Tom's Persistently Unscientific Top Ten of 2011!

(Previous years: 2010, 2009, 2008)

As previously stated, I'm building a masterpiece in my iPod - currently 27,855 items occupying 137.34 GB.

We're reaching a tipping point here, people, where my iPod is struggling to cope. I'm going to have to do some trimming soon. That probably means jettisoning that Cooper Temple Clause album. Sorry, Cooper Temple Clause.

Each year, I make an unsatisfying auto-playlist of the songs that are dated that year in my iTunes, and rank them in order of most listened to. Here's this year's list.

1) Uberlin - REM

2) Downtown - Destroyer

3)= Stuck On The Puzzle - Alex Turner

3)= Blue Eyes - Destroyer

3)= Savage Night At The Opera - Destroyer

3)= Wake Up - Jason Pegg

7)= Poor In Love - Destroyer

7)= Civilian - Wye Oak

9)= Make Some Noise - Beastie Boys

9)= Song For America - Destroyer

A simultaneous "Hooray!" and "Boo hoo!" for the departing REM - probably my favourite band ever. I'm glad Uberlin is a splendid last hurrah on a mostly-great album. Probably the best album of the year was PJ Harvey, but it was just so bleak. Therefore the simply wonderful, neon-lit, sax-solo-covered, deeply-uncool Kaputt by Destroyer is my favourite album of the year. If you haven't checked it out yet, please do. It's superb.

Honourable mentions for those not mentioned in the list above go to St Vincent, who made a stunning album a bit too late in the year for consideration; King of Limbs by Radiohead which was alright, wasn't it?; the Lonely Island for making some pretty good songs on a patchy album (less of the homophobia next time, chaps!); and Wilco, whose The Whole Love is their best album since A Ghost Is Born. YES! In your face, everyone else who's already said that! I'm saying it too!

It was a good year, I think. There's lots I have yet to discover. No time. I got married instead of listening to music. Sue me.

Here's my current All-Time Top 10, with last year's chart placement in brackets after it:

1)= Finer Feelings - Spoon (non-mover)

1)= Actor Out Of Work - St Vincent (last year's number 2)

3) The Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret - Queens of the Stone Age (non-mover)

4)= Trailer Park - Bracket (new entry)

4)= Drunk Girls - LCD Soundsystem (new entry)

6)= Romantic Rights - Death From Above 1979 (non-mover)

6)= Tightrope - Janelle Monae (new entry)

6)= You've Done It Again, Virginia - The National (last year's number 3)

6)= Tumbling Dice - The Rolling Stones (new entry - probably a re-entry, actually)

6)= Company In My Back - Wilco (non-mover)

6)= Good - Ghostface Killah (non-mover)

Pretty pointless, all in all.

This year, I don't think I know of any new albums coming out. Maybe there won't be any. That would be interesting, eh? I'm hoping to do something a bit musicky this year. Watch this space. It might actually happen.

(EDIT: Oh, and I'm on this ThisIsMyJam thing - come hang out, music-lovers...)