Coco Rosie - La Maison de mon Reve: Sounds like it was made by two tipsy sisters in a dank Paris walk-up with old-fashioned instruments plus digital fanciness. And so it was. The harmonies sound better the more you hear them, and you begin to be able to tell the difference between the sisters' voices. They sometimes sound like drunken cats mewling, but not in the bad way.

Lambchop - Aw C'Mon/No, You C'Mon: Two complete new albums in one day from Lambchop! Hooray! These aren't my favorite LC efforts, but there are a bunch of great tunes from Kurt Wagner and his band of misfits, so yippee! See the self-described "World's Most Fucked-Up Country Band" when they come to your town.

Tom Waits - Real Gone: This is a pretty ballsy try from Tom, with the human beat-box sounds and even-murkier-than-before production. But having a bunch of new Tom songs to chew on makes it all so good. I liked Alice from last year better (more and more affecting tender stuff, for one thing), but Waits is certainly a master beyond my silly picayune preferences.

Stereolab - Margerine Eclipse: Not a world-changing masterwork like Emperor Tomato Ketchup, but another solid, typical Stereolab effort, which is always good enough for me. There's an added poignancy to this one that is buried, but there. The whole thing is really an oblique tribute to key member Mary Hansen, who died in a bike accident.

And just to annoy Eric, here are a list of runners-up. I refuse to reveal even one sentence about why I like them, except that all of them stayed in my CD player for weeks or months and wouldn't leave:
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists: Shake the Sheets; Willie Nelson: It Always Will Be; Patti Smith: Trampin'; Iron and Wine: Our Endless Numbered Days; Vetiver: Vetiver; TV on the Radio: Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes; Arcade Fire: Funeral; The Fiery Furnaces: Blueberry Boat; Mission of Burma: OnOffOn; Ambulance LTD: LP; Calexico: Convict Pool; Elysian Fields: Dreams that Breathe Your Name; Rufus Wainwright: Want 2; Sonic Youth: Sonic Nurse