vain, selfish & lazy's sort-of half-year round-up.

tracks. (links lead to write-ups, where applicable.)
10 sunshine underground - "commercial breakdown"
9 heavy blinkers - "try telling that to my baby"
8 josé gonzález - "hand on your heart"
7 delays - "valentine"
6 the lodger - "let her go"
5 t.i. - "what you know"
4 mission of burma - "2wice"
3 camera obscura - "lloyd, i'm ready to be heartbroken"
2 guillemots - "made-up love song #43"
1 nelly furtado - "maneater"

bonus : farina - "island of hotels" (click to download; click here to buy.).
my favorite track of the year i've not seen anyone else talk about. what i said then:

the first thing you notice about fariña is that they earn that tilde over the "n." from a distance, you'd think you were flying over the balearic islands, what w/ the trumpets and tropical sway. it's only when you land that you realize it's actually the isle of man. fariña, then, are a bit like an english calexico w/ a helpful dollop of go-betweens. indeed, "island of hotels" sounds quite like "bye bye pride" had it been recorded in la brisa de la palma. "don't need a crystal ball / to see the future at all," the chorus goes, "don't need to know who to call / to know where to find me," and where the go-betweens used three-part harmony, fariña increase that number exponentially. it's incredibly bright and buoyant, reminiscent of the balmy effects of the guillemots. the trumpets, meanwhile, do suggest calexico, but they also call belle & sebastian to mind--which in turns brings one to love, both band and feeling. the world is at your feet and la brisa is at your back, and it's an unseasonably warm one for england.

now i say, i feel like the pied piper of the brokenhearted when i whistle this one loud.

albums. (click to purchase.)
10 heavy blinkers - the night & i are still so young
9 futureheads - news & tributes
8 ghostface killah - fishscale
7 art brut - bang bang rock & roll
6 scott walker - the drift
5 my latest novel - wolves
4 belle & sebastian - the life pursuit
3 herbert - scale
2 guillemots - through the window pane
1 broken family band - balls