I always begin this list with an apology, since I know lots of people are offended by my glaring omissions. I’m a total indie-mindy (I know, I know) and I love sad, depressing music. Deal with it.  So, I’m just going with the records I listened to the most last year. For example, I Know everyone loves The Killers…but I probably only listened to that record twice.  Same with Franz Ferdinand.  Great records, to be sure, but they didn’t exactly burn up my stereo in the way the following records did…

So, here is my annual list, the geekfest that so many of you have come to know and love.  I labored over this a little longer than usual this year and, as usual, I found it impossible to narrow down my music list down to ten records (getting it down to thirty was tough enough).  Also, before people start sending me hostile emails to remind me of everything I’ve left out, let me just say that these were the things that brought me the most pleasure in the past year.  There may have technically been better records, movies and books than the ones on this list, but these are the ones I played the most, enjoyed the most, and thought about the most.