Definitely an important find for me. Wildly eclectic and original, with incredible songwriting. Joey Eppard is definitely one of my new favorite musicians.

Sam Beam does it again. A bit more upbeat and diverse than his past work, but certainly no less good.

The long-awaited sequel to "The Perfect Element" was certainly no disappoint. Diverse as ever, viciously angry, and wickedly good.

Thrice continue to progress with the first half of a four-part concept. Really can't wait for parts 3 and 4.

And speaking of acoustic solo albums, Tom Morello followed suit and offered up this tasty slab of powerful protest folk. Thank you George W. Bush, for doing such a terrible job. Otherwise we might have never gotten this.

Amazing comeback. Not as political as you might guess, but there's plenty of that. Fantasting songwriting and killer musicianship. No Darcy, though...

I had rather low expections for this album, but it turned out to be pretty damn good. Not perfect by any means, but still a lot of great stuff. (Saw them live last year too, also amazing).

Technically this one didn't come out as an actual CD until '08, but I'd say it still counts. More accessible than "Kid A", but more ambitious than "Hail to the Thief". Really great stuff.

They just get better and better. Truly psychotic.

Maynard's "other" side project finally comes to fruition. Wickedly diverse, and tons of fun.

System of a Down may be gone, but Serj's creative vision is far from over. Possibly the best thing he's done yet.

Great to see some people are still making great rap. Thank you Lupe, for making the genre suck less.

Hurt continue to develop their sound. This dark, moody band has a bright, promising future.

Great soundtrack to one of the best movies of last year. Consists of (mostly) original acoustic folk songs by Eddie Vedder. A bit short, but definitely really beautiful.