Music of 2011

One last recap of 2011 before I am ready for the new year. (Yeah, that always takes me several weeks!) Music! I always enjoy putting together posts about music I listened to over the last year, but it is a big task to pull together, so I've been procrastinating a little. (Once I wrap this up I can recap my Christmas trip to Chicago and the last few knitting projects I've finished!) This year I thought I'd do it by selecting a few categories: Portland - so much good stuff here; My Usual Favorites - their new albums are so good;  New Favorites - More in this category than the others; To Check Out - Stuff that's high up on my list that I haven't really listened to the full album yet; and lastly Spillover - albums that didn't come out last year, but I started listening to, and stuff I'm still listening to from last year.

Portland

AgesandAges - Alright you Restless
This is just one of those albums that I have to put on when I need cheering up. So many people singing together I think is what has that effect on me, but also I like the lyrics. I knew I'd have to check them out when I heard Kevin Robinson from Viva Voce produced the album.

Viva Voce - The Future Will Kill Us
I'm sad I haven't actually since them live again since we've been back in the northwest! They are so much fun to see play, I highly recommend it. The Analog Woodland Song is so good.

Wild Flag - Wild Flag
Very cool to see this on a lot of the best of 2011 lists for the year. I got to see them play a free in-store show, but unfortunately didn't act quick enough to get tickets for a real show. Ah well, hopefully since they are Portland based I'll have more opportunities this year.

My Usual Favorites

PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
Tom Waits - Bad As Me
Both of these are so good. I think they'll take me a while longer to fully absorb.

New Favorites

tUnE-yArDs - w h o k i l l
Fascinating to listen, seems like she has such a diverse range of influences. I just found they did a Tiny Desk concert, which I will be checking out right after I finish this post.

Eleanor Friedberger - Last Summer
Both Eleanor & Matthew Friedberger of The Fiery Furnaces came out with solo albums this year. We saw her open for The Kills at a MusicFestNW show and several songs stuck out and convinced me I needed to get the album.

Say Hi - Um, Uh Oh
Another album to put on to make me happy. I love the video above because it's filmed in Seattle and many of the shots are outside a school-turned-condo building very close to where we used to live.

Jessica Lea Mayfield - Tell Me
She's from Ohio! And not all that old and very impressive. I first heard her on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic. 

Thao & Mirah - Thao & Mirah
I already liked them both quite a bit, so this is such a good pairing. Here they are covering Salt'n'Peppa with Carrie & Fred on the Portlandia tour. Too fun!

To Check Out

Beyonce - 4
Seems to be getting especially good reviews this year, and I've been mildly obsessed with the videos for Countdown and Run the World (Girls)

TV on the Radio - Nine Types of Light
I've been meaning to check them out more intently for a while. I enjoyed their performance with Tinariwen on the Colbert Report. Also I think there's a song about caffeine? I actually got this album off of emusic, we just need to get the files moved off my computer and into the right place for listening...

Charles Bradley - No Time for Dreaming
Same deal with this one, it's time to start listening! We saw him this year as part of MusicFestNW, and he was just so good. It felt perhaps like the closest you can get to seeing James Brown.

Spillover

Y La Bamba - Lupon
We have seen them live a bunch of times since we moved here and bought their album last time we saw them, so even though it was released in 2010, we listened to it a lot in 2011. In addtion to the video above I highly recommend their Tiny Desk Concert on NPR.

Bhi Bhiman - The Cookbook
Introduced to his music when we saw him open for Joan As Police Woman at Mississippi Studios mid-year.  We were impressed. The video for a song from his new album (coming in 2012) is pretty cool, using stop motion to create a moving collage.

Breathe Owl Breathe - Magic Central
This made my list for 2010, but I've still been listening to it a lot in 2011. We saw them at the workshop barn stage at Pickathon this year, where they talked about their songwriting, and played some songs of course.

I'm feeling like it was an especially good music year this year, so I maybe adding quite a few things to my "to check out" list in the near future. Here's a few best of lists I'll be referencing:

Pitchfork's Best Albums of 2011
KEXP DJ's top 10 lists for 2011
KCRW DJ's top 10 lists for 2011
Willamette Weeks's Best New PDX Band 2011

2011 Knitting Project Recap

Sweaters

  

Whisper Cardigan - The construction of this was so neat, making knitting with tiny yarn pretty fun. And it's a really satisfying light sweater, which is sparkly, my favorite!

Lotus Blossom Tank - Accomplishments in Lace knitting! Yay!

Leaf Yoke Top - Two similar color & types of sweaters in a row, but this one was much easier...and sparkly again, yay!

In 2012 I might have to make a point of making myself full sleeve sweaters. I made Chuck one once but somehow I'm always drawn to 3/4 length of sleeveless projects for myself. They do use less yarn, which is handy, but full long sleeve is probably something I could use...

Socks

  

No Sweat Socks & Lindsay Socks and Freshman Cable Socks for Chuck.

Chuck bought me a whole bunch of sock yarn earlier this year and I'm still working through it. And so far all it's gotten him is one pair of socks! I'm working on it, his birthday is coming up soon and I'm a good chunk of the way through a nice pair of brown cabled socks. 

Little Things

  

Magic Slippers
Ribbed Baby Jacket (aka Zoe's Smoking Jacket)
Knot Necklace

Babies to knit for means smaller projects, but I also got interested in some very small quick necklaces this year. Quick & satisfying finished objects for when things are busy.

For the Shop

 

 

Triangle Cats, Gadget Cozies, Two-tone fingerless mitts, Knit-o necklaces & more! I finally started knitting up some stuff for the shop and craft shows, and it all went over really well. I'm still recovering from my last bout of knitting for the holiday craft show...but it won't be long before I'm knitting more and hopefully coming up with some cool new designs for the shop too. Meanwhile, I missed knitting for myself so much I've got 3 or so personal projects going on at the moment, but the are all pretty small....so I'll be back on this soon!

Stashed

 

Or maybe not! I did stash a lot of yarn this year, thanks to really great deals at a Knit Picks warehouse sale,and the sock yarn mentioned above. And I've pretty much figured out all kinds of fun stuff to knit up for myself with this stash. That could keep me busy for months! There are at least 3 or 4 sweaters worth of yarn there, plus all the socks. Okay, so I'll have to find a way to balance personal and Etsy shop projects this year, but that's a good problem to have!

2011 I'm not done with you just yet!

Here's a recap! I liked the recap Sarah from Petite Cabbage Press did on her blog so much I'm going to use her idea. This is a picture heavy post! My year by month in photos:

January

North Pearl District, Portland, OR

February 

Ross Island, Portland, OR

March

Squirrel Graffiti in Ladd's Addition, Portland, OR

April

Cherry Blossoms on the Waterfront, Portland, OR

May

Boy & Bean (that link plays music) at Atlantis Lounge/Mississippi Pizza Pub in Portland, OR

June

Rose Festival CityFair on the Waterfront, Portland, OR

July

Starfish at Haystack Rock, Cannon Beach, OR

August

Pickathon Music Festival, Pendarvis Farm near Portland, OR

September

Crowd waiting for Vaux's Swifts at Chapman Elementary School, Portland, OR

October

Migrating Cranes fly over as we walk up to the Pittock Mansion, Portland, OR

November

Miniature Room at the Art Institute, decorated for Christmas, Chicago, IL

December

Snowy Owl in Montrose Harbor, Chicago, IL (more on this in a future post!)

I can't complain too much about the last year. It's been filled with nature, live music, lots of great walks and a couple of great visits with my family in Chicago at the end end of the year. Last year one of my resolutions (though I try not to make those typically) was to walk 500 miles. I stopped counting several months into the year when we reached something like 300 miles, and we kept on walking a lot so I'm sure I accomplished my goal. This year we climbed up to Washington Park without much effort, which I'm sure was not the case when we first moved here. The only similar goal we have for this year is to keep it up and to finally make it over to Forest Park (somehow we haven't been yet) and spend lots of time hiking through it.

More pictures from my year are in the 2011 Highlights set on flickr, which I'm still working on wrapping up...once I get the last pictures uploaded from my Chicago visit, I should be close. Then it's on to filling up a new 2012 set! I have a feeling it's going to be a very good year.

Books I read in 2010

Emma Nolan's favorite books »

Just to round things out this is my last 2010 recap. (see photos, knitting and music here and here.) These are the books I managed to read last year, amidst studying for my exams (note the inclusion of two of my awesome study guides here, grumble), moving, etc. The handy widget generated by goodreads.com, which includes the Harry Potter book I finally read and finished last night. It technically shouldn't be a part of this list, but I couldn't figure out a way to exclude it from the widget. Anyway, I've committed myself to doing even better this year by reading at least 25 books! My favorite by far last year was Zeitoun and I enjoyed re-reading Pride & Prejudice, which I am pretty sure I read in high school, but I guess I am old enough now not to quite remember things like that!

Also I should mention our TV favorites. We didn't do a lot of movie watching this year, and most of that was older stuff on Netflix trying to catch up as I suspect will be the case next year. But there was quite a bit of good TV in 2010. My favorites being Boardwalk Empire (yay two golden globes last night!) and Treme (No golden globe nominations even!?! I'm annoyed but not surprised...) Two cancelled shows (both currently available streaming on Netflix): Party Down and Better Off Ted. And 2010 will go down in memory as the year that Chuck admitted that Glee was an entertaining show. He was going to have to watch it with regardless...so I'm glad he's finally enjoying it too.

What I listened to in 2010, Part Two: Old

  

Lhasa (also known as Lhasa de Sela) - The Living Road (from 2003) Website
I started out last year re-listening album because of the unfortunate news that Lhasa died of breast cancer on New Years day last year. It's a fantastic album, one my Aunt initially loaned me a copy of, and I never get tired of it. I wish I had managed to see her sold out show at the Triple Door when we lived in Seattle, but I didn't manage to get tickets. It was really sad to hear of her passing.

Au Revoir Simone - The Bird of Music (from 2007) Website*
*be warned their website does start to play music without prompting.
I also wanted to mention this album because I was asked to pick out music for the wedding in SC this fall. So for some time, I was happily listening to any and everything in our collection with any hint of being appropriate. I mentioned that the first track from this album, "The Lucky One" would be cute processional song, but not really knowing if Matt & Janie had a plan for something else; I wasn't expecting them to agree to it. They really loved it, and it worked out perfectly for the big day. Now that I'm posting this I'm noticing that the cover even looks like the setting from the lake, even more reason this album is probably going to me get a little teary-eyed from here on out!

The rest of this post focuses on "old" artists that released new albums this year. I suspect that this means that I won't be able to find as many links to streaming audio for this post, since these artists are already established, but I'll try.

 

Belle and Sebastian - Write about Love Website Stream Album
Antony and the Johnsons - Swanlights Website Appearance on WNYC's Soundcheck
These both came out fairly recently, in the fall, so I'm still getting into them, but on the whole I think I'm enjoying these both more than I thought I would. Belle & Sebastian have consistent sound that I like, so I was expecting it to be pretty good, but I think I'm into this album a little more than I am usually into their music. I am Antony and the Johnsons fan of our household, it's not really Chuck's type of thing. He does have an unusual voice and it's probably not for everyone. This album features a duet with Bjork, perhaps returning the favor for Antony's appearance on her 2007 album, Volta. It's the 8th release from Belle & Sebastian, the 4th for Antony and the Johnsons.

 

The Gossip - Music for Men (rel. 2009) Stream
Thank goodness for Beth Ditto of the Gossip. She's so awesome. This release is from 2009, but I was still listening to it all year this year. Heck I'm still listening to all their other albums too. Just thinking of the video for Long Distance Love makes me want to be at a roller rink right now.

Stereo Total - Baby Ouh! Website
The cover might give you some idea of the feel of this album. 2007's Paris-Berlin remains my favorite album from them, but the fact there is a song about Andy Warhol fits so well with their overall aesthetic, and as usual it features many blips and beeps that get stuck in my head well after listening.

 

LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening Website

M.I.A. - /\/\/\Y/\ Website*

*yes, this one autoplays too. You also get to watch a video of the track "born free"

This is the third release from both of these artists, and I'm noticing they've been releasing their albums on the same schedule, 2005, 2007 and 2010. That might make some sense, we saw them together at the Showbox in Seattle in 2005. If you've been a fan of MIA on twitter of facebook, it's been an interesting year.

 

Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings - I Learned the Hard Way Website*
*auto-plays music. Their christmas track "ain't no chimneys in the projects" actually
I first heard Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings from Morning Becomes Eclectic on KCRW, and this is their 4th release. Sharon Jones once worked as a corrections officer at Rikers Island, but now she's making great Funk/Soul music with the fabulous Dap Kings (who were featured on Amy Winehouse's Back to Black.) Their music is consistently great.

She & Him - Volume Two Website (player in upper left)
Zooey is pretty cute. We got to see these two live together at the Pritzker Pavillion this year and they had a great chemistry on stage. Sure M. Ward wore his sunglasses the whole time, but he looked very cool doing it. For some reason I still feel partial to Volume One (maybe it was the cover of "You've Really Got a Hold On Me") but Volume Two is growing on me, and I usually get more excited about songs after seeing them performed live.