Taking On 2013 - Top Tracks (Q2 Quarterly Review)

With last year being so huge for music, it's kind of easy to look at the present as a kind of disappointment. I know only a few seconds ago I was thinking the same thing. But that's why I make these lists throughout the year, to kind of monitor the pulse of different forms of culture and get an idea of how the landscape has shifted. And comparing this list to April's it most certainly has, because even though I'm still not sure that 2013 has reached 2012 levels of greatness the number of certified bangers to be pumped out of the music industry across genres in only half of a year is astounding. As I continue to use a master Spotify playlist to help track tracks, feel free to also click on titles for Youtube links of all the songs where available. And, really, let's get on with the list!

Found Your Pictures, Mailed Them To Your Mother

Tape Club (Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, 2011)

Last week I wrote up a short post highlighting some of my most anticipated music releases set to come out this fall, and as I mentioned in that post some of the releases have already been made available for listening by the bands. PolyVinyl Records band Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin first popped up on my radar last year when they released their fantastic album Let It Sway. Their latest release Tape Club, streaming in full over at the band's BandCamp page, is actually not a full on follow up, but rather a collection of unreleased songs, B-Sides, and various other recordings from the band's ten year history.

Forward Thinking: Music and Albums

This year I have been on a quest to listen to an album a week, a goal I was originally not sure I would be able to meet simply because I never feel like I give the albums I listen to regularly as much time as they truly deserve. Still, I have mostly be able to stick to this schedule - at least as far as final tallies go - in part because of the way the music industry has changed. On a weekly basis many artists choose to stream their newest albums on a website as a way to generate interest in owning the upcoming release. Additionally, many groups such as The-Weeknd have made their own mixtapes available for free on their own domains. Yet still, with the rise of the mp3 purchasing music has never been easier. External download services like Amazon's mp3 cloud service offers a welcome alternative to iTunes's stranglehold on the market. With so many great albums released so far this year, I find myself looking forward to what else is on the near horizon. As the weeks continue to rush by as 2011 starts to draw to a close, here are a few of my most highly anticipated albums.

Taking on 2010 - Tracks

I may have tipped my hand a bit by already posting my Top Albums of 2010, but I hope there are still plenty of surprises left for my continued conquest of all aspects 2010. Today I am going to be looking at tracks, but before I go on I should probably state that I am not including covers in this list. I am only including one song per band/artist. So far those are the only stipulations. Sadly, that means that Weezer's excellent cover of "Viva la Vida," likely the second best song of the year, is not eligible. It also means that "Monster" will not be making the list. With those possible marks of shame out of the way, we are on to the list.