Liked it OK, but much, much, much less than that last Silver Seas record.

For whatever it's worth, I wouldn't have strongly disagreed with the "serviceable classic rock" description of the Garland Jeffreys after the first 5 or so listens but it was a real strong grower for me.

That Dropkick album cover looks a lot like Anodyne. Any explanation for that?

A few things on here that I probably should check out and a few that obviously aren't for me either.

That Booze album should have been on my list. I don't know how I fucked that up.

Radcliffe, is this what winter in Vancouver is like?

Forward into Irrelevance?

As usual a list I'll be cross checking to sample. Looking forward to it.

Lost more in the 2011 queue now thanks to this thread. Thank you, sir.

7. Meyerman - Who Do You Think You Are?



YES.

band mom alert!

I can't find any explanation for it, other than the band's obvious appreciation for Uncle Tupelo (although from their overall sound, they should've grafted a bit of the album art from Teenage Fanclub's Songs from Northern Britain into that image).

Not sure if this one'll stick in the top 20 right now or not.

straightforward answer: yes.

meta answer: with black splotches.

Bump for new reviews:

Daniel Tashian - Arthur

Marvelous Darlings Single Life

Ryan Allen & His Extra Arms Ryan Allen & His Extra Arms

Dirty Wings 30th Avenue Heartache

2011 mix:

1. Meyerman - Intro Tonight
2. The Meows - Tired of Being Alone
3. Biters - Ain't So Easy
4. Van Buren Boys - Crazy
5. Redondo Beat - Do You Wanna Have This Dance?
6. Giuda - Roll On
7. Locksley - All of the Time
8. Black Rabbits - My Baby Don't
9. Ryan Allen and His Extra Arms - Heart String Soul
10. Marvelous Darlings - I Want My Brand
11. The Kills - Future Starts Slow
12. Apex Manor - I Know These Waters Well
13. Tommy Keene - Deep Six Saturday
14. Oh Mercy - Stay, Please Stay
15. The Weight - Grand Street
16. Daniel Tashian - When You're Gone
17. Yep - Crestfallen
18. The Booze - Wild One
19. Watts - Chaperone
20. Barreracudas - Feet
21. The Cry! - Down in the City
22. The Postelles - Sleep on the Dance Floor
23. Warren Zanes - That Sounds Good To Me
24. The Breakdowns - The Kids Don't Wanna Bop Anymore

http://www.mediafire.com/?d7zsuk81gmxy754

Bump for final order:

1. The Breakdowns - The Kids Don't Wanna Bop Anymore
2. The Booze - At Maximum Volume
3. The Biters - It's All Chewed Up, OK?
4. The Meows - All You Can Eat
5. Yep - Once
6. Dum Dum Girls - Only in Dreams
7. Meyerman - Who Do You Think You Are
8. Oh Mercy - Great Barrier Grief
9. The Van Buren Boys - Up All Night
10. Watts - On The Dial

11. The Barreracudas - Nocturnal Missions
12. The Kills - Blood Pressures
13. Redondo Beat - Meet Redondo Beat
14. Marvelous Darlings - Single Life
15. Apex Manor - The Year of Magical Drinking
16. Locksley - Locksley
17. Daniel Tashian - Arthur
18. The Weight - Nowhere Now
19. Ryan Allen & His Extra Arms - Ryan Allen & His Extra Arms
20. The Postelles The Postelles

21. Butch Walker - The Spade
22. Black Rabbits - Hypno Switch
23. Warren Zanes - I Want To Move Out In The Daylight
24. Giuda - Racey Roller
25. The CRY! - The CRY!
26. Sun Wizard - Positively 4th Avenue
27. Bare Wires - Cheap Perfume
28. King Louie's Missing Monuments - Painted White
29. The ACBs - Stona Rosa
30. Tommy Keene - Behind the Parade

31. An American Underdog - Always on the Run
32. Dropkick - Time Cuts The Ties
33. The Far West - The Far West
34. Dirty Wings - 30th Avenue Heartache
35. The Rationales - The Distance In Between
36. Wiretree - Make Up
37. Skybombers - Black Carousel
38. Smith Westerns - Dye It Blonde
39. Cute Lepers - Adventure Time
40. The Feelies - Here Before

41. Ralph Covert & the Bad Examples - Smash Record
42. Miles Kane - Colour of the Trap
43. Cirrone - Uplands Park Road
44. The Dead Trees - Whatwave
45. Joe Henry - Reverie
46. Robbers on High Street - Hey There Golden Hair
47. Chewy - Bravado
48. Nick Lowe - That Old Magic
49. The Handcuffs - Waiting for the Robot
50. The Krayolas - Tipsy Topsy Turvy

51. Everybody Else - Wanderlust
52. Ponderosa - Moonlight Revival
53. Charles Bradley - No Time For Dreaming
54. The Sick Rose - No Need For Speed
55. The Greatest Liar - The Girl With The Chestnut Eyes
56. kd lang & the Siss Boom Bang - Sing It Loud
57. Dozen Dimes - Get Real Gone
58. Bad Sports - Kings of the Weekend
59. Eulogies - Tear the Fences Down
60. Tres Bien - The Weather On Milk Mountain

61. Tommy Stinson - One Man Mutiny
62. The Viatones - Introducing
63. Tom Waits - Bad As Me
64. Glenn Tilbrook w/ Nine Below Zero - The Cooperative
65. Bing Ji Ling - Shadow to Shine
66. The Riffing Cowboys - Hank 'n' Roll
67. The Fleshtones - Brooklyn Sound Solution
68. Nicole Atkins - Mondo Amore
69. Generationals - Actor Caster
70. Radio Days - C'est La Vie

71. The Dark Rags - The Dark Rags
72. Garland Jeffreys - King of In Between
73. The Love Me Nots - The Demon and the Devotee
74. The Diamond Dogs - The Grit and the Very Soul
75. Girls - Father Son Holy Ghost

small write-up here: http://unherdmusic.blogspot.com/2012/01/best-of-2011.html

Yoink.

Just out of curiousity...

What's the standard for your cutoff point? Like how good do you really consider that Girls album to be? And what kind of percentage is this (75 albums) of the total amount of 2011 albums you listened to?

I'm just asking because 75 is kind of a lot. Don't infer any kind of accusatory or skeptical tone in the these questions. I know there are other people here who listen to tons of new stuff and have done longer lists than this. I'm just wondering.

Not sure what the percentage is, but 75 would be at least 50% of what I listened to over the year.

Cut-off point is fairly arbitrary - it's mostly based on my admittedly old-fashioned way of listening to music: I like to play albums through my stereo system, so if an album intrigues me enough I'll burn it to cdr or buy it to give it a good listen. Subsequently, the top 50 on this list are all albums that I possess in physical form. Enjoyable enough that I know I'll want to hear them again in the years to come, and ranked with the acceptance that personal preference could change on any given day.

The next 25 are a mixture. Some of them I've kept on cdr or as digital files, some of them I only liked a handful of songs. That Girls album is actually a pretty good representation of the cut-off point between what I liked this year and what I didn't like - in other words, it's quite accurately either the 75th best album I listened to this year or the 75th worst.

OK, that makes sense.

I was wondering the same think as Drinky. You've ranked more than I listened to in 2011 although I know you also listened to a lot more than I did.

It was hard to figure out where the quality in your eyes starts to drop though. I was surprised to see Joe Henry so low for example. So even if you are relatively disappointed in it, maybe you really like most of these a fair amount as I know you're a big fan of his in general. Then again a few spots below Joe Henry is the new Nick Lowe which I thought you didn't like much at all. Then a little further down are Charles Bradley and K.D. Lang which I thought you were a fan of. I'm sure the answer is easy enough that you either reassessed some of these positively or negatively or don't care for the albums that much as a whole but really like a few songs from them. It's a little hard to figure out though.

Other than the Breakdowns, what would you most recommend that I check out? I was thinking maybe Dropkick but that seemed to drop a lot from where it was on the last iteration.

There's no scientific methodology at work here. The top 25 are my absolute faves. The next 25 (or 40) are albums I like a lot, with microscopic gradations of personal appreciation - and the fact they're ranked at all has more to do with my adherence to convention than any specific order of quality.

I'd recommend you still give that Dropkicks a try, plus the Far West, Bing Ji Ling, and Oh Mercy. Other than those I'm not sure if the rest would interest you (although I highly recommend that Breakdowns album to everybody, even people I know will probably hate it).

I respect your quirky tastes as much as anyone on Obner and your lists are always worth many hours of search (often without finding a sample)' but I cannot believe that all 74 of those were better than Girls which had enough reg rock garage cred to appeal to your well honed quirks. To speak in moebius strip terms

I listen to that Girls album wondering why people who usually hate this kind of music would like this kind of music. It's a lite muzak version of everything I've previously liked... which probably answers the question right there.

As for samples, I've upped all kindsa mixes specifically for that duty. There's one that compiles my top 20 (or so) eight posts up, or an overwhelming pile here.

As always, solid list dood. Plenty of overlap as it ascends numerically. Ryan Allen & The Weight are two I need to check out pronto.

I have a feeling The Breakdowns would've placed higher on my list if I had it earlier in the year. The last two weeks it's been in constant rotation on the "house" stereo system, generating plenty of talk.

I never expected the Yep record to be on any list, let alone placing that high. Thank you. It's much appreciated.

Ryan Allen's album is a free download on bandcamp: http://extraarms.bandcamp.com/releases

The Weight album is vinyl only right now, so all the digital files originate from inferior transfers (I made the mistake of buying it off iTunes) - but I can up it in a few if you still need it.

Yeah, I might just make a recording of The Weight off of Spotify using Audio Hijack. It's pretty darn goog.