1. the whole love wilco dbpm/anti, september 27, 2011 "art of almost" if i had made my list in december, as i usually do, the whole love would have been number 3, behind the deeply personal connections i feel to bon iver, bon iver and we are the tide . however, while listening to it on a long drive in early [...]
2. we are the tide blind pilot expunged records, september 13, 2011 "new york" when bon iver, bon iver was released in june, i remember thinking that i would be very happy if it wasn't my favorite album at the end of the year, because that would mean that some truly great music would have been released during the second [...]
3. bon iver, bon iver bon iver jagjaguwar, june 21, 2011 "calgary" shredding the mythology of the cabin in the woods, justin vernon returns with an album of surpassing beauty, both in its clarity of vision and the muscular confidence with which it is presented. lyrically abstract and sonically dense, the album seemed to evolve even as it was constrained to a silver plastic disc, shape-shifting [...]
4. helplessness blues fleet foxes sub pop, may 3, 2011 "helplessness blues" if not for the difficulties i faced this year, helplessness blues would no doubt be higher than number 4. who knows--given my current state and the questions i have been left with concerning life and happiness, i can see myself developing a more personal connection to this album as time goes by. [...]
5. on the water future islands thrill jockey, october 11, 2011 "balance" here is where it got tough. deciding between several shades of why and on the water at number five was a particularly difficult decision. future islands was a new band for me, and samuel herring's bear of a voice is never short on histrionics. on the other hand, histrionics may [...]
6. several shades of why j mascis sub pop, march 15, 2011 "several shades of why" i hadn't listened to j mascis since the mid-90s, with dinosaur jr., and so it was a surprise to hear him turn up again on my radar nearly twenty years later. it was even more of a surprise to see him now, a little heavier and hair all grey. but, in some [...]
7. el camino the black keys nonesuch, december 6, 2011 "gold on the ceiling" near the end of a mostly dark year came el camino , with its swagger and style fully intact. just the kind of record i needed to close out a bad year and look forward to the hopes of a new one.
8. love notes/letter bombs the submarines nettwerk records, april 5, 2011 "where you are" blake hazard and john dragonetti do what they do and they do it very well. in the midst of a challenging year, there they were to remind me "to remember where it was you said you'd go".
9. thao & mirah thao & mirah kill rock stars, april 26, 2011 "eleven" a dazzling collaboration between two gifted singer-songwriters who complement each other so perfectly in their contrasting styles and personalities.
this was supposed to be a list of only five albums, but there were three or four albums that i couldn't decide on for number 5, so naturally the list expanded to ten. 10. widowspeak widowspeak captured tracks, november 15, 2011 "puritan" an album [...]
i may or may not get around to compiling my full lists of favorite albums and tracks of the year, but one pick that is absolutely clear is sigur rós' "lúppulagið" as my favorite song of 2011. it opens sparse and hauntingly, like the quiet chill of the last stars to yield to daybreak. a few bright piano keys break the stillness, gently, and eyes open to let in the first soft light of dawn. the pace quickens only slightly, unfolding into an idyllic morning that completely belies the turmoil of the previous day. this has [...]
the end of november. a rather tumultuous month. difficulty endures. but so do i, i guess. i'm still here, anyway. and in the end, well, maybe things got a little better. at least the path finally received some clarity. or, maybe it's finding its own way. and i was finally able to trust it. either way. doing my best. when i get to the end--and i know that i will--i'll just want to be able to say: i got wise and i got old. but not once, not once did i fold. blind pilot [...]
still struggling, although it seems like life finally began to stabilize in october. at least it stopped getting worse. this month even included a minor positive event, which might be considered a lucky break except for the fact that it only reversed a negative event that i brought on myself early in the month. but, it was something good, finally, and i'll take whatever i can get. the time since then has been relatively neutral, a welcome respite from buckets of pain. i can only hope that the beginning of the month was rock bottom for me, and [...]
september came and now is leaving. it wasn't august, but...it doesn't seem like it's getting any lighter around here. at some point, something good has to happen. it has to. it has to. doesn't it? eels : "electro-shock blues" from the lp electro-shock blues (dreamworks, 1998) feeling scared today write down: i am ok a hundred times the doctors say i am ok i am ok i'm not ok skin is crawling off mopping the sweaty drops sticking around for this [...]
today is the last day of what i know i will consider for some time to be one of the worst, most difficult and challenging months of my entire life. tomorrow won't really be any different than today; but symbolism has never been lost on me, and for that reason i know that turning the page on the calendar is an opportunity for it to at least feel different. i can't wait for september. for now, the best that i can say is, "i am a creature / and i am surviving". [...]
david gray : "be mine" . from the lp a new day at midnight (ato records, 2002) from the very first moment i saw you that's when i knew all the dreams i held in my heart had suddenly come true knocked me over stone cold sober not a thing i could say or do baby when i'm walking with you now my eyes are so wide like you reached right into my head and turned on the light inside turned on all the lights inside my [...]
from the beginning, i've always intended for sand is overrated to represent the ways in which music integrated with moments in my own life. without a doubt, the most profound and most frequent examples of this confluence has always been with matters of the heart, and the last five years of my life have been full of those moments. in hindsight, starting sand is overrated was something of a necessity--to document my experiences and my reactions to and reflections on those experiences. looking back on those posts reads like a retrospective of a journey that i [...]
hi there. this is getting ridiculous how rarely i have time to post these days. since my last post, my 5 year journey through grad school finally concluded in fine fashion. and yet, still--no time. it seems i say this every time now, but hopefully soon things will change and i'll get back on track. in the meantime, metric's latest played an integral role in maintaining my sanity over the last few months. as the burdens of finishing school weighed heavier and heavier, getting lost in fantasies was a huge [...]
i am still here... that last post was supposed to have been done about two weeks ago, and the fact that i didn't get around to publishing it until now--and yet it's still so short--is an indication of how busy and preoccupied i've been. and i've got a few more weeks of this at least. i've been spending a lot of time wrapping up a dissertation and needing to focus a lot more than usual, so the bulk of my listening lately has been instrumental or nearly so. it was thus a nice bit of timing when tristen at filter [...]
the hazards of love as a rock opera? i love it. i really do. what more could you ask for from an album? it's ambition on an epic scale, dramatic in its fairy tale story, interesting if not a little cliched, and oh so characteristically melodic for a colin meloy composition. highly looking forward to seeing it performed live in a few weeks. the decemberists : "the hazards of love 4 (the drowned)" . from the lp the hazards of love (capitol, 2009)
sand is overrated
The Shins: “September” (b-side of “Simple Song” 7”)
St. Vincent - 'Cheerleader'
Jay-Z & Kanye West - Ni**as In Paris (Explicit)
OK Go - Needing/Getting - Official Video
Ladyhawke - Black White & Blue
James Blake – Live Album
Childish Gambino - "Heartbeat" (Official Music Video)
Circo Voador anuncia shows de The Kooks, Foster The People, Friendly Fires, Gogol Bordello e mais
Gang Colours – Fancy Restaurant
