The year 2011 was a great one for music. My #1 was an album that I heard at the beginning of the year, but it was able to stay in my top spot, a rare occurrence for me.

Portland's Blind Pilot glides over the crowded indie folk landscape with agile rhythms and wise songwriting that belies their years.

Jill Andrews has been singing and writing songs since she met future everybodyfields partner Sam Quinn at a summer camp in Tennessee when she was in her teens.

How many bands can say that their first show was bootlegged? Obits, from Brooklyn, can. Apply stylistic labels if you must, but don't forget that some bands just play kick-butt rock & roll.

American Aquarium creates heedful alt-country where piano and pedal steel guitar circulate along a background of steady drums and electric guitars. The Raleigh, N.C. band fuses its lyrics of heartaches, mistakes and forces of nature with emotionally charged melodies.

Like a magpie drawn to shiny baubles, a listener can be lured to Islands for its off-kilter world with glittery beats tucked inside catchy hooks. Dynamic front man Nick Diamonds and guitarist Geordie Gordon brought their pleasantly strange musical stylings to town with an acoustic stop at KDHX.

For the past two decades, California’s the Mother Hips have made a resilient reputation for themselves in both their local and the national indie rock scenes through their polished, sun-smacked songs and solid live sets.

With three albums now under their belt (their third, Infinite Arms, is due to be released on May 18), Band of Horses can play yearning and soaring anthems better than just about anyone in today’s music scene.

Since learning the guitar at the age of 19, Jill Andrews has been creating beautiful, haunting songs, with roots in her southern experience and personal, romantic vision. Hear her give voice to a few of these songs in an intimate live session at KDHX.

Portland, Oregon's Blind Pilot has been catching as much buzz as any neo-folk, indie band working today. Hear what you've been missing during the group's live session on Bittersweet Melody.

An old-time punk rock party never sounded so sweet as with Portland's indie heroes the Builders and the Butchers. The band stopped by KDHX for a raucous in-studio performance on Bittersweet Melody.