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.

As a cranky, sleep-deprived new parent in the throes of box sets by hipsters, I declared (on Twitter, no less) that there was absolutely no need for me to hear Kanye's latest magnum opus. Until I heard a track on YouTube.

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.

Alex Chilton died yesterday, but the guy that rock fans worshipped -- the musician who almost 40 years ago founded Big Star, and in the process helped give birth to power-pop and alternative rock -- died decades ago.

Reviewed: Big Star, Ace Frehley, Gordan Gano, Bruce Hornsby, Jay-Z, Mark Knopfler, Living Colour, The Phantom Movers and Muse.

With the release of stereo and mono box sets, individual album reissues, and their own edition of Rock Band, The Beatles finally have stepped into the 21st century in a major way.

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.