#3: Apologies to the Queen Mary

Wolf Parade: Apologies to the Queen Mary
Montreal denizens rock U.S. hipsters into blissful oblivion. Stop me if you've heard this one before. But for all of the comparisons, Wolf Parade are no Arcade Fire, and despite my unabashed love for those guys, that is a good thing. And jesus, they're not Modest Mouse either, despite Isaac Brock's production and the occassional similarity ("Grounds for Divorce"). Within the relatively narrow straits of rock music these days, they are different.

But now that that's out of the way, by way of comparison, epic single "Shine a Light" is last year's "Rebellion (Lies)," i.e. the perfect bass-driven rock song. The themes of consternation at convention and the attempt to drag the rest of the world into the 21st century ("Modern World," "We Built Another World," etc.) has been done by those two aforementioned bands, among others. But, as is a common theme throughout this list, none of this has anything to do with how much I like and how frequently I listened to this album. In fact, I'd say of the top three, each has their mood, their place in my pantheon of music consumption, and each could be #1 on any given day or hour. Due apologies, then, to Apologies, because it's #1 good.