Top Ten Albums/Songs of the Year

This isn't a list of the top ten albums/songs that came out in 2011, but a list of the albums and songs that I thought were awesome when this year. I find that there is just too much great music out there to only listen to music that came out from this year.

1. Alexisonfire - Dog's Blood

I could, and probably will write an entire blog post about this album. An incredible end to one of my favorite band's ever. I remember seeing an interview with Jay Bentley from Bad Religion, and he described how he felt that Elvis Costello was a constant in his musical journey. He changed with Jay's ever changing tastes, and I've always felt that Alexisonfire did the same for me. When my musical tastes changed, a new Alexisonfire album would come out and they would be there already.

Dog's Blood may only have four songs, but they are all awesome in their own way. This album was actually on my top 5 albums of last year, and with the breakup of Alexisonfire, I rediscovered it in a way that I had never before.

2. My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade

I know that I will get a lot of flack for this, but I have to admit that I still really like this album. My Chemical Romance's ode to Queen, as corny and over the top as it is at times, has some awesome guitar, catchy hooks, and really saw the band embrace their huge success, and built a song, and an alter ego to perform to arenas.

3. Fiona Apple - Fast As You Can

I had actually forgotten about Fiona Apple until one day someone posted the ultra powerful video of her performing the Elvis Costello song, "I Want You", with Elvis. I always loved that song, and her version is pretty intense. It got me looking through the rest of her catalog and it made me realize how great she really was. The song "Fast as You Can" is off of the album "When the Pawn", but if you like it, check out her whole song book, shes pretty great.

4. Every Time I Die - Ebolorama

When Keith Buckley yells "This is a Rock and Roll Takeover" it makes me realize why this song is awesome. With an equally cool video, unfortunately this was the peak of ETID in my opinion.

5. Brett Dennen - Ain't No Reason

I found this song on Grooveshark, and even though it is really simple, and is a really standard song, there's just something great about it.

6. Billy Wilkerson - Blood on my Name

This song was actually featured in a short film that was featured on a website that I check all time time, Devour.com. Well the video was ok, I really thought that the song was awesome. I found out who it was, and although I wasn't overly excited but the rest of his repertoire, I still think this song is awesome.

7. Timber Timbre - Creep on Creepin On

I was lucky enough to actually see Timber Timbre in the awesome Aeolian Hall and it was pretty awesome. A lot of what makes this band awesome is their subtlety. All of the musicians are incredibly talented on their own, but are more concerned with the overall sound than their own egos, I love bands like that. Less concerned with out of place solos, than making albums that are incredibly eerie and creepy, Timber Timbre were on the short list for the Polaris Prize, only to lose to Arcade Fire.

8. Daniel Romano - Sleep Beneath the Willow

After gaining some notoriety with the album "Marriage", Attack and Black did what any band would do, and completely changed their sound that made them famous, and fell off the map. Their front man, Daniel Romano released his solo album, "Sleep Beneath the Willow" this year, and it was on the long list for the Polaris Prize. As awesome as this album is, you have to see it live. While Daniel spent most of the year supporting his pal Dallas Green in Europe, I was lucky enough to see him twice this year before he left.

Seeing Daniel Romano at the Aeolian Hall feels like travelling back in time. With a custom tailored Hank Williams style suit, and a guitar with Daniel Romano inlayed on the neck, not only is he writing songs that feel like they are from the early days of rock and roll, he also creates the spectacle that made that era so exciting.

9. The Band - The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

This song is just so awesome. It's been covered tons of times but no one can touch the live version from "The Last Waltz". I don't really think I need to say much about this song, it really speaks for itself.

10. Ray Charles - Georgia on My Mind

Probably my favorite singer of all time, this song is just incredible. It really shows the genius of Ray Charles. The lyrics are incredible, and he seems to sing incredibly with relative ease. I dunno, if you actually read through all 10 of these, chances are you just want to hear the song, so take a listen.

First Post

I've thought about writing a blog for a long time. Finally I decided that I was over thinking the whole thing; conceptualizing things in my head that I never actually carried out.

Writing a blog for me is about applying many of the concepts that I preach every day. As a digital media strategist I always tell people how important, and easy it is to get involved in all forms of social media. However, for some reason I just never thought I had enough to say to actually start a blog.

That statement may be something that I look back at in irony in a few months if this remains untouched except for tonight, however, I hope that isn't the case.