Is it just me or was 2011 not the hottest year for new music? Not to say there wasn’t heaps of gems to discover though…

Top 10 LPs

01 / Bon Iver, Bon Iver
02 / Kurt Vile, Smoke Ring for my Halo
03 / Future Islands, On the Water
04 / Tim Hecker, Ravedeath, 1972
05 / Wu Lyf, Go Tell Fire to The Mountain
06 / Panda Bear, Tomboy
07 / John Maus, We Must Become The Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves
08 / Jay Z & Kanye West, Watch the Throne
09 / The Weeknd, House of Balloons
10 / Active Child, You Are All I See

Top 10 Tracks

01 / Bon Iver, Towers
02 / Kurt Vile, Baby’s Arms
03 / M83, Midnight City
04 / John Maus, Believer
05 / Future Islands, Where I Found You
06 / True Blue, Dirty Beaches
07 / College, A Real Hero (feat. Electric Youth)
08 / Cass McCombs, County Line
09 / Bon Iver, Holocene
10 / Playing House (ft. HTDW), Active Child

Honourable Mentions
Caretaker, An Empty Bliss Beyond This World
The War on Drugs, Slave Ambient
Bill Callahan, Apocalypse
Shabazz Palaces, Black Up
Papercuts, Fading Parade
Liturgy, Aesthetica
Girls, Father, Son, Holy Ghost
Dirty Beaches, Badlands 

Regular followers of this blog will know her as that girl in practically all my photos, (hello my love!) but Isabelle Fexa is obviously much more than that. A budding photographer in her own right and, first and foremost, a promising film-maker. Last year, I introduced readers of this blog to her first documentary short and then earlier this year another short film of hers, KISSING, was featured on the contact sheet before being chosen as part of Galerie Les Territoires’ Monobandes II exhibition in May. I’m happy to announce that Isabelle has been hard at work and has recently released the film above as a new short, produced in conjunction with Montreal ad(vocacy) agency Cloud Raker. The film follows hard-workin’ Lenny Piroth-Robert, the man behind Daddy Mojo cigar box guitars, in his workshop and shows great restreint and just a hint of emotional depth, focusing on the man and his craft rather than the camera and the film-maker behind it . Make sure you read the fascinating accompanying interview on Cloud Raker’s own blog, The Rake, over here: 11 Questions with Daddy Mojo, where there is talk of making guitars out of wood collected from river beds! (What the what!?!)

Pierre Beaudoin, president & CEO of Bombardier Inc.

I photographed Bombardier’s president and CEO, Pierre Beaudoin, for this month’s issue of Report on Business. Mr Beaudoin, although in a rush, was extremely patient and generous with his time as were his handlers, who gave my assistant Simon and I plenty of time to set up before the shoot. This was my first time working with the Globe and Mail’s delightful photo editor, Clare Jordan, and I’m happy to announce that there is more to come in the next issue!

Pierre Beaudoin for Report on Business, Dec 2011

untitled, 2011

Oscar Hammerstein II & Jerome Kern, I Told Every Little Star
from the Mulholland Drive soundtrack

Directed by Aurora Halal and Samantha Urbani

untitled, 2011

from the LP Metals

Hi, I seem to be posting more on tumblr these (busy busy) days, follow me here: alexihobbs.tumblr.com.
Which isn’t to say I won’t be posting here anymore, I just don’t know how regular it will be.