“What were your favorite music-related things in 2011?”
That was the question going around in the office as the end of 2011 approached, so we decided to make a blog post out of it (better late than never, right?)! No matter if we work in the development department or in finance, we all have at least one thing in common: the passion for music. Take a minute to read our staff’s Best of 2011 list and get to know us a little better!
In alphabetical order:
Brittany. reverblive team | the token southerner | billboard top 100 lover of the office | lil wayne is her jam
Wakarusa '11 - Crowd at Mumford & Sons
Top Festivals of 2011 (in alphabetical order)
41st Glastonbury Festival
20th Lollapalooza
Bonnaroo 2011
Camp Bisco X
Coachella 2011
Governor’s Ball
Hangout festival 2011
Snowball 2011
South by Southwest Festival
Wakarusa Music and Camping Festival 2011
Carl. development department | far too complex of a person to be boiled down into so few words
Top 5 albums (in no particular order)
Active Child – You Are All I See
M83 – Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
SBTRKT – SBTRKT
Bon Iver – Bon Iver
Washed Out – Within and Without
Chris. finance department | cool dude
My favorite music discoveries on ReverbNation this year
Josh Abbott Band
1. Josh Abbott Band – My new favorite country band. #2 on RN Country charts for Austin, ’nuff said
2. Jesse Ruben – Super-catchy pop/singer-songwriter
3. James Hersey – Singer-songwriter
4. Brandon Rhyder – Great TX country, unique voice
5. Tyler Ward – Catchy pop; covers are fun too
6. Steve Parry – Folk/Americana
7. Cisco – Country/Americana
8. Elise Lieberth – Singer-songwriter
9. The Summer Soundtrack – Pop/Rock, takes me back to listening to Blink182 15 yrs ago
10. Lee England Jr – I’ve heard lots of jazz violin, I’ve heard some blues violin… but I’d never heard R&B violin til this
Bon Iver showed up in 4 lists
Jason. reverblive team | brooklyn hipster with southern charm
Top 10 Shows I Saw In 2011
1.The Flaming Lips & Philip Glass – 03/03 – Carnegie Hall
2. Animal Collective – 07/12 – Prospect Park
3. Ólafur Arnalds – 01/25 – Highline Ballroom
4. Active Child – 11/22 – Webster Hall
5. Omar Rodríguez López Group – 03/28 – Theatre of the Living Arts
6. Bon Iver – 08/09 – United Palace Theatre
7. MGMT – 11/11 – Guggenheim Museum
8. Panda Bear – 07/03 – Music Hall of Williamsburg
9. Sufjan Stevens – 08/02 – Prospect Park
10. Cotton Jones – 03/12 – Union Pool
Lou. co-founder | best known for seeing thousands of live shows (this year) | won ‘”the best heavy metal mullet in NYC” award back in the day
Lou's Top Live Event: Vans Warped Tour
Top Live Events
— Warped Tour for the 15th time with Reverb NYC staff and my kids
— The Hollywood Kills performance at the Driven Music Conference in Atlanta
— Under the Elephant performance at Dewey Beach Music Conference in Delaware
— All the performances at the Americana Music Awards (sitting next to Robert Plant for awhile didn’t hurt)
Top New Albums
Steven Wilson – Grace for Drowning
Blackfield – Welcome to My DNA
Anathema – Falling Deeper
Ryan Adams – Ashes & Fire
Radiohead – The King of Limbs
Foster the People – Torches
Mariana. marketing | brazilian | wants to live in an african tribe one day
Top Music Things of 2011
- Top Festival attended – Roskilde Festival, Denmark. Think great music, friendly and peaceful people, and muddy tents.
- Top music discovery – Secretly Fond Of. Ok, yes, I’m a little biased because my friend is in the band — but I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t truly enjoy their music!
- Top music discovery on ReverbNation – Sara Lewis. I can’t explain, but her music helps me focus when I’m at work.
- Top new music service – Spotify. I get to be a stalker and listen to my friends’ playlists.
Nathan. customer service | Jeg liker musikk mye… akseptere at jeg ikke
British producer James Blake
Top 10 Albums of 2011
1. James Blake – James Blake
2. Future Islands – On the Water
3. Real Estate – Days
4. Bon Iver – Bon Iver
5. Blackout Beach – Fuck Death
6. EMA – Past Life Martyred Saints
7. Ganglians – Still Living
8. The Men – Leave Home
9. Pure X – Pleasure
10. Wu Lyf – Go Tell Fire to the Mountain
Top EPs
Angel Olsen – Strange Cacti
Beach Fossils – What a Pleasure
Burial – Street Halo
Gross Ghost – Wicked Games
Woodsman – Mystic Places
Top Songs
The Babies – Run Me Over
Bonnie Prince Billy – There is No God
Destroyer – Kaputt
Ducktails – Killin the Vibe
St Vincent – Surgeon
Neal. customer service | sneaker aficionado | carolina basketball super fan
The Weeknd
Top 10 Albums of 2011
1. The Weeknd – House of Balloons
2. Mayer Hawthorne – How Do You Do
3. J.Cole – Cole World : The Sideline Story
4. Skyzoo – The Great Debater
5. The Cool Kids – When Fish Ride Bicycles
6. The Roots – undun
7. Median – The Sender
8. The Black Keys – El Camino
9. Kooley High – David Thompson
10. Raphael Saadiq – Stone Rollin’
Patrick. digital distribution department | interested in matadors | plump and homely
The Black Keys performed twice on SNL in 2011
Top 5 Albums (in no particular order)
Middle Brother – Middle Brother
The Black Keys – El Camino
Arctic Monkeys – Suck it and See
The Kills – Blood Pressures
The Strokes – Angles
Parker. customer service | has the dopest dice rolling skills around | owns the best beard in the office
Top 10 Albums
1. The War On Drugs – Slave Ambient
2. Akron/Family – The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT
3. Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks – Mirror Traffic
4. Wilco – The Whole Love
5. Mastodon – The Hunter
6. My Morning Jacket – Circuital
7. Amon Amarth – Surtur Rising
8. Drive-By Truckers – Go-Go Boots
9. Paul Simon – So Beautiful or So What
10. Man Man – Life Fantastic
What a Phish show looks like
Top 5 Shows/Fests (in no particular order)
— Phish, June 17, Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, Charlotte, NC
— Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, Oct 1, Haw River Ballroom, Saxapahaw, NC
— Hopscotch Music Festival, Sept. 8-10, Raleigh, NC
— Floyd Fest, July 28-31, Floyd, VA
— The War On Drugs, Oct. 11, King’s, Raleigh, NC
Sam. customer service | purveyor of impressions | psychedelic jams | knows over one million facts about seinfeld
Top 10 Albums
1. The War On Drugs — Slave Ambient
2. Wye Oak — Civilian
3. Dodos — No Color
Arctic Monkeys: Another RN Favorite
4. Fleet Foxes — Helplessness Blues
5. Disappears — Guider
6. St. Vincent — Strange Mercy
7. Future Islands — On The Water
8. WU LYF — Go Tell Fire To The Mountain
9. Toro Y Moi — Underneath The Pine
10. Arctic Monkeys — Suck It And See
Top 5 Songs
Calgary — Bon Iver
Before The Bridge — Future Islands
Suck It And See — Arctic Monkeys
There’s Room In My Will — Invisible Hand
Hanging On — Active Child
Todd. development department | currently writing an autobiography, which he’s planning on publishing as a trilogy, the last volume posthumously
Top 10 Guitar Chords
1. E – The first chord you learn.
2. C – Folk and bluegrass would be nowhere without this gem.
3. Bm – When you need to get to the bridge, this is where you go.
4. C/B – How else can you get from C to Am?
5. D – 3/4 just seems easier in D.
6. Bar Chord – Pop. Punk. Metal. Whatever. Slide up a fret, and it’s a new chord. Magic.
7. Am – There is no better way to start the blues
8. Absus6 – There’s just a little extra tension in this beauty, ready to be resolved.
9. E7add#9 – If it’s good enough for Jimi, it’s good enough for me.
10. FM7 – Like floating on clouds of harmony. N.B. Proper tuning is extra important on this one.
Zack. customer service | loves hate music… hates love music… minus the love and hate part plus a side of hate dipped love
Pitchfork reviews 'Helplessness Blues' as a "deeper, more intricate, and more complex" album
Top 5 Albums
1. Animals As Leaders – Weightless
2. Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
3. Paul Simon – So Beautiful or So What
4. Active Child – You are all I see
5. Radiohead – King of Limbs
Top 5 Shows
1. Secret Cheifs 3 – Local 506, Chapel Hill
2. Animals as Leaders – Greene Street, Greensboro
3. Born of Osiris/ Veil of Maya – Greene Street, Greensboro
4. Fleet Foxes – Raleigh Ampitheatre
5. Deftones – Fillmore, Charlotte
Now it’s your turn! We want to learn a little bit about you — what were your favorite music things in 2011?
WAKA WHAT?! Every Winter, the cool people behind Wakarusa Music Festival 2012 — a grassroots festival nestled in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas — travel around on a quest to find the best musicians in the Midwest. They call this fantastic odyssey the Waka Winter Classic Tour! At a total of seventeen stops, several bands who submitted through ReverbNation will compete in regional talent showcases for the chance to perform at Wakarusa.
