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