My Top Ten list of the year has very little, if any connection, with what people who still pay attention to the hipster music scene and read the Billboard charts would consider the best records of the year. And to be honest, I don't give a crap.

With an absolutely ferocious, borderline-insane live show that's been talked about all over Europe for the last couple of years, the Disciplines are no longer a side project. They're a real band.

The Posies, who for more than two decades have staked their claim as one of the finest power-pop bands in the world, have announced the upcoming release of their first new album in five years.

Most of the "new" music I've gotten into this year is actually old music that's never been heard before, dredged up from the vaults just in time to make a buck before recorded music ceases to have any monetary value whatsoever.

Smoking Kills was one of the best import releases of 2008, and with two extra tracks added, it's now one of the best albums to come out Stateside in '09.