Best Songs of 2011 - Continued

Don't forget to check out songs 10 - 6 and the Honorable Mentions here.

5. Adele - Someone Like You
I had to include SOMETHING by Adele since she's the #1 selling artist of the year (worldwide sales of the album have passed 13 million!). This video gives some background behind the song, which is always interesting since she's the one that wrote it.



4. Cults - Go Outside
I expect a lot out of this band in the near future.  Mark them down as someone to go see live in 2012.



3. Dirty Gold - California Sunrise
This was my summer song and it will forever put me in a beach mindset.  It makes me want to go surfing right now... as I sit in Atlanta in December.




2. The Naked and Famous - Young Blood
I saw this band live in Austin back in April at the best concert lineup I've ever seen (along with Freelance Whales and Foals).  You're probably starting to hear them on the radio, but they just finished their US tour.  Catch them when they come back around.



And the #1 song of the year goes to...

Gotye ft. Kimbra - Somebody That I Used To Know
I first posted this song back in April.  I've actually heard this song on the radio a few weeks ago, so you might see them become popular.  The lyrics are powerful and personally relevant to me.  Enjoy!



I know I'm leaving off some really great music.  The Black Keys, Noah and the Whale, Motorcade, Two Door Cinema Club, Grouplove, Matthew Mayfield, Death Cab for Cutie, Peter Bjorn and John all come to mind.  Looking back at this, I definitely could have made it a Top 20 list instead of 10!  But I'll stick with the format, and you'll just have to use the keyword 'music' in the upper left corner of this page to see the posts I've had throughout the year.

So, what else did I miss? Let me know. Post links in comments

Here's to more great music in 2012!

The Foals in Austin

Taking a break between sets

Rameen and I reunited in Austin this past weekend although it has only been a few weeks since I saw him in Houston. We planned this trip to see The Foals play live months before UK made the Final Four. I've been listening to a lot of XM radio lately, and coincidentally both of the opening bands (The Naked and Famous and Freelance Whales) are in rotation on Alt Nation. This was going to be a rocking show.

We decided on Austin because it was a city I'd never been to and was supposed to be really fun. The band came through LA and Dallas - boring. Let's try something new. Disco, an American friend I made in Sydney, was back in the States (temporarily - he got the bug and is moving back to Oz) and lived in Austin so he joined us at the concert.

My flight was delayed so the guys picked me up directly from the airport and we headed to the show. I took my new camera along and got some pretty cool shots throughout the night. The venue was La Zona Rosa and it was a pretty good place to watch a show - intimate, but not too small.

As far as lineups go, this was probably the best show I've ever seen.  All three bands really rocked out.  Here is the set list of Foals as I tried to note it during the show. It was kind of hard because some of their songs blend together.

Blue Blood
Olympic Airways
Total Life Forever
Cassius
Miami
After Glow
Black Gold
2 Trees
Spanish Sahara
Red Socks Pugie
Electric Bloom

Encore:
(Unknown) - (New Song)
The French Open
Two Steps, Twice

I took a ton of pictures; here are some of my best shots from the night.