The 111 Best Albums of 2012

Thanks to all those who voted!

Here are the 111 Best Albums of 2012:

1. Japandroids - Celebration Rock (Bonus Track)
2. Frank Ocean - Channel Orange (Bonus Track)
3. Jack White - Blunderbuss (Bonus Track)
4. Kendrick Lamar - g.o.o.d. kid, maad city
5. Grizzly Bear – Shields
6. The xx - Co-Exist
7. Alabama Shakes - Boys and Girls
8. Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel
9. Sharon Von Etten - Tramp
10. Beach House - Bloom
11. Divine Fits - A Thing Called Divine Fits
12. The Lumineers – Lumineers
13. Tame Impala – Lonerism
14. Bob Mould - Silver Age
15. Ben Folds Five - The Sound of Life of the Mind
16. Shins - Port of Morrow
17. Grimes - Vision
18. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis - The Heist
19. Silversun Pickups - Neck of the Woods
20. Of Monsters and Men - My Head Is An Animal
21. Soundgarden - King Animal
22. Chromatics - Kill For Love
23. Lana Del Rey - Born To Die/Paradise
24. The Walkmen - Heaven
25. Jimmy Cliff - Rebirth
26. Father John Misty - Fear Fun
27. Andy Stott - Luxury Problems
28. First Aid Kit - Lion’s Roar
29. Burial - Truant/Kindred EP
30. Bahamas - Barchords
31. Swans - The Seer
32. Pinback - Information Retrieved
33. Smashing Pumpkins - Oceania
34. Bloc Party - Four
35. Alt-J - An Awesome Wave
36. Dinosaur Jr. - I Bet On Sky
37. Lord Huron - Lonesome Dreams
38. Spiritualized – Sweet Heart Sweet Light
39. Cloud Nothings - Attack on Memory
40. Bob Dylan - Tempest
41. Fun. - Some Nights
42. Andrew Bird - Break It Yourself
43. TY Segall – Twins
44. Bobby Womack - Bravest Man in the Universe
45. Passion Pit - Gossamer
46. Liars - WIXIW
47. Gary Clark Jr. - Black and Blu
48. The Corin Tucker Band - Kill My Blues
49. Olafur Arnalds - Another Happy Day
50. Wintersleep - Hello Hum
51. Matt Skiba and the Sekrets - Babylon
52. Titus Andronicus - Local Business
53. Crystal Castles - III
54. Bruce Springsteen - Wrecking Ball
55. Hot Chip - In Our Heads
56. Jesse Ware - Devotion
57. Four Tet - Pink
58. Glen Hansard - Rhythm & Repose
59. Sun Kil Moon - Among The Leaves
60. Avett Brothers - The Carpenter
61. Band of Horses - Mirage Rock
62. The Lighthouse and the Whaler - This Is an Adventure
63. ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead - Lost Songs
64. The Big Pink - Future This
65. Yellowcard - Southern Air
66. Harold Budd - Bandits of Stature
67. Pilot to Gunner - Guilty Guilty
68. Muse - The 2nd Law
69. Said The Whale - Little Mountain
70. P.O.S - We Don't Even Live Here
71. Fang Island - Major
72. Leonard Cohen – Old Ideas
73. Gaslight Anthem - Handwritten
74. Aesop Rock - Skeleton
75. Delta Spirit - Delta Spirit
76. Lambchop - Mr. M
77. Metric - Synthetica
78. Jon Samuel - First Transmission
79. Loscil - Sketches From New Brighton
80. Lostprophets - Weapons
81. Mumford & Sons - Babel
82. Lee Fields & the Expressions - Faithful Man
83. Bad Veins - The Mess We’ve Made
84. Everclear - Invisible Stars
85. Forgetters - Forgetters
86. Miguel - Kaleidoscope Dream
87. Niki & the Dove - Instinct
88. Classics of Love - Classics of Love
89. Michael Kiwanuka – Home Again
90. Yukon Blonde - Tiger Talk
91. Goodnight Lights - As Far As the Moon
92. Joel Plaskett Emergency - Scrappy Happiness
93. Vijay Iyer Trio - Accelerando
94. Marconi Union - Different Colors
95. Purity Ring - Shrines
96. Minus The Bear - Infinity Overheard
97. Chris Robinson Brotherhood - Big Moon Ritual
98. Field Report - Field Report
99. Twin Shadow - Confess
100. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!
101. Two Door Cinema - Beacon
102. Rhett Miller - The Dream/The Interpreter Live At Largo
103. Maus Haus - Light Noise
104. Killer Mike - R.A.P. Music
105. Battles - Dross Glop
106. Minilogue - Endlessness EP
107. Amos The Transparent - Goodnight My Dear
108. Django Django - Django Django
109. Animal Collective - Centipede Hz
110. Jeff The Brotherhood - Hypnotic Nights
111. My Bloody Valentine - The EPs 1988-1991

Buy these albums and more now!!!

The 11 Best Songs By Grizzly Bear

Getting used to technology may be our biggest downfall.  Cellphones have become more important to us then some of our limbs.  Do we need two pinky toes?  This past week, I've been without my smart phone and regulated to a ancient-style phone.  Texting on this phone is more time consuming than writing a letter. There's nothing worse than have to hit the 6 button five times just to type the word "no."  Being without internet access on the fly is sadly tragic. Not being able to change my fantasy football roster while listening to the new Grizzly Bear when I'm in the grocery store makes me feel like I'm living in the dark ages...or worse...the 70s.  I've become sickly attached to Angry Birds, Temple Run, Netflix, Scramble, and Where's My Perry?  (Where's My Water is so six months ago).

The good thing is, I have found myself more attentive to the things that matter...like my Wii and downloading music.

Here are the 11 Best Songs By Grizzly Bear:

1. Knife (Yellow House)
2. Foreground (Veckatimest)
3. Two Weeks (Veckatimest)
4. On A Neck, On A Spit (Yellow House)
5. While You Wait For The Others (Veckatimest)
6. Deep Sea Diver (Horn of Plenty)
7. Cheerleader (Veckatimest)
8. Easier (Yellow House)
9. Southern Point (Veckatimest)
10. Don't Ask (Horn of Plenty)
11. He Hit Me (Friend EP)

Buy Grizzly Bear's new album, Shields...now!!

The 11 Most Anticipated Summer Albums of 2012

As we move into a new year, one of the strangest pieces of news has been revealed.  Album sales in 2011 actually went up for the first time in almost a decade.  Granted it was mostly due to Adele's incredibly popular album...that still proves that the album as a musical format is still very viable.  And while all the news articles still like to pronounce the death of rock and how pop has taken over...there were still more rock albums in the Billboard 200 than any other genre.  This year, there were 47 rock albums on the list.  Second place went to country with 39 albums.  Pop comes up third with 35 albums.  (I still think Bruno Mars is really rock...but I put him in pop).  Hip-hop/rap is fourth with 26.  What's also interesting to note...rock music is comprised of a lot of different bands while the pop albums were all made by the same handful of artists (Bieber, Swift, Adele, Gaga, Kesha, Selena Gomez).  Good for those artists but you take them out of the equation...and pop doesn't have much going on.

Let's see what 2012 brings....

Here are the 11 most anticipate albums of summer 2012:

1.  Soundgarden - TBA (Sept)
2.  MGMT - MGMT (Sept.)
3.  Animal Collective - TBA (Sept)
4.  Grizzly Bear - TBA (August)
5.  Mumford and Sons - TBA (August)
6.  How To Destroy Angels - TBA (July)
7.  Sigur Ros - TBA (July)
8.  The Offspring - Apocalyptic Guides and Inferno Themes about Nothing (July)
9.  Public Enemy - Most of My Heros Don't Appear on Stamps/Evil Empire of Everything (August)
10.  Regina Spektor - What We Saw From the Cheap Seats (July)
11.  Skrillex - Voltage (July)

The 11 Most Exciting Acts to see at Coachella 2010

The lineup for the 2010 Coachella show is out. And some strange headliners. Jay-z the first night...okay, I can see it. Muse the 2nd night...yeah, I guess...may be too commercial for the show...but okay. Gorillaz the 3rd night. Gorillaz? Headliner? Aren't they just a novelty act? Considering you have Thom Yorke (a previous headliner) and the Pavement reunion on the same night...you went with Gorillaz as the headliner...okay...

These aren't necessarily the best bands playing at the show. These aren't the bands who might put on the best performances. And these aren't even the bands that I think everyone else would be excited about seeing. These are the bands that I, personally, am excited to see at the show. Some big reunions (Pavement, FNM, PIL, and SDRE)...and some of 2009's breakout sensations (Phoenix, the XX, Grizzly Bear). Should be an awesome show...too bad I can't go.

The 11 Most Exciting Acts I'm Most Excited to see playing at Coachella 2010:

1. Pavement (April 18)
2. Faith No More (April 17)
3. Sunny Day Real Estate (April 18)
4. MGMT (April 17)
5. Phoenix (April 18)
6. the XX (April 17)
7. Grizzly Bear (April 16)
8. Sly and the Family Stone (April 18)
9. Vampire Weekend (April 16)
10. LCD Soundsystem (April 16)
11. Public Image Ltd. (April 16)

Check out the entire list for yourself.

The 111 Best Albums of 2009

Well, here it is...the annual epic 111 best albums of 2009...as voted on by you. Usually it's a close race...but this year, Animal Collective ran away with it. In fact, the entire top ten was leaps and bounds above the rest. And...if you have a problem with the list...then blame yourselves...you're the ones who voted.

See ya, next decade!!

Here are the 111 Best Albums of 2009:

1. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
2. The xx - xx (Crystalised BBC)
3. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
4. The Antlers - Hospice (Kettering)
5. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (1901 live)
6. Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca (The Bride)
7. Wilco - Wilco (the Album)
8. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz (only $5.00)
9. Metric - Fantasies (Help Im Alive)
10. Girls – Album
11. St. Vincent – Actor
12. Pearl Jam – Backspacer
13. Japandroids – Post Nothing
14. Monsters of Folk – Monsters of Folk
15. White Rabbits - It's Frightening (Percussion Gun daytrotter)
16. Modest Mouse – No One’s First and You’re Next
17. Bob Dylan – Together Through Life
18. Built To Spill - There is No Enemy
19. Silversun Pickups – Swoon
20. Lisa Hannigan – Sea Sew
21. Morrissey - Years of Refusal
22. The Dead Weather – Horehound
23. Neko Case – Middle Cyclone
24. Wild Beasts – Two Dancers
25. Cage The Elephant – Cage The Elephant
26. Regina Spektor - FAR
27. Fanfarlo – Reservoir
28. Various Artists – Dark Was The Night
29. Bonnie “Prince” Billy – Beware
30. Passion Pit – Manners
31. Noah and the Whale – The First Days of Spring
32. Mos Def – The Ecstatic
33. The Decemberists – The Hazards of Love
34. The Avett Brothers – I and Love and You
35. K’naan – Troubadour
36. Super Furry Animals – Dark Days/Light Years
37. M. Ward – Hold Time
38. Sunset Rubdown – Dragon Slayer
39. The Flaming Lips – Embryonic
40. Them Crooked Vultures – Them Crooked Vultures
41. Fuck Buttons – Tarot Sport
42. Samantha Crain - Songs In the Night
43. David Gray – Draw The Line
44. Fever Ray – Fever Ray
45. Green Day – 21st Century Breakdown (Know Your Enemy Colbert Report)
46. The Pains of Being Pure of Heart – POBOH
47. Karen O and the Kids – Where the Wild Things Are
48. Dave Matthews Band – Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King
49. Devendra Banhart – What Will We Be
50. The Swell Season - Strict Joy
51. Why? – Eskimo Snow
52. Julian Plenti - …is a Skyscraper
53. Cymbals Eat Guitars – Why There Are Mountains (Cold Spring)
54. The Low Anthem - Oh My God, Charlie Darwin (Ticket Taker)
55. Neon Indian – Psychic Chasms
56. Mew – No More Stories Are Told Today
57. Fun. – Aim and Ignite
58. The Horrors – Primary Colours
59. Conor Oberst – Outer South
60. Crystal Method - Divided By The Night (only $5.00)
61. Miike Snow – Miike Snow
62. The Big Pink – A Brief History of Love
63. Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career
64. Jay-Z – The Blueprint 3.0
65. The Mountain Goats – Life of the World To Come
66. Dan Deacon – Bromst
67. Florence and the Machine – Lungs
68. Weezer – Raditude
69. Mastodon – Crack the Skye
70. Say Anything – Say Anything
71. Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros – Up From Below
72. Trail of Dead – Century of Self
73. Paramore – Brand New Eyes
74. Sonic Youth – The Eternal
75. Handsome Furs – Face Control
76. Wavves – Wavves
77. Antony and the Johnsons – The Crying Light (only $5.00)
78. Maxwell – BLACKsummer’s Night
79. Von Bondies - Love, Hate and Then There's You
80. Deer Tick - Born On Flag Day (Straight Into A Storm)
81. Dinosaur Jr. – Farm
82. Muse – The Resistance
83. The Mars Volta – Octahedron
84. Cut Off Your Hands – You and I
85. Tanya Morgan – Brooklynati
86. Brand New – Daisy
87. Manchester Orchestra – Mean Everything To Nothing
88. The Black Crowes - Before The Frost...Until the Freeze
89. The Fray – The Fray
90. Roman Candle – Oh Tall Tree In The Ear
91. Band of Skulls - Baby Darling Dollface Honey
92. U2 – No Line on the Horizon
93. Placebo – Battle For the Sun
94. Various Artists – Ghana Special (1968-91)
95. Gogol Bordello – Live from Axis Mundi
96. Flyleaf – Memento Mori (only $5)
97. Taking Back Sunday – New Again
98. Third Eye Blind – Ursa Major (only $5.00)
99. Jack Penate – Everything Is New
100. Levon Helm – Electric Dirt (only $5)
101. Mumford and Sons – Sigh No More
102. Dananananaykroyd – Hey everyone!
103. El Grupa Nueva De Omar Rodriguez Lopez – Cryptomnesia
104. Raekwon – Only Built For Cuban Linx P2
105. Wale – Attention Deficit (only $5.00)
106. Franz Ferdinand – Tonight
107. Matt & Kim – Grand ($5.00)
108. Memory Tapes – Seek Magic
109. Drake – So Far Gone (only $5.00)
110. Andrew Bird – Noble Beast
111. Tegan and Sara – Sainthood

The 11 Best Albums of 2009: 12-22 (Part 4)

I've noticed that my excitement for new releases is much lower than it used to be. When a new Pearl Jam album came out...I lined up at midnight at Tower Records just to be the first to buy it. I still go buy albums the day they come out...but it's usually a Tuesday ritual rather than a special treat. But this year...there were a few albums that got my juices going. The 4 unreleased Beck albums were quite nice since they were unavailable in a store. But these were given away for free. So, as cool as they were...anyone could get them. But there was another unreleased album that I got fanatic over. That would be the Sparklehorse/DangerMouse album...why? Because it was never available anywhere. Not to download. Not to buy. Getting a copy wasn't just exciting...it was like a treasure hunt. For those few days while I tracked down each song, I was excited over a new release since...as I had been when waiting in line at midnight.

New month means new $5 albums. Check out the store for the new Lady Gaga, 50 Cent, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Alec Ounsworth, Major Lazer, new Green Day, Wale, Dodos, My Morning Jacket, and a buttload of Christmas albums.

Here is the 11 Best Albums of 2009: 12-22 (Part 4):

12. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
13. Deer Tick - Born On Flag Day (Straight Into A Storm)
14. The Black Crowes - Before The Frost...Until the Freeze
15. The Dead Weather - Horehound
16. White Rabbits - It's Frightening
17. Tegan and Sara - Sainthood
18. Regina Spektor - FAR
19. Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse - Dark Night of the Soul (Revenge)
20. Pearl Jam - Backspacer
21. Depeche Mode - Sounds of the Universe
22. Magnolia Electric Co. - Josephine (Little Sad Eyes)

The 111 Best Albums of the 00s (89-99)

Here are the the 111 Best Albums of the 00s (89-99):

89. Missy Elliott - Under Construction (2004)
- Her 4th album was by far her best...not that the others are too shabby. She may easily be the best female rapper of her day...if not of all time. This is her at the peak of her game.

90. Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker (2000)
- Adams' first solo album is actually a fairly tame start to the massive amount of music he would unleash on the public in the decade to come.

91. Cat Power - You Are Free (2003)
- Is it folk, it punk, is it indie, is it alternative, is it chamber music? Chan Marshall's massive seductive voice finds its groove on her 5th and best release, setting the stage for a steady impact of other stellar releases in the years to come.

92. Bloc Party - Silent Alarm (2005)
- A blast of 80s retro energy, Silent Alarm was a reminder of how much fun alternative music could be. Even Ferris Bueller would have taken the day off to listen to this. (This Modern Love)

93. The Roots - Phrenology (2002)
- The 00s were littered with hip-hop artists testing the genre of what the boundaries were. The Roots had been pushing those boundaries for years...but on this release, they merged some heavy rock groves giving birth to one of the funkiest albums of the decade. (Complexity)

94. LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem (2005)
- This album was a like a rocket on the club scene, reminding the world what it was like to dance to actual music instead of mind-numbing pulsating electronic dial tones. The white boy dance movement was born on this puppy. (Tribulations)

95. N.E.R.D. - In Search Of... (2002)
- Now there are two versions of this album. The regular old hip-hop version with computerized beats...and the awesomely 70s throwback version with a full band. I'm referring to the latter. It sounded like something Stevie Wonder would have jammed on with the Jackson 5 had they shared a dorm room in college...had they gone to college. (Run To The Sun)

96. Sigur Ros - Takk... (2005)
- A rich rebound from their second more mellow release. It was giant leap forward in songwriting style, crafting epic musical pieces over plain old pop songs. They also proved that you didn't need to sing in English to captivate an American audience...or that Bjork was the only talented one out of Iceland.

97. Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights (2002)
- It had been a good ten years since some sounded as dark, depressed and moody as Interpol sounded on their debut. Ironically, the brooding din was a bright spot in the otherwise morbid landscape of alternative nu metal.

98. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest (2009)
- The band debuted in the Billboard top 10 with this year's addition. An unheard of achievement for an indie rock band. And the album doesn't disappoint. It's like the band is breathing fresh life into their music on this glowing release. At times it sounds like they managed to harness the sound of the wilderness into a harmony. It only grows more interesting with every listen.

99. Jimmy Eat World - Bleed American (2001)
- Emo music was behind the 8-ball from the start. You can thank Dashboard Confessional for that. But if more of the releases sounded like JEW's refined pop brillance, the genre would have been much more tolerable. Instead, in its wake, we got Fall Out Boy and Panic at the Disco. (A Praise Chorus)

Buy these albums now...Best of the 2000s.

The 11 Best Songs By Grizzly Bear

According to everyone, Grizzly Bear's new album, Veckatimest, is the best album of 2009. And when I mean everyone...I mean my one of my friend's who has heard a couple songs on the album...another friend who has a friend who heard the album at a party...and one internet blogger review. Sure, if I was basing my claim on one of these sources...that would just be silly. But if you pool all three sources together...then that's a definitive consensus.

Here are the 11 Best Songs By Grizzly Bear:

1. On a Neck, On a Spit (Yellow House)

2. Don't Ask (Horn of Plenty)

3. This Song (Horn of Plenty)

4. Knife (Yellow House)

5. Deep Blue Sea (Dark Was The Night)

6. Plans (Yellow House)

7. Disappearing Act (Horn of Plenty)

8. A Leader Always Carries a Big Stick (Sorry For The Delay)

9. Merge (Horn of Plenty)

10. Easier (Yellow House)

11. He Hit Me (Friend)

Buy Grizzly Bear's new album, Veckatimest. It's only $3.99. For the best album of the year...that's a steal!!!