This was really hard for me this year. Spending more time with this project (i.e., the blog), intentionally listening to more music, and talking to more people about music, exposed me to more music in the past twelve months than I think I have ever heard in that same period of time in my entire life which, for better or worse, is long enough to mean something. (Did I mention it was more?)
I heard all kinds of great sounds from all kinds of bands – some on record, some on MP3, some on CD and some only on stage. As I spent the last few weeks thinking about this list, it kept getting longer and longer. Finally, I realized (or simply resigned myself to the fact) that a year-end best of list is really supposed to be just that – only the best. I had to make a cut.
Of course, just like last year, the only criteria we really have for determining what is a “best record” is to think about how many times we listened to it. We returned to all of these albums repeatedly and excitedly throughout the year. What’s more, they were albums we listened to thoroughly. Which is to say we think there’s a lot more than just one good song on them. We hope to put out a short list of best songs of the year to recognize some of those artists who captured our imagination with a tune or two, or maybe make a record that just missed this list, but that’s next – not now.
Right now, I’m going to start the list by borrowing three from Alex’s List – Wilco (the album); David Bazan, Curse Your Branches; and Phoenix, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix – and tell you that had he not listed them already I would have. (Yeah you can call it cheatin’, but once again I am the one footing the bill for the economy server package around here.)
Thanks to Alex’s head start, I came up with 11 more albums that we think you might want to hear this year.
11. Conor Oberst & the Mystic Valley Band – Outer South
Mr. Oberst’s best work of the year.
10. John Doe & the Sadies – Country Club
Having been on the front edge of the American punk scene, John Doe seems no longer interested in doing something new. What he did here was take some old songs and remind us how much we love that classic country sound – especially the Bakersfield sound. We actually got around to reviewing this one. Read about it here.
9. Those Darlins’
We wrote a little bit about this record when they were headed to town this fall, that’s here. We love it. They’re coming right back, January 15 at the EARL.
MP3: Those Darlins – DUI or Die
8. Sea Wolf – White Water, White Bloom
Alex Brown Church does this sound as well as, if not better than, anybody else out there.
7. The Winter Sounds – Church of the Haunted South
I spent half the year meaning to write about this record. I think I listened to it almost every day in August. I even chatted with band member Clayton about the grand ideas behind the record, and still intend to capture that conversation in advance of their next visit to Atlanta (hopefully early next year), but for now let me just say I think it was an easy choice for this list.
MP3: The Winter Sounds – Trophy Wife
6. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
This record grew on us over the course of the year eventually climbing into the rarified air (?) of this list. Really, it’s a great record.
5. Band of Skulls – Baby Darling Doll Face Honey
Made this list like a bullet. I can’t stop listening to this disc.
4. Manchester Orchestra – Mean Everything to Nothing
These local boys crushed the sophomore slump with this record. Powerful (in every meaning of that word) from front to back.
3. Metric – Fantasies
One of our first record reviews! Read it here. Still love it.
2. Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca
I wrote about this record in my answer to Alex’s Short & Skinny column. It’s called Abbreviated Attention (Span). Check it out here.
1. The Decemberists – Hazards of Love
This was the easiest pick of all for us. We loved the record, loved the performance at the Tabernacle, loved the new video on iTunes. Great stuff.
