Favorite Albums 2011 (Metal)

1) Blut Aus Nord - 777: The Desanctification

2) Yob - Atma

3) Red Fang - Murder the Mountains

4) Skeletonwitch - Forever Abomination

5) Absu - Abzu

6) Helms Alee - Weatherhead

7) Revocation - Chaos of Forms

8) Norska - Norska

9) Disma - Towards the Megalith

10) Smooth Sailing - xoxo

Favorite Albums 2011

1) Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues

2) Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring For My Halo

3) Girls - Father, Son, and Holy Ghost

4) Waters - Out in the Light

5) Bon Iver - Bon Iver

6) Blitzen Trapper - American Goldwing

7) Davila 666 - Tan Bajo

8) Radiohead - The King of Limbs

9) The Mountain Goats - All Eternals Deck

10) Mister Heavenly - Out of Love

Favorite Songs

Atlas Sound - "Te Amo"

Fleet Foxes - "Sim Sala Bim"

Kurt Vile - "Baby's Arms"

Mister Heavenly - "Bronx Sniper"

Waters - "O Holy Break of Day"

Foster the People - "Pumped up Kicks"

Davila 666 - "Ese Nena Nunca Regreso"

Tom Waits - "Bad as Me"

Southern Lord Subscription 2010

I wasn't sure about buying into this subscription, but was pleasantly surprised by all the releases. I was most excited about the Yob release which is an amazing album and the vinyl comes with some exclusive bonus tracks. Considering the album is only 5 tracks long, 2 bonus tracks is a huge addition. I also enjoyed the Pelican and Twilight albums. The surprise 7th album was a live Sunn 0))) double record. All the records in the series got exclusive colors and were limited to 550.

Black Cobra - Chronomega (bonus track; blood splatter color)

Ascend - Ample Fire Within (two bonus tracks; clear color)

Pelican - What We All Come to Need (three bonus tracks; red, silver splatter color)

Trap Them - Filth Rations (vinyl only; grey/black splatter)

Yob - The Great Cessation (two bonus tracks; clear vinyl)

Twilight - Monument to Time End (red vinyl)

Sunn 0))) - Agharthi Live 09-10 (black/grey splatter vinyl)

Top 5 Records

I feel like this list needed to be done for the record. No particular order. It started at 5 but I wussed out. Interesting contrast to the last time I made a list like this.

Pink Floyd - Meddle

Queens of the Stone Age - Queens of the Stone Age

Blitzen Trapper - Furr

The Mars Volta - De-Loused in the Comatorium

The Thermals - The Body, The Blood, The Machine

Metallica - ...And Justice For All

Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica

The Shins - Wincing the Night Away

Neil Young - Live Rust

Quasi - Field Studies

Moondoggies Elkfest Warm Up

So the Moondoggies are supposedly playing in Spokane this Friday. They've been scheduled at the Empyrean for many months, but it has been closed for at least a couple months also. The Elkfest page claims they are playing an Elkfest warm up show. The Inlander seems to think this will take place at the Elk. Either way their should be some new songs like the one seen below.

Elkfest 2011 Lineup

Elkfest is now 2 weeks away and the lineup has been set. The Globes were previously booked but had to drop out because they are heading out on tour to support their new Barsuk records album.

Friday, June 3rd

The Camaros

Folk Inception

Blood Hot Beat

Shim

Saturday, June 4th

Mon Chéri

Crickets of Cascadia

Flying Spiders

Real Life Rockaz

Strength

Sunday, June 5th

Old Bear Mountain

La Cha-Cha

Whiskey Dick Mountain

Koontz and the Bullies

Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside

Red Fang - Spokane, WA 5/12/2011

Red Fang made a stop in Spokane on Thursday to start of a very long tour for their new album Murder the Mountains. There were three openers at the A Club downtown so Red Fang didn't go on until 10:45. Despite the late start, these guys put on a great show. I was able to pick up the old and new album after the show. Check out their new video for "Wires" and their old video for "Prehistoric Dog". You can tell these guys like to have a good time.

The Thermals - "Never Listen to Me" / "Separate"

New Thermals video plus an older song from a record store day split.

Random New Year Notes

Albums I forgot about/just listened to that should have been on my 2010 list:

Maserati - Pyramid of the Sun

Phantogram - Eyelid Movies

Local Natives - Gorilla Manor

My favorite song right now:

My winter Soundtrack:

Agalloch is from Portland, but I imagine them writing songs in a cabin on a wintry fjord. Pretty much everything song they write is about winter.