DJ Top Ten Lists

Tallying an entire year’s worth of airplay takes a little time, especially since KCRW famously has no playlists and over 20 DJs who handpick each and every song.
It’s a beautiful thing.  And the resulting list is a melange of all their unique tastes. It’s always so interesting to see which artists cross over on many DJ playlists. If you want to know, take a …

With every ending, a new beginning…and so it goes with all these damned year-end lists.
Now that you know just about what everyone thought was the best thing in 2012, I’m gonna go ahead and shake things up and get a head start on next year’s “Best of” list by running off a partially speculative list of albums I personally am looking forward to listening …

The end of the year is always the time when us music fans reflect back on the year that was.
But, greedy listeners that we are, we can’t help but to look forward to promised records on the horizon from some of our favorite artists. And while there are always the pipe dreams that might finally come to pass (new releases from My Bloody …

Top 10 Reissues of 2012 from Mathieu Schreyer
1. Henri Guedon – “Cosmozouk Percussions” (Superfly Records)
2. Michael Chapman — “Rainmaker” (Light in the Attic)
3. Marvin Gaye — “Trouble Man, Expanded Edition” (Hip O Select)
4. Ohio Penitentiary 511 Ensemble — “Hard Luck Soul” (Jazzman Records)
5. Blo — “Step Three” (Hot Casa)
6. FJ McMahon — “Spirit of the Golden Juice” (Sacred Bones Records)
7. Myrian Makenwa — “La …

From KCRW Presents Coordinator Mary Chellamy:
This is not just another ‘Top 10 Albums of 2012′ list. Nope, it’s a combo list! Top 10 Albums + Top 10 Live Performances of 2012.
As the keeper of the KCRW Presents calendar and ticket giveaways program, I see A LOT of shows.  So here are my favorite albums coupled with their live performances from this past year.
and …

When RR approached me to put together a list of my favorite local albums, I was really excited. Then when I began working on it, I was surprised by how much I had to rack my brain to come up with local albums that really made an impact on me.
That’s when I realized that my relationship to local music has changed so much in …

Another banner year for Dance Music, 2012 saw a number of truly stunning releases from new talent like Disclosure, Casino Times, San Laurentino, LOL Boys and Suzanne Kraft and solid bangers from classic names like I:Cube and Todd Edwards. Epic psychedelic trips from the Pachanga Boys and Juju & Jordash and contemplative love jams from Lovelock and Kindness.
It was hard to distill this list…as …

My top 10 list can be summed us thusly – I like guitars. And strong voices. And I dabble in dance and soul. Mostly I like to be lifted up, but occasionally I like to be contemplative. Ok, I guess I like a little of everything.
Either way, these albums got the most spins in my house/car over 2012 and I expect to listen to …

Look, the fact is Top Ten lists get exhaustive around the end of November but everyone still likes to look through them to either validate their own opinions or tear down someone else’s. And the truth of the matter is, that any one of these albums could easily be redacted to 11-20 or barely make a top 30. That’s why people have honorable mentions …

Sped up or slowed down. Ironic or painstakingly sincere. Blown up or stripped down. Cover songs can be approached many different ways, but there one element shared by all great covers: they must be EFFECTIVE.
Here are the most effective… the Top 10 Cover Songs of 2012.
1) ARIEL PINK’S HAUNTED GRAFFITI “BABY” (original: Donnie & Joe Emerson): Forget cover songs, this might top my list …