What do John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats and I have in common?

Not much, but we both contributed to the Baltimore City Paper’s Year-End List.

Each individual critic’s list is at the bottom, and here’s mine:

1. Scott Walker – The Drift (4AD)
2. Pissed Jeans – Shallow (Parts Unknown)
3. Wzt Hearts – Heat Chief (Hoss)
4. The Weird Weeds – Weird Feelings (Sounds Are Active)
5. Joanna Newsom – Ys (Drag City)
6. Daniel A.I.U. Higgs – Ancestral Songs (Holy Mountain)
7. The Dead C. – Vain Erudite and Stupid: Selected Works 1987-2005 (Ba Da Bing!)
8. Brightblack Morning Light – s/t (Matador)
9. Times New Viking – Dig Yourself (Siltbreeze)
10. Valley of Ashes – Cavehill Hunters Attrition (Black Velvet Fuckere)

Astonishingly, no Beggars and Matador acts charted on the final 10, but I tried my best, having listed Scott Walker and Brightblack Morning Light. I swear, it’s not just nepotism, I really really like those records!