40 CHAIRLIFT DOES YOU INSPIRE YOU Singing about handstands in a Nano commercial, this obscure Brooklyn-based trio achieved who is this? notoriety even before their debut album’s release. Besotted with reverb-drenched synthetic lushness, they flit from uncanny new-wave caricatures to beguiling heroin country ballads, nodding deeply to David Lynch’s Angelo Badalamenti–scored oeuvre. Their artful absurdity never falters, no matter how many vocal identities Caroline Polachek tries and abandons. BARRY WALTERS

39 GUNS N’ ROSES CHINESE DEMOCRAC Y The last time Axl Rose gave the world a set of new Guns N’ Roses tunes, he required two albums to contain them. After 16 years of editing, the mad frontman whittled down Chinese Democracy to a single disc, but it’s no less idea-stuffed than Use Your Illusion I and II. In “There Was a Time” alone, GNR v2.0 find a route from righteous church music to devilish rap rock. Though there are no “November Rain”–level melodies to be found, it’s still a relative feast after the famine. MIKAEL WOOD

38 OASIS DIG OUT YOUR SOUL Based on songful merit—not the brutish stasis Oasis supposedly represent— 2005’s Don’t Believe the Truth was a remarkable rebirth, as both Gallaghers penned timeless, heartfelt Britpop that packed arenas with misty fist-pumping. Dig injects a darker rhythmic urgency, plus a newfound, psych-swirling reflection. “The Shock of the Lightning” and “Falling Down” ooze battered wisdom, not creaky bluster; even Liam’s ballad “I’m Outta Time” la-las with a mature tenderness. CHARLES AARON

37 WOLF PARADE AT MOUNT ZOOMER Lacking the immediate hooks of 2005’s Apologies to the Queen Mary, Zoomer appeared at first blush to be the quintessential Difficult Second Album. But it’s a grower not a shower—behind the more intricate arrangements lies a pastiche of ’70s-tinged glam, prog, and pop that sounds thoroughly modern. Not to mention surprisingly cohesive, despite the band’s hydralike combo of Dan Boeckner’s rawk swagger and Spencer Krug’s whinnying idiosyncrasy. S TEVE KANDELL

46 JANUAR Y 2009 GE T ALBUM REVIEWS FIRST AT SPIN.COM