Over the years our system for determining the top Arkansas albums of the year has grown increasingly rigid, exacting and scientifically unassailable. We are tireless. We take voluminous notes, peruse our weekly blog posts, email archives, diary entries. We solicit the opinions of our friends, relatives, acquaintances, enemies. We consult experts and paste up flyers. We traverse the state in vans, knocking on doors and exploring dusty attics. We sit on barstools late into the night, eavesdropping on the conversations of strangers. We pay attention to the stars, to the rumblings of our guts. We grow arrogant, we are humbled, we come only to listen and to learn. We go to concerts, take photographs, print them out and then draw them out of hats. We lay awake at night wearing headphones. We hire interns. We vote. We ask our parents. We don’t know. Here’s a list:
Iris Dement – The Trackless Woods
The Wandering Lake – Wend to Why
J Fernandez – Many Levels of Laughter
Goon des Garcons – YOUNGDIRTYBASTARD
Pagiins – Opium Den Pool Party