Dear STL, keep being awesome. This year saw the band I'd nurtured for six years coming to an end, but a beginning to so many cool, freaky awesome bands from friends of mine. If 2012 is any indication, St. Louis music is back in a big way.

2012 was a strange year for good music and a good year for strange music. Confused? So was I.

Not many bands would welcome, let alone withstand, comparisons to operatic rock masters like Queen and Meatloaf. Foxy Shazam can handle it.

"You shouldn't do a job just to do it; you should do a job because you give a damn," says Jason Robinson, host of the Mixtape on 88.1 KDHX.

Here are my picks for 10 best national, local and reissued releases of 2011. Enjoy.

As the founding and perpetuating members of Over the Rhine, Karin Bergquist and Linford Detweiler have been tapping into a seemingly endless and dynamic wealth of bittersweet pathos.

In this list, I look back at some of the best album reissues that came out in 2010. What were your favorite rediscoveries?

Below is my list of 10 favorite albums from St. Louis-based artists released in 2010. For my list of national releases, go here.

Here are my Top Ten favorite albums of 2010 (released nationally), listed alphabetically with comments.

On its second album, Jukebox the Ghost goes for a big range. Hints of baroque prog rock, sugary Hall and Oates harmonies and pure power pop make the title, Everything Under the Sun, stick.