Stealing from Frank Kogan's LiveJournal: how I came to the records in my Pazz & Jop ballot, or how they came to me.

ALBUMS
1. DJ Koze, Reincarnations: The Remix Chapter 2001-2009 (Get Physical) 30
Pretty certain I saw word of this on the Resident Advisor Feed; it got me excited, and I tracked down a leak and reviewed it for the A.V. Club. I bought the CD at Sonic Boom the day it was released.

2. Art Brut, Art Brut vs. Satan (Downtown) 13
A publicist's email alerted me this was coming out, and I pitched it to eMusic. Listened to a stream and loved it; again, bought the CD when it came out (also at Sonic Boom).

3. DJ Quik and Kurupt, BlaQKout (Mad Science) 11
Rodney Greene, on IM, sent me the link to the video for "9x's Outta 10." Dug around some more and found out the whole album was coming out. Pieced together the album from various singles on eMusic and Hype Machine, with blanks filled in by a friend who'd gotten an entire leak. D/L'ed it from eMusic when it came out (and later reviewed it), and bought the CD for a friend as a wedding gift, along with No. 4 below.

4. Tanya Morgan, Brooklynati (Interdependent) 11
Downloaded from eMusic (for which I later reviewed it) on the strength of a rave on 17 Dots by Joe Keyes.

5. 5 Years of Hyperdub Records (Hyperdub) 8
Saw a news item on RA; pitched it to Baltimore City Paper alongside the Warp 20 comp, and got the d/l link from the publicist. Later purchased at Other Music.

6. The Fiery Furnaces, I'm Going Away (Thrill Jockey) 7
7. A-Trak, FabricLive 45 (Fabric) 5
8. Black Moth Super Rainbow, Eating Us (Graveface) 5
Auto-sent promo CDs, all three. I did three FF pieces (Random Rules for A.V. Club with Matt, sit-down with Eleanor for The Stranger, late-breaking review for eMusic), reviewed A-Trak for RA and BMSR for eMusic.

9. Bloody Mary, Black Pearl (Contexterrior) 5
Requested from Forced Exposure along with a handful of other titles, and fell for it instantly. Reviewed for RA.

10. Syran Mbenza and Ensemble Rumba Kongo, Immortal Franco: Africa’s Unrivaled Guitar Legend (Riverboat) 5
Was sent a promo d/l link from Riverboat and reviewed for Las Vegas CityLife.

SINGLES
1. Walter Jones, "Living Without Your Love" (DFA)
Read a review on FACT, downloaded from eMusic.

2. Joy Orbison, "Hyph Mngo" (Hotflush)
First heard about this when Simon Reynolds linked to a YouTube of it on his blog, was all like, "Really? 'S all right, I suppose, but . . ." I sort of felt that way at first, but it kept drilling into my skull.

3. Art Brut, "Demons Out!" (Downtown)
Heard it with the Vs. Satan promo; played it over and over and over.

4. DJ Kaos, "Love the Nite Away (Tiedye Mix)" (Rong/DFA)
David Drake's Pitchfork track review.

5. DJ Quik & Kurupt, "9x's Outta 10" (Mad Science)
See No. 2 album.

6. Yeah Yeah Yeahs, "Zero" (Interscope)
I think I first heard this on KEXP, on one of the rare occasions when I listened to the radio in Seattle.

7. Maxwell, "Pretty Wings" (Columbia)
For Singles Jukebox review.

8. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, "Young Adult Friction" (Slumberland)
Another Singles Jukebox entry. I'd avoided them because I found the name so insufferably twee, and really didn't think I wanted to know about yet more C86 redux; little did I know.

9. Joker & Ginz, "Purple City" (Kapsize)
Nate Patrin's recommendation.

10. Dâm-Funk, "Brookside Park" (Stones Throw)
First heard of him via FACT, then bought the CD out of curiosity.