| Rank | Artist | Recording | Label |
| 1 | Battles | Gloss Drop | Warp |
| 2 | Sebadoh | Bake Sale | Sub Pop |
| 3 | Black Lips | Arabia Mountain | Vice |
| 4 | Paleo | Fruit of the Spirit | Partisan |
| 5 | Woods | Sun and Shade | Woodsist |
| 6 | Sondre Lerche | Sondre Lerche | Mona |
| 7 | Art Brut | Brilliant! Tragic! | The End/Cooking Vinyl |
| 8 | Fleet Foxes | Helplessness Blues | Sub Pop |
| 9 | Making Friendz | Social Life | Last Bummer |
| 10 | Balkans | Balkans | Double Phantom |
| 11 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. | It’s A Corporate World | Quite Scientific |
| 12 | EMA | Past Life Martyred Saints | Souterrain Transmissions |
| 13 | Rosebuds | Loud Planes Fly Low | Merge |
| 14 | Reatards | Teenage Hate | Goner |
| 15 | Vetiver | The Errant Cub | Sub Pop |
| 16 | Marissa Nadler | Marissa Nadler | Box of Cedar |
| 17 | Man Man | Life Fantastic | Anti |
| 18 | Sea Pony | Go With Me | Hardly Art |
| 19 | City and Colour | Little Hell | Vagrant |
| 20 | Wooden Birds | Two Matchsticks | Barsuk |
| 21 | Dark Mean | Dark Mean | Self-Released |
| 22 | Chad VanGaalen | Diaper Island | Sub Pop |
| 23 | Tiger Darrow | You Know Who You Are | Self-Released |
| 24 | Starscream | Future, Towards The Edge Of Forever | Self-Released |
| 25 | Fucked Up | David Comes To Life | Matador |
| 26 | They Might Be Giants | Join Us (Four Advance Tracks) | Idlewild-Rounder |
| 27 | Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi | Rome | EMI |
| 28 | Cass McCombs | Wit’s End | Domino |
| 29 | Amor de DiasAMOR DE DIAS | Street Of The Love Of Days | Merge |
| 30 | Colourmusic | My ____ Is Pink | Memphis Industries |