Pithy Title Here

[...] a potential that's bigger than any hype could promise. These guys are just getting started. 1) Kanye West - Yeezus Second opinion: Pitchfork I bet you don't like Kanye West and I bet it has nothing to [...]

[...] while also leaving the biggest moment to herself. "Yellow Flicker Beat" (along with Kanye West's remix of it later on in this proceedings) is the undeniable winner with a theme that is both [...]

[...] Tree Christmas" - A nice little ditty in two movements. Good sleigh-riding music. 5) Kanye West - "Christmas in Harlem" - Maybe we did tap out rock. We have barely touched rap! [...]

[...] , second opinions provided so you don't think I'm nuts. Honorable mentions Jay-Z & Kanye West - Watch the Throne - You know, it's good. My issue was more that both of these guys are [...]

[...] it cloying. How about that this album just does what I want a freaking rock record to do. The title track might be one of the songs of the year. But, from there, the disc is straightforward rock that [...]

[...] being drawn out in the intro but rolling by the end). They closed with their latest album's title track and the sound faded into the night under the Space Needle. Bumbershoot put together a great [...]

[...] , people. Chill. Plus, there's something pretty odd about demanding that the protagonist of the title track actually have been in the abusive relationship being described. "He hit me and it felt [...]

[...] this. It's an argument for your favorite indie band to work with a real producer. The opening title track just kills. And for the next four songs, it stays that good. Songs that we didn't know this [...]

[...] all mostly all available from your digital music purveyor of choice. 1) Crocodiles & The Dum Dum Girls - "Merry Christmas, Baby (Please Don't Die)" - As far as I'm concerned, the Dum Dum [...]

[...] batch of rock icons (Pearl Jam, say) to keep pushing themselves over the next 10 years. 3) Dum Dum Girls - Too True Second opinion: AV Club A criminally underrated band, Dum Dum Girls latest should [...]

[...] . The Beatles had Revolver. Radiohead had The Bends. I'm going to be stunned if whatever The Dum Dum Girls do next is not jaw-dropping in an epic kind of way. Let's go through this EP. "Mine [...]

[...] year that a girl in my middle school, after hearing me talk about my love of Nirvana and Pearl Jam, sent me home with a tape of Nine Inch Nails' Pretty Hate Machine. Few moments are as [...]

[...] up the list, too). At first listen, I was concerned this was going to be a vehicle simply for Pearl Jam to tour behind, after all, previous disc Backspacer isn't going to top a lot of best-of lists, [...]

[...] can keep going with material like this, it will end up pushing our current batch of rock icons (Pearl Jam, say) to keep pushing themselves over the next 10 years. 3) Dum Dum Girls - Too True Second [...]

I can't even pretend I listened to every new album worth hearing this year. And now that some of the "official" lists are out, I realize that any list [...]

[...] as I'm concerned, the Dum Dum Girls can do no wrong this year (a topic for the upcoming Best Albums of 2012 post). Everything I like about them is on display here with a nice bit of guitar [...]

If you cannot tell, I really struggled with this one this year. Time was the primary factor. As evidenced by my complete inability to hit double digit [...]

This is one of my favorite posts to write all year, because who doesn't love to write about things they love? It's a very indulgent blog post, saying [...]

[...] . Anyhow, let's try this. As always, second opinions provided so you don't think I'm nuts. Honorable mentions Jay-Z & Kanye West - Watch the Throne - You know, it's good. My issue was more that [...]

[...] this year. I'm just not sure there was anything transcendent. Also, I'm going to skip the honorable mentions entirely as, on reflection, they weren't really in the running for my top 10 (Apologies to [...]

[...] was awesome! Seems like there is an ebb and flow to music and this year was definitely on. Honorable Mentions And this doesn't even include albums by Deerhunter and The Neighbourhood that were real [...]

[...] with so much great stuff, my pick for the year's top album wasn't even close. Onward... Honorable mentions - These were on the periphery and, pleasantly, in a year with so much good stuff, there [...]

[...] music. 1) Bad Religion - Angels We Have Heard on High - Dude. Bad Religion just put out a Christmas album. This is WHY I started making these mixes back in the day. If you aren't familiar with Bad [...]

[...] - "White Christmas" - I'm still letting it sink in that Bad Religion put out a Christmas album and if I am ever mayor of a town with a tree lighting, I assure you, Bad Religion will be the [...]

[...] Christmas" - The latest salvo in the Zooey Deschanel effort for World Domination is her Christmas album with M. Ward. This is a fine little retro song. Though, given the interesting collab this [...]

[...] on "Infinite Variation," a song that would be right at home on any early 2000 indie album but with a heavy dose of maturity. If "All Things Forests" contained themes of a band [...]