Gini here. Is it time for those Top 10 lists already? My stars, I do believe it is. Here’s my happy listening tally for 2011:

1. Diego Garcia - Laura (buy on Amazon)

2. Destroyer - Kaputt (buy on Amazon)

3. Lydia Loveless - Indestructible Machine (buy on Amazon)

4. Centro-matic – Candidate Waltz (Buy on Amazon)

5. Telekinesis! - 12 Desperate Straight Lines (Buy on Amazon)

6. Portugal. The Man - In The Mountain, In The Cloud (Buy on Amazon)

7. Black Keys – El Camino (Buy on Amazon)

8. Calhoun - Heavy Sugar (Buy on Amazon)

9. Real Estate - Days (Buy on Amazon)

10. Dum Dum Girls - Only In Dreams (Buy on Amazon)

If you happen to purchase these albums through the links above, KXT 91.7 will receive a portion of the proceeds!  Cool! 

- Gini M.

OK, any time someone asks, “What’s your favorite song?” – I just freeze up and my heart skips a beat, because let’s face it – there are just way too many moments of shining brilliance out there and so little time to hear ‘em all, dang it.  Right off the bat, though – I can tell you one of them happens to be called “Favorite,” it’s written and sung by the wonder that is Neko Case, and it never fails to go straight to my gut.  Back in July, when she opened her Pitchfork set with it, angels crooned, the Chicago humidity suddenly didn’t seem all that godawful, and the crowd’s collective reverent ear was never quite the same.  Probably even more so with the subsequent and uproarious, unrepeatable onstage banter between Neko and her sidekick, the incomparable Kelly Hogan, whom I just can’t get enough of - and who also has her own solo album coming out on Anti- in 2012.  Bring it…

- Gini M.