As posted on eartaste.blogspot.com
I will stand by every single I’ve reviewed this past year. I still love listening to every song. Albums, though, are another whole animal. To be able to listen to a full set by one artist, well, they just have to be extremely special for me to enjoy them. I have many albums in my collection, of course, but end up bookmarking favorite cuts off albums and listening to them over and over. It’s a rare pleasure to find an album that holds together listen after listen, and provides a full enjoyment for these ears. My plan was to select the best 23 albums of the year. I know, a bit corny, one indie release per month, and one major release per month. Also, I figured 24 albums would give approx 24 hours of pure pleasure. In the final run-through, I couldn’t find more than 23. I had no desire to list an almost-ran, as that wouldn’t be fair to the absolute best. 15 are indie (I couldn’t decide if Tiny Masters was on a major label, so I decided to include them as major label), and 8 major label releases. I list them now because if you are looking for Christmas gifts for a friend or relative that loves music, I will stand by all of these.
These are listed in the order they appeared on eartaste. All are equal favorites, so give them all a #1, or 5 stars, or however you rate your albums.
The Histrioniks – About This Girl
Alex Arrowsmith – Applewine
Roy Davis – Grey Town
Talia Segal – Nonprophet
Ben Godwin – Skin And Bone
Koopa – Blag Steal and Borrow
Mooney Suzuki -Have Mercy
Rickie Lee Jones – The Sermon On Exposition Blvd
The Red Button – She’s About To Cross My Mind
The Aggrolites – The Aggrolites
Threshold – Sum Blues
Swampdawamp – Swampdawamp
Kemp Harris – Edenton
Bowling For Soup – The Great Burrito Extortion Case
Noise626 – An Infinite Shade of Gray
Landonband – Defying The Stereotype
Smug – Freshly Stained
Evan Page (Screaming Mee-Mees) – No Ordinary Girl
Tiny Masters Of Today – Bang Bang Boom Cake
Olivea Watson – Way Down Deep
Patti Scialfa – Play It As It Lays
John Fogerty – Revival
Ray Davies – Working Mans CafĂ©