Canon fodder

Best Bleak Soundtrack to the Economic Collapse
Portishead
Third (Mercury)

Bristol’s trip-hop pioneer delivered its Third album after an 11-year wait, and nobody got a single can of Dr Pepper. Which is fine, because this black, beautiful record pairs better with a bottle of Pernod and a physician’s prescription. Beth Gibbons’s haunting voice hangs like cobwebs over austere Teutonic loops and offers some hope of “white horses taking her away.” Though the spirit was charred and chilling, the trio fascinated and enchanted with its creaky, Wiccan steampunk and mined splendor from our darkest moods.

Best Giddy Escape from the Economic Collapse
Hercules and Love Affair
Hercules and Love Affair (Mute)

We live in a city that infamously detonated crates of dance LPs in Comiskey’s center field, yet Hercules confirmed a long-held minority opinion: Disco is totally awesome. A former DJ in Denver leather bars, mastermind Andy Butler pooled every sound, glitter bit and powder grain from the last three decades of Manhattan nightlife. Warm horns and the operatic alto of Antony Hegarty elevated hedonism into high art.

Best First Installments of Multipart Dystopian Sci-Fi R&B Epics
Erykah Badu
New Amerykah Part One (4th World War) (Universal Motown)
Janelle Monáe
Metropolis: The Chase Suite (Bad Boy)

Like Portishead, soul vanguard Badu finds little to praise in the state of the world. Built on a Mac laptop, New Amerykah drifts in a hookless marijuana haze and is populated with crack babies, dirty cops, prescription pills, the broken-hearted and Farrakhan. Yet Badu’s honeyed croon continually offers hope. Beat-makers Madlib and 9th Wonder sample Japanese go-go albums and black-power grooves, reviving an era when Parliament ruled with alien fantasy funk. Atlantan newcomer Monáe dove deeper into science fiction. The blossoming she-Prince weaves a goofy narrative of cyborgs that shows off her stylistic range—she covers every base from Björk to OutKast to Alicia Keys.

Most Awesome Rock & Roll Fury, Heavyweight Division
Fucked Up
The Chemistry of Common Life (Matador)

Obese, half-naked frontman Pink Eye gargles the microphone in true hardcore tradition, but this sprawling Canadian band gave punk rock its Sistine Chapel. Gentler elements like flutes, keyboards and bongos sprout from the gale-force din, as these leftists demonstrate a knack for penning sheer hair-raising triumph. Listening to it offers the timid the closest thing to storm chasing.

Best Imaginary Bond Themes that Were Far Better than the Real One
The Last Shadow Puppets
The Age of the Understatement (Domino)

Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner donned a turtleneck and peacoat, skipped off to France and indulged his Merseybeat dreams with like-minded Britpop buddy Miles Kane. Strings, brass, twangy surf guitar, galloping Merseybeat rhythms and thick harmonies stuffed the romantic, nostalgic tunes. In an impulsive side project, the two shook up a cocktail of symphonic spy epics with better melodies, better production and better style than their day jobs.

Best Reasons to Drop $600 on Headphones
Department of Eagles
In Ear Park (4AD)
Lykke Li
Youth Novels (Atlantic)

As pop music becomes more and more robotic—quite literally with Beyoncé’s android glove and T-Pain crooning like R2-D2—we took solace in these two lush, organic records. Both invited listeners to take the plunge into their airy worlds. The perfectly titled In Ear Park shimmered in a golden glow, lulling us with layered, laid-back dream-folk, while Swede Li spun a unique mix of spacious sylvan elf-pop and urban electronica.

Best Flashbacks to the Nixon Administration
Al Green
Lay It Down (Blue Note)
Raphael Saadiq
The Way I See It (Columbia)

Who predicted this? Few thought Green still had it in him, and fewer knew Saadiq ever had it in him, but both men revived old-school soul on immaculate albums. The Reverend teamed with Roots guru ?uestlove, whose ice-cool drumming evoked the cocky trot of Green’s Hi Records heyday on Let’s Stay Together. Former Tony! Toni! Toné! leader Saadiq seemingly discovered a time machine, eschewing his typical neosoul and new jack swing for gems that could inconspicuously slot onto a 1969 Motown compilation.

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