Hello and welcome to my year-end list. I started my Albums of the Year post about 9 blogmonths (2 weeks) ago and realized very quickly that the majority of my favorite music from this year wasn’t on there. For me, 2011 was a big year for songs. Albums, singles, EPs, mixtapes, remixes, remix albums, free [...]

This is not a new song, but it is a free song and it is The National. “About Today” comes from the band’s 2004 EP, Cherry Tree, but the free download is thanks to its appearance (EDIT: miraculously epic, Oscar ready appearance) in the new film, Warrior.
About Today by The National

The National and video game Portal 2 announced the winner of their Music Video Contest (they also announced the 1.00000000001 place video) for the soundtrack’s “Exile Vilify.” Above, a sock puppet sings The National in the countryside.. in slow motion. The clear winner, in my opinion.

Some behind the scenes clips of Win Win, The National’s “Think You Can Wait”, performance shots with Sharon Van Etten and a projector: Charming Things. Win Win soundtrack is out now.

‘The National‘ tag on a track basically serves as a guarantee for devastatingly beautiful music, right? “Think You Can Wait” is no exception. The song will appear on the upcoming soundtrack for Thomas McCarthy’s new film, Win Win, and is streaming below in all its devastating beauty via SKOA.

The video for The National’s “Conversation 16″ (a highlight among highlights on 2010’s Top 5 album, High Violet) is a love story starring Kristen Schaal as the president of the US, John Slattery as a secret service agent, and James Urbaniak as the president of Russia. Huh? Huh.
Pretty goofy for such a vastly deep, depressing [...]

Below are some Bests of 2010 that you mostly should already know, but needed to be officially established. Refer to my Bests of 2010 lists for more Bests.
Best Album: Body Talk Robyn
Best Song: “Dancing On My Own” by Robyn
Dancing On My Own by robyn
Best EP: All Delighted People Sufjan Stevens

“All Delighted People” by [...]

The only way to get this year’s playlist up later than I did last year was to do it on NYE. Luckily, I kept a running list through-out 2010 that ended up with about 100 songs on it (too many!), and had to ax a lot of favorites. So, if the below 60 song playlist [...]

After 4 years of doing year end Top 10 Album lists, I’ve finally realized how insufficient it is in accurately showcasing my favorites from the year. it’s been a pleasure not having to slim my list down to only 10 records, because that is dumb. 21 seemed like a nice round number that complimented the [...]

Above, a video for The National’s “Terrible Love” (alternate version from the one found on High Violet) of behind the scenes tour footage put together by lead singer Matt Berninger’s brother, Tom.
Banana: Who am I? Perfect.