I narrowed it down to these...

So here it is – the crème de la crème of my 2011 listening. Now that this is out of the way, I can focus on 2012 – which is already shaping up to be pretty good from the numerous records I’ve received so far.

20 Gem Club - Breakers [Hardly Art]

I wrote about this one – twice; once on each of my blogs. Which should be a strong sign that it would end up here.
Twins by Gem Club


19 Herajika Tracks - Love Universal [Introducing Production]

Yup, same thing with this album (though just here on Ear To The Sound).
Herajika tracks - Shigure by aresistencia


18 The Middle East - I Want That You Are Always Happy [Missing Pieces]


They may want that you are always happy, but it's clear that The Middle East aren't always in a positive frame of mind. My wife referred to #20-18 as my 'mope-y' section of the Top 20. It gets more upbeat at the top!
The Middle East: Very Many by -gaga


17 Kathryn Calder - Bright and Vivid [File Under: Music]

I thought 2010’s Are You My Mother? was pretty strong, but it didn’t prepare me for how amazing Bright and Vivid is. Strong songwriting, strong voice, strong, strong, strong.
Kathryn Calder - Who Are You by File Under Music


16 Slim Moore & The Mar-Kays - Introducing Slim Moore & The Mar-Kays [Marlow Records]

Phe-nom-en-al. Fans of the Daptone label, Lee Fields, Syl Johnston, etc. should be all over this one. Moore’s got a rich baritone, and the band supporting him is stellar (it includes members of the Souljazz Orchestra – who you also need to check out).
Slim Moore and the Mar-Kays - steppin' all over me (Cosmic Groove) by SOFA RECORDS SHOP


15 Beirut - The Rip Tide [Pompeii Records]

This is Zach Condon finding his own sound after borrowing heavily from the Eastern European gypsy sound for Gulag Orkestar and The Flying Club Cup. It took a while to get into it after loving those first two records, but The Rip Tide is a great step forward.
Beirut - Santa Fe by Revolver USA


14 Dum Dum Girls - Only In Dreams [Sub Pop]

This is the Runaways produced by Phil Spector.
Dum Dum Girls - Bedroom Eyes by subpop


13 Wild Beasts - Smother [Warp]

My wife calls this “Gandalf rock” since she thinks Hayden Thorpe’s vocals are reminiscent of a certain Lord of the Rings wizard (for the record, she puts Future Islands and vocalist Samuel T. Herring in the same category). Yes, Thorpe’s vocals are peculiar, but they are perfectly married to the music.
Wild Beasts / Reach A Bit Further by Constellations Festival

Here's a bonus version of "Reach A Bit Further" live on the BBC. A bit different but no less lovely.
Wild beasts - Reach a bit further (BBC session) by mysteryfallsdown


12 Cannon Bros. - Firecracker/Cloudglow [Disintegration Records]

Alannah & Cole are twenty-years-old. This would make me sick with jealousy if I didn’t know them and know what great people they are. Look for them to blow up big in 2012.
Left in a Hurry - Cannon Bros by anecha


11 Thundercat - The Golden Age Of Apocalypse [Brainfeeder]

This is the 2011 answer to my #6 of 2010. Thundercat picks up where Flying Lotus left off.
Thundercat - Is It Love by Madison House


10 Bon Iver - Bon Iver [Jagjaguwar]

This ended up being one of the most divisive choices on year-end lists. Which kinda surprises me.
Calgary by boniver


09 Secret Cities - Strange Heart [Western Vinyl]

Fargo rock city represent!
Secret Cities, "The Park" by The FADER


08 Washed Out - Within And Without [Sub Pop]

Could’ve likely made the list on the back of “Amor Fati” alone, but the rest of the album is pretty brilliant as well.
Washed Out - Amor Fati by subpop


07 Wye Oak - Civilian [Merge]

I saw this band in Windsor several years ago when their Merge debut was about to drop. They played to a crowd that was smaller than the number of magazines that declared Civilian one of the best records of the year. Glad to see they got big.
Wye Oak - 'Holy Holy' by SpunkRecords


06 Louise Burns - Mellow Drama [Light Organ Records]

Reviewed this for Stylus, and as I said in that piece, this would’ve been my pick if I had a Polaris vote. But I don’t. Hmmmm.
Louise Burns - Drop Names Not Bombs by Light Organ


05 Destroyer - Kaputt [Merge]

Dan Bejar is one of those “love him or leave him” artists. I love him.
Destroyer - Chinatown by mouxlaloulouda

04 tUnE-yArDs - whokill [4AD]

Merrill Garbus played the West End this fall – whokill was primed to make the Top 10 anyway, but that live show pushed it a few spots higher.
My Country - Tune Yards by tracks_arte


03 James Blake - James Blake [Polydor]

One of the earliest releases of 2011, this one was unrelenting in how good it was. Probably the record I listened to most in the past year.
James Blake - The Wilhelm Scream by UMPG


02 Austra - Feel It Break [Paper Bag Records]

My toddler can sing along to “Lose It,” which speaks volumes to the number of times this album was played in my home. Katie Stelmanis’ performance at the West End was another jaw-dropper.
Austra - Lose It by Annie Mac Presents


01 Freddie Cruger and Anthony Mills are Wildcookie - Cookie Dough [Tru Thoughts]

I may be the only person with this album at the top of my list – I honestly haven’t seen it on any others. But I am happy to be out on my own on this one. I wrote a glowing entry about it ages ago, and still feel exactly the same about Cookie Dough.
WildCookie "Serious Drug" by Raven Supreme-Green

Tops for this particular pops...

Well here you go - after 70+ records that didn't make the cut, here's the rundown on what survived the longlist to end up on my Top 20 for 2010.

20. Clive Tanaka y su orquestra - Jet Set Siempre No. 1 (Tall Corn Music)

I'm guessing from the .jp on his (their?) website, Clive Tanaka is actually Japanese, but regardless of origin, this music is unquestionably beautiful chillwave.



19. Basia Bulat - Heart Of My Own (Secret City Records)

It's quite something when your unquestionable #1 from a few years ago releases a solid sophomore record and can only hit #19 - but Heart Of My Own held on for dear life to crack the Top 20 from the very start of 2010.


18. Toro Y Moi - Causers Of This (Carpark)

Dude dropped an amazing debut in 2010 and will follow it up with Underneath the Pine this February. Might have to reserve it a spot on my 2011 longlist...


17. Christian Scott - Yesterday You Said Tomorrow (Concord Jazz)

Big ups to Paul Nolin and the rest of the folks at the Jazz Winnipeg festival for bringing in New Orleans' native Christian Scott. Not only was this the highlight of the festival, it was a top 5 show ever for me - and I've been to A LOT of shows.


16. Bei Bei & Shawn Lee - Into The Wind (Ubiquity)

West Coast meets Far East on this collaboration between the musical chameleon Shawn Lee and Bei Bei, who plays a two-thousand-year-old stringed instrument called the gu zheng.


15. Kacey Johansing - Many Seasons (Porto Franco)

I had never heard of Kacey Johansing prior to this album arriving at the station this past summer and it was one of the best discoveries of the year. Fantastic songwriter, stellar arrangements, beautiful tunes.


14. Breathe Owl Breathe - Magic Central (Hometapes)

I wrote about this record in October.


13. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs (Merge)

I was just as happy to watch opener Calexico when Arcade Fire played the MTS Centre this year, but was pleased to note how touring has tightened the communication between AF's members since they played the Walker years ago - there was definitely charm to their sloppiness back in the day but they're quite the polished unit now.


12. The Roots - How I Got Over (Def Jam)

Okay, for a lot of folks THIS was the highlight of the Jazz Winnipeg festival this year and the Roots crew brought their best. I had a blast, it just was on a different level than the magic that happened with Christian Scott.


11. Ana Tijoux - 1977 (Oveja Negra / Nacional)

French/Chilean MC Ana Tijoux dropped some serious science on this partially autobiographical and partially socio-political effort. Hip hop is a global form and while I might need to look up translations of her lyrics on Google, the beats and cadence of her delivery can be appreciated in the same way that not understanding Sigur Ros doesn't detract from enjoying them.


10. Yeasayer - Odd Blood (Secretly Canadian)

I agree with Pitchfork when they declared this one of the worst covers of the year - the artwork is terrible. But as we all learned in the historic case of Book v. Cover, it's what's inside that counts.
Check out "Ambling Alp" which unfortunately can't be embedded.

09. Sam Amidon - I See The Sign (Bedroom Community)

This one skirts dangerously close to the edge of my rules about qualifying for the year-end list. The lyrics aren't original, but the the musical arrangements Sam Amidon has written for this 19th century folk and spiritual songs are. In the same way I considered Mermaid Avenue eligible back in the day, I See The Sign made the cut. What a tremendoustly beautiful record.


08. Baths - Cerulean (Anticon)

I gushed about this record back in July. Also, this video rules.


07. Cris Derksen - The Cusp (Independent)

All credit for this one goes to my lovely wife. She put me on to Cris Derksen after catching her performance at Manito Ahbee - she came home raving about the music Derksen makes. Using her cello and looping and effects pedals, Derksen crafts works at the intersection contemporary classical, folk, electronic and Aboriginal traditional musics. Amazing.


06. Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma (Warp)

Like what Cris Derksen is doing to point to the future of classical music, FlyLo is strongly suggesting where jazz might be headed.


05. Boats - Cannonballs, Cannonballs (Majestic Triumph)

Full disclosure - I sang on a couple songs on this record and am credited as the Moustache Tree. But that's not why this made the list - my contributions account for only a few bars on this fantastic rock record.


04. Beach House - Teen Dream (Sub Pop)

While Baltimore gets credit for being known for The Wire, Beach House stake a strong claim to being great ambassadors for B-more.


03. Quadron - Quadron (Plug Research)

Much as I love me some Sade, this was the soul/beat-driven record of the year.


02. Shad - TSOL (Black Box Recordings)

First he gets robbed for the Polaris this year, then I rob him of top spot on my list. I waffled back and forth on this one and the eventual number one - I even considered naming them both 1.5 as a shared top pick. This was a record that stood up to a LOT of repeat listens.


01. The Tallest Man On Earth - The Wild Hunt (Dead Oceans)

Phenomenal. Dude just keeps on doing what he does, so very well. The song below slays me every time I hear it.

Finally, The Best of 2009

Well here it is. After blasting through the last of the longlist, these are the ones that made the cut. It's clearly a little late considering I announced these selections on UMFM on December 31st, but what can I say - my plan to have Archer nap extensively so I could write heaps hasn't exactly come to fruition.

20. Kings Of Convenience – Declaration Of Dependence (Virgin/EMI)
Every year I reserve a space on my Top 20 for Kings Of Convenience in the hopes that they actually release an album. If they don’t then I release it into the wild for some other album to take its place, but thankfully, 2009 saw this Norwegian duo finally release the follow-up to Riot On An Empty Street. Five long years I’ve waited, but I’ll take quality over quantity anytime from these two.


19. Mos Def – The Ecstatic (Downtown)
Like I said on the year-end wrap up that Station Manager Jared McKetiak and I did on UMFM, if you’d asked me at the beginning of the year which was more likely – Kings Of Convenience releasing a new album, or Mos Def releasing a good album, I’d be hard pressed to choose. Strangely enough, both things happened in the last twelve months and both find their place on my Top 20. The Ecstatic is a return to the fine form Mos once showed he was capable of before he got tied up with being a movie star and released albums simply for the sake of fulfilling his contract. It’s vital, it’s exciting and it’s packed with ideas and cogent rhymes.


18. The Very Best – Warm Heart Of Africa (Green Owl Records)
Combining the production talents of UK duo Radioclit with the otherworldly voice of Malawian singer Esau Mwamwaya, The Very Best seems like a boastful moniker but when you listen to Warm Heart Of Africa, it’s hard to deny how accurate the trio are. WHOA followed a promising mixtape of original and remixed material with a baker’s dozen of originals that are chock-a-block with both ideas and joy.


17. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion (Domino)
It had to appear somewhere... this is the album most likely to show up on the lists of just about everyone who blogs about music or makes lists like these. Released in late January ’09, this one stood the test of both time and hype.


16. Bird By Snow – Songbread/Another Ocean (Gnome Life Records)
If you read my glowing post about this album back in March, you wouldn’t be surprised to find it here.





15. Evening Hymns – Spirit Guide (Out Of This Spark)
A long-time Ear To The Sound favourite, Spirit Guide is the first full-length for Jonas Bonnetta under the Evening Hymns moniker and a surprisingly muscular and taut record considering prior material. Bonnetta hasn’t lost his knack for writing achingly beautiful quiet songs (“Cedars” for one), but he has augmented that with some robust rockers (“Dead Deer” and “Broken Rifle”) as well.

14. Antony & The Johnsons – The Crying Light (Secretly Canadian)
Speaking of achingly beautiful quiet songs, Antony Hegarty is the crown-prince of such material and The Crying Light is the jewel in his crown. He follows up the Mercury-prize-winning I Am A Bird Now with an album that finds backing band The Johnsons crafting arrangements and instrumentation that more deftly matches Hegarty’s ethereal vocals. Tonally and lyrically the material shifts away from individual sadness to examine universal connectedness. I was just as blown away by this record as I was by the last – and that’s saying something.


13. Japandroids – Post-Nothing (Unfamiliar/Polyvinyl)
I knew it. And I called it. WAY back (March 2008) when I wrote about the Lullaby Death Jams EP, I said Vancouver duo Japandroids were worth watching out for. Post-Nothing totally rewarded my expectations in the band and proved the pair could find new and exciting ways to make a two-piece sound like a band four times as big.


12. Speech Debelle – Speech Therapy (Big Dada)
Well, I gushed about this one in August so it shouldn’t come as a surprise to find it here.




11. Ilyas Ahmed – Goner (Root Strata)
Of all the selections in my Top 20, this is the one I’ve yet to see on any other lists. Which is a shame, because Goner totally deserves to be heard and heralded, by as many people as possible. Ahmed is a Pakistani-born, Oregon-based guitarist who had previously released a handful of albums on limited-edition CD-Rs. His latest is both his first for Root Strata and a step towards rock song-structure after the folk/drone of his earlier material. Those elements are still present but Ahmed has built on them, no longer hewing so close to the sound of the CD-Rs. He’s opened himself up to something new, and I suggest you do the same.


10. Thao with the Get Down Stay Down – Know Better Learn Faster (Kill Rock Stars)
San Franciscan Thao Nguyen follows her first effort with the Get Down Stay Down (We Brave Bee Stings and All) with the first credited to both her and the band. Know Better Learn Faster feels even fuller than that last record and has an energetic bounce to it that nicely complements Nguyen’s off-kilter vocals about busted relationships and repaired hearts. She’s definitely the ‘glass half full’ type.


09. Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele – The Good Feeling Music Of Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele (Paw Tracks)
I kind of wish all the people gushing about the Animal Collective album had taken the time to check out this semi-related effort (it was released on the AC founded Paw Tracks). While the songs are tongue-in-cheek funny and Dent does indeed play the ukulele, this is neither a novelty record nor a gimmick. It’s a brilliant piece of pop songcraft that both plays with and to hipster crowds and nearly erases the image of Tiny Tim’s not so magnificent ukulele.


08. The Wooden Sky – If I Don’t Come Home You’ll Know I’m Gone (Black Box Recordings)
I wrote about this record in a two-fer back in September and I still think “Bit Part” is the best Blue Rodeo song the band never wrote.



07. Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca (Domino)
I actually wrote a brief blurb about this record on the Music Trader blog (and if you didn’t know that the Osborne Village institution had a blog, you should bookmark it). “Stillness Is The Move” does indeed “sound so frickin’ good” but the great thing about Bitte Orca is the more you listen to it, the more songs (and elements within the songs) sound so good. And it doesn’t wear out its welcome.


06. Timber Timbre – Timber Timbre (Out Of This Spark / Arts & Crafts)
Thank goodness I got straightened out on when exactly this record came out. I’d originally excluded it from my rankings thinking it came out in December ’08, but its original release came in January ’09 – around the time I wrote about it.


05. Lee Fields & The Expressions – My World (Truth & Soul / Do Right)
So glad this one wasn’t an unearthed treasure from yesteryear. Since I wrote about this record, I’ve come to the conclusion that Fields and Marvin Sease once shared a hairdresser.



04. Miike Snow – Miike Snow (Downtown)
Here’s that electro-pop record that blew Junior and Begone Dull Care out of the water. They were really good, but this one is incredible. I raved about it in June.




03. Antlers – Hospice (Frenchkiss)
Summer ’09 was apparently a good time to catch my ear.





02. Quantic & His Combo Barbaro – Tradition In Transition (Tru Thoughts)
While the above-mentioned Jared McKetiak was a little surprised this didn’t make the number one spot – what with my love of all things Quantic, a passion for cumbia and other Latin sounds, and a soft spot for anything with a cuica – Tradition In Transition was the only album that stood a chance of unseating what for me was the unequivocal ‘best album of 2009.’ And that’s saying something.


01. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest (Warp)
Some years I wrestle with a few top contenders right up until the last possible moment. Other years one album establishes itself as the best and subsequent albums can only try to usurp it. 2009 was the latter. From the moment I first heard Veckatimest I knew everyone else would have a tough road ahead of them if they were going to be better than this truly beautiful record. I played it to my son before he was even born, it was that special a record.