Free Music Fridays: The Paper Bag Sessions
Wilco played in LA this week and I missed it. Here’s the worst part…I didn’t even know they were playing. There was a time where I went to see 3-4 concerts a week. Now if I see that many a year…it was a good year. Part of having kids and working all the time, you give up certain things. Concerts seemed to be one of the first things to go. But now my kids are getting old enough that soon I’ll start taking them to shows. Thankfully the internet has at least kept me up-to-date with all the new music out there, so when it is time to go to the shows with them…I’ll be caught up with all the fresh young bands.
Get the sessions here for free!!
The 11 Best songs By Rodrigo y Gabriela
I will never understand Apple. They really have no ability except to repeat the same mistakes over and over and over. First off, I can’t figure out how to turn off Genius from constantly connecting and using up the internet bandwith. But what’s worse is that every time it tries to connect, it makes me fill out my password. It’s annoying because I don’t even want Genius to connect but it does anyways…AND…I can never remember my password. That shouldn’t be an issue but apple has the most ridiculous parameters for passwords (needs letters, numbers, and capital letters). Apple doesn’t realize that people use mostly the same passwords. Asking them to create a new password with all your parameters is counter-productive. Since every website needs a password nowadays…making your site the one site where the password needs to be different is only going to piss us off. Now we have to remember a new password…it’s just not going to happen. We’ll forget it…then every time we sign in…we’re going to need to reset our password. If I have to do that every time I check in it’s only going to discourage me from coming back. I know this sounds silly and petty to complain about but should Apple the company that everyone thinks is so customer-friendly…be a bit more customer friendly?
Here are the 11 Best Songs By Rodrigo y Gabriela:
- Buster Voodoo (11:11)
- Diablo Rojo (Rodrigo y Gabriela)
- Orion (Rodrigo y Gabriela)
- Hanuman (11:11)
- Foc (re-Foc)
- Tamacun (Rodrigo y Gabriela)
- 11:11 (11:11)
- Temple Bar (re-Foc)
- Paris (re-Foc)
- Master Maqui (11:11)
- Take 5 / One (Focing Version 9) (re-Foc)
The 11 Best Songs By The Hold Steady
For music releases…the first couple months of a new year is usually a dead time filled with leftovers, new bands, and sophomore albums. It’s very hard to make lists for bands with one album since their list is pretty much every song on their debut album. There’s really no point in making a list. It’s like eating a BLT and then making a list of the five favorite ingredients in the sandwich. The only real surprise is if the tomato knocks off the bacon…or some nut bread or rosemary mayo somehow sneaks up the chart. But I’ve never been big on order of songs over the inclusion of specific songs in the lists. That’s why there’s no lists for Big Pink or Cloud Nothings…two of my most anticipated albums this month. But finally things are rolling…and there are more lists to be made.
Here are the 11 Best Songs By The Hold Steady:
- Stay Positive (Stay Positive)
- Stuck Between Stations (Boys and Girls in America)
- Soft in the Center (Heaven Is Whenever)
- Sequestered in Memphis (Stay Positive)
- Hot Soft Light (Boys and Girls in America)
- Both Crosses (Stay Positive)
- Cattle and Creeping Things (Separation Sunday)
- The Weekenders (Heaven Is Whenever)
- The Swish (Almost Killed Me)
- Constructive Summer (Stay Positive)
- Chips Ahoy! (Boys and Girls in America)
Buy Craig Finn’s new solo album, Clear Heart Full Eyes.
The 11 Most Anticipated Albums of Fall 2012:
There’s no telling if any of these albums are coming out this year…it’s all a massive guess…all for fun. Some of these may come out before Fall…some after…but rumors are flying.
Here are the 11 Most Anticipated Albums of Fall 2012:
- Tool – TBA (Nov.)
- Stone Roses – TBA (Oct.)
- Pearl Jam – TBA (Oct.)
- No Doubt – TBA (Nov.)
- U2 – TBA (Oct.)
- Green Day – TBA (Dec.)
- The xx – TBA (Oct.)
- Modest Mouse – TBA (Nov.)
- Black Sabbath reunion – TBA (Oct.)
- Phoenix – TBA (Oct.)
- Dr. Dre – Detox (???????????)
The 11 Most Anticipated for Summer 2012
As we move into a new year, one of the strangest pieces of news has been revealed. Album sales in 2011 actually went up for the first time in almost a decade. Granted it was mostly due to Adele’s incredibly popular album…that still proves that the album as a musical format is still very viable. And while all the news articles still like to pronounce the death of rock and how pop has taken over…there were still more rock albums in the Billboard 200 than any other genre. This year, there were 47 rock albums on the list. Second place went to country with 39 albums. Pop comes up third with 35 albums. (I still think Bruno Mars is really rock…but I put him in pop). Hip-hop/rap is fourth with 26. What’s also interesting to note…rock music is comprised of a lot of different bands while the pop albums were all made by the same handful of artists (Bieber, Swift, Adele, Gaga, Kesha, Selena Gomez). Good for those artists but you take them out of the equation…and pop doesn’t have much going on.
Let’s see what 2012 brings….
Here are the 11 most anticipate albums of summer 2012:
1. Soundgarden – TBA (Sept)
2. MGMT – MGMT (Sept.)
3. Animal Collective – TBA (Sept)
4. Grizzly Bear – TBA (August)
5. Mumford and Sons – TBA (August)
6. How To Destroy Angels – TBA (July)
7. Sigur Ros – TBA (July)
8. The Offspring – Apocalyptic Guides and Inferno Themes about Nothing (July)
9. Public Enemy – Most of My Heros Don’t Appear on Stamps/Evil Empire of Everything (August)
10. Regina Spektor – What We Saw From the Cheap Seats (July)
11. Skrillex – Voltage (July)
The 11 Most Anticipated Albums of Spring 2012
Tebow nation is on fire. Nothing will further propel his legendary status than throwing 316 in his upset victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. But was it really an upset? Was it really that surprising that Denver won? I don’t think so…in fact, I called it. (I swear…you can ask the one friend I told they were going to win). There’s three things you have to take into account. First of all, Tebow is not leading a 8-8 team. He’s QBing for a 7-4 team. There were five games of the season where he wasn’t playing. Even if he only won two of those games, they’d be a 9-7 team. A 9-7 team upsetting a 12-4 team isn’t that big of a stretch…especially since they’re playing at home (which is the second factor). Thirdly, Pittsburgh was injured up the ass. Literally…I read one of the defensive end injured his ass. With Mendenhall out…Big Ben at about 50% and half the o/d lines riding the bench…the Steelers were not at full strength. Denver beating Pittsburgh is a mild upset at best…it doesn’t even compare to 7-9 Seattle’s upset last year of defending Superbowl Champions New Orleans. In football…any given Sunday…and team can win.
In music…any given Tuesday, an established vet can release a dud. A has-been can make a comeback. Or a new band could become a new trend-setter. Who will make waves this year…that is something we’ve never been able to predict.
Here are the 11 Most Anticipated Albums of Spring 2012:
1. Bruce Springsteen & The E-Street Band - TBA (May)
2. Kanye West - G.O.O.D. Album (May)
3. Smashing Pumpkins - Oceania (June)
4. Madonna - Gimme All Your Luvin (April)
5. Metric - Realities (May)
6. Garbage - TBA (June)
7. Mazzy Star - TBA (April)
8. The Hives - TBA (May)
9. K’naan - TBA (May)
10. Beck & Dwight Yoakam - TBA (June)
11. The Mars Volta - In Absentia (April)
the 11 Most Anticipate Albums of Winter 2012:
The final year of existence is upon us…and here’s what we have to look forward to.
They always did say Van Halen would reunite when hell froze over. I guess they were right.
Here are the 11 Most Anticipate Albums of Winter 2012:
- Van Halen - Secret Title (2/7)
- The Shins - Port of Morrow (March)
- Craig Finn - Clear Eyes, Full Hearts (1/24)
- Paul McCartney - Kisses on the Bottom (1/31)
- Sleigh Bells - Reign of Terror (2/14)
- The Big Pink - Future This (1/17)
- Of Montreal - Paralytic Stalks (1/31)
- Heartless Bastards - Arrow (2/14)
- Esperanza Spalding - Radio Music Society (2/28)
- Cloud Nothings - Attack on Memory (1/24)
- Miike Snow - Happy To You (March)
The 111 Best albums of 2011
Here they are. The 111 Best Albums of 2011 as voted on by you my readers. If you don’t like the results…then vote for something better next year.
I personally, always like the results of this list much better than most critic lists. This list is always more honest to me. While Adele dominated most lists…she only cracks the top 40 here. Or the Decemberists who barely made it on many critic lists jumped up high here because the people just liked the album.
Here are the 111 Best Albums of 2011:
- Bon Iver – Bon Iver
- The Black Keys – El Camino
- The Decemberists - King Is Dead
- Yuck – Yuck
- M83 – Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
- Death Cab For Cutie – Codes and Keys
- Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
- Radiohead – King of Limbs
- Wilco - The Whole Love
- Foo Fighters – Wasting Light
- St. Vincent – Strange Mercy
- The Weeknd – House of Balloons/Thursday/Echoes of Silence
- Manchester Orchestra – Simple Math
- PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
- Wye Oak – Civilian
- Girls – Father, Son, Holy Ghost
- Jay-Z & Kanye West – Watch The Throne
- The Strokes – Angles
- TV on the Radio – Nine Types of Light
- R.E.M. – Collapse Into Now
- Iron & Wine – Kiss Each Other Clean
- Bright Eyes – The People’s Key
- Florence + The Machine – Ceremonials
- Middle Brother – Middle Brother
- Telekinesis – 12 Desperate Straight Lines
- Destroyer – Kaputt
- War on Drugs – Slave Ambient
- Wild Flag – Wild Flag
- Coldplay – Mylo Xyloto
- Tune-Yards – Who Kill
- Foster The People – Torches
- Fucked Up – David Comes To Life
- Real Estate - Days
- Beirut – Rip Tide
- Ryan Adams – Ashes and Fire
- Rural Alberta Advantage – Departing
- Tom Waits – Bad As Me
- Adele – 21
- Gomez – Whatever’s On Your Mind
- Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Hysterical
- Raveonettes – Raven in the Grave
- James Blake – James Blake
- Stephen Malkmus – Mirror Traffic
- Alexander (Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros) – Alexander
- The Pains of Being Pure At Heart – Belong
- Tapes N Tapes – Outside
- Paul Simon – So Beautiful or So What
- Class Actress – Rapproacher
- Dawes – Nothing Is Wrong
- My Morning Jacket – Circuital
- Dum Dum Girls – Only in Dreams
- Ersatz G.B. – The Fall
- Arctic Monkeys – Suck It And See
- Atlas Sound – Paradox
- Explosions in the Sky – Take Care, Take Care, Take Care
- Rival Schools - Pedals
- Sigur Ros - Inni
- Battles – Gloss Drop
- Dustin O Halloran – Lumiere
- Sam Roberts Band – Collider
- Beastie Boys – Hot Sauce Committee Part 2
- Drake – Take Care
- Washed Out – Within and Without
- Feist – Metals
- Jason Isbell – Here We Rest
- Fountains of Wayne – Sky Full of Holes
- Grouplove – Never Trust a Happy Song
- Handsome Furs – Sound Kapital
- Childish Gambino – Camp
- Low – C’mon
- Crooked Fingers – Breaks in the Armor
- Blitzen Trapper – American Goldwing
- Deer Tick – Divine Providence
- EMA – Past Life Martyred Saints
- Hey Rosetta! – Seeds
- SBTRKT – SBTRKT
- The Head and the Heart – The Head and the Heart
- The Roots – undun
- Noah and the Whale – Last Night On Earth
- Mates of State – Mountaintops
- New Found Glory – Radiosurgery
- Gillian Welch – Harrow and Harvest
- Anna Calvi – Anna Calvi
- Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears – Scandalous
- Found – Factorycraft
- Metronomy – The English Riviera
- Library Voices – Summer of Lust
- The Vaccines – What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?
- The Kills – Blood Pressures
- Juliana Barwick – The Magic Place
- Cut Copy – Zonoscope
- We Were Promised Jetpacks – In The Pit Of Our Stomachs
- Kurt Vile – Smoke Ring For My Halo
- Tennis – Cape Dory
- Cults – Cults
- The Antlers – Burst Apart
- Friendly Fires – Pala
- Bombay Bicycle Club - A Different Kind of Fix
- J. Mascias – Several Shades of Why
- Tyler the Creator - Goblin
- Noah Gallagher – High Flying Birds
- Ladytron – Gravity the Seducer
- We Are Augustines – Rise Ye Sunken Ships
- The Airborne Toxic Event - All At Once
- And You Will Know us By The Trail of Dead – Tao of the Dead
- The Felice Brothers – Celebration, Florida
- The Joy Formidable – The Big Roar
- Okkervil River - I Am Very Far
- Glossary - Long Live Us All
- Lykke Li – Wounded Rhymes
- The Deep Dark Woods – The Place I Left Behind
The 11 Best Songs of 2011
I usually don’t like doing Top song lists of the year (ironic…huh?) but I wanted to give everyone a last chance to get your votes in for the top album of the year.
Just list your favorite albums of 2011 in the comment section below. Monday is the final day to vote.
Here are the 11 Best Songs of 2011:
1. Midnight City – M83 (Hurry Up We’re Dreaming)
2. Holocene – Bon Iver (Bon Iver)
3. The Birds Part 1 – The Weeknd (Thursday)
4. Shell Games - Bright Eyes (People’s Key)
5. Pumped Up Kicks – Foster The People (Torches)
6. Under Cover of Darkness - The Strokes (Angles)
7. First of the Year Equinox – Skrillex (also the best video)
8. Get Away - Yuck (Yuck)
9. Gold on the Ceiling – Black Keys (El Camino)
10. No Church - Jay-Z & Kanye West (Watch the Throne)
11. Hasa Diga Eebowaii (The Book of Mormon)
The 11 Best Songs By Skrillex
Back in the 90s…the last couple weeks before Christmas were always a mad dash to the CD shelves. Bands would throw out “best of” collections…holiday collections…etc. Now all that stuff comes out in November…sometimes you see Christmas stuff way back in October…right Zooey? After Christmas, we’d be hit with a dry spell for a few weeks…but things have changed in the digital era. An album being released is no longer an event unto itself…now the date of the release can sometimes be bigger news than the release. Last year, multiple bands put out album on New Year’s Eve (MIA, Klaxons, JJ, Gorillaz) because it made the release more interesting. This year, the rumors of more midnight New Year’s Eve releases are already buzzing. A couple of artists have jumped the gun. Last week, The Weeknd dropped his 3rd free album of the year. (how can you not like a guy who gives away three albums a year?) Also, out this week is dubstep’s hottest commodity, Skrillex. Is he getting too big too fast? Probably. Not sure I’ve ever seen this much hype over an artist who still has yet to release a full length album.
Here are the 11 Best Songs By Skrillex:
- Kill Everybody (Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites)
- Weekends!!! (My Name Is Skrillex)
- First of the Year Equinox (More Monsters and Sprites)
- Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites (Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites)
- Rock N Roll Will Take You To The Mountain (Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites)
- With You, Friends (My Name Is Skrillex)
- My Name Is Skrillex (My Name Is Skrillex)
- Scatta (Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites)
- The Disco Rangers Bus (YouTube Exclusive)
- Ruffneck Full Flex (More Monsters and Sprites)
- DnB Ting (Single)
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