Another year of quantifying tastes, this time with more links and less prolix. Begin!

48. Autechre – Quaristice
Pulled back the abstraction that made the last few releases so schizophrenically unlistenable.

47. Woven – Designer Codes
Glitched-out indie rock that’s more interesting for its production than songwriting.

46. The Verve – Forth
A logical orchestral space rock continuation after an extended hiatus.

45. Meat Beat Manifesto – AutoimmΜne
Dub step and jazz samples.

44. This Will Destroy You – This Will Destroy You
Telefon Tel Aviv meets Mogwai.

43. Minus the Bear – Acoustics
Previously-released heavy post-produced indie prog dance rock songs are pulled off with acoustic guitars and percussion.

42. Los Campesinos! – Hold On Now, Youngster…/We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
Is this what they call blog rock?

41. Filter – Anthems for the Damned
More focused than the quickly forgotten Army of Anyone project.

40. Goldfrapp – Seventh Tree
Another stylistic shift: lush orchestrated electronic folk.

39. Death Cab For Cutie – Narrow Stairs
You emos write decent songs (yeah, that’s all I have.)

38. Portion Control – Slug
Grimy post-industrial techno/ambient.

37. Thursday & Envy Split/Jesu & Envy – Split/Jesu & Battle of Mice – Split
A is to B is to C and D can come too.

36. Intronaut – Prehistoricisms
Post-metal with jazzy fretless bass lines and insane drumming.

35. Nine Inch Nails – Ghosts I-IV/The Slip
Sobriety may have made Trent a bit too productive for his own good.

34. Barry Adamson – Back to the Cat
Genre-jumping noir jazz is likely the most playful dark albums in years.

33. Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan – Sunday at Devil Dirt
Sweet innocent vs. broken down trials and tribulations? Is that what they’re going for here? My broner for Lanegan continues to grow.

32. Thrice – The Alchemy Index Vol. III: Air/The Alchemy Index Vol. IV: Earth
Step even further away from conventional rock radio with a focus on acoustic guitar for “Earth”.

31. The Walkmen – You & Me
Deliberate pacing showcases they’re not all about writing indie rock singles.

30. Earth – The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull
Think Low and Sunn O))) with a sprinkle of jazz piano, transforming it into slow-moving instrumentals fit for a western desert run.

29. Russian Circles – Station
Pelican with a more expressive drummer.

28. The Mars Volta – The Bedlam in Goliath
Fuck it, just throw a drum fill in there.

27. Wire – Object 47
Dirty post-punk brings in more melody.

26. Bitcrush – Epilogue in Waves
Sparse shoegaze with diminishing IDM elements.

25. The Constantines – Kensington Heights
A downtempo album more in line with “Soon Enough” rather than “Working Full-Time” from predecessor Tournament of Hearts .

24. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!
Double entendres and completely direct innuendos are back via a rock sound invigorated by Grinderman.

23. Mogwai – Young Team [remastered]/The Hawk is Howling
Cathartic instrumental rock with electronic touches that doesn’t depart too much from their revisited beginnings.

22. Firewater – The Golden Hour
Travelling around the world inspired a quality world music-tinged album.

21. Plants and Animals – Parc Avenue
Classic rock, prog, psychedelic, and folk thrown into each song are exercises in self-indulgent, but catchy, jamming.

20. The Fall of Troy – Phantom on the Horizon
A five track EP that’s meant to play out as a continual drop-of-a-dime time signature changing journey? Are you The Mars Volta, but better?

19. The Gutter Twins – Saturnalia
Afghan Twins and Mark Lanegan. And brooding.

18. These Arms Are Snakes – Tail Swallower and Dove
Post-hardcore chops provided me a Botch fix.

17. Mercury Rev – Snowflake Midnight/Strange Attractor
Another reinvention although the Flaming Lips and Radiohead comparisons won’t end.

16. Primal Scream – Beautiful Future
Soulful, upbeat electro-rock where lead singer Bobby Gillespie still sounds drunk.

15. Anathema – Hindsight
Acoustic re-takes of the band’s strong backcatalogue.

14. Agalloch – The White EP
Dark ambient folk and The Wicker Man.

13. Candiria – Kiss the Lie
A lost album resurfaces by way of a record label digital release fuck up. Wait for the band’s direct vinyl + CD-R release next year where you can fully appreciate their transformed math rock cum modern metal stylings. Let’s just hope the end of their tenure doesn’t lead into the sort of fear that forms a Christian rock band. Oh, shite.

12. Telescreen – The Solar Sea EP
Codeseven space rock reincarnated.

11. John Murphy & Underworld – Sunshine
Beautiful tension-filled mix of string and subtle beats finally gets a 2008 release, even if it’s DRM-inflicted iTunes-only.

10. Cult of Luna – Eternal Kingdom
Post-hardcore dirge and massive riffage.

9. Sigur Rós – Með Suð í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust
A few short pop songs thrown into their usual ethereal and sublime compositions that let me get in touch with my inner yuppie, Stuff White People Like-style.

8. Black Mountain – In the Future
Classic rock revival channels Sabbath, Zeppelin, and Santana that’s even better live.

7. Opeth – Watershed
A change in membership didn’t diminish the collective’s prog-metal power and diversity.

6. Portishead – Third
Ten year hiatus was just a blip in the creative RADAR, still darkly vibrant.

5. Cut Copy – In Ghost Colours
An Aussie New Order with discordant indie guitars.

4. TV On the Radio – Dear Science
Overwhelmingly dense art rock that’s both political and sexy.

3. Cog – Sharing Space
To get people’s attentions you can’t just tap on the shoulder, you have to hit them with an Aussie hard rock sledgehammer.

2. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes/Sun Giant EP
Those reverb-heavy vocal harmonies will make you want to dust off that Beach Boys and Neil Young vinyl.

1. Hey Rosetta! – Into Your Lungs (And Around in Your Heart and on Through Your Blood)
So Wintersleep aren’t the best Canadian east coast band after all.