i'd post the whole ten but it was giving me internal errors until i cut it in half

6. Mogwai - The Hawk Is Howling

I'm one of those 'huge mr beast fan' kind of mogwai fans. For me everything 'happy songs' onward have just been a progressively more satisfying career of refinement, subtlety, and expert handling of style and sensibility where the sublime is not in the noise but in the how, why, and where of it. They are the last band to inspire anyone to think that all they need is a formula to make it in post rock. But, to be honest, I thought it was just a natural thing, even in mr beast, that getting loud is what is easy for them and the all-quiet songs were mostly pretty nice, with flashes of brilliance and a lot of promises for what's to come. This album fulfills on that promise in several ways. While in many instances they live up to the obligatory hype of 'bringing back the rock', I remember this album most (and best) for the persistant quiet that envelops it. The opener quickly goes for the majestic, but it always keeps its feet on the ground, going against type and bringing those arching guitars down to the level of everything else, including that fantastic piano. It stays intimate instead of exploding outward, and that's actually how much of the album works. But here we also get the greatest gem of 'thank you space expert'. It never raises its voice, but uses every phrase with the greatest care to make an incredible track that I think goes in among their best.

7. Lindstrom - Where You Go I Go Too

I listened to an awwwwwful lot of Jean Michel Jarre as a kid, so when I heard this album, I thought things were finally coming full circle and the stuff shoved into my head before I was 10 is finally being spit out in this album, and I didn't think too much of it at first. All I heard was something going totally retro for cheap thrills, then the development of the sound slowly unfolded and found to my surprise that somehow, in some way, this was not only working in today's context, but was also looking, thinking, and pushing forward. Plus bringing back the epic, and deliberately cutting the tracks to make them almost insperable is a brave stunt in this time of the ipod and shuffle functions. It's a complete vision that is danceable, layered, imaginative and colorful from start to finish, making it one of the best electronic albums this year

8. Flying Lotus - Los Angeles

i've made three people listen to this album so far and they've all been reminded of madvillain at some point. dont let the "hiphop instrumentals on warp" make you think this is a parallel prefuse. he may go there for brief moments, but this is thicker, less digitized, and frankly a lot more beautiful.sophisticated and intelligent, you feel as if you've just heard a truly complete statemnt in one album, with all the diversions and subtleties intact. Hugely satisfying

9. Johann Johannsson - Fordlandia

Initially taken as a modern classical album leaning heavily on imax-ready conventions, I wasn't convinced by johannssons epic work mixing three different concepts to back up his creation, but the combination of mythic tragedy, modern folly, and continued theme of failed technology and utopias needs a little time to mesh properly with the music. It sounds shallow, but the insistent stately prettiness is actually an obstacle that you have to relax on and let it become familiar before the shifts and movements play along with the theme and make it purposefully beautiful instead of aimlessly so. Still, it's an album of extreme, incessant, almost obsessive beauty that thankfully has the complexities and layers to have facets and variance instead of numbing monotony, and I'm thrilled every time I listen to it and can't wait for the next one

10. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago