Colby’s Top Songs Playlist for 2011:

“My Mistakes” -Eleanor Friedberger, Last Summer.  St Vincent’s album received a lot more critical attention then Friedberger’s but I don’t think Annie Clark put out anything as good as this deceptively catchy song.

“Little Talks” – Of Monsters and Men, Into the Woods EP.  We’ll have to wait and see what this group does with their first full-length release coming out next year but the first track of their EP is super catchy folk-pop.

“By Your Hand” – Los Compesinos!, Hello Sadness.  As you might guess from the album title, these guys have adopted a darker tone (lyrically, anyway) but I like it – I think it gives their music better staying power and this album was close to making my “Best of” list.

“Pumped Up Kicks” – Foster the People, Torches.  Definitely the most mainstream song in my playlist but Sarah loves this track and I have to admit I can’t help but whistle along.

“Kids” – The Features, Wilderness.  Kind of similar to “Pumped Up Kicks,” but I like that this song’s got more noise, less pop.

“Let’s All Go to the Bar” – Deer Tick, Divine Providence.  You might recognize John J. McCauley‘s voice from the Middle Brother album I talked about but with his main band Deer Tick, they put out another strong alt country album dripping in booze.

“Codeine” – Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Here We Rest.  “If there’s two things that I hate, it’s having to cook and trying to date.” This song makes me realize country music may be at it’s best when it speaks from the jaded old man inside us all.

“Hard Times” – Gillian Welch, The Harrow & the Harvest.  The sound for this album wasn’t anything different for Welch, just a continual maturing and refining of the song writing craft and this song will be added to her list of classics (which is already pretty long).

“Tenere (The Desert, My Home)” – Bombino, Agadez.  For me, 2011 was the year of discovering incredible guitarists from the world music scene. With Tinariwen’s album Tassili and this release by Bombino, I may have no idea what they’re singing about, but the amazing guitar work is universal.

“Art of Almost” – Wilco, The Whole Love.  Somewhere down the road they will make a “Best of Wilco” album and narrowing down the catalog to an album’s workth of songs will be insanely difficult. I guarantee this song will be on there. However, I have to agree with my friend Scott who said that this first track on Wilco’s new album is “too rad… It makes me disappointed in the rest of the album.”

“Hold On” – Alabama Shakes, Alabama Shakes EP.  This band shares some things (unique female voice, indie-rock sound rooted in traditional blues/soul, a reputation for great live shows) with one of my favorite bands of the last five years – The Heartless Bastards – and I’m excited to see how they follow up this incredible first single.

“Bright Lights” – Gary Clark Jr., The Bright Lights EP.  Yes, very similar to The Black Keys sound but with a little less blues and a little more R&B – plus a guitar style that I think Jimi would appreciate.

“Sunrise” – Childish Gambino, Camp.  I like quite a bit of this album and Glover shows it takes a special rapper to drop references to NPR and pull it off.

Through various music podcasts, streaming sources like Spotify, NPR’s First Listen, and by pooling purchasing resources with some friends (thanks Josh and Scott), I was able to listen to and/or get more new music this year then ever before. (Ah, the promise of the information age.) Looking back on it, I do wonder about the amount of time I spent skimming music websites, podcasts, adjusting playlists, and tweaking my iTunes library. Anyway, I’ve also been slowly expanding my sources to include a wider range of genres. I know there’s still a lot of great music out there that I missed (especially in the areas of jazz, Latin, electronic) but my exposure to new hip-hop and world music was better then ever as well as all the indie-rock/pop and alt country stuff. I think the increased exposure has not only helped me find more new artists and sounds, but it’s also helped me appreciate the best of the music I was already listening to.

Later this week I’ll get out a post with some top songs, but for now lets get to my choices for best album of the year.

Colby’s Top Ten Albums of 2011 (in alphabetical order):

El Camino – The Black Keys
This is the first of two bands that made my “Best of” list two years in a row. I noticed this and it made me reconsider. Was El Camino really worth a top ten rating or was I just playing favorites? It was this question that motivated me to really do my homework before posting my list. I carefully reviewed my all of my music from the year as well as other albums I had listened to but decided not to purchase for one reason or another. I even checked some other “Best of” lists that were out there already to see if I was missing something which could supplant this album or another choice I made. In the end, I had to say this album is damn good. It’s not as bluesy as much of their older stuff and I think they are skirting the edge of becoming over-produced. I also believe that with the rise of many newer groups having a similar sound (whether from blatant copying or just respectful influence) they run the risk of becoming part of a cliche. But for now, I’ll be happy to hit play again and crank it to eleven. Listen to “Little Black Submarines.”

We Are the Tide – Blind Pilot
I picked Blind Pilot’s debut release as my favorite album of 2008 and I’ll stick by that choice today. I can’t say that We Are the Tide grabbed me in quite the same say – it’s maybe just a little too similar to 3 Rounds and a Sound – but as I was putting my list together and going back to purposefully listen to albums again, there was just no denying that this is a beautiful piece of work. Listen to the title track.

The King is Dead – The Decemberists
When I sat down and wrote my first draft for the top albums list, this was the first album I put down and there was really never any thought about taking it off. There were some jokes made by music critics that The King is Dead was the best R.E.M. album of the year but I don’t think that should detract at all from what The Decemberists have done. For me, this is an amazing mix of country, folk, The Decemberists lit-rock tendencies and that mid-era R.E.M. sound (think Life’s Rich Pageant and Document) – and having somebody like Gillian Welch pitch in doesn’t hurt either. This is certainly their most accessible album to date and it’s hard for me to argue with those calling it their best. My favorite part of the album: the back and forth pedal-steel & harmonica solos in “Rise to Me” – as bittersweet as it gets.

Go-Go Boots – Drive-By Truckers
Yes, the Drive-By Truckers have been one of my favorite bands for years now, but that doesn’t mean they automatically make the “Best of” list when they release a new album. In fact, they went through a bit of downturn when Jason Isbell left (who also released a nice album this year) and I was concerned they had lost the magic. But then came The Big To-Do in 2010 and Go-Go Boots this year. Wow. It’s hard to think of many bands that can put out two albums in two years which this kind of song writing craft, power and passion. Listen to “Cartoon Gold.”

The Head and the Heart – The Head and the Heart
This Seattle band was my SXSW find for the year. I often find a lot of new music by scouring the SXSW coverage (maybe someday I’ll make it in person) but this year I didn’t hear a lot of stuff that was either new to me or exciting. I did hear the audio from an in-store appearance by The Head and the Heart which stuck with me and over the coming months the album remained a regular part of my listening rotation. Their sound follows suit with several other bands you might hear me talking about (Blind Pilot, Kopecky Family Band, Fanfarlo, Mumford & Sons, The Rural Alberta Advantage…) but that doesn’t change the fact that this is a great album. Listen to “Lost In My Mind.”

James Blake – James Blake
James Blake made a lot of music critics’ end-of-year lists. For me, this album was a bit of an acquired taste. First time or two through I was ready to chalk it up to over-hype. About the third time through, it started to hit me and then one night, I sat down with a class of rum, put the headphones on, closed my eyes, and listened to the whole album straight through. Whether through my own fault or the fault of modern society’s constant information/entertainment onslaught, I find it harder and harder to be pulled in (or let myself be pulled in) to listening to an album, uninterrupted and undistracted, from start to finish. This was one of the few albums that could do that to me in 2011. Listen to “The Wilhelm Scream.”

Get Out the Lotion – Low Cut Connie
I discovered this album when it was reviewed during Fresh Air and I have to say, “Thank you Terry Gross.” It’s not a complicated album – it’s just a kick in the pants. But behind that raw, cut-it-loose attitude there’s an intelligence and a sentimentality that really sets it apart. For the low-brow side check out “Shit Shower & Shave.” For the sentimental, listen to “Full of Joy.”

Middle Brother – Middle Brother
As a collaboration between songwriters from three different bands, it is easy to see why this album changes it’s sound from track to track. Yes, they all share the same roots rock/alt country feel, but you can see they came from three different minds. I’m guessing that may be a big reason it didn’t show up on many critics’ “Best of” lists. However, I felt that the somewhat eclectic vibe just made the quality of the song writing stand out even more. With that said, it’s hard to pick one representative track so try “Wilderness,” “Blue Eyes” or the title track.

Come Back to Us – Release the Sunbird
This album came out of nowhere for me. I wasn’t familiar with Zack Rogue’s previous band, Rogue Wave, and knew nothing about this album until it started streaming on NPR’s First Listen. First time through I thought, “That’s kind of nice,” but wasn’t floored. Then I found myself hitting play again. And again. And again. I just kept playing it and it never got old. (Which is something few albums can do for me.) Instead, it broke in like a favorite pair of sneakers. It may not be the most cutting edge album, but it’s comfortable and it makes me happy. Listen to the title track “Come Back to Us.”

Undone – The Roots
There were a lot of big hip-hop/rap albums released this year and although there were several I liked (I’ll admit I like the sound of the Jay-Z/Kanye West album a lot, but the lyrics were just so stereotypical and boring) but this album immediately struck me as something with the potential to be a “classic.” They took the challenge of a concept album and pulled it off with style. They took a story that could easily be cliche, but made it powerful. And as with most of The Roots past albums, they don’t fall into that common hip-hop trap of forgetting about the musicality and the melody in an effort to just use new samples. Listen to “Kool On.”

As a team building event for the company meeting, the company bought over 20,000 cans of food and set up a CanStruction contest. When the contest was over, the food would be donated to the local food shelter and the top three teams got to designate charities to receive additional donations of $500 each.

If you’re not familiar with CanStruction (I wasn’t) it’s essentially the idea of building sculptures out of unopened cans of food. It turns out there are contests like this around the country with the goal of raising food and awareness for hunger. For our contest, the theme was “Happy Holidays” and each team was given a random allotment of cans to build with. Teams could barter cans to get the colored labels that worked best for their design but the rules dictated that the cans could not be altered or damaged in any way (so that the could still be accepted by the food bank).  Teams could also use some limited materials to help build their structure but the structural integrity of sculpture had to be left to the cans themselves.

My team (the CanDo’s: Brian, Dave E, Kevin E, Matt and myself) decided to build a string of giant Christmas lights with actual lights inside to help them glow. Since none of us had done this before, we really had no idea how it would work. We were told about the contest a couple weeks in advance so that we could begin planning, but teams were not allowed to start the build itself until 3:00 Thursday afternoon (the day before the company meeting). As it turned out, the plans for our build worked out even better then expected and we were the first team done – finishing about 8:30 Thursday night. (Most teams used part of Friday to finish up.)

Saturday was the holiday party, held at our new corporate office. At the end of the night the contest winners were announced. Along with everyone else, I was really impressed with how well all of the sculptures turned out. There was a point on Thursday night when several of the teams were looking pretty frazzled as they stood in front of less-than-impressive mounds of cans. But everyone put in the extra effort, started to get it figured out and made adjustments. When it was over, the judges (the company directors and the architect who worked on our building) were left with a very close competition.

The only bad part of the whole affair was that Sarah had to cancel her trip up to join me for the holiday party so she wasn’t able to see the sculptures or celebrate with everyone. Last week was her finals week and it turned out that she had way too many papers to grade before the the end of term deadline.

The Ednetics end-of-year meeting was a time to dress up like elves (complete with hats), review how well we did meeting our company goals, and have some fun

Everyone was having fun and enjoying the opportunity to give back in the process

Our finished "Christmas Lights"

The CanDo Team with completed sculpture - Matt (hiding), Kevin, Brian, Colby and Dave

Canstruction snowman

The first place sculpture (thanks in large part to the train)

Santa's sleigh and reindeer in cans

The Ednetics Christmas tree - almost all 18 feet of it

Colby and his substitue date, Jeff Jantz (Ednetics CIO)

The Thanksgiving Family (photo courtesy of Shari)

We had another wonderful Thanksgiving on the Oregon Coast with my family. There was some nice weather watching with a big storm on Wednesday and Thursday but sunny skies on Friday and Saturday for getting out on the beach. This year we made it down to the air museum in Tillamook, grabbed some ice cream at the creamery (cause we needed a few more calories) and of course the above mentioned walks on the beach. One significant addition was that this was Sue’s first year with us for the holiday and she seemed to survive it pretty well – I know we were happy to have her there.

One unfortunate trend is that I once again took hardly any pictures. Lucky for us, Shari is great about keeping her camera handy and helping us document the occasions with her pictures. I stole a few from her and posted them below but you can go to her Facebook site to see more.

The Seattle family: Emily, Kerry, Shari, Steve, Sandy and Allen

Clark and Sofia say Thanksgiving dinner is good (photo courtesy of Shari)

Ready to start the big meal (photo courtesy of Shari)

Clark will always be a Kaveman at heart - Tillamook Air Museum

The house in Manzanita (photo courtesy of Shari)