Best Albums of 2011

I hate to say it, but I’ve been so busy the last 3 months that I’ve fallen behind on new music. Thankfully, Steven obsessively listens to the new stuff, so I have picked up bits and pieces of things I like. Gorilla vs. Bear posted their list, so I figured I would too.

Favorites (in no particular order):
Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Unknown Mortal Orchestra
Real Estate - Days
Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost
Panda Bear - Tomboy
M83 - Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
James Blake - James Blake
Ty Segall - Goodbye Bread
Woods - Sun and Shade
Porcelain Raft - Gone Blind EP
Chad VanGaalen - Diaper Island
Handsome Furs - Sound Kapital

Runners-Up
Austra - Feel It Break
Wye Oak - Civilian
Timber Timbre - Creep on Creepin’ On
Pure X - Pleasure

first taste of New York City in 2005.

Can anyone guess who we were for Halloween? (hint)

sugar skulls

My darling friend AiLien turned 33 recently. We celebrated by decorating sugar skulls forDía de los Muertos. She made bad ass veggie tacos and a tres leches cake that would make your mother cry.

Nightcall - Kavinsky and Lovefoxxx

We watched Drive last week. It was Art House meets the 80’s. The soundtrack included songs from The Chromatics, College and of course this gem from Nightcall. I wonder if the font Mistral is making a comeback…

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

Salads are my healthy (and lazy) go to choice for lunch. I usually prepare one every morning for Steven and me. I try to incorporate local veggies when possible and I steer clear of iceberg lettuce because it makes me think of junior high. In order to keep them from becoming terribly monotonous, I’m constantly on the prowl for new ideas. 

When Mark Bittman wrote for the Times, he offered up an outstanding post with 101 Simple Salad recipes. I like that he keeps his ingredients very minimal (easy on the wallet). The Family Kitchen recently posted 20 Hearty Dinner Salads that ensure you won’t be starving two hours later. 

Even though summer is winding down, I’m still making salads full force. But, I’m also transitioning into soup season.

Porcelain Raft - Come As You Are (Nirvana Cover) (download)

I’m enamored with Porcelain Raft. He played a very honest and moving set at SXSW earlier this year in broad daylight. He is also generous with his music and you can pick up lots of free goodies over at his bandcamp. I would highly recommend his Gone Blind EP.

St. Vincent - Cheerleader

I can’t stop listening to this particular song, albeit the entire album is wonderful. I forget to read album review sometimes since the internet is everything-overload, but I did skim over Pitchfork’s interview with Annie Clark. It sounds like she is really coming into her own since splitting from bands like Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens.

CANT - Bang

CANT probably can’t escape being considered a progeny of Grizzly Bear, since it the solo venture of their very own, Chris Taylor. Bang is a real gem because it explores Taylor’s speciality of sounds and composition.