Ho Ho Ho!  Here’s some suggestions if you’d like to give (or receive) the gift of music this holiday season whether it is boxed or unboxed.

Top Ten Albums of 2011
1. Paul Simon; So Beautiful or So What
2. Tom Waits; Bad as Me
3. Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi: Rome
4. Wilco; The Whole Love
5. Wild Flag; Wild Flag
6. Feist; Metals
7. Real Estate; Days
8. Girls; Father, Son, Holy Ghost
9. John Hiatt; Dirty Jeans & Mudslide Hymns
10. Radiohead; The King of Limbs

Ten Essential Albums of 2011 by NYC Artists
– Thurston Moore; Demolished Thoughts
– The Strokes; Angles
– KJ Denhart; Album No.9
– Battles; Gloss Drop
– Mike Doughty; Yes and Also Yes
– Tre Williams & The Revelations; Concrete Blues
– Steve Bernstein’s Millennial Territory Orchestra; MTO Plays Sly
– The Gaddabouts; The Gaddabouts
– Kirsten Thien; Delicious
– Asobi Seksu; Fluorescence

Honorable Mentions 10
– Mr. Heavenly; Out of Love
– Gillian Welch: The Harrow & The Harvest
– Black Keys: El Camino
– The Kills; Blood Pressures
– Wye Oak; Civillians
– Greenhornes; Four Stars
– Fountains of Wayne: Sky Full of Holes
– The Head & The Heart; The Head & The Heart
– The Vaccines; What Did You Expect from The Vaccines?
– Mocean Worker; Candygram for Mowo

Songs of the Year
Lykke Li; Get Some
Amy Correia; Powder Blue Trans-Am
Garland Jeffreys: Roller Coaster Town

Covers of the Year
Norah Jones: Jesus Etc. (Wilco)
James Blake: Limit to Your Love (Feist)

Top Twelve Concerts of 2011
1 Paul Simon at Webster Hall
2 LCD Soundsystem at Terminal 5
3 Deervana (Deer Tick playing Nirvana) at Brooklyn Bowl
4 Shemekia Copeland at Allen Room, Lincoln Center
5 FUV Holiday Cheer w Mavis Staples, Josh Ritter, The Head & The Heart, and Dawes
at the Beacon.
6 Mose Allison at Jazz Standard
7 Gang of Four at Irving Plaza
8 Peter Gabriel at Ed Sullivan Theater
9 Matthew Sweet at City Winery
10 Queens of the Stone Age &
11 Kyuss Lives at Terminal 5
12 Steely Dan at the Beacon Royal Scam Night