Since everyone is doing it, I am going to post my favorites in music of the year. I am not a music critic, so it was hard for me to pinpoint exactly the musical quality of each album, all I know is what caught my ear. I have ranked the albums in the order of how much I listened to each one(20 being the least, 1 being the most). So, check these out! I liked them.

#. Artist - Album: Description

20. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend: I did not get a chance to listen to these guys very much, given the fact that their album came out fairly late in the year. That is a pity because they have some seriously well-made tunes on here, not to mention catchy ones. The lyrics are weird and wonderful, and the instruments are a kooky mash-up of electronic and traditional instruments.

19. Stabilizer - A Fuse Slowly Burning: Stabilizer is a group of musicians who have never met each other in person. They met electronically on a music forum on SomethingAwful.com and decided to experiment by recording different tracks, emailing them to other members of the band and record over them. The result is an electronic album that is absolutely stellar in every respect. The best part is that it is totally free. You can find links to torrent files for both this and their first album.

18. Hellogoodbye - Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs!: By all accounts I should hate this album- it is filled to the brim with emo lyrics, and electronic pop sounds. This album redeems itself with me because, even though the lyrics are emotional and/or sickeningly lovey-dovey, the music is fast-paced and upbeat, sometimes hard-hitting, other times more slowed down and pretty.

17. Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala: This guy is a recent discovery for me, and I have already listened to this album many times over. His lyrics are funny while still managing to be relevant and sometimes even topical. The sound is unique, often employing strange and unconventional instruments to produce a very fun effect. The result is a serious album that never takes itself too seriously.

16. Dinosaur Jr.- Beyond: The guitar! Oh the guitar... J Mascis wails on that thing in every song. Every normal riff in the songs seem to have severe ADHD, as if the guitar can't wait to break out of the rhythm and start shredding. The bass guitar and drums are also amazing, and the vocals... well they are competent, making for a fairly lopsided, but all around fun package.

15. LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver: Technically, this is one of the best albums of the year- possibly THE best, though there was quite a bit of good stuff out. The reason it is so low on my list is because I just started listening to it like a week ago. In my short time with this album I have found an stellar mash-up of punk, electronic and dance music. "All My Friends" is such a great, well-rounded song that it could sell the album itself. Thankfully, we are also treated to songs like "Get Innocuous" and "North American Scum". If you haven't checked out this album yet, get it, plug in and don't stop listening until it is over.

14. The Fratellis - Costello Music: This album does not take many chances, or do anything too interesting, but it is well-produced, and every single song is catchy and hummable. "Chelsea Dagger" grabs from the start and refuses to let go, and "Flathead" is a silly little punk romp that will just make you happy.

13. Dan Deacon - Spiderman Of The Rings: Listen to the first track of the album, "Woody Woodpecker". If you hate it, stop listening. If you love it, keep listening. If you are freaked out, go smoke some grass and listen again. This album has some of the best samples and electronic sound I have ever heard, and if you like this type of music, than you will love this album. Oh, no matter what you think of the first song, listen to "Wham City". Oh man, that song is good.

12. Burial - Untrue: I couldn't quite figure this album out. I liked it, but I didn't know why. It is minimal, electronica that swells and lifts then drops back into a subdued state, all the while keeping a steady beat. I mean this literally as the entire album keeps on basic rhythm and there is no real melody. Still, I was mesmerized by this album. It might just be the greatest sum-of-its-parts album that I've heard all year. Download the whole thing, put on some good headphones and just stare into space while you listen.

11. Wilco - I know that Wilco has been around for a while, but I had never heard Jeff Tweedy before this year. Apparently this is one of his best albums in years, and I can see why. The songs are ultimately chill, but not slow or boring; on the contrary, these are some great riffs and hooks. Tweedy's shaky yet sweet vocals bring the whole thing together. I can see why Wilco is considered one of the most unique bands the indie scene has to offer. Good songs: "Impossible Germany", "Either Way".

10. Panda Bear - Person Pitch: Panda Bear's solo effort was better than his band's own Strawberry Jam, thanks to his willingness to experiment and be weird. The result is a strange melodical journey with only one goal in mind, stated in the first song "Comfy In Nautica": "Try to remember always/Always to have a good time"

9. Menomena - Friend And Foe: From beginning to end this album is just a joy to listen to. The musical arrangement is impeccable, and the songs range from strangely uplifting to happily melancholic and everywhere in between. This is what Modest Mouse would be like if they could decide on a definite sound.

8. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga: One of the best albums of the year, to be sure. Spoon's songs all sound different and yet consistent with the overall themes of the album. Their sound is very tight but leaves room for experimentation, and more often than not, they throw the listener for a loop- in a good way. Britt Daniels is one hell of a versatile singer.

7. Rilo Kiley - Under The Blacklight: I hear from some Rilo Kiley diehards that this is one of their worst albums. If that is so, than I am afraid to listen to the other ones, since I might just explode from musical pleasure. Jenny Lewis has a beautiful voice and utilizes it to great effect on Blacklight. The rest of the sound is a mix of indie, country and even world music. The lyrics, while not Dylan-standard stuff, are eloquent and personal. Even if it is not Rilo Kiley's best album, it is definetly their most grown-up.

6. Bright Eyes - Cassadaga: I want to get something out of the way before I begin: Connor Oberst is NOT Bob Dylan, so stop the comparisons, please. That said, Oberst is definetly one of the best lyricists out there, with songs ranging from topical to personal to philosophical. The instruments are country-oriented for the most part, with acoustic guitars, mandolins and fiddles played to great effect. In a few songs, there is some orchestral sound as well, although this is pulled off better on some tracks than others. Must-hear song: "Four Winds". Seriously, if you haven't heard it, you have no excuse! Go now!

5. A Band Of Bees - Octopus: Known in the UK as The Bees, this is the band that truly brought "flower power" back. Their songs are jaunty tunes, lighthearted and fun to listen and dance to, sometimes with minimal instruments, sometimes with a full ensemble, and a singer whose voice rambles and raves like a happy town drunk, and just as quickly becomes pretty and steady. Octopus is there most consistent album, and screams quality from beginning to end. My personal favorite song is the bluesy, laid-back "Got To Let Go". Other stand-outs include "Who Knows What The Question Is", "Love In The Harbour" and "End Of The Street". All of the songs are good, though.

4. The Shins - Wincing The Night Away: This album is insanely fun to listen to, its lyrics smack of seriousness, but at the same time manage to be lighthearted and silly. The band's sound is different from their last album Oh, Inverted World, in that the songs tend to have more steady beats and riffs. Fear not, though, as they are not so tight that they have no room to maneuver. Each song is a great joy to listen to and interpret. This album always cheers me up a little bit, sometimes even causing spontaneous skipping.

3. The Go! Team - Proof Of Youth: At first this album was confusing to me, so much was going on in every song, and the female lead, a rapper who calls herself Ninja, is often lost among the keyboards, synthesizers, electric guitars and bass. After a while, I stopped trying to decipher the music and just listened to it as a whole work and I found that I enjoyed it a lot more- to the point where I listened to it while I played video games, read books, slept and even studied. If this hadn't come out so close to The Shepherd's Dog, I might have even listened to it the most. They are not the most technically accomplished band, but are nonetheless very talented individuals, and they know how to catch an ear.

2. Iron And Wine - The Shepherd's Dog: How much can one man (and sometimes his sister) accomplish in 12 songs? Everything about this album is virtually perfect- the lyrics, the musical composition, even Sam Beam's low, airy voice fits the tone perfectly. One of my favorite artists and music critics, Jeph Jaques once wrote that Iron And Wine writes "the most happy sons about death I have ever heard." Just listen tot his album, you will see what I mean. My favorite songs on the album are "Pagan Angel And A Borrowed Car" and "Carousel", and the single, "Boy With A Coin" is a stand-out as well.

1. Battles - Mirrored: Battles touts themselves as a "math rock band". After listening to this album, I can see what they mean. The album is a meticulously arranged mixture of traditional rock instruments and electronic sounds and synthesizers, and the singer, Tyondai Braxton even sings through a weird computerized sound filter, giving each song a surrealistic, otherworldly feel. That doesn't mean their sound isn't tight- they aren't "math-rock" for nothing. Their sound is both experimental and tight, and no two songs sound exactly the same. Overall this is the most accomplished album of 2007, in my humble opinion- Though it was a toss-up between Mirrored and The Shepherd's Dog. Best songs: "Tonto", "Atlas" and "Leyendecker", although every song is great fun.

Honorable Mentions - I had a lot of fun listening to these as well:

Stars - In Our Bedroom After The War (Indie)
Frog Eyes - Tears Of The Valedictorian (Indie)
Deerhoof - Friend Oppurtunity (Indie/Noise)
Explosions In The Sky - All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone (Post Metal)
Boris With Michio Kurihara - Rainbow (Psychedelic Rock)
Radiohead - In Rainbows (Alternative/Art Rock)
Ryan Adams - Easy Tiger (Indie)
Digitalism - Idealism (Electronic)
Caribou - Andorra (Electronic)
Clinic - Visitations (Indie)
Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam (Experimental/Indie/Freak Folk/Jesus, Just Listen To Them)
Devendra Banhart - Smoky Rolls Down Thunder Canyon (Indie/Folk/Psychedelic)
Annuals - Be He Me (Indie)
The Polyphonic Spree- The Fragile Army (Indie)
Daft Punk - Alive [Live in Paris] (Techno/Electronic)
Kevin Drew - Spirit If... (Indie)
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - Ask Forgiveness
The Black Lips - Good Bad Not Evil (Flower Punk (Apparently))
Dr. Dog - We All Belong (Psychedelic)
Band Of Horses - Cease To Begin (Indie)
Dropkick Murphys - The Meanest Of Times (Punk)
Deathspell Omega - Fas -- Ite, Maledicti, in Ignem Aeternum (Avant-Garde Black Metal/Only Metalheads Need Apply)
Matthew Dear - Asa Breed (Electronic)
Les Savy Fav Let's Stay Friends (Indie/Punk Revival)
Liars - Liars (Dance/Punk/Art/Noise/Indie/They Like To Change Their Sound A Lot)
Against Me! - New Wave (Punk/Alternative/Angry)
Sea Wolf - Leaves In The River (Indie)
Silverchair - Young Modern (Alternative)
Armor For Sleep - Smile For Them (Alternative)
Coheed And Cambria - No World For Tomorrow (Progressive Rock)
Hot Hot Heat - Happiness Ltd. (Indie)
Motion City Soundtrack - Even If It Kills Me (Pop Punk)
Foo Fighters - Echoes, Silence, Patience And Grace (Alternative)
The Fucking Champs - VI (Metal/Indie)

Guilty Pleasures - I admit it, I did enjoy My Chemical Romance's The Black Parade and Paramore's Riot!. MCR really grew up on Black Parade, and each song sounded unique and different. Paramore's Hayley Williams, aside from being stunningly gorgeous, has a great voice, and the band's songs are catchy, even if their sound is a little too rigid for me. Also, The Go! Team is a pretty poppish-sounding band as well.

My favorite songs list may take me a little longer to compile, so stay tuned, or don't, whatever.

[This is apparently how the Light Side team is assembled. It's very reminiscent of the way the Dark team gets together. Due to the way this section is put together, I may have to look at the scripts I wrote for the impending days, as some of the dialogue may turn out to be redundant. We shall see.]

[Note on the narration: I'm not sure any narration is necessarily even required- artists or writers, if you have thoughts on this, please comment to me!]
Page

Panel 1:[Autumn walks in humming to herself. Maybe throw in some song lyrics down by her mouth, or little notes or something.]
Narration: [Autumn] I don't usually take jobs other than music gigs. You know- like singing in the town square, or playing the lute in a tavern. Stuff like that. But today, I'm tight for money.

Panel 2: [See Autumn from the back,Liz sitting patiently in a chair and Vella leaning up against the wall. Liz looks at Autumn helpfully, Vella just stares silently at nothing.]
Narration: So, I decided to take a mercenary job, just this once. After all, my unique talents extend beyond just being able to hold a tune pretty well.

Panel 3: [The next few lines of dialogue may be done in more than one panel, but I'll leave that up to the artists. Basically, Autumn and Liz talk about why they are there, so it boils down to a bunch of talking heads.]
Liz: Hi, you must be Autumn.
Autumn: Yeah. Are you Liz or Vella?
Liz: I'm Liz, illusionist extraordinaire. Well, ah, apprentice illusionist, but I know a few tricks.

Panel 3: [Liz in foreground, gestures to Vella in the background. Or whatever, I'm not the artiste here.]
Liz: Miss Amazon over here is a bodyguard of sorts. She won't tell me her name, but I can deduce as much from the bountiful weapons adorning her steel armor.

Panel 4: [Close-up on Vella looking exasperated. Or something, I don't have my thesaurus on me.]
Vella: It's Vella.

Panel 5: [Michelle walks into the room from her office]
Michelle: Welcome. Please step into my office for your briefing.


Page

Panel 1: [Michelle leads them out into a grand room overlooking the ocean. The house they are in is built on a cliff, so no beach is visible from where the characters are standing. The room features many tall windows, creating the illusion that the room actually opens to the outside. Michelle herself looks like a rich privateer- serious, with her hair swept up under a captain's hat(not a pirate hat, there is TOTALLY a difference), a velvet jacket with coattails, trousers and buckled shoes. OOOOooo! And give her a monocle. INSTANT COOL.]

Panel 2: [Michelle seats herself behind a grand-looking desk. Maybe adda butler standing somewhere. Yeah, that's good.]
Michelle: Ladies, I'll get right to the point...

Panel 3: [The three adventurers sit in high-backed chairs looking overwhelmed by the bourgeois surroundings.]
Michelle: I'm prepared to offer you each a substantial sum of $10,000 in the currency of any realm you request, if you undertake a little protection mission for me.

Panel 4: [ Uuuhh.. this is another one of those "wing it" dialogues. Do whatever you want with the panels here, if you're not satusfied with what I have, or ask me to make the necessary changes.]
Vella: Who are we protecting?
Michelle: Ah, it's actually a what. A colleague of mine recently uncovered an artifact of substantial historical importance.

Panel 5:
Michelle: The unveiling is in three days time in the Grant City Museum of Archaeology. I require you three to accompany the dig team and the artifact into Grant City, as well as stand guard over the artifact when it arrives at its destination.

Panel 6:
Liz: Do you anticipate much interference, Captain? I can't see why a simple relic would warrant magical protection such as my own.

Page

Panel 1
[Close up of Michelle looking contemplative.]
Michelle: Truthfully, I don't anticipate any attacks en route, however...

Panel 2
[Show various shadowy figures lurking around, maybe show smaller versions of Michelle and the Light party superimposed over or under them, talking about them.]
Michelle: There are organizations who would attempt to procure the artifact and then try to reactivate and exploit its ancient power to further their own malevolent goals.
Liz: ...that was a mouthful.

Panel 3
[Autumn and Liz]
Autumn: Ah... well,I don't think there was much chance we were going to say 'no' anyway.
Liz: Right, right, how do we get there?

Panel 4
[Michelle hands the party a map and a compass.]
Michelle: Just follow the route plotted out on this map.

Panel 5
[Vella, Autmn and Liz salute, Michelle in the forground waving her hand in a dismissive gesture.]
All: Aye-aye, sir!
Michelle: Good luck, ladies.

Page 1

Panel 1: [Autumn and Liz are dozing off/sleeping against the wall in the background, Vella stands in the foreground, weapon at the ready.]

Panel 2: [Close up or body shot of Lizlooking really bored, leaning against the wall.]
Narration: [Liz] My (mostly stalwart) crew and I were hired by the museum curator to guard this artifact.

Panel 3: [Close up of a pedestal with a black veil over it.]
Narration: [Liz] Of course, they didn't tell us what it was, I guess that's supposed to be a surprise...
Narration: [New Text Box] ... just that it was imperative that it did not fall into "The Wrong Hands".

Panel 4: [Vella's face from the side, alert to a strange commotion in the background.]
SFX: Clatter, Clang, some ominous noise.

Panel 5: [Vella, weapon brandished]
Vella: Wake up Bard.
Autumn: Uh, wha? (Yer basic "Rude Awakening" dialogue)
Liz: What is it? (This line is optional, if it make sthe panel too busy}

Panel 6: [Heroes advancing, or standing at the ready, Autumn and Liz still look a little sleepy.]
Narration: [Liz] God, I love cliche's.


Page 2

Panel 1: [Vella standing by the wall, the background is the darkened museum]

Panel 2: [Upward angle to the ceiling, centered on a grate in the center. May or may not draw some of the character's faces looking around.]

Panel 3: [Grate clattering to the ground, a shadowy figure dropping inot the room, Vella in the foreground looking surprised, Liz in the background looking... uh, surprised. Maybe draw an exclamation point just to drill the point into the reader's skull. LOL MGS!]

Panel 4: [Shadowy figure looks around and notices all the quickly recovering, heaviliy armed people waving giant hammers and magic missiles at him and seems to reconsider his decision]

Panel 5: [Shadowy dude raises his arm.]
Vella: Get 'im girls!

Panel 6: [Flash of smoke, maybe multiple panels of Liz, Vella and Autumn covering their eyes and coughing.]

Page 3

Panel 1: [Vella, Liz and Autumn standing around in the room, looking confused.]
Autumn: ...He got away.
Vella: Damn!

Panel 2: [Liz looking exasperated, Vella looking determined.]
Liz: Looks like security wasn't tight enough.
Vella: You know what thiss means...

Panel 3: [Abrupt cut to outside the city in the daytime, Vella holding up her fist looking triumphant, Liz looking annoyed, Autumn looking surprised- sorta like Yomi when she realizes Mr. Kimura is STANDING RIGHT BEHIND HER! Well, different situations, but same look of incredulity.]
Vella: TIME TO SHOP FOR WEAPONS!
Autumn: Oh my God, we're outside and it's daytime and I have NO RECOLLECTION OF HOW I GOT HERE!

Panel 4: [Liz and Vella in forground, Autumn following still looking incredulous.]
Liz: Is this really necessary? I mean, can't you access Hammerspace?
Autumn: (Aside) Did I hit my head...?

Panel 5: [Vella looking larger than both Liz and Autumn, crazy or ominous eyes.]
Vella: WE SHALL SPEAK NOT OF THAT