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Best Albums of the Year:

#1 BLUNDERBUSS, by Jack White: Sure, The White Stripes had some great songs, but it wasn't until Jack White produced Loretta Lynn's comeback record, "Van Lear Rose" that I sat up and really started to take notice. But with 2012's masterful "Blunderbuss," Jack White became the musical aha! of the year. This record is an explosion of sound--an amalgam of punk, soul, country, and rock (all perfectly on display in his brilliant cover of Little Willie John's "I'm Shakin'") that never feels jarring or clunky. Sorry Meg, but his backing band here is particularly strong (that's another personal fave Brooke Waggoner who steals a few moments of her own on keyboards). "Blunderbuss" is a perfect record no matter how you slice it, and it certainly captures a moment, any moment you happen to be in. Get your girl or your boy or your own funky self, and get lost in "Blunderbuss." It is a celebration of just about every reason I love music…

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01. A Fine Frenzy - Pines - 20121009 - US

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02. Norah Jones - Little Broken Hearts - 20120501 - US

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03. Lana Del Rey - Born to Die - 20120125 - US

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04. Stephanie Fagan - Heart Thief - 20111206 - US

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05. Julia Stone - By the Horns - 20120529 - AU

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06. Kate Earl - Stronger - 20121120 - US

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07. Carina Round - Tigermending - 20120501 - GB

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08. Tift Merritt - Traveling Alone - 20121002 - US

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09. Kathleen Edwards - Voyageur - 20120117 - CA
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There's no way I can listen to all the things that come out in a year, so I'm not interested in passing judgment on what was best... just representing what I spent most of my time with this year. That said, let's do this year in review wrap up of my top 20 most listened to artists, tracks, & albums.

Top 20 Artists:

1. Robyn (159)
1. Ben Howard (159)
3. Feist (108)
4. Bruce Springsteen (99)
5. Ani DiFranco (96)
6. A Fine Frenzy (92)
7. Ed Sheeran (90)
8. Bon Iver (88)
9. Passion Pit (70)
10. Beastie Boys (65)
11. The Barden Bellas (59)*
12. Waterdeep (55)
13. James Blake (52)
14. Beirut (50)
15. Frightened Rabbit (48)
16. Tom Tykwer (47)
17. Parson Red Heads (45)
18. The Treblemakers (43)*
19. Band of Horses (42)
20. Sufjan Stevens (39)
20. Snow Patrol (39)

Top 20 Tracks:

1. Last of Days (65)
2. Only Love (28)
3. Since U Been Gone (26)
4. Trebles Finals: Bright Lights Bigger City/Magic (25)
4. Bellas Finals: Price Tag / Don’t You (Forget About Me)…

Elton John vs. Pnau – Good Morning To The Night

This rework of some old Elton John songs is really nicely done and features not the usual suspects but some of the more obscure songs off Caribou and other albums in Elton’s back catalogue (which I recently happened to acquire in its entirety as it was on sale on the Amazon MP3 store).

Rating: ★★★★☆
Best tracks
Black Icy StareTelegraph to the AfterlifePhoenixKarmatron

Marina & the Diamonds – Electra Heart

The biggest surprise this year came with the new Marina & The Diamonds which I happened to like a lot. Yes, it’s very pop-friendly with lots of simple hooks and yes, sometimes it goes down almost a little too easily but overall, it’s more than solid work and – with the exception of Girls – even more so than the previous record.

Rating: ★★★★½
Best tracks
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Mais uma vez, aqui fica, não uma lista dos melhores álbuns de 2012, mas uma ordenação qualitativa de tudo quanto ouvi este ano. Nesse sentido institui um sistema de qualificação em dois planos: um geral, constituído por cinco níveis (de A a F), e um outro, respeitante a cada um desses cinco, constituído por outros três (de A a C).
Desta forma penso tornar-se mais óbvio aquilo que penso em relação a cada título, procurando atenuar diferenças entre, por exemplo, o primeiro e o último álbum classificados com AA, e realçá-las entre, por exemplo, o último álbum com a classificação AA e o primeiro com AB.


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001. Field Music, Plumb (Memphis Industries; Art rock);
002. Tindersticks, The something rain (Constellation; Rock);
003. Magma, Félicité thösz (Seventh; Zeuhl);
004. Motorpsycho and Ståle Storløkken, The death defying unicorn (Rune Grammofon; Rock progressivo);
005. Leonard Cohen, Old ideas (Columbia; Rock, Pop);
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My favourite female singers with age and birthday (listed chronologic), place of birth (if known), short description (from Wikipedia) and picture (only included for the deceased ones).

(born before 1940)

† Bessie Smith (born April 15, 1894, Chattanooga, Tennessee, U.S., died September 26, 1937), sometimes referred to as "The Empress of the Blues," was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s. She is often regarded as one of the greatest singers of her era and, along with Louis Armstrong, a major influence on subsequent jazz vocalists.
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† Marlene Dietrich (27 December 1901 – 6 May 1992, Berlin, Germany) was a German-born American actress and singer.Although she still made occasional films in the post-war years, Dietrich spent most of the 1950s to the 1970s touring the world as a successful show performer. In 1999 the American Film Institute named Dietrich the ninth greatest female star of all time.
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Mon 23 Feb – Ani DiFranco

Well, I really enjoyed the Ani DiFranco concert. I particularly loved the banner that someone down in the "mosh pit" (there was no mosh pit, it was a real posh venue) had. Three people held it up at times and it said, "Ani for President". She seems cool and that is enough for me!! She'd do a much better job than Georgy Porgy. A total dumbass would too *winks* but I don't think she is a dumbass :)

I love how she is so energetic on stage, and I love her voice and her unusual style of guitar playing. I am no expert on guitar playing of course, but I really was surprised by her - never heard anything quite like it. I don't know what she sounds like on record but she is really entertaining live!

I love how the lights went down and she just skipped happily on stage with her guitar. Yes, she literally skipped. Hehe.

Anyway...I can't really comment in detail 'cause I don't know any of the songs (except unless I'm hallucinating, "Swim" was a song from a few years ago. …

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My music blog: http://hornsofarabbit.blogspot.com/

Favorite Albums of 2011

1. The Dead Milkmen - The King In Yellow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HiABy938sU

2. Mother Mother - EUREKA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTLe7jWKK50

3. The Grates - Secret Rituals
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dZgRkNTlfU

4. Eisley - The Valley
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPXbRueS_Tw

5. Tori Amos - Night of Hunters
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gzKwOcCOYA

6. I’m From Barcelona - Forever Today
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=il3zSiUoFAI

7. The Belle Brigade - The Belle Brigade
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0-HLG7Dxec

8. Mates of State - Mountaintops
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3hdlvJzEQ0

9. Lake - Giving and Receiving
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO4ZA7ezlEg

10. Bright Eyes - The People’s Key
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6MnpD5_4GI

11. Black Francis - The Golem
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