I see I’ve gone another year without posts. Oh well, having a personal blog was so 2007 anyway. My only real goal is to keep making my “best of” lists each year, and once they’re made I might as well share them. See below for the gems I discovered this year. I’ve got 14 tracks on my list. I really love about half and I genuinely like the other half. See if you can tell which ones are which.
- Lost in the Light – Bahamas – Barchords I found this one early in the year and instantly knew it was a keeper. This is actually my album of the year too. It’s just one Canadian guy (Alfie Jurvanen) who goes by Bahamas. He sounds to me like a lovechild of M. Ward and Jack Johnson. The whole album just has a great mellow vibe I enjoy listening to from beginning to end.
- Lord Knows – Dum Dum Girls – End of Daze EP I included a DDG song I liked on last years mix. This year I found one I love.
- Came Out of a Lady – Rubblebucket – Omega La La Must Love Horns.
- Don’t Leave Me (Ne Me Quitte Pas) – Regina Spektor – What We Saw From The Cheap Seats I like Regina and I’ll search a new album for a few good songs. Her newest album does have a few good songs and this is my favorite. Guaranteed to put you in a good mood (or annoy you).
- Prize Fighter – The Killers – Battle Born (Deluxe Edition) See exact same description as song above. Replace “Regina” with “Killers.” However, this song is actually ONLY available on the Deluxe Edition. I’m fancy like that.
- Guttersnipe – Bhi Bhiman – Bhiman A surprisingly simple and redundant acoustic song, but this dude has a great and very unique voice. Infectious.
- Cough Syrup – Melanie Martinez – The Voice I try to make sure I include a curve ball or two in the list each year. My wife happened to have The Voice on TV and I happened to be in the room at the same time. I liked this girl’s version of this song. The song is a cover (Young the Giant), so I downloaded the original first. Melanie’s is better. It’s way overproduced and kind of predictable, but still very likable.
- Typhoon – Crooked Fingers – Breaks in the Armor I think Crooked Fingers have been around forever. Maybe their old stuff is great, but I haven’t had time to dig. This song is cool.
- The Honest Truth – Typhoon The only way to follow a song called “Typhoon” is with a song by a band called “Typhoon.” At this point I’m too lazy to look up albums for all the songs I found off of Paste Magazine.
- Our Hearts – Firehorse Not to be confused with 80’s band Firehose or the other 80’s band Firehouse.
- Magic Summertime – Eleni Mandell – I Can See the Future Sounds old timey. I like.
- Rules – Jayme Dee – The Hunger Games As far as I can tell this girl doesn’t have any other material worth listening to. From her website it looks like she has done a lot of covers, and her song choice makes me want to barf. But I still like this song. Also, she’s cute.
- *I’m Not Driving – Luxe Pop – One Bulb Room Kind of like Interpol, but with better pop sensibilities and a better drummer.
- *Place to Lay My Head – Penny Western – First Shameless.
- Take Me Out of the City – Dawes – Dawes Besides including a curve ball or two each year, I also like to include a “Fuck the Haters” pick. Here you go – you know who you are. This song was actually released in 2009 –> Double “Fuck You.”
I hope you enjoy. As always, if you like anything you hear please support the artists by buying their albums or (better yet) seeing them live.
DOWNLOAD ZIP of all tracks HERE
happy new year!
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