11 Favorite Recordings of 2011

Better late than never, eh? Here are 11 of my/our favorite recordings of 2011. Not the most esoteric, obscure, or hipster list of the year, but true to the music that we've been playing.

Every year, I compile a mix disc with songs from my favorite recordings of the year. Thankfully, there, I get to expand out to 18-20 recordings. Narrowing down favorites for a year-end list is never easy!

My video clips from Peter Gabriel's show with the New Blood Orchestra in Milwaukee last summer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRNMaL0bhfw

Category:

Music

Tags:

• music
• vinyl
• records
• record collection
• vinyl community

[DocStrangelyStrange]

BREAKING NEWS

Kris Drever is no longer Kirkwall's favourite son. That honour has been bestowed upon...

GROUNDSKEEPER WILLIE! (yes, from the Simpsons)

[EoLoVoX]

@DocStrangelyStrange - Ha!

[EngelNr666]

jazzhands makes all presentations better :)

my favourites from 2011:

Jane Weaver - The Watchbird Alluminate

Ozric Tentacles - Paper Monkeys

Opeth - Heritage

Smoosh - Withershins

Sharon Van Etten - Epic

[EoLoVoX]

@EngelNr666 - I love that there's an Ozric album in there although, to be honest, I didn't realize that they had a new one out! I haven't heard Jane Weaver or Smoosh, so I'll have to look into them. Just recently got into Sharon Van Etten. I really need to get on board with Opeth, too. So many people have raved about them.

[ilovelinus]

Great video and great choices! Bright Eyes is also one of my favourite records of 2011. I just made a video with "Jejune Stars", i'm gonna put it as a response! I'm looking for your '50 words for snow' video!!! I'm waiting my copy to arrive! ;)

[EoLoVoX]

@ilovelinus - Thanks Arturo! Still haven't had time to get the KB video edited and up. Perhaps this weekend? I really like her new one, and I think you will too.

[EoLoVoX]

@onebigholiday42 - Those are such good albums, too. Have The Decemberists put out a bad album yet? Even a mediocre one? Not in my book!

[EoLoVoX]

@DoctorDeadwax (see pt. 2, raise pt. 3) I'm unaware of the release of 'And I'll Scratch Yours,' if it ever came out. Gabriel toured this summer with the New Blood Orchestra and there were signs up at the show about an upcoming album and DVD. This be that!

Definitely check out Admiral Fallow. As a fellow fan of 'Fisherman's Blues' and 'Room To Roam,' I think you would like them.

As always, thanks so much for the great comments and kind words!

[EoLoVoX]

@DoctorDeadwax (part 2) The song "Rox In The Box" sound quite Celtic and even contains bits of "The Raggle Taggle Gypsy". There's also a heavy Gillian Welch & David Rawlings influence here. The lyrics, too, are vastly different from anything Michael Stipe ever wrote. Again, I'm not denying the REM influence (I actually like it because I'm a HUGE fan of early REM) but I really feel that there's more to 'The King Is Dead' than that.

[EoLoVoX]

@DoctorDeadwax - (part1) To me, Calamity Song is the most REM-sounding track on The King Is Dead, and I believe that was intentional. Peter Buck plays on that track, and I believe it was an homage to early REM. It's a shame that that got overplayed. One of the reasons that I gave up radio a long time ago, and never warmed up to satellite radio, is the tendency to ruin music by playing it too much. The rest of that album varies a lot more than Calamity Song might indicate!