 | The Shepherd's Dog by Iron & Wine
Buy new: $13.99 / Used from: $8.99 On the Woman King EP, Sam Beam expanded upon his trademark gentle picking/hushed vocals formula with fuller instrumentation and slicker production to create his most powerful folk sound yet. Here, he embraces a diverse array of influences (Indian and African music, Soul, Blues) and combines it with the best of his previous efforts to craft what's easily his finest full-length so far.
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 | The Broken String by Bishop Allen
Buy new: $14.98 / Used from: $8.98 You'd expect a bunch of twee Brooklyn hipsters who like to appear in no-budget "mumblecore" movies and deal in concepts like releasing an EP for every month of 2006 to veer more towards the pretentious end of the indie-rock spectrum. Well check your worthless opinion at the door, you ballbag. This is a catchy, melodic, funny and straight up great pop record.
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 | Five Roses by Miracle Fortress
Buy new: $13.98 / Used from: $3.23 A very close contender for second place, I can't say enough good things about this, a gloriously upbeat meeting of Beach Boys-style harmonies and Broken Social Scene's hazy, layered post-rock. Criminally under-represented in the Best of 2007 lists.
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 | Cease to Begin by Band of Horses
Buy new: $13.99 / Used from: $8.80 The shift to a more warm, Southern sound (even though the album was recorded before they headed down to South Carolina from Portland) is definitely a positive step. The possible contenders for Nicest Band in Rock have topped their excellent debut, only one year removed. 'Difficult second albums' are for losers.
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 | The Flying Club Cup by Beirut
Buy new: $12.99 / Used from: $10.73 Another case of a band shifting their influences geographically and yeilding results, as Zach Condon adds some gallic flavour to his Balkans-folk formula on his second album. There's no one track to rival 'Postcards from Italy' or 'Elephant Gun' here, but as a whole it's Beirut's best record thus far.
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 | In Rainbows by Radiohead
Buy new: $11.99 / Used from: $7.94 I'm not the first and I won't be the last. This is their best album since OK Computer. I paid £4, by the way.
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 | Armchair Apocrypha by Andrew Bird
Buy new: $11.99 / Used from: $7.64 Andrew Bird is a very strange and a very talented man.
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 | Wincing the Night Away by The Shins
Buy new: $13.99 / Used from: $4.99 A little weak in the second half, maybe, but the opening triumvirate of Sleeping Lessons, Australia and Phantom Limb (Pam Berry doesn't count - it's not a song, just some bird's name) is The Shins at their absolute best.
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 | Neon Bible by Arcade Fire
Buy new: $13.99 / Used from: $7.76 It got complicated between me and Arcade Fire in 2007. I still love them and all, but we move in different circles these days and I can't help feel we're growing apart. Win Butler, for instance, would never use a lame relationship analogy to review an album. He'd be too busy with what is now an arena-rock juggernaut, and while I still admire their brilliance, this lacks the urgency of Funeral.
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 | War Elephant by Deer Tick
Grabs you right by the earholes from the opener, which sounds like Axl Rose fronting Simon & Garfunkel - one of those ultra-short songs that stops you in your tracks and leaves you annoyed that there isn't more of it. Thankfully, the other 13 tracks deliver as well. The most underrated album of 2007.
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 | Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga by Spoon
Buy new: $13.99 / Used from: $6.92 Not as great as Gimme Fiction, but that's hardly a damning criticism. Like Iron & Wine, Spoon score serious points for branching out musically and BRINGING THE SOUL. Also wins best album cover/title of the year.
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 | Carnavas by Silversun Pickups
Buy new: $13.99 / Used from: $8.95 Taps into the part of my brain nostalgic for early-90s alt-rock. There's definitely a Smashing Pumpkins influence, perhaps some Breeders, and - oddly - some of the less embarrassing moments of the nu-metal era. Wait, come back!-
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 | Casket Letters by Monkey Swallows the Universe
Buy new: $19.99 / Used from: $16.10 They'll always be the band whose first ever experience of being recognised in public by a fan was instantly and forever tarnished by my being unable to resist asking the burning and highly pertinent question of "who's dicking who?"
Sorry. Your album is lovely.
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 | Thirteen Cities by Richmond Fontaine
Buy new: $13.98 / Used from: $8.49 Man of the Year for 2007 was clearly Willy Vlautin. Of that we can agree. Buy his novel, it's fantastic. Buy this album, it's probably his best. Go see his band live, they're always great. Do it for Willy. He deserves it.
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 | Some Loud Thunder by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Buy new: $13.98 / Used from: $0.24 Yet another band who've managed to quickly follow up a successful debut with a great second album that doesn't merely try to replicate the formula. They've evolved into a killer live act as well, by the way.
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 | The Stage Names by Okkervil River
Buy new: $13.99 / Used from: $5.44 Speaking of incredible live acts... There's a couple of low points on this album - I'm not a massive fan of the bleaker ballads in Will Sheff's ouevre - but there's some awesome stuff on here. 'Unless It's Kicks' is hands-down my song of the year.
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 | Cotton Teeth by The Snake the Cross the Crown
Buy used from: $2.49 The former punks, turned practitioners of bar-room Americana (think a cooler, drunker, more Southern and hella less Christian Cold War Kids) apparently "wanna live on a stage, wanna play the guitar, and wanna get paid". No kidding.
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 | Boxer by The National
Buy new: $8.99 / Used from: $6.79 It took a while to grow on me, and not long to get bored of, but for a few weeks in 2007 this was all I listened to.
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 | Saltbreakers by Laura Veirs
Buy new: $13.99 / Used from: $4.50 More excellent nerd-rock from The World's Coolest Geologist. It feels a bit more lightweight than Carbon Glacier, but also more fun.
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 | Fancy Footwork by Chromeo
Buy new: $11.99 / Used from: $5.83 They're back again - do tell a friend, would you? Tremendous nonsense, highlighted by Momma's Boy, an unlikely winner that combines Supertramp with Sigmund Freud. Admit it, you wish you were Chromeo.
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Listmania!
