Album of the Year: 2011 was a great year for music. Bon Iver, Foo Fighters, Yuck, The Drums, The Strokes, Florence + the Machine, Dum Dum Girls, Mates of State and Lykke Li all put out solid albums. But three albums stood out from the pack this year. In third place, the Jay-z/Kanye collaboration The Throne was everything I expected it to be and more. I limited myself to just putting one of the WTT songs in my top ten list below, but I easily could have included a few more like "No Church in the Wild." First and second place was an extremely close race between the Civil Wars's Barton Hollow and Wild Flag's self-titled debut. As you'll see below, the same bands duked it out for Concert of the Year honors as well. I ended up giving Wild Flag the nod for best concert and the Civil Wars the nod for best album. The Wild Flag songs are a little better live, while the Civil Wars' tracks stand up recorded a bit better. But it was a very close race. So you should check out both albums if you haven't already.
Music Video of the Year: Gaga had a lot of videos this year, of which "Judas" was my favorite. I also appreciated Wild Flag's "Electric Band" and Laura Stevenson and the Cans' "Master of Art." But it was hard to top the celebrity-filled short film that the Beastie Boys put out for "Make Some Noise":
Best Cover: I really like the covers that Lissie busts out live, the best of which is clearly "Pursuit of Happiness" by Kid Cudi. But I have to give this one to Wild Flag's rendition of Patti Smith's "Ask the Angels" during their encore at the Black Cat in March. It nearly melted my face off.
Songs of the Year:
Commercially Successful Song that Deserved Every Bit of Praise It Got: Adele all the way.
Concert of the Year: Lots of great concerts in D.C. this year. The Civil Wars played an intimate show out at Jammin' Java before they blew up. The Go! Team, Yeasayer, and Lykke Li all rocked the 9:30 Club. The Drums were great at the Black Cat and Typhoon had a great show with Lady Lamb the Beekeeper at 6th and I. I was also pleased to finally see Soundgarden at the Patriot Center on my birthday this summer. But great as all those shows were, there can only be one winner, and that was clearly Wild Flag's first D.C. show at the Black Cat in March. They didn't even have an album out yet but the energy of the sold out crowd was through the roof and Carrie, Mary, Rebecca and Janet put on a blistering performance including the aforementioned best cover of the year. Their return show to the Black Cat in the fall was a bit of a letdown, mostly because it would be near impossible to top their performance in March.
Guilty Pleasure of the Year: I love me some "Gucci Gucci" by Kreayshawn.
Internet Meme of the Year: I greatly enjoyed Hipster Little Mermaid and Feminist Ryan Gosling. But I own two honey badger t-shirts, a stuffed animal honey badger, and named my pub trivia team 'Honey Badgers', so obviously this is my favorite meme that caught fire this year:
Sports Event of the Year: Let's just say that I'm enjoying Tebow Time. A lot.
Celebrity Moment of the Year: Hint: he has one speed and he does a drug called 'Charlie Sheen'.
Movie of the Year: I didn't see as many movies this year as I normally do. And I've been especially bad about making it out to the films that have gotten rave reviews. Of the stuff I did see, I enjoyed Crazy. Stupid. Love. Probably more than I should have. But as for movie parodies, I do have a clear favorite -- Wes Anderson's Scream:
Best TV of the Year: For my money, Parks and Rec remains the funniest show on TV. As for new shows, I got sucked into Game of Thrones. I can't wait til it returns in April. Winter is coming...
2012 Pop Culture Moment that I'm Most Looking Forward to: The pending return of Garbage and the Stone Roses!
2011 Pop Culture Moment that Made Me Super Sad: Rilo Kiley broke up.


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