Critics Choice Albums of the Year 2011

Every year I pour through end of year lists in magazines, newspapers and more latterly the web to see what music I may have missed. I "find" good acts this way (like John Grant in the 2010 list). Last year I made a Spotify list out of the results and this year I've done the same and thought I'd share it with you.

This year I used a total of 28 lists mainly made up of mainstream Music Mags, Websites & Newspapers but I also used a couple of more specialist publications like Mixmag (Dance), Kerrang (Metal/Rock), No Depression (Americana/Roots) and All Hip-Hop (oh come on). Using these doesn't really change much in the top 100 but it does give a boost to some 'crossover' acts. The full list of sources is listed below.

Most of the lists were top 50 where I awarded 1 point for 50 and 50 for 1 (obviously). Those that didn't I did my best (for some 5 points each) for others 50 downwards. Trust me.

Anyway here are the Spotify Play Lists with all the albums that were available for the top 100 starting with the Number 1 critically acclaimed album by P.J. Harvey. The full list is also below. Where albums weren't available at time of publication it is noted (with alternative links where possible)

Critics Choice Albums of 2011 Nos 1 -50
Critics Choice Albums of 2001 Nos 51 - 100
(for those who are interested 2010s 1-50 here and 51-100 here)

Some observations

• There were 522 different albums in the total list (more variety than usual)
• This year there were mixtapes (like A$AP and Big KRIT) making the top 50s of publications for the first time
• Also for the first time, some lists had self released albums (the music industry has definitely changed).
• Earnest Singer Songwriter and Rocky stuff seems to be in this year
• The music now called R'n'B seems to be on the way out (Beyonce had a very low show of the 522 and Rhianna didn't make it).
• Dubstep has influenced mainstream listening with acts like SBTRKT, James Blake and Zomby making the top 100
• No place for Reggae with Great albums like Little Roy's - Battle For Seattle not making the list.
• The album Watch The Throne by Kanye West and Jay Z  made the top 50 this year and also last year
• Britney Spears only got 1 Point (P.J. Harvey got 708)

Hope you find some new music to have a listen to. What albums do you think should have made the top 100 what do you want to here on the list?

The list

1. PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
2. Bon Iver - Bon Iver
3. Metronomy - The English Riviera
4. Kurt Vile - Smoke ring for my Hal
5. Tom Waits -Bad As Me (not yet on Spotify)
6. Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blue
7. The Horrors - Skying
8. Tune-Yards - Whokill
9. Wilco - The Whole Love
10. St Vincent - Strange Mercy
11. Radiohead - The King of Limbs
12. War on Drugs - Slave Ambient
13. Wild Beasts - Smother
14. Gillian Welch - The Harrow and the Harvest (not yet on Spotify)
15. Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes
16. James Blake - James Blake
17. Josh T Pearson - Last of the Country Gentleman
18. White Denim - D
19. Real Estate - Days
20. SBTRKT - SBTRKT
21. Anna Calvi - Anna Calvi
22. The Weekend - House of Balloons (not on Spotify get it free here)
23. Beruit - Riptide
24. My Morning Jacket - Circuital
25. Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost
26. Adele - 21(not on Spotify)
27. Laura Marling - A Creature I Don't Know
28. EMA - Past Life Martyred Saints
29. Destroyer - Kaputt
30. Ryan Adams - Ashes and Fire
31. The Decemberists - The King is Dead
32. Wild Flag - Wild Flag
33. Jon Hopkins & King Creosote - Diamond Mine
34. Shabazz Palaces - Black Up (not on Spotify)
35. Jonathon Wilson - Gentle Spirit
36. Feist - Metals
37. Kanye West & Jay-Z - Watch the Throne
38. Yuck - Yuck
39. The Antlers - Burst Apart
40. M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
41. Katy B - On A Mission
42. Florence & The Machine - Ceremonials
43. Bjork - Biophilla
44. Drive By Truckers - Go Go Boots
45. Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact
46. Paul Simon - So Beautiful or So What
47. Zomby - Dedication
48. Dawes - Nothing is Wrong
49. Beastie Boys - Hot Sauce Committee Part Two
50. Black Keys - El Camino (not on Spotify)
51. Drake - Take Care
52. Nicholas Jaar - Space is Only Noise
53. Tim Heckler - Ravendeath 1972
54. Battles - Gloss Drop
55. Peaking Lights - 936
56. Oneohtrix Point Never - Replica
57. Washed Out - Within and Without
58. Civil Wars - Barton Hollow
59. John Maus - We Must Become the Pitless Censors of Ourselves
60. Rustie - Glass Swords
61. Bill Callahan - Apocalypse (not on Spotify)
62. Cats Eyes - Cats Eyes (not on Spotify)
63. Jason Isbell and the 400 unit - Here we Rest
64. Arctic Monkeys - Suck it and See
65. Little Dragon - Ritual Union
66. Kate Bush - 50 Words for Snow
67. TV on the Radio - Nine Types of Light
68. Bombay Bicycle Club - A Different Kind of Fix
69. Panda Bear - Tom Boy
70. Fucked Up - David Comes To Life
71. I Break Horses - Hearts
72. Elbow - Build A Rocket Boys
73. The Field - Looping State of Mind (not on Spotify)
74. Veronica Falls - Veronica Falls
75. A$AP Rocky - LIVELOVEA$AP (not on Spotify - Get here while you can)
76. Lady Ga Ga - Born This Way
77. Wu Lyf - Go Tell It To The Mountain
78. Frank Ocean - Nostalgia, Ultra (not on Spotify but may still be free)
79. Aiden Moffat and Bill Wells - Everything's Getting Older
80. Hayes Carll - Kmag Yoyo (& other American stories)
81. Gil Scott-Heron & Jamie XX - We're New Here
82. Foo Fighters - Wasting Light
83. Modeselector - Monkeytown (not on Spotify)
84. The Vaccines - What Do You Expect From The Vaccines
85. When Saints Go Machine - Konkylie
86. Black Lips - Arabia Mountain
87. Gruff Rhys - Hotel Shampoo
88. WALLS - Coracle (stream it here)
89. The Low Anthem - Smart Flesh
90. Friendly Fires - Pala
91. Koralleven - An Album by Koralleven
92. The Roots - Undun
93. Araabmusik - Electronic Dream
94. Stephen Malkumus & the Jicks - Mirror Traffic
95. Barwick, Julianna - The Magic Place
96. Caretaker, The An Empty Bliss Beyond This World (stream and buy it here)
97. Mastodon - The Hunter
98. Bradley, Charles - No Time For Dreaming
99. Ghostpoet - Peanut Butter Blues and the Melancholy Jam
100. Deer Tick - Divine Providence (not on Spotify)

The Lists used (and links where available)

• The Guardian Critics 
• Fact Magazine
• Clash Music 
• Alternative Press 
• Rough Trade Shops 
• Uncut
• Gorilla Vs Bear  
• Spin  
• NME
• Q Magazine 
• Rise Music 
• Paste Magazine 
• Under the Radar 
• Mojo 
• The Line of Best Fit 
• Tiny Mix Tapes 
• Rolling Stone 
• Blurt 
• Mixmag 
• Kerrang 
• American Songwriters 
• LP Group 
• No Depression
• All Hip-Hop.com
• Billboard 
• The Fly 
• The Observer

For The Benefit of Mr Jobs

Don’t get me wrong, I like the Beatles. I really do. And I recently purchased the Mono Box set on CD (yes CD). I got it for less than £100 (still bloody expensive) but I bet it is better quality than anything Apple will sell me (cheaper too).

I don’t buy MP3s or AAC or digital music in general. I’m old fashioned and I like (and trust) the physical medium with Graphics and sleeve notes. I can rip it into today’s format, back it up easily, and not worry if I change technology (and I’ve had ATRAC, MP3 and AAC so it isn’t just DRM that can annoy me).

It is good that Artists get paid something for their work and especially new artists. I don’t think Sir Paul will need the royalties Divorce or not so I prefer to get my classics somewhat cheaper.

Is this a day we’ll never forget like Jobs said? I Doubt it, but it is a great advert for Apple who in the paid online music business remain to be beaten despite Spotify etc.

As I write the Beatles Red Album is doing quite well on iTunes at £17.99. Here are some real solid deals you might want to consider instead

The Fall the Complete Peel Sessions £16.79 – 6 CDs of a band like Marmite (luv em or hate them)

Joy Division – Heart and Soul 4cd collection £9.87 or New Order Retro 4cd £16.99 – A massive end to end history

Lee Scratch Perry – Arkology £16.43. 52 tracks of a Reggae/Dub producer genius at his absolute prime

Miles Davis – Complete Columbia Recordings £12.99 – Legendary Jazz albums from Jazz Masters Miles Davis and Gil Evans with outtakes £12.99. Includes Sketches from Spain and Porgy and Bess

Johnny Cash Legend 4CD £12.99 – Because he is, well.. a legend

Elvis Presley – From Nashville to Memphis (5 CDs) £12.99 – 60s brilliance from the King

The Message. Story of Sugarhill Records (4 CDS) £14,99 – Early rap/funk/soul brilliance

All the above will be well packaged, yours, rippable and come with great photos and text.

Anyone found any better ????

P.S. The other great news from this announcement is the price of Beatles CDs which seem to remain constant are dropping. Cheers Mr Jobs.

Jack Burnacle Speaks

Whilst at the Weston Beach Races I bumped into (alright ran after) Jack Burnacle and asked him if he was aware of the Twitter Drinking Game that grew up around his commentary around the Indianapolis MotoGP.

Those who aren't aware these are some of the rules as tweeted by @twitgp



After a hilarious practice and qualifying we got ready for the race.



...and these are just some of the results.



Anyway Jack vaguely remembered so I asked if he would like to record a message. Quick as a flash he came up with this.

Jack was an absolute Gent and a bloody good sport.



Those who like MotoGP, WSBK, BSB etc might like to follow or review this twitter list I created.
Anyone who just wants to chew the fat and talk nonsense may enjoy following me @waveydavey001. Then again.....

GET YOUR MOTOGP, WSBK, BSB & F1 DATES IN ONE CALENDAR HERE

Weston Beach Race 2010 Start (via iPhone and Pen)

Had a great time at Weston Beach Races again this year. If you haven't been make a date for next year. It is raw and dirty and you get close enough to feel it (still hoping the sand hasn't damaged the camera) and taste it. To be fair you could possibly taste it from about a mile away.

Whilst most spectators, me included, spend most of the 3 hours watching the riders cornering, getting stuck and tackling the dunes the start is a sight to behold.

This year about 500 bikes lined up and I can only describe the look and roar as the heat haze and sand cloud come out of the distance as being like something out of Mad Max.

Video never does it justice but I try. I shot the start in 2008 on a Nokia N95 and that can be found on my Youtube channel along with some other snippets. This year I tried some HD filming on both my iPhone 4 (by hand) and Olympus Pen (attached to the railing via a Gorrilapod). Each clip is reproduced below. Let me know which you think took the better shot.

The photo above was taken on my iPhone. More are available on my Flickr Set along side some Olympus Pen shots (damn why didn't I take the zoom lens). Eventually more video will be put up on youtube.

iPhone Version

Olympus Pen Version

Find me on Twitter at @waveydavey001

Get MOTOGP, WSBK, BSB & F1 2011 Dates in iCal and XML calendar formats here

MotoGP, World Superbike, British Superbike and F1 Calendars

Update 6 January 2012 - Planning your 2012 trips etc now. I'm adding dates and updating all the time. So far we have the MotoGP provisional Calendar, Worldsuperbike and BSB calendar, the F1 2012 calendar, Le Mans 2012 and the Isle of Man TT and classics plus the AMA Supercross (starting tomorrow). Irish Road Races to come. These should all work for existing subscribers. Non subscribers will need to re download. Those that subscribe will know that I update so that which is down as a single entry across three days will as a minimum into Practice, Quali and Race and at maximum will have the full race schedule and times of races.


As ever I am pleased that some find it very usefull and greatful that people let me know that they are using it via the comments, twitter etc. Please feel free to let people know of the service.

Original Text  - With the World Superbike and British Superbike seasons over and the Moto GP and Formula 1 seasons drawing to a close, some peoples thought will turn to other things, perhaps Christmas.

Mine turn to next years events.

I have created a calendar covering MotoGP, World and British Superbikes and for those of you who like a little 4 wheel and politics with your biking the Formula 1 is included too.

Included in the calendar entries are links to the tracks, ticket sales and more. I intend to add to this and update with schedules etc as and where possible.

There are a number of ways of utilising this info including importing it into your calendar of choice. However as these dates are at the time of writing provisional, subscribing to this calendar, rather than importing/exporting, will allow you to get updates and additions as they happen.

iCal Settings

XML settings
HTML settings

Google's explanations of the usage of the different calendar feeds (including subscription types) can be found here

All other sync options including with mobiles can be found here

If you like and are planning to use this calendar, let me know here or on Twitter. That way I'll know how important it is to keep updated and in order.

If you are keen on MotoGP, WSBK, BSB etc here is my twitter list of riders, teams, bloggers, etc I've created. There is also a Formula 1 list as well
Follow me at @waveydavey001.

UPDATE 12 December 2010 - I've carried on updating and added Red Bull Rookies, Superstock, Supersport etc as well as the Isle of Man TT Races. Hope to update with schedules etc in the future so I would go for a subscription rather than an Import if at all possible to keep up. Thanks for the tweets etc.

Update 21 November 2011 - Start planning your 2012 trips etc now. I'm adding dates as I get them. So far we have the MotoGP provisional Calendar, Worldsuperbike and BSB calendars plus the F1 2012 calendar, Le Mans 2012 and the Isle of Man TT and classics. These should all work for existing subscribers. Non subscribers will need to re download. Keep spreading the word :)

Playing with Google Wave and Embedded Blogs

Well One Year and 3 Months Ago on this Jaiku post (gotta love Jaiku) I wrote

"What I've always thought would be good was to be able to use a microblog embedded into popular blogs as comments. This wouldn't work if you set up your own microblog but a feature such as Jaikus channels that you could have member posting and guest posting (using a Capatcha or something) would be ace. Maybe some open source guru could build that into Laconica/Identi.ca"

There was more to it than just that, but read the post if you are bored and you'll see. Anyway I was alerted to Disqus which was sort of getting there and has improved since.

Anyway, Jaiku had its issues, but seems to be coming back into its own and I moved to Twitter (the shame). I still however like the idea of threaded conversations embedded into blogs, but built around a community.

Could Google Wave be the answer?

Hopefully below is an embedded wave on which you could comment. I'm not sure if those not on wave can see it. Either way add your thoughts and comments to Wave or Disqus below.

What Is On Wavey's iPhone

I've spent a good couple of hours adding, deleting and re-ordering applications on my iPhone today. Nearly all 'home screen' bookmarks gave been removed and I've tried some reorganising loosely into themes.

In honour of Gerrymoths Nokiaaddict regular posts on what he installs on his various phones (see E71 example here)I thought a quick post of what is on my iPhone now would be of use.

Of course I'm a lazy a**e so there are no links, no real descriptions or anything. However Gerry, even poor imitation, is a form of flattery.

There are many so Apps, (this is just a snapshot of mine), and many ways to organise them, here are some screenshots of my layout.

Firstly the Front page, (not so important now the iPhone has Spotlight).



Next up Social Networking - I'm trying out lots of Twitter Stuff at the moment.



Office Applications - I don't wear a tie that often ;)



News and Music (including Music Based games.



Photo and Video Stuff - All good, but the one thing that makes me miss the Nokia



Games I Play - Peggle is SO ADDICTIVE



More Games lined up to try



Sport - Wimbledon was on here a week ago.



Finally Travel and Location based stuff.



So there you have it, this is how I've organised my iPhone and what I've installed. How do you manage yours? Leave a comment and let me know.

Lomo Fisheye #2 photos

While in Hong Kong we bought a couple of Cameras from the Lomography Store. One was the Supersampler which I've yet to run a roll of film through, and the other was the Fisheye #2.

This was the first time I've used a Film Camera in over 10 years, (the last time I remember was firing a couple of shots off on Mrs Waveys APS camera on our Honeymoon).

The results were mixed and because of the extreme range of the lens a couple came out with fingers and thumbs in the shot.

I tried a few experimental night shots with double exposures, flash (built in, ring flash and external) but they were all dreadful.

Hopefully I've learnt something, but have a lot more to learn


Click here to see this set on Flickr

Běijīng a short stop over

It was Mrs Waveys special Birthday in November, (shh don't tell her I told you that), and I decided to take here on a surprise holiday. I'd heard about Harbin and the Ice Festival (more about that later) and thought I'd couple that with Chinese New Year in luxury in Hong Kong.

This is how I packaged it up for the birthday present (photos of the Ice and Snow festival were inside the Ice Sculpture which had melted by Birthday Morning).



Anyway. I couldn't get a direct flight to Harbin so it meant that we had to have a stopover in Beijing. This was a bit frustrating, because we knew we wouldn't be able to do the place justice at all, but we did get a little look around to get the flavour of the place.



You read about the Traffic in Beijing, but it really is amazing. The rules of the road seem to be that you can do anything as long as you beep your horn a lot. If you are a pedestrian or cyclist your job is to ignore the horn. It wasn't uncommon to look out of a taxi window and see a bike driving towards you. It was a good job that the average speed in Beijing was only 15KMH. Talking of Taxis, none of the drivers had done the knowledge. Many times we drove around in circles looking for our hotel. Even with a Taxi Card it wasn't that easy to find.



Whilst walking through the city we saw a number of people were going through a particular door, and being curious, we followed. We found ourselves in the Olympic Souvenir shop and experienced our first taste of Chinese shopping. We selected our item from one Girl who wrote us a multi copy receipt. We were then walked by another person to the payment counter. Having paid the receipts were stamped and then we were give 2 back and were walked back to finally get our present from the original person. There is something to be said for full employment!



Anyway, we didn't see any Olympic Venues, we didn't go to the Great Wall, (but saw it from the plane), and we didn't do a hundred other things, but we did go to Tiananmen Square and walked into the city seeing some good night markets. I only wish we could have stayed a little longer. What came next, however, was well worth leaving Beijing for



To see more photos go to my Beijing Flickr Set

Help - The problems of relying on a service

Those of you that know me probably know that I tend to spend my time in the on-line world on Jaiku. Jaiku appeared around the same time as the much more well known Twitter but whilst Twitter opened up to the general public quickly, Jaiku stayed an invite only service, and therefore Twitter grew quickly and Jaiku, despite the best intentions of users and services like Jaiku Invites became the forgotten service.

However in some ways this was good for Jaiku. Whilst spammers and people who just liked their own voices hit Twitter, Jaiku formed real communities and real conversations formed. This was partly down to jaikus threaded conversations. There were stupid threads, games, heated debates, first dates, marriages and divorces documented on the "ku" alongside hurricanes, product announcements and the perhaps more obvious help with phones, operating systems and the like. These were all easy to follow, no searching was required, no third party trend following applications needed, it just worked.

Then something happened. Google bought Jaiku. Oh how we cheered. There were all sorts of rumours about how Jaiku would change. With the mighty power of Google behind it there was no stopping the service. Not only would it open up and eclipse Twitter, but it was to be an integral part of Android, or become part of Gmail. I began to get nervous that soon Jaiku would just be full of people spamming. Also that the Jaiku Mobile App for Nokia may never get out of beta with Android taking its place. Meanwhile Twitter was going down regularly, the fail whale a regular appearance, lots of Jaiku gloating going on.

Then in August last year Jaiku went down. Most people very patient but nerves started to appear. There was little info on what was going on and for the first time people began to wonder if Google had bought the service or the talent behind it. Having invested most of my time in Jaiku I was just a bit stuck for somewhere to go. I looked at Twitter (still suffering), Identi.ca (the new black) and Rejaw a new application. For me Identi.ca was all concept no substance, and being open source was a haven for those with a far more technical bent than me. Rejaw was the closest thing to Jaiku I could find with threaded conversations and a small but growing community.

I had a problem though, I like many of my Jaiku friends had a Nokia smartphone. One of the great ideas behind micro blogs (which admittedly Rejaw wasn't claiming as its main role) is that it is suited to the mobile phone, by text, application or mini browser. Rejaw had no mobile app (an iPhone app in the making) and didn't work in the Nokia browser. My Jaiku friends were scattering to the 4 winds.

Then Jaiku came back. Still no idea of what was going on but it worked. Calm was restored and although it wasn't quite the same it was good. I stayed with Rejaw as well because I like it, and it was a little easier for me having an iPhone. Many people had second services and had drifted off a bit.

Then come January 2009 it was announced that Jaiku was going open source. Some people thought this the beginning, some the end. I was just disappointed that Google didn't follow the potential of this service.

Then Jaiku failed again. The Robin has been showing up more and more and the service has got very frustrating. Many long standing Jaiku users are jumping ship (to the four winds). At the time of writing Jaiku is back up but it has left me with a horrible feeling.

Where am I going with this disorganised ranting? I don't know. It is more of a where I am going.

I have relied on Jaiku as a central hub for too long. I don't blame the developers who provided me with a FREE service. I don't deny them the opportunity to move on to bigger and better things and get paid to do so by a huge influential company that wants to use there talent. I'm pleased they are still spending time on it.

Whilst I love Jaiku I don't blame those who have got frustrated and gone elsewhere, especially those that use it for more than 'fun' social networking. It's just that I feel a little homeless and I am currently doing the thing I dislike most, spraying my digital scent around the internet territory with no real means of patrolling that territory well. Where do I go, where do I belong?

Rejaw is great, but under used and no good for Nokia users and possibly others outside the Web/iPhone world.

Twitter - Good for watching Celebrities, if that is your bag, and everyone seems to be on it. Lots of mobile apps to. On the downside it seems full of spammers and nigh on impossible to follow a conversation with any ease. Lots of shouts, little conversation.
Identi.ca - Actually coming on really well (the power of open source). Just a little technical for me, and if more people get using it then it will be as hard to follow a conversation as Twitter. I do believe it could grow and grow though.

So I'm lost. Trying out various things and applications on my phone and PC to try and make sense of the microblog community. I'm trying Tweetdeck, La Twit, Twitterfon and Friendfeed at the moment. I can't rely on Jaiku alone and I'm too lazy to keep up with everything unless it is easy.

Can anyone help me?