Crowded field

Closing out 2007 by surveying the year's best music became a pleasurable chore. Unlike previous years, this one had an abundance of contenders, both newcomers and longtime veterans. After a long while parsing through the glut of new releases of the past 12 months, here are the 10 that I'll still be listening to well past the new year.

1. The Shins, "Wincing the Night Away" (Sub Pop)

This unsuspecting Portland band goes beyond being a footnote to the "Garden State" soundtrack and comes up with a third album that is a blur of gorgeous melodies, dark undercurrents and studio psychedelics.

2. Dax Riggs, "We Sing of Only Blood or Love" (Fat Possum)

Hold onto your chair: Blazing out of the Louisiana swamplands, this breakthrough debut crisscrosses backwoods spirituals, sludge metal and gutter blues. The centerpiece is Riggs, a singer who can flip from choirboy beauty to a 100-year-old howl.

3. Okkervil River, "The Stage Names" (Jagjaguwar)

The fourth album from this Austin, Texas, rock band delves into an encyclopedia of pop references, from Motown to The Smiths, to come up with a singular effort, an emotionally charged pop album with an abundance of lyrics that seem shot out of a cannon.

4. Bruce Springsteen, "Magic" (Columbia)

You wouldn't be alone if you thought Bruce Springsteen had turned it in, after 20 years of albums that ranged from lackluster to serviceable. This surprise comeback features his best songwriting in years, with all the passion and darkness of his touchstone era.

5. Radiohead, "In Rainbows" (W.A.S.T.E.)

The hoopla surrounding its free-for-all Internet release overshadowed the music on Radiohead's seventh album, which contains some of the band's most heated rock moments as well as synthesized ballads that offer transcendence atop ever-restless soundscapes.

6. Spoon, "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga" (Merge)

Check the title to know this is the most accessible album to date from these Texas indie rockers. With help from pop guru Jon Brion, Spoon delivers pop candy and Memphis soul, both lined with resilient beats and pleasurable left turns.

7. Kings of Leon, "Because of the Times" (RCA)

Going far beyond their Southern rock swagger, this Tennessee band shows they can make an opus draped in Euro atmosphere, with guitars that reference the prickly punk dynamics of bands like Wire.

8. Peter, Bjorn and John, "Writer's Block" (Almost Gold)

If just for the whistle-happy single "Young Folks" alone, this quirky Swedish trio is the Scandinavian answer to The Shins. This U.S. debut veers between infectious power pop and scruffy lo-fi atmosphere hinging on big, golden guitar riffs, three-way harmonies, punchy beats and the occasional whistle solo.

9. The Arcade Fire, "Neon Bible" (Merge)

No indie band embraces the Springsteen spirit more than this Montreal collective. This is a thrilling sequel to their knockout debut. Channeling Springsteen's dark moods and urgent breakouts, the music sounds like it could fill canyons. Try not to be moved by the many blood-pumping choruses that balance boundless energy with apocryphal visions.

10. Amy Winehouse, "Back to Black" (Republic)

She is a tabloid wreck and one of the worst live performers of all time. Yet the U.S. debut from this British soul singer captivates, thanks to Mark Ronson's elegant R&B production and Winehouse's vocals, making her sound eerily out of time.

And the rest of the year's best, in no particular order are:

Dr. Dog, "We All Belong" (Park the Van); Bill Callahan, "Woke on a Whaleheart" (Drag City); Band of Horses, "Cease to Begin" (Sub Pop); Battles, "Mirrored" (Warp); Neil Young, "Chrome Dreams II" (Reprise); Coco Rosie, "The Adventures of Ghosthorse and Stillborn" (Touch & Go); The Black Angels, "Passover" (Light in the Attic); Jarvis Cocker, "Jarvis" (Rough Trade); Dollar Store, "Money Music" (Bloodshot); The Last Town Chorus, "Wire Waltz" (Hacktone); Peter Case, "Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John" (Yep Roc); Fountains of Wayne, "Traffic and Weather" (Virgin); Paul McCartney, "Memory Almost Full" (Hear Music); Pop Levi, "The Return to Form Black Magick Party" (Counter); Modest Mouse, "We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank" (Epic); The Narrator, "All That to the Wall" (Flameshovel); Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, "Rising Sand" (Rounder); PJ Harvey, "White Chalk" (Island); and Mary Gauthier, "Between Daylight and Dark" (Lost Highway)