Once a Pub Rock contender for the title of "angry young Brit" (but overshadowed by contemporaries like Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson and Nick Lowe), Parker remains one of the best-kept secrets of master songwriting With this, after over 20 killer albums of smart spittle and razor-edged lyricism, Parker goes Country with magnificent results. Every track is perfect, perched from the wisdom of maturity and calmed anger. Highlights include his duet with Lucinda Williams on "Cruel Lips" and his "revisited" remake of "Crawling From the Wreckage," a hit he originally penned for Dave Edmunds and Rockpile.

The Holmes Brothers ­ Simple Truths (Alligator)

Already a nominee for a handful of best-of Blues awards, this one gets more magnetic and powerful with every play. Putting the seasoned trio's signature stamp on new originals and cover selections, this sweet jewel turned me on to what I believe is the theme (sadly) of the year, with a loving rendition of Gillian Welch's "Everything Is Free" from 2001, a stirring indictment of file-sharing in a copyright-slippery world. Another "I've got to hear that again and again" song is "We Meet, We Part, We Remember," the ultimate post-breakup salve for the memories of love lost. I challenge you to slip into the warm waters of this tender, groovin' masterstroke and not get lost in its magic.

The Mooney Suzuki ­ Alive & Amplified (Columbia)

Energetic and thick with layers of Power Pop bliss, this one struts like a cosmic superstar of Rock & Roll glee, punchy and bright. Mixing all sorts of British, Detroit and Los Angeles musical touchstones into their wailing trance, these "School of Rock" lads open up the garage doors and rock the block. Turn it up, turn on and get lost in the buzz! Lost the rock? Set yourself free to this high-energy revival meeting and become born again in the band's aural halleluiah! Each track steps harder on the gas, pitching and hunchin' with bombastic delight, whipping up an "amen!" frenzy that's simply undeniable (unless you're dead). Louder! Louder! Louder, please!

Saturday Night Loud-n-Proud Albums of Year

The Zutons ­ Who Killed ... The Zutons (Deltasonic/Epic)

A nominee for Britain's Mercury Prize, this Liverpool quintet mixes funky horns, jazzy swirls and psychedelic sway into a hypnotic nervousness akin to sweating through a feverish dream. Think Sly and the Family Stone meets The Fall, with a sweet, heady 1960s R&B soul. Melodic and packed with bursts of perfect moments, this one is why repeat buttons were invented.

Le Tigre - This Island (Strummer/Universal)

Hyper kinetic and crackling with electricity, this Pop/Punk ElectroFunk sizzler bristles with seductive sexuality. Don't be surprised if even Grandma breaks into robot-poppin' herky-jerky capitulations under the spell of this slap-in-the-face head-snapper. Pacemakers beware -- Le Tigre rocks like the Human League on crystal meth.

Pleasure Club ­ The Fugitive Kind (Brash)

The sophomore album from this new band fronted by James Hall, formerly of the sonic assassins Mary My Hope, is a real Rock grinder. Overflowing with huge riffs, hovering leads and an overdriven, snarling wall of sound that grabs one by the neck and shakes it with Big Easy gothic madness, this shadowy monster sneers like Jane's Addiction's candle-lit churn and Ziggy Stardust-era Bowie Glam.

Easy Like a Sunday Morning Albums of Year

Girlyman ­ Remember Who I Am (Daemon)

Laid way back in harmonic, sleepytime lullabies, this two-girls/one-boy threesome will certainly pull comparisons to the sound of the Indigo Girls, one of whom, Amy Ray, is the label's owner. Soaring within softness, when all three pitch their voices together in unison, the lonesome back-porch pine is to die for, radiating like the blue rays of a full moon. Cover enthusiasts will dig their arrangement of George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord," as it slow-dances in angelic rolling bliss.

Todd Snider ­ East Nashville Skyline (Oh Boy)

From the "slacker and enjoying it" side of the tracks comes this bluesy collection of songs inspired by real people, showing Snider's stellar songwriting skills. Taking a clever snicker from Merle Haggard's "Okie From Muskogee," his wicked cowboy lament of "Conservative Christian, Right Wing Republican, Straight, White, American Males" is a real hoot as he proclaims himself one of the "tree huggin,' peace lovin,' pot smokin,' porn watchin,' lazyass hippies." Three terrific covers find new revelation under Snider's wicked smile: Fred Eaglesmith's "Alcohol and Pills," Billy Joe Shaver's "Good News Blues" and the Depression-era nugget "Enjoy Yourself," the winner of the first 1934 Academy Award for the best song in film.

Polly Paulusma ­ Scissors In My Pocket (One Little Indian)

Skipping and floating over the same pastoral Folk landscape of Nick Drake, Cat Stevens, Joni Mitchell, Melanie and Turin Brakes, this timeless debut leaves pixie footprints in the morning dew. A PhD candidate and novelist, Paulusma has crafted a breathy, acoustic gem that slowly spins in its own lost, pensive grace.

Holy Sons ­ I Want To Live a Peaceful Life (FILM guerrero)

Sparse, haunting and beautiful, this fourth album from Emil Amos of The Grails is an Americana masterpiece in the vein of Neil Young's On the Beach. Playing all the instruments in this one-man project, the fragile nature is intimate and lush with melancholic mystery. The songs wretch loose with sadness, floating in and out of the silences like smoke and secrets, rolling and tumbling deeper and deeper into a tender, waking dawn, with delicate vocal lines trapping themselves in my mind like snapshot memories.