Best of 2011

ALBUMS

01. Bill Callahan - Apocalypse
02. Destroyer - Kaputt
03. Bon Iver - Bon Iver

04. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - Wolfroy Goes to Town

05. St. Vincent - Strange Mercy

06. Girls - The Father, Son, Holy Ghost

07. Atlas Sound - Parallax

08. Panda Bear - Tomboy

09. Carrion Crawler / The Dream - Thee Oh Sees

10. Eleanor Friedberger - Last Summer

11. Ty Segall - Goodbye Bread

12. Yuck - Yuck

13. Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring For My Halo

14. Fucked Up - David Comes to Life

15. Frederick Squire - Sings Shenandoah and Other Popular Hits

16. Tune-Yards - Whokill

17. Cass McCombs - Wit's End

18. EMA - Past Life Martyred Saints

19. Washed Out - Within and Without

20. Male Bonding - Endless Now

21. Smith Westerns - Dye It Blonde

22. Youth Lagoon - The Year of Hibernation

23. Handsome Furs - Sound Kapital

24. Beirut - The Rip Tide

25. The Antlers - Burst Apart

Honorable Mention

Black Lips - Arabia Mountain

Radiohead - Kings of Limbs

The Rural Alberta Advantage - Departing

Timber Timbre - Creep On Creepin' On

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Minor Traffic

Mogwai - Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will

SONGS

01. Bill Callahan - Riding for the Feeling

02. Panda Bear - Last Night at the Jetty

03. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - We Are Unhappy

04. Destroyer - Savage Night at the Opera

05. Girls - Vomit

06. Thee Oh Sees - The Dream

07. Bon Iver - Michicant

08. Atlas Sound - Lightworks

09. Yuck - Rubber

10. Eleanor Friedburger - Mistakes

11. Ty Segall - My Head Explodes

12. Tune-Yards - Powa

13. Youth Lagoon - Seventeen

14. Washed Out - Amor Fati

15, Frederick Squire - Every Dollar Bill Could Kill Me

16. Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Forever 28

17. Kurt Vile - Jesus Fever

18. Bill Callahan - Drover

19. Fucked Up - Running on Nothing

20. Handsome Furs - Bury Me Standing

21. EMA - California

22. Cass McCombs - County Line

23. Male Bonding - Bones

24. Smith Westerns - Weekend

25. Radiohead - Morning Mr Magpie

IT'S A TRAP!

When I was five years old I lost my Admiral Ackbar... probably the first time I realized the world could be a pretty cruel place... I was more than devastated about my loss... I couldn't run around yelling "IT'S A TRAP!" with the old Admiral any longer... well, well, well... at the ripe young age of 32... Admiral Ackbar has made a resurgence in my life... thanks internet... so I have an excuse to yell like I am once again... five years old.... "IT'S A TRAP!"

Lately...

... I've been distracted by moving... and ebay...

Panda Bear

Take Pills/Bonfire of the Vanities limited to 1000 copies - 2007

Animal Collective

Purple Bottle/Polly limited to 500 copies - 2006

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy

Black Dissimulation/No Such As What I Want - 1998

Palace Live

For The Mekons et Al/Stable Will limited to 500 - 1994

The Universal Soldier.

Everyone has a guilty pleasure when it comes to music... and I am no different than anyone else... I'm kind of obsessed with Donovan... it started when I was a kid... and back then one of the highlights of the week was going to the gas station with my Dad... not to pump the gas or go through the car wash... but to get a Solid Gold cassette tape from the Shell gas station on the corner... when you filled up your car you would get a tape... and before you knew it I had a whole case of Solid Gold tapes... as a kid this had a huge influence on me... and no doubt made my music obsession what it is today... one of those songs was Spinning Wheel by Blood Sweat & Tears and the other turned out to be Universal Soldier by Donovan... I probably wore those two tapes thin the amount of times I played those two songs on repeat in my room on my little ghetto blaster... and I still listen to Donovan today... he actually introduced me to Bob Dylan when I was about 11 years old... and listening to Dylan songs made me pickup the guitar... not that I'm an accomplished guitarist or anything... but it made me obsess over music even more... and when I was at Sister Ray recently in London, England.... a seven inch jumped out at me... to my surprise there was an original copy of Universal Soldier from 1967... 24 years later and I'm still listening to that same song on repeat... my taste in music has changed considerably over the years... but one thing always remains the same... and that's my obsession with DONOVAN!!!

Tomboy 7" Series.

Next week Panda Bear comes out with his new full length album Tomboy... he released his first 7" with the title track Tomboy which I bought at Optimal Records when I was in Munich last September... I picked up You Can Count On Me and Last Night At The Jetty in Toronto at Rotate This... and the final record of the series Surfer's Hymn... I bought while I was in London at Rough Trade... my record problem is obviously an international thing.

Records in London.

I might just have a serious problem?

Lia Ices.

From Brooklyn, New York... making this crazy avant garde pop music... almost a combination of Chan Marshall (Cat Power) and Joanna Newsom with handclaps... yeah HANDCLAPS! She has one album to her credit entitled Necima... and recently signed to Jagjaguwar and her new album Grown Unknown will be released on January 25, 2011... you can download two of her tracks over at Brooklyn Vegan... her song Daphne features Justin Vernon of Bon Iver... and combining their voices is strangely beautiful and immediately requires repeat listening... be sure to catch Lia Ices opening for the Cave Singers are their up coming North American tour.

Grown Unknown Track list:

01. Love is Won

02. Daphne

03. Little Marriage

04. Bag of Wind

05. Grown Unknown

06. After is Always Before

07. Ice Wine

08. Lilac

09. New Myth

Opening for the Cave Singers:

02/01/11 New York, NY - Joe's Pub

03/10/11 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall

03/11/11 Brookdale, CA - Historic Brookdale Lodge

03/12/11 Visalia, CA - The Cellar Door

03/13/11 Los Angeles, CA - The Autry National Center

03/14/11 San Diego, CA - Casbah

03/23/11 Atlanta, GA - The Earl

04/01/11 Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's

04/03/11 Allston, MA - Brighton Music Hall

04/04/11 Buffalo, NY - Mohawk Place

04/05/11 Toronto, ON - The Drake Hotel

04/08/11 Bloomington, IN - Russian Recording

04/09/11 Louisville, KY - Zanzabar

04/16/11 Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court

04/21/11 Vancouver, BC - The Biltmore Cabaret

04/22/11 Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge

04/23/11 Seattle, WA - The Showbox

Arcade Fire.

Sometimes you get lucky when you buy records at live shows... not only are you supporting the band but on occasion you come across some of the most sought after 7" records of your generation... this generally happens in small venues... well before the band makes it big... back on June 23, 2004 a band was making waves as the next big thing... and a bidding war took place between indie labels Paper Bag, Alien-8 and Merge... Merge eventually being the victor... I jumped at the chance to see what everyone was talking about... at first a friend and I stood outside Lee's Palace in Toronto waiting in line to get our hands stamped before heading out to pre-drink at a house party before the show... it turned out the wait was too long for her and she left me standing there alone... five minutes later the line started moving and I got my stamp in exchange for a $8 cover... that night I witnessed the Arcade Fire play their yet to be released album Funeral from start to finish along with only a few hundred other people... right after the show like always I went straight for the merch table and bought a split 7" and their self titled EP... that Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) and the other track a b-side by Butler’s grandfather... the late pedal steel legend Alvino Rey... and limited to 1500 copies... I paid $5 for the record... and with Arcade Fire being up for several Grammy nominations in 2010... that 45 alone goes for over $300 on ebay... this is why you always support the artist.