Mid-Year Music Report

As an Aggie, there is nothing more I love than tradition. Thus, in that spirit, I bring to you the Cleveland Bachelor Mid-Year Music Report. For the most part, this is gonna follow the exact same breakdown as the First Quarter Music Report in March, with a couple new additions, including a "top bargain bin scores" and a running Top 15 of the year list that merges both quarters together.

Moreover, this semi-annual summary will, wait for it, will eventually be followed in late September with a Third Quarter Music Report. Don't get all hot and bothered about the future, though - there is plenty for you to digest in the present below. Think of it as a gift. Get it? I'm awesome.

TOP ALBUMS:
1) Camera Obscura, My Maudlin Career
2) Cheval Sombre, Cheval Sombre
3) Akron/Family, Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free
4) Dinosaur, Jr., Farm
5) Crocodiles, Summer of Hate
6) Jason Lytle, Yours Truly, the Commuter
Bonus: The Suckers EP - not a full album, but song-to-song the best I've discovered this quarter.

BEST LIVE SHOW:
1) Thao with the Get Down Stay Down/Sister Suvi - 5/10
2) Dinosaur Jr at Musica (Akron) - 4/8
3) Pains of Being Pure At Heart/Afternoon Naps at the Beachland - 4/30
4) I Was A King at the Beachland - 5/27
5) Paleface at the Beachland - 5/8
BONUS: Trouble Books/The Very Knees out-store on Record Store Day at Music Saves - 4/18
DOUBLE BONUS: Arte Povera at Low Life Gallery - 6/27

BEST BARGAIN BIN FINDS:

1) Evangelicals, So Gone
2) Titus Andronicus, The Airing of Grievances
3) Human Highhway, Moody Motorcycle
4) Black Diamond Heavies, A Touch of Someone Else's Class
5) Spiritualized, Songs in A&E
6) Chairlift, Does You Inspire You
7) Eulogies, Here Anonymous
8) Soylent Gringo, Antifuture
9) The Roots, Phrenology
10) Gil Scott-Heron, Evolution
BONUS: Grandaddy, The Sophomore Slump Radio Sampler EP

EAGERLY ANTICIPATED RELEASES:

1) Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
2) Ramona Falls
3) Dead Weather
4) Spoon (full length)
5) Afternoon Naps
BONUS: Spoon Got Nuffin' EP

EAGERLY ANTICIPATED LIVE SHOWS:

1) Jason Lytle at the Grog - 7/15
2) Dinosaur Jr at the Grog - 11/20
3) Yeasayer/Ponytail at the Grog - 7/16
4) Dean & Britta Warhol film live scoring at Power Center (Ann Arbor, MI) - 7/2
5) Akron/Family for FREE at the Rock Hall - 7/22
6) Cracker at the Beachland Ballroom - 8/28
BONUS: Brent Knopf (Menomena) in-store at Music Saves, followed by The Veils/Foreign Born at the Beachland - 7/24

YEAR-TO-DATE TOP 15 ALBUMS

1) Camera Obscura, My Maudlin Career
2) Sholi, Sholi
3) The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
4) Akron/Family, Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free
5) Bishop Allen, Grrr
6) Wavves, Wavvves
7) Abe Vigoda, Reviver (EP)
8) Jason Lytle, Yours Truly, the Commuter
9) The Black Lips, 200 Million Thousand
10) Cheval Sombre, Cheval Sombre
11) Crocodiles, Summer of Hate
12) Dinosaur Jr., Farm
13) The Phenomenal Handclap Band, The Phenomenal Handclap Band
14) Coconut Records, Davy
15) Pink Mountaintops, Outside Love
BONUS: Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears, Tell 'Em What Your Name Is