Top 3:

1. Ys by Joanna Newsom

Joanna Newsom is either a siren or a cat in heat, but the first time I heard this album it was absolutely mind-blowing. The orchestration is incredible and the wordplay is unapologetically dense. Even if you hate her voice, it's worth listening to for the strings alone.

2. Fast Cars, Danger, Fire, and Knives by Aesop Rock

There's nothing specific about this Aesop Rock album, but it was the first of his I had ever heard. After listening to it the first time, I learned that "literate hip-hop" is no longer oxymoronic.

3. Blood Money by Tom Waits

Another acquired taste, but Tom Waits is probably the most interesting songwriter of the last 50 years, if nothing else.

These three albums are almost single-handedly responsible for any inspired fugues of creativity I've experienced in the last year.