1. Deleted Scenes - Young People's Church Of The Air
I feel like I fell into being a fan of the Washington, D.C. band Deleted Scenes somewhat by accident; I've seen them live about five times because they keep playing show in Baltimore with bands I like, and over time their songs really grew on me and their 2009 full-length debut Birdseed Shirt became kind of a sleeper favorite. This album seems maybe more consistently enjoyable overall, with some pretty impressive and creative production choices, but the highlights don't stand out as immediately and addictively as the 3 or 4 best songs on Birdseed Shirt.

2. J. Cole - Cole World: The Sideline Story
J. Cole is kind of a bland rapper, but in a year where the other big major label debuts in hip hop are Big fucking Sean and Mac fucking Miller, he deserves credit for not being outright terrible. And his beats on pre-album singles like "Who Dat" and "Blow Up" were impressive enough that I kind of had to check the album just for the production, which really is pretty dope, I'm kinda hoping that his career pops off enough to the point that he starts doing beats on everybody's albums. He thankfully doesn't actually sound like Drake despite all the comparisons, but he does share that pathetic earnest 'I'll be jerking off to the day I got my record deal for the rest of my life' vibe that permeates the album, and is even less appealing in cocky mode on that stupid Trey Songz song. All in all this is a pretty solid album, though, more the 2nd half than the slow 1st half, especially that great song with Missy.

3. Evangelista - In Animal Tongue
Carla Bozulich has carved out such a nomadic creative existence over the years (even her best and best known band, the Geraldine Fibbers, only made two albums) that it's strange and bittersweet to me that she's now got a steady, long-running creative outlet and that I have pretty mixed feelings about it. But her fourth Evangelista album is probably my second favorite to date, after 2008'a Hello, Voyager, continuing to stretch her already pretty visceral and forbidding aesthetic to new breaking points of spooky raw nerve atmospherics.

4. Wild Flag - Wild Flag
Nobody in Wild Flag was really my '90s female indie rock hero because, well, that was Carla Bozulich, and as far as Sleater-Kinney goes I prefer Corin to Carrie. But Janet Weiss is a great drummer and I've really come to have a lot of respect for Mary Timony over the years, so this is pretty solid if not at all revelatory in the tradition of the best supergroups.

5. Wilco - The Whole Love
Ever since Nels Cline joined the band, every time Wilco releases an album I think I should really check it out to see if he has any good parts on it, and I usually never do (although I really love that "Impossible Germany" song and enjoyed the festival set I saw them do a few years ago). I decided way back circa Summer Teeth that I just do not have much compatibility with Jeff Tweedy's voice and songs, but I am glad I checked this out, even if there's not a whole lot of noticeable Nels, mainly because the album is bookended by two really great long songs, "Art of Almost" and "One Sunday Morning.

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