Kenna - Make Sure They See My Face: The genre that best describes Kenna is pop but at the same time, it doesn't even begin to describe him. On his excellent sophomore release, Make Sure They See My Face, he goes from power pop to rock/pop to electropop to dance pop without missing a beat. It's the type of music that U2 or Duran Duran could make but it also feels unique and modern due to the stellar production (mostly by Chad Hugo and Kenna himself). There really isn't much pop music like this album out now and every time I listen to it, I wonder why it (and Kenna himself) keeps getting overlooked.

Radiohead - In Rainbows: So much has been said about Radiohead's "pay-what-you-want" experiment that we've almost forgotten just how good In Rainbows is. There are a lot of albums where low bitrate MP3s are more than sufficient. This is not one of them. However, it is good enough that its excellence shined through even the least ideal means of hearing it. Also, it was refreshing to hear a band that seemed to come to terms with itself. They will never make another The Bends or OK Computer or Kid A. By just trying to make good music as opposed to topping what they did before, they succeeded in making an album that deserves to stand alongside their very best.

Common - Finding Forever: Common enjoyed a creative, commercial, and critical resurgence with the Kanye West-guided Be. Part of me was worried that Finding Forever would just be a retread of that wonderful album. I should've known that Common and Kanye were too good for that. With a wider variety of songs and a bit more non-Kanye production, this album stands apart from his other albums. In a genre that's perpetually youth-oriented, this album feels mature. This is a hip-hop album that your parents could enjoy and I mean that as a compliment.

Kanye West - Graduation: Common's Be and Kanye West's Late Registration came out in the same year and I couldn't really pick one over the other. Finding Forever and Kanye's Graduation both came out in 2007 but this time, I have to give Kanye the edge. Although this album isn't actually the best of his career, it is an album where Kanye is at the top of his game. Graduation addresses and "corrects" his perceived shortcomings from previous albums with a surprising precision. He expands well beyond soul samples, streamlines the proceedings by cutting skits, and keeps the track list to a minimum. He takes chances and continues to open up his sound to other producers. He showed real growth on this album as an artist and producer and I enjoyed every minute of it.