THE GOOD: It cheered my heart to see that Ida Maria's Fortress Round My Heart placed highly (No. 13); the odd, but charming acknowledgment of Torche (No. 34) elicited a similar reaction. For the Christian rock enthusiast portion of my heart, seeing Sandra McCracken buried near the bottom of the list was nice, although almost a wink and a nod to those who wonder if Paste is a undercover Christian rock mag. They may recommend Lil Wayne, but don't worry, true believers. They still have room for Jesus rock.
THE BAD: Im sure any Idolator reader could pick out a record they don't particularly care for and go all critically nutzoid, but Girl Talk at No. 7 seems like an odd slap in the face to the parade of "real musicians" who fall afterwards. I like Girl Talk; I downloaded the disc, and it stayed in my car stereo for a few months. But the question ends up being whether these best of lists are really running down the "best" of the year, and that the idea of lasting value and meaning is taken into consideration, or whether a disc's inclusion just means that it was awesome to hear at parties.
THE WHAAA? Although I was surprised not to see Al Green on the list, and to note that Santogold's Diplo mixtape outranked her actual album, nothing could top my shock to see She & Him at No. 1. The magazine defends the selection: "Maybe it’s just a sweet little folk record—a tiny, flawless diamond. Or maybe it’s a pristine distillation of harmony and craft; 50 years of songwriting experience served up on a spinning silver platter. Either way, it’s our album of the year." To my ears, neither assertion is true. Volume One is a cute novelty record that has more preciousness than innovation, skill, or any other sort of metric people tend to judge great albums by. Last year's number one was the National's Boxer... this year's pick is a long slide down in quality.

1. She & Him, Volume One
2. Sigur Rós, Med sud i eyrum vid spilum endalaust
3. Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend
4. Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever Ago
5. Okkervil River - The Stand Ins
6. Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes
7. Girl Talk, Feed the Animals
8. Sun Kil Moon, April
9. Lucinda Williams, Little Honey
10. Deerhunter, Microcastle
11. The Hold Steady, Stay Positive
12. Of Montreal, Skeletal Lamping
13. Ida Maria, Fortress Round My Heart
14. Langhorne Slim, Langhorne Slim
15. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!
16. My Morning Jacket
, Evil Urges
17. Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Lie Down In The Light
18. Death Cab
 for Cutie, Narrow Stairs

19. Gentleman Jesse and His Men, Introducing Gentleman Jesse and His Men
20. Hot Chip, Made In The Dark
21. The Raveonettes, Lust Lust Lust
22. No Age, Nouns
23. Mates of State, Re-Arrange Us
24. Santogold and Diplo, Top Ranking

25. Mugison, Mugiboogie
26. Lee Ann Womack, Call Me Crazy
27. Liam Finn, I'll Be Lightning
28. MGMT, Oracular Spectacular
29. Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III
30. I'm From Barcelona, Who Killed Harry Houdini?
31. The Walkmen, You & Me
32. Silver Jews, Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea
33. Santogold, Santogold
34. Torche, Meanderthal
35. Colour Revolt, Plunder, Beg and Curse
36. The Bridges, Limits of the Sky
37. Johnny Flynn & The Sussex Wit, A Larum
38. Jamie Lidell, Jim
39. The Dodos, Visiter
40. Flight of the Conchords, Flight of the Conchords
41. The Tallest Man On Earth, Shallow Grave
42. Thao Nguyen and the Get Down Stay Down, We Brave Bee Stings & All
43. Amanda Palmer, Who Killed Amanda Palmer
44. Kathleen Edwards, Asking For Flowers
45. M83, Saturdays = Youth
46. Lykke Li, Youth Novels
47. Laura Marling, Alas, I Cannot Swim
48. REM, Accelerate
49. Sandra McCracken, Red Balloon
50. TV On The Radio, Dear Science

Signs of Life 2008: Best Music [Paste]

Miami sludge-pop band Torche have unleashed Grenades," the latest song of their upcoming, totally righteous Meanderthal, the best album with a comically embarrassing title since—oh, let's say Endtroducing. If you haven't heard them before, Torche is like the Melvins with Animal Collective harmonies, which we used to call Beach Boys harmonies back in my day. If you have heard Torche, well, they still sound like that.

Torche [MySpace]