Top Albums: 2011 version

Hot on the heels of the 2010 version, here's a list of my favorites for 2011:

1. Destroyer – Kaputt
2. Wye Oak – Civilian
3. Lykke Li – Wounded Rhymes
4. Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
5. James Blake – James Blake
6. M83 – Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
7. Braids – Native Speaker
8. Cass McCombs – Wit's End
9. Bon Iver – Bon Iver
10. The Cave Singers – No Witch

Honorable Mentions

• Iron & Wine – Kiss Each Other Clean
• Handsome Furs – Sound Kapital
• Wilco – The Whole Love

Maybe more than in other years, there are a number of albums I'd still like to have had time (and $) for closer inspection, but that certainly doesn't diminish my enthusiasm for what's here.

Top Albums: 2010 version

Last week, Pastor Matt promised to read my 2010 top albums list if I posted it. Looking back, I actually only had listed 9, so with the benefit of an extra year of perspective, I'm added the final choice and am pretty pleased with my selections:

Top 10:

1. Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest
2. The National – High Violet
3. Mimicking Birds – Mimicking Birds
4. The Head and the Heart – The Head and the Heart (Sure, it's on lots of the lists for 2011, but this is for the self-release which actually landed last year.)
5. The Black Keys – Brothers
6. Yeasayer – ODD BLOOD
7. Janelle Monáe – The ArchAndroid
8. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross – The Social Network
9. Wolf Parade – Expo 86
10. Frightened Rabbit – The Winder of Mixed Drinks

Honorable mentions:

• Siskiyou – Siskiyou
• Holy F&*% – Latin

And now that it's almost 2012, maybe I can get this year's version out in a more timely fashion.

Some Shows — Another Latest Installment

A definite goal in the first half of 2011 for me has been to see a large number of live shows. The big news is likely to make it a bit more logistically challenging in the future and one might proclaim I've been less discerning (in fact I would have gone to more, but sold out performances have been an issue) about what I buy tickets for . That would be incorrect though, as the options in Seattle are amazing and everything of late has been wonderful.

So here's a recent run through for those that are looking for new artist ideas:

• The Books — Actually, a pretty hard to describe band. They're minimalist in terms of what music they play on stage and it's augmented by obscure and really interesting audio and video clips. Their playing style seems pretty classically inspired. They're awesome and here's a clip of a favorite, We Bought the Flood.
• The Head & the Heart — They're exploding right now, so they probably need less of an intro. They had just been signed to Sub Pop shortly before the sold-out show and the rumor was that the $14 tickets were going for a pretty penny outside. One of the bands that just makes me happy to listen to and I was really glad to have seen them before they're too big for the club in Seattle.
• The Mountain Goats — This was a solo show from a recent Mr. Galore obsession. They put out a fantastic new album on Tuesday, March 29th. If they come back to Seattle as a full band, I will be going. Despite the solo performance, I was glad that a long-standing tradition of John Darnielle introducing himself as "We're the Mountain Goats" was on display. Here's more.
• Josh Ritter — An all-time favorite probably covered on this very blog before since this was pushing the 10th live performance taken in by the Galores.
• Damian Jurado — A local legend playing with band before a sellout. Seattle is great. I really like Arkansas from his latest.
• Drive-By Truckers — I have seen Patterson Hood before, but if you don't count that, I would say that this was my current choice for the band I most wanted to, but had never seen live. Incredibly versatile and loud with their dirty three guitar sound. Go-go Boots is their latest album and here's a favorite, Used to Be A Cop.
• Destroyer — Thanks to a co-worker's recommendation, my favorite discovery of 2011. Of course, they're not at all new — just new to me. Everyone asks if they're death metal and with a name like Destroyer, it's understandable. According to KEXP though, they're an "ironically titled theatrical post-disco revival ensemble." Speaking of which, here's their latest in studio there.

Oh hey, baby. And it's a he...

Hmm, it appears that we never officially announced to our blog-only following (it was on various other social networking websites), that we're having a Baby Galore! Sorry about that...

And hot on the heels of that news, we learned this past week it's gonna be a boy. We're currently calling him Hans, though that's just the code name.

Here's a picture from latest ultra sound: