Hmmm...this year, eh? Isn't it a bit soon? Oh, well, the contenders, so far:
Clan of Xymox - Notes from The Underground -- that came out this year, didn't it? Nice 5-piece (guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, and ...um... something else...I forget...oh yeah! vocals!) dark music in the style of more recent Gary Numan, etc.
Curve - both of them, Open Day at the Hate Fest and Gift -- I got them both at the same time, so I have a hard time differentiating between the two, even though they were written and recorded and produced and etc. consecutively. This is some of the most mature and subtle song-writing the duo have ever done. If you've never heard of them, they came before Garbage, and Garbage should owe them a stipend (and I like Garbage! Notice who's missing though.)
Amorphis - Am Universum -- amazing metal with harmonious vocals in the old style (BOC, etc.) and...sax? Not too distracting, contrary to what AMG says...
The Faint - Danse Macabre -- am I in the wrong year? This should have been one of the best albums of 1983. Only 35 minutes, but great fun.
ohGr - Welt -- a staggeringly swaggering slab of post-industrial grooviness!
Ruby - Short-staffed at the Gene Pool -- is there such a thing as post-trip-hop? If so, then this is it. Also care of Mark Walk, the master!
In the Nursery - Asphalt -- it's not Hindle Wakes, but artists should not be judged by having a freak leap of beauty, so other than that, this may well be their most beautiful piece of music. Very lyrical.
Melotron - Fortschritt -- when did this come out? This year, I think. Excellent synth-pop, albeit sung in German.
Rammstein - Mutter -- another German-singing band! Nice and hard. No "Engel", but they may never equal that beautiful balance of the pretty and the hard.
Lennon - 5:30 Saturday Morning -- missed her opening for Stabbing Westward, but they were handing out samplers and dam! they were fine. Picked up the rest of the album, and it did not disappoint. Not really in my top of 2001 list (a couple of slow spots, but you should be able to pick it up cheap/used), but thought I'd mention her since none of youse guys will have heard of her. RIYL -- Curve, Stabbing Westward, Garbage, etc. I.E. groovy 5-piece hard rock.
Stabbing Westward - Stabbing Westward -- excellent hard rock, well written, passionately played, and immaculately produced. What more could you possibly want?
The Album Leaf - One Day I'll Be On Time -- melodic, instrumental, indie psychedelia. Highly recommended. Saw them open for Sigur Ros. RIYL Friends of Dean Martinez, Tristeza, etc.
The Third Eye Foundation - I Poo Poo on Your Juju -- sort of the audio equivalent of a Dave McKean art piece. A lot of cutting and pasting, yet the whole is seethingly coherent. This one is actually a collection of some of his remixes and such, yet it works extremely well as an album, especially since I didn't have many of the tracks (for that matter, I'm not sure I had any of the tracks). It's also his epilogue -- sad. RIYL the more delicate side of earlier Godspeed You Black Emperor! and really good soundscape artists. Oh, there's also some d'n'b, but that's almost irrelevant.
Tortoise - Standards -- really good album, don't think I need to defend this one.
Mouse on Mars - Idiology -- just because they were so awesome live!
Pan Sonic - Aaltopiiri -- minimalistic, experimental madness.
