For those who don't know much about the loudness war, you can read about it here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war

Which recent albums (say, released this decade) had a good dynamic range instead of a wall of noise that many new albums have?

I'm thinking albums more in the pop/rock/indie genre - dance/electronica doesn't seem to have been affected as much, and there are a lot of modern R&B albums that are mixed well (e.g. Al Green's "Lay it down").

Here's a short list:

- Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
- Any of Elbow's albums
- Any of Augie March's albums
- Any Belle & Sebastian album before "The life pursuit"
- Ben Harper - Lifeline
- Joanna Newsom - Ys

What others have impressed you?

I'm at the stage now where I will not buy an album until I can verify that it has a decent dynamic range. Los Campesino's "Hold on now youngster..." was the last resort; it was just a wall of noise and I found it unlistenable. I ended up returning it for a refund shortly after buying it.