Attention Citizenry...

Due to lack of time, internet access, and motivation, I am canceling my year end countdown crap.

But because I'd already had this made up, here's the list:

1. Scott Walker - The Drift
2. Liars - Drum's Not Dead
3. Joanna Newsom - Ys
4. The Pipettes - We Are the Pipettes
5. Jim Noir - Tower of Love
6. Fern Knight - Music for Witches and Alchemists
7. Cyann and Ben - Sweet Beliefs
8. The Fiery Furnaces - Bitter Tea
9. Man Man - Six Demon Bag
10. Espers - Espers II

With the following honorable mentions:

- The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America
- Yo La Tengo - I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass
- Larkin Grimm - The Last Tree
- Squarepusher - Hello Everything
- Matthew Friedberger - Winter Women/Holy Ghost Language School
- Matmos - The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of the Beast
- Paul Simon - Surprise

So there you go. You don't have to wait two weeks for me to ramble on about everything this year.

"Interesting" notes:

-Last year's Greg Weeks Count was two (his solo album Blood is Trouble and Espers' The Weed Tree), and this year it's up to three (Espers II, Music for Witches and Alchemists, which he produced and sang and played guitar on, and Sweet Beliefs, which he sang on for a song).

- Four of the top 10 artists were on my list in either 2004 (Liars, Cyann and Ben) or 2005 (Espers, Fiery Furnaces). If we include honorable mentions and make these lists retroactive to include albums from 2004 that I didn't hear during 2004, Espers and the Fiery Furnaces would both have been on there too (Espers got an honorable mention, Fiery Furnaces were not on my radar screen until early 2005).

AND ONE MORE NOTE...

Gerald Ford has died, which means that the Democrats have also taken control of the House of Living Ex-Presidents, by a two (Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton) to one (Bush 41) margin. What a sweep!