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So many great releases in the last month to check out. Alabama Shakes, Chromatics, Santigold, Silversun Pickups amongst others. Some standout tracks on this list are the lead single from Passion Pit’s upcoming LP, a song from J. Tillman’s solo project Father John Misty, and Kishi Bashi’s beautiful “Bright Whites”. I hope you enjoy it.
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My trip to Austin for SXSW Music this month was another incredible live music experience. I managed to cram in 43 shows in just 3.5 days, and many of them in small or unusual places. There were so many great moments this year, but some highlights include: Of Monsters and Men and Blitzen Trapper right up front on a small stage; Seeing many brand new bands for the first time including Polica, Pillow Fight, Grimes,and Alabama Shakes; singing along with the crowd at Stubbs for the band FUN.; and M. Ward performing an hour long set in a church!
Needless to say, this particular playlist is heavily influenced by what I saw in SXSW, with 13 of these bands having performed in Austin. As always, I hope you find something in here for you to add to your own music rotation. Enjoy!
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The first playlist of the year took me a while to put together, but it was worth it (IMHO). I found some wonderful tracks from a few favorites, but mostly from brand new and up-and-coming groups. I’ve scoured the new releases and music blogs so you don’t have to. I hope you enjoy!
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Putting together a list of my favorite tracks for 2011 was a blast. Personally, I managed to see more live music this year than ever before, both in the SF Bay Area and Seattle, and I gorged myself on Indie music at SXSW in Austin this past spring. I pared down hundreds of candidates down to the top 40 songs that I will remember the year by. For me, 2011 was another great music year.
For many of the tracks, you’ll see that I’ve put pointers to other songs from that artist, as my not-so-underhanded way of adding more to this list.
Here we go, starting with number 40.
You can also view a summary list along with iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, and Rdio playlists.
My last playlist of 2011 (except, of course, for my best-of-the-year compilation still to come). While I thought all of the holiday music releases would drown out new tunes, I ended up with over 40 songs, winnowing the list down to a more manageable 22. I included sneak peek tracks from the upcoming 2012 releases for Miike Snow, School of Seven Bells, and others, along with several tracks from new LPs and EPs out in the last couple of months. Enjoy.
We’re fully into Autumn now, so let’s all enjoy the narrow window before new music releases become swamped by special holiday-themed albums. There are some fantastic new releases this month, led by M83′s Hurry Up We’re Dreaming. There are also strong efforts from Loney Dear, Real Estate, and Surfer Blood, among others.
I’ve added these tracks to my latest rotation, and I hope you find something new for your own listening pleasure.
September is upon us, and I love how the new album releases reflect the impending transition to Autumn. Several heavily anticipated new albums have just been released, and I encourage you to check them out, particularly from Neon Indian, St. Vincent, Mates of State, and Girls.
As always, I hope you find some new music in this list for you to add to your own listening rotation.
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