Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx/Gorillaz

A bunch of my friends are long-time Gorillaz fans, so I've been exposed to their tunes for a while now. None of that exposure has made me enthusiastic about any of their records, but I do hold close a few songs ("Tomorrow Comes Today," "Starshine," "Dracula," "M1 A1") that are intertwined with dear memories from my high school years. They're a band I appreciate in small doses.

Nicky: I hear you. The candidates among whom we may "choose" this year are remarkably alike in their desire to preserve the status quo. (For those of you who don't know, Obama's brand new chief of staff, Jacob Lew, was a former Citigroup higher-up who made millions off the housing crisis.)

I was a Ron Paul fanatic during the last election cycle. My, how I've grown since then! Even so, I believe I will (with many more reservations than I once harbored) probably vote for him again. I do not share his relatively radical views on returning to the gold standard, deregulating the market, and disassembling the federal government. The list goes on. However, no other candidate (aside from Gary Johnson, who of course has even less a chance of winning than Paul does) has shown any willingness to reform foreign policy or the drug war, both of which inflict death and misery upon untold numbers of human beings.

For me, it boils down to the lesser-of-the-evils argument. Paul's failings are serious and multiple. But they strike me as a (slightly) less awful compromise than what we'd get from rest of the warmongering, power-hungry corporate stooges flashing their pearly whites at us from the stage. Including Obama.

That said, I have not given up considering withholding my vote entirely. Not voting is a kind of vote in itself, a vote for a different way of doing things. Occupy the elections! I'll be at the polls with a big sign when the Connecticut primaries roll around.

And... thumb-bombs away!

Can't recall the last time our host reviewed an album in this venue

that I was more than vaguely interested in. Give me a second to duck-here come the bad thumbs.

Okay, I resign. But I still think Xgau likes Fleet Foxes, Adele, and Bon Iver, even if just a little bit (and not just empathetically).

EDIT: Pending a re-reading of the essay and/or a mind-reading of Xgau.

And a, very rough, honourable mentions list:

1. F*cked Up: David Comes to Life *** (‘Running on Nothing’ & ‘A Slanted Tone’)
2. PJ Harvey: Let England Shake B+
3. Adele: 21 B+
   
4. Lil Wayne: Tha Carter IV B+
5. DJ Shadow: The Less You Know, the Better *** (‘Border Crossing’ & ‘I Gotta Rokk’)
6. The Rapture: In the Grace of Your Love B+
7. Moby: Destroyed *** (‘Be the One’ & ‘Lie Down in Darkness’)
8. Lil Wayne: Sorry 4 the Wait *** (‘Hands Up (My Last) [Freestyle]’ & ‘Sorry 4 the Wait’)
9. The Vaccines: What Did You Expect from The Vaccines? *** (‘Wreckin’ Bar (Ra, Ra, Ra)’ & ‘Nørgaard’)
10. The Kills: Blood Pressures *** (‘Future Starts Slow’ & ‘DNA’)
11. The Strokes: Angles *** (‘Machu Picchu’ & ‘Gratisfaction’)
12. Cults *** (‘Most Wanted’ & ‘Rave On’)
13. St. Vincent: Strange Mercy *** (‘Strange Mercy’ & ‘Neutered Fruit’)
14. Ghostface Killah: Apollo Kids *** (‘How You Like Me, Baby?’ & ‘Street Bullies’)
15. Bad Meets Evil: Hell: The Sequel *** (‘Fast Lane’ & ‘Lighters’)
16. Metronomy: The English Riviera *** (Not sure which tracks yet.)
17. Wretch 32: Black and White *** (‘Traktor’ & ‘Breathe (Sha La, La)’)
18. New York Dolls: Dancing Backwards in High Heels ** (‘I’m So Fabulous’ & ‘Kids Like You’)
19. The Drums: Portamento * (Not sure which tracks yet.)
20. Radiohead: The King of Limbs * (‘Morning Mr. Magpie’ & ‘Little by Little’)
21. EMA: Past Life Martyred Saints * (‘Coda’ & ‘Breakfast’)
22. The Weeknd: Thursday * (‘Lonely Star’ & ‘The Birds Part 1’)
23. The Weeknd: House of Balloons * (‘The Morning’ & ‘The Party & the After Party’)

Right, worst albums of 2011 (in order of preference):

Iceage: New Brigade (B−)

Bon Iver (C+)

Red Hot Chili Peppers: I'm with You (B−)

Destroyer: Kaputt (C+)

Fleet Foxes: Helplessness Blues (Dud)

The-Dream: 1977 (Dud, although, could be a *)

M83: Hurry Up, We're Dreaming (Dud)

Tyler the Creator: Goblin (Dud)

Death Grips: Ex-Military (Dud)

After much deliberating, I put Lekman over Ocean—although, it was hard to do so, as it's an EP— because the songs are better, IMO. I have been unsure about Gaga; she's rattled around a bit in my brain. Are her songs strong enough to be top ten, or are they more of a ~17th number? I settled halfway. I was itching, too, to put SebastiAn higher, but I don't think the songs individually hold up, to as much as I'd like. I'm sure some of you will complain that Black Up should be higher—I'm sure Xgau would, too—but I really don't feel it at all, although I wish I could. Although I have swung on David Comes to Life—an album so close to an A minus it hurts—it would still, heartily, be my recommendation of the year—just to open up people to the possibility of screaming in a good record—regardless of whether I think it's technically good enough to praise or not (I dropped it to an HM [***]). Note: The 'Favourite Songs' list is due to Joey, as he insists that songs do not have to be singles to be listed (something I don't agree with, in terms of serious list-making, but am not tight-arsed enough to head-butt against. I'm kidding, Joey). Also, I am British; Teddybears and Withered Hand won't be listed.

The top 5 I am pretty sure about, and they are, by far, some of the best records I have heard in ages. There are, obviously, a lot of records that I still need to listen to—mostly, including: Hell on Heels, Four the Record, Todd Snider Live—The Storyteller and Western Teleport.

Albums Best-of List, 2011:

1. tUnE-yArDs: w h o k i l l (13)
2. Paul Simon: So Beautiful or So What? (12)
3. Jens Lekman: An Argument with Myself (12)
4. Frank Ocean: Nostalgia, ULTRA (11)
5. Wussy: Funeral Dress II (10)
6. Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Tell My Sister (10)
7. Wussy: Strawberry (10)
8. Jay-Z/Kanye West: Watch the Throne (8)
9. Carolina Chocolate Drops/Luminescent Orchestrii (7)
10. Blaqstarr: The Divine EP (7)

11. Wild Flag
12. Das Racist: Relax
13. Lady Gaga: Born This Way
14. Low Cut Connie: Get Out the Lotion
15. Saigon: The Greatest Story Never Told
16. Brad Paisley: This Is Country Music
17. Fountains of Wayne: Sky Full of Holes
18. Buck 65: 20 Odd Years
19. Pietra Montecorvino: Napoli Mediterranea
20. Drive-By Truckers: Go-Go Boots
21. TV on the Radio: Nine Types of Light
22. Those Darlins: Screws Get Loose
23. The Baseball Project: Volume 2: High and Inside
24. Terakaft: Aratan N Azawad
25. The Lonely Island: Turtleneck & Chain
26. Poly Styrene: Generation Indigo
27. Jeffrey Lewis: A Turn in the Dream-Songs
28. Generation Bass Presents: Transnational Dubstep
29. Serengeti: Family & Friends
30. Rave On, Buddy Holly
31. Tinariwen: Tassili
32. SebastiAn: Total
33. Jill Scott: The Light of the Sun (IE: Shame, I'm a Racist)
34. Eric Church: Chief
35. Raphael Saadiq: Stone Rollin'
36. Dave Alvin: Eleven, Eleven
37. Neil Young International Harvesters: A Treasure
38. Mates of State: Mountaintops
39. Rainbow Arabia: Boys & Diamonds
40. Let's Wrestle: Nursing Home
41. Middle Brother
42. Fruit Bats: Tripper
43. Girls: Father, Son, Holy Ghost
44. Beastie Boys: Hot Sauce Committee, Part 2
45. Shabazz Palaces: Black Up
46. Battles: Gloss Drop
47. Yuck
48. Gang of Four: Content

Very good book review in today's NY Times of "Fug You" by Ed Sanders. For those who don't know who Ed Sanders is -look it up. Briefly, he was a member of the band The Fugs-among his other pursuits- like writing.  An Xgau kindred spirit if I may. And The Fugs received many A-'s if not a couple of  A's in past Consumer Guides. Saw them in concert a few times. A good time was had by all.

Wow I getta be first, a perk for being in Australia. I'm in the outback right now and thankful to even have wifi. Purchasing these will have to wait till I return to Perth. G'day mates.

Wow, after catching up with a few, I might have listened to 80+ albums this year!

same thing backwards, I tend to rate anything lower than B+ badly. There are rare contradictions. I hear something good in The-Dream, but, on the surface, it seems shallow, crass and bad, but that might be what makes it good. I'll give it more time. I still think David Comes to Life is the best HM this year, but, after listening to it over and over, I realised the tracks, individually, don't stand up; as a whole, the album is good, IMO.

I wonder, if the male singer's resemblance to Ricky Martin is intentional.

Yeah, I thought that, too!