My man Paris been pimping the new Animal Collective EP, “Fall Be Kind,” and since he’s a resident engineer at Interscope Records, I figgered I’d pay attention.

Here’s a track which happens to include the very first legally cleared sample of the Grateful Dead. Dunno how many producers have been clamoring to sample San Francisco’s sons, but I’m not surprised the old dudes are finicky.

The Flaming Lips have teamed up with singer Wayne Coyne’s nephew’s band, Stardeath and the White Dwarfs, for a take on Pink Floyd’s classic “The Dark Side of the Moon,” which is available exclusively on iTunes.

Now, there are millions of Floyd fans all over the world, and in this country I’d say there MIGHT be a few hundred who have absorbed them on as many levels as yours truly. Just sayin’. So I can’t resist making a few notes here.

• While there appears to be a more official video of “Breathe,” I REALLY don’t like the version Lips & Co. grind out. I tried to attach “Time/Breathe (Reprise)” along with a really weird but cool sync with “The Wizard of Oz,” but the guy disabled the embedding code (who knew you could even DO that?). I like that one, and can even tolerate the “Breathe” reprise in this context.
• Yes, Henry Rollins and Peaches seem like stunt casting, and in Rollins’ case it doesn’t always work. On the other hand, hearing him recite the lines about violence in “Us and Them” works pretty well.
• I WAS a little worried when I saw Peaches’ name on this project. But halfway through the amazing version of “The Great Gig in the Sky,” I realized she was gonna play it straight and earnestly go for Clare Torry’s iconic vocals. I was genuinely moved, and found myself rooting for her as she went for it, and in her own understated way, kinda nailed it. You go, girl.
• As you can tell by the previous two bullets, Rick Wright’s contributions are recreated with the most reverence. “Breathe” and “Money” are butchered, IMO (“Money” I’m sure is meant to be purposely anticlimactic, but still … ).
• I must confess a bit of bias in that I found myself comparing Lips & Co.’s “TDSOTM” more to Easy Dub All Stars’ “The Dub Side of the Moon,” an absolutely inspired cover of the classic inna rubbadub stylee. Because of the natural differences in style, it was easier for EDAS to embrace elements of the songs that Lips & Co. needed to avoid because of their inherent psychedelic rock sound (“Money”). And while dub has always pioneered in this department, I was a bit surprised that Lips & Co. didn’t work the echo harder (particularly on personal favorite “Any Colour You Like,” where EDAS worked it appropriately hard), given their use of it in their own work. There are points where I wonder if the groups were aware of EDAS’ version.

Miike Snow's Andrew Wyatt at Popscene.

Last Christmas, my friend Gwen gave me Dave Thompson’s book “I Hate New Music,” his chucklicious classic rock manifesto. It was a half-joke – after all, it was me who first played the Calvin Harris remix of The Ting Tings’ “Great DJ” for our group of friends.

On the other hand, were you to check out the recently played list on my iPod, you’d see Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush. Mustache-and-robe rock. Prog rock. Foghat if you were LUCKY.

But being unemployed all year this year allowed me a lot of time to really reconnect to the world of contemporary music. Being able to listen to KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic five days a week helped … a LOT.

And what did I find the kids are listening to these days? (Cue spit take.) Prog rock?!

Well, not all of it. Obviously, there’s a bunch of fun dancey pop to be had, and I found myself drawn to it for reasons I don’t fully grasp.

But yes, I remember distinctly two moments at the Treasure Island Music Festival, where many of the bands I was casually interested in were appearing. First, the bass player from Grizzly Bear pulled out the same model bass that Chris Squire from Yes and Geddy Lee of Rush used in the ’70s. Second, the realization that, three songs into their set, The Decemberists were going to play their entire new album. A CONCEPT album, no less.

So without further adieu, my favorite musics of the year.

The Decemberists – The Hazards of Love

This album is nothing short of a revelation for me. Before I heard it, I simply would have not believed it possible. In truth, The Decemberists and some of their alt/indie peers have been flirting with elements of progressive rock for a couple of years, as they naturally test the limits of their form and themselves.

But where comparisons of “The Crane Wife” to Jethro Tull were a bit premature, to place this record next to “Thick as a Brick” or even Pink Floyd’s “The Wall,” as shocking as that is, makes sense. In the prog-rock continuum, this is easily the most compelling concept album since Marillion’s “Clutching at Straws” more than 20 years ago, and has appropriately taken that record’s place as my drunken late night indulgence.

I had a hard time picking one track from “The Hazards of Love,” since it works best as a whole. But I think this one sums up the shocking nature of this record. The band rocks harder than in previous releases, and here they channel (I shit you not) Deep Purple, with Jenny Conlee throwing in a Jon Lord-esque organ fill!

Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest

Grizzly Bear isn’t so much prog rock as they are art rock, and they don’t look backwards to the same influences as The Decemberists. But all the same, I’m both surprised and grateful that they exist.

This track, a version of the single “While You Wait for the Others,” with Michael McDonald (!) guesting on vocals isn’t even on “Veckatimest,” and might be misconstrued as a stunt. But it’s good, check it out.

Miike Snow – Miike Snow

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnD9CrsZeOE

Why on earth do I love this record so much? I mean, I DID intend to challenge myself this year, but these guys produced BRITNEY, for god’s sake! And “Silvia” is like an ’09 version of a-ha, supercharged with Autotune!

I just have blinding white memories of hearing this song for the first time on the stoop of my apartment, and it was just so insufferably pretty and the sun was out and I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry or shit. Same thing happened on the sunny afternoon of my friends’ wedding.

And I think that’s why I listen to music.

Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BJDNw7o6so

More frothy pop, this time a French souffle. I remember Phoenix from the “Lost in Translation” soundtrack, where their enthusiasm stuck out.

They keep that feel going on their new one, and yes, you’ve heard them on that car commercial. Don’t hate.

Passion Pit – Manners

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5i3yQ_zeT8

Sure, with their ridiculously high-pitched vocals, these guys sound as enthusiastic as Phoenix. But I don’t know if I’m reading into it or what, but there seems to be something melancholic under there.

This one’s not one of the better-known ones from “Manners,” but it’s my current favorite. I just love the line: “Nobody knows you the way you know you/But I think I do/Well, I thought I knew/Yeah, I thought I knew”.

I’ve been trying to get a hold of this version of Miike Snow’s “Animal” for months, and now I’m happy to share it with you. There have been many remixes of “Animal,” but this one offers a cool, dubby take courtesy of superstar DJ Mark Ronson (I won’t hold it against him).