On list-writing, or "oh my god I don't care about the car"

It's getting to be that time of year where solicitations for "best-of" lists, from both the past 12 months and the past decade (oh god oh god oh god) are slicing through my email. Books are always easier for me than music, because, generally, I read so much that only the really really good stuff stays with me and the chaff falls away. With music..it depends. A breakup, a breakdown, a break-through-anything can cause me to get stuck on repeat like Little Boots (but never stuck on repeat with Little Boots, god no), listening to stuff, like, oh, Tegan And Sara incessantly until my heart breaks (again). As such, sometimes music ends up bumrushing the show and I am left, with minutes remaining in a calendar year, rescribbling my "favorites" lists as things suddenly stake out reality in my conscious.

(Truth be told, if you held my ass to the fire now, right now, right this very minute, my 2009 best list would be three records, and yes one of them would be the Lady GaGa reissue. Shut up.)

Last year, that last-minute dark horse was Now, Now Every Children's incredible Cars: an album that was front-loaded with the emotional baggage of Mineral but with the multi-layered brilliance of old Arcade Fire. The fact it became such a part of my life, fusing with the dissolution of a relationship and a hard, lonely winter is fresh in my mind as I try to put this year's list together-Handsome Furs, for instance, were a major-league part of my Jan and Feb, but now it's the hidden melancholy behind the eyes of The Bloodsugars that wants a run for the list. I dunno, man...

Here's Now, Now Every Children performing "Cars" at their album release party last year. Fall in love now if you didn't then.