9. “This All Yours” by alt-J

alt-J has accomplished the impossible with their latest offering: turned-pop star and tabloid diva Miley Cyrus into an indie phenomenon. Their clever single “Hunger of the Pine” samples Cyrus’s “4×4,” building a ghostly and fluid sound off the verse “I’m a female rebel.” This cool flavor permeates the rest of their album, which settles more in the ambient side of their sound, yet it is still unmistakably their brand of alternative rock. “This All Yours” is everything you’d expect from them — a coolly unintelligible murmuring of vocals roving through meandering melodies over a merciless beat. Though it’s a more thoughtful and earnest effort than their 2012 release, “An Awesome Wave,” this album retains all of their snarkiness and aloofness (even through the whimsical interlude “Garden of England”). That’s what the music of alt-J encapsulates: the sound of today’s unrelenting “cool.” They’re smart, they’re sarcastic, they’re implacable and that’s where the alternative genre stands as of 2014.

– Rachel Huang, Senior Staff Writer