Down to 60. Tough stuff. Couple of notes:

First, I forgot how damn good this Feist record is. I mean, it's kind of gotten tons of rubbernecking bloggers backlashing the crap out of it. Be aware -- to discount a record because it's available in Starbucks and in an iPod commercial makes no sense. She's got a beautiful voice, writes great songs and has created a great sense of space in her songs. In no way is this record pedestrian.

Second, the Klaxons. For a bunch of young Brit kids riding a mountain of hype, they put together a pretty great little rock record. Yeah, it's got missteps that any underdeveloped young band might have, but "Golden Skans", "Gravity's Rainbow" and "Atlantis to Interzone" still sound good half a year or so later and hit on a fun wordy and jumpy rock sound. (Not on the list anymore.)

Third, Enon's Grass Geysers...Carbon Clouds is pretty excellent. I missed this band the last couple of years. John Schmersal is a fantastic songwriter. They've stripped all the fancy yet inconsequential electronics focusing on their core guitar-bass-drums line up. Suits them very well. Also good to see that even though they're getting older they still pick up steam and jitter like hottwired teens.

Finally, No Age. Yes, really great.

So, I've whittled the who-gives-a-shit best album list down to 76. I'm trying to get into the 20 range, but that's some tough stuff. I've already eliminated Freeway, Sloan, Jesu and Pig Destroyer -- all who had some great records this year worth your attention. Not sure why I'm even concerned about this though as there's already been 20+ that I've seen for '07 and every one of them has Arcade Fire, Radiohead and/or LCD in the top spot. Whatever. Hopefully it might be entertaining or worth something when it pops up in this space.

Also, some news to come about more frequent writing. Stay tuned...