HONORABLE MENTIONS

DJ Rekha
"Basement Bhangra" (Koch)
Variety-wise, the new and-it-don't-stop is more house than hip-hop — the beats do repeat (DJ Rekha and Sunil Sehgal featuring Bikram Singh and Wyclef Jean, "Basement Bangra Anthem"; Tigerstyle featuring Amar Arshi, "Aaja Nachiye Boliyan Paiye").

will.i.am
"Songs About Girls" (Interscope)
A rich guy can hook like crazy and rap enough to pass, and not only that — a rich guy can care about your humps and the planet at the same time ("I Got It From My Mama," "Over").

Rufus Wainwright
"Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall" (Geffen)
A guy for whom well-made pop songs have serious disciplinary advantages ("Puttin' on the Ritz," "You Made Me Love You/For Me and My Gal/The Trolley Song").

Okkervil River
"Black Sheep Boy" (Jagjaguwar)
Crude but ultimately likable singer, willing band, decent melodist, better writer than the Decemberists' Colin Meloy ("For Real," "In a Radio Song").

Okkervil River
"The Stage Names" (Jagjaguwar)
The most affecting song is the least literary — and yet without storytelling the music would be styleless arrangements gathered around the intermittent tune ("Savannah Smiles," "Unless It's Kicks").

Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR)
"Etudes 4 Violin & Electronix" (Thirsy Ear)
Beat-seeking classical violinist connects more deeply with Philip Glass than with DJ Spooky, mostly just because Glass is deeper himself ("Metamorphosis," "The La La Song").

Okkervil River
"Black Sheep Boy Appendix" (Jagjaguwar)
Don't worry — he isn't really as sad as he makes his bindle sound ("No Key, No Plan," "Missing Children").

Burial
"Burial" (Cargo)
Maybe he figured get your beats working first and later for humanism — or maybe he still had a ways to go in the humanity department ("Southern Comfort," "Broken Home").

Wives
"Erect the Youth Problem" (Non EMI)
"I'm much too young to look this old" and other agonies ("All Dads Alike," "Brickface").

Say Anything
"In Defense of the Genre" (J)
The double-disc sprawl makes Max Bemis seem less pretentious, not more — as if he can't be bothered to pretend he's not a mess ("Sorry, Dudes. My Bad," "Retarded in Love").

The Pierces
"Thirteen Tales of Love and Revenge" (Lizard King)
Two wicked sisters harmonize the arch, melodic lowdown on the wine-bar set ("Ruin," "Go to Heaven").

Keyshia Cole
"Just Like You" (Geffen)
Well, maybe not exactly like you ("Let It Go," "Just Like You").

CHOICE CUTS

Sum 41
"Underclass Hero"
("Underclass Hero" [Island])

Chris Brown
"Down"
"Hold Up"
("Exclusive" [Jive/Zomba])

Amerie
"Work That"
("Because I Love It" [Sony/BMG])

Toni Price
"Talk Memphis"
("Talk Memphis" [Texas Music Group])