Best of the Year: Music

So there's still one week left in the year, but no album has come close to The New Pornographer's Challengers as my choice for the best album of the year. Not a single track on the album misses, and the cumulative effect is an album of great wit, great insight and just plain great music. Carl Newman and company have released their best album to date. Nico Case shines as usual.

It's been years since I've given a specific album to people as a holiday gift. This year, quite a few people on my list got Challengers in their stockings. Four months after its release, the album still has a prized spot in my iPod. It should on yours, too.

Honorable mentions for the year go to Annie Lennox's Songs of Mass Destruction, Mika's Life in Cartoon Motion, Rufus Wainwright's Release the Stars, and the studio cast recording of Bare.

Three Albums to Recommend

I've been rotating almost non-stop among three albums that I want to write about today. Starting off with the album that is, without a doubt, my favorite of the year, so far. The New Pornographers released Challengers last month, and it's great. A.C. Newman, the primary creative force behind The New P's, has assembled a series of tracks that engage the ear and the brain from its opening notes. Neko Case provides great vocal support. I loved Twin Cinema, the last drop from the band, but Challengers is more impressive. The lyrics employ wonderful turns of phrase and the music is intellectual and visceral.

Also, if you haven't checked out The New Pornographers and the Case of Neko, take a look. It's a little dated, but an interesting look at band relations.

Some critics have talked about Challengers as the soundtrack for the summer, and A.C. has talked about Brian Wilson as an influence. I find The New P's music to be a little too fabulous to think of them as my beach music. More Bowie than Brian.

So what was my soundtrack to the summer? Easy! Junior Senior has released the bounciest, can't-get-it-out-of-my-head album I've heard in a long time. I can't can't get the t-t-title out of my head--Hey Hey My My Yo Yo. Every song is rather infectious, but getting Cindy Wilson and Kate Pierson to provide vocals on "Take My Time" is so totally cool that any missteps can be totally forgiven. (And by the way, the supplemental disc in the States, Say Hello Wave Goodbye is kind of a misstep.) Add to the guest lineup Le Tigre and The Velvelettes and you've got a roaring good time. This is very bright music. You'll need sunglasses. But, hey, isn't that what the soundtrack to the summer is all about.

And when it's time to mellow out after hours of driving rhythms, check out Goodbye from Ulrich Schnauss. It got into Schnauss after reading a review of A Strangely Isolated Place, and that disc remains one of my desert island discs. Schnauss is like a found-objects artist, only he's working with sounds. Whether it's samples or industrial sounds or vocals, Schnauss pieces together music that is so much more than the sum of its parts. His music is sweeping and evokes very visual imagery with it. Goodbye creates a beautiful landscape, one that's easy to get lost in.