Here at Hidden Track, compiling our end of the year list of the 25 best albums has been eerily similar to the process of devising another top 25 list – the college football top 25. When we started four years ago, we attempted to devise a quantitative methodology that systematized the rankings and took the individual biases out of the equation, while still incorporating the collective views of everyone involved at HT. Well, that was sort of our BCS. This year we’re going back to the old school and running it AP Top 25 style. In other words, every writer on staff submitted their own personal top 25, and then we compiled the final list based  on a simple tally of votes.

Who knows, there may still be a few kinks to work through in future editions, but you can rest assured of one thing that will always make our list a cut above the rest: we consider everything. Our submissions include all styles of music from bluegrass to jazz, jam to indie, electronica to rap, as well as everything in between (but sorry Nefertiti’s Fjord it just wasn’t the year for lesbian-Afro-Norwegian-funk music). At the end of the day, we’re a music blog. Everyone is encouraged to write about what they like with no motives, no editorial biases and no strings attached. We hope that comes across in our picks.

So, let’s kick off our fourth annual week long celebration of the HT staff’s favorite albums of 2011 with numbers 25 through 21…

25) Middle Brother – Middle Brother

Key Tracks: Blue Eyes,  Thanks For Nothing, Me, Me, Me

Sounds Like:  Dusty, barroom heartbreak from the leaders of the New Americana revival.

The Skinny: March 2011 welcomed a studio debut from Middle Brother, a super-collective featuring one part Deer Tick (John McCauley), one part Dawes (Taylor Goldsmith) and one part Delta Spirit (Matt Vasquez). The three banded together in 2009 after several onstage collaborations between their respective bands. Undeniable sparks between McCauley, Goldsmith and Vasquez led them to the studio with producers Adam Landry and Justin Collins (both of whom produced Deer Tick’s 2011 release Divine Providence). Each track rotates singer/songwriter duties to create a shared experience of raw emotions, love and loss; depending on who is at the mic, dashes of Deer Tick, Dawes and Delta Spirit are present in the grooves. Middle Brother combined the hearts and souls of three prolific songwriters with a blend of alternative, folk, rock and ’60s pop. The results are perfect for days that you don’t want to get out of bed, but rather lie around and listen to a solid album.

- Allison Taich

READ ON

With my turn in the Friday Mix Tape rotation serendipitously coinciding with me dropping my Top 6 Of The First 6 list yesterday, it seemed only appropriate that I use the opportunity to showcase some music from my favorite releases of the the first half of the year. So whether you’re already familiar with these releases, or looking for a reason to go and pick them up, we’ve got six tunes to help get your weekend going.

We kick things off with Lost In My Mind, the song that actually convinced to me to go and listen to The Head And The Heart’s self-titled Sub Pop debut. From there, we’ve got Gillian Welch with Scarlet Town from The Harrow & The Harvest, her first album of new material in eight years. Then, it’s Providence-based folk-rockers The Low Anthem with one of my favorite songs of the year – Apothecary Love – from their third studio album, Smart Flesh.

We follow that up with Middle Brother’s Blue Eyes, sung by Matt Vasquez of Delta Spirit, which came be found on the roots-rock supergroup’s self-titled debut. Then, we’ve got Fleet Foxes with Sim Sala Bim from the sophomore effort Helplessness Blues. Finally, we close things out with the punchy Rox In The Box from The Decemberists Americana-tinged return to form record The King Is Dead.

With the first six months of 2011 beginning to feel like a distant memory, I figured it was time to continue a tradition by taking a look at my favorite six albums of the first half of the year for the Top 6 Of The First 6…

6) The Head And The Heart – The Head And The Heart

I’ll admit it, I had it in my mind that I wasn’t going to like The Head And The Heart’s self-titled debut, solely based on Bob Boilen of All Songs Considered fame not really being into it. It wasn’t until I caught the band’s exuberant performance of Lost In My Mind on Conan that I was finally ready to embrace the band’s brand of folk-pop, which doesn’t fall too far from the Blind Pilot tree. The Seattle-based act’s album is full of extremely likeable songs that immediately get stuck in your head, bouncy rhythms and lush three-part harmonies that are anchored by lead singer Josiah Johnson and beautifully accompanied by on the high end by Jonathan Russell and Charity Rose Thielen’s sultry, smoky vocals.

READ ON for the rest of Jeff’s Top 6 Of The First 6…

Nearly a year after making their public debut at SXSW, under the moniker MG&V, the busy tour schedules of John McCauley (Deer Tick), Taylor Goldsmith (Dawes) and Matt Vasquez (Delta Spirit) have finally cleared up long enough for the three songwriters to circle the wagons and head out on the road together. Mixing what these guys do best, the roots-rock supergroup now known as Middle Brother, will finally release their long awaited eponymous debut tomorrow via Partisan Records.

Let’s check out this fantastically shot live performance of Me, Me, Me from last December’s Invisible Children Benefit show…

Middle Brother – Me, Me, Me

Middle Brother will kick off its first full-fledged tour, which will include full sets from Deer Tick and Dawes at select dates, on Wednesday night at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC.

At last year’s SXSW music fest, John McCauley of Deer Tick, Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes and Matt Vasquez of Delta Spirit debuted their new roots-rock supergroup, which at the time was dubbed MG&V after their collective last names. After a busy 2010 for the members’ full time bands, and a name change to Middle Brother, the act has announced that not only will their long awaited self-titled debut finally come out on March 1, but that they will hit the road for a 13-date March tour that will also include select dates where both Deer Tick and Dawes will also perform as the opening acts.

If you’re not into a night with the roots-rock supergroup, then maybe you’ll be interested in hitting one of these recently announced tours…

• Jam-pop act Guster are currently out in support of their new album
• Avant-jazz-groovers Medeski, Martin & Wood hit West coast cities
• Alt.country songstress Lucinda Williams lines up a month long run
• Stockholm Syndrome schedule a short eight-date February tour
• Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears hits the road this Spring
• Singer-songwrite David Gray heads out for an acoustic theater trek

Finally, this spring, the odd pairing of Rod Stewart and Stevie Nicks will hit the road together for the Heart & Soul Tour. The co-headlining arena run, which is currently scheduled for just fourteen dates, will feature the two icons of 1970s rock performing their greatest hits. Rod and Stevie’s Heart & Soul Tour kicks off on March 20 at the Bank Atlantic Center in Sunrise, FL.

Since opening a little over a year and a half ago, Brooklyn Bowl has cemented itself as one of the premier and most unique destinations to see live music, eat high quality comfort food and roll a few frames. Earlier this week, Eater Chicago revealed that the folks behind our favorite NYC venue have plans to expand to the Windy City and open the aptly named Chicago Bowl. The venue, which won’t open until 2012 and already has its own Twitter account, will be housed on the site of a 23,000 square-foot former auto warehouse located at 1850 W. Chicago Ave., and have a similar look and feel to the original with 16 lanes and food provided by Blue Ribbon.

• List Time: 12 Best Internet Meme & Viral Videos Of 2010
• Sales of Dark Was The Night has raised over $1 million for charity
• Cover Alert: Queens Of The Stone Age tackle Tom Waits
• A rare Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd show was recently discovered
• Download This: The Rolling Stones Brussels Affair ’73
• The story of CBGB’s is headed to the big screen with a biopic

Finally, earlier this year at SXSW the lead singers of Deer Tick, Dawes and Delta Spirit made their live debut as MG&V. The band, who Deer Tick front man John McCauley has jokingly said kept getting confused with MGMT, has announced that they not only have officially changed their name to Middle Brother, but that their long awaited self-titled debut will finally be released on March 1. Middle Brother, who will hit the road in support of the album next Spring, will headline a special benefit show at the Troubadour in Los Angeles on December 20, along with Cass McCombs, Mountain Man, Guards, Blake Mills and an acoustic set by McCauley. All proceeds will go to benefit Invisible Children, an organization seeking to end the conflict in Uganda and stop the abduction of children for use as child soldiers.