It’s good practice for creative folks to hang around people who do the thing they do, but better. My boy Lars Gotrich (real name, no gimmicks) is really, really good at listening to music, and crossed my path in a year when that very skill — one I’d taken for granted for my entire existence — seemed to be slipping through my fingers. He doesn’t know it yet, but we’ll be spending a lot more time together in 2012. In the meantime, check out his great, great list of favorite musical moments from 2011 at Total Vibration.