30. "Kaputt" Destroyer
29. "Riding for the Feeling", Bill Callahan
28. "Thought Ballune", Unknown Mortal Orchestra
27. "Modern Art", Black Lips
26. "Same Mistake", Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
25. "County Line", Cass McCombs
24. "Speaking in Tongues", Arcade Fire
23. "Hits Me Like A Rock", CSS
22. "New Beat", Toro y Moi
21. "There is a Light That Never Goes Out", Dum Dum Girls
20. "Helplessness Blues", Fleet Foxes
19. "Should Have" Cloud Nothings
18. "Wake and be Fine", Okkervil River
17. "Tree by the River", Iron and Wine
16. "Damn These Vampires", The Mountain Goats
15. "Take Me Over", Cut Copy
14. "Soak it Up", Houses
13. "Holdin' On to Black Metal", My Morning Jacket
12. "Polish Girl", Neon Indian
11. "Forget That You're Young", The Raveonettes
10. "Santa Fe", Beirut
9. "Holing Out", Yuck
8. "Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win", Beastie Boys
7. "Eyes Be Closed", Washed Out
6. "Jesus Fever", Kurt Vile
5. "Other Side", Family Portrait
4. "All Die Young", Smith Westerns
3. "Holocene", Bon Iver
2. "Midnight City", M83
1. "Video Games", Lana Del Rey
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Friday, December 9, 2011
2011, My Ten Most Favorite Albums of the Year
10. "Apocalypse", Bill CallahanGood ol' Bill does it again. Haunting, sweeping, pining, melancholy.
9. "I Am Very Far", Okkervil RiverWill Scheff conjures up a different sounding batch of songs. No storyline evolving here. Just some complicated, yet straight-forward songwriting.
8. "Circuital", My Morning Jacket
(see here)
7. "Kiss Each Other Clean", Iron and WineThere is much to like here. Except the cover art. Sorry, Sam.
6. "Yuck", Yuck
Do you like Dinosaur Jr, Galaxie 500, Pixies, and Built to Spill? Yeah, so do these kids.
5. "Within and Without", Washed Out(see here)
4. "Arabia Mountain", Black LipsHow would you like to have a psychedelic party with a pack of outcasts from society? Play this album and party on.
3. "Dye it Blonde", The Smith Westerns
This album is a swinging, rollicking good time. These Chicago boys craft catchy hooks, and some surprising well-placed changes in song structure. Think of a Beatles' final 8-bars, then listen to "All Die Young" or "Dance Away". You'll be reminded of the fabulous britpop of the early 1990s. In a good way.
2. "Smoke Ring For My Halo", Kurt Vile
This album is much cleaner than some of his lo-fi early work, but this added polish is friggin' magnificent! I just love the sound of this album. The acoustic guitars ring, pushing the EQ into the red, clean, angelic notes, above a dirty, mumbling voice. This is a set of songs that deserves to be played through your headphones, directly into your ears. On repeat. Give it a couple of spins, and tell me I'm wrong. I dare you.
1. "Bon Iver", Bon Iver
Hands down. Greatest album released this year. Mark my words. When this decade closes in nine years, we will all be a little older, but this album will still be among our favorites. Again, I will mention the sound of this album. It creates a feeling, a feeling of wind sweeping across a frozen Minnesota meadow. Wind chimes echoing, hidden by the horizon. Of frozen lakes, breaking the early morning sun's light into a blinding prism.
I won't be surprised if this wins the Grammy (since Arcade Fire was recognized last year). But fuck the Grammys. I like that Justin Vernon agrees with me.
His awesome quote, “I don’t think the Bon Iver record is the kind of record that would get nominated for a Grammy — I would get up there and be like, ‘This is for my parents, because they supported me,’ because I know they would think it would be stupid of me not to go up there,” Vernon said. “But I kinda felt like going up there and being like: ‘Everyone should go home, this is ridiculous. You should not be doing this. We should not be gathering in a big room and looking at each other and pretending this is important.’"
Everyone deserves to treat their soul, just a little bit. Go ahead and spoil yourself. Get this album.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
2011, Best Debut Album of the Year
Ernest Green burst onto the indie scene in 2009 with his EP, Life of Leisure. Literally, he burst onto the scene. Possibly single handedly creating his own sub-genre of indie electronic music, Chillwave. Others followed, such as Toro y Moi and Neon Indian, but Washed Out did it best.
The debut full length, Within and Without, pushes the flavor he first served us. It is a nine song sonic texture, built of layers of nostalgia for pop radio of the late 1980s and 1990s, filtered and condensed together in a tight synth space that is so easy to fall right into. This album is like a soft pillow on your favorite couch. It is the most sensual touch (see the album cover to feel it further). I'm not sure I know any lyrics on this album, but it does not matter. This album is a feeling. And I feel it all around.
2011, Best Album Cover of the Year
"I Am Very Far," Okkervil RiverDisclaimer: Any year that Okkervil River releases an album, it will be the best album cover art. Simple reason why... William Schaff just might be my favorite living artist. And he does every Okkervil River cover (among other bands, as well).
For proof of this, ask to to see the Schaff illustration I have tattooed on my back.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
2011, Most Disappointing Album of the Year
Sorry, Zach. This album didn't work. Maybe "Most Disappointing" is a bit harsh. I could say, rather, the "Most Boring, When I Expected Much More Album of the Year". I had come to expect big things from Beirut. Mr. Condon's first two full-lengths are essential, The Gulag Orkestar, and The Flying Club Cup.
These songs from these albums were built upon 19th century European folk structures and traditions, ornamented by old-world instrumentation and a haunting, crooning voice that seeped from the speakers.
The Rip Tide seems to be a step backwards. Not sideways, or in the wrong direction. Just backwards. The songs are not bad, by any means. They are just not as exciting. They lack the deep, lush, arrangements I had come to love from Beirut. They hit anticipated notes. The song-writing seems rushed this time around. It almost listens like a B-sides album. Songs that would have fit in on the first two records, but they would have been low points, encircled by greatness.
That said, I still do really like this song:
2011: Comeback Album of the Year
"Circuital" My Morning Jacket Don't get me wrong. I appreciate bands who make efforts to further their sound, to move past what they have already done. However, these endeavors are not always successful.
Exhibit A: My Morning Jacket's 2008 release, Evil Urges. I just didn't get that album. It wasn't the My Morning Jacket I fell in love with. It was some weird progressive tribulation. I've never listened to King Crimson, but I imagine that is what King Crimson sounds like.
And it saddened me. My Morning Jacket were one of my favorite bans back then. At Dawn is pure magic. Still. It alternates from the skeletal folk-rock designs of The Tennessee Fire, to the full-stereo majesty of songs that tickle the Northern Lights from down-home Louisville like "The Way That He Sings". It's a beautiful record. Love at first listen. Hooked.
Next. I enjoyed the density and development of It Still Moves. It is a thick, heavy record. No bones are left showing from The Tennessee Fire. Z followed, and Jim James brought to the forefront some new sounds and revealed a funky love of Cosmic American Music. It was more Prince and Elton John than Neil Young, but I still dug it.
2011. Welcome back, Jacket. Circuital is solid. It reinvigorated my excitement for My Morning Jacket. It is a BIG salad containing bits and tastes of everything that makes Jim James' songs so touching, and still manages to push the band's sound in exciting new directions. It's not an uncontrollable meteor hurling God-knows-where like Evil Urges seemed to me. It's focused in its creativity and its craft.
Righteous Guitar Solo below:
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