Critics’ Top 10 lists

ROBERT HILBURN

Pop

1. The White Stripes, “Get Behind Me Satan” Third Man/V2

In this daring, personal work, Jack White looks at the nature of love, from devotion to desperation, with a fearlessness rarely matched on record.

2. Kanye West, “Late Registration” Roc-A-Fella

3. Bright Eyes, “I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning” Saddle Creek

4. The Kills, “No Wow” Rough Trade/RCA

5. Antony and the Johnsons, “I Am a Bird Now” Secretly

Canadian

6. Bruce Springsteen, “Devils & Dust” Columbia

7. Franz Ferdinand, “You Could Have It So Much Better”

Domino/Epic

8. M.I.A., “Arular” XL/Interscope

9. LCD Soundsystem, “LCD Soundsystem” DFA/Capitol

10. Gretchen Wilson, “All Jacked Up” Epic

*

KEVIN BRONSON

Pop

1. The National, “Alligator” Beggars Banquet

Nuanced, compelling and almost literary by today’s indie rock standards, the third album from the Brooklyn-via-Cincinnati quartet engages you with its shadowy vignettes.

2. Spoon, “Gimme Fiction” Merge

3. Kanye West, “Late Registration” Roc-A-Fella

4. LCD Soundsystem, “LCD Soundsystem” DFA

5. The White Stripes, “Get Behind Me Satan” Third Man/V2

6. The Living Things, “Ahead of the Lions” Jive/Zomba

7. Bloc Party, “Silent Alarm” Vice

8. Nada Surf, “The Weight Is a Gift” Barsuk

9. Wolf Parade, “Apologies to the Queen Mary” Sub Pop

10. Goldrush, “Ozona”

Better Looking

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SOREN BAKER

Hip-hop

1. Mike Jones, “Who Is Mike Jones?” Swishahouse/Asylum/Warner Bros.

The Houston rapper delivered song after song of addictive, fun material that took advantage of some of the best rap production of the year.

2. DJ Muggs vs. GZA the Genius, “Grandmasters”

Angeles/Fontana

3. Kanye West, “Late Registration” Roc-A-Fella

4. Twista, “The Day After”

Atlantic

5. DJ Quik, “Trauma”

Mad Science

6. Common, “Be” GOOD/Geffen

7. The Perceptionists, “Black Dialogue” Definitive Jux

8. Self Scientific, “Change”

Angeles/Fontana

9. Beanie Sigel, “The B. Coming” Dame Dash Music Group

10. Likwit Junkies, “The L.J.’s” ABB

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DON HECKMAN

Jazz

1. Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane, “Thelonious Monk Quartet With John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall” Blue Note

Lost for decades, these extraordinary tracks chronicle the interaction between two of jazz’s most revered figures at the top of their games.

2. Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, “Town Hall, New York City, June 22, 1945” Uptown Jazz

3. Keith Jarrett, “Radiance” ECM

4. Joshua Redman Elastic Band, “Momentum” Nonesuch

5. Ted Nash & Odeon, “La Espada de la Noche” Palmetto

World Music

1. Lokua Kanza, Richard Bona and Gerald Toto, “Toto Bona Lokua” Sunnyside

The gifted but very different artists in the studio, singing in English, Lingala, Douala and Creole, create intriguing examples of the remarkable possibilities that lie within a Jungian-like collective musical unconscious.

2. Emmanuel Jal & Abdel Gadir Salim, “Ceasefire” Riverboat/World Music Network

3. Milton Nascimento, “Pieta” Savoy Jazz

4. Brave Old World, “Song of the Lodz Ghetto” Winter & Winter

5. Anoushka Shankar, “Rise” Angel

*

RICHARD CROMELIN

Pop

1. Sufjan Stevens, “Illinois” Asthmatic Kitty

The literary singer and songwriter’s audaciously ambitious exploration of the Land of Lincoln is powered by a sweeping musical palette and a rare mix of the cerebral and the soulful.

2. Bright Eyes, “I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning”

Saddle Creek

3. Antony and the Johnsons, “I Am a Bird Now”

Secretly Canadian

4. Franz Ferdinand, “You Could Have It So Much Better”

Domino/Epic

5. System of a Down, “Mezmerize” American/Columbia

6. Eels, “Blinking Lights and Other Revelations” Vagrant

7. Kanye West, “Late Registration” Roc-A-Fella

8. Fiona Apple, “Extraordinary Machine” Epic

9. White Stripes, “Get Behind Me Satan” Third Man/V2

10. Gorillaz, “Demon Days”

Virgin

*

RANDY LEWIS

Pop

1. Mary Gauthier, “Mercy Now” Lost Highway

The Louisiana singer-songwriter’s major-label debut crackles with truths lifted with a surgeon’s precision from the struggles of real life. Following in the footsteps of John Prine, Gauthier exhibits a poet’s unflinching eye, a counselor’s compassionate heart and a trickster’s wry spirit.

2. Bright Eyes, “I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning”

Saddle Creek

3. Tom Russell, “Hotwalker” HighTone

4. Adrienne Young, “The Art of Virtue” Addiebell

5. John Legend, “Get Lifted” GOOD/Columbia

6. The White Stripes, “Get Behind Me Satan” Third Man/V2

7. Martha Wainwright, “Martha Wainwright” Zoe/Rounder

8. Kanye West, “Late Registration” Roc-A-Fella

9. Jimmie Dale Gilmore, “Come On Back” Rounder

10. The Rolling Stones, “A

Bigger Bang” Virgin

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STEVE HOCHMAN

Pop

1. Kate Bush, “Aerial”

Columbia

After 12 years off, Bush reclaims her status as standard-bearer for singularly poetic yet sensuously appealing music. Who else could make doing laundry sound so spiritual?

2. Mia Doi Todd, “Manzanita” Plug Research

3. Sleater-Kinney, “The Woods” Sub Pop

4. M.I.A., “Arular”

XL/Interscope

5. White Stripes, “Get Behind Me Satan” Third Man/V2

6. The Mars Volta, “Frances the Mute” Strummer Recordings/Universal

7. Sufjan Stevens, “Illinois” Asthmatic Kitty

8. Kanye West, “Late Registration” Roc-A-Fella

9. Franz Ferdinand, “You Could Have It So Much Better”

Domino/Epic

10. Irvin Mayfield, “Strange Fruit” Basin Street

*

AGUSTIN GURZA

Latin

1. Vico-C, “Desahogo” EMI U.S. Latin

The pioneer of Puerto Rican rap delivers a stirring album with provocative social messages and heartfelt declarations of love and loyalty. Shattering narrow rap and reggaeton boundaries, this is Latino hip-hop at its eclectic best.

2. Jorge Drexler, “Eco”

Dro East West/Spain

3. Muchachito Bombo Infierno, “Vamos Que Nos Vamos” Musicas Nomadas/ Spain

4. Gloria Trevi, “Como Nace el Universo” Sony BMG/ Mexico

5. Karamelo Santo, “Haciendo Bulla” Benditas Producciones/Argentina

6. Cabas, “Puro Cabas”

EMI/Colombia

7. Roy Brown y Sus Amigos, “Yo Protesto” Tierrazo/Puerto Rico

8. Ry Cooder, “Chavez Ravine” Nonesuch

9. Francisco Cespedes, “Autorretrato” Warner/ Mexico

10. Bebo Valdes, “Bebo de Cuba” Calle 54/Spain