Music

Well, here we are friends! Though it seems like we just welcomed 2011 in, but its final days are winding down. That can only mean one thing—a deluge of fantabulous end-of-year lists to help us remember and commemorate the 12 months that was! In addition to being a wild year for me personally, 2011 was a fantastic year for writing, books, music, etc! To celebrate, some friends and I organized a week-long blog circus where we’ll share some of the best albums, books, and characters that we discovered in 2011 (not necessarily things that were new this year), and we’ll also look ahead to what’s in store for 2012!

We’re kicking it off today with the list of the best in writing music. Everyone’s different when it comes to writing—some prefer silence, some a loud cafe, some prefer full albums and some curated playlists. I go through phases, but usually you can find me using long playlists consisting of several full albums that help me lose myself in the music, the moment, I own it… oh—wait. No. No, Eminem did not make this list.

Here are my top 5 for 2011 (in no particular order), and the links to everyone else’s response is at the bottom!

The Civil Wars “Barton Hollow”

This is about as Prairie Home Companion as I get, I’ve got to say, and what pushes this group past twangy kitsch is their undercurrent of southern gothic (best represented here). To me, the best of their music embodies the delightful American myth of a part of the country where the ghosts of your ancestors and their mistakes are nearby, haunting. Where long walks through never-quite-silent forests can lead you to any generation’s hell. If you’re writing a book that’s a little creepy and/or a lot wicked, I’d recommend adding one or two of these songs to your playlist.

Radiohead “The King of Limbs”

Radiohead is my spirit animal. One day, many years ago, I was a 13-year old punk endeavoring to download the entirety of Napster when I decided to search for songs with the name “Sarah” in them. I was in the market for a theme song because, obviously. I came across Lucky, and my universe tilted half a degree to the left. My friend Jessica recently used Radiohead as a verb to describe something that was so beautiful, and so sad, that it made you feel joyful in this nihilistic, invincible way. I almost kissed her because it was so, so perfect. ALL THIS TO SAY. Radiohead has made me feel inspired, and helped me unlock my inner weird, creative person for more than half my life. I love them, and I love that they consistently put out new music like this, that works so, so well to write to.

Jeff Buckley “Grace”

I know guys, I KNOW. I am THAT girl who is putting Jeff Buckley on her playlist. But there is simply nothing more gorgeous and haunting than this man’s voice, and for some reason listening to this CD while I was writing this year unlocked a certain character completely for me. If you haven’t listened to Jeff Buckley before, you absolutely must (but you might want to be sitting on a porch on a warm summer evening with a bottle of wine to get the total effect).

Ray LaMontagne and the Pariah Dogs, “God Willing and the Creek Don’t Rise”

If you’re writing a song about two young people dealing with crippling loneliness in the far west desert of Texas … Ray does the trick.

1. Local Natives “Gorilla Manor”

Ethereal, surf-pop inspired, steady beats, vocals in three-part harmony… Yeah, this album was basically my complete and utter jam. It struck that perfect balance between ‘soothing enough to be background music’ and ‘fantastic enough to just listen to normally at other times’.

And in honor of the #1 pick, I will also share one of my absolute favorite online videos of all time, a French online music magazine’s live version of Local Natives’ song, “Who Knows Who Cares.”