2011 has, what, 40-odd hours left before its spent corpse is a dried husk caught by the winds of time and blown to the far corners of the earth. So, on its deathbed, let us throw the year a final party by praising and dissecting the musics released during its now-ending life. I suggest (though I never demand) commenting with your 2011 Top-X list[s] in lieu of randomness.

[Next week, in respect for the year passed and those preceding it, we will all only have 2012 releases in our random tens. Hopefully a dozen or so good albums come out next Tuesday....
Amazon.com says Elvis, the Monkees, the Who, and Noel Gallagher are among the top titles. That just raises the challenge level!]

Before I get into what I thought was great about the year that's not quite dead yet, I want to say that my lists are a reflection of my tastes, and that I believe taste to be particular. Furthermore, my tastes may be more particular than most as I'll often find an artist that sounds very similar to one I'm fond of, and be left cold by the second act, without being able to put my finger on what the difference is. This is why there's no Radiohead or TV on the Radio or Arcade Fire or (various other clearly talented acts) in my list: I'm just not that into them, and I've fruitless time spent listening to music I'm just not that into while attempting to pin down why I'm not that into it, or to try to get what others obviously get out of it. The prior left me nitpicking music so that I could claim that the artists were inferior to what I listened to (which wasn't true, overlooked similar faults in the stuff I did like, and lead me to believe myself to have superior taste). The latter left me numb to what I actually like in music and why I even listen to music.

So screw that, here are my lists! Maybe you'll find something interesting. Maybe not.

Artist of the year
Continue reading FMD: End of 2011 →