I figured I might write a disclaimer for those of you who may or may not be waiting for a “This Year in…” article from me. Every god damn blog has their year end articles. I will be releasing the Top 11 Albums of 2011 before the end of this year. I promise. If I don’t, nightly self-flagellation (with a whip, that is) and turkey bacon for a whole year.
I’m very meticulous when it comes to rating albums. I have a formula; seriously (please see my article on spreadsheeting). If I’m reviewing an album by itself, I listen to it no less than 10 times in it’s entirety. For this article, because of the volume of music that I’m attempting to speak intelligently about, I have made at least 5 (usually more like 7) listens in an album’s entirety obligatory.
Let’s do some math. Supposing that your average LP is 42 minutes in length, I’m spending a minimum of three and a half hours on listening to each album. Then comes the research. I usually read at least one complete review and look up the artists’ bios on allmusic.com and wikipedia.org. 30-60 minutes. Finally, it is time to write the review. A full review can take up to two and a half hours to write. I am hoping that the blurb-ier reviews for the top albums of 2011 article will take around an hour a piece. Hoping. Low estimate per album: 3.5 hours + .5 hours + 1 hour = 5 hours. Shit.
2011 admittedly hasn’t been the most impressive year in recent musical memory; however, I did select 58 albums to consider. After some critical research and quick listens I was able to cull the list down to 33 albums. I intend to rate each and every one of these 33 albums in order to determine the Top 11 using my overly complicated and entirely silly music-rating equation. 13 rated, 20 to go. I’ve got my work cut out for me
Not to mention that the only time that I’ve been able to listen to music is in the car, or at home after work. My job does not allow music. It also happens to be one of the busiest times of the year at my job and I’ve been working 55 hour weeks. The only good thing is that the first thing I do after we lock our doors at 5pm is run to my car and grab my iPod so that I can work to music.
What else? Oh, how about the fact that I didn’t have an album released in 2011 on my iTunes until September? It’s been a crunch to say the least.
Long story short, I hope that the article comes out sounding at least two thirds-assed as opposed to half-assed. As sad as it is, a lot of effort goes into these articles regardless of whether or not they’re deemed worthy of reading. One of my New Years resolutions is to write better articles (there’s a long list of resolutions in a post to follow).
Well, back to rocking out and researching. Check back for the article!
the self-hating hipster 
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