Makeup For The Silence

MY (WHOLLY IDIOSYNCRATIC) TOP TEN ALBUMS OF 2011

Starting today, I’ll be counting down my Top Albums of the last year, one a day til we hit #1. 

This may read a little bit differently in than in past years.  For the first time in a good decade, I spent the whole year doing a lot of writing about music, and in a lot of cases, I’ve already written pretty extensively on these albums elsewhere.  Albums that I haven’t covered here or elsewhere this year will get the usual treatment.  For those that I have, I’ll provide links to all the associated content and try and write a little something different this time around.  As usual, we’ll just kind of see how all of this develops as it goes.

Also, in the past, I’ve kept my list to ten albums, with a favorite EP or two shoehorned in wherever appropriate.  This year, however, something a little strange happened — two of my favorite EPs of the year were put out by artists who also released albums that just missed my top ten albums list, and an additional artist who made the cut for my albums list also released an excellent EP.  Also, with attention spans shortening and recorded music becoming as much a promotional device as a piece of artwork, bands seem quicker than ever these days to issue b-sides, bonus tracks, expanded album reissues, acoustic recordings and more.  It’s also lead to a lot more microreleases — singles, splits, EPs, and eight track LPs.  The strategy is intended to maintain a steady stream of new material and thus retain mindshare.  (It works, though it seems to carry the unintended side effect of making me feel like I am drowning in the ocean as wave after wave after unforgiving wave of new material crashes over my head.)  With all of this in mind, I made a decision this year to expand my list to twelve, and to use each slot to examine an artist’s releases for 2011 in toto. 

So with no further ado, here comes #10 err #12!

[I’m a little late getting started this year, even for me; blame it on a nasty cold that knocked me for a loop over the last couple days and left me largely incapable of rational thought.  Doing a little better today…fingers crossed it lasts!]