Year End Playlist 2016

January - Phantogram - 10,000 Claps
February - Robyn - Fembot
March - Moderat - Sick With It
April - Discovery - Slang Tang
May - Bell - It's Oh So Quiet (Bjork cover)
June - Great Dane - Alpha Dog
July - Moderat - Porc 1
August - DJ Shadow - Mutual Slump
September - Unkle - Restless
October - Dan Deacon - Meme Generator
November - Philip Selway - Coming Up For Air
December - Miracle Fortress - Raw Spectacle

The honorable mentions in very particular order.  The higher up, the closer to the final cut.

Chvrches - Strong Hand
Santigold - L.E.S. Artistes
Lou Reed - Perfect Day
The Cure - Close To Me
Kanye West - Waves

This was a year that was supposed to be a statement of capabilities that flamed out midway and became a statement of resilience.  If you want to find the honorable mentions, they are out there in the woods with their own little fires to gather 'round, each one with different mothmen circling just outside their fire's light.  If you want to talk to them, you can find them.  A little place where we keep half ideas.  Things we fear.  Say it three times and they'll appear.  The body you thought stayed buried is floating behind your ear at the edge of peripheral vision.  Next time, do not wear sunglasses at night.  You can sense them by the flex of ember light.

I cannot remember the last time I saw every detail of a year coming before it happened.  This past year was close until I realized my map was flat and the Earth was a sphere.  With the year end look and this, the bookend to 2016, the only thing to do is look ahead to two thousand oh one and seven.






///the year is written.  let it go.  thank you for loving me.  thank you for being there.  one of these days we may be eating at the same table.  in the meantime, you know you have a place at mine where the reeds are just high enough and the shade just thick enough for no one to notice we're there by a fire together.

Year End Playlist 2015

January - MF Doom - Lightworks
February - Beck - Soldier Jane
March - Starkey - New Cities (feat. Hitomi)
April - Big Sean - Paradise (extended)
May - AWOL Nation - Hollowmoon (Bad Wolf)
June - Odesza - Memories That You Call (feat. Monsoonsiren)
July - Dan Deacon - Wham City
August - Dem Gettaway Boyz - Imma G (Memory Tapes remix)
September - Hot Chip - No Fit State
October - Gorillaz - Dracula
November - Drax & Scott - Sublime (Darkstar Mix)
December - JJ Doom - Guv'nor

The honorable mentions in very particular order.  The higher up, the closer to the final cut.

Dirty Projectors & Bjork - When the World Comes to an End
Kodak to Graph - Pleistocene
Deltron 3030 - Stardate (feat. Joseph Gordon Levitt)
Kendrick Lamar - Backseat Freestyle
The Knife - Rock Classics

This was the year of the wolf divining new methods of self governance.  Rewriting it's own rules and amending it's doctrine.  Enjoy.  Honorable mentions tell no tales and get no links.  If you want to talk to them, you can find them in the clink.  A little place where we keep half ideas.  Things we fear.  Say it three times and they'll appear.  The body you thought stayed buried is floating by the pier.  Next time, put more concrete in the socks.  Everyone stopping by is not a bot.

It was, though, one of the roughest and strangest and smoothest to date.  With the year end look and this, the bookend to 2015, the only thing to do is look ahead to two thousand oh one and six.






///the year is written.  let it go.  thank you for loving me.  thank you for being there.  one of these days we may be eating at the big table.  in the meantime, you know you have a place at mine where the reeds are just high enough and the shade just thick enough for no one to notice we're there by their fire too.

Year End Playlist 2014

January - Run the Jewels - Sea Legs
February - Sleigh Bells - Rachel Remix
March - Run the Jewels - No Come Down
April - Matt and Kim - Lessons Learned
May - The Sabres of Paradise - Smoke Belch
June - Deathgrips - Blackjack you don't pay attention, you're going to get whacked
July - Machinedrum - Loveking
August - Starfucker - Rawnald Gregory
September - Various - Listen to the Animals
October - Nneka - Heartbeats fuck when you want me
November - Miss Kittin - Happy Violentine oscar foxtrot november
December - Sylvan Esso - Hey Mami

Fault of circumstance.  Blood blood blood blood blood.  Machinedrum almost made it for a two'fer, but Loveking was pushed off of the list for Nneka.  The list is in a particular order.  I should offer honorable mentions and I will:

in no particular order

Junkie XL - Zero to Nine
Machinedrum - Loveking
Macklemore - Whitewalls
Junkie XL -  Blackjack
Goldie - Mother
Meaghan Trainor - All About That Bass
Daft Punk - Giorgio By Moroder

My brother tells me often "love and peace".  I appreciate the words.  I do.  Conscientious objection is not an option for some.  Draft dodger maybe.  Acceptable?  Yes.  For another time?  Yes.

The Year End Playlist 2013

Everything that went cannonball 12 cylinder 600 horsepower through my heart in 2013:

Dec  Death Grips - Beware Go
Nov Macklemore - White Walls Go
Oct MC Chris- FTW Go
Sept The Knife - One For you Go
Aug The White Stripes - Seven Nation Army (remix) Go
Jul Vyle - Tech Go
Jun Nico Vega - Iron Man Go
May Nico Vega - Beast Go
Apr Nine Inch Nails - The Day the World Went Away Go
Mar Cookie Monsta -Bliss Go
Feb DJ Shadow - Mutual Slump Go
Jan Unkle -  Heaven Go

2013 is officially on the books.  Making a dual appearance is Nico Vego because I ate them that hard. Tis beautiful.  It's kind of strange to see the progression and how 2012 bled in to 2013.  The January selection is my favorite.  Almost put Marnie Stern on the list, but she did not make the year long cut.  Her and Gucci Mane and Killer Mike.  Still got a soft spot in my heart of hearts and Yeah Yeah Yeahs almost made the cut for a second year.  However, almost only counts in hand grenades and government work.

Year End Playlist 2012

The music that made life a little easier to comprehend through 2012.  I told ya I was gonna put it together.  Got my "nyaahhhhhh" face going.  But seriously, this is what brought me through.  Instead of going by statistic logging I decided to go with the actual tracks I flagged through the year.  Sometimes the song you listen to the most is not a real indicator of what hit you the hardest.  I really do believe this is an accurate reflection of what punched my heart in the nuts through last year.

Dec  RJD2 - Moonlit Skies Go
Nov Skrillex - Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites Go
Oct Lo-Fidelity Allstars - Valentine Boast Go
Sept El-P - Stay Down Go
Aug War - Baby Brother Go
Jul Bjork - Pluto Go
Jun Aphex Twin - Waxen Pith Go
May Tosca - Oscar Go
Apr School of Seven Bells - Loveplay Go
Mar Starkey - Eris Go
Feb Kinny and Horn - Sacred Life Go
Jan Paul Murphy - Soul Call Go

This is the official tax return for 2012. The books have been, after a fashion, balanced. Five months late, but better late than never.  I feel pretty good about it.  Making next year's list, I can already bet on it, will be Death Grips.  I know I'm behind the curve of music, but I don't care all that much.  I'm just happy I have time to digest everything that comes across my plate as thoroughly as I care to, and that's what's up.


///Death Grips - "Guillotine"  ace high, chuck

Year End Playlist

I almost made it out of 2011 on my own. That statement is a huge exaggeration. It wasn't even close, but I'm getting there. Still spent as much time in the depths of space as I did in 2010. A lot of it took a lot of time to remember and reconstruct. To allow the construction of a playlist. Last.fm and scrobble helped a lot. There were several dead spaces of weeks where I was nowhere to be found and they were like wildlife tags, homing beacons to where things really fell apart and even that negative space, the nothing, could tell me a lot about what I was listening to on my headphones, apart from my desktop and sometimes here and sometimes gone internet connection. Wild.

It was difficult and joyous combing through the year week by week and trying to sum up months in a single song. Here it is, though. The music that made life a little easier to comprehend and, frankly, live through last year.

Jan 2011>> Menomena - Muscle N' Flow Go
Feb 2011>> Björk - Wanderlust Go
Mar 2011>> El-P feat. Camu Tao - Oxycontin Go
Apr 2011>> Mono - Mere Your Pathetique Light Go
May 2011>> Matthew Dear - R+S Go
Jun 2011>> Hot Chip - No Fit State Go
Jul 2011>> The Black Angels - Better Off Alone Go
Aug 2011>> Gorillaz - To Binge Go
Sep 2011>> Mouse on Mars – Circloid Bricklett Sprüngli Go
Oct 2011>> Cold Cave - The Great Pan Is Dead Go
Nov 2011>> Lo-Fidelity Allstars - Weather 2 Go
Dec 2011>> Daedelus - You're The One Go

This is the official tax return for 2011. The books have been, after a fashion, balanced. The door is officially closed on what was a year of unexpected highs and grim marched lows. Looking forward to doing another one, but no promises. Hopefully something there connects with you, but it is, kinda selfishly, mostly a record for me. Validated parking? In a way, yes. But hopefully, it'll paint the year, my year, for you.

Massive thank yous go out, regardless of what it is, to the people who left and came back, the people who left and never did return, the people who made life great, and the people who made me wake up some days with that twinkle in my eye that said "today is going to be incredible." Extra special thank yous to the people who got me out of doors when I least expected to be called out, to the people who shared drinks, and the people who made sure, as I went down in flames, that I had somewhere to land where there would not be any collateral damage to other lives. Thank you to the rescuers, and the warners, and the policemen and policewomen without badges, the damage controllers, the picker-uppers, and the cheerers. The shooters and the hand claspers. It was a transformative year like few before it. An enlightening, disheartening, nearly dying more times than I would like to admit go at being more human than the human I was the year before and I'm sorry it took so long to put together for many a several reasons I don't need to get into right now.

I'm happy it's over, but more than that, I'm happy I'm alive to see it go.


///múm - Dancing Behind My Eyelids ...see the fog on the horizon