So much good music was released in 2011 that it was quite difficult to narrow down my 20 favourite albums of the year. As such, I’ve also included some Honourable Mentions.   I didn’t have the chance to write a quick blurb for each album, so you’ll have to take my word that these are definitely the 20 albums that I personally enjoyed the most in 2011.   Each album entry is hyperlinked to a YouTube video of my favorite song from said album.  Enjoy/criticize/laugh/agree: continue reading...

2010 was a great year for music.  In my annual album countdown I’ll once again be highlighting the albums that I enjoyed the most throughout the course of the last year.  These aren’t necessarily the 15 “best” albums, just the ones that I liked the most.  I hope you enjoy it and perhaps I’ll be able to convince you to listen to some great music that you may have missed. continue reading...

The Stone Foxes are a band out of San Francisco that play a dirty blend of blues and rock and roll that seems out of style and is under appreciated in the current musical landscape.  The Black Keys do a similar thing, but they’ve managed to carve out a sound to themselves… For a while Black Rebel Motorcycle Club had dipped their toes into a bluesy throwback sound, but they continue to tweak things with each album.  It’s nice to find a band that embraces the sound respectfully and does it well.  Today’s MP3 is the tune “I Killed Robert Johnson” which is a great introduction to sound and feel of this band.  It tells the story of the death of the legendary blues man Robert Johnson from the perspective of the man who killed him.  The guitars are lively and the vocals and lyrics are call and response, gang-vocal perfection.  This is the kind of song that you hear once and immediately that it is going to sound amazing performed live.  Bears and Bulls is the name of this 2nd album from The Stone Foxes.  Enjoy the song, continue reading...

Dan Auerbach—best known as half of The Black Keys—will embark on a winter tour beginning November 5 in Columbus, OH. The tour, which includes shows at New York City’s Webster Hall, Nashville’s Cannery Ballroom and Philadelphia’s Theater of the Living Arts, arrives on the heels of Auerbach’s critically acclaimed solo debut Keep It Hid, recently released on Nonesuch. The album received wide praise from The New York Times, NPR’s Fresh Air, The New Yorker, Rolling Stone and Pitchfork. Opening for Auerbach on the fall dates are Justin Townes Earle and Jessica Lea Mayfield. Please see below for tour details.

Keep It Hid was produced and engineered by Auerbach at his studio Akron Analog and features him playing a variety of instruments, including drums, guitar, percussion, and keyboards. Many of Auerbach’s friends and family play on the album, including his uncle James Quine, who contributes vocal harmony and electric guitar on the track “Street Walkin.” Other musicians include Jessica Lea Mayfield, who sings on the track “When the Night Comes,” and Bob Cesare, who plays drums on “Whispered Words,” a song originally written by Auerbach’s father. Of the recording process Auerbach states, “I wanted a live, organic sound. Nothing was too plotted or planned, just a lot of spontaneity.” The record was mixed by Auerbach’s good friend Mark Neill at Neill’s Soil of the South studio. continue reading...

In my opinion The Black Keys can do no wrong. Here’s more proof: continue reading...

Wow, this could be awesome. Read more from Spinner.com:

As ZZ Top enter into their 40th year of making music together, the little old band from Texas have a lot of secrets to their incredible staying power. One of them, for guitarist Billy Gibbons, is keeping up on new music. To that end, the rockers will get a hand from the Black Keys on ZZ Top’s next album. continue reading...