Albums of the year

My picks for my favorite albums this year:

Blue Scholars
Bayani

This album has been rocking my world. Really lovely, conscious, thoughtful hip-hop. The song Morning of America is my favorite of the year - alas can't find it online for the link. Enjoy however Back Home, a powerful if a little on-the-nose anthem, NorthbyNorthwest, a delightful self-introduction and Ordinary Guys, a cute alternative to aggrandizement. Their first album is great, too.


Brother Ali
The Undisputed Truth

Incredible album for the albino rapper - Truth Is, sadly bleeped, makes me feel like I'm already free. I also love Daylight and his intro to Uncle Sam Goddamn quotes Nina Simone's classic line "this is a show tune, but the show hasn't been written for it... yet" and that made me very happy.


The White Stripes
Icky Thump

You already know about this one, unless, you know, you don't rock. Rag and Bone is my favorite track.

The Cat Empire
So Many Nights

Great third (and a half) album from The Cats. No Longer There is a beautiful song, Fishes is up there with their classic good time tunes like Hello Hello, but for me the best track is The Darkness, which is clearly Harry-led and shows the influence of his work on the Jackson Jackson album. I need to figure out how to host mp3s.

Feist
The Reminder

Talking of triumphant Nina Simone covers. Feist makes me happy.


Bruce Springsteen
Magic

Girls in Their Summer Clothes, to blatantly steal from the Onion Avclub, is the best Magnetic Fields song Bruce ever wrote. And Living in the Future stops me fretting about all this happening yet. His live in Belfast album, also out this year is also good news, it's all his classics but redone in the Seeger Sessions folk style.

Imperfectly

I once asked Rio about her favorite Ani album and I forget what she said but I was shocked it wasn't Not A Pretty Girl because to me, as an Ani noob, obviously that was the best album, what with having 32 Flavors and Not A Pretty Girl on it. Isn't there a kitten stuck up a tree somewhere?

Well Rio was right and as I grew up I started appreciating the depth of Ani's catalogue more and more and I find myself settling on Imperfectly.

Imperfectly, released 1992, was Ani's third album. I was introduced to Ani in 1996, so I came to it late. For a start it has my favorite song: Fixing Her Hair. I can't find it online to link, but your should go beg, borrow or steal because Fixing Her Hair is one of those immaculate songs. Gorgeous guitar, sublime lyrics. It speaks to a feminist experience on a visceral level and asks simply "what is this beautiful woman settling for?"

The album rocks out too. Here's the classic In or Out. I didn't really love In or Out at first, it's the kinda bi-pleaser stuff she moved passed on her later albums (i.e. post Little Plastic Castle). But in the end that's exactly what I grew to love about the song, and the album, it's such classic Ani, the kinda thing we all listened to her for in the first place.

Two more tracks to mention. I think Served Faithfully is beautiful and it reminds me of the great Belle and Sebastian track You Can Take You Carriage Clock and Shove It. Finally, the opening track What If No One's Watching is an exciting and uplifting aetheist anthem. And those don't come along everyday.

For all that, and a bunch of great tracks besides, Impectly is the Ani Album of the Year.