Best of the Quarter - January 1, 2011 through April 1, 2011

PJ Harvey - Let England Shake: A tale of how WWI ravished her country... there's a good chance this is the best album I'll hear all year. I don't know what else to say, this is the first PJ Harvey album I've really given a good listen to in some years, but if there's anything I missed, this shit more than made up for it.

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The Pains of Being Pure At Heart - Belong: This is the sound the Smashing Pumpkins will always be remembered for in my neck of the woods, regardless of how much crap they continue to pump out. The most important part of music is sounding good. If you can be an artist on top of that, good for you.

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Frank Ocean - nostalgia/Ultra: It takes A LOT to get an R&B record into the mix... if you only legally download one all decade, go with this. Odd Future has me sold. I'd stand outside in the rain for a midnight sale on damn near everything they've done so far if I gave a Fuck like that. This shit is perfect for late night drives out of the city.

White Lies - Ritual: I love this album like I love the smell of skunks in the road. It makes me feel something I used to feel back in college. Power-wall sound and just the most UK you can get out of the UK at this current time in the UK. Or so I assume about the UK. I will never set foot over there cause UK reminds me of serfdom.

Void Pedal - Omni Colour: This is 2011's Shooting The Breeze. Perfectly balanced energy, tight drums, gorgeous soundscapes, and the guy producing it has no idea he's so fucking talented. And that equates into a few more albums out of him before he recognizes himself as someone so fucking amazing at what he does. Asshole.

Frank Ocean - nostalgia/Ultra: I've given this album so much attention and shown it to so many people, I realize that I'm a bit obsessed. I had no idea 2011 was going to turn me into such a romantic. I fucking love the honesty and huge penis this album wields. I'll leave it at that. ODD FUTURE

Elbow – Build a Rocket Boys!: Elbow have successfully created yet another collection of powerful songs without repeating themselves or completely abandoning the aesthetics that brought them their success either.

Protest the Hero – Scurrilous: One of the very few “new” metal bands this old fart likes, Protest the Hero pick up where they left of on “Fortress,” taking complex and melodic progressive metal into the future.

Ulcerate – The Destroyer of All: Something to chew on while waiting for the new Gorguts album. Crushing, detailed and dissonant death metal that sounds like the musical equivalent of crashing skyscrapers.

Tennis - Cape Dory: I’m going to talk about Tennis until I convert you painfully unhip douchebags. If you hate preciousness, the ocean, and fun; skip this record. If you want some tropical throwback pop, listen to Cape Dory and thank me from the schooner you bought when you sold your possessions.

Adele - 21: It’s almost embarrassing how much I love this record. While some of the songs are over produced and skippable, it starts off so strong with Rolling In The Deep I can forgive the missteps, especially with jams like I’ll Be Waiting. 21 is grown up and well rounded and I recommend it to anyone who will listen, which should be everyone.

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Lykke Li - Wounded Rhyme: Wounded Rhymes is a perfect record. Lykke Li told Spin that the album was drug songs about love and love songs about drugs. My friend J told me she wanted to take a bunch of Ludes and listen to this record all day and I agreed.

Cold Cave - Cherish the Light Years: The darkness engulfs and overpowers you right from the get go. If you manage to take a breath during the four minute onslaught that is "The great Pan is Dead" I commend you. Dig deeper into the album and you'll find that, there's a very un-dark core.  

Yuck - Yuck: Yucks' debut album transplants you to a simpler time. Close your eyes and imagine this album strewn on your bedroom floor along side Pavement,Teenage Fanclub, Dinosaur Jr and all of your other favorite long gone cassette tapes. Break out your Bugle Boy jeans the 1990s are back!

Explosions in the Sky - Take Care Take Care Take Care: We're now celebrating ten wordless years with the band and I have no regrets. No band extracts so much raw emotion without uttering a single syllable. This album acts as sonic therapy for me as I battle through traffic on the 405. Wordless soul searching at its finest.

Cotton Jones - Sit Down and Eat Your Vegetables: This album is eclectic in all the right ways. Imagine your very own soundtracked selected by Wes Anderson, well that would be this album. It is almost a perfect blend of everything that has happened to folky rock since the late 60s without sucking or coming off even slightly pretensious.

Baltic Cousins - For The Hell Of Us: Sounds like some heartbreakingly amazing folk punk brits, micks or scots made this fucker, only it is as American a dumb electorate. Baltic Cousins made a shit kicker of a record that if I was binge drinking would be my go to sing at the top of my lungs while crying record of choice.

Thee Oops - Taste of Zimbabwe: Perfect punk record from a gang of Itals. Fast as shit, catchy as shit, sounds as though it was plucked out of the early 80s as some forgotten classic. Who would have thought Italian culture would create something other than mob movies and chicks with mustaches.