Flushboy's Top Ten

10: London Zoo by The Bug Dark and spooky dubstep from London. Dance to it, bug out to it, or put on headphones and listen closely -- the choice is yours.

9. Parc Avenue by Plants and Animals Not so far from The North Country, these guys are like from Montreal. I'd call them an indie jam-band -- if you didn't know any better you'd swear that Trey Anastasio was playing guitar on their song "Mercy". They also wrote the fantastic lyric "Sainte Jean Baptiste is gonna eat us all alive." They make my list because of that alone.

8. Where You Go I Go Too by Lindstrøm Gotta give give some love to my Scandi brethren. Lindstrøm is a Norwegian DJ/musician/producer. This album is a space-disco odyssey, kind of like a house Dark Star. It could've easily been crap, but Lindstrøm knows what he's doing so it's actually very, very good.

7. Gost Rock by Nomo New directions in afro-beat from Ann Arbor, Michigan. Who wouldv'e thunk it?

6. Saint Dymphna by Gang Gang Dance Freaky electro-tribal-disco. Or something like that. Gang Gang Dance is definitely on a trip of their own. It takes a while to join them on their trip, but it's worth the effort.

5. Dear Science by TV On The Radio My friend Damali, who also lives here in Malmö, is friends with the guys in TV On The Radio. He told me that they've been influenced by the band Antibalas lately and that their plan for this album was to hide afro-beat rhythms in rock songs. It works well.

4. Les Chinoiseries by Onra Last year, the French DJ Onra traveled to his parents' homeland, Vietnam. While there he loaded up on vinyl which he hauled back to Paris and used as the basis for this album of hip-hop instrumentals.

3. Visiter by The Dodos Freaky folk with some great rhythms, catchy melodies, and blistering jams. The Dodos take folk instrumentation to some pretty funky places.

2. Vampire Weekend by Vampire Weekend This was the album of the year for me until The Very Best came out. Simple and fun, these songs are well-crafted and the afro-pop roots that they draw on seem to be the musical trend of the year.

1. Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit Are The Very Best by The Very Best This album is just so right for me on so many levels. I love that it's being distributed as a free download, a teaser for a future album that they'll sell. I love that it's funky yet melodic, unusual yet familiar, underground yet accessible. I love that it's a return to the DIY, two-turntables-and-a-microphone (or a laptop with pro-tools and a microphone) roots of hip-hop. Most importantly, I love the music. And I mentioned that you can get this for free, right?