Jimmy Draper's top 10

1. Shakira's boobie dance in her video for "La Tortura" (Sony)

2. Carrie Underwood covering Heart's "Alone," American Idol

3. Miranda Lambert, Kerosene (Epic)

4. Kelly Clarkson, "Behind These Hazel Eyes" (RCA)

5. Aubree, MTV's Making the Band 3

6. Rachel Stevens, Come and Get It (Polydor UK)

7. The Killers, "Mr. Brightside (Thin White Duke Remix)" (Island)

8. Poptastic.blogspot.com

9. Black Eyed Peas, "My Humps (Lil' Jon Remix)" (A&M)

10. Robyn, Robyn (Konichiwa)

Biggest disappointment: Ashlee Simpson going blond again!

Jennifer Maerz's nine moods that swing

Tripping the pop fantastic Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti thrives under House Arrest (Paw Tracks), Gris Gris craft songs For the Season (Birdman), and Gang Gang Dance spend God's Money (The Social Registry), mixing meds and melodies to warp both time and yer mind.

Eternal sunshine for the euphoric mind Animal Collective Feels (Fat Cat) like just another glorious day in folky psychtopia.

Smash your head on the laptop rock T. Raumschmiere's Blitzkrieg Pop (Novamute) and LCD Soundsystem's eponymous LP (DFA) merge techno/electro beats 'n' brains with punk brawn.

Tune in, black out Garage rock delinquents the Black Lips Let It Bloom (In the Red) like a beautiful friendship between glue sniffers, whiskey pounders, and acid casualties.

Gettin' cozy with cock-hop Mickey Avalon's self-titled debut (Shoot to Kill Music) hypes prostitution, pills, and his dick size, impregnating hip-hop with the dude's well-endowed punk ego and near constant comedy.

Gushing over global warming Long-anticipated live performances by Dungen, M.I.A., and Dizzee Rascal dissolve international borders as adventurous new styles and sounds change our music climate.

Open mind, insert free jazz The Mars Volta trim the hairdos, allow the songs to sprawl for Frances the Mute (Universal).

Smells like boom-bap spirit Talented up-and-comers Common Market, Cancer Rising, and Blue Scholars help shift the sounds of Seattle from Kurt Cobain to KRS-One.

Avoiding possible similarities between this and the Grateful Dead Black Mountain's Black Mountain (Jagjaguwar) makes it more than OK to be passionate about rock made by men in beards who enjoy a good jam session.

Lee Hildebrand's 2005 top 10 CDs

In alphabetical order

Eric Alexander and Vincent Herring, The Battle: Live at Smoke (HighNote) It ain't Coltrane and Cannonball, but it's about as close as it comes.

Keyshia Cole, The Way It Is (A&M) The Oakland sista pushes more passion through her pipes than any soul singer of her generation.

Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, Town Hall, New York City, June 22, 1945 (Uptown) The birth of bebop is captured in fine fidelity and released for the first time.

Amos Lee, Amos Lee (Blue Note) The soul-folk singer-songwriter offers no answers to the human condition, just some poignant new insights.

Louisiana Red, No Turn on Red (HMG) The pain in the blues vet's craggy voice and the passion of his guitar playing – often amplified to bone-crushing levels of distortion – are overwhelming.

Mighty Clouds of Joy, In the House of the Lord – Live in Houston (EMI Gospel) They call 'em "mighty" 'cause no gospel quartet rocks a house harder than the Clouds.

Marcus Miller, Silver Rain (3Deuces/Koch) The electric bass virtuoso serves up kick-ass funk and a bluesy take on Beethoven – and blows some gorgeous Ellington on bass clarinet.

Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane, At Carnegie Hall (Blue Note) The most important live jazz recording of the 1950s surfaces 48 years after the fact.

Kyle Riabko, Before I Speak (Aware/Columbia) The Canadian singer, guitarist, and songwriter is easily the most gifted retro-soulman of the decade, though his record company would have us believe he's a rocker.

T-Pain, Rappa Ternt Sanga (Jive) R&B's next heartthrob presents a tour de force of sex and seduction.

George Chen's top 10

Coughs One of the best live bands in America, if not on Earth, right now. Crust-punk drum circle, keyboards, sax, razor-wire guitars, and Anya Davidson's banshee-full-of-cigarettes scream make the best sonic case for running naked through your office.

Theusaisamonster, Wohaw (Load) Tom and Colin surpass past efforts with high-powered Native Americana hardcore. Rock-operatic, prog-tastical ridiculousness that they totally own, even if it's just that no one else wants to live there.

Konono No. 1 This is one of the other best live bands on Earth. I had my reservations, considering their recordings all seem to recycle the same riffs, but they threw it all out in an epic display of showmanship, even in the neutering chill of the Palace of Fine Arts.

Jack Rose, Kensington Blues (VHF) Yes, it's a lot like Fahey. He even covers a Fahey tune here. For fingerpicking and slide-acoustic greatness, Jack Rose is probably the closest living practitioner we have, but he's his own man too. Before I'd ever heard him, I was telling him to check out the White Stripes. What the hell was I thinking?

Nath Family, Sounds of the Indian Snake Charmer (Hanson) Aaron Dilloway's sabbatical from Wolf Eyes and Nepalese led to hanging out with the locals, including this family of Indian street musicians. You will be charmed. One of the catchiest things you won't hear this year, unless you shell out for one of 500 vinyl-only copies.

Chris Corsano-Paul Flaherty-Spencer Yeh Trio Now I understand everything. And yet ... nothing. A supergroup of Justice League caliber; John Olson sat in for some horn duets at this gig. Corsano's drumming, another argument for intelligent design. Obliteration in the name of freedom, melting the war on error.

Arthurfest Especially the truncated but colossal Growing, Six Organs of Admittance, Magik Markers, and Dos. I'd seen better gigs from many of the acts, but clustering them together in a physical representation of domestic outré nowness was a hoot.

Scout Niblett, Kidnapped by Neptune (Too Pure) Some naysayers emerged when this record was bought and played on a road trip. "Cat Power gone grunge," said one. "Not as good as her old stuff," said another. I care not. Sparse, feral, and pretty: Self-referential girl grunge has never been done better. Please stay in Oakland and write a song about it.

New Zealand, Australia, and Japan You loaded us up with exports in 2K5. Every week seemed to bring a new accent to my ear. Die Die Die, Coolies, and Birchville Cat Motel were peaks of the spring. Grey Daturas, Love of Diagrams, Architecture in Helsinki – you saved the longish band name from the screamo hordes. Japan's Nissenenmondai slayed the Elbo Room, and there were a bunch of other ambassadors I missed, like the tragically fated DMBQ.

TG, Ces Yeux Tes Grues (Galerie Pache) Technically this came out in 2004, but I just got wind of it. TG is a weird loner guy from France. Acoustic guitar and harmonica alternate with sublime feedback bliss. The 20-minute ecstatic drone on the B-side of this LP is the last piece of music that made me cry, or at least made me consider it.

Kandia Crazy Horse's top 10

1. Seu Jorge, Cru (Wrasse)

2. The Band, A Musical History (Capitol)

3. Mercury Rev, The Secret Migration (V2)

4. Antony and the Johnsons, I Am a Bird Now (Secretly Canadian/Rough Trade)

5. Curumin, Achados e Perdidos (Quannum Projects)

6. TsuShiMaMire, Pregnant Fantasy (Benten)

7. Robert Plant, Mighty Rearranger (Sanctuary)

8. North Mississippi Allstars, Electric Blue Watermelon (ATO)

9. David Ryan Harris, Soulstice (www.davidryanharris.com)

10. The Like, Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking? (Geffen)

Victor Krummenacher's top 10

1. Various artists, American Primitive, Vol. 2 (Revenant) The last Revenant project curated by the late, great John Fahey, this look at the roots of American music dates back to 1897 and is an amazing, engaging look at music made before the influence of mass media. Any fan of Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music will be blown away. Volume one, from 1997, has been reissued and is just as good.

2. Frank Black, Honeycomb (Back Porch) Fuck the Pixies – this is as good as Teenager of the Year (4AD/Elektra, 1994) for me. Gotta love the MO here: Reunite the old band; make lots of money; hire Steve Cropper, Dan Penn, and Spooner Oldham; and make a Memphis soul record. My kind of guy.

3. Los Super Seven, Heard It on the X (Telarc) Ruben Ramos, Charlie Sexton, Calexico, Joe Ely, Rodney Crowell, Lyle Lovett, Rick Trevino, and others pay tribute to the music of the border radio in the '50s and '60s.

4. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, B-Sides and Rarities (Mute) Twenty years of Bad Seeds. Proof that the guy is up there with his heroes, Nina Simone, Johnny Cash, and Bob Dylan. He does his mentors proud. And these are the B-sides.

5. Rodney Crowell, The Outsider (Columbia) The third in a trilogy of great releases since 2001 that have witnessed a great rebirth of spirit in the songwriting of Crowell, a legend on his own and a veteran of Emmylou Harris's Hot Band.

6. Fruit Bats, Spelled in Bones (Sub Pop) Some kind of strange indie mix of Brian Wilson, folk music, and Fleetwood Mac. I can't quite put my finger on what it is, but I love that in music, and I love this CD.

7. Richard Thompson, Front Parlour Ballads (Cooking Vinyl) This one leans a little more acoustic, but he's been on a good roll after seeming a little lost for a while there the late '80s and mid-'90s. He's working for himself these days, and that seems to be quite a good thing.

8. Teenage Fanclub, Man-Made (Merge) The Fannies are back again with another solid group of great pop songs. They really are one of the best bands on the planet. Unassuming, down-to-earth Scots who sing like angels.

9. M. Ward, Transistor Radio (Merge) M. Ward really knows how to make an interesting, quirky, haunting, tuneful, and engaging record. Each release gets better.

10. Neil Young, Prairie Wind (Reprise/WEA) I love Neil Young, but I gotta wonder about this one: The only one I really enjoyed in the past few years was Greendale. I was on tour recently, and somebody played Harvest Moon, which I always thought was just OK, but it sounded vital after 13 or 14 years. This, I dunno – I think in 14 years you'll be able to buy it at Amoeba for a buck.

Steven Leckart's top 10

1. Bright Eyes, I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning (Saddle Creek) A phenomenal affirmation that the new generation of twentysomethings can get personal and confessional without losing sight of the body count in the newspaper.

2. Wolf Parade, Wolf Parade (Sub Pop) Passionate, possessed, and positively the best band to come out of Canada all year, which says a lot.

3. Sigur Rós, Takk ... (Geffen) A brooding and mesmerizing collection that lives up to all the hype propagated by Radiohead back in 2001.

4. Dungen, Ta Det Lugnt (Subliminal Sounds/Kemado) Psychedelic riffs, heavy drumming, and extraordinarily crisp production shored up by Swedish lyrics that mostly translate to "awesome."

5. LCD Soundsystem, LCD Soundsystem (DFA) The term disco punk has become a bit passé, but James Murphy's debut tops every recent band that's tried to meld the two.

6. Devendra Banhart, Cripple Crow (XL) Bringing in a full band could have been disastrous – instead, it was a necessary stylistic transition that proves his career will clearly outlive the other freak-folkers.

7. Sound Team, Work (Capitol) If the upcoming full-length tops this five-song EP's balance of reverb, distortion, and anthemic pop, 2006 will be a radical year for this Austin band.

8. The Dirty Projectors, The Getty Address (Western Vinyl) A dynamic, orchestral concept record about the travels of a young American named Don Henley (FYI, the Eagles reference was intentional).

9. M. Ward, Transistor Radio (Merge) Pure, genuine Americana – without any theatrical shtick or hokey costumes (ahem, Sufjan Stevens).

10. The Joggers, With a Cape and a Cane (StarTime) Earnest vocal harmonies with hooks that explode into impressive instrumental jib-jabbery.

Adam Metz's top 10

Kanye West, Late Registration (Roc-A-Fella)

Run Return, Metro North (n5MD)

My Morning Jacket, Z (Badman)

Various artists, Mojo Mod Club Party compilation (Mojo magazine)

Various artists, Children of Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the Second Psychedelic Era – 1976-1996 (Rhino)

Bloc Party, Silent Alarm Remixed (Vice)

Let Go, Let Go (Militia)

John Parish, Once upon a Little Time (Thrill Jockey)

New Pornographers, Twin Cinema (Matador)

The Eames Era, The Second EP (C Student)

Bonus beats: Josh Ritter, Thin Blue Flame CD-5 (self-released)

Ken Taylor's hyperbolic top 10

Ten things that took me out of the critical mind, turned my brain to mush, and reminded me of why I'm still listening. In chronological order:

Jens Lekman at Noise Pop, Feb. 26, Cafe du Nord The young Swedish singer-songwriter is pretty damn irresistible. And after an abbreviated 20-minute set, he left me wanting a hell of a lot more. I can only hope the rumors of him moving here are true.

Out Hud, Let Us Never Speak of It Again (Kranky) Like it was written specifically for the iPod. This one made nightly strolls through the Mission and Castro seem like they were set in 1981.

Feist, Let It Die (Cherrytree/Interscope) Sometime in mid-2005, this record finally turned up on my desk, after about a year of hyperbole slung on it from my Canadian friends who'd had the thing since the previous May. Yeah, those guys are prone to exaggerated praise, but it turns out they were right this time.

Go-Betweens, June 17, Slim's Despite the extremely gentle tone of the Go-Betweens' songs, a dandy of a fight broke out at this one. I mean, I knew their music conjured certain emotions, but ...

Saint Etienne, Finisterre (Plexifilm DVD) and Tales from Turnpike House (Sanctuary/Savoy Jazz CD) For anyone who has ever missed London, or thought they hated it the first time around. No other band evokes time and place so majestically.

Tall Dwarfs, Aug. 9, Bottom of the Hill I suppose I owe my thanks to Olivia Tremor Control for finally bringing these home-taping pioneers back to our shores.

Dick Cavett, Rock Icons (Shout! Factory DVD) A look back at a time when having good music on TV actually mattered and when actually saying something on TV actually mattered.

Momus's Wired News dispatches Finally, a publication takes the initiative to give this digital Renaissance man a column. Now somebody give him a book deal.

Hey Willpower, 'Hundredaire' (Cochon) I dunno what it is about cheap synths, triggered drums, and cutesy lyrics, but they certainly don't leave my iPod too easily. This one's a staple.

American Analog Set, Oct. 30, Bottom of the Hill Hushed and pristine, with pins dropping and surprise guests. A Last Waltz for the indie scene.

Dan Miller in Walk the Line I was shocked, astounded, and ecstatically delighted to find singer-guitarist Miller of the Detroit band Blanche playing Johnny Cash's right-hand man, Luther Perkins. Why didn't anyone back home tell me he was a movie star?