Even though I don't get to listen to The Current nearly as much anymmore, I'm still going to try to tally up some of the best songs you may or may not have heard this year. If 2010 was the year of songs with a sense of pastoral majesty, I think 2011 is a quieter, more ethereal year, at least so far. Maybe the next five months will give us some great rock or pop songs. Until then, here we go!

10. If I Had A Boat, by James Vincent McMorrow: McMorrow is pretty accurately described as the Irish Bon Iver. I think he's more atmospheric and romantic than Bon Iver. It must be the Irish in him. It's hard to imagine an Irishman being out-romanticized by a guy from Eau Claire.

9. 20 Years, by The Civil Wars: Beautiful, harmonic folky goodness.

8. No Simple Machine, by Old 97's: From the first note, this song is instantly recognizable as the Old 97's. There's something to be said for a band that's so confident in their own skin. They should be, because they're awesome.

7. Montezuma, by Fleet Foxes: What's interesting to me about Fleet Foxes is how formal their music sounds. It's so tightly structured yet their space in the music for your mind to breathe when you listen to it.

6. Shell Games, by Bright Eyes: There will always be a place on my list for a pure, hooky pop song like this.

5. Lost In My Mind, by The Head & The Heart: This is the most 2010 of the 2011 songs. This song is large in scope and, of all things, kind of reminds me of Seven Bridges Road by The Eagles.

4. A Little Bit Of Everything, by Dawes: I love this band. They have an amazing way of connecting with their audience, whether it's in person or just through such "true" lyrics like in this song.

3. Rolling In The Deep, by Adele: This is near the top of the list of songs that are still good, even if they did get really popular. Sometimes mass taste intersects with good taste. Really!

2. Holocene, by Bon Iver: I first listened to the new Bon Iver record on free streaming and I knew I loved song #3, Holocene. I love the song even more after hearing this description:

Holocene is a bar in Portland, Ore., but it's also the name of a geologic era, an epoch if you will. It's a good example of how all the songs are all meant to come together as this idea that places are times and people are places and times are... people? They can all be different and the same at the same time. Most of our lives feel like these epochs. That's kind of what that song's about. "Once I knew I was not magnificent." Our lives feel like these epochs, but really we are dust in the wind. But I think there's a significance in that insignificance that I was trying to look at in that song.

I love the concept of personal epochs. Oh Justin Vernon, you're so wonderful, even if you do apparently wear the same pair of brown cords every day.

1. Up Up Up, by The Givers: Pure joy in the form of song.