DOWNLOAD HERE or COVER STORY HERE

The end of the year is upon us, and this is usually the time when magazines publish their ”Best of” lists. Before we get to that, I want to offer my sincerest thanks to those of you who help us publish the mag every month. The writers, the photographers, the interns, and all of the artists who feed us great music and stories throughout the year. We couldn’t do this without you, and I probably don’t say thanks as often as I should.

2011 was a great year – we were able to report on musicians from all corners of the globe, we featured female artists on consecutive covers for the first time in recent memory, and we revamped the website to provide more exciting audio/video content. We were also exposed to a wealth of great music from independent and DIY artists. In fact, I urge you to visit the Performer Playlist section of our website to listen to the all the great music featured in each issue.

So without further ado, below is a list (in no particular order) of our favorite records of the past year. Enjoy, and we’ll see you again in 2012. Well, maybe. Hopefully the Mayans got it wrong…

Brown Bird – Salt for Salt

Baby Baby – Money

Hannah Miller – O Black River

DOM – Sun Bronzed Greek Gods

The Trews – Hope & Ruin

Marc Broussard – Marc Broussard

Making Friendz – Social Life

Metal Mother – Bonfire Diaries

White Orange – White Orange

Kae Sun – Outside the Barcode

Tommy Stinson – One Man Mutiny

Bass Drum of Death – GB City

Adele – 21

-Benjamin Ricci

Editor

P.S. – Last month we mistakenly referred to Caroline Smith’s drummer as Alan (pg. 23), when in fact his name is Arlen. Unfortunately, we only realized our mistake when shipping copies of the magazine to the band. So to you, Arlen, whose name is infinitely superior to Alan, we offer our sincerest apologies. And to all the Alans in the world, we’re just sorry your name isn’t Arlen. I’m sure you feel the same.