PARTISAN RECORDS best of 2011 lists and Holiday Hours
Posted: Wednesday, December 21, 2011
2011! What a year for Partisan Records!
With such a great roster of releases that came out this year, it’s hard to put a comprehensive highlight reel together, but Middle Brother at Newport Folk Festival, Sallie Ford & the Sound Outside making their Letterman debut, Mountain Man touring with Feist, BOBBY making their surreal Partisan Records debut, Dolorean joining the family with their latest record, The Unfazed , Deer Tick continuing to push aside the music industry with their newest release, Divine Providence, Warm Ghost releasing two great records; Uncut Diamond and Narrows , and Paleo continuing his strive to be the premiere freak-folk writer of our decade with Fruit of the Spirit , it has been a busy year to say the least.
2012 shows no signs of us slowing down either. With the new Heartless Bastards release, the debut from Diamond Rugs , the new LP from Virgin Forest and plenty more surprises to come; 2012 is going to be a great year and we can’t wait to share more amazing artists with you.
We again cannot thank you enough for this year. That being said, we are taking a nice holiday break thru January 2nd. Tomorrow will be the last round of order shipments until 2012 and our staff will be out of the office til January 3rd.
In the mean time, spend some time with our staff lists and what kept our ears/eyes/minds busy in 2011.
Brian:
Washed Out
Egyptrixx
Laura Marling
Tuneyards
Wilco
Peter Bjorn & John
Little Dragon
Nick Lowe
My Morning Jacket
J Mascis
Tim:
Carter Tanton – Freeclouds
A.A. Bondy – Believers
Gruff Rhys – Hotel Shampoo
Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire – Lost In Translation
Paul Simon – So Beautiful Or So What
Main Attrakionz – 808s & Dark Grapes II
Kurt Vile – Smoke Ring For My Halo
Wye Oak – Civilian
The Amazing – Gentle Stream
Kate Bush – 50 Words For Snow
The War On Drugs – Slave Ambient
Tri-Angle Records – Every Release
The Men – Leave Home
Tinariwen – Tassili (Deluxe Edition)
Chelsea Wolfe – Apokalypsis
Andy:
1. Yuck – Yuck
2. War on Drugs – Slave Ambient
3. Real Estate – Days
4. Girls – Father, Son, Holy Ghost
5. Wu Lyf – Go Tell Fire To The Mountain
6. Smith Westerns – Dye It Blonde
7. The Weeknd – House of Balloons
8. Kurt Vile – Smoke Ring For My Halo
Zach:
1. Graveyard – “Hisingen Blues”
2. The Men – “Leave Home”
3. Puerto Rico Flowers – “7”
4. Leather – “Sterile EP”
5. Krallice – “Diotima”
6. The Devil’s Blood – “The Thousandfold Epicentre”
7. Wolves in the Throneroom – “Celestial Lineage”
8. Skull Defekts – “Peer Amid”
9. Black Monolith – “Demo EP”
10. J Mascis – “Several Shades of Why”
Dave:
Ryan Adams, Ashes & Fire
David Bazan, Strange Negotiations
A.A. Bondy, Believers
Bon Iver, Bon Iver
Brooklyn Rider, Brooklyn Rider Plays Philip Glass
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Hysterical
Dawes, Nothing Is Wrong
Destroyer, Kaputt
Cass McCombs, Humor Risk
Cass McCombs, Wit’s End
Megafaun, Megafaun
My Morning Jacket, Circuital
Okkervil River, I Am Very Far
Radiohead, TKOL RMX 1234567
Paul Simon, So Beautiful or So What
Kurt Vile, Smoke Ring For My Halo
St. Vincent, Strange Mercy
The War On Drugs, Slave ambient
Tom Waits, Bad As Me
Wilco, The Whole Love
Lucinda Williams, Blessed
David:
Ryan Adams – Ashes & Fire
Moon Duo – Mazes
Mariachi El Bronx – II
Glossary – Long Live All Of Us
My Morning Jacket – Circuital
Robert Ellis – Photographs
Shapes Have Fangs – Dinner In The Dark
Tom Waits – Bad As Me
Chuck Ragan – Covering Ground
Wooden Shjips – West
Richard Buckner – Our Blood
Records/Bands that I re-discovered or fell back in love with in 2011:
Fleetwood Mac
Refused
Traveling Wilburys
The Stooges
Magnetic Fields
Duran Duran
Sam Cooke
None More Black
The Impossibles
Other Pieces of Media worth mentioning:
Breaking Bad
Louie C.K. (Anything he did this year)
Parks and Recreation
Bridesmaids
Just Kids
Friday Night Lights
Nevona:
Top 5 Remixes
5. French – Tyler, the Creator
4. Like, Hell Yeah – Fat Tony
3. New Chain – Small Black
2. Rise Up – Seun Kuti
1. Huzzah! – Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire
Top 5 Personal Music Moments
5. Eminem’s bodyguard’s misguided attempts to throw me out of Lollapalooza
4. Seeing Jenn from Wye Oak perform with The Mountain Goats
3. Someone punching a hole through the wall of Silent Barn at Anamanaguchi
2. Questlove RT
1. Twitter DM: nevona: "Where r u?"
zach_pollack: “with GZA brb”
Top 5 Songs of 2011
5. San Pedro – Mogwai
4. Believer – John Maus
3. Bicycle – Memory Tapes
2. Playing House – Active Child ft. How to Dress Well
1. Jesus Came to My Birthday Party – The Middle East
Moments where I knew I was out-of-touch in 2011
5. I thought “swag” still meant “stuff we all get”
4. I didn’t get the Lana Del Rey controversy
3. When I heard Azaelia, I thought “flower” rather than “crude female rapper”
2. I couldn’t pronounce SBTRKT or Oneohtrix Point Never
1. I wasn’t following @LILBTHEBASEDGOD
Top 5 Music Videos
5. Round the Moon – Summer Camp
4. Cruel – St. Vincent
3. Away – Just a Band
2. Balance – Future Islands
1. Purple Swag – A$AP Rocky
Top 5 Indie Rock Crushes // Chillbros in 2011
5. The girl that says Maybach Music
4. Amber Rose (4evr)
3. M83 Alien
2. Girl on the cover of eXquire’s “Lost in Translation”
1. Tie for the two girls in A$AP videos… blondie with grillz in “Purple Swag” vs. Venus X with green hair in “Peso”
Top 5 made up words in 2011
5. Brunchwave (see: Real Estate)
4. Dogwave (see: Real Estate)
3. Cloud Rap
2. Basedgodvelli
1. Faxmachine
See you folks in 2012!
Partisan Records
