7. The Arcade Fire: The Funeral

Blog girl hype aside, the Arcade Fire did us a favor by falling to earth from the same distant dreamy mournful planet where The Flaming Lips once came. The songs here race ahead on grown-up legs, trying to catch up with an innocence that can never be recaptured. Foolish hope is not the worst of crimes, after all. And yet the inspirational cry of the singer's little boy vocals makes us take pause: maybe you can't go back, but you can comfort those still around.