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This may have been the trickiest year end list I’ve done in a long time. Not only was I stuck staring at a list of over 20 albums that needed to be narrowed down to 10 (I don’t fancy a top 50), but I almost made a last minute switch for the #1 spot. There seemed to be a lot of great albums this year that were amplified by hype alone, but a good majority of them actually deserved it. Much of this list consists of big releases, because that tends to be how I like it. There are no live albums with rarities by bands that broke up 5 years ago (I’m looking at you, Pitchfork). This is Poproks, after all.

Close calls:
As I am Alicia Keys
Writer’s Block Peter Bjorn and John
Finding Forever Common
Wincing the Night Away The Shins
Songs About Girls Will.i.am

10. The Reminder Feist
2007 was Canadian singer/songwriter Leslie Feist’s year. Not only was “1234” the most talked about Ipod commercial theme since U2 debuted “Vertigo,” but it gave the song a ridiculous boost in the charts (peaked at #8 on the Hot 100) and also caught the attention of The Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (the Grammys, I mean). The song’s video made VH1’s Best Of countdown for ’07, and Blender Magazine named it one of the Best Indie Albums Ever. Etc. etc. etc. Everyone loves this album, and they should. Feist’s folky style coupled with her pop sensibility make it hard to believe that 2004’s Let it Die wasn’t just as popular (though it did pretty well in Canada). There’s not much to elaborate on. It’s a simple record about simple ideas, and it’s beautiful.

9. Favourite Worst Nightmare Arctic Monkeys
Here it is, the album I least expected to see on my Top 10…The band that I love to hate…The band whose debut made it’s way to #5 on the NME Best British Albums Ever list (ahead of London Calling and Revolver, mmk?). The band that is bigger than Jesus. Well, I just can’t help but love this band, and I just can’t help but love this record (in fact, it’s probably better than the #5 Bestest Ever debut, and that scares me). Arctic Monkeys are just fucking good. And they make me want to break things and say “fucking” a lot. Possibly with a British accent. This is simply infectious as hell. Make no mistake, Arctic Monkeys are as good as everyone says they are (well, almost everyone).

8. The Cool Lupe Fiasco
Lupe Fiasco’s oddly un-concept-like concept album, The Cool, is a late comer that shot up to this list upon first listen. What with thought provoking subject matter, an UNKLE sample that rocks the universe, and choruses that would be at home on a Radiohead record, it’s pretty hard to listen to this without being impressed. Even the most hardened hip hop foe would walk away from this record with a new favorite rapper. Lupe pushes the envelope on all sorts of levels, and leaves you wondering if you can even categorize this as a hip hop album.

7. Boxer The National
I don’t think The National will ever release a record again that doesn’t sore to the top of every critics’ list there is (except Rolling Stone, what’s up with you guys?). Boxer is another perfect record from one of the most under-rated bands in music. Matt Berninger’s dark and sorrowful lyrics match his dark and sorrowful baritone all too well. “You wouldn’t want an angel watching over/surprise, surprise they wouldn’t wannna watch/another uninnocent, elegant fall into the unmagnificent lives of adults.” Berninger’s exceptionally unconventional, original, and thought provoking words mixed with flowing piano and guitar highlight every last track. It was impossible to even pick a favorite (but will settle on the opener, “Fake Empire”). On this, their forth album on Beggars Banquet, every aspect of the band’s songwriting has improved tenfold from the last. I’m excited just thinking about their next.

6. Panic Prevention Jamie T
From the first second that you hear that half-assed drunken guitar lick kick-start Jamie Treay’s Mercury Prize nominated debut, it’s very hard not to love it. The 21 year old South London native was hailed as a One Man Arctic Monkey by NME (they love their hype at NME), who tripped over themselves to award him the Best Solo Artist award only 3 weeks after the album’s January release. You won’t know what it is that you love about Panic Prevention, but you’ll love it none-the-less. Many young artists of the UK music scene work tirelessly to appear to not give a fuck, but Jamie T is not even trying. He’s not even thinking about trying. He truly doesn’t give a fuck and it transpires wonderfully through this record. The recordings are sloppy at times (and seem to be mostly first or second takes), but only just enough so that you understand that nothing on this record is an accident. Take that however you’d like.

5. American Gangster Jay-Z
This record is a staple in hip hop; one of the best rappers ever making the kind of record that he was born to make. Jay-Z is an American gangster. Every song on this album is perfectly produced, every string effect and drum sound complimented with impeccable flow that only Jay could deliver. Between The Neptunes, Diddy, and Nas, everyone else who managed to be a part of this release is at the top of their game, giving Jay-Z’s 10th #1 record an overflow of 5 star tracks. Jay’s best album ever? I’m not sure yet (The Black Album/The Blueprint just won’t let go), but it’s a definite possibility.

4. Neon Bible Arcade Fire
While it’s not quite the masterpiece that their debut Funeral may have been, Neon Bible would have been the breakthrough record of the year had it not been the dreaded “sophomore follow-up.” It’s hard to put your finger on the band’s sound; as it’s not blatantly or obnoxiously “indie,” and at times sounds more like the best of Springsteen or Bowie. And even though Win Butler arguably lacks the cool of these acts, something about his nervous quiver of a voice and his band’s crowded live show make Arcade Fire much bigger than the sum of it’s many parts.

3. Kala M.I.A.
Nobody else makes music like this. Fortunately, that’s only one of a million reasons to love M.I.A. At first listen, I favored her debut Arular – but the more I jam to this record, the more I start to change my mind. Kala seamlessly combines dozens of otherwise unmeshable genres, and hardly within the confines of pop (though, they’re all in there). From an indie driven Clash sampled hip hop anthem, “Paper Planes” (one of the best songs of 2007 – if not the best) to the Bollywood-infused techno of “Hussel”, I dare anyone to try and put this in a box. World-techno-afro-rap-indie-electro? F*ck labels. Kala is too good for it.

2. In Rainbows Radiohead
What can you say about this record that hasn’t already been said? Forget the Pay What You Want Self Release That Shook the World – this record would have shaken the world regardless. The long (long) awaited follow up to 2003’s Hail to the Thief was, undeniably, well worth the wait. Granted, you were able to get your theoretical hands on this theoretical album just days after its release was announced (not to mention boxsets and webcasts and codes, oh my) , but between Yorke’s solo project and Greenwood’s avant-garde film scores – this album was “anticipated” for quite a while. Again, it was worth it. The catchiest pop of The Bends meets the creepiest moods of Kid A, and the combination is somehow as good as both. It hurt a little not to make this Album of the Year.

1. Graduation Kanye West
Can’t tell me nothing.

I remember the first few days of Graduation’s release well. I would literally listen to it on my way to work, listen to it at work, listen to it on my way home, and listen to it at home. Play. Repeat. Play. Repeat. Always picking up from wherever I left off. If I wasn’t listening to it, I was singing it in my head, reading about it, writing about it, talking about it. I heard it blasted from every car in Brooklyn, every backyard party, every open window. It was everywhere. It deserved to be.

I doubt Kanye will have any award snubbing to bitch about next year (yeah, he’s a baby), but rightfully so. Every word, even when placed awkwardly, is placed just so for a reason. Every sample transformed into Louie Vatan Don perfection. This isn’t even his second best, and it still takes my Album of the Year nod by a landslide (Edit: a mild landslipe – see #2). Who cares how cocky you are when you are this good?