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Jill Kolongowski: Along with many others, I really fell in love with Mumford & Sons. It turns out there are still bands that make real music, after all.

Rosemary Van Deuren: Most definitely Gogol Bordello’s marvelous Trans Continental Hustle. It’s the 5th studio album by the New York gypsy-punk band, and their sound and manifesto keeps getting richer with each release. Seven of the nine band members are immigrants, hailing from Russia, Israel, Ethiopia, Ecuador and China, with lead singer Eugene Hütz from the Ukraine. The video for the new song “Immigrada” is a powerful look at the face of immigrants in America. Music critic Robert Christgau has called Gogol Bordello “the world’s most visionary band,” a title they’ve well-earned.

Mike Vincent: I can’t be giving away the house here, especially as I was planning on writing about this topic throughout January!

I will offer a few hints for you. . . try to guess what I mean.

Hints:

1. The CD model sued the band
2. She appears to be underwater
3. There is a bear on the cover
4. The CD came with a magazine

Stay tuned!

Kevin Mattison: I didn’t make any great effort to stay musically informed until the end of the year when I purchased Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs, Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Sufjan Steven’s The Age of Adz and Spoon’s Transference all at once. All were solid purchases (sans maybe Transference, which I found to be pretty underwhelming). If I were to pick a favorite, though, I’d have to go with The Roots’ How I Got Over. It’s top-notch hip hop from start to finish, with the band returning to its more up tempo, jazzy. . . roots.

Gavin Craig: I used to be one of those people who thought that albums were really, really important. Then I had kids, and now I’m lucky to keep up with songs. This year, my favorites were spacey and atmospheric, with an edge of noise poking through, particularly “Helicopter” by Deerhunter, “Birds” by Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s, and “Nothing but Our Love” by Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.