Yes, I realize most people had their lists up since December, but as my longtime peeps know, I rank my fave albums by the number of times I listen to em start to end in the calendar year. The more times album X flows in the ear canals, the higher on the chart album X will sit. So between that, tabulation time and all the regular stuff the ticking of time plants in front of you, the list is finally here.

2012 in general? Sadly enough, it was figuring out how awesome 2011 was. As my post last year will…

A few days late, but I gather breaths were not being held.

TOTAL SCROBBLES = 130,981 (up the typical 20,000 or so – FYI my scrobbles take up 2,620 pages front to back. If my scrobbled exploits were committed to paper, that would be a good hunk of a tree. *reflects* Wow. That's sorta depressing.)
TOTAL ARTISTS = 3,966 (again, right around 600 new artists join the fold this year, as per what seems to be the average. Say what they will about the moribund state of the music biz, bands are still forming, folks are still singing… and I…

No frills, no explanations, but overall a pretty awesome year for me and my ears.

15. The Jayhawks – Mockingbird Time
14. The Dears – Degeneration Street
13. Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
12. Smith Westerns – Dye It Blonde
11. The Joy Formidible – The Big Roar
10. Tennis – Cape Dory
9. Foo Fighters – Wasting Light
8. Wilco – The Whole Love
7. James Blake – James Blake
6. Army Navy – The Last Place
5. Fountains of Wayne – Sky Full of Holes
4. R.E.M. – Collapse Into Now
3. Radiohead – The King of Limbs…

Looking at my current top 100, I can't believe what a prolific year it was for those artists. By a conservative estimate, at least 33% put out a new release of some type and several others put out aniversary/expanded version of previous favorite albums. However, it appears my own personal year was at least as busy, because a quick perusal through others' top 10/25/674 lists reveals there was a LOT of stuff I just didn't have time to get to. That vaporization of my time also means my best of 2009/2010 "remix" will have to wait as well. So until…

Sun 2 Oct – The Besnard Lakes, Malajube

For The Besnard Lakes, making an impression is pretty easy. Not many other acts attempt to cross-pollinate the sweeping panoramas of prog-rock with the snarling ripples of sound adopted by the shoegazer sound, with a healthy dose of melodramatic songcraft heard in those tragic ballads of the late 50s and early 60s thrown in for effect. Even fewer feature a husband and wife as the creative centerpoint. Add in the continuous motifs the Lakes return to (espionage, trains,romantic tumult) and the ground the Lakes artistically stand on is pretty barren. While…

Another August 29th is here, and so I will again look at my stats as a way to track how I'm "growing" as an entity here on last.fm. First, the main stats….

TOTAL TRACKS SCROBBLED = 112,096 (up another 2000 + listens, much like last year)
ARTISTS IN LIBRARY = 3,296 (600 or so more – again, similar to last year's growth #)
FRIENDS = 47 (15 more friends than last year, welcome to the party, here's your hat)

So rather than in-depth breakdowns like last year, I'm going to give some general thoughts and give you the complete ups…

So as a lot of my fellow last.fm brethren, I have to deal with the pop-up ads that will occasionally serve as the top or background to some of my pages. Most of the time, they grasp at any sort of shred to symbiosis to their paid product placement (Hey you! You listen to Music! Why not chew some of our Delicious Sugary Gum while you listen to whatever Crazy-Ass Music you kids listen to now!) or a shot in the dark for some TV show or movie. Tonight, I got one that made me kvetch, and maybe made some…

Fri 27 May – Sloan

If they say one dog year equals seven human years, imagine how many human years you could equate to one year of rock'n'roll time. Genres come into fashion and flame out seemingly just as quickly; music scenes spring up like dandelions and multiply overnight until the tastemakers-the-be anoint the next new hot sound. It's pretty easy to see how so many bands and artists end up becoming dust and debris, grist to the music industry's mill.

So having the Canadian pop/rock quartet Sloan celebrating their 20th year of existence is no mean feat. Factor in…

Mon 18 Apr – Daphne Willis, Korby Lenker, Dave Tamkin

Every once in a while, it's good to check out a show for exactly zero knowledge or expectation of the artists in question. So upon the recommendation of a friend and co-worker, we took a Monday night to check out three artists low on name recognition but high on energy and upside.

It was my first visit to the Brink Lounge, which is in the lower level of the building that also houses the High Noon Saloon, mere blocks away from Wisconsin's State Capitol. The facility is very plush and…

Another year, another Record Store Day. This year, my store was offering a plethora of deals beyond the rare/fetish/ebayable vinyl/CD exclusives. Those who brought canned food goods got a 20% discount off regularly priced, non-Record Store Day stuff. Also, they had all their used stuff at buy one get one free, so there were lots of opportunities to save and spend some serious moolah. So, yeah, I spent a little bit of cash, and found all the stuff that was on my list plus some stuff beyond. Here goes, with rounded up prices put in afterward.

* Foo Fighters –…