It’s the time of the year for lists. All of the good music sites have been rolling out best new music lists, but my list is best new to me music. As Zoolander would say, “which is more meaningful, I think.”

I’ve been working on this list in my head for a few weeks now, and I think there are two funny things about it: 1) there are a lot of pre-2009 records on here, and 2) several of them are so well-known that it’s beyond me why I’ve just now discovered them.

Anyway, here’s the list, in no particular order. By the way, this is a list of best albums, not best music. I’m a huge fan of the album. I know some people think it’s on its way out, but I don’t, or at least I very much hope they’re wrong. Here goes:

Angus and Julia Stone – A Book Like This
Apples in Stereo – Fun Trick Noisemaker
Electrelane – No Shouts, No Calls
The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots and Soft Bulletin
Girl Talk – Feed the Animals (Parental Advisory!)
Matt & Kim – Matt & Kim
The National – Boxer (Parental Advisory!)
The Notwist – Neon Golden
The Rural Alberta Advantage – Hometowns
Sister Suvi – Now I am Champion
Thao with the Get Down Stay Down – We Brave Bee Stings and All (better than her new album, IMHO)
Yo La Tengo – Popular Songs

The two most disappointing new releases of the year were Throw Me the Statue’s Creaturesque and Fanfarlo’s Reservoir, although for different reasons – the TMtS album was horrible, and the Fanfarlo album was just weak when I expected it to be amazing.

So there you go.

Today is another study day. I’ve got the audit/attestation (= the hardest) section of the CPA exam before me tomorrow. I have absolutely no hope of passing it on my first try; I am not an audit person, I am a tax person. One nice thing about doing taxes is that you’re always on to something else. With audit, you work on one client for weeks. No thanks.

But today I’ve got to make my last ditch attempt to learn/review enough information not to embarrass myself too much tomorrow. And here is my question: how much do you have to study before taking a study break? I’ve got a ton of study breaks built into my day today, from laundry to Waffle House to cleaning the kitchen. I could even mow the lawn. Do I actually have to study in between these breaks?

My music for today, the painful and boring study day: Islands, Sin Fang Bous, and my current favorite, Fanfarlo. Of course you can always see what I’m actually listening to by looking at the last.fm badge in the left sidebar.

Ok, gotta run. I think I heard the dryer buzz.

I’ve decided to rename my “currently reading” and “currently listening to” posts as “If anyone cares.” I guess it acknowledges the “me me me” of it. So here we go:

Currently listening to:

Currently reading: