Album of the Year?

Alopecia might be my choice. Certainly if you asked me this very moment. It's a three-man race for yours truly thus far:

1) The aformentioned album by Cincinnati native Yoni Wolf's quartet "Why?" who are essentially genre-less. Seriously. Abstract hip hop? Indie rock? Psychedelic pop? I'm not sure what you'd coin these guys. Wolf's chops remind me of Beck ("I tried to sing it funny like Beck/but it's bringin' me down") when he's rhyming, but lyrically he's a little more dark (honest?). I'd liken him to Will Sheff of Okkervil River...but that doesn't work either, unless--again--you're just talking lyrics.

I haven't been this excited about an album for a long time.

Well that might be a lie, I was when I first heard...

2) Fleet Foxes self-titled album. Their follow-up to the E.P. Sun Giant, which is also incredible.

3) Then there's Beach House's second full-length Devotion which is an album I seem to come crawling back to time and time again.

Here's a sample from Why?'s Alopecia: a track called "Songs of the Sad Assassin."

update 11/28/08:
"because I only played chess once in my life and I lost..."