Buy New or Used via amazon 1. THE DECEMBERISTS – The King Is Dead – No themes. No prog rock. Just simple literate direct songs by a band that is hitting its peak. Even watching them in concert in a drenching rain did not dampen my enthusiasm for either the band or the album.   Buy New or Used via amazon 2. BLACK JOE LEWIS & THE HONEYBEARS – Scandalous – We knew from the first disc that this was a top notch funk and r&b band. The new album has a real edge and energy to it- sort of p(f)unk….

2011: ANOTHER YEAR, ANOTHER LIST WITH GODDAMN VIDEO GAMES ON IT This entire year I worked a shift from 11pm to 7am Mon-Fri, and therefore found myself catching up on sleep during almost all available free time. Still, I did listen to at least 10 things, see 10 movies, and play 10 video games (barely). Thanks to everyone for such amazing lists, and here’s to mass culture continuing to produce material after December 2012! ALBUMS:   Buy New or USed via amazon (1) Wye Oak – Civilian   Buy New or USed via amazon (2) Mastodon – The Hunter   Buy New or…

Occupy PoOP 2011 Wherein we lowly and scruffy protesters get to choose the top 1%! Well, it was not the most exciting year for recorded music, but there certainly was a lot of it! Some rays of hope will soon shine on the masses with the appointment of our newest beloved leader! My On-U year: There were no Bonzos or Kraftwerk this year, so the masses stood crying in the streets, in orderly rows in front of their apartment houses (certainly the performance art event of the year!), until the politburo chose On-U Sound to return as the new beloved…

Occupy PoOP 2011 Wherein we lowly and scruffy protesters get to choose the top 1%! Well, it was not the most exciting year for recorded music, but there certainly was a lot of it! Some rays of hope will soon shine on the masses with the appointment of our newest beloved leader! My On-U year: There were no Bonzos or Kraftwerk this year, so the masses stood crying in the streets, in orderly rows in front of their apartment houses (certainly the performance art event of the year!), until the politburo chose On-U Sound to return as the new beloved…

Well, I spent most of the year meandering down memory lane, listening to old favorites, in an attempt to brainwash my children into becoming a bit more like dear old dad. I get a real kick out of hearing my kids sing along, words seared into memory, to songs I know they’ll never hear on the radio, or pretty much anywhere else for that matter. All right, you might hear “Clash City Rockers” on the airwaves, but “Tennessee Jed” or “We Sing Hallelujah”? Hearing a six year old sing along to Richard Thompson is somehow comforting, and joyously, deliriously demented…

  Buy New or Used via amazon 1. The Black Keys – El Camino Is there any working band in as much of a groove as the Black Keys? “Lonely Boy” and “Gold on the Ceiling” may be my two favorite songs they’ve ever written. The album is full of fast-paced fun that mixes it up from the more blues-y approach of the rest of their catalog.   Buy New or Used via amazon 2. Wilco – The Whole Love I like this as much as anything they’ve done in the last five years. And “One Sunday Morning” is the first 12-minute…

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What I listened to in 2011 Greetings from Florida, not exactly the center of the musical universe but….   Buy New or Used via amazon Nick Lowe – The Old Magic Not only did he know the bride when she used to rock and roll, but he knew her when she grew old. Gracefully. Intelligently. Quietly. Nick is simply the best songwriter and an engaging performer.   Buy New or Used via amazon Dave Alvin – Eleven Eleven Had grown tired of Dave but really liked this one. In fact, in reinvigorated my like of him.   Buy New or Used via amazon…

  Buy New or Used via amazon 1. The Cave Singers: No Witch – My favorite album of the year. Nice mix of styles that bring a dark groove to their folk roots.   Buy New or Used via amazon 2. The Vaccines: What Did you Expect from The Vaccines – Sun, fun and catchy tunes, that’s what I expect from The Vaccines and this albums delivers.   Buy New or Used via amazon 3. The War on Drugs: Slave Ambient – Lyrically a fusion of Dylan and Petty, the songs are expansive and invoke wide open spaces.   Buy New or Used via…

1. The Field ‘Looping State of Mind’, 2. Balam Acab ‘Wander/Wonder’ 3. James Blake ‘James Blake’ 4. Burial ‘Street Halo’ EP 5. Pure X ‘Pleasure’ 6. Julianna Barwick ‘The Magic Place’ 7. Shabazz Palaces – ‘Black Up’ 8. Gang Gang Dance ‘Eye Contact’ 9. Ganglians – ‘Still Living’ 10. Washed Out ‘Within and Without’ 11. Kashiwa Daisuke – ’88’ 12. Bon Iver – ‘Bon Iver, Bon Iver’ 13. Tim Hecker ‘Ravedeath 1972’ / ‘Dropped Pianos’ 14. M83 ‘Hurry Up…’ 15. Grouper ‘A I A’ 16. A Winged Victory for the Sullen ‘A Winged Victory for the Sullen’ 17. Zomby ‘Dedication’…

A lot of good new stuff, but nothing great except in the Jazz and Reissue bins. Highest marks go to Disco Inferno (we weren’t ready for them in 1992), George Jones, Fania Retrospective, Craig Taborn, Ambrose Akimusire and almost all African compilations. Formidable Fourteen Charles Bradley – No Time for Dreaming / Bombina – Agadez / M & A – things yes / Frank Turner – England Keep My Bones / White Denim – D / The Black Keys – El Camino / Tom Waits – Bad as Me/ Bomb the Music Industry – Vacation / Siberia – Lights /…

A lot of good new stuff, but nothing great except in the Jazz and Reissue bins. Highest marks go to Disco Inferno (we weren’t ready for them in 1992), George Jones, Fania Retrospective, Craig Taborn, Ambrose Akimusire and almost all African compilations. Formidable Fourteen Charles Bradley – No Time for Dreaming / Bombina – Agadez / M & A – things yes / Frank Turner – England Keep My Bones / White Denim – D / The Black Keys – El Camino / Tom Waits – Bad as Me/ Bomb the Music Industry – Vacation / Siberia – Lights /…

1. The Vinyl District Record Store Locator app (available for iOS and Android)  (The Vinyl District/Shoutem)   Buy New or Used via amazon 2. Tom Waits – Bad As Me (Anti)   Buy New or Used via amazon 3. Brian Olive – Two of Everything (Alive)   Buy New or Used via amazon 4. Booker T. Jones – The Road From Memphis (Anti)   Buy New or Used via amazon 5. Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues (Sub Pop)   Buy New or Used via amazon 6. Black Keys – Lonely Boy (Nonesuch)   Buy New or Used via amazon 7. Justin Townes Earle – Harlem River Blues…

as much as i have thought it to be a cop out in the past…i’m not sure the concept of the whole album or cd release really worked in 2011. not for me anyway. yeah there were a few nice things released & among those some truly great moments. a couple tracks on the new Mattson2 were absolute knockouts & there was a lovely ep by Emilie Proulx. i liked the Kurt Vile quite alot. mostly i scoured the new stuff for tracks here & there that i could sink my teeth into. many of the most satisfying cuts came…

occupy poop! it’s embarrassing to think anyone still cares about this crap or even has the time to ponder it based on the sands of time runnin’ out on our democracy. . . that the only music we should have been listening to & adding our ragged voices to was the global chant for justice & equality, but since mark asked – no decisive order as usual – just what distracted me from firebombing goldman sachs or lifted my spirits –   Buy New or Used via amazon paul simon – so beautiful or so what   Buy New or Used via…

  Buy New or Used via amazon Katie B – On A Mission (Rinse / Columbia) Among all the BRIT School graduates who made waves this year (Adele, Jamie Woon, Rizzle Kicks, Amy Winehouse), Katie B was by far my favourite. Last year’s contribution to the Magnetic Man album (featuring the brilliant lyric “something, something, something…”) and the “On A Mission” single had given us reason to expect a strong debut and we were not disappointed. The combination of pop, UK funky, dubstep and drum ‘n bass (hell, there’s even an Amen break on a coupla tracks) was addicting and served…

  Buy New or Used via amazon WILD FLAG – S/T (Merge): This disc is the real standout of the year for me. Harmonies and major guitar chops from both Carrie and Mary with Janet’s pounding backbeat keep this disc in the cd player.   Buy New or Used via amazon Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds – Gorilla Rose (In The Red): Former Gun Club-er and Cramp put out an amazing mix of sounds. Now it’s time to hit his back catalog.   Buy New or Used via amazon Half Man Half Biscut – 90 Bisodol (Crimond) (Probe Plus): I’ve only…

1 – VARIOUS ARTISTS – Those Byrds Have Flown: A Byrdsian Tribute I’m not sure a download-only compilation of previously released tracks should be considered POOPworthy but this collection of 25 songs done in the style of circa 1965-66 McGuinn, Crosby, Hillman and two Clarks has artwork, liner notes, and tons of smarts. Tuneful and harmonic jangle galore. Call this Revenge Of the Rickenbackers. I wait only for my boot heels to be wandering. You *might* be able to find it here, but we couldn’t possibly say for sure   Buy New or Used via amazon 2 – STEVE EARLE –…

The Year 2011 This year’s picks was simple for me. Well only during the last few weeks of the year when true gems “were dropped” onto the market.I would love to put Numbers 1-9 as only one record, EL CAMINO by The Black Keys, as this recording was the” best of the best” by a mile or two. Nothing was even close for me. You knuckleheads might not agree and offer a differing opinion. However, sticking with tradition and so as not to screw up Mark’s method of accounting I offer the following as 1 through 10.   Buy New or…

After a 1 year absence I do return to the banter, the chatter & pontification as we all love to do once a year …I realize that no one even noticed my absence, no concern what-so-ever as to why no list from yours truly, that’s OK, not a problem as I see how you folks are, so full of your own everyday lives and yourselves, consumed with no one else’s feelings but your very own & Pompous to boot! Hence the origination of this list, so as they say let’s get on with the show, or rather the PoOp year…