kmartini

ILSUDH2 still prefers to listen to albums in their entirety, which makes it very hard to put together a list of ‘best tracks’ at the end of each year.  This year was no exception.  Therefore, what follows is a massive soundtrack to the reality show known as 2011.  To say these songs represent the...
Read More »

There were countless releases in 2011 and ILSUDH2 got through over 600 of them.  Although it was very hard to decide what would make the list in this uneven year of music, these are the albums that defined 2011 for this blog. In order to give a clear picture of the past year, this...
Read More »

Metal, in all of its forms, played a huge part in the 2011 musical landscape.  In fact, it wouldn’t be going too far to say that extreme music in general made up a majority of the highlights in a year that provided too few.  Extreme music brings with it an extreme (and extremely opinionated...
Read More »

In a time when the naysayers are declaring the death of hip-hop, there is a rebirth happening in the underground scene.   If you dig deep — past the bloated carbon copies of a long gone golden era — you will find hip-hop.  It might not be recognizable to those who are assaulted with Top...
Read More »

In years past, ILSUDH2 has lumped these short-players in with their long playing brethren, but this year there were enough ‘bite-sized’ releases to warrant their own post.  Here are the Favorite EPs of 2011. * Spotify playlist at bottom of post 05. The Morning Clouds – Wasted Youth Blues (Lefse, 2011) ‘how do you...
Read More »

It was a year of over 200 acts at over 80 shows and 6 festivals in 6 states — and it all comes down to these 20 most memorable moments.  These are ILSUDH2′s Favorite Live Music Experiences of 2011. Prince 02.23.11 Oracle Arena, Oakland, CA seeing the Purple One for the first time Chelsea...
Read More »

The population of the music world grows at an exponential rate in these digital days in which we live, but we can thank these 40 new(ish) acts for bringing something unique to 2011 — something that didn’t exist the year before.  These are the acts that gave 2011 it’s personality.  These are ILSUDH2′s Favorite...
Read More »

Don’t call them Guns N’ Roses, but don’t mistake ‘Fat Axl’ for ‘Lazy Axl’.  In fact, although he might have 100 lbs on the serpentine, drug-addled dance machine in the “Welcome To The Jungle” video, Mr. Rose proved himself a better performer than he ever was back then.  When Guns N’ Roses came through...
Read More »

It’s not often that an artist can demand absolute attention with just a couple tracks — Chelsea Wolfe, Brittany Howard and Lana Del Ray (love her or hate her, she got your attention) are three that come to mind over the past twelve months — and now the piano-playing, heartbreaking, Doe Paoro can be...
Read More »

Year-end lists have become a dime-a-dozen.  Print publications are easily predictable (just count the ads per issue and you’ll have your list); the online publications put out so many mid-year and quarterly reviews that it’s no surprise when the big list is revealed.  And the bloggers are so busy trying to beat each other...
Read More »

After spending eight years as the sole female member of Drive-By Truckers, Shonna Tucker has decided to go her own way.  Serving as the bands bassist since Earl Hicks left after Decoration Day, Tucker took over the third singer-songwriter duties when Jason Isbell left in 2007 due to various reasons, chief among them his...
Read More »