Heeb

Your calendar for 5769 may already be posted on your wall, but let’s not forget that 5768 wasn’t too shabby in its own right. In honor of the beginning of the Jewish new year, our editors once again gaze backwards to give you the best in arts and culture of the past lunar year. Below, check out the best music.

1.Vampire Weekend, s/t (Beggars)

Consider 5768 the "Year of the Vampire." Four virtually unknown, well-dressed preppies from Columbia University released a self-titled debut and found themselves soon thereafter on the cover of Spin Magazine and as musical guests on Saturday Night Live. Dismiss the insta-success as a result of the regurgitating hype machine, but you can’t ignore the fact that Vampire Weekend’s first album is sensationally accessible and abnormally transfixing. The haters standing next to you will inevitably claim that the purveyors of Upper West Side Soweto stole their sound from the Talking Heads and Paul Simon, and, well, they’re right. Musicians, however, call that "being influenced." ARYE DWORKEN

2. Lykke Li, Youth Novels (EMI)

3. No Age, Nouns (Sub Pop)

4. The Cool Kids, Bake Sale EP (Green Label Sound)

5. Pepi Ginsberg, Red (Park the Van)

6. Santogold, s/t (Downtown)

7. Plants & Animals, Parc Avenue (Secret City)

8. Apes & Androids, Blood Moon (Self)

9. Jay Reatard, Singles (Matador)

10. Times New Viking, Rip it Off (Matador) 

For Heeb‘s best music of 5767, click here.