I don't think there's a need to further introduce or define this bookend year to the musical decade. I'll leave that up to the professionals at Pitchfork, Paste, Rolling Stone, and the amazing amount of quality blogs out there. However, I think its important that I put this list into a personal context. This year opened my ears sonically to music that I would have easily shoved aside a few years ago. There is a mix of nostalgia for the roots rock that I am consistently drawn to but also a pull toward the more complex nature of current electronic/indie trends (see: anything by Animal Collective or Dirty Projectors).
This list is by no means extensive or in any particular order. There are many bands that I am just getting to know (the xx and Fanfarlo to name a few) and bands that I haven't found yet. These are songs that I have simply not been able to put down, songs that seem uncompromisingly honest, and songs/artists that I have recommended in conversations throughout the year.
I hope you found some new and worthwhile music over the past 12 months. There was certainly plenty of good tuneage to go around.
Andrew Bird - Anonanimal
Animal Collective - My Girls
Avett Brothers - I and Love and You (a close second: Laundry Room and really just the whole record)
Bon Iver - Blood Bank
Dave Matthews Band - Seven
Dawes - When My Time Comes
Devendra Banhart - 16th & Valencia Roxy Music
Dirt Projectors - Stillness is the Move (a close second: Cannibal Resource)
Dirt Projectors and David Byrne - Knotty Pine
Elvis Perkins in Dearland - Shampoo
Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks
J.Tillman - Earthy Bodies
Mason Jennings - The Field
Monsters of Folk - Dear God
The National - So Far Around the Bend
Passion Pit - The Reeling
Pearl Jam - The Fixer
Phoenix - 1901
The Swell Season - Feeling the Pull
Wilco - One Wing
Wild Light - California on My Mind
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