Ye Wei Blog aka Wild Taste: 2011's Greatest Hits

Ah yes, time for the yearly ritual. Along with showing off your favorite music, these kind of lists are useful to share with other music nuts who crave to learn about what's been good out there (not to mention helping the compiler remember what the hell they liked in the past year). Also, even though I participate in a number of music polls (Pazz/Jop, Blurt, Perfect Sound Forever), I hate to keep giving the impression that I only enjoyed 10 records each year and didn't care about anything else!

I tried to track down links that would let you hear all the albums or songs if you're curious or at least give out the artists' websites to look for their music there. Despite my research, I probably flubbed some of the label info so feel free to correct me on that.

One thing that I'm embarrassed about is that there's only one jazz record in my new releases list and that's my fault obviously and not the genre- for good lists on new jazz releases of 2011, I'd recommend A Blog Supreme, Fred Kaplan, Dark Forces Swing Blind Punches, Rhapsody, Tom Hull and whatever Ben Ratliff comes up with.

NEW STUFF

M.I.A. Vicki Leekx (vickileekx.com)
Wild Flag Wild Flag (Merge)
Black Keys El Camino (Nonesuch)
British Sea Power Valhalla Dancehall (Rough Trade)
T-Model Ford and GravelRoad Taledragger (Alive)
Hayes Carll KMAG YOYO (& other American stories) (Lost Highway)
Lykke Li Wounded Rhymes (Atlantic)
Los Chicharrons Roots of Life (Tummy Touch)
tUnE-yArDs w h o k i l l (4AD)
Lupe Fiasco Lasers (Atlantic)
Portugal The Man In the Mountain In the Cloud (Atlantic)
Various Artists Air Textures Volume 1 (Air Textures)
The Roots Undun (Def Jam)
Childish Gambino Camp (Glassnote)
Miranda Lambert Four the Record (Sony Nashville)
TV on the Radio Nine Types of Light (Interscope)
The Limousines Get Sharp (Orchard City)
STS The Illustrious (stsisgold.com)
Mazes A Thousand Heys (Fat Cat)
The Weeknd House of Balloons (weeknd.com)
Dum Dum Girls He Gets Me High (Sub Pop)
Common The Dreamer/The Believer (Think Common)
Let's Wrestle Nursing Home (Merge)
The Front Bottoms The Front Bottoms (Bar/None)
Yuck Yuck (Fat Possom)
Jill Scott The Light of the Sun (Warner Bros)
Rose Hill Drive Americana (Slow and Shirley)
The Fruit Bats Tripper (Sub Pop)
Kembe X Self Rule (no label)
Sleeping in the Aviary You and Me, Ghost (Science of Sound)
Prince Polo Brooklyn Bodega (DubShot)
Viva Brother Famous First Words (A&M)
Omar Souleyman Haflat Gharbia- The Western Concerts (Sublime Frequencies)
Occult Detective Club Crimes (Alive)
Lupe Fiasco Friend of the People (no label)
Robert Scott Ends Run Together (Flying Nun, 2010)
Seun Anikulapo Kuti & Egypt 80 From Africa With Fury: Rise (Knitting Factory)
Dominique Young Unique Glamorous Touch Mixtape (Art Jam)
R.E.M. Collapse Into Now (Warner Bros)
Battles Gloss Drop (Warp)
Bombino Agadez (Cumbancha)
Milos Mediterraneo (Deutsche Grammophon)
The Postelles The Postelles (+1)
Middle Brother Middle Brother (Partisan)
Los Massieras Better than Italian (Clone)
Pains of Being Pure At Heart Belong (Slumberland)
Raphael Saadiq Stone Rollin' (Columbia)
Sonia Leigh 1978 December (Southern Ground)
McKnight & Bogdal Zombie Nation (Indie Extreme)
Tracy Nelson Victim of the Blues (Delta Groove Productions)
Beastie Boys Hot Sauce Committee Pt. 2 (Capitol)
Eilen Jewell Queen of the Minor Key (Signature)
Stephen Marley Revelation Part 1: The Root of Life (Universal/Tough Gong)
Pete Rock, Smif N Wessun Monumental (Duck Down)
Gold-Bears Are You Falling in Love? (Slumberland)
The Axis of Awesome Animal Vehicle (Laughspin)
Jay-Z/Kanye West Watch the Throne (Def Jam)
Blondie Panic of Girls (Noble ID)
Das Racist Relax (Red General)
Tom Waits Bad As Me (Anti-)
Kitty, Daisy & Lewis Smoking in Heaven (Verve)
Lunch Lunch EP (Mightier Than Sword)
Prefuse 73 The Only She Chapter (Warp)
The Chain Gang of 1974 Wayward Fire (Modern Art)
Hayvanlar Alemi Guarana Superpower (Sublime Frequencies)
Sidi Toure & Friends Sahel Folk (Thrill Jockey)
Sean Jones No Need For Words (Mack Avenue)
Antietam Tenth Life (Carrot Top)
Harold Budd In the Mist (Darla)
Brain F= Sleep Rough (Grave Mistake)
Barreracudas Nocturnal Missions (Douchemaster)
Various Artists Unclassified (Adult Swim)
Andy Petr Rapper Turned Singer (Mixpak)
Thievery Corporation Culture of Fear (Eighteenth Street)
Swimsuit Swimsuit (Speakertree)
Milo I Wish My Brother Rob Was Here (miloraps.com)
Brad Paisley This is Country (Arista)
Danny Paul Grody In Search of Light (Students of Decay)
Smith Westerns Dye It Blonde (Fat Possom)
Deaf Center Owls and Splinters (Type)
Flying Lotus Cosmogramma Alt Takes (Warp)
Various Artists Sofrito: Tropical Discotheque (Strut)
Kendrick Lamar Section.80 (Top Dawg Entertainment)
Chicago Blues A Living History The (R)evolution Continues (Raisin' Music)
James Blackshaw Holly EP (Important)
Fennesz + Sakamoto Flumina (Touch)
Shackleton Fireworks (Honest Jon's)
Various Artists SMM: Context (Ghostly International)
Shackleton Fabric 55 (Fabric)
J-Rocc Some Cold Rock Stuf (Stones Throw)
Evolution Control Committee All Rights Reserved (Seeland 2010)
Resoe The Black Void Of Space (Echocord)
Justice of the Unicorns Animals Will Be Stoned (Little Lamb)
Spook Houses The Home EP (bandcamp.com)

SINGLES

Azealia Banks "212" (no label)
Mark Ronson & The Business Intl "Record Collection 2012" (Kitsuné)
Hail Mary Mallon "Meter Feeder" (Rhymesayers)
The Limousines "Internet Killed The Video Star" (Orchard City)
Mikal Cronin "Apathy" (Trouble In Mind)
The Milk "(All I Wanted Was) Danger" (Naim Audio)
Chiddy Bang "Rebel" (prettymuchamazing.com)
Adele "Rumour Has It" (Columbia)
The Chain Gang of 1974 "Devil is A Lady" (Modern Art)
Emika "Save It" (Ninja Tune)
Reema Major "Double Time" (G7)
Let's Wrestle "In Dreams Part II" (Merge)
Lil Wayne "6 Foot 7 Foot (feat. Cory Gunz)" (Cash Money)
Zeds Dead "1975" (no label)
Wire "Two Minutes" (pinkflag)
Doc Ish "She Did It Again" (feat. Crooked I & Billy Danze) (In Ya Head)
Poncho featuring Shannon Funchess "D.I.S.C.O." (no label)
Stooshe "Betty Woz Gone" (WM UK)
Jay-Z and Kanye West "Welcome to the Jungle" (Def Jam)
Tapes 'n Tapes "Freak Out" (ibid)
Sub Swara featuring Dead Prez "Speak My Language" (Low Motion)
Art Brut "Axel Rose" (The End-Cooking Vinyl)
Maritime "Annihilation Eyes" (Dangerbird)
The Sway Machinery & Khaira Arby "Gawad Teriamou" (JDub)
Unknown Mortal Orchestra "Ffunny Frends (The Naked And Famous Remix)" (Fat Possom/Ryko)
Daphne Willis "Do What You Want" (Vanguard)
Wax Idols "Gold Sneakers" (Hovac)
Los Campesinos! "Songs About Your Girlfriend" (Arts & Craft)
Divide & Kreate "Crazy in the deep" [Gnarles Barkley vs. Adele] (no label)
Telekinesis "I Got You" (Merge)
E-40 Featuring T-Pain "Serious" (Heavy on Grind)
Mountain Goats "Damn These Vampires" (Merge)
Two Door Cinema Club "Something Good Can Work" (Glassnote)
Robyn "Call Your Girlfriend (Feed Me Remix)" (Interscope)
White Town "Your Woman" (The White Panda Remix ft. Dorrough) (no label)
Dave Alvin "Johnny Ace Is Dead" (Yep Roc)
The Roots "The OtherSide" (Def Jam)
Weekend "Hazel" (Slumberland)
Paul Simon "So Beautiful or So What" (Hear Music)
Headless Horseman "Wavlngth" (bandcamp.com)
Cee-Lo "The Ol' Sauseej" (no label)
Evan Roth "Mashed Up Mashup" (evanroth.com)
Cloud Nothings "Understand At All" (Carpark)
Radiohead "Supercollider" (Ticker Tape Ltd)
Brenton Duvall "Time For What You Want (Biggie & Semisonic)" (no label)
Wild Flag "Future Crimes" (Merge)
Black Keys "Lonely Boy" (Nonesuch)
Jeffrey Lewis "Cult Boyfriend" (Rough Trade)
New Cassettes "Silent Guns" (N13 Music)
Poly Styrene "No Rockefeller" (Future Noise Music)
Xray Eyeballs "Egyptian Magician" (Kanine)
The Vaccines "If You Wanna" (Columbia)
Gui Boratto "Stems from Hell" (Kompakt)
Swizz Beatz (featuring Eve) "Everyday (Coolin')" (Everest)
Tycho "Hours (Teen Daze remix)" (Ghostly International)
High Places "Altos Lugares" (Thrill Jockey)
Major Lazer "Keep It Going Louder (So Shifty Remix)" (Mad Descent)
LCD Soundsystem "New York I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down" (Live at Madison Square Garden) (no label)