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"Tuesday Morning AM/FM Show"
Playlist for January 3, 2012
THEME: Best Albums of 2011
This past year found a flood of excellent albums released during the Autumn months. That doesn't mean the other months were sparse on good music. To the contrary, one of my favorite CDs came out in January. It just that the labels bunch new releases together a few months before the holidays for the Christmas present buying public. It's not about when you hear a good song because good music transends time. With that being said, here are my biased choices for the best albums of 2011 which proved to be another banner year.
79) Her Space Holiday - August's Her Space Holiday
78) Smith Westerns - January's Dye It Blonde
77) Cloud Control - November's Bliss Release
76) My Morning Jacket - June's Circuital
75) Chop Chop - April's The Spark
74) Bon Iver - June's Bon Iver
73) Bronze Radio Return - April's Shake! Shake! Shake!
72) Pepper Rabbit - August's Red Velvet Snow Ball
71) Destroyer - January's Kaputt
70) Metronomy - April's The English Riviera
69) BOAT - March's Dress Like Your Idols
68) Yael Meyer - November's Everything Will Be Alright
67) The Barr Brothers - September's The Barr Brothers
66) The Grand Slambovians - January's The Grand Slambovians
65) Feist - October's Metals
64) The Cave Singers - June's No Witch
63) Ohbijou - September's Metal Meets
62) The Front Bottoms - September's The Front Bottoms
61) I'm Barcelona - April's Forever Today
60) Those Darlins - March's Screws Get Loose
59) Iron & Wine - January's Kiss Each Other Clean
58) Smile Brigade - September's Do You Come Here Often?
57) Agnes Obel - March's Philharmonics
56) Wheeler Brothers - June's Portraits
55) My Brightest Diamond - October's All Things Will Unwind
54) The Devil Makes Three - October's Stomp And Smash
53) Death Cab For Cutie - June's Codes And Keys
52) Deer Tick - October's Divine Providence
51) TV On The Radio - April's Nine Types Of Light
50) Eisley - March's The Valley
49) Lucinda Williams - March's Blessed
48) Seapony - May's Go With Me
47) EMA (Erika M. Anderson) - May's Past Life Martyred Saints
46) Dawes - September's Nothing Is Wrong
45) Pieta Brown - September's Mercury
44) Sam Roberts Band - May's Collider
43) Chuck Ragan - September's Covering Ground
42) Other Lives - May's Tamer Animals
41) The Antlers - May's Burst Apart
40) Mister Heavenly - August's Out Of Love
39) Tom Waits - November's Bad As Me
38) Austra - May's Feel It Break
37) Donora - September's Boyfriends, Girlfriends
36) Love Inks - May's E.S.P.
35) The Head And The Heart - March's The Head And The Heart
34) Girls - September's Father, Son, Holy Ghost
33) Emmy The Great - July's Virtue
32) Givers - May's In Light
31) WU LYF - August's Go Tell Fire To The Mountain
29) Middle Brother - Daydreaming - 4:50 from March's Middle Brother
28) Tune-Yards - Bizness - 4:24 from April's Whokill
27) Doctors & Dealers - All I Ever Told You Were Lies - 3:56 from June's Every Sinner Has A Future
26) The Strokes - Under Cover Of Darkness - 3:57 from April's Angles
25) The Piney Girl Country Roadshow - 40 Days & Nights - 3:11 from August's Jesus Wept
24) Bombadil - A Question - 3:00 from November's All That The Rain Promises
23) Dirty Mittens - Row - 3:21 from July's Heart Of Town
22) LAKE - Giving & Receiving - 4:31 from April's Giving & Receiving
21) The Terrordactyls - I Can't Hear You - 2:23 from July's Rage Mountain
20) Anna Calvi - Suzanne & I - 4:11 from March's Anna Calvi
19) The Decemberists - Down By The Water - 3:42 from January's The King Is Dead
18) Adele - Rolling In The Deep - 3:48 from January's 21
17) Arctic Monkeys - Love Is A Laserquest - 3:12 from June's Suck It And See
16) Ryan Adams - Lucky Now - 2:56 from October's Ashes & Fire
15) The Ericksons - Breakin' The Rules - 2:04 October's Don't Be Scared, Don't Be Alarmed
14) Wild Beasts - Lion's Share - 4:15 from May's Smother
13) Kurt Vile - In My Time - 3:48 from March's Smoke Ring For My Halo
12) Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Tigers - 2:25 from August's Mirror Traffic
11) Tennis - Long Boat Pass - 2:59 January's Cape Dory
10) The Horrible Crowes - I Witnessed A Crime - 3:05 from September's Elsie
9) Fleet Foxes - Battery Kinzie - 2:49 May's Helplessness Blues
8) Blind Willies - One Dime Down - 3:43 from June's Needle, Feather, And A Rope
7) The Black Keys - Stop Stop - 3:30 from December's El Camino
6) Pokey La Farge And The South City Three - Head To Toe - 2:32 from July's Middle Of Everywhere
5) Gillian Welch - Six White Horses - 3:38 from June's The Harrow & The Harvest
{An engaging come back album full of insight and joy centered around elements of alt country, folk and bluegrass.}
4) Have Gun Will Travel - Thirteen Miles To Empty - 2:37 from October's Mergers & Acquisitions
{A strong collections of folk roots music propels this Tampa band into the stratosphere.}
3) Florence + the Machine - Breaking Down - 3:49 from December's Ceremonials
{No second release let down for the vocal flourishes of Florence Welch.}
2) PJ Harvey - The Last Living Rose - 2:21 from February's Let England Shake
{Not so much a return to form as a step up the talent ladder, an excellent listen.}
1) Wilco - I Might - 4:01 from September's The Whole Love
{This album is a Jeff Tweedy masterpiece. Learn all the melodies and hum them while you work.}