This recap took me far longer to finish than anticipated, in large part because I enjoyed not listening to these songs for a few weeks. Here is the zip file of disc two of my year-end mix.

201 / Eluvium / “Amreik” / Copia / Temporary Residence

I would have preferred to include “Indoor Swimming at the Space Station,” but including a ten-and-a-half-minute long ambient song didn’t seem like the best approach.

202 / The National / “Fake Empire” / Boxer / Beggars Banquet

I’d largely avoided The National on the assumption that they were another bland indie rock band that Pitchfork heralded, but after seeing Boxer on too many reputable year-end lists to ignore, I gave it a shot. Turns out that Boxer is an excellent 11:30pm record and "Fake Empire" is an excellent opener. Now I feel like a jerk. Thanks.

203 / Battles / “Atlas” / Mirrored / Warp

You either grow to love the chipmunk vocals of "Atlas"or they quickly drive a hole into your brain. Those are your two choices. On a side note, scene kids have this new thing where they raise their hands in the air and “conduct” all of the words of a song. “Atlas” was a huge target for this behavior. Please make it stop.

204 / Minus the Bear / “Knights” / Planet of Ice / Suicide Squeeze

Minus the Bear’s foray into prog-rock still came with some clear singles and “Knights” was the best of them. While I miss the finger-tapping extravaganza of their early work, Dave Knudson’s “the lead guitar is in this loop pedal and I will stomp it accordingly” act is impressive enough. Two albums until he uses a chainsaw.

205 / !!! / “All My Heroes Are Weirdos” / Myth Takes / Warp

I can only take Nic Offer’s vocals in very small doses (or preferably not at all, in the case of the far superior Out Hud), but “All My Heroes Are Weirdos” was one of the highlights of the generally improved Myth Takes. When !!! swing and miss, it’s ugly, but this song is a nicely condensed version of their aesthetic.

206 / Marnie Stern / “Every Single Line Means Something” / In Advance of the Broken Arm / Kill Rock Stars

“Every Single Line Means Something” is an outlier on Marnie Stern’s debut, since it thankfully never gets too close to album’s standard Sleater Kinney meets Deerhoof approach. Her guitar pyrotechnics are largely held in check here, but it’s for the better of the song. I’m hoping that her second album holds more of these gems.

207 / The Race / “Ice Station” / Ice Station / Flameshovel

Ice Station became my go-to record once a few major storms hit Boston—“There’s no escaping / This ice station” is just too fitting for being stuck in traffic. Previous to the weather changing, my go-to song on Ice Station was “Evil Love,” with its circular vocals and new wave production.

208 / The Twilight Sad / “And She Would Darken the Memory” / Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters / Fat Cat

After seeing the Twilight Sad live at the Middle East Upstairs, I shelved their album for a long time. While I preferred the sonic depth of the record to the band’s curious stage presence, I avoided listening to the album for some unfounded reason.

209 / Port-Royal / “Anya: Sehnsucht” / Afraid to Dance / Resonant

Port-Royal is the best example of a genre record from this year hitting the spot. “Electronic post-rock you say? You’re completely competent at it? Sign me up!” I had to trim this song down a bit since they fade off for a few minutes.

210 / Les Savy Fav / “What Would Wolves Do?” / Let’s Stay Friends / French Kiss

Les Savy Fav records compete with the band’s live spectacle and often lose, but Let’s Stay Friends showed remarkable resiliency against this trend. I would have liked to include both “Pots & Pans” and “The Equestrian,” since I can’t think of any two songs in better conversation with each other musically and lyrically, but in lieu of plugging two tracks from a record into these mixes I chose the single.

211 / LCD Soundsystem / “All My Friends (Single Edit)” / Sound of Silver / DFA

This may be the only LCD Soundsystem song that I like, but any collision of New Order and Steve Reich is worth a listen.

212 / Mary Timony Band / “New Song” / The Shapes We Make / Kill Rock Stars

“New Song” reminds me of Helium’s The Magic City, mainly in the combination of Timony’s guitar riffs and the background keyboard. This comparison is both a blessing and a curse, since while The Shapes We Make is a more accomplished album than its predecessor, the trimmed-down garage rock approach of Ex Hex was a more surprising turn in Timony’s career path.

213 / Shannon Wright / “In the Morning” / Let in the Light / Quarterstick

Shannon Wright was essentially the anti-Tara Jane O’Neil, starting her solo career with the nuanced acoustic songs O’Neil plays nowadays before her gradual progression into furious, oppressive rock songs seething like Rodan’s “Toothfairy Retribution Manifesto.” While I respected this progression, Over the Sun was its logical conclusion and her collaboration with Yann Tiersen was its logical epilogue. Let in the Light is the next book. “In the Morning” has all of the intensity of Over the Sun without the hand to the throat of “Portray” or “Birds.”

214 / Bottomless Pit / “The Cardinal Movements” / Hammer of the Gods / Comedy Minus One

“The Cardinal Movements” was one of four tracks to be released in a pre-album sampler EP last year and resurface on Hammer of the Gods. Since I viewed that EP as an unofficial release, unlike Silkworm’s Chokes! EP, I held off on including any Bottomless Pit songs last year. “The Cardinal Movements” was simply too good to pass up again, even with Midgett’s equally impressive “Leave the Light On” making Hammer of the Gods.

215 / Wire / “No Warning Given” / Read & Burn 03 / Pink Flag

I skipped through Wire’s discography somewhat haphazardly, getting hooked on 154, then moving to Chairs Missing, finally getting Pink Flag, and then fast-forwarding to A Bell Is a Cup Until It Is Struck. I’d dabbled with the first two Read & Burn EPs and the resulting Send LP, but none of those grabbed me as much as Read & Burn 03, which sounds more like the 154-era Wire that originally hooked me. “23 Years Later” is the EP’s biggest statement, but at nearly ten minutes it simply wouldn’t fit.

216 / Mt. St. Helens / “City Of” / Of Others / Two Thumbs Down

Whereas previous Mt. St. Helens albums had one or two songs that were above and beyond their counterparts (“Always on Time,” “Ghostly Presence”), Of Others’ consistency made it more difficult to choose a winner. Despite my fondness for the album’s mid-tempo tracks, I opted for the tight post-punk of “City Of.” It keeps ratcheting up the pressure without losing form. Hopefully they will tour the east coast in 2008.

217 / This Flood Covers the Earth / “The Tetris Chainsaw Massacre” / Barnburner / Self-Released

This Flood Covers the Earth broke up after one too many tours fell apart, but the self-released Barnburner came quite close to approximating the fury of their live set. It would have been far ballsier of me to include the epic hardcore song at the beginning of a disc, but it fit best after the Mt. St. Helens track. I’m a sucker for half-time hardcore riffs and the outro of this song has a prime example.

218 / Last Days / “Swimming Pools at Night” / These Places Are Now Ruins / N5MD

If These Places Are Now Ruins was a bit more consistent in terms of quality, it would have been the third ambient release to make my top twenty. Unlike Stars of the Lid and Eluvium, Last Days stick to the electronic post-rock side of the ambient spectrum, particularly on the gently whirring “Swimming Pools at Night.” The layering of this track forced me to include it over the simple piano ballad “Saved by a Helicopter.”

219 / Jesu / “Blind and Faithless” / Split LP with Eluvium / Temporary Residence

Figuring out the closer for this disc was a difficult process. I didn’t want to mirror the first disc and have the ambient song finish things off, but most of my remaining potential selections (Alcest, Ulrich Schnauss, Nadja) didn’t fit the flow. I preferred Jesu’s Sun Down / Sun Rise, but those tracks were far too long to fit on a mix, and I didn’t allocate enough time for the title track of Conqueror. So instead I included an instrumental cut reminiscent of the Silver EP

Enjoy.