I tried to avoid making yet another end of year list to add to the pile, but 2011 deserves a pat on the back for birthing so many heart-stoppingly wonderful releases. After the past few years of having to sift through a whole heap of swill to get to the good stuff, last year more than made up for it all, offering up its bounty from a Mary Poppins record bag of never-ending engaging and exciting albums.
I think the record shop employee state-of-mind will never truly leave me, so here is my soundtrack to the past year in no particular order (just humour me). I'll keep it quick as it'll probably work out as just a round-up of everything that I've mentioned here in the past 12 months...
Noteworthy Albums:
John Maus - We Must Become The Pitiless Censors of Ourselves
Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring For My Halo
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Mirror Traffic
Wild Flag - Wild Flag
Real Estate - Days
Thurston Moore - Demolished Thoughts
PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
Peaking Lights - 936
Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact
Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes
Oneohtrix Point Never - Replica
Veronica Falls - Veronica Falls
Coasting - You're Never Going Back
The Men - Leave Home
Maria Minerva - Cabaret Cixous
Kate Bush - 50 Words For Snow
Brilliant Colors - Again & Again
Comet Gain - Howl Of The Lonely Crowd
Listen to a selection of hand-picked tracks from the above here.
New Finds:
Shudder Pulps
Total Control
Race Horses
Tense Men
Hookworms
Fear Of Men
The Best of 2011:
Wild Flag at The Lexington, December 8th
Las Robertas UK Tour
Girl Gang Zine
Flying Lotus, Battles, No Age & Factory Floor at Nightmare Before Xmas
The London Zine Symposium
The Worst of 2011:
The passing of Trish Keenan from Broadcast, Poly Styrene, Amy Winehouse and Ari Up.
Looking forward to in 2012:
The Julie Ruin
Prinzhorn Dance School
Factory Floor
with many more to follow...
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