Annual Consolation

These are five artists who came close to making my favorites of the year. For whatever reasons, they did not make it.



I like this band, but something is not quite complete yet. If they can keep it together long enough to fill in the hole, good things can happen.



I made the mistake of calling this band the Canadian Posies earlier this year. They've been around just as long. I knew this, but failed to make the connection. It's a very pleasant record, but did not have enough to push the top twenty two.



This is a monster of an album. It could be a Grammy sleeper. That said, I really wanted to embrace it, but it's too damn clean. Every note is programmed, played with expert technical precision. I wanted some spontaneity, this record is missing that.



Close, so close.

Is it me or is the video kinda pervy?



Sondre: I love you. You are the Norwegian son I do not have. You are a talented musician and arranger. A craftsman of your instruments. Son, it's been eight years since I've been following your career. It's time to get a lyricist.

Going to get to work on the obsessive liner notes soon and tweak the order of the year's best over the weekend. Expect the official release in a couple of weeks.