By Jon Bream

The nation's critics have spoken. And you know what that means. They're honoring acts known mostly only to hipsters, readers of Pitchfork and listeners of the Current and Radio K.

Yes, indie rock ruled as the Village Voice's annual Pazz and Jop Poll of 697 critics has named Animal Collective's "Merriweather Post Pavilion" as the best album of 2009, over Phoenix's "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix." "Merriweather Post" was mentioned on the ballots of 154 critics. Voters were asked to divide 100 points among 10 albums, with no CD getting more than 30 or fewer than 5 points.

The Twin Cities' own P.O.S. placed at No. 76 for "Never Better," with 13 mentions. Bob Dylan's "Together Through Life" ranked 41st, with 26 mentions. A total of 1,934 albums were cited by the 697 critics.

The best single went to "Empire State of Mind" by Jay-Z featuring Alicia Keys, with 89 mentions. Phoenix was runnerup again, with "1901," while Animal Collective placed third with "My Girls." Besides Jay-Z ubiquitous smash, the only major-label singles in the Top 10 were Yeah Yeah Yeahs' "Zero" at 6, Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" at 7 and Taylor Swift's "You Belong with Me" at 10.

Chris Riemenschneider and I both voted as did other Twin Cities critics including Andrea Swensson, Britt Robson and Peter Scholtes.

For complete Pazz and Jop results and commentaries, click here.