An Ear For An Era: 2011

2011 was back then.

Actually, what I kind of want to talk about is how exhausting the 2598 songs (7 days worth) of 2011 were. I considered stopping as it dragged on and on. I'm still mostly enjoying this project, but this one just had me really wanting to live more in the moment, because this seems like such a critical moment to be present in. But it'll be fine. I did a count for 2012 and there are only 1791 songs, less than 5 days worth. I think 2011 was probably the biggest chunk. And I considered ending it after 2012 since I started this project way back at the beginning of 2013...but then that would cheat me out of all these years I've put into this. Because due to said project, I didn't spend enough time with current music. So everything I've accrued in the past 4 years has gotten not enough attention already. So might as well give it its due here.

Okay, that is out of the way. let's go back 6 years to 2011. Sorry if I'm somewhat brief (and heavy on the footnotey section at the bottom) but I started listening to this back in November and I am going to have a hard time remembering it all that well. I've been on a break (listening to new music) a full month now, and I'm probably going to go another month before I dive into the next one.

Here's what I wrote at the time:
best of the music of the 2011th year since we started counting up

The summer of 2011 was when I was really working on my lawn for my house. Lots of digging holes. I remember this specifically because of a couple songs from a couple albums that came out in 2011.

Peter Bjorn & John's Gimme Some was quite an enjoyable collection of upbeat tracks, and many times I was digging holes with "Dig A Little Deeper" in my head.

My main soundtrack to that summer was Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes though. So much that I made it my album of the year back then. And the title track was my anthem as I worked to make my property into something. It was some sort of a growing up song and album. Trying to figure out what I really should be, what I should do with this land, work 'til I'm sore.

Fleet Foxes "Helplessness Blues"

Thao & Mirah was my introduction to both Thao Nguyen and Mirah. I checked it out because it was produced by tUnE-YarDs and included a song featuring her. Three awesome, empowered, unique, and incredibly playful voices playing off each other. I wonder if they are going to get back together again. They have both put out some awesome solo stuff before and since then though.

Speaking of tUnE-YarDs, W H O K I L L might be her best album. Bird-Brains (no more stylizing with punctuation, I've put enough effort into getting that right) had hints of W H O K I L L with a few tracks that could be on this one, but this one was this one. The power of looping, the power of the creative energy, the power of the rawness.

Tune-yards "Powa"

Speaking of catchy and creative, let's go further down that road to Deerhoof. Deerhoof vs Evil is one of my favorites from them. I read a review of their most recent album that badmouthed this one a little bit for whatever reason, and it seemed uncalled for. This one is different in that it doesn't rock out as hard as classic Deerhoof, but it just finds quieter ways to be very very weird.

TV On The Radio, man. TV On The Radio. What do I write about Nine Types of Light that I haven't already written about TV On The Radio? I guess at this point their pop is getting poppier without sacrificing any of their inventiveness. The ballady songs are especially heartfelt, and the rockers keep me banging on my steering wheel.

I had a Facebook "memory" the other day from 2011 when I was in the conundrum that new TVOTR and Battles music was available to me at the same time and I didn't know what to listen to first. Because they are two of my always favorites, and new music from either is an event. And then when I heard "Ice Cream," the first song Battles released from their new album Gloss Drop, their first without founding member Tyondai Braxton, I was absolutely blown away. They brought in some guest vocalists to fill in the gap, and while they didn't really need them (as they proved on the instrumental tracks and then the subsequent album), it was a very creative exercise for one of the most creative bands I've heard. I've written about Battles a lot so I won't say much more except that I saw them live that same year and I wrote a blog post about it, so if you want to you can check it out:
Battles 7.19.11: A Deconstruction of Carefully Controlled Noise

St. Vincent won me over with Strange Mercy. I hadn't realized what I'd been missing but checked this one out because I was checking everything out in 2011. And this album is why it is good that I checked so much out in 2011. I didn't realize she was so experimental/art rock! And I didn't know she could wail on guitar so effectively! Those licks pulled me in and then the "in between" slower songs hooked me (with her also awesome vocals).

The Antlers' second one Burst Apart was basically equally devastating as their previous one. A big step forward musically without sacrificing (wow I used the same basic sentence just a couple paragraphs ago...but I'm not gonna change it!) what makes it such an engaging challenge to listen to. I remember worrying it would be less intense when the reviews said it was less raw, but...it wasn't. Not very fair to have a song called "Putting The Dog To Sleep" though.

More indie rock was Bon Iver with his doubly self-titled album Bon Iver, Bon Iver. That one is pretty mind blowing. I remember comparing his trajectory to Kanye West, calling this his My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. I stand behind that, though I'm not sure if his new one is his Life of Pablo. But as of 2011, totally apt. A combination of all of his tricks he'd accrued over his previous material and put together in fascinating ways. I still can't get behind that Peter Cetera esque last track though.

When the album Wild Flag by the "supergroup" Wild Flag was released, it was exciting because Carrie Brownstein was playing music again after mostly being known for Portlandia for so many years. It was a nice reminder of how great of an artist she was when she was being sincere instead of sarcastic. It was a nice reminder where she gets the credibility to lampoon hipster culture so effectively. And it was my introduction to Mary Timony, who is about to re-release material from her old band Helium and similarly rocked me to my soul with her other newer band Ex Hex. But what about Wild Flag? It's just a great collection of high energy punk, a throwback to Sleater-Kinney, and even though it was kind of a side project (especially now that SK is back together) it will never be a minor footnote release. It stands tall.

M83 caught my ear with Hurry Up, We're Dreaming, a massive double album with massive hit after massive hit (okay maybe the hits weren't technically massive, they just felt that way. Epic hit maybe? I hate overuse of that word, but I think these songs qualify). Synthy, high energy, it just makes me want to see them live and feel the energy of the room on the opening notes of some of these songs.

Remember when The Weeknd was a new, mysterious thing? House of Balloons kind of blew my mind. The rawness, the desperation, that voice, it was very engaging. And I'm not generally into modern R&B unless it's something wild along the lines of Janelle Monae. But The Weeknd came out of nowhere and expressed something very raw and sad in such an engaging way. Side note: I ended up also getting the "remastered" versions of the first three albums/mixtapes/whatever and listened to both. I liked the remaster of House of Balloons but when I heard the original version again I loved it that much more. The rawness!

Charles Bradley came on shortly after the election with his song "The World (Is Going Up In Flames)" and it was so poignant and timely and sad. Most of the rest of the album is not particularly political, more love song based. That man can sing.

Another one that came on shortly after the election was The Ex with Catch My Shoe. This was their first one with the new singer, and while it definitely changed the experience a little to have a different singer, there is so much rhythm to The Ex that I think it would have been weirder if they swapped out the drummer or guitarist.

The Ex "Cold Weather is Back"

The final Beastie Boys album was a very fine Beastie Boys album. Leave it to them to keep pushing musical innovation 25 years into their career, but Hot Sauce Committee Part Two was amazing. Enough of that old school swagger and playfulness combined with forward thinking production. RIP MCA!

Other hip hop was a bunch of things, of course including that Jay-Z & Kanye West collaboration Watch The Throne. I feel the same way now as I did when it came out. They've both done better, they've both done much deeper, but it is a hell of a lot of fun to listen to anyway.

Regarding Kendrick Lamar, I just want to say that what I wrote about in my 2011 write-up (linked above) was "very optimistic about his future." Now, I don't think I could have predicted anything like Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City (or of course To Pimp a Butterfly) but I would like to point out that I astutely knew he was capable of better than Section.80. His lyrics and delivery were great (particularly on "Rigamortus") but the production left a bit to be desired. And then he delivered a short year later. In all seriousness though, Section.80 was better than I'd remembered/recognized at the time. But of course now it's all about what he went on to do, isn't it?

The Roots had another brilliant one in undun, a very raw, gritty set that has a certain artfulness, seamlessly incorporating a Sufjan Sevens instrumental track in full before expanding on that with an extended outro.

Of course, all hip hop that came out in 2011 had to be compared to Black Up by Shabazz Palaces. It ended up very close to the top of my list and pretty much ruined all other hip hop that came out because it was so far beyond what I understood hip hop could be. I still don't know how to write about it (see my attempt in 2011) other than it feels like it elevates me, clears some space out, and puts me...somewhere. Up there. Cleared out.

Shabazz Palaces "Recollections of the wraith"

But what about Tom Waits? Bad As Me is still his latest album and it is still as awesome as most of what he's put out in his long career. I love his alternating between banging blues blowouts and sincere  bona fide ballads. Nobody does it like Tom Waits. Not even close. It was quite haunting to listen to "Last Leaf" though, in early 2017, so soon after the likes of Bowie and Leonard Cohen left this plane. Stick around forever please!

I had a couple massive, very experimental/heady benefit compilations come up that were made for Japan, and I still feel like the world didn't mourn enough for what happened to Japan in March of 2011. It was a massive catastrophe and so much bigger than some little blog.
And while I was writing this, I googled Fukushima and saw this story from YESTERDAY that there are currently "Deadly Nuclear Radiation Levels Detected" in Fukushima.

Grouper "Cassiopeia"

Other words.

• Explosions in the Sky. I was just getting into them because Take Care, Take Care, Take Care was pretty well received. Quite awesome instrumental post rock.
• Similarly, Mogwai with the best song title of most times: Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will.
• I Am Very Far was yet another quite good Okkervil River album but this was when I was a little less into it than their predecessors. Still a couple songs I gave 4 stars to though.
• Kind of ditto for The Decemberists/The King is Dead.
• I always remember liking The Dodos but I never decide that I want to listen to The Dodos. But Here came No Color to remind me of why I always remember liking them. Very catchy and creative.
• Iron & Wine just kept getting more and more weird and that's one of the few acts I'd rather hear stick to what they're known for. Still a couple songs I love though.
• Big K.R.I.T. had a breakthrough with Return Of 4Eva, and I ran the turkey trot listening to it. It was very good running music.
• I'm not sure if there's much unique about The Mountain Goats' All Eternals Deck but I do remember getting it at Twist & Shout on vinyl and they had held onto a special limited version of the vinyl for me. That was when I knew I had "made it" as a music fan. My favorite record store knew me! It also, in retrospect speaks volumes to why I had so much damn 2011 music.
• Obits! Still awesome.
• The Lionheart Brothers! Still great. A little more wistful and less poppy on Matters of Love and Nature but I still like them quite a lot.
• Lykke Li seemed to get more bold with her vulnerabilities on Wounded Rhymes.
• Cut Copy made for a good stand in for Hot Chip on Zonoscope.
• I like Smoking Popes, but This Is Only A Test is just an awkward album where he tries to speak for kids much younger than he is. It just doesn't work for me.
• I should probably mention Radiohead so Radiohead! I think I liked the random other tracks they put out more than The King of Limbs but it still has its moments.
• of Montreal put out an EP called thecontrollersphere, which was okay, but its centerpiece, the 8 minute "Holiday Call" was great.
• There were two Buddy Holly tribute compilations for some reason. Lots of variation in quality...
• I usually skip Christmas songs with this project but the holidays actually lined up with it this time, so I had the quite enjoyable Songs for Christmas Vol. X by Sufjan Stevens (including my favorite, "Christmas Unicorn") and A Very She & Him Christmas come up. Enjoyable tree decoratin' music.
• The Lonely Island is pretty great, eh?
• And speaking of funny things, The Book of Mormon.
• Jens Lekman's EP An Argument With Myself has my wife's favorite Jens song (the title track). I prefer "A Promise," a heartfelt song for a very good friend.
• People Under The Stairs are like the Spoon of hip hop. Always great.
• I remember Tinariwen's album Tassili. It featured numerous TV On The Radio cameos and some great guitar work.
• Retox is pretty awesome.
• LP1 got me over Joss Stone. Great voice, but at that point I'd finally had enough.
• Washed Out was the sexier version of the xx.
• Mi Ami went totally electronic on the EP Dolphins. I still prefer the more outrageous guitar-flavored version of them.
• I think I realized while listening to Take Care that I don't really have a personal need to listen to Drake.
• Doomtree Bangarang!
• Feist! Metals! Still great!
• ...And another classic by "Weird Al" Yankovic. Alpocalypse seemed almost like he was trying to be relevant to the 2011 world with songs about Craigslist and ringtones and forwards, but still quite good. And the White Stripes style parody "CNR" is pretty right on. (he did better on the next one though)

The Mix of the time:
Sound is the Blood Between Me and You: It Was 2011
1. Wild Flag "Romance"
2. Snake Rattle Rattle Snake "Hastily"
3. M83 featuring Amy White "Steve McQueen"
4. Beans "Gluetraps"
5. Shabazz Palaces "Recollections of the wraith"
6. Mayer Hawthorne featuring Jimijames "The Walk"
7. Bon Iver "Perth"
8. Lia Ices featuring Justin Vernon "Daphne"
9. Jens Lekman "Waiting for Kirsten"
10. The Antlers "Putting the Dog to Sleep"
11. Deerhoof "I Did Crimes for You"
12. Tom Waits "Hell Broke Luce"
13. Battles "Inchworm"
14. TV On the Radio "Repetition"
15. Tinariwen featuring Tunde Adebimpe & Kyp Malone "Tenere Taqqim Tossam"
16. Tune-Yards "Esso"
17. Colin Stetson featuring Shara Worden "Lord I Just Can't Keep From Crying Sometimes"
18. Fleet Foxes "Helplessness Blues"

Next One is 2012 (eventually):
Dirty Projectors' best maybe? Rock off with Cloud Nothings vs Japandroids! The year of El-P and Killer Mike before they joined forces officially! Frank Ocean! Kendrick Lamar! Call Me Maybe! And much more!

best of the music of the 2011th year since we started counting up

Happy End of the Year Everyone!

Insert some sort of summary here! Something about how much of the year was dominated by great artists scaling back on their ambition, which makes it difficult to put together a list! Say something about how other than a few exceptions, the year was made great by great artists just doing what they do. Lots of solid efforts here. Very little went beyond that though. When we get down to the top few it will shift a bit.

As always, this isn't about "best" as much as "my favorites." you know, subjective opinions that can't really be backed up by fact? I have only so many synonyms for "gut reaction" and so many ways to describe it, but that's where the order comes from. Don't try to debate it, but please feel free to share your differing opinion!

I will start with some honorable mentions. This may be a long piece. You might want to go to the bathroom. Or maybe skip over these honorable mentions if you're in a hurry and want to get to the list. But I'll do what The AV Club does when they do this sort of paragraph and bold the artist mentioned so you can see if I mention someone you dig and you can see what I said about them while skipping whatever I said about whoever else that nobody cares about.

Although if you read it maybe you'll want to know more about some of these. Maybe?

Start at the end. The Roots just put out what seems to be a great album. A beautiful story told in reverse. I just didn't have enough time to listen through it over and over obsessively (though I should have) because I was already trying to listen through my full list of 2011 music and only got through undun a couple times. My bad. But so far, it's probably as good as anything they've done in the past few years if not better than at least most of it. I better start shortening these honorable mentions, eh? The same can be said about People Under The Stairs and Phonte, although to a lesser degree. Still great albums. I think I just got a lot of hip hop at the end of the year because I realized how lacking my "best of 2011" list was looking in that particular genre. You'll see. Let's knock out all the hip hop first, shall we? Atmosphere's latest had some wonderful moving storytelling as they are wont to do. Beans put out a highly underrated album with some of the sickest production to be heard (there was supposed to be a flying lotus track on there. it wasn't on the album for some reason...but the whole feel of the album is very flylo-esque). Big K.R.I.T. had that one that had everybody raving. I probably would be too if it had hit that gut reaction or whatever. But still wonderful. I'm sure some of you will be annoyed that the Beastie Boys aren't on the list. I don't know what to say, I probably just didn't listen to it enough. I think every track is great but when listened to in one sitting it has that Beastie Boys effect on me, which is that it's too much. Hail Mary Mallon had some unique moments and some highly catchy tunes, some of the catchiest stuff I've heard from Aesop Rock yet. I think I dug it more than most people. And finally, Kendrick Lamar had some brilliant and/or heartbreaking words but for some reason I wasn't into the production. It sounded too much like whatever he is kind of working against. Very optimistic about his future though. That's the hip hop I'm going to mention. What else? Wilco put out their best album in quite some time. Get it if you dig Wilco from before Sky Blue Sky. Lykke Li put out some gold that on another day probably could have made the list (super close!). Other Scandinavians? Peter Bjorn & John had a great opening three tracks on their album and didn't really get bad per se, it just had to slow down and I wish it hadn't had to. And The Lionheart Brothers' album wasn't officially released in the United States, although I will say that that's the only thing that kept if off the list because it was a super strong album that continues to go underheard here for some strange reason. They were masters of dream pop (emphasis on pop) on their last album and this is more of a mood record that is a wonderful place that I want to visit. Yes, I want to visit the album (and Norway, for that matter). Jens Lekman's EP delivered 4 more golden tracks, everything we would have hoped for. Speaking of EPs, Broken Bells' expanded their sound just enough this year. What's next? Los Campesinos! are a band I didn't check out until this year. Their album is very catchy and I need to hear more. Neon Indian expanded on the sound of their first album to create something more resembling their outstanding live show. Nat Baldwin put out something that The Dirty Projectors should be proud of (I just wish there had been more experimentation). Feist outdid herself despite not having a pop hit. St. Vincent made it clear that I should be more of a St. Vincent fan. Mekons put out a solid effort, melding and mixing many styles as The Mekons are good at doing. Raphael Saadiq kept soul alive while Charles Bradley completely killed it (and Mayer Hawthorne revived it with sweet, sweet lovin). Tinariwen brought us another type of African music ("another type" being as opposed to last year's resurgence of Congotronics) with some absolute gorgeousness. And Real Estate put out something that was wonderful the one and only time I've listened to it (again, if I listened some more it probably would be on the list but I'm a busy man).

I hope those mentions were honorable enough for fans of the above bolded artists. All worth checking out despite not getting full-ish paragraphs below that the ranked artists will now get.

The Top 19 (yes, only 19 this year because I'm a stickler. Just put The Roots at 20 if you need a round number) Albums of 2011.

19. Washed Out - Within And Without. Yeah, pretty sexy cover they got there. The whole album just feels like the cover looks. Somewhat PG-13-rated but you get it. What does this sentence even mean? If you need me to describe the music, it's bedroom sexy electronica without being too overtly sexy. Just like I said above! Come on! OK, this is what The XX would have sounded like if they were less minimalist (they were my top album of 2009 for the record).

18. Thao & Mirah - Thao & Mirah. Before this I hadn't really heard of Thao OR Mirah. OK, I think I had heard of Thao (and upon further investigation, I think I'd heard Thao's "bag of hammers" song). But I wasn't really intrigued until I saw a free download of their song featuring one Tune-Yards (I'm going to just spell it that way damnit). It was like a good Tune-Yards song with more vocalists! So I got the album and it's just full of that unique indie folk music that I love so much (that first got me into such artists as Jesca Hoop). Tune-Yards did something special with production and other than a song or two, it doesn't really sound like Tune-Yards, although it has that same spirit of looseness and giddiness of experimentation.

17. Lia Ices - Grown Unknown. More of that female indie folk stuff but on a slightly higher level than Thao & Mirah. The ethereal-ness of this record combined with a certain upbeat-icity made it something both easy to listen to and, in a way, transcendent.

16. Snake Rattle Rattle Snake - Sineater. It is impossible for me to be objective about this, although this was never about being objective. But this Denver favorite's debut LP was everything it should be. It did not disappoint. I already knew & loved the songs so it was easy to get into it from the very first spin. The production keeps the energy almost as high as the live experience of this band, so give it a listen if you're not from here and want to know what Denver's up to these days.

15. Cut Copy - Zonoscope. This is dance floor ready electronic pop music. It's almost like the Hot Chip album that this year was missing. I don't know what else to say about this. It's a lot like Hot Chip. So it's highly enjoyable.

14. Colin Stetson - New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges. I was intrigued by who he's played with in the past and who shows up on this album. Laurie Anderson shows up on this and that should be indication enough what you are getting. Pulsating grooves and sounds that could not (but yes they do!) come from a saxophone. It's a big honkin' thing, let me tell you. And the atmosphere created here is like going into a dark cave with some ominousness lurking here and there, and then Laurie Anderson reads a poem and you wonder how you got there but you need to go deeper just to be deeper because despite where you are and any feelings of unease it's addicting.

13. The Go! Team - Rolling Blackouts. They came back in a big way this year. This album is almost as good as their first one, which is to say it is much better than their second one. They have re-discovered the balance of high energy jams and gleeful-but-lower-tempo pop hits (or should be hits).

12. Wild Flag - Wild Flag. On Portlandia, Carrie Brownstein mercilessly mocks hipster culture so much that it's good to get a reminder about what gives her such credibility. Sure, you can just listen to some Sleater-Kinney and have that be the end of it, but that band hasn't been around in awhile. So this is a nice nudge to say, yes, Carrie Brownstein still rules when she's not being ironic/funny (although she rules at that too!). On top of that, it's nice to be reminded of why I first got into the band Quasi. Drummer Janet Weiss impressed me so when I saw them live that I had to have their albums. I can't really continue with these comparisons because I haven't listened to Helium or The Minders but let's just talk about this record. This band is legit, greater than the sum of its parts, a group of people that always should have been playing together (and in some cases they have). This is a showcase of some great individual talents (particularly Janet Weiss, but the whole group is highly skilled) coming together for a great unified statement.

11. Battles - Gloss Drop. The band was halfway through what I will now think of as some great lost album when Tyondai Braxton left. This was a cause of great concern of course, as Battles With Tyondai Braxton had created some of the greatest music of our young century. But all along, this was something of a super group, and if anyone was capable of carrying on it was the remaining trio. Sure, they likely had to scale back their vision a little bit, but that is different than looking back. Battles has always been a well oiled machine of a band, always moving forward into the future. Sort of a new generation of math rock. My engineering genes, love of organized chaos, and robotic hips will always appreciate what Battles does, and I have no doubt that they will pull us into the future.

Top Ten! That's a big deal, right? Ten is usually enough for some people anyway, so if you stopped reading and just scrolled for awhile, time to pretend we're just getting started!

10. Deerhoof - Deerhoof vs Evil. Every year there's that early release that piques my interest and is that "early contender" for album of the year. This was that album this year. I was slightly late to get on the Deerhoof train; the first new album of theirs I got was Friend Opportunity (which was quite great!). Now, I don't know if this is just me or if it would be the case if others were to hear this album, but it sounds like the most accessible Deerhoof has been. Without compromising the weirdness that has always made the band something special, this album is just plain catchy.

9. Fucked Up - David Comes To Life. This is just a great story set to a punk rock background. One of those concept albums that can be appreciated on whichever level you feel like giving it at the time. Just enjoying a song here or there? It sounds great! It will get your adrenaline pumping and get you going. Wanting to hear the story? Do it then! It's a great story!

8. The Antlers - Burst Apart. When I first started reading about this new one I didn't think I'd like it as much as Hospice, because it was supposedly more electronic, possibly more poppy, which just seemed like it would be a less intimate experience. However, they don't seem to have lost anything in this expansion. The songs are still deeply personal and heartbreaking, in the same way as they are on the slower Hospice. If anything, the new expansive sound serves as a funnel allowing easier access to the devastation provided by their content. Or more surface area to the ocean of despair? I don't know, it's good.

7. Tom Waits - Bad As Me. Most everything has been said about Tom Waits over the years. Not sure what I have to contribute to the conversation. But this is just a badass record from front to back. Strong as it starts out, I think the back end is my favorite, featuring ballads alternating with some serious rockers (particularly Hell Broke Luce, the most intense song of the year). It's everything you could hope for from Tom Waits.

6. Bon Iver - Bon Iver, Bon Iver. This is such a pretty album for 9 of the 10 tracks. And good for him for track 10 anyway. If you will, allow me to make an outlandish comparison here. For Emma, Forever Ago was sort of his Late Registration (critically adored, great album despite its relatively limited scope). Blood Bank was his 808s & Heartbreak (experimenting with auto-tune, and while it's an interesting album it's more of a diversion than anything else). So yeah, this one is his My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Using that previous experiment to expand beyond what we all thought he was capable of to create a masterwork. My only problem was that I listened to this once, recognized its greatness, filed it under "2011 contenders," and didn't listen to it much since then because I felt I should listen to potential "growers" more. I'm sorry Mr Vernon. I'm listening to it now and it definitely deserves to be at least this high and I don't mind that Pitchfork made you #1. No objections to that at all.

5. TV On The Radio - Nine Types of Light. When TV On The Radio scales back, it takes them from #1 to #5. That's about as hyperbolic I can get about this band this time. Few things. I wrote an extensive review/whatever on this blog already so seek it out. I'm not sure if I said this before, but I heard that song "Will Do" an impossibly high number of times and never got sick of it. It's such a beautiful song that it will never be played out. There's plenty more on this album though, and I live for the deeper cuts. I could put "Repetition" on repeat all day. Hell of a roll this band is on.

4. M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming. The opening three on this are just pure glee. "Intro" (when the hell is a song called "Intro" actually this good, this much of a realized song?) followed by "Midnight City" followed by "Reunion?" These are the songs that musical moments in life are made of. I am beyond excited that I found out they are playing in Denver next year because I can just anticipate the reaction (my own and that of the crowd) at the opening notes to every one of these songs. And the dancing. And the sweating. And the absolute joy of every moment of said concert. And it's not like it lets up after this one-two-three punch. This is a double album that is just full of these moments. I recommend this to everyone. Go ahead and use that song in that Victoria's Secret commercial, as long as it spreads these songs around and gives more people a chance to experience the power of this music (although the snippet used in the commercial hardly does justice to the full song's impact) the world will be a better place.

3. tUnE-yArDs - W H O K I L L. There, I capitalized it "correctly" this time. I'm not sure if I mentioned this when I wrote about the concert earlier this year but here's the thing about this album. I saw tUnE-yArDs a year or two ago opening for Xiu Xiu and was blown away. So blown away, in fact, that when I picked up the brand new album W H O K I L L the day it was released I already kind of knew most of the songs. The songs were so memorable from that one opening set over a year before that I remembered them vividly. This album is what happens when someone has pure artistic energy flowing out of every pore and puts it out there uninterrupted. The fact that this has become as popular as it has is just astonishing to me.

2. Shabazz Palaces - Black Up. The packaging on this vinyl is pretty unique. The material used is some sort of plastic, in a deep black. The art is minimalist, black on black. The inner sleeve is a deep red and it looks really cool peeking through when you first start to reach in and grab it. And then the record itself is black (not that unique, admittedly) but it is very high quality, very thick vinyl. That's what we're working with here. Minimalist beats, highly poetic lyricism with hints of flare but a strong intellectual and emotional core. This is why there's no other hip hop on the list (other than quite a few honorable mentions). This almost ruined hip hop for me. Before I ever listened to hip hop I used to think it all sounded the same. Then I figured out that that was not true. But when I listen to this album, all the rest of the hip hop that was released this year, despite being highly acclaimed, kind of sounded the same to me. This reached a higher level for me and I couldn't listen to other hip hop without being somewhat disappointed (until The Roots' new album came out, at least). And I'm sure I'm still somewhat an amateur as far as hip hop goes and there is other hip hop on this level out there, I just haven't heard it. And this is my personal list. So that's why this is here.

WHOA WHAT DO YOU THINK WILL BE #1????? YOU WILL NEVER GUESS!

1. Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues. I am almost embarrassed about this. This album seems to be playing in Barnes & Noble all the time and other stores. It's probably all over the radio. This was a pretty successful album, I'm saying. And I don't know if it is particularly the "best" album of the year. OK enough trash talk (because obviously it was a fantastic album and it had to have been to top this list, let me tell you). In 2008 I hadn't heard of this band until they topped a bunch of "best of" lists for that year. I listened to their debut a little but was somewhat unimpressed. I gave them another chance when this new one came out. What is it about this album that makes it my personal #1 for the year? It's simply the fact that it relates to me on such a personal level right now. Where I am in my life, damnit that title track which was also released as a single, A SINGLE, defines where I am in my life. "If I had an orchard, I'd work 'til I'm sore." This album served as the soundtrack to my summer of working on my yard, and I know it's not that literal but "I guess I got old" and every line speaks to me directly. And the music is beautiful and all that, kind of a mix of what Fleet Foxes were on their first album and some experimentalism that I am drawn to. So damnit, this damn album gave me no choice but to put it at #1.

Have a happy New Year! Maybe I'll post more in 2012!