over the course of this week, i’ve been posting my annual best of lists. as a complete list nerd, this is my favorite time of the year here on the ol’ blog. here’s the lists i’ve been posting:

tuesday: best new music discoveries
wednesday: cover songs
thursday: songs
today: albums

the granddaddy of all the end-of-year music lists is the best albums. so here we are.

yesterday i celebrated 31 years on planet earth. just 2 days before said birthday, one of my favorite bands, elbow, played a show in atlanta. when you combine those 2 things, magic happens. the stars did, in fact, align and we (christen and i) were able to escape for a couple days to experience elbow live.

i love elbow.

and i’m not talking about the body part.

looks like we’re having déjà vu all over again…

yes, in fact, just a few weeks ago, i was raving about the new track—lippy kids—from elbow’s forthcoming album, build a rocket boys!, due out on march 7th.

i love elbow.

and i’m not talking about the body part.

i am, of course, talking about the british rock band that, for a little over a decade, have been putting out albums that get better and better with each release. their last two albums, leaders of the free world and the seldom seen kid, are, hands down, two of my favorite albums over the last 10 years.

several days ago, they announced that their highly anticipated follow-up to 2008′s the seldom seen kid will be titled build a rocket boys! and will be released on march 7th (in the uk, with a US date to follow). today, the band released a special boxing day gift by showcasing the first single (and album’s opening track), lippy kids.