Sorted! And it's only May!

Mild favorite for album of the year: Sleater-Kinney (yeah again,) The Woods - even though it's probably only their third best LP, it's getting to me more immediately than anything since The Love Below. Keith Harris's Voice review almost finds the right word in "unsprung" - I'd prefer "unspringing."

Warm favorite for single of the year: Amerie, "1 Thing" - Put away your tablas and koras, R&B's stripping down almost to just drums and vocals, and rarely have compudrums sounded so live and real vocals been swished around so many ways. The pushes via guitar keep the thing on track like a bumper bowling lane, and even the fake strings aren't too bad. At least as good as the Chingified remix of Mya's "Fallen," which was my fave track of last year.