Well, everyone else has started making lists and playlists, so it must be that time of year again.

Below you’ll find a playlist with some of my favorite tracks from 2011. There a few caveats. There’s always caveats. First, in order to get the most music in the most ears I chose to use the streaming service Spotify. If you don’t have, you can get it here.  Consequently, the songs contained in I Rock Cleveland 2011 Spectacular: The Playlist are limited to those which are part of the Spotify catalog.  I would have loved to have included something from Ty Segall’s Goodbye Bread, that collaborative album between Mark McGuire and Trouble Books, as well as a track from Megachurch’s latest.  I couldn’t.

Next, this list is not ranked in any particular order.  It’s ordered for maximum rocking.

Lastly, some artists appear more than once, others like Robert Pollard and Guided by Voices appear a whole bunch of times: There’s two Guided by Voices tracks, a Boston Spaceships track, and a Guided by Voices cover.  What can I say?  I’m a fan.

I Rock Cleveland 2011 Spectacular: The Playlist (Click to open in Spotify)

1. Guided by Voices – One, Two, Three, Four
2. Terry Malts – I’m Neurotic
3. Mr. Dream – Crime
4. Dum Dum Girls – There is a Light That Never Goes Out
5. Army Navy – The Long Goodbye
6. The Horrors – Endless Blue
7. The Men – Shitting With the Shaw
8. Xray Eyeballs – Crystal
9. Ty Segall – Fuzzy Cat
10. Guided by Voices – The Unsinkable Fats Domino

11. Eddy Current Suppression Ring – We Got the Beat
12. The Strokes – Under Cover of Darkness
13. Wild Flag – Romance
14. Yuck – Holing Out
15. Jeff the Brotherhood – Hey Friend
16. Foo Fighters – White Limo
17. Pujol – Mayday
18. Mastodon – Black Tongue
19. Fucked Up – Queen of Hearts
20. Liturgy – High Gold

21. The Skull Defekts – Gospel of the Skull
22. Barn Owl – Devotion I
23. Wolves in the Throne Room – Permanent Changes in Consciousness
24. Tim Hecker – The Piano Drop
25. Thurston Moore – Benediction
26. The Flaming Lips – Smothered in Hugs
27. PJ Harvey – On Battleship Hill
28. J Mascis – Circle
29. TV on the Radio – Will Do
30. Shabazz Palaces – Swever…The Reaping of All That is Real…

31. DJ Shadow – I Gotta Rokk
32. The Black Keys – Lonely Boy
33. The Kills – Satellite
34. EMA – California
35. Factory Floor – Two Different Ways
36. The Dirtbombs – Sharevari
37. Boris – Tokyo Wonder Land
38. Mogwai – San Pedro
39. The Joy Formidable – Whirring
40. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Belong

41. Weekend – Hazel
42. Cat’s Eyes – Face in the Crowd
43. Moon Duo – Mazes
44. Thee Oh Sees – The Dream
45. The People’s Temple – Axe Man
46. Times New Viking – No Room to Live
47. Wax Idols – All Too Human
48. Terry Malts – Something About You
49. Boston Spaceships – Juggernaut vs Monolith
50. Wilco – Born Alone

51. Kurt Vile – Society is My Friend
52. Centro-Matic – Only in My Double Mind
53. Richard Buckner – Traitor
54. J Mascis – Is It Done
55. The Black Angels – Boat Song
56. Yuck – Suicide Policeman
57. Pure X – Dry Ice
58. EMA – Red Star

There’s more to the I Rock Cleveland 2011 Spectacular besides a Spotify Playlist.  In the coming weeks I’ll roundup the top 25 albums of 2011, hand out some awards, take a look at the year in local rock and maybe even drag out some of the work done by my photographer friends for I Rock Cleveland.  Stay tuned.