poptimists | Album Archetypes?

(On recommendation of Frank+Dave, I'm starting a post here for the first time. No crucifixion, plz!)

So I noticed, while switching this week between my new favorite albums of the month (Dolly's Backwoods Barbie, Vampire Weekend's Absurd Indie Debut, and Laura Marling's Alas I Cannot Swim) that I keep returning to similar sounding albums each year. Not only that, but to a specified, almost dogmatic number of them. Two years ago I really dug Beth Orton's Comfort of Strangers, last year I was really into Paula Cole's new album. Now I've got Laura Marling - another dark-sounding folky record. Every year there's at least one country album that really speaks to me, and at least one indie album that gets played a bunch.

Now some of them serve social purposes. There's the album that I listen to while on the subway (2006: Lily Allen's Alright Still. 2007: Fall Out Boy's Infinity on High. At the moment: Vampire Weekend). There's the defining summer album, the album I like to listen to when it rains outside, the album I hear in every club and @ every party I attend.

So, how about you guys? What kind of album archetypes do you come across year after year? Have you ever found yourself thinking that the album you're currently listening to sounds a lot like a certain album from last year? And the year before? Do you think that this is due to lazy listening? (These albums serve somewhat as a 'free lunch' to use a Koganism.) Or is it that you relate to something in each of these archetypes that attracts you to new examples of them. (For me, probably every folk album goes back to listening to my mother's copy of Joni Mitchell's Hits.)