Best Of 2011! And 2006! Again!

At the end of each year, I have made increasingly sporadic attempts to log my favorite pop culture (usually music) of that year. I have also attempted to engage my prior lists, mostly as a way of gauging how things have changed and new things that I discovered after the fact. Here is my entry from 2011. God, what a depressing year that was for me.

Anyway, I have been thinking and listening to 2011 albums over the last couple of weeks, so I am ready to revise my list.

Original 2011 Albums: 1. Fucked Up - David Comes To Life 2. PJ Harvey - Let England Shake 3. Thee Oh Sees - Castlemania 4. The Alabama Shakes - Alabama Shakes EP 5. Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost 6. Earth - Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light 7. Mastodon - The Hunter 8. Mike Watt - Hyphenated-Man 9. Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring For My Halo 10. Tom Waits - Bad As Me Honorable Mentions (alphabetically): Boris - Attention Please, Heavy Rocks (2011), and New Album Sally Crewe - Transmit/Receive EP Deerhoof - Deerhoof Vs. Evil The Fall - Ersatz GB The Feelies - Here Before Jens Lekman - An Argument With Myself J. Mascis - Several Shades Of Why Melvins - Sugar Daddy Live My Education - Sound Mass Thee Oh Sees - Carrion Crawler/The Dream Wilco - The Whole Love Wild Flag - Wild Flag Yuck - Yuck

Revised 2011 Albums: 1. Wussy – Strawberry 2. Thee Oh Sees - Castlemania 3. Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost 4. Eleventh Dream Day – Riot Now 5. The Dirtbombs – Party Store 6. PJ Harvey - Let England Shake 7. Wooden Shjips – West 8. Fucked Up - David Comes To Life 9. Radiohead – The King Of Limbs 10. Thee Oh Sees - Carrion Crawler/The Dream Honorable Mentions: The Bats – Free All The Monsters Boris - Attention Please and Heavy Rocks (2011) Richard Buckner – Our Blood Sally Crewe - Transmit/Receive EP Earth - Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light Eleanor Friedberger – Last Summer The Feelies - Here Before Robyn Hitchcock – Tromsø, Kaptein Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings – Soul Time! Lydia Loveless – Indestructible Machine Nick Lowe – The Old Magic Mastodon - The Hunter Reigning Sound – Abdication, For Your Love Tom Waits - Bad As Me Wilco - The Whole Love Wild Flag - Wild Flag Mike Watt - Hyphenated-Man

What is new: Wussy's Strawberry, which is my favorite album by them, was completely off my radar five years ago. I had not heard the albums by Eleventh Dream Day, Dirtbombs, Wooden Shjips, or Radiohead by the end of the year. The second Thee Oh Sees album that I moved up has been pretty regular on my stereo in the last five years. Probably should move it higher. Added albums by The Bats, Richard Buckner, Eleanor Friedberger (this one was the one I was most on the fence about moving into the top ten), Robyn Hitchcock, Sharon Jones, Lydia Loveless, Nick Lowe, and Reigning Sound (second runner up). The Tom Waits is a great album, but not one that I've been often tempted to revisit.

What fell off: The Alabama Shakes, whose shtick burnt out for me quickly, Kurt Vile's Smoke Rings For My Halo, which I haven't listened to since early 2012, Boris's New Album, my least favorite of the three, and Deerhoof vs. Evil and the Fall's Ersatz GB, both of which now seem like lesser works of great artists. The albums by Jens Lekman, Mascis, the Melvins, My Education, and Yuck also didn't move me as much when I revisited them.

My changes for 2006 are less extreme. I mean, there's some movements, some new albums I like, but for the most part, the rankings from five years ago still reflect my listening habits.

Original 2006 Rankings: 1.       Joanna Newsom, Ys. 2.       Yo La Tengo, I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass 3.       Mastodon, Blood Mountain 4.       Cat Power, The Greatest 5.       The Decemberists, The Crane Wife 6.       The Fiery Furnaces, Bitter Tea 7.       Mission of Burma, The Obliterati 8.       Belle & Sebastian, The Life Pursuit 9.       Isis & Aereogramme, In the Fishtank 14 10.    Boris, Pink (came out in 2005, but had wide release in 2006) 11.    The Pipettes, We Are the Pipettes 12.    Bert Jansch, The Black Swan 13.    Destroyer, Destroyer's Rubies 14.    Ratatat, Classics 15.    M. Ward, Post-War 16.    Brightblack Morning Light, Brightblack Morning Light 17.    Six Organs of Admittance, Sun Awakens 18.    The Hold Steady, Boys & Girls in America 19.    Akron/Family, Meek Warrior 20.    Scott Walker, The Drift

Revised 2006 Rankings (2011): 1.     Boris - Pink 2.     Fucked Up - Hidden World 3.     Comets On Fire - Avatar 4.     Mastodon - Blood Mountain 5.     Espers - Espers II 6.     Sparklehorse - Dreamt For Light Years In The Belly Of A Mountain 7.     Danielson - Ships 8.     Scott Walker - The Drift 9.     Yo La Tengo - I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass 10.  TV On The Radio - Return To Cookie Mountain Honorable Mentions: ·       Destroyer - Destroyer's Rubies ·       Bob Dylan - Modern Times ·       Fiery Furnaces - Bitter Tea ·       Ghostface Killah - Fishscale ·       The Hold Steady - Boys & Girls In America ·       Isis - In The Absence Of Truth ·       Mission of Burma - The Obliterati ·       Nina Nastasia - On Leaving ·       Joanna Newsom - Ys. ·       Jay Reatard - Blood Visions

Revised 2006 Rankings (2016): 1.     Boris - Pink 2.     Fiery Furnaces - Bitter Tea 3.     Comets On Fire - Avatar 4.     Espers - Espers II 5.     Sparklehorse - Dreamt For Light Years In The Belly Of A Mountain 6.     Yo La Tengo - I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass 7.     Fucked Up - Hidden World 8.     Regina Spektor – Begin To Hope 9.     Scott Walker - The Drift 10.  Sonic Youth – Rather Ripped Honorable Mentions: ·     Akron/Family – Meek Warrior ·     Bonnie “Prince” Billy – The Letting Go ·     Richard Buckner – Meadow ·     Danielson - Ships ·     Bob Dylan - Modern Times ·     Eleventh Dream Day – Zeroes And Ones ·     The Ettes – Shake The Dust ·     Ghostface Killah - Fishscale ·     The Handsome Family – Last Days Of Wonder ·     Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3 - Olé! Tarantula ·     Isis - In The Absence Of Truth ·     Mastodon - Blood Mountain ·     Melvins – (A) Senile Animal ·     Mission of Burma - The Obliterati ·     Nina Nastasia - On Leaving ·     Joanna Newsom - Ys. ·     Om – Conference Of The Birds ·     Jay Reatard - Blood Visions ·     Tortoise and Bonnie “Prince” Billy – The Brave And The Bold ·     TV On The Radio - Return To Cookie Mountain

I was not tempted to re-add anything that fell off between 2006 and 2011. I'm pretty happy with everything I added, too. The lesson is that five years out is enough time to have a pretty solid take on a year, with a few adjustments based on albums that I haven't heard or fully appreciated.

Next: the 2016 list, which I am sure to find quite wrongheaded in 2021!

Best Of 2014, Album Edition + 2009 Best-Of Report Card

Don't let the title fool you; this is almost definitely going to be the only best-of 2014 post. Here's what this particular old man liked to listen to in 2014.


1. Wussy - Attica!, which dug right in and took over my consciousness in the last few months.

2. Sun Kil Moon - Benji, which did the same in the first few months of the year. I hear Kozelek is kind of a dick, but his bizarro rhyme-and-meter-denying confessional folk songs may be the best thing he's done since the second Red House Painters album.

3. Boris - Noise, because I love rock music in all of its variances almost as much as they do.

4. Bob Mould - Beauty & Ruin, which - like the last Mould album - is unexpectedly fantastic.

5. Fucked Up - Glass Boys/Glass Boys (Slow Version)/Year of the Dragon EP, in which I combine all of the Fucked Up releases for the year into one entry because all three have been inseparable on my playlist since I added them and because Glass Boys - while not their greatest effort - is great enough that I've essentially bought it twice in one year, just so I could hear the version with the more conventional drumming (which, ironically, actually made the songs sound less conventional).

6. Deerhoof - La Isla Bonita, which is the latest entry on this list, but after a few listens, I think this may be the best Deerhoof album in a few years.

7. Run The Jewels - Run The Jewels 2, which is jam-packed with ideas, many of which I have yet to parse, but all of which I like.

8. Sturgill Simpson - Metamodern Sounds in Country, because - like Fucked Up - it breathes life into a rigid genre.

9. Earth - Primitive And Deadly, which has abandoned the cello and electronics of the Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light era (and I really, really loved those albums) in favor of guitar work that is simultaneously massive and more subtle than their past and vocal work that is better-integrated into their sound.

10. Spoon - They Want My Soul, which is my favorite Spoon album since Gimme Fiction.



Also considered and regretfully not included:
Thee Oh Sees - Drop
St. Vincent - St. Vincent
Dean Wareham - Dean Wareham
Mastodon - Once More 'Round The Sun
Drive-By Truckers - English Oceans
Hartle Road - Hartle Road EP
Through The Sparks - Invisible Kids
The Hold Steady - Teeth Dreams
Andrew Bird - Things Are Really Great Here, Sort Of...

Bought too recently to be heard yet, but maybe a contender later:
Hookworms - The Hum
Melvins - Hold It In

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Although I haven't been so good at doing this lately, I generally like to go back and look at my best-of from five years previous to see how well my end-of-the-year choices held up. So, my best-of for 2009 was, as of January 5, 2010, as follows:

1. (Tie) Yo La Tengo - Popular Songs
1. (Tie) Vic Chesnutt - At The Cut
3. Mastodon - Crack The Skye
4. Isis - Wavering Radiant
5. Dexateens - Singlewide
6. Andrew Bird - Noble Beast
7. Oneida - Rated O
8. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion/Fall Be Kind EP9. Akron/Family - Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free
10. Dinosaur Jr. - Farm

Other albums considered were:
11. Tortoise - Beacons of Ancestorship
12. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
13. Sonic Youth - The Eternal
14. The Bats - The Guilty Office
15. Pelican - What We All Come To Need
16. Darcy James Argue's Secret Society - Infernal Machines
17. Sunn 0))) - Monoliths and Dimensions
18. The Clean - Mister Pop
19. Mission of Burma - The Sound, The Speed, The Light
20. A.C. Newman - Get Guilty
21. The Soft Pack - The Muslims
22. The Clientele - Bonfires On The Heath
23. The Mountain Goats - The Life of the World to Come
24. Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
25. Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse - Dark Night Of The Soul
26. The Fiery Furnaces - I'm Going Away
27. Molly Berg and Stephen Vitiello - The Gorilla Variations
28. Sparklehorse + Fennesz - In the Fishtank 15

With five years of hindsight to work with, my Revised 2009 Best-of List is now:

1.  Vic Chesnutt - At The Cut/Skitter On Take-Off (was 1/unranked)
2. Dexateens - Singlewide (was 5)
3. Baroness - Blue Record (was unranked)
4. Sunn 0))) - Monoliths and Dimensions (was 17)
5. The Clean - Mister Pop (was 18)
6. Dinosaur Jr. - Farm (was 10)
7. Yo La Tengo - Popular Songs (was 1)
8. Tortoise - Beacons of Ancestorship (was 11)
9. Jay Reatard - Watch Me Fall (was unranked)
10. Darcy James Argue's Secret Society - Infernal Machines (was 16)
11. Shrinebuilder - Shrinebuilder EP (was unranked)
12. Mastodon - Crack The Skye (was 3)
13. Isis - Wavering Radiant (was 4)
14. Pelican - What We All Come To Need (was 15)
15. Andrew Bird - Noble Beast (was 6)
16. Sonic Youth - The Eternal (was 13)
17. Om - God Is Good (was unranked)
18. Che Arthur Three - Like Revenge (was unranked)
19. Bob Dylan - Together Through Life (was unranked)
20. The Bats - The Guilty Office (was 14)
21. Girls - Album (was unranked)
22. DOOM - Born Like This/Unexpected Guests (was unranked)
23. My Dad Is Dead - New Clear Route (was unranked)
24. Mission of Burma - The Sound, The Speed, The Light (was 19)
25. A.C. Newman - Get Guilty (was 20)
26. The Fiery Furnaces - I'm Going Away (was 26: SCORE!)
27. St. Vincent - Actor (was unranked)
28. Wooden Ships - Dos (was unranked)
29. Strange Attractors - Sleep And You Will See (was unranked)

30. The Clientele - Bonfires On The Heath (was 22)

Now unranked:

7. Oneida - Rated O
8. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion/Fall Be Kind EP9. Akron/Family - Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free
12. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
21. The Soft Pack - The Muslims
23. The Mountain Goats - The Life of the World to Come
24. Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
25. Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse - Dark Night Of The Soul
27. Molly Berg and Stephen Vitiello - The Gorilla Variations
28. Sparklehorse + Fennesz - In the Fishtank 15

In short, there were 13 2009 albums now in my top 30 that I had not heard at the time I made my list. Seven albums moved up and nine ranked albums moved down. Ten slipped off the list altogether, including three from my top ten. Pretty poor showing, Childs. I'm giving myself a C- for 2009.

2013 Favorites + 2008 Faves Reconsidered

I haven't listed my year-end faves in a while, but if there's one thing the nation is clamoring for, it's the half-baked opinion of an old white guy. Anyway, the only film release I saw was Gravity, which looked great, but did not have much to say beyond pointing out that in space no one can hear you scream. So I'm going to list my favorite albums and then go back and reassess my favorites from five years back to see how they've held up.

1. Superchunk - I Hate Music. This is my favorite album of the year because I am nothing if not predictable. And I love this video because old.



2. Earthless - From The Ages. I don't know why it took so long for Earthless to make their third studio album, but I'm really glad they did. Their instrumental guitar-god psychedelic metal is almost the exact opposite of Superchunk's tight indie-pop gems, but I love this album almost as much as I Hate Music.



3. Hookworms - Pearl Mystic. Do I like retro-fuzz psychedelia with krautrock influence? Yes I do! So much so that I'm listing this album right after the Earthless one, even though they share a certain mentality. I found this band thanks to KEXP and they work for me like gangbusters.



4. Mavis Staples - One True Vine. She has marched on Washington, loved Bob Dylan, revitalized secular gospel, been in the business for more than 60 years, and she still has it in her to come up with something interesting and fun. Jeff Tweedy's production is sympathetic, too.



5. My Bloody Valentine - m b v. This album appears to be a time machine to my 20s.



6. Thee Oh Sees - Floating Coffin. Perhaps not quite as fantastic as the last few, but still very, very, very good.



7. Kurt Vile - Wakin On A Pretty Daze. I love Vile's music, but he's basically the hipster Jack Johnson, right? I mean, there's all this good-time/lazy-time vibe to all of his music. I like that he lets loose on the guitar on this album.



8. Wire - Change Becomes Us. I've run hot and cold on the third (or is this the fourth?) incarnation of Wire, but I really like this album, which mostly consists of rewrites of unrecorded tracks from the late 70s/early 80s.



9. Run The Jewels - Run The Jewels. This album from El-P and Killer Mike is excellent all around. And hilarious.



10. Darcy James Argue's Secret Society - Brooklyn Babylon. Argue's big band-free jazz society made a fantastic concept album.



Special Mention: Sally Crewe - "Making Plans For Nigel." Excellent new single from Ms. Crewe.

Other albums I liked:

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Push The Sky Away

Daft Punk - Random Access Memories
The Dexateens - Sunsphere EP
The Fall - Re-Mit
The Flaming Lips - The Terror
Melvins - Everybody Loves Sausages
Pink Avalanche - Wraiths
Richard Thompson - Electric
Yo La Tengo - Fade

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In 2008, I had a Top 20 list, but here's the top 10 of those for consistency.

1. Fucked Up - The Chemistry of Common Life/Year of the Pig EP
2. Boris - Smile
3. Oneida - Preteen Weaponry
4. The Instruments - Dark Småland
5. Why? - Alopecia
6. Robert Forster - The Evangelist
7. The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
8. Black Mountain - In The Future
9 (tie). The Dexateens - Lost & Found
9 (tie). The Distant Seconds - Spectral Evidence
10. Earth - The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull

Five years later, I would change this list up only a little bit. While I still like the albums by Oneida, The Instruments, Why?, Robert Forster (which was the toughest to move down, actually), and Black Mountain, the Harvey Milk, Earthless, Torche, and Benko albums are so great that they need to be on this list. I had heard the TV On The Radio and New Year albums that year, but I ranked them too low. There were a lot of other albums I have subsequently heard and liked a lot, too, and the ones that were real contenders were by Atlas Sound, James Blackshaw, Sally Crewe and the Sudden Moves, Fennesz, and Jay Reatard. All in all, though, not too bad a report card. I'll give myself a gentleman's B. Maybe a B-.

1. Fucked Up - The Chemistry of Common Life
2. Boris - Smile
3. Harvey Milk - Life... The Best Game In Town
4. Earthless - Live At Roadburn
5. TV On The Radio - Dear Science
6. The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
7. The New Year - The New Year
8. Torche - Meanderthal
9 (tie). The Distant Seconds - Spectral Evidence
9 (tie). The Dexateens - Lost & Found
9 (tie). Benko - Welcome To The Follow Through
10. Earth - The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull

Best of 2011 (and best of 2006 report card)

As recent as two years ago, back before I entered into this state of constant tedium and tension that is defined by my lack of employment, I used to enjoy making a list of my favorite albums and other artworks at the end of the year. I also used to spend more time working on this blog because, strangely, having less free time meant that I could manage it better. Now, every post that I write here is time that I should be spending doing things that seem more valuable: looking for a job, managing the house, watching my children, planning dinner, looking for a job, contemplating the pointlessness of my existence, pitching stories to outlets that may indeed pay me for said work, staring into space, and looking for a job. But I digress.

What I'm trying to say is that even though I have become a remarkably inessential human being, I still have opinions. Why anyone would care about those is beyond me, but if you've read this far, you're probably wondering when I'm going to cut to the chase or, more likely, whether you'll have the fortitude to reach the end of this sentence before bailing. For those of you still here, this is what I'm going to do: list my favorite albums of 2011. Then I will tell you about my favorite albums of five years previous and how it chalks up to the list I posted at the time.

My Favorite Albums of 2011:

1. Fucked Up - David Comes To Life

2. PJ Harvey - Let England Shake

3. Thee Oh Sees - Castlemania

4. The Alabama Shakes - Alabama Shakes EP
5. Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost
6. Earth - Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light
7. Mastodon - The Hunter
8. Mike Watt - Hyphenated-Man
9. Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring For My Halo
10. Tom Waits - Bad As Me

Honorable Mentions (alphabetically):

Boris - Attention Please, Heavy Rocks (2011), and New Album
Sally Crewe - Transmit/Receive EP

Deerhoof - Deerhoof Vs. Evil

The Fall - Ersatz GB

The Feelies - Here Before

Jens Lekman - An Argument With Myself
J. Mascis - Several Shades Of Why
Melvins - Sugar Daddy Live

My Education - Sound Mass

Thee Oh Sees - Carrion Crawler/The Dream
Wilco - The Whole Love
Wild Flag - Wild Flag

Yuck - Yuck

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My best albums of 2006, as reported in The High Hat.

1. Joanna Newsom, Ys.
2. Yo La Tengo, I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass.
3. Mastodon, Blood Mountain.
4. Cat Power, The Greatest.
5. The Decemberists, The Crane Wife.
6. The Fiery Furnaces, Bitter Tea.
7. Mission of Burma, The Obliterati.
8. Belle & Sebastian, The Life Pursuit.
9. Isis & Aereogramme, In the Fishtank 14.
10. Boris, Pink (came out in 2005, but had wide release in 2006)
11. The Pipettes, We Are the Pipettes.
12. Bert Jansch, The Black Swan.
13. Destroyer, Destroyer's Rubies.
14. Ratatat, Classics.
15. M. Ward, Post-War.
16. Brightblack Morning Light, Brightblack Morning Light.
17. Six Organs of Admittance, Sun Awakens.
18. The Hold Steady, Boys & Girls in America.
19. Akron/Family, Meek Warrior.
20. Scott Walker, The Drift.

Here's my favorite albums of 2006 now:

1. Boris - Pink (up from #10!)

2. Fucked Up - Hidden World

3. Comets On Fire - Avatar

4. Mastodon - Blood Mountain

5. Espers - Espers II

6. Sparklehorse - Dreamt For Light Years In The Belly Of A Mountain

7. Danielson - Ships

8. Scott Walker - The Drift (up from #20!)

9. Yo La Tengo - I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass (down from #2!)

10. TV On The Radio - Return To Cookie Mountain

Honorable Mentions (alphabetically):

Destroyer - Destroyer's Rubies

Bob Dylan - Modern Times

Fiery Furnaces - Bitter Tea (down from #6!)

Ghostface Killah - Fishscale

The Hold Steady - Boys & Girls In America

Isis - In The Absence Of Truth

Mission of Burma - The Obliterati (down from #7!)

Nina Nastasia - On Leaving

Joanna Newsom - Ys. (down from #1!)

Jay Reatard - Blood Visions

In short, the things I loved then are not the same albums I love now, although there's still some crossover. Many of my favorite albums of the year were ones I did not hear until later. But, man, what a good year for music!

The Best Albums of 2004, Five Years Later

Back in January 2005, I listed my favorite albums of 2004:

1. Fiery Furnaces - Blueberry Boat.
2. Wilco - A Ghost Is Born.
3. Animal Collective - Sung Tongs.
4. Mike Watt – The Secondman’s Middle Stand.
5. Liars – They Were Wrong, So We Drowned.
6. Mission of Burma – ONoffON.
7. Deerhoof - Milk Man.
8. Will Johnson – Vultures Await.
9. The Streets – A Grand Don’t Come For Free.
10. TV on the Radio - Desperate Youths, Bloodthirsty Babes.

Best album of 1967 that I never expected to hear in my lifetime: Brian Wilson - SMiLE.
Other albums I considered: Mekons - Punk Rock, Iron and Wine - Endless Numbered Days, Madvillain - Madvillainy, Shearwater – Winged Life.

Bought too recently to review: Oneida, Comets on Fire, Panda Bear, and Cul de Sac/Damo Suzuki.

Would I still rank 2004 albums the same way?  Not a chance!  Last year I gave myself a report card for my 2003 picks, a practice I will continue.  For one thing, it promotes humility. For another, shame. And, as an added bonus, it gives me a chance to revisit favorite albums that may have dropped from my regular playlist. Everybody wins! Here's my picks for 2004 with five years of time to let them percolate:

1. Animal Collective - Sung Tongs (up from #3).  At the time I could stop raving about how delightfully psychedelic this album is. I still love it, maybe even more than the Fiery Furnaces, who have finally worn me down. But every time this album or a track from this album crops up in my listening, I am invigorated.

2. Fiery Furnaces - Blueberry Boat (down from #1). Actually no, I still love this album. But I do have some lingering fatigue for it that I didn't have at the time. I'm much more inclined to listen to only one song from it at once rather than commit to the whole enchilada.

3. Mastodon - Leviathan (not yet on my radar). This album rules. I wish I had heard it in 2004.

4. Deerhoof - Milk Man (up from #7). My affection for this album has only grown, while my affection for the Liars album has plummeted (I mean, yes, the Liars albums is awesome in some respects, but it's also sort of a drag). This one is my favorite Deerhoof album.

5. Joanna Newsom - The Milk-Eyed Mender (not yet on radar). I'd read about the twee harp girl on Pitchfork, but I was foolishly avoiding her in 2004. I shouldn't have. This album is chock-full of stunning music and passionate, brainy songs.

6. Wilco - A Ghost Is Born (down from #2). Still a great album and sometimes my favorite Wilco album, but it's tarnished by the lackluster efforts that have followed it. And I don't like the second half as much as I used to. But the first six songs are unstoppable.

7. Comets on Fire - Blue Cathedral (bought but unreviewed as of when I made the list). Comets on Fire will MELT YOUR HEAD. And I like their follow-up album even more. Are they still together? I miss these guys.

8. Oneida - Secret Wars (bought but also unreviewed). This one has the krautrock/punk/drone down flat, but it's also fairly user-friendly for newcomers to Oneida.

9. The Magnetic Fields - i (doesn't appear to be on my radar). Now that I think about it, I may have had this album when I made my list, but I think I had seriously underrated it. Some of the songs are a little lackluster, but most are witty fun.

10. cLOUDDEAD - Ten (definitely not on my radar). I don't remember when I got into cLOUDDEAD, but their freaky psychedelic hip-hop head-trip is an utter delight.

Honorable mentions:

Mike Watt - The Secondman's Middle Stand (down from #4). Watt's song-cycle held a lot of interest for me back in 2004, but it's become the Watt album I reach for the least in the intervening years. Sorry, man. I still like it, but I don't love it quite as much.

The Hold Steady - Almost Killed Me (not on radar). Not the best Hold Steady, but still a great album.

Dosh - Pure Trash (radar-less). Martin Dosh's song-cycle loosely about the terrors of parenthood would have resonated with me quite a bit in 2004, when my wife and I were expecting our first child.

Brian Wilson - SMiLE (left off list intentionally). At the time I thought including it would be an automatic #1, but I hear more of its faults now.  Not that there's many, but the album is more of a re-creation than a creation for 2004.

Danger Mouse - The Grey Album (unheard at the time). Everybody was raving about this at the time, but I held off. Probably shouldn't have, though, because it's fascinating.

Mission of Burma - ONoffON (down from #6). Still awesome.

The New Year - The End Is Near (not on radar). Also great.

The Dexateens - The Dexateens (unbought). Killer debut from killer band.

Danielson - Brother Is To Son (unheard).

Of the others, I've sort of lost interest in the Liars album, although I still think it's a significant work of art.  I've really lost interest in Will Johnson and Centro-Matic in general. The Streets don't move me like he used to, and the TV On The Radio is the only album of theirs that I hardly ever listen to.  I like Madvillain, but not as much as other DOOM albums, and I only picked up his other one from 04, Venomous Villain, recently.  So there you go.

That's only 4/10 that stayed on my list, but two of my top three were pretty consistent, and all of my top three stayed on the list.  Not so good overall, but not so bad with the high-profile ones. I'm going to give myself a B for the year. I probably deserve a B-, but goshdarnit, I feel I deserve the bump.

Dear 2009,

While I have to agree with the voices who say that you weren't the worst at your job, I'm afraid that even when taking all of the positives on your resume into account, we cannot discount the frequent black marks against your performance.  On a sheerly personal level, I know your kindness every time I hear my children laugh, and please don't get me wrong: I treasure this.  But I also know your cruelty in the inexplicable health problems I've faced this year, in the suffering and death of those near and distant, and especially in the impending darkness always whispering Collapse! into the ears of all of humanity.  I can hardly blame you for time and human nature, it's true.  However, Time and Human Nature are not up for review at this time, and you, you see, are.  Therefore, it is with deep disappointment in your inability to counter the worst in your colleagues that I must decline to give you the recommendation that you quite possibly deserve.  Security is waiting outside to escort you off of the premises.

Best of 2003, Five Years Later

As a report card of sorts, here's the 2003 albums I liked at the end of the year and the ones I like now from 2003.

Best of 2003 (as published in Dec 2003):

1. The Decemberists - Her Majesty the Decemberists

2. Go-Betweens - Bright Yellow Bright Orange

3. Knife in the Water - Cut the Cord

4. Pernice Brothers - Yours, Mine, or Ours

5. Calexico - Feast of Wire

6. Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - Hearts of Oak

7. Summer Hymns - Clemency

8. Okkervil River - Down the River of Golden Dreams

9. The American Song-Poem Anthology

10. New Pornographers - Electric Version

Honorable mentions:

Yo La Tengo - Today Is the Day EP

Consonant - Love and Affliction

Iron & Wine - The Sea & the Rhythm EP

Elf Power - Nothing's Going To Happen

Aaaaand, five years later, here's my favorite releases from 2003:

1. New Pornographers - Electric Version
2. Fiery Furnaces - Gallowsbird's Bark
3. The Wrens - The Meadowlands

4. The Decemberists - Her Majesty
5. Andrew Bird - Weather Systems
6. Pelican - Australasia
7. Go-Betweens - Bright Yellow Bright Orange
8. Sufjan Stevens - Greetings From Michigan
9. Nina Nastasia - Run to Ruin
10. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Hearts of Oak

honorable mentions
Television - Live At The Old Waldorf

Viktor Vaughn - Vaudeville Villain

King Geedorah - Take Me To Your Leader
Loose Fur - Loose Fur
Animal Collective - Here Comes The Indian
TV on the Radio - Young Liars EP
Lyrics Born - Later That Day
Four Tet - Rounds
Young People - War Prayers

This is either a sign of how much my tastes have changed or how long it takes certain music to work its way into and out of my ears. I mean, 6/10 of my original list dropped out. Many of those were too insubstantial to stick with me for long, the Okkervil River and Summer Hymns albums in particular. The Knife in the Water and Pernice Brothers albums features a few top-notch songs surrounded by some mediocre tracks. I still like the Calexico album, but I think I overrated it now.

On the other hand, the New Pornographers album is still among my favorites. I came to love The Fiery Furnaces (although with 2008's Remember album, I finally understand why so many people hate them, because it's godawful). The Wrens are always strong. If I'd heard that album in 2003, I may have put it at #1. As is, anything in the top 10 is a contender for #1, depending on how I feel. I do notice that my top ten is heavy on indie-folk-rock and most of the hip-hop and avant-rock stuff I like goes on the honorable mention list. Maybe that's a sign of weakness, I dunno. The Television album is a stunner. If it were a proper 2003 release, it would definitely be #1. However, I'd had a bootleg of it for years when Rhino released this beautifully clean version in 2003. Should be a special category for that sort of thing.

Overall, I give myself a C- for 2003. 4/10 isn't that great, especially when 3 of those move down on the list. But, hell, I'm trying. 2003 was the year we launched The High Hat, and it was the year I made myself a promise to develop my writing. 2008 was the year my first book was published. That's not too shabby, I guess.