without anybody really asking, pitchfork once again weighed in on their top 100 tracks of 2011. and like every year, the selections alternately reflect a need to be cool and different and indie, and an immediate knee-jerk compulsion to distance themselves from those lame people who try to be cool and different and indie. and yet here i am, reading, writing about and even linking to the list. i clearly have the same love/hate relationship w/ pitchfork that they have with themselves. and who am i kidding? i bounce between beyonce and bon iver with the best of them. either way, this track topped the 2011 list. good song? of course. best song? of course not. but as a band that personifies that careful balance between indie and pop, for this list, it’s pitchfork perfect. -d

i’ve always respected feist as a member of that exclusive club of female vocalists that i actually listen to willingly. but this. oh man. this is something different altogether. it’s impossibly good. certainly her best, and probably one of the best of year. and if you ask me, it never gets better than this opening track…-d

a great great sound from our boy shugo. it’s off the first of a pretty interesting series of EPs called ‘vicious circles’ being released by this canadian record label called hand drawn dracula. basically they take a couple of great bands, and get them to cover the crap out of each other. in volume 1, we get shugo tokumaru covering black moth super rainbow and holy f**k, black moth super rainbow covering holy f**k and shugo, and of course a great shugo cover by holy f**k. this track is the standout for me, but the entire effort is pretty solid. certainly worth the facebook like required to download the EP for free. i mean, f**k. -d

finally seeing these guys at the largo tonight. james vincent mcmorrow is opening. the creators of my two favorite albums of 2011 playing in my favorite venue in LA. i’m literally sick with anticipation. if they start the show with the riff that starts this song, i might actually die.

one more day. just one more day until…

catchy little track off yuksek’s latest EP ‘On A Train’. it’s got warm summer night swims written all over it. well, summer night swims anyway. -d

*full length due out june 23. allegedly. his official site is mysteriously devoid of any reference to this or any other new music. hm. interesting.

from the ‘personal jesus 2011’ remix EP due out next week. full 3 disc album of depeche mode remixes due out june 7. you can’t wait. -d

yet another great album to come out this year without me knowing it. and from someone i dig so deeply. so disappointing. unlike the album, which takes his r&b groove and expands it into all sorts of neo-retro genres. and this track - a sort of bo diddly homage with a nashville edge - is by far my favorite. -d

new friendly fires album released yesterday. not as good as that smashing eponymous album, but still pretty near top of the UK dance game. -d

new bon iver track. released today. after listening to it, i kinda feel how i felt when i first heard ‘month of may’. the sound and spirit are there, but they’re definitely doing something different. i like it. i want to listen to it again. i want to talk about it. and more than anything i want it to end up coming from an album as excellent as ‘the suburbs’ was. -d

*’calgary’ is a free download at boniver.org.

i’m pretty smitten with the new okkervil river. it’s a huge, sweeping step forward for these guys. yes, there’s more than a little arcade fire in there. but if there’s one thing the world needs, it’s a little more arcade fire. -d

in which we discuss yet another cover of willow smith’s timeless dance hall anthem that leaves the original so far in the dust it’s hard to remember it exists at all.

also, i adore this trend of actual artists covering top 40 nonsense. i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again: the best way to undermine a crap song is to validate it completely. mocking something stupid by making something wonderful out of it. i’m so glad i was born in a post-modern world.

actually sort of digging the new EP in spite of myself. this is what i wanted the album to sound like. but it didn’t. take 2.