9. Wild Flag, Wild Flag

Insert standard boilerplate comment about riot grrrls, the place of women in rock music, and something about Portlandia here — Ed. Whoops. Anyway, ignore all the hype and listen to Wild Flag to hear a band taking the best of rock music from the past thirty years, throwing it into a blender, and coming up with something fresh without feeling forced, gender and band-lineage pedigree aside. My personal favorite moments are Carrie Brownstein’s Ric Ocasek impression on “Boom,” and the rollicking keyboard-driven “Future Crimes.” — A.H.

Listen: “Future Crimes”

8. James Blake, James Blake 

Like a breakup text or a Hemingway short story, the impact of James Blake's self-titled debut album lies in what isn’t said. A minimalist yet richly textured meditation on how it feels to truly be alone (and cute, and British), James Blake wrings as much meaning from its silences as it does from the singer's ethereal vocals. "My brother and my sister don't speak to me/But I don't blame them, no, I don't blame them," Blake intones over and over again on the haunting "I Never Learnt to Share," his voice quaking over a dizzying crescendo of loops and high-pitched synth tones, followed by a spine-tingling organ. The stark poignancy of the lyric, coupled with the exquisite sadness of Blake's voice, is enough to make you want to give him a big hug — or slap him for being so talented and successful at the tender age of twenty-three. — EJ Dickson

Listen: “I Never Learnt to Share”

7. Frank Ocean, Nostalgia, Ultra

Frank Ocean's debut album Nostalgia, Ultra is a resounding "fuck you" to Island Def Jam (and the music industry in general) for putting him on the cooler for the past year. Sweet but not saccharine, emotional but not melodramatic, unflinchingly genuine, and released for free on his Tumblr, this album feels like a direct line to a real person — a quality not often found in R&B or modern music in general. The literal take on “mixtape”  — sounds of rewinding old cassette tapes are included via several interludes — accentuates this effect deftly. “Novacane” is a surreal love song with infectious pop appeal, and “Songs for Women” demonstrates a refreshing forthrightness about the reasons one might become an R&B singer. — Garrett Carey

Listen: "Novacane"

6. St. Vincent, Strange Mercy 

Maybe it's the fact that this album has been on loop for months in the Nerve office, or maybe this is exactly the step we all expected Annie Clark to take after her smash-hit sophomore album Actor. While still keeping to her pocket-sized allegories about her life, she finally gets to open up her musical palette by going more analog, reflected in new hits like "Surgeon" and "Chloe in the Afternoon." All the same, the album cements our trust in Clark's reliability from now on. She's still the lovable, witty beauty with a tiny red electric guitar, and thank God for that. — Jett Wells

Listen: “Chloe in the Afternoon”