My 25 Favorite Albums of 2011

So I used to blog here. It was fun, and the truth is I've kind of been missing it. So I may start doing it again. Probably the same drill: music and musings. (Okay, don't hold your breath. I've also been meaning to finish that screenplay and write that book proposal and digitize my vinyl collection and clean the basement and, well, you get the idea.) In the meantime, here are my 25 favorite albums from the past 12 months. Without commentary. Baby steps, people.

1. Bon Iver - Bon Iver

2. Middle Brother - Middle Brother

3. The Rural Alberta Advantage - Departing

4. Deer Tick - Divine Providence

5. Iron & Wine - Kiss Each Other Clean

6. Destroyer - Kaputt

7. Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues

8. Wye Oak - Civilian

9. Jay-Z and Kanye West - Watch The Throne

10. The Black Keys - El Camino

11. Youth Lagoon - The Year of Hibernation

12. Eleventh Dream Day - Riot Now!

13. Real Estate - Days

14. Beirut - The Rip Tide

15. Wilco - The Whole Love

16. Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost

17. Wild Flag - Wild Flag

18. Yuck - Yuck

19. Deerhoof - Deerhoof vs. Evil

20. Tapes ‘N Tapes - Outside

21. Cults - Cults

22. J Mascis - Several Shades of Why

23. Josh T. Pearson - Last of the Country Gentlemen

24. The War on Drugs - Slave Ambient

25. My Morning Jacket - Circuital

Umm, hello...

I know it's been a long time. But I'm going to post my Best Albums 2011 list here - - whether anybody reads it or not. Stay tuned.

In the meantime:

Photo Card

View the entire collection of cards.

The Best Albums of 2010 (So Far edition)

The list is actually here.

I'm going to try this.

A Tumblr.

Volume Rambler (Day 202)

Sorry, just a tease today - - not a full account of what I listened to on my way to work today. (Although "Volume Rambler" by Oakley Hall was indeed one of the songs.) More importantly my list of favorite records released in 2009 is posted here. Thanks Comoprozac for the kick in the ass to do this and for posting it. Also, do yourself a favor and check out all the year end lists at his great blog. And have a great New Year.

GE

Maybe Maybe (Day 201...I guess)

Coleman Hawkins - "Dinner For One Please, James"
Cat Power - "Metal Heart"
Pavement - "Maybe Maybe"
The Flaming Lips - "Waiting For Superman (Remix)"
The Beach Boys - "Caroline, No"
Josh Ritter - "Good Man"
Coldplay - "Sparks"
Death Cab For Cutie - "Passenger Seat"
Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - "Cold Roses"
Hello... Hello... Is there anybody out there? I forgive anyone who deleted me from their reader, blitzed me from their bookmarks or even forcibly tried to forget I even exist. Six month gaps in blogging does not sit well with readers. What can I say? I got a little bored. I got a little busy. I got an iPhone? All are true and the iPhone was strangely the most detrimental thing to happen to this simple little blog. The new phone meant the iPod was history and all large chunk of music was added to the iPhone's 32GB of memory. The dream appeared to be complete: a singular device for communication and portable music consumption. And for the most part, it is a dream. I do still love that slick little device. BUT it doesn't sync to my work computer. Outdated OS + a tech department that can not be bribed = no easy way to get a list of what I listened to on my way to work today. Obviously, I could write the songs down as they play each morning. Except that extra step, the little bit of extra "work" proved to be just too much to handle in the a.m. But the desire was still there. I'd hear a song in the morning and think about how much I'd like to blog about how kick-ass it is...and then I'd just spend my free time reading real music blogs instead. Oh well. Then today, something so stupidly obvious happened it's almost too embarrassing to write. I realized that all I had to do was hit the back button in iTunes on the phone and I could see each song played since I started shuffling when I left the house. Duh. Double duh. Stupid, fucking duh. Not that difficult. Of course, I can't tell you the name of the song with the most previous plays (which was my easy blog title naming convention), but I'm sure you can live with that. So here we go again? Maybe. I'll try. Let's just see what happens. Anyway, how ya been...?

And then I got to work.

Today's Stats
Total songs listened to: 9
Total minutes of music (approx.): 35
How I Rate Today's Playlist (1-10): 6
Miscellaneous factoid about my trip to work today: Well, still taking the little girl to school every morning which is still the highlight of my day. And she'll be 4 next week! Crazy. There's been a lot of Halloween talk, obvs. Today she referred to the holiday in her own way which really does boil it down to its very essence: Candy Day. Happy Candy Day, y'all.

Trees Outside The Academy (Day 200)

The Replacements - "Darlin' One"
Thurston Moore - "Trees Outside The Academy"
The National - "Watching You Well"
How's this for anticlimactic? The 200th post on WILTOMWTWT features three measly songs. Hey, think of it this way, considering my output a few weeks ago any post before leaving for the weekend is a small victory. Meanwhile I'm on a little National run these days. The Dark Was The Night compilation got me listening to them again (not that you need an excuse). But today I noticed I Am Fuel You Are Friends posted their set from the Radio City concert. It's awfully good, naturally. And good timing since a coworker was raving about the show and making me feel old/lame for having barely been aware of it and obviously not considering going. But I did get tickets to see Grizzly Bear later this month. Who says I'm a total loser? Seriously...who says that?

And then I got to work.

Today's Stats
Total songs listened to: 3
Total minutes of music (approx.): 12
Song with the most previous plays: "Trees Outside The Academy" - 4
How I Rate Today's Playlist (1-10): 6
Miscellaneous factoid about my trip to work today: I saw some dude try and pick up a girl at 8:22am outside the subway. That seems bold to me. I couldn't make out exactly what he said, but her response was "No. I'm sorry." As she walked away he muttered, "Yeah, I'm sorry too." My advice would be to wait until at least 9am.