albums of the year

As we approach the midway point of what has been an overwhelming year for new music, here's the ever-evolving list of our favorite records of (roughly) the first half of 2016. Favorite songs of the year (SO FAR) coming later this week:

Our SiriusXM show airs today and every Thursday at noon EST + again at midnight, on channel 35 SiriusXMU. Today's special Albums of the Year edition features selections from our favorite releases of 2015, including tracks from Grimes, Panda Bear, Jamie xx, Erykah Badu, Beach House, Vince Staples, and more. Listen here + check the full playlist below:

We feel pretty confident proclaiming 2015 the best year for new music this decade, and we'd even go so far as to say it's been arguably our favorite year in the history of this site. So many stars seemed to serendipitously align this year — our 10th as a blog — for sounds that veered right into our own personal, sometimes insular little lane: the triumphant return of Grimes; the improbable meteori

Here are our favorite records of 2014. The general consensus seems to be that this was probably not the most amazing year of all-time for new music, and further, we just weren't feeling that many of the unanimously lauded critic/indie blog favorites this time around (many of which we wanted to love, but it just didn't work out, with a few notable and very obvious exceptions). But as always, if you

We're counting down our top 25 favorite albums of 2012 today on Sirius XMU blog radio. You can listen with a free trial here, keep up with the full top 50 of 2012 here, and check today's playlist after the jump...

So many records this year. We had to stop somewhere though, so check our top 50 of 2012 -- complete with an unbreakable (we tried) tie at the top -- after the jump, listen along with this massive Spotify playlist, and then, as always, we can talk about what you think we missed.

Here are our favorite records + songs from the first half of 2011. If you're into reading, we've written about most of these here and in some other places. We've also enjoyed checking out all of your picks, as always. Please let us know what we missed: __________ 01 Shabazz Palaces :: Black Up mp3: __________ 02 Peaking Lights :: 936 mp3: __________ 03 Panda Bear :: Tomboy mp3: __________ 04 Wh