The last few years I've listed my favourite albums from the past year. I will do so this year as well but this time I will do it a little differently than before. I always have difficulties ranking the records. Often the number one spot has been quite easily decided but how do I really come to the decision?
I think I mostly base it on the number of times I play a record, the more you like a record, the more you're likely to play it, right?
This year though I'm gonna have a play off with the records of the year. I've put together a grid play off with 64 brackets. Here's an example of how one of these things looks, for those of you who doesn't understand what the hell I'm talking about:
So I'll put two records up against each other and the one I think is better advances to the next stage until at last there is just one album still standing- the album of the year!
First I had the idea of putting up a vote on my blog on each "match up", but for a few reasons it wouldn't work. For once there aren't that many readers here to be honest, and those who would vote would probably be three of four people so it wouldn't be too much of a competition:)
Second of all it's my blog and my opinions so I thought it would be better to have my views on it. Also I'll have help from my girlfriend to decide some of the match ups. I'll have final say though;)
I will put the albums against each other that have been released at the same time of the year so that I've had the chance to listen to both albums an equal amount of times. Which in most cases I haven't, but at least I've had the chance... So first up will by Decemberists against the Delillos album which were both released in January this year.
The criterias I have for an album to be part of this is:
1. That I own it on vinyl.
2. That it is an original release. Not a collection (like Foo Fighters - Medium Rare), not a live album (like Neil Youngs - A Treasure or Mastodon - Live At Aragorn) etc.
3. It qualifies to be among the best 64 records released this year. Apparently I have too many records at the moment. I own a few from the year already and I also have a list of records that will be released this year that I will buy so I have to sort some of them out before this thing starts.
Here are the albums that I've got so far:
| ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead | Tao Of Dead |
| Akron/Family | S/T II |
| Amon Amarth | Surtur Rising |
| Anna Järvinen | Anna Själv Tredje |
| Bigbang | Epic Scrap Metal |
| Black Country Communion | BCC 2 |
| Blackfield | Welcome To My DNA |
| Bon Iver | Bon Iver |
| Boris | New Album |
| Boris | Heavy Rocks |
| Boris | Attention Please |
| Bright Eyes | People's Key |
| Buffalo Tom | Skins |
| Cave Singers | No Witch |
| Crowbar | Sever The Wicked Hand |
| Decemberists | The King Is Dead |
| Delillos | Trist Å Väre Glad |
| Drive-By Truckers | Go-Go Boots |
| Earth | Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light |
| Explosions In The Sky | Take Care, Take Care, Take Care |
| Fleet Foxes | Helplessness Blues |
| Foo Fighters | Wasting Light |
| Girls | Father, Son And The Holy Ghost |
| Graveyard | Hisingen Blues |
| Haunted | Unseen |
| Iron & Wine | Kiss Each Other Clean |
| J Mascis | Several Shades Of Why |
| Jarle Bernhoft | Solidarity Breaks |
| Jeff Bridges | Jeff Bridges |
| Kaizers Orchestra | Violeta Violeta Vol.1 |
| Kebnekajse | Idioten |
| Ljungblut | Over Skyene Skinner Altid Solen |
| Low | C'mon |
| Lykke Li | Wounded Rhymes |
| Manchester Orchestra | Simple Math |
| Mogwai | Hardcore Will Never Die |
| My Morning Jacket | Circuital |
| Okkervil River | I Am Very Far |
| Panda Bear | Tomboy |
| Paul Simon | So Beautiful Or So What |
| PJ Harvey | Let England Shake |
| REM | Collapse Into Now |
| Spirits Of The Dead | The Great God Pan |
| Steve Earle | I'll Never Get Out Of This World Alive |
| Thurston Moore | Demolished Thoughts |
| TV On The Radio | Nine Types Of Light |
| Twilight Singers | Dynamite Steps |
| Urge Overkill | Rock&Roll Submarine |
| Wino | Adrift |
| Wobbler | Rites At Dawn |
| Wolf | Legions Of Bastards |
And there are releases from all of these bands that have just been released or are expected later this year that I'll most likely buy:
|
| Opeth |
Mastodon
Steven Wilson |
| Sivert Höyem |
| The Amazing |
| Björk |
| Clap Your Hands And Say Yeah |
| Coldplay |
| Black Keys |
| Ryan Adams |
| Blink-182 |
| Lou Reed and Metallica |
| St. Vincent |
| Tom Waits |
| Wilco |
| Jayhawks |
Are there any records that I'm missing from the year so far, or upcoming releases?
