Good bye 2011 - My top travel, music, and podcast favorites

It's never too late for best-of lists. In 2011 I was fortunate to travel to new places and meet many wonderful people. Here are my top lists for travel, music, and podcasts. I'd love to hear your lists on the same topics.

Travel

Shanghai, China 

Although I live in Shanghai full time I can have the "travel" experience just walking down the street.

Binzhou, Shandong Province, China

The first day of Chinese New Year was spent with a friend's family observing holiday rituals. They offered food, fake money and spirits to their ancestors. For more info click here. Boom Town pt. 2: The Shang Cemetery

Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China
The amount of human labor needed to construct Qin Shi Huang's Terracotta Army is mind blowing. One historical account lists that 700,000 laborers where used during the 40 years it took to complete the compound. Glad I got to see them late this summer. For more info click here. A few days in Xi'an pt. 2: The Terracotta Warriors


Yixing, Jiangsu Province, China
The labor of Yixing workers is equally impressive but very different from the Terracotta Warriors. Individuals often spend weeks working the surface of one teapot. This low volume/high price method of production is a dying scenario in China. I did a quick day trip to Yixing this fall. For more information click here. Yixing pt. 2: The Makers

Raglan, New Zealand

My favorite travel experience was the two weeks I spent in New Zealand last spring. The scenery and the people I met were first class. Between teaching engagements I had a blast playing adventure sports. For more information click here. Kiwi Kraft Pt 1: Dive, Jump, Climb, Paddle...I'm in love.

Music

Southern Independent Vol. 3. 
Shooter Jennings describes this Southern Independent volume as "the rebel soundtrack of the summer of 2011". Amanda Shires offering What happened last night? is one of the sweetest tunes off this otherwise rowdy collection. Other songs include Have Gun Will Travel's To the victor goes the spoils and Outlaw Shit by Struggle ft. Yelawolf.   You can download the compilation for free here.

Alexander Alexander
The infectious off-kilter rhythm of Truth makes it my favorite of the album. The neo-psychedelic quality of the album is very similar to Alexander's band- Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. Click here to see the video.

Hanggai
Hanggai's Mongolian folk rock = Genghis Khan + Bon Jovi + Avett Brothers. This band caught me totally by surprise when I saw them at Shanghai's JZ Festival this fall. Click here to see a video.

Adele 21
The first  time I heard Rolling in the Deep was while watching the Sam Brown directed video. Click here to see the video. I love the combination of her Aretha Franklin-style voice, the breaking dishes, and the Ninja/dancer filling the room with dust as she moves. 

Fleet Foxes  Helplessness Blues
I am a big fan of their self titled release so I was glad that they hit a home run with the follow up. Great album start to finish. The Shrine/An Arguement is my favorite at the moment but like many good albums it keeps changing.

Podcasts

Brian R. Jonescast- Episode 7 The Molly Hatch Interview
Discussion with Molly Hatch about her studio life, design work with the company Anthropologie, and questions about success. Click here for more information.

Freakonomics Radio- Waiter there's a Physicist in my Soup!
Food science showdown- Molecular Gastronomy's Nathan Myhrvold vs Slow Food's Alice Waters. Click here for more info.

The Moth- Charlene Strong's It Wasn't Enough
Activist Charlene Strong tells a story of love and loss. (* Tear jerker alert *) Click here for more info. 

Fresh Air- Two episodes stood out as classics. They both were part of Fresh Air's food week.
Alice Waters 40 years of Sustainable Food
An interview with Alice Waters, the founder of Chez Panisse and proponent of the slow food movement. Click here for more info. This is the same Alice Waters from the Freakanomics podcast that I mention above.

Grant Achatz: The Chef who Couldn't Taste
The story of avant-garde chef Grant Achatz. He started a popular and innovative restaurant but later lost his sense of taste after a bout with tongue cancer. Click here for more info.

1. Radio Lab- Memory and Forgetting

An explanation of the way our mind creates, stores, and forgets memories. Click here for more info.
This episode actually came out in 2007 but I only found it this summer. It sent me on a tangent, sparking a quest for me to understand neural anatomy and learning. The result was a blog series that I wrote about how we learn. Click here to read How we Learn Pt. 1: Neural Anatomy and the 15 minute teapot test.

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2010- The Year in Music

The Roots- How I Got Over- Dear God 2.0 featuring Jim James





Ryan Bingham and the Dead Horses- Crazy Heart Soundtrack- The Weary Kind

Ray Lamontagne and the Pariah Dogs- God Willin and the Creek Dont Rise- Beg, Steal, or Borrow

Have Gun Will Travel - Postcards From the Friendly City- Ballad of Asa Daulton- Re-released on Suburban Home Records in 2010

Josh Ritter- So Runs the World Away- The Curse

Vampire Weekend- Contra- Taxi Cab


I'm slightly addicted to "Top 10/Best of" lists. This time of year is perfect because media outlets are posting their lists about everything from sports to music to political miscues. (Click here for NPR Music's Best of 2010 List and Here for Michael Jordan Top Ten Best Dunks). These short snippets of culture are easily digested in my routine 30 minute breaks from doing things I should actually be doing.

Here are a handful of my favorite releases from last year. Many of these are strong showings from bands you probably already know (Josh Ritter, Vampire Weekend, Ray Lamontagne). A few might be flying under your radar like Florida's own Have Gun Will Travel. (Technically they self released Post Cards from A Friendly City in 2009 but 2010 saw Suburban Home Records picked them up and re-release their sophomore album.) The breakout newcomer for me was Ryan Bingham and the Dead Horses. Bingham's song Weary Kind was produced by T. Bone Burnett for the soundtrack of Crazy Heart. They won an Academy Award and have been nominated for a Grammy. Its great to see a fictional movie about a washed up outlaw country singer bring an actual country singer fame. As a side note anything produced by T. Bone Burnett is fantastic. He has been the driving sonic force behind Buena Vista Social Club, the sound track for O Brother Where Art Thou, and Alison Krauss/Robert Plant's Raising Sand.

My hands down favorite album of last year was The Roots How I Got Over. This album combines the bands usually crisp raps with Marvin Gaye era melodies and indie guest stars. Radio Days, the title track How I Got Over and The Day are three great tunes on the album. Indie veterans Jim James (My Morning Jacket) and Joanna Newsome contribute backing vocals to a few of the tracks. The combination doesn't come of as a gimmick but of a genuine mixture of genres. The video I posted, Dear God 2.0, is a rewrite of a song by the indie super group Monsters of Folk. It took me by surprise and kept me wanting more.

I posted all these songs to the blog's music roll. For the music lovers feel free to repost your favorite albums of the year. I'm always looking for more music.