Juice with Junior

Well, we've made it through the first half of 2011. Can you believe it? I know, it seems like just yesterday I was… You know what?

Let's not dwell in the past.

Except when it comes to music and except when it comes to the past 6 months. One of my favorite activities this time of year is looking back and picking out what music from what artists really got us moving and grooving to the beat. I've selected a few choice numbers that I think you should have had in rotation on your personal music players, and if you haven't, this will get you caught up to speed in the year in music. Lastly, my list is far from exhaustive and is comprised of my own personal faves so by all means, submit your own favorite music of the year so far and I'll give it a listen.

I'm always in the mood for new music.

Alright, let's begin with that lady holding down the fort up there with her faux chinchilla fur covering her lady chest as I'm sure it was cold wherever she was. She is Beyoncé and her album "4" (June) was one of the more enjoyable albums of the first half of this year.

At times funky, at other times deliciously bombastic, and at other times the latter part of a West Philadelphia wedding reception in 1987, it was definitely the best total listening experience Bey has ever produced. The problem with a well-rounded album is that no single track can stand out and upstage the rest. The only track that comes close is a pounding Afrobeat/TV On the Radio homage called "End of Time" (listen at left). Seriously, she could have released an album of just this song played 14 times and I would have bought it twice.

Next let's talk about Teddy Thompson. The British alt-country folker (and son of Richard and Linda Thompson, friend to Rufus and Martha Wainwright) released "Bella" in February. A moving and delicately beautiful album, it is a companion to walking through fields and under covered bridges.

Try "The Next One," (click album title above for player) the most direct modern rock song and the best overall song on the album, for a refresher/introduction/slice of heaven.

Staying across the pond for a moment, ADELE released "21" (left) in January and proceeded to blow up the world (not to mention a certain Lady of American music royalty whom we will not be discussing in this post).

While I did not enjoy everything "21" had to offer (her voice is beautiful, but a variation in torch songs would have been nice), I loved "Rolling in the Deep" (and the video) just as much as the rest of the world. The song I enjoyed most from this album is track 2, "Rumour Has It" (below). It's Aretha/Etta/Mavis with a twist.

I demand a 1960s mod-styled video with a lot of shadows in angles, dancers in impossible stilettos, the longest of curly yaki weaves in Adele's head, knee-high boots, and downcast key lighting everywhere.

Let's talk about a few boys while we're doin' it and doin' it and doin' it well.

Moby released "Destroyed" in May. Better than "Wait for Me" but not as good as "Last Night" (and certainly not as good as "Play"), "Destroyed" is serviceable with a few flashes of brilliance like the bouncy, 90s-electro throwback "After." Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder's "Ukelele Songs" was pretty if only hindered by the fact that it's an album of songs for the ukelele. The standout is an epically beautiful Everly Brothers sing-a-long called "Sleepless Nights" with Glen Hansard, the guy who won the Oscar for writing that song from that movie that one time. I guess it's not a good sign that the song I picked is a cover, but how much ukelele can one man take?

Longtime soul/R&B creator Raphael Saadiq released 1960s inspired "Stone Rollin'" in May.

It seems curious that he would choose now to release this as the 60s sound has long since been dead as a musical trend, but the album is well produced (almost too well, the sound is as if it was created in the 60s, less than fresh) and catchy. Loving "Just Don't" and "Go to Hell" a lot...

My favorite is "Movin' Down the Line," a ditty I could see myself dancing to at a jive bar wearing a mustard mock turtleneck and high-water pants with a boy in thick black plastic eyeglasses frames.

Next is the second album by New York City collective Hercules and Love Affair called "Blue Songs" (left; January).

While the group's first self-titled album was so widely praised, I actually preferred this one to the first. The first is awash in 70s and 80s gay (bath)house music that is so technically perfect to the time and place, it loses the ability to have fun after awhile. "Songs," which picks up with a more 80s/90s sensibility and a host of new vocalists, is a little more energetic and takes itself less seriously. A few songs will def be on my party playlist this summer.

My favorite song is "Leonora," (left) meaning that I've listened to it almost 200 times since I put it on my iPod about two months ago! It's a sexy, twinkling disco tune about nothing and everything with a soft boy-girl tag team vocal offering something for everyone of any sexuality.

It will probably be my favorite Album Track of the Year, but we do have 6 months left.

I have a couple more before I hand over the mic. Danish electropop goddess and media darling Oh Land released her self-titled American debut in March. It's pretty much universally good with standouts being first single "Son of a Gun" and "Voodoo." British dubstep producer James Blake released his debut self-titled album also in March. It's interesting, but at some points slow (even for dubstep), with single "The Wilhelm Scream" being my favorite. Lastly, rapper Wiz Khalifa's "Rolling Papers" (March) features excellent production if weaker rhymes and does boast "Black and Yellow," one of the most addictive songs ever recorded. And alt rockers Cold War Kids released a terrible album "Mine Is Yours" in January. I mention it because there is one song I love on it called "Sensitive Kid."

It's worth a listen.


Now I've listened to more this year. Britney. J-Hud. k.d. but this is what made my iPod so far. Plus, I have a few more to listen to (here's looking at you Matt Nathanson (above)…) My work is never done! Now, what about you, what new music have you been indulging in for the past 6 months?