Her's my unscientific, off the top of the head list (only 10) that will inevitably be followed by a shriek and forehead slap seconds after sending this e-mail for forgetting something... however, here goes:

1) Sean Lennon - Friendly Fire ( Not too much, not too little, this album is solid pop heaven.)

2) Midlake - The Trials of Van Occupanther (Great pastoral pop, MUCH better than the 1st album.)

3) Lindsey Buckingham - Under The Skin  (Lindsey channels Nick Drake. Works for me...)

4) Jon Auer - Songs From The Year of Our Demise  (One of the best from the Posies camp.)

5) The Raconteurs -Broken Boy Soldiers (Unafraid of interesting timbres unlike some power pop albums.)

6) Taxiride - Electrophobia (I was pressed on to listen to Taxiride by friends for a while now, but they didn't work for me until this album. Brilliant.... I like their songs better stripped down.)

7) Under the Giants  (Great, lightweight pop confections... someone said Bee Gees with distorted guitars.)

8) The Feeling - Twelve Stops and Home (Another sign of the return of "soft rock"? Whatever... I like it.)

9) Roger Joseph Manning Jr. - The Land Of Pure Imagination (Great album... I'm not sure if he's using that pitch correcting software, but there's something a little frustrating to my ears with the vocals... and I'm a huge Jellyfish fan, this would have been #1 but for that.)

10) Linus of Hollywood (Great pop. Someone said Glenn Tillbrook singing Jellyfish songs and that's not a million miles away. I think the songs are good but the production is a little samey from song to song... )


(Honorable mention) Junior Boys - So This Is Goodbye  (Electronica with actual SONGS.)