Let's start with Bon Iver. This is a band I fell in love with the first time I heard "Flume," as these pages will attest. This year's album is a thing of captive beauty, a sound that could not have been produced by any other heart/mind/talent than Justin Vernon's. That's art, my friend -- a work of a unique living soul that manages to be singular in its expression while universal in its force. If you haven't read this Pitchfork interview on the making of Bon Iver, Bon Iver, I think you'll enjoy it.
Here's "Calgary."
On to other Old Favorites who came out with new work this year: Okkervil River, Fleet Foxes, My Morning Jacket, Wye Oak, Steve Earle, Gillian Welch, Lucinda Williams, and even The Posies! And while I do not yet own each of their new CDs, I was able to give most of them a First Listen at NPR (thank you, Bob, Robin, Stephen, et al), and from what I can tell, they're good and I will buy them.
In the New Favorites category, there's Yuck, the Joy Formidable, the tUnE-yArDs (God, do I really have to type it like that? Will never mention them again.), Smith Westerns, The Lonely Forest, The Antlers, The Felice Brothers, and Other Lives. And I'm probably forgetting someone wonderful.
[I did! It was Zach Rogue of Rogue Wave, who's back recording as Release the Sunbird. His new CD is called Come Back to Us, and it's wonderful.]
Most regrettable purchase: The Head and The Heart. It's nice in a harmless sort of way, but it never hooked me, despite repeated plays.
Biggest surprise purchase: Adele! I'm not a pop fan, but her Tiny Desk Concert was so mind-blowing, I had to have it.
Old Favorite yet to come: Wilco. I was not a fan of Wilco's last CD, though I deeply love this band. If their new CD, out next month, doesn't disappoint, then it will have been a perfect year for me.
