My favorite jazz tracks of 2011: Spotify playlist

More recent jazz links:

JazzTimes.com: The Top 50 Jazz Releases of 2011

TimeOut New York: The 25 essential New York City jazz icons

From The New Yorker’s archives (David Remnick: 2008): 100 Essential Jazz Albums

My favorite music of the first half of 2011:

Drowning in new music, there’s much from the first half of the year I’ve still to absorb, but the following are nine albums (no specific order), I particularly have enjoyed:

Diana Jones: “High Atmosphere”
The Antlers: “Burst Apart”
My Morning Jacket: “Circuital”
PJ Harvey: “Let England Shake”
The Rural Alberta Advantage: “Departing”
Nicolas Jaar: “Space is Only Noise”
One Hundred Dollars: “Songs of Man”
Woods: “Sun and Shade”
James Blake: “James Blake”

More “Best of 2011 so far”:
Stereogum: Top 20 Albums of 2011 So Far
SPIN
: The 25 Best Albums of 2011 So Far
Toronto Star: The Best Albums of 2011
Drowned in Sound: 11 Favorite Albums of the First Half of 2011
Quietus: 40 Albums of the Year So Far
Bleep: Best of 2011 So Far

06/22/2011: 

My favorite music of 2010:

Song:
“The Dreamer”
by The Tallest Man on Earth

Album:
“Lisbon
by The Walkmen

A few other favorites of 2010 (no order):

“Learning” by Perfume Genius
“Joe Hill’s Ashes” by Otis Gibbs
“Halcyon Digest” by Deerhunter
“Teen Dream” by Beach House
“Orkanen närmar sig by Pascal
“Epic” by Sharon Van Etten
“Meet Me at the Muster Station” by PS I Love You

01/3/2011: 

Granta has announced its Best of Young Spanish-Language Novelists issue. To be published first in Spanish as Los mejores narradores jovenes en español with an English edition to follow on November 25th. The novelists:

ANDRÉS BARBA – Spain, b. 1975
OLIVERIO COELHO – Argentina, b. 1977
ANDRÉS RESSIA COLINO – Uruguay, b. 1977
FEDERICO FALCO – Argentina, b. 1977
PABLO GUTIÉRREZ – Spain, b. 1978
RODRIGO HASBÚN – Bolivia, b. 1981
SÒNIA HERNÁNDEZ – Spain, b. 1976
CARLOS LABBÉ – Chile, b. 1977
JAVIER MONTES – Spain, b. 1976
ELVIRA NAVARRO – Spain, b. 1978
MATÍAS NÉSPOLO – Argentina, b. 1975
ANDRÉS NEUMAN – Argentina, b. 1977
ALBERTO OLMOS – Spain, b. 1975
POLA OLOIXARAC – Argentina, b. 1977
ANTONIO ORTUÑO – Mexico, b. 1976
PATRICIO PRON – Argentina, b. 1975
LUCÍA PUENZO – Argentina, b. 1976
SANTIAGO RONCAGLIOLO – Peru, b. 1975
ANDRÉS FELIPE SOLANO – Colombia, b. 1977
SAMANTA SCHWEBLIN – Argentina, b. 1978
CARLOS YUSHIMITO – Peru, b. 1977
ALEJANDRO ZAMBRA – Chile, b. 1975

The Library Journal on Steampunk’s twenty core titles, including both the classics and more recent works.

03/5/2010: