30. Grinderman - Grinderman 2- Nobody does Southern (Hemisphere) Gothic like ol' Nick Cave. Grinderman- a split personality of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds is dirty, smoky, swampy, rocking music you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley, under a full moon or at a crossroads.

29. Kelley Stoltz - To Dreamers - Kelley Stoltz keeps cranking out melodic throwback guitar pop that owes a ton to the The Kinls and The Zombies..

28. Blitzen Trapper - Destroyer of the Void - A solid follow up to their awesome album Furr, more folky, bearded guitar tunes from this Portland collective. I'd start with Furr if you were new to this band, but there's a lot of great stuff here as well.

27. Best Coast - Crazy For You - Sunny indie pop that owes equal debts to girl groups and surf music, and a low-fi indie streak rounds out this catchy full-length debut.

26. Cee-Lo Green - The Lady Killer- I guess if you record a catchier-than-hell song called "Fuck You", you're a lock for the Timmy Awards (see Lily Allen last year.) Nothing else on the album matches that song, but few songs in 2010 did. The rest of this album is solid, from the spy music of the title track, the 80's keys on Bright Lights Bigger City and the tender cover of Band of Horses' "No One's Gonna Love You." Cee-Lo is definitely an artist to keep watching.

25. Yeasayer - Odd Blood - Yeasayer is back with album #2, an interesting blend of dancy, world music inspired rhythms and electronic flourishes. Fams of MGMT's debut who were put off by the psychedelic noodlings of their 2010 follow-up may find a nice replacemt in Yeasayer, especially with tracks like "O.N.E."- the most infectious song about recovering from alcoholism that's likely to ever be written.

24. The Hold Steady - Heaven is Wherever- The Hold Steady keeps cranking out solid albums that owe no small debts to both Bruce Springsteen and Minneapolis bands like Hüsker Dü- and even Thin Lizzy at points. Stay Positive was a mis-step but still decent, and Heaven is Wherever shows maturity as well as recapturing some of the spark of Boys and Girls in America and Stay Positive. Their greatest work may still be coming...

23. Fitz & The Tantrums - Pickin' Up The Pieces - So where Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings authentically recreate 60's soul, Fitz and the Tantrums seem to update it for today- although at times, very, very slightly. Great male/female vocals and an incredible organ sound.

22. Harlem - Hippies - Lo-fi garage rock duo from Austin that doesn't skimp on the fun.

21. Maximum Balloon - Maximum Balloon - In between TV on the Radio albums, band member/producer David Sitek created Maximum Balloon, which essentially sounds like TV on the Radio selling out and making a poppy dance album. David Byrne, Karen O. of Yeah Yeah Yeahs and the vocalists from TVOTR are among the many guest vocalists who help keep things interesting.