2012 Music I Listened To The Most

Happy New Year's Eve! Time for the annual music review - let's start by looking at the artists I listened to the most in 2012. (In parenthesis: the number of times I listened to a song by the artist and the artist's place in the top 10 last year.)

1. U2 (2,330 | #3)
2. Tom Waits (1,307 | #1)
3. Tori Amos (1,114 | #5)
4. The Decemberists (994 | #6)
5. Neko Case (933 | - )
6. Ani DiFranco (765 | #10)
7. Laleh (685 | -)
8. Lana Del Rey (620 | -)
9. Nick Drake (603 | - )
10. First Aid Kit (582 | - )

Five of the artists are the same as last year. Two of them released albums this year (The Decemberists' live album We All Raise Our Voices To The Air and Ani DiFranco's Which Side Are You On?) but the top three artists did not. I suppose I just listen to them a lot no matter what.

On to the albums that got the most play:

1. Laleh - Sjung (528)
2. Jay-Z and Kanye West - Watch the Throne (470)
3. Nicki Minaj - Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded (417)
4. Tom Waits - Bad As Me (414)
5. The Decemberists - We All Raise Our Voices To The Air (380)
6. Ani DiFranco - Which Side Are You On? (349)
7. Drake - Take Care (334)
8. Grimes - Visions (329)
9. First Aid Kit -The Lion's Roar (317)
10. Neko Case - Middle Cyclone (301)

Making the only repeat appearance, the Jay-Z/Kanye album was in 4th place on the list last year. Out of curiosity I checked which albums I've listened to the most in total since I started keeping track in iTunes (December 6, 2006):

1. Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues (873)
2. Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me (865)
3. Jay-Z and Kanye West - Watch the Throne (827)
4. Neke Case - Blacklisted (781)
5. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest (760)
6. Adele - 21 (679)
7. Tom Waits - Bad As Me (665)
8. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs (653)
9. Tom Waits - Glitter and Doom Live (645)
10. Neko Case - Middle Cyclone (634)

Needless to say, I've been enjoying these albums. My favorite 2012 albums (and songs!) to follow in a separate post.

This list in previous years: 2011, 2010, 2009, and 2008.

If car-lovers acted like dog-lovers

Regular person: “So, I said to him, do you really think that I…”

Car-lover: [Interrupting] “Oooooh! Look at that! Look at it!”

Regular person: “What?”

Car-lover: “There! It’s a gray Toyota Corolla! Look at how pretty it is. Isn’t it pretty?”

Regular person: “Ummm…ok.”

[later]

Car-lover: “Look at that one! The one parked over there. I like it so much! Do you know what kind that is?”

Regular person: “I’m not sure – maybe a Mazda?”

Car-lover: “No – that’s not what Mazdas look like!” “Hey, the owner is right next to it – let’s walk over and ask.”

Car-lover: “I really like your car! What kind is it?”

Owner: “A Subaru Outback”

Car-lover: “Aaaaawwww! That’s so great. May I kick the tires?”

Owner: “Sure. Go ahead.”

Car-lover: “I love it so much! I wish I had one!”

[later again]

Car-lover: “Ooooh, oh, oh, oooooh! Look!”

Regular person: “Huh?”

Car-lover: “Look, look, look, look, look! It’s a light-brown Ford Taurus. It’s soooooo cute!”

Regular person: “Where?”

Car-lover: “There! Across from that old-timey building.”

Regular person: “That’s Notre Dame.”

Car-lover: “Yeah, whatever…look at that Taurus! Don’t you just want to kiss it and hug it forever and ever?”

The Decemberists - The King Is Dead / Long Live The King

Some thoughts on my "Top Album of 2011":

The Decemberists - The King Is Dead / Long Live The King
Colin Meloy is a storyteller with a penchant for the theatrical who pens tales of cold war spies, gang fights, suicidal lovers, and sailors in search of revenge. On the last effort, The Hazards Of Love, The Decemberists took it one step further and created a complete concept album with an overarching fable-like narrative of mythical lovers, villains and jealous mothers, and toured playing the entire album in order like a rock opera.

The King Is Dead marks a renewed focus on simply making a great indie rock record, in this case with nods to folk, country and Americana. Not to mention a sound often reminiscent of old school R.E.M., partially explained by Peter Buck making a guest appearance on three of the tracks. The album, which was released in January, is very good, but I'm not sure it would have risen all the way to the top of my list without the November companion EP Long Live The King. The  EP contains six outtakes that didn't make it onto the album, and several songs (E. Watson, Burying Davy, and I 4 U & U For Me) rival the best tracks on the original record.

I originally thought the album title was a reference to The Queen Is Dead by The Smiths, but after the EP completing the "The King is dead, Long live the King" phrase, I'm not so sure. Well, why couldn't it be both?

I leave you with the video to This Is Why We Fight:

My Top 2011 Albums

Putting this list together seems to get more challenging every year. This year I decided to be  more thorough than usual and revisit each one of  the albums instead of mainly going by memory. Well, with 62 new albums for 2011 it took some time and here we are almost two months into the new year. Without further ado:

1. The Decemberists - The King Is Dead / Long Live The King
2. The Weeknd - House Of Balloons / Thursday / Echoes of Silence
3. Adele - 21
4. Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
5. PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
6. Jay-Z and Kanye West - Watch The Throne
7. Tom Waits - Bad As Me
8. James Blake - James Blake
9. Bon Iver - Bon Iver
10. Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes

Honorable Mention (alphabetical order):

• 8in8 - Nighty Night
• Amanda Palmer - Amanda Palmer Goes Under
• Anna Calvi - Anna Calvi
• Anna Järvinen - Anna Själv Tredje
• Drake - Take Care
• Feist - Metals
• Florence And The Machine - Ceremonials
• Jamie Woon - Mirrorwriting
• Joan As Police Woman - The Deep Field
• Kate Bush - 50 Words For Snow
• Laura Marling - A Creature I Don't Know
• M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
• R.E.M. - Collapse Into Now
• Radiohead - The King Of Limbs
• St. Vincent - Strange Mercy
• The Antlers - Burst Apart
• The Cave Singers - No Witch
• The Kills - Blood Pressures
• Tori Amos - Night Of Hunters
• Twin Sister - In Heaven

Ok:

• Bill Callahan - Apocalypse
• Björk - Biophilia
• Death Cab For Cutie - Codes And Keys
• EMA - Past Life Martyred Saints
• Iron & Wine - Kiss Each Other Clean
• Jens Lekman - An Argument With Myself
• Julianna Barwick - The Magic Place
• Kajsa Grytt - En Kvinna Under Påverkan
• Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring For My Halo
• Little Dragon - Ritual Union
• Miss Li - Beats & Bruises
• Panda Bear - Tomboy
• Washed Out - Within And Without

Not worth the time:

• Devotchka - 100 Lovers
• Foster The People - Torches
• Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost
• Jessie J - Who You Are
• Marsha Ambrosius - Late Nights And Early Mornings
• Okkervil River - I Am Very Far
• Red Hot Chili Peppers - I'm With You
• The Field - Looping State Of Mind
• The Sounds - Something To Die For
• Veronica Maggio - Satan I Gatan
• Wild Beasts - Smother
• Woods - Sun And Shade

WTF?:

• Pitbull - Planet Pit

Finally, for those interested, links to the previous years: 2010, 2009 and 2008.