Talking 2011 on WFUV

As part of my critic rotation duties on the WFUV Music Review — after doing it every week for a few years, I now alternate with Anthony DeCurtis and Josh Baron — I went on the air the other day to talk about three of my favorites from 2011: Tinariwen’s “Tassili,” Laura Marling’s “A Creature I Don’t Know,” and James Blake’s self-titled debut.

As always, I had fun with Claudia, but unfortunately they (she?) edited out all her wisecracks to get the thing down to the five allotted minutes. I could have blabbed on for so much longer.

You can listen to it here, and subscribe to the Music Review here.

Some recent reviews: Band of Bees, Cass McCombs, Jayhawks, Beirut, Glen Campbell.

Who I buried in 2011

• Don Kirshner, Brill Building-era music publisher, TV host
• Roger Nichols, sound engineer for Steely Dan
• Gil Scott-Heron
• Clarence Clemons
• Amy Winehouse
• Nick Ashford
• Frank Dileo, Michael Jackson’s manager
• Jimmy Norman, songwriter who fought for credit on “Time Is on My Side”

My best of 2011

Top 10:

1. Cass McCombs, Wit’s End (Domino)
2. James Blake (A&M/Atlas)
3. PJ Harvey, Let England Shake (Vagrant)
4. Tune-Yards, Whokill (4AD)
5. Laura Marling, A Creature I Don’t Know (Domino)
6. Wye Oak, Civilian (Merge)
7. Tinariwen, Tassili (Anti-)
8. Low, C’Mon (Sub Pop)
9. Beirut, The Rip Tide (Pompeii)
10. Matthew Herbert, One Pig (Accidental)

Also good (in alphabetical order):

Adele, 21 (XL/Columbia)
Keren Ann, 101 (Blue Note)
Antlers, Burst Apart (Frenchkiss)
Alison Krauss & Union Station, Paper Airplane (Rounder)
Bon Iver, Bon Iver (Jagjaguwar)
The Civil Wars, Barton Hollow (Sensibility)
Jolie Holland and the Grand Chandeliers, Pint of Blood (Anti-)
Jeffrey Lewis, A Turn in the Dream-Songs (Rough Trade)
Nick Lowe, The Old Magic (Yep Roc)
My Morning Jacket, Circuital (ATO)
Lou Reed and Metallica, Lulu (Warner Bros.)
St. Vincent, Strange Mercy (4AD)
Washed Out, Within and Without (Sub Pop)
Wilco, The Whole Love (dBpm)
Yuck (Fat Possum)