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Ambient music is always something that I’ve appreciated, but never fully engaged in. My first real experience with the genre was on a late night drive back from Philadelphia with my dad, when we could find nothing else on the radio to listen to but the excellent...

Cate Le Bon – CYRK When I saw Cate Le Bon open for St. Vincent last February, I had only one real criticism: she needed a band. Thankfully, CYRK, her sophomore album, fixes that, and provides excellent results. Le Bon focuses not so much on catchy hooks or...

Editor’s note: We caught up with last semester’s abroad columnist to get her own top tracks from last year. The verdict: club bangers and chillwave. These two picks would mos def be on a list had I compiled my favorite tunes from 2011, but it‰'s early in...

I am from Las Vegas, Nevada. Las Vegas calls to all the outsiders to unite in this seemingly small city. Nothing surprises me anymore. From the time I was ten I could have named 20 strip clubs. My middle school English teacher was once a stripper. I‰'ve seen a drunk...

I can honestly say I‰'ve never seen a live performance of a movie score, much less heard of the concept, until now. In late November, English band 65daysofstatic took their alternative score of the 1972 sci-fi flick “Silent Running‰” to the Duke of York Picture House...

Radiohead – The King of Limbs Unfortunately, one of the best albums of the year (in my opinion) has been subject to some of the worst qualities of the music-listening world: shallowness, self-righteousness, and stubbornness. Listeners who were waiting for a...

Lou Reed and Metallica – Lulu I know what they say about Lulu. But I listened anyway, and found out they‰'re completely wrong. The negativity surrounding Lulu started before the album even came out, with critics tearing apart the odd combination of Lou‰'s...

The Front Bottoms – The Front Bottoms Did your 2011 lack the dark comedy lyrics of folk punk, the danceable melodies of your favorite 2009 synth-pop band, the belting choruses of your emotional middle school years, and the DIY New Jersey attitude? Have no fear,...

Frank Ocean – Nostalgia, Ultra. With his first major release, Frank Ocean emerges as a broken-hearted sensitive crooner (a.k.a. an oddball) in the OFWGKTA crew, the angry youth-driven group that the public has deemed to be the worst thing since unsliced bread....

In 2011, one DJ’s guilty pleasure was another‰'s song of the year. At some point, your favorite embarrassing Top 40 jam probably earned a spot among some publication‰'s best tracks of the year, from the overwrought (“Someone Like You‰Û) to the nonsensical...