Fulks, Georgia Hard (Yep Roc)
6) Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion, Exploration (New West)
7) Shannon McNally, Geronimo (Back Porch)
8) My Morning Jacket, Z (ATO)
9) John Prine, Fair & Square (Oh Boy)
10) Son Volt, Okemah and the Melody of Riot (Legacy)
Robert Gabriel
1) Zion I, True & Livin’ (Live Up)
2) Three 6 Mafia, Most Known Unknown (Sony)
3) Chillin Villain Empire, Villainism (Covert)
4) Quasimoto, The Further Adventures of Lord Quas (Stones Throw)
5) Lil Wayne, Tha Carter II (Universal)
6) Turf Talk, Brings the Hood Colabilation (Sic Wid It)
7) Boyz N Da Hood (Bad Boy)
8) Danger Doom, The Mouse and the Mask (Epitaph)
9) Common, Be (Geffen)
10) Beanie Sigel, The B.Coming (Roc-A-Fella)
Melanie Haupt
1) Sufjan Stevens, Illinois (Asthmatic Kitty)
2) Devendra Banhart, Cripple Crow (Beggars)
3) The Decemberists, Picaresque (Kill Rock Stars)
4) The Rosebuds, Birds Make Good Neighbors (Merge)
5) Death Cab for Cutie, Plans (Atlantic)
6) South San Gabriel, The Carlton Chronicles: Not Until the Operation’s Through (Misra)
7) Crooked Fingers, Dignity and Shame (Merge)
8) Sleater-Kinney, The Woods (Sub Pop)
9) Okkervil River, Black Sheep Boy (Jagjaguwar)
10) The American Analog Set, Set Free (Arts & Crafts)
Andy Langer
1) The Frames, Burn the Maps (Anti-)
2) Bright Eyes, I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning (Saddle Creek)
3) Bettye LaVette, I’ve Got My Own Hell to Raise (Anti-)
4) Spoon, Gimme Fiction (Merge)
5) I Believe to My Soul (Rhino/WEA)
6) Sage Francis, A Healthy Distrust (Epitaph)
7) 22-20s (Astralwerks)
8) Danger Doom, The Mouse and the Mask (Epitaph)
9) The Hold Steady, Separation Sunday (Frenchkiss)
10) Sons and Daughters, The Repulsion Box (Domino)
David Lynch
1) Amjad Ali Khan, Moksha (Real World)
2) Keith Jarrett, Radiance (ECM)
3) Ali Farka Touré & Toumani Diabaté, In the Heart of the Moon (Nonesuch)
4) Luiz Bonfá, Solo in Rio 1959 – Live (Smithsonian Folkways)
5) DJ Cheb I Sabbah, La Kahena (Six Degrees)
6) The Frames, Burn the Maps (Anti-)
7) Abdel Wright (Interscope)
8) Savina Yannatou, Sumiglia (ECM)
9) Danny Barnes, Get Myself Together (Terminus)
10) Robert Walter, Super Heavy Organ (Magnatude)
Margaret Moser
1) John Cale, BlackAcetate: (Astralwerks)
2) Caitlin Cary & Thad Cockrell, Begonias (Yep Roc)
3) Chip Taylor & Carrie Rodriguez, Red Dog Tracks (EMI)
4) Susan Cowsill, Just Believe It (Blue Corn)
5) Kathleen Edwards, Back to Me (Zoë)
6) The Redwalls, De Nova (Capitol)
7) The Fleshtones, Beachhead (Yep Roc)
8) Amy Rigby, Little Fugitive (Signature Sounds)
9) My Morning Jacket, Z (ATO)
10) Waco Brothers, Freedom and Weep (Bloodshot)
Audra Schroeder
1) Deerhoof, The Runners Four (Kill Rock Stars)
2) Animal Collective, Feels (Fat Cat)
3) Dungen, Ta Det Lugnt (Kemado)
4) Sleater-Kinney, The Woods (Sub Pop)
5) Excepter, Throne (Load)
6) Nedelle, From the Lion’s Mouth (Kill Rock Stars)
7) Earth, Hex: Or Printing in the Infernal Method (Southern Lord)
8) Jennifer Gentle, Valende (Sub Pop)
9) Oneida, The Wedding (Jagjaguwar)
10) Three 6 Mafia, Most Known Unknown (Asylum)
Darcie Stevens
1) Antony & the Johnsons, I Am a Bird Now (Secretly Canadian)
2) Broken Social Scene (Arts & Crafts)
3) Phosphorescent, Aw Come Aw Wry (Misra)
4) Feist, Let It Die (Cherrytree/Interscope)
5) Stars, Set Yourself on Fire (Arts & Crafts)
6) The Rosebuds, Birds Make Good Neighbors (Merge)
7) Chamillionaire, The Sound of Revenge (Universal)
8) Metric, Live It Out (Last Gang)
9) M.I.A., Arular (XL)
10) The Frames, Burn the Maps (Anti-)
Jay Trachtenberg
1) Dave Douglas, Keystone (Greenleaf Music)
2) Jason Moran, Same Mother (Blue Note)
3) Ry Cooder, Chávez Ravine (Nonesuch)
4) Damian Marley, Welcome to Jamrock (VP)
5) Archie Shepp & Mal Waldron, Left Alone Revisited: A Tribute to Billie Holiday (Synergy Music)
6) Thievery Corporation, The Cosmic Game (ESL)
7) Jack De Johnette & Foday Musa Suso, Music From the Hearts of the Masters (Golden Beams)
8) Nortec Collective, Tijuana Session, Vol. 3 (Nacional)
9) Solomon Burke, Make Due With What You Got (Shout! Factory)
10) Hip Hop Hoodios, Agua Pa’ La Gente (Jazzheads)
This article appears in 2005.