List Regret

It’s an occupational hazard, list regret. My occupation is Record Store Clerk, which is a calling as well as an occupation. And a livelihood. Every year we are called upon by the company to distill a year of music into a Top 10 list of the things we listened to since the last time we made the list. We all take it pretty seriously and invest enormous amounts of thought and energy into our selections. And, invariably, upon submission and publication, the gnawing begins. The second guessing. The regret. It’s insidious. So, I am going to list them here, the ones I left off the 1-10 list. They all could easily be on there. But I had to make decisions. And I decided …

11. Youth Lagoon – Savage Hills Ballroom
12. Chelsea Wolfe – Abyss
13. Hillfolk Noir – Pop Songs for Elk
14. Jeff Crosby – Waking Days
15. Corb Lund – Things That Can’t Be Undone
16. Sleaford Mods – Key Markets
17. Built To Spill – Untethered Moon
18. Brett Netson and Snakes – Scavenger Cult
19. Foul Weather – Soft Opening
20. Mint Mile – In Season and Ripe

And so on. There is so much great music out there. Some stuff I didn’t have any time to listen to, much less absorb. And that doesn’t even take into account things from the past that demand re-listening. And then you see the things your compatriots put on their list that you listened to a lot all year, then forgot about. You still liked it though. Like, Julia Holter and Posse.

21. Goatsnake – Black Age Blues

I could go on. But I will end it here. I stand by my original list. There is some really great stuff on there. Be open. I’m glad to have an avenue to share my love of music with people.

22. Moon Duo – Shadow of the Sun

See? And we didn’t even get into the live shows. Like Clarke and the Himselfs at Treefort. And, Treefort in general. So much music. It’s glorious.