Lest Any Given Tuesday forget where it's bread is buttered, behold the Top 10 releases in Baltimore for the year of 2007. Where applicable, click the link and read the original AGT review for free MP3s from these great albums:

10) Even So - Homecomings & Departures: The last song on Even So's sophomore EP Homecomings & Departures (self-released), "Joseph Lewis Lucas" takes a note from Johnny Cash ("I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die"), showing that principal lyricist Ira Gamerman is a much less pretentious Colin Meloy, getting the point across without needing a copy of Roget's Thesaurus. Without the showiness of over-processed lyrics, Even So are able to let a harder bent come through in the music. "Interstellar (Airbag, Airbag)" is tinged with post-punk revival, countoffs, and post-hardcore  rather than folk or baroque pop. (Read Any Given Tuesday's review)

9) Dan Deacon - Spiderman of the Rings: A skronking Frankenstein creation by the unlikely poster boy for Baltimore's creative culture, Spiderman is a tour-de-force of Cartoon Express sounds, deconstructed simple electronics, nerdiness, and a live set full of sweat and insanity.

8) Monarch - If Children: If Children mingles in a room full of shoegaze, alt-country, folk, and noise, shaking hands, kissing cheeks, and making friends with everyone. Perhaps friends of any of these genres should seek an introduction. (Read Any Given Tuesday's review)

7) The Death Set - Rad Warehouses, Bad Neighborhoods: Baltimore by way of Australia duo encapsulate what is Baltimore in four words and release an EP that is as rad as the warehouse it must have been born in.

6) Thrushes - Sun Come Undone: Luscious and saccharine, Thrushes' sound replicates the 'wall of sound' like it's a full-time job, and on tracks like "Into The Woods", guitarist Casey Harvey presents a case study in why Rickenbackers and reverb have more in common than simply beginning with "r". (read AGT's review and view SĒN Baltimore's Local Music Spotlight Video Podcast)

5) Salim - Hip Hop Revisited: Hip Hop Revisited could also be called Hip Hop Revised. A welcome reprieve from slick beats with no substantive rhyme, Revisited also avoids the unfortunate problem of many political/philosophical rappers who are cursed with mediocre tracks to lay their heavy rhymes on. The album is solid both in sound and substance. (read AGT's review)

4) Avec - Lines: A progressive effort which still packs an accessible punch, interchangeably using blasting riffs ("Hamartia") and guitar harmonies ("House") with experimental noise/drone ("Yavengia"). (read AGT's review)

3) Pontiak - Sun on Sun: This album is full of monster jams with '70s-style heavy, heavy guitar riffs that will absolutely blow away your rock sensibilities, not to mention most Zeppelin-biting wannabe rock outfits on the scene right now. Having recorded the tracks live (whether or not an artistic or financial decision), there is a much more organic feel, an unpolished groove that a highly polished and overdubbed rock album just can't give. (Read AGT's review)

2) Wendel Patrick - Sound:: A challenging trip through experimentation with multiple genres and sounds, many of which you will have a hard time identifying but have a great time trying. The funk bass on "Bass Trip" is a slam dunk compared to the near-digeridoo hook of "Mass Media", which loops over an amalgam of voice clips culled from the mass media. And whether the listener comes looking for the electronica sound in "Thirteen Years", the jazz band in a box on "Planet Planetarium" or the hip hop tempo of the intro to "Stonezthrow", tastes will be challenged and genres bended as heads nod and bodies move to all of the above. (read AGT's review)

1) J Roddy Walston & The Business - Hail Mega Boys: Hellbilly piano and vocal harmonies rip throughout the record. On the dancehall/barroom cut "Rock and Roll The Second" the keys are the star, Rod's itchy and scratchy voice coming from behind to drive a distinct rock and roll that brews somewhere below the Mason-Dixon. Follow that with "Go For It", favoring guitar attacks over the black-and-whites, "Go For It" is a danceable jam with encouraging lyrics inspiring enough to cause you to dance away your worries and then go out and do something about them! (read AGT's review)

Tags: any given tuesday, avec, dan deacon, j roddy walston and the business, MP3, Pontiak, salim, the death set, thrushes, top ten lists, wendel patrick