Here's my ballot for the Idolator Pop Critics Poll. I miss the Dean's List. I miss the Dean (the DEAN, mind you) shaping everyone's comments to his whims (I don't want to read countless unedited, self-involved spiels). I miss his year-end essays. Supposedly my Hinder "campaign" got ref'd in that EMP-only wrap-up last year, and it would have done my heart good to see it for myself. I guess I should be grateful MSN.com and Father Time are consenting to keep the Consumer Guide afloat. Sigh.

ALBUMS (descending points)
1. LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver
2. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
3. Electric Six - I Shall Exterminate Everything Around Me That Restricts Me From Being The Master
4. White Stripes - Icky Thump
5. Queens Of The Stone Age - Era Vulgaris
6. Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank
7. Lloyd - Street Love
8. !!! - Myth Takes
9. The Stooges - The Weirdness
10. Low - Drums And Guns

TRACKS
1. Ne-Yo - Because Of You
2. Justin Timberlake - LoveStoned/I Think That She Knows...
3. The Cribs - Men's Needs
4. !!! - Must Be The Moon
5. Good Charlotte - Dance Floor Anthem (I Don't Wanna Be In Love)
6. Maroon 5 - Makes Me Wonder
7. Avril Lavigne feat. Lil' Mama - Girlfriend (Remix)
8. Timbaland feat. The Hives - Throw It On Me
9. Bobby Valentino feat. Timbaland - Anonymous
10. Modest Mouse - Dashboard

Double sigh! Three people each voted for Electric Six, !!! and the Stooges, and four voted for Lloyd, so I guess my albums ballot is unique enough. But as retarded as it sounds, I'm a little embarassed that six of the albums I enjoyed most this year came from popular hipster rock combos that made the poll's top 100. How common! I need to start scouring myspace for unheralded combos that will give my ballot a little more novelty next year (my singles ballot is the dorky dance party it should be).

Here's an alternate ballot featuring ten of the fifteen unrepresented 2007 albums I still have in their entirety, ranked in order of Idolator unpopularity.

1. Enrique Iglesias, Insomniac (no votes)
2. Bryan Ferry, Dylanesque (no votes)
3. Michael Hurley, The Ancestral Swamp (1 vote)
4. Rakes, Ten New Messages (1 vote)
5. Timbaland, Timbaland Presents: Shock Value (1 vote)
6. Chromeo, Fancy Footwork (2 votes)
7. R. Kelly, Double Up (3 votes)
8. Weakerthans, Reunion Tour (3 votes)
9. Shocking Pinks, Shocking Pinks (6 votes)
10. Rihanna, Good Girl Gone Bad (9 votes)

ENRIQUE IGLESIAS? That Dylan cover album with the butt nasty cover? Shock Value? WTF DUDE? Now I feel better.

(The other five albums I've kept: Against Me!, the Black Lips, Les Savy Fav, Marnie Stern and Tegan & Sara. For some reason I hold 2006 UK release dates against bands like the Fratellis and the Brakes, even though I'm huffy in the other way about movie release dates. I'd make exceptions for truly undeniable delayed albums, though.)

(See what I mean about unedited ballot comments?)