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It’s almost June, and you know what that means: time for a mid-year top-10 albums list.

Last year started off with a bang, with most of my favorite albums of the year (Andrew Bird, Okkervil River, The National) coming out early. This year has been more about consistency than exceptional quality so far, with at least a few dozen albums I’ve enjoyed enough to listen to more than once.

There are only a few discs that would have seriously competed for a top position last year, but I’ve already reserved those spots for Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke’s solo debut and the Sufjan Stevens “Illinois” outtakes album anyway.

Without any further ado, here are my picks for the first half of 2006.

1. Destroyer, “Destroyer’s Rubies” – Far and away my favorite of the year, “Rubies” merges Dan Bejar’s theatrical wordplay with the best band he’s ever played with. Destroyer may still sound like David Bowie, but Bowie never dreamed of sounding like this.

2. The Fiery Furnaces, “Bitter Tea” – Is it difficult? Indulgent? Full of backward singing? Yes, yes and yes, and that’s what makes it great. Well, that and “Benton Harbor Blues,” the most enchanting pop song in recent memory. Matthew Friedberger knows how to write ’em, and when he’s not goofing around, the songs deliver on all his potential.

3. The Pipettes, “We Are the Pipettes” – This isn’t even out yet, and even then you’ll only be able to get it as a U.K. import. Which doesn’t make it any less brilliant. The Pipettes are, essentially, the female Art Brut, as snarky as they are sincere. “We Are the Pipettes” blends girl-group singing (think The Supremes) with cheerleader enthusiasm and a killer indie-pop backing band. Music blogs have been all over this group, so head online to find some MP3s – and good luck prying “Pull Shapes” out of your head for the rest of the summer.

4. Maritime, “We, the Vehicles” – Every year, albums come out in foreign countries or on tiny labels and get ignored by list-makers, who then disqualify the album from the next year’s list when it actually gets a larger or domestic release based on a technicality. Unfortunately, this happened to Chad VanGaalen and New Buffalo (but not, strangely, to rapper Cam’ron – nice work, Pitchfork Media) and neither really got the praise they deserved at the end of 2005. Maritime’s sophomore album is finally out in the U.S. now, so rules aside, it’s one of the strongest discs of the year. With a former member of The Dismemberment Plan and two from The Promise Ring, the band plays punk-influenced indie with melodies echoing The Cure and The Smiths.

5. Rose Melberg, “Cast Away the Clouds” – Melberg, a former member of sad jangle-pop duo The Softies, has outdone herself with the quiet, mature folk of “Cast Away the Clouds.” My weaknesses are major-seventh chords and harmonies, and Melberg uses both generously.

6. Sondre Lerche and the Faces Down Quartet, “Duper Sessions” – Lerche sounds a lot more comfortable singing with a jazz group, as he does here, than on his previous chamber pop efforts. The songs swing and groove, whether they’re Elvis Costello covers or Lerche originals such as the stunning “I Wanna Call it Love.”

7. Centro-matic, “Fort Recovery” – Centro-matic celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. Meanwhile, I had no idea the band existed until I heard this record, which is among the band’s best, with its devotion to the faded glory of American rock and singer Will Johnson’s quaking voice.

8. Ghostface Killah, “Fishscale” – With a little less filler, this album would be as invincible as Ghostface’s alter ego, Iron Man. Either way, “The Champ,” “Shakey Dog” and “Underwater” blow away any hip-hop songs from the past couple years by people not named Roland Pemberton.

9. Gnarls Barkley, “St. Elsewhere” – It’s weird, but it works. Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse combine electro, gospel, hip-hop, rock and more into a surreal fun house where necrophilia is awesome. Plus, they’re great live.

10. Band of Horses, “Everything All the Time” – Believe the hype. Anything that comes out on Sub Pop Records is typically great, but when these guys are on their game (as in, every song with electric guitars), they’re glorious.

Beyond Yorke and Stevens’ upcoming summer releases, the rest of the year has a lot of potential, with new records due from The Shins, OutKast, and if we’re lucky, Ryan Adams and Wilco. If not, though, there’s always Destroyer, and that’s good enough for me.