Fifteen records that were awfully good, but that didn’t quite make the cut. Listed alphabetically. Click to read more.

Andrew Bird, Noble Beast
Fat Possum, January 20

Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavillion
Domino, January 20

Antony and the Johnsons, The Crying Light
Secretly Canadian, January 29

Bowerbirds, Upper Air
Dead Oceans, June 30

Cass McCombs, Catacombs
Domino, June 2

Deer Tick, Born on Flag Day
Partisan, June 23

Dinsoaur, Jr., Farm
Jagjaguwar, June 23

Eels, Hombre Loco: 12 Songs of Desire
Sony, June 2

Elvis Perkins in Dearland, S/T
XL, March 10

The Features, Some Kind of Salvation
Loose Tooth, June 9

The Flaming Lips, Embryotic
Warner Bros., October 13

Heartless Bastards, The Mountain
Fat Possum, February 3

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, S/T
Slumberland, February 3

Richard Swift, The Atlantic Ocean
Secretly Canadian, April 7

Samantha Crain and the Midnight Shivers, Songs in the Night
Ramseur, April 28