It's like a countdown without the numbers. Just five more wonderful albums that it seems like no one else heard this year, since last I checked the radio wasn't playing any of them. But I'm sure somewhere out there, there's a kid like you who has heard them and is saying "YES!" as they realize that they are not alone in the universe but apparently related to the ugly guy who writes this "List of the Day" blog from an airless basement in a desperate part of town.

 

Magnolia Electric Co. - Sojourner (Secretly Canadian)

Jason Molina once led a band called Songs: Ohia and if that wasn't catchy enough, he now runs Magnolia Electric Co. I'm sure his shareholders are thrilled. Anyhow, this wooden box contains four CDs and a DVD and trading cards, bullets, a goldfish....you name it, it's in here. And if you like long, languid music that sounds like someone's been left out on the train tracks to die, well you're in luck! Because it's all right here!

 

John Frusciante - Ataxia II: AW II (Record Collection)

I've never been much of a Red Hot Chili Peppers fan. (Much? How about not at all?) But ol' John on his own always amuses me. Because when you listen to the music he makes on his own, it's as if he hates his band, too. But then who knows? If I was making the kind of money he probably makes with his day gig, I might think a little kinder of them. I might even let Flea sleep over if he asked real nice. But with a name like Flea aren't you asking for infestations?

 

Band Of Horses - Cease To Begin (SubPop)

From what I've been reading other people like these guys too. Just goes to show you never know. Everyone hates my other picks. Why not this one? It's slow and echo-ey and sounds like another band who mope around and like to turn up the reverb and pretend they're British and live in another decade. If they were a presidential candidate, I'd vote for them.

 

Jose Gonzalez - In Our Nature (Mute)

Jose Gonzalez is one of the few songwriters around right now who writes just small enough to qualify for the "kinda sounds like Nick Drake" tag that they put on every songwriter who plays an acoustic guitar and lost his shoes at the mall. He's not as sad, but he writes pretty songs that surely make people feel sorry for him. It beats walking around with a Unicef can.

 

Black Lips - Los Valientes del Mundo Nuevo (Vice)

There's a rumor that this isn't even a real live album. Who started this rumor I don't know. Probably the band themselves. In any case, it sounds like a block party where people are getting really wasted and enjoying themselves and the fact that a band is playing in the background is purely convenient. It could just be a radio, so pass the tequila.