Tagged: yearendlist

In lieu of doing my annual year-end podcast (brand spankin' new episode will be posted next week) I decided to post the 4 hour marathon I did with my buds @ CJLO (Omar from Hooked On Sonics & Denis from Dirty Work), of all our picks from our individual 2011 top 10 album lists. Even HoS's frequent correspondent [...]

There was so much really great music that I heard this year, to the point that putting together these lists was quite difficult and time-consuming. But even so, there are still a lot more albums out there that were recommended to me by others that I simply never got the chance to hear, as well as some that I felt needed more listens for me to fully absorb them, so they sadly won't be showing up on here (Danny Brown, Julianna Barwick, The Weeknd, Fucked Up, PJ Harvey, Main Attrakionz, Tune-yards, Yuck…I could go on and on). I'll [...]

In lieu of a New Releases post this week (the crop really didn't justify the effort), I'm tossing in one more 2011 wrap up, and this one is being written mostly around my 4-year old. My youngest, like many kids his age, LOVES music, with a stash of favorite songs to rival any teen out there. Below you'll find the list of songs released in 2011 that were played most by my little man Z. For the first time, there are songs that have been introduced to me -- like Taio Cruz's "Dynamite" and Hot Chelle Rae's [...]

Top 30 Songs 30. Planningtorock – The Breaks 29. Destroyer – Suicide Demo for Kara Walker 28. Cold Cave – The Great Pan Is Dead 27. Lower Dens – Batman 26. Grouper – Water People 25. Prurient – Palm Tree Corpse 24. Kurt Vile – Runner Ups 23. Parenthetical Girls – Sympathy for Spastics 22. Ford & Lopatin – Joey Rogers 21. Burial – Stolen Dog 20. [...]

HAPPY NEW YEAR! The 3rd go around for my massive year-end compilation. 53 songs! You're getting 3 more songs then last year! Bringing compilation awesomeness to a Whole. New. Level! Revel in it's greatness! AGDFA's 2011 Year-End Comp Mix. 01. The Black Keys - "Lonely Boy" 02. Dinosaur Pile-Up - "Mona Lisa" 03. Foo Fighters - "White Limo" 04. We Were Promised Jetpacks - [...]

All throughout 2011 I was talking about 2011 being, like, the best year ever in music. People were freeing themselves like never before, artists were digging deep, and pulling brilliance from unexpected places. Women and men took chances! Crafts got perfected! Paradigms shifted! To me, when I heard Sufjan Stevens' The Age of Adz and Kanye [...]

Well, hello there. Remember when we used to hang out? Right here? I would tell you about the music I liked. And you'd get me up to speed on everything going on in your life-that new job, your new love interest, or that new zany electro-twee trio from Brooklyn-in the comments section. I miss that. It's been a fantastical year for The Days of Lore , filled with all sorts of life-shaping events ... ahh hell, here it is in digestible list form: 1. I got married! Yes, married! Me! Married! To [...]

The end of the year is very nearly here and so we continue our year end coverage here on Turntable Kitchen. In that context, this year saw the release of a number of great EPs (many of which can be considered debut EPs) by several great up and coming bands. The Top EPs List shouldn't be thought of as an appetizer to the Top Albums of 2011 list. Indeed, some of these EPs would fit in comfortably on any year end list regardless of whether they were competing against full length albums. We previously posted Turntable Kitchen's [...]

Fan's dragon fly at Flaming Lips show, Sasquatch Music Festival in Memorial Day weekend. It's no secret that I take a lot of pictures. What's becoming less of a secret, though, is that I'm becoming less bad at it. Having spent so long as a photo editor, I'm naturally a bit more critical of photographs -- and especially my own. But thanks to lens upgrades (purchasing a 50mm prime, renting a 70-200mm) and software (Lightroom, Picknik), I'm getting awfully close to taking photos that I can [...]

It was an OK year. Nothing more, nothing less. Timber Timbre and their album "Creep On Creepin' On" was without a doubt, the album I've listened to and seen performed live the most all year. Taylor Kirk's dark, swampy sound speaks to me. As for the rest of my top 5, these albums will be listened by yours truly for years [...]

Top 10 includes Destroyer, Girls, tUnE-yArds, M83, Bon Iver, James Blake, PJ Harvey, St Vincent, Shabazz Palaces, Real Estate If 2010 was 1993 all over again, 2011 seemed to ignore this trend (and all the corresponding 20 year anniversary reissues), instead reaching back a decade prior. Releases from Destroyer and M83 mined that decade to make great albums, while several bands of that era (Gang of Four, Wire, The Feelies) returned with new releases. Another minor trend we noticed here was artists absolutely obliterating the tired "sophomore slump" myth, with Girls, tUnE-yArds, Bon Iver, [...]

Album #1: Let England Shake by PJ Harvey I've been a PJ Harvey fan for a long time and have loved nearly everything she's done. But if you had told me in January that her record would be my favourite album in a year when Radiohead released a record, there's no way I would have believed you or your hitler hairdo. But Let England Shake is such a brilliant record that it kind of forced its way here. In a year when some have argued there were no [...]

Album #2: The King Of Limbs by Radiohead The King Of Limbs is not my favourite album of the year, apparently. I go back and forth. But I must admit to experiencing an existential crisis of sorts with placing TKOL at #2. While it is certainly a "minor" Radiohead album (short, little publicity, no tour, no commercial single, etc), I still find myself listening to TKOL a lot. It's got a unique mood and feel and features some really great songs including the album's bookends - [...]

Album #3: Skying by The Horrors Very rarely does a band so perfectly encapsulate the sound and vibe of a record through both the title and the album's artwork, but The Horrors did just that with Skying . Much like M832s Hurry Up, We're Dreaming , Skying is a big, beautiful dream-pop record that could soundtrack any scene in a 1985 John Hughes film. From the woozy opener Changing The Rain to the split personality of Endless Blue to the shimmery Oceans Burning, The Horrors have once again [...]

Album #4: Absence by Snowman I don't think any other record so effectively created one mood like Snowman's swan song Absence did in 2011. At times Absence 's ethereal beauty is tempered with unnerving menace and a feeling of despair but it never ceases to be an engaging atmosphere in which you wish to remain. A powerful final statement from Snowman, a band who will be missed immensely. Snowman - Hyena * [...]

Album #5: Hurry Up, We're Dreaming by M83 M832s Anthony Gonzalez has never shied away from ambition, but even by M83 standards Hurry Up, We're Dreaming is an extremely ambitious album. Beyond being a double album, Hurry Up is grandiose and bombastic and it constantly demands that the listener pay attention. And if you do you're rewarded with a blissful electro-rock record. On a song by song basis, Hurry Up might be M832s strongest record yet. The album opens with the amazing Intro - a duet [...]

Each year seems to have a theme here ( 2010 being the year of the weird) and by the looks of this list one might rightfully assume that 2011 was the year of the angst. For me it was a year to rebuild and empower. It was the year of protest: Egyptian protests/revolution , the questionable England riots , Occupy Wall Street . It was a year that many people were without jobs , Amy Winehouse died , an earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, Charlie Sheen and the Kardashians over-saturated the media. [...]

Album #6: Biophilia by Bjork Bjork's ambitious Biophilia project, highlighted by the release of an "app" album, was problematic on a number of levels. The most glaring of these issues is the fact that if you consider the "app" album the "definitive" version of Biophilia , well, then Bjork's created an album you are encouraged to experience in solitude with headphones. And while that's often the best way to listen to music, it totally kills any social element the music may inspire. Here's why I found Biophilia [...]

This year's top album list pretty much assembled itself throughout the year. The top 4 in particular are albums I expect to continue to listening to over and over for years to come. Click on the album titles to read the full reviews, purchase the albums, and, in some cases, download mp3s… Muruch's Top 25 [...]

Album #7: Sound Kapital by Handsome Furs As modern music's finest flâneurs, Handsome Furs have once again captured the energy, confusion, and invigoration that comes from travel. Sound Kapital , largely inspired by a tour through Asia, is burst after burst of passion and intelligence. And it makes you want to jump up and down like an idiot. One of the year's most underrated records and bands. Download Handsome Furs - What About Us Handsome Furs - Repatriated [...]

• Handsome Furs - Repatriated
• Handsome Furs - What About Us