Top 5 CD-Rs of 2011

I was raised on rock music, and in rock music the album format is of crucial importance. To this day how my brain interprets music is based around the album mindset, except that what I listen to is increasingly culled from a variety of sources rather than strictly from standard albums. So I've gotten into the habit of putting together definitive mixes that end up feeling and acting to me as though they were real albums.

2011 has been far and away the most lucrative year for music in my life, and that applies to CD-Rs & mixes as well. Here are just a handful of the mixes that have been most important to me this year.


#5 Raps

1. Fuck Wit Dre Day (And Everybody's Celebratin') -- Dr. Dre feat, Jewell, RBX, Snoop Dogg
2. Let Me Ride -- Dr. Dre feat. Jewell, Ruben
3. Who Am I (What's My Name?) -- Snoop Dogg
4. Gin and Juice -- Snoop Dogg
5. The Next Episode -- Dr. Dre feat. Nate Dogg, Snoop Dogg
6. Still D.R.E. -- Dr. Dre feat. Snoop Dogg
7. Nuthin' But a 'G' Thang -- Dr. Dre feat. Snoop Dogg
8. Tha Shiznit -- Snoop Dogg
9. The Day the Niggaz Took Over -- Dr. Dre feat. Daz, RBX, Snoop Dogg
10. Only God Can Judge Me -- 2Pac & Rappin' 4-Tay
11. Holla at Me -- 2Pac
12. Wonda Why They Call U Bitch -- 2Pac
13. Life Goes On -- 2Pac
14. Caught in a Hustle -- Immortal Technique

I'm not the most dedicated rap fan in the world, but I'm extremely passionate about the material that hits me. While most of this year was spent on exploring very recent pop music, I also had a soft spot for older g-funk rap. It's not a very diverse set but it's excruciatingly badass and combines, with a few notable omissions, most of my favorite rap songs of all-time.


#4 Pop 6: Dark Billboards


1. Skyscraper -- Demi Lovato
2. In The Dark -- Dev
3. Pocketful of Sunshine -- Natasha Bedingfield
4. Intuition -- Jewel
5. On The Floor -- Jennifer Lopez feat. Pitbull
6. Shots -- LMFAO feat. Lil Jon
7. Promiscuous -- Nelly Furtado feat. Timbaland
8. Electric Feel -- Katy Perry
9. Livin' The Vida Loca -- Ricky Martin
10. I Wanna Go -- Britney Spears
11. Friday -- Rebecca Black
12. Hold It Against Me -- Britney Spears
13. Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites -- Skrillex
14. Stay Here Forever -- Jewel

There have been so many great additions to my Pop series this year. This humble little collection I threw together to soothe my boredom when a new work schedule added a lot of walking to my routine, ended up gathering some of the the best songs I've ever heard: year-end classics Skyscraper & In The Dark, Nelly Furtado's magnum opus Promiscuous, and Jewel's beautifully sentimental Stay Here Forever, one of my favorite love songs.


#3 Mockingjay


1. Revolution Is My Name -- Pantera
2. American Flag -- Cat Power
3. Love The Way You Lie (piano) -- Rihanna
4. Straitjacket -- Alanis Morissette
5. Life Eternal -- Mayhem
6. Il etat une foret... -- Gris
7. The Fletcher Memorial Home -- Pink Floyd
8. Posession (piano) -- Sarah McLachlan
9. Glittering Blackness -- Explosions In the Sky
10. Fix a Heart -- Demi Lovato

I adore each of my three playlists inspired by the incredible Hunger Games series, but Mockingjay is the clear superior. It really captures the essence of the book's slide into disruption, madness, and psychological fatigue, while commanding an all-star cast of bands (considering none of them had to agree to be featured here).


#2 Annie On My Mind (Soundtrack)


1. Candlelight -- Imogen Heap
2. Super Bass -- Nicki Minaj
3. Again & Again -- The Bird & The Bee
4. The Best Day -- Taylor Swift
5. On The Radio -- Regina Spektor
6. In McDonalds -- Burial
7. We Are Broken -- Paramore
8. Fearless -- Pink Floyd
9. Thrasher -- Juniper Tar
10. Endorphin -- Burial
11. Brick By Boring Brick -- Paramore
12. All The Way to Heaven -- Melissa Etheridge
13. Misguided Ghosts -- Paramore
14. Fearless -- Taylor Swift

I felt Nancy Garden's all-time classic romance Annie On My Mind deserved a movie rendition so much, that I made up an imaginary soundtrack for it myself. I imediately couldn't stop listening to it, as it perfectly painted the novel in my head scene by scene, as well as culling several of my favorite love songs.


#1 Pop 4: Accelerating Horizons


1. Whip My Hair -- Willow
2. 21st Century Girl -- Willow
3. Tonight I'm Fucking You -- Enrique Eglasias
4. Fuck You -- Cee-Lo Green
5. Till The World Ends -- Britney Spears feat. Ke$ha & Nicki Minaj
6. Piece of Me -- Britney Spears
7. S&M -- Rihanna
8. What's My Name -- Rihanna & Drake
9. Thriller -- Michael Jackson
10. Billie Jean -- Michael Jackson
11. Beat It -- Michael Jackson
12. Who Says -- Selena Gomez
13. Never Say Never -- Justin Bieber
14. Grenade -- Bruno Mars
15. I'm Coming Home -- Diddy feat. Skyler Grey

While there are a few cuts I ought to have axed, this is probably the single strongest Pop collection since the original "Immaculate Pop, Volume One." With year-end bests like Selena's greatest accomplishment to-date Who Says, and the indelibly cool all-star Till The World Ends remix, 2010's greatest hits Fuck You and What's My Name, and a trio of the legendary Michael Jackson's primary jams, I sometimes wonder if I should have called it "Immaculate Pop, Volume Two."


Honorable Mentions: Dance Ether 1, Dance Ether 2, & Dance Ether 3


Over the year I made a trio of discs featuring the most jaw-droppingly siq extended dance club remixes by my favorite artists. There are some truly incredible remixes out there, in fact most of my favorite Lady Gaga tracks are on these collections rather than any of her standard albums. However, each individual mix is merely decent. If I put together the best songs from each into one mix, it would easily have made the list.