In no particular order, here are some of my favorite albums from last year…

Andrew Bird – Armchair Apocrypha
Derek Webb – The Ringing Bell
Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
Feist – The Reminder
Waterdeep – Heart Attack Time Machine
The Khrusty Brothers – The Khrusty Brothers
Moonbabies – At the Ballroom
The New Pornographers – Challengers
Radiohead – In Rainbows
St. Vincent – Marry Me
My Teenage Stride – Ears Like Golden Bats

I want to note that this is not an exhaustive list, and I reserve the right to add to it as I see fit.

And you may be interested to know that eight of the eleven above are available at emusic.com. Give it a try and get 50 free songs

My friend Travis posted about music on vinyl today. I commented, and thought it was worthy of its own post.

I had always heard that vinyl was a warmer, richer sound. But I never really knew what that meant, and I always doubted my ears would really be able to tell the difference. I didn’t necessarily doubt the difference, I just thought it was something for audiophiles to quibble over, and my normal ears wouldn’t really be able to tell.

Then a friend of mine got into vinyl, and i happened to go over to his house this past Christmas Eve. His wife had given him Wilco’s new album on vinyl, and it also came with a cd of the same. Interested, I asked if he could play a bit of each so I could finally see if I would be able to hear a difference.

First he played a minute or so from the cd. And then the vinyl. And immediately I heard the difference. How could anyone not? And, to my amazement, the best description was to say it was a warmer and richer sound. A fuller sound. I compare it to a standard, analog television, that is measured by the horizontal lines across the screen. A cd is like every fourth line missing from the display. You can still make out the picture easily, and enjoy it. But there’s a much more enjoyable experience out there.