Read last week’s picks from staff writers Casey Phillips, Sean Phipps and Matt Wilson.

CHRISTIAN BRUCE

1. DEERHUNTER. “Microcastle.” Kranky.

On first listen to this record, I knew I had no choice but to see them live. I love noisy/experimental pop, and this album is a nearly perfect example. There are two discs here. The first, “Microcastle,” is more straightforward rock. Disc 2, “Weird Era Cont.,” is more dissonant. Both demand repeat listens.

2. PORTISHEAD. “Third.” Mercury.

Until this album, I had never paid attention to this “trip-hop” band. Big mistake. They try things I have never heard here. Can a band sound dancy/jagged atmospheric? Beth Gibbons vocals are shockingly beautiful.

3. TV ON THE RADIO. “Dear Science.” DCG/Interscope.

TVOTR are powerfully rhythmic and lyrically challenging. This is the band more people should like, if only some radio somehwere played stuff like this. Blends R&B and jazz music into a new kind of post-punk.

4. BLACK KEYS. “Attack and Release.” Nonesuch.

This duo does garage rock proud. This record stands out in the band’s catalog for the artfully subtle production by Danger Mouse. Four songs in (“Psychotic Girl”), I was nodding a smiling and had to restart the album from the beginning, I thought, “Can this really be that good?”

5. VAMPIRE WEEKEND. “Vampire Weekend.” Xl Recordings.

Such a fresh pop sound. This literary, African-influenced punk-rock album was the most fun recording of the year. Is it ska? Do I hear the Clash? ... Talking Heads ... Peter Gabriel? Yes. Excellent.

CHRIS ZELK

1. ROBERT PLANT & ALISON KRAUSS. “Rising Sand.” Rounder. (Released Oct. 23, 2007)

The inspired pairing of these two unlikely collaborators combined with T Bone Burnett’s crisp production and an ace backing band makes “Rising Sand” a transcendent listening experience.

2. STEVE EARLE. “Washington Square Serenade.” New West.

Expatriate Nashvillian Steve Earle’s love letter to his new hometown, New York City, is the umpteenth offering of what he does best: odes to the downtrodden, politically charged rants and the occasional love song, rendered with a whiskey-aged voice. Long on melody and never short on outsider attitude.

3. MY MORNING JACKET. “Evil Urges.” ATO.

The evolution of this Kentucky quintet led by singer/songwriter Jim James continues to surprise as the band’s psychedelic-tinged altcountry meanderings are once again augmented with an even wider array of sounds. On “Evil Urges” MMJ casts the sonic net plenty wide to embrace all of its core elements plus forays into folk, hard rock and funk.

4. TIFT MERRITT. “Another Country.” Fantasy.

Tift Merritt wrote this in Paris after losing her first recording contract. “Another Country’s” breezy melodies and intelligent lyrics delivered by one of the coolest voices around raises the question: What was that first record label thinking?

5. THE BLACK KEYS. “Attack & Release.” Nonesuch.

Arguably the best twoman band working today, The Black Keys play a brand of bluesy garage rock that has never disappointed. The trend continues here.

Honorable mentions:

Lucinda Williams, “Little Honey” (Lost Highway); David Bowie, “Live Santa Monica ’72” (Reissue. Virgin/EMI); Cat Power, “Dark End of the Street EP” (eMusic); R.E.M. “Accelerate” (Warner Bros.); The Roots, “Rising Down” (Def Jam).