Top 5 New Band Discoveries in 2011
1. Trap Them
2. Towers
3. Wight
4. Premonition 13
5. Today Is The Day
Top 5 Concert Moments (Musical) in 2011
1. Saint Vitus @ Roseland
2. Wizard Rifle's new song @ Branx opening for YOB
3. Dispirit
4. Witch Mountain @ East End in May
5. Palo Verde / Orange Goblin (tie)
Top 10 Concert Moments (Not As Musical) in 2011
1. guy from Cough informing my table of activities upstairs then watching him get made fun of for being an ignorant Southern stoner stereotype
2. the LOL that followed getting hit in the head with Zoroaster's drumstick
3. getting helloed by Mike and Stevie for no apparent reason
4. witnessing a very inebriated, very excited Adam Noble Bass at Scion
5. meeting Aesop
6. the Glass House circle pit(s)
7. hearing about Joe's next project
8. meeting 2/4 Norska
9. "sneaking" into Rotture several times and nobody doing anything
10. the first "are you fucking serious?" thought, back when it was still funny and not a chore to deal with, after encountering my first real-life "the rules I make for others don't apply to me" grown adult Portland hipster
(Recap) 10 of the Best Albums That Came out of Oregon in 2011
1. Lord Dying - Lord Dying
2. Towers - The Fields
3. Witch Mountain - South of Salem
4. Red Fang - Murder The Mountains
5. YOB - Atma
6. Nether Regions - Into The Breach
7. Norska - Norska
8. Mongoloid Village - Folly
9. Rabbits - Lower Forms
10. Atriarch - Forever The End
How I Really Feel About That List
1. great flow, all the songs are related and themed together, it works really well as an album, music is a little too same-y and historically derivative, but great job and way better than expected, can't imagine it'll be topped out by them as a whole product in the future
2. holy shit
3. I like the new stuff better now, new voice added so much to them
4. this band does not know how to write an "album" yet, but this collection of individual songs is grand
5. dull in the wrong mindset, sparkly glitter fun amazing in the right
6. leading cause of BrainAIDS transmission in the metro area
7. I don't know who "they" is but it sounds like they need therapy
8. I think I needed to pay more attention in music class instead of spending the whole time making fun of the teacher
9. like I need a throat lozenge
10. if you're happy and you know it, clap your hands
10 Favorite Albums of 2011 That Have Nothing to Do With Portland
1. Sandrider - Sandrider
2. Trap Them - Darker Handcraft
3. Black Cobra - Invernal
4. Weedeater - Jason... The Dragon
5. Ill - Gotten Gains
6. Wight - Wight Weedy Wight
7. Parts & Labor - Constant Future
8. Graveyard - Hisingen Blues
9. Wizard Smoke - The Speed of Smoke
10. Dark Castle - Surrender to Life Beyond Form / Premonition 13 - 13
10 Releases I'm Looking Forward to in 2012
1. Salvador's new album
2. Fiona Apple, assuming that even happens... stupid music business.
3. Meshuggah
4. So is Tool going to release something in 2012 or what?
5. Witch Mountain
6. Saint Vitus
7. Wight
8. I bet the Melvins will release something if Big Business doesn't beat them to the chase.
9. Marilyn Manson :( Glutton for punishment.
10. HIGH ON FIRE
10 Favorite Songs of 2011
Sandrider - Scatter
Ill - A
Nether Regions - Outrun The Sun
Witch Mountain - Never Know (unreleased)
Opeth - The Devil's Orchard
YOB - Adrift in the Ocean
Krallice - The Clearing
Wizard Smoke - Weakling
Wight - Hammer Boogie
Earthless - Demon Lady
10 More Decent Songs of 2011
Black Cobra - Obliteration
Helms Alee - 8/16
Towers - Machine
Graveyard - Ain't Fit To Live Here
Today Is the Day - Pain is a Warning
Big Business - Guns
Foo Fighters - Rope
Orange Goblin - Red Tide Rising (preview)
Trap Them - Sovereign Through The Pines
Castle - Total Betrayal
10 More Just For Shits and Giggles
1000mods - El Rollito
Weedeater - Jason... The Dragon (more live than on record)
Radio Moscow - Little Eyes
Mongoloid Village - Halitocirrhosis
Foo Fighters - Rope
Atriarch - Shadows
Wizard Rifle - whatever that new song is called that they opened the YOB show with (live)
Fever Ray - The Wolf
Lo-Pan - El Dorado
Incubus - Adolescents