With three-quarters of the year over, it's time to list my favorite albums so far. I've come around to the Drive-By Truckers thing, Shonna Tucker and bloat be damned; Cut Copy and No Age are slightly overrated; and I've made peace with Portishead's miserabilist maunderings.

1. Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part One: 4th World War
2. Robert Forster - The Evangelist
3. TV on the Radio - Dear Science
4. Portishead - Third
5. David Byrne-Brian Eno - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
6. Conor Oberst - s/t
7. Hercules & Love Affair - s/t
8. Dolly Parton - Backwoods Barbie
9. Wale - The Mixtape About Nothing
10. The-Dream - Love/Hate
11. Vampire Weekend - s/t
12. Randy Newman - Harps and Angels
13. Drive-By Truckers- Brighter Than Creation's Dark
14. No Age - Nouns
15. K'Naan - The Dusty Foot Philosopher