For what little it's worth, I sent a ballot to the Village Voice Pazz 'n' Jop poll tonight. In the main event, the albums are:

1. K'Naan: The Dusty Foot Philosopher (IM Culture) 16
2. William Parker: Double Sunrise Over Neptune (AUM Fidelity) 10
3. The Roots: Rising Down (Def Jam) 10
4. Vijay Iyer: Tragicomic (Sunnyside) 10
5. Steven Bernstein's Millennial Territory Orchestra: We Are MTO (Mowo!) 10
6. Raphael Saadiq: The Way I See It (Columbia) 10
7. Nik Bärtsch's Ronin: Holon (ECM) 10
8. Hayes Carll: Trouble in Mind (Lost Highway) 8
9. Orchestra Baobab: Made in Dakar (Nonesuch) 8
10. The Mountain Goats: Heretic Pride (4AD) 8

Breakdown is 4 jazz, 6 not; of the latter, 2 hip-hop (1 American, 1 African), 1 country, 2 r&b (1 American, 1 African), and 1 singer-songwriter posing as a group. No white rock bands, although Drive-By Truckers didn't miss by much.

Also voted for four songs, but I don't keep track of songs in any systematic way, so they're hardly worth listing -- well, Hayes Carll's "She Left Me for Jesus" is definitely worth the listen.

The overwhelming majority of what I listen to these days is jazz, which despite my genuine affection for it has become more of a job than anything else. I get a significant percentage of all of the new jazz released (something like 25-35%, skewed a bit toward the more prominent releases, although I still miss a lot of avant-fringe I wish I could hear), so my jazz list is healthy-sized and more than a little authoritative (not that many people share my tastes). I get very little non-jazz (country and hip-hop have totally dried up; I still get some world music, but not nearly as much as I used to). In an ideal world I'd play as much (or more) non-jazz as jazz -- I had a glimpse of that world back when I had a Rhapsody account (not that Rhapsody opens every door). Indeed, Rhapsody accounted for 17 of 33 records on my non-jazz A-list (actually, several more were heard first on Rhapsody, then obtained later -- Raphael Saadiq improved his standing significantly that way; makes me wonder about some others.)

Since my jazz and non-jazz lists work on totally different scales, it might be best to separate them out. The non-jazz, including vault music, breaks out this way:

1. K'Naan: The Dusty Foot Philosopher (IM Culture)
2. The Roots: Rising Down (Def Jam)
3. Hayes Carll: Trouble in Mind (Lost Highway)
4. Orchestra Baobab: Made in Dakar (Nonesuch)
5. The Mountain Goats: Heretic Pride (4AD) **

6. Drive-By Truckers: Brighter Than Creation's Dark (New West) **
7. Old 97's: Blame It on Gravity (New West) **
8. Les Amazones de Guinée: Wamato (Sterns Africa) **
9. James McMurtry: Just Us Kids (Lightning Rod) **
10. Jesus H Christ & the Four Hornsmen of the Apocalypse: Happier Than You (Jesus Christ Rocks)
11. Tokyo Police Club: Elephant Shell (Saddle Creek) **
12. Al Green: Lay It Down (Blue Note)
13. Conor Oberst (Merge) **
14. Bob Dylan: Tell Tale Signs: The Bootleg Series Vol. 8: Rare and Unreleased 1989-2006 (Columbia, 2CD)
15. The B-52s: Funplex (Astralwerks) **
16. The Hold Steady: Stay Positive (Vagrant) **
17. Liz McComb: The Spirit of New Orleans (GVE/Sunnyside)
18. Gabi Lunca: Sounds From a Bygone Age, Vol. 5 (1956-78, Asphalt Tango)
19. Todd Snider: Peace Queer (Aimless, EP)
20. No Age: Nouns (Sub Pop) **
21. The Kills: Midnight Boom (Domino) **
22. Kate Nash: Made of Bricks (Geffen)
23. Jeffrey Lewis: 12 Crass Songs (Rough Trade) **
24. Loudon Wainwright III: Recovery (Yep Roc) **
25. Robert Forster: The Evangelist (Yep Roc) **
26. Cephas & Wiggins: Richmond Blues (Smithsonian/Folkways)
27. Duke Robillard: A Swingin' Session With Duke Robillard (Stony Plain)
28. Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby (Stiff)
29. Radiohead: In Rainbows (TBD)
30. Toumast: Ishumar (Real World) **
31. Dominique Cravic & Les Primitifs du Futur: Tribal Musette (Sunnyside)
32. Alan Jackson: Good Time (Arista) **
33. Jenny Lewis: Acid Tongue (Warner Brothers) **

I reported the jazz list in a recent post, but I keep fiddling with it, so here's where it currently stands, with Summer Suite crashing the top ten since I filed my Voice Jazz Critics ballot (again, including vault music):

1. William Parker: Double Sunrise Over Neptune (AUM Fidelity)
2. Vijay Iyer: Tragicomic (Sunnyside)
3. Steven Bernstein's Millennial Territory Orchestra: We Are MTO (Mowo!)
4. Nik Bärtsch's Ronin: Holon (ECM)

5. Rob Brown Ensemble: Crown Trunk Root Funk (AUM Fidelity)
6. Satoko Fujii Orchestra New York: Summer Suite (Libra)
7. Scott Fields Freetet: Bitter Love Songs (Clean Feed)
8. Mostly Other People Do the Killing: This Is Our Moosic (Hot Cup)
9. Kris Davis: Rye Eclipse (Fresh Sound New Talent)
10. Vandermark 5: Beat Reader (Atavistic)
11. Randy Sandke: Unconventional Wisdom (Arbors)
12. Adam Lane/Lou Grassi/Mark Whitecage: Drunk Butterfly (Clean Feed)
13. François Carrier: The Digital Box (Ayler, 7CD)
14. Jorge Lima Barreto: Zul Zelub (Clean Feed)
15. The Roy Campbell Ensemble: Akhenaten Suite (AUM Fidelity)
16. Kenny Garrett: Sketches of MD (Mack Avenue)
17. Fieldwork: Door (Pi)
18. The Soprano Summit: In 1975 and More (1975-79, Arbors, 2CD)
19. Mike Ellis: Bahia Band (Alpha Pocket)
20. Mike Reed's People, Places & Things: Proliferation (482 Music)
21. Bill Frisell: History, Mystery (Nonesuch, 2CD)
22. Anthony Braxton/Milford Graves/William Parker: Beyond Quantum (Tzadik) **
23. Sonny Rollins: Road Shows Vol. 1 (Doxy/Emarcy)
24. Ben Allison & Man Size Safe: Little Things Run the World (Palmetto)
25. Patricia Barber: The Cole Porter Mix (Blue Note)
26. William Parker Quartet: Petit Oiseau (AUM Fidelity)
27. Cassandra Wilson: Loverly (Blue Note)
28. Donny McCaslin Trio: Recommended Tools (Greenleaf Music)
29. Ulf Wakenius: Love Is Real (ACT)
30. David Murray/Mal Waldron: Silence (Justin Time)
31. The Gust Spenos Quartet: Swing Theory (Swing Theory)
32. Dick Hyman/Chris Hopkins: Teddy Wilson in 4 Hands (Victoria -07)
33. Satoko Fujii Trio: Trace a River (Libra)
34. Jerry Bergonzi: Tenor Talk (Savant)
35. Dave Douglas & Keystone: Moonshine (Greenleaf Music)
36. Scott DuBois: Banshees (Sunnyside)
37. The Microscopic Septet: Lobster Leaps In (Cuneiform)
38. Bill Cole's Untempered Ensemble: Proverbs for Sam (Boxholder)
39. Steven Bernstein: Diaspora Suite (Tzadik)
40. Oleg Kireyev/Feng Shui Jazz Project: Mandala (Jazzheads)
41. Mary Lou Williams: A Grand Night for Swinging (1976, High Note)
42. François Carrier/Michel Lambert/Jean-Jacques Avenel: Within (Leo)
43. Raoul Björkenheim/William Parker/Hamid Drake: DMG @ the Stone: Volume 2 (DMG/ARC)
44. Anat Cohen: Notes From the Village (Anzic) *
45. Maceo Parker: Roots & Grooves (Heads Up, 2CD)
46. Art Pepper: Unreleased Art, Vol. III: The Croydon Concert, May 14, 1981 (1981, Widow's Taste, 2CD)
47. Rudresh Mahanthappa's Indo-Pak Coalition: Apti (Innova)
48. Steve Reid Ensemble: Daxaar (Domino)
49. Paul Shapiro's Ribs and Brisket Revue: Essen (Tzadik)
50. Horace Silver: Live at Newport '58 (1958, Blue Note)

Like all year-end lists, mine leaves one basic question unanswered: what records were considered, and what were not? The former, at least, is addressed in my full Year 2008 file. As for the things I didn't listen to, my 2008 Year End List Mentions file provides a rough picture, with the blue/green lines things I have checked out, the black things I haven't. The latter with 10+ mentions (presumably the prime critic-tested contenders) are: TV on the Radio: Dear Science; Bon Iver: For Emma, Forever Ago; MGMT: Oracular Spectacular; Nick Cave: Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!; Girl Talk: Feed the Animals; Hercules and Love Affair: Hercules and Love Affair; Sigur Rós: Með Suð I Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust; Deerhunter: Microcastle; Elbow: The Seldom Seen Kid; M83: Saturdays=Youth; Cut Copy: In Ghost Colours; She & Him: Volume One; Shearwater: Rook; Beach House: Devotion; David Byrne/Brian Eno: Everything That Happens Will Happen Today; Flying Lotus: Los Angeles; Fucked Up: The Chemistry of Common Life; Kings of Leon: Only by the Night; Crystal Castles: Crystal Castles; Frightened Rabbit: The Midnight Organ Flight; Metallica: Death Magnetic; Of Montreal: Skeletal Lamping; Lucinda Williams: Little Honey. Some of those (Girl Talk, Hercules, Byrne/Eno) I do hope to listen to soon. TV on the Radio swept last year with a record I didn't get much out of. It seems likely to sweep again this year -- competition seems limited to Fleet Foxes, Portishead, Vampire Weekend, and Santogold, all of which I have heard and find quite unexciting.