By Bobby Tanzilo Senior Editor/Writer Published Aug 13, 2006 at 8:46 AM
It's definitely too soon to make any final judgments, but it's nearly mid-August and there are a few records that are shaping up to make my Village Voice Pazz & Jop Poll ballot for the year. At the moment, the list looks like this:

1) Placebo – Meds (Astralwerks)
2) Carmen Consoli – Eva Contro Eva (Sony Italia)
3) Phoenix – It’s Never Been Like That (Astralwerks)
4) The Sounds – Dying to Say This to You (New Line)
5) Ariondassa – In cerca del grane (Folkclub Ethnosuoni)
6) Thom Yorke – The Eraser (XL)
7) Josh Rouse -- Subtitolo (Bedroom Classics)
8) Andrew Hill -- Time Lines (Blue Note)
9) Field Music -- Field Music (Memphis Industries)
10) Gianluca Petrella -- Indigo 4 (Blue Note)

If I've learned one thing in 20 years of voting in the national critics' poll, however, it's that the list is never done until the "send" button is clicked.  Only the top five at this point would seem secure. There's always a string of late arrivals that require a reassessment come December. But loving more than 10 great records a year is an excellent problem to have, I think.
Bobby Tanzilo Senior Editor/Writer

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.

He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.

With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.

He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.

In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.

He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.