For a Spotify playlist of the best tracks from 2011, click here.
It may seem like an annual repetition to say, but 2011 was an incredible year for new music. There were many more candidates for Top 20 consideration and the decision making was far more time-consuming (and rewarding). It could be that I bought more new records, but nonetheless, it was a definite bumper crop.
A clear trend of 2011 was the pre-eminence of female artists – powerful, commanding LPs were put forth by PJ Harvey, EMA, and Little Scream, taking 3 of 5 top spots. These were some serious musical achievements. I had fully expected Kate Bush to join this illustrious group, what with the critics falling over themselves to position 50 Words For Snow as the second coming of Hounds of Love. This represents the biggest disappointment of the year – Bush’s offering is boring, dour, and pretentious. It’s a bit of an insult for this record to be mentioned in the same sentence of Hounds of Love, which is one of the best albums in the history of popular music.
There were few other disappointments as well, although all far less egregious. Panda Bear stands second in big let downs after a unwarranted propping up by a relentless indie-press hype machine. Tomboy passes by without much to notice and is nowhere near the genius of 2007’s Person Pitch.
I almost made this year’s list the Top 25, to accommodate just a few more amazing albums. But the honour of making tough decisions and a serious lack of time led me to keep it at Top 20. Shout outs, however, must go to a number of runners-up, who were rated (by me) 8.0/10 or higher: Bon Iver, The War on Drugs, Code Pie, Asobi Seksu, David Lowery, Hooded Fang, Cloud Nothings, Washed Out, Youth Lagoon, Beirut, Yuck, Sheepdogs, Quilt, Psychic Paramount, Elliot Brood, and Wild Flag.
And without further ado, I give you The Sounds and Times’ Top 20 Albums of 2011! Choice tracks are linked for your listening pleasure. Stay tuned for the Top 10 songs, coming soon.
After Hooray for Earth’s release of the Momo EP (which included a 2010 Top 10 song favorite “Surrounded By Your Friends”) I was eager to get my ears on a full-length release. True Love came in the spring and lived up to my expectations, providing big synth-pop, Phil Spector-ish sounds that will charm fans of M83, Small Black, Washed Out, or even Depeche Mode and Ultravox. Electronic drums, arpegiators, and multi-layered vocals are deftly united into contemporary dance anthems. Choice track: “Same”.
Western Vinyl has emerged as one of the most promising boutique record labels and is a new star of the always thriving Austin music scene, representing bands such as Here We Go Magic/Luke Temple, Dirty Projectors, and Voices and Organs. WV is also responsible for issuing this great debut from Secret Cities. This is heavily reverbed, jangle-folk that recalls Essex Green, Lavender Diamond, and Nico. Sweet and catchy, yet a bit distant and a bit mysterious, and splashed with Spanish/Caribbean rhythms that turn basic 4/4 pop into something more compelling. Choice track: “The Park”.
Second only to Ringo Deathstarr in the category of best debut album, Banjo or Freakout is bedroom pop of the highest calibre. Alessio Natalizia, hailing from Italy but now based in London, produces a gauzy, mellifluous combination of Velvet Underground, Deerhunter, and Girls. But BOF also appears to have been influenced by the chill-wave/bliss-pop movement of 2010, which puts them comfortably alongside Washed Out and Delorean whenever I build a contemporary playlist. Looking forward to any and all new stuff from this great new band. Choice Track: “Idiot Rain”.
Sonic Youth frontman and grandfather of indie-noise and guitar skronk, Thurston Moore softens the edge on this superb release. More than softens, actually – Moore’s acoustic guitar work is positively symphonic here, and the result is an airy, introspective folk record that recalls Jim O’Rourke, Nick Drake, and Jeremy Enigk. In a few cases, it simply sounds like Sonic Youth unplugged, to great effect. You knew he had it in him. Through the barrage of Sonic Youth fuzz, it has always been clear that Moore had a deep understanding and passion for multiple musical forms. He inspires here with this Beck Hansen produced mellow gold. Choice track: “Benediction”.
Who is this genius? I first heard Sandro Perri as the drone-happy experimentalist and progenitor of Polmo Polpo. It was primarily instrumental and weird and wonderful stuff. But this Toronto boy has an accomplished, velvety voice that is more commonly associated with coffee-house jazz/blues/folk. It is just somehow shocking that he has only recently pursued a singer-songwriter(ish) approach. Perri plays it almost straight here, with familiar song constructs, but carried by a healthy dose of sonic experimentalism. There is a lot going on here. Bright jazz chords and sparkling runs, whistles and flutes, classic brass, drones and warbles, diverse percussion, and ever-mutating song segments – but over top of it is a voice that recalls a harmonic tryst between Jeff Buckley and Dave Longstreth of the Dirty Projectors. It’s weird, glammy, A.M. radio innovation. Choice track: “Wolfman”.
In 2002, Pitchfork gave Trail of Dead’s admittedly wonderful album the elusive 10/10 rating – an honor reserved primarily for reissues that are retroactively venerated for their greatness. Their follow-up, Worlds Apart (and one of my favorite albums of 2005 ) was given a paltry 4/10. An insult! Subsequent albums by Trail of Dead never fared better than 7.2 – the rating bequeathed to Tao of the Dead. I have a hypothesis. Trail of Dead have suffered the wrath of indie press snobs because of their bombastic cover art and the grandiose themes therein. Frontman Conrad Keely is the artist in question and his band’s album covers have served as his creative vehicle (and check out the cover for “The Century of Self”, all in ballpoint pen). He is a supremely talented artist, but his work nonetheless comes off like desperate sci-fi b-movie posters or merely a psychedelic mess. Music critics don’t take kindly to thematically arrogant, seemingly self-important montages. Which is a shame, since the music is always good, often great, and this year superb. Tao of the Dead gives us a thick and heavy psych-punk barrage full of monstrous rock hooks. Ignore the esoteric visual narratives of the CD insert and focus on the tunes. Anthems for the damned. Choice track: "Summer Of All Dead Souls"
I have been a little nervous with each new Iron & Wine record, which always shows a maturation of production, composition, and genre-referencing. In other words, I’m selfishly protective of the rustic, beautiful folk that graced early albums The Creek Drank the Cradle and Our Endless Numbered Days. I’d prefer that they continue to recycle such brilliance. For the most part, my worries are typically laid to rest with each new issue – this is true again here. In 2011, Iron & Wine sound like a band in heavy rotation on A.M. radio, circa 1975. Why I am loving a record in 2011 that sounds a lot Electric Light Orchestra, Chicago, or the Fleetwood Mac is a mystery to me. But in lieu of their previous folk genius of the 2000s, this classic rock offering is wonderful. Choice track: “Half Moon”.
13. Low – C’mon
Low’s last album, Drums and Guns, was a big disappointment to me. It was dark and dour and left me longing for the measured brilliance of The Great Destroyer and Things We Lost In The Fire. When the first guitar chords and vocals of C’mon met my ears, I was immediately relieved. It is a triumphant return to form. Low’s slow to mid-tempo narratives, carried by the angelic voices of Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker, are once again sublime. Welcome back, we’ve been waiting. Choice track: “You See Everything”.
Michael Gardiner was a founding member of The Besnard Lakes, a tremendous rock band based in Montreal (and entry of two past annual “best of” lists). Gardiner left in 2001 or so to pursue other things, but returned to team up with the ‘Lakes leader, Jace Lasek . The result is The Soft Province. In what could easily be another record from their original outfit, the results are stellar and, by my observations, underappreciated in the music press. Lasek belts out that gorgeous rock falsetto overtop of psych-tinged, oddly signatured guitar riffs that recall Adam Franklin’s post-Swervedriver work, Black Mountain/Pink Mountaintops, and Spaceman 3. Choice track: “I See Two Eyes”.
Texas’ Ringo Deathstarr are so similar to # 10, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart’s Belong, the two albums seem almost interchangeable. Once again, we have the pleasure (and pain) of sugary noise-pop, and a direct line to pioneers MBV. Phasey/fuzzy/wavy guitar lines prop up major 3-chord progressions to produce the sort of sunny, lysergic tunes that lead otherwise jaded 20-somethings to bow their heads and spin in circles. And when Ringo Deathstarr is on the stereo, a certain 40-something may join in. Choice track: “So High”.
Brooklyn fuzz-poppers hit another high point with Belong. I managed to catch them live at the Osheaga Festival in Montreal and the show somehow improved my estimation of the album (perhaps because they made my ears bleed). Walls of guitar with brilliant catchy boy-girl melodies get me every time. The Pains might have been relegated to indie flash-in-the-pan status, but they keep just getting better and better. Recommended if you like the shoegaze-pop of early Lush, My Bloody Valentine, and Asobi Seksu. Choice track: “Belong”.
While I could say this for a number of records on this list, if you ever feel that nothing new or innovative is being accomplished in modern music, throw on Whokill, the new record by Merrill Garbus’ tUnE-yArDs. The lo-fi pastiche of her first record, Bird-Brains, is retained here, but with greater confidence and power. Whokill is a gigantic head-trip that churns out body-shaking bass lines and deep drum beats that carry Garbus’ clipping, distorted vocals and sound collages. With a few softer, avant-jazz passages breaking up the mayhem, this is otherwise dance-floor anarchy. Choice track: “My Country”.
I saw these post-punk troubadours ages ago at NXNE or something similar and thought “pretty cool”. With the release of Science Island, I am going through a serious rediscovery. These Toronto boys are expert revitalizers of early Television and Versus; it’s like if Wire released an additional record between Pink Flag and Chairs Missing. Angsty, over-driven guitars, shout-sung vocals, and an intensity that matches the proud days of Mark E. Smith. Piranhas in the corporate rock hot tub! Choice track: “Disco Slave-Songs”.
Akron/Family are always a bit hit and miss, but you gotta love them for it. Along with Animal Collective and Ariel Pink, they are truly pushing the boundaries of indie music madness. They nail it in 2011, though. An exercise in genre pillaging, this obliquely titled record begins with a tribal Dodos/Dan Deacon rave up, setting the energy bar high and mighty. The necessary downshift is brilliantly meditative, and the listener, sensitive to the contrast, quickly recognizes that A/F are as versatile as they are innovative. Take 45 minutes and listen to this gem from beginning to end. Far out. Choice track: “Silly Bears”.
Fleet Foxes have been a slow grow on me. Their first EP and debut album were good, maybe even great, but I was still little bored by them. Without really changing their formula, this year’s Helplessness Blues has reached grand new heights. It is a classic sound being produced here, with beautiful homages to The Byrds, The Beach Boys, The Moody Blues, and Simon and Garfunkel. The production is crisp and bright, showcasing the warm, pitch-perfect harmonies and chiming guitar lines. It is immediately nostalgia-inducing, at once calling forward fond memories and shadows of regret. Choice track: “Lorelai”.
How did I Dog Day pass under my radar? I visited their bandcamp page after perusing a best-of list on Toronto music blog RoundLetters. Suddenly obsessed, I immediately bought every release, including 2011’s Deformer. These Haligonians exhume the early Matador/Merge line ups of Yo La Tengo and Superchunk. Perfect indie rock. So catchy you may become paralyzed. Choice track: “Scratches”.
Another stunning debut record, this time from Montreal’s Little Scream. Richard Reed Parry (Arcade Fire) provides multi-instrumental back up and production, but this show is all about the creative force of Iowan ex-pat Laurel Sprengelmeyer. There are definite Kate Bush/Cocteau Twins influences here, but the overall sound is fully contemporary, and aligned with St. Vincent and Canadian peers Stars, Broken Social Scene, and Besnard Lakes. Serene, but complex and layered, Little Scream has put out the perhaps the most underrated record of the year. Choice Track: “Boatman”.
When I first heard that Anthony Gonzalez was planning a “very, very, very epic” follow-up to 2008’s 80s-informed triumph, Saturdays=Youth, I was excited. I was also hoping for a return, at least in part, to the gorgeous ambient anthems of their back catalogue. 2011 has brought us a double CD issue that is indeed epic. “Very, very, very” – ostentatious at the time – has borne true, and the interplay of 80s pop and huge soundscapes is just what I was waiting for. I still need to sit with this glory some more, but it is already a classic modern record. Choice track: “Reunion”.
I first heard EMA with the video debut of the single “California”. Emma M. Anderson monologues (although it feels free associated) over keyboard drones and crashes as if writing her own obituary minutes before the world implodes. I usually feel put off by this sort of beat poet posturing and self-aggrandizement. But in this case it is authentic and powerful and almost terrifying. Emma has some deep-seated issues and they will tend to make you uncomfortable. But like a car-wreck, you can’t look away (actually, it’s more like flaming Hummer being dropped by a helicopter onto school bus). The rest of the album sustains the conceit – emotionally pummeling and dreadful, yet inspiring in its honesty. But what does it sound like? It recalls Siouxsie and the Banshees, Nine Inch Nails and Smashing Pumpkins, but also The Knife/Fever Ray, 4AD Goth, and slow-core folksters, like Low and Ida. A tragic, beautiful confessional. Choice track: “California”.
Back in the early 90s, PJ Harvey was a post-punk darling that sat alongside peers Nirvana, Garbage, and L7. She was a brave new siren, a grunge-goth-punk collage, warbling and shrieking feminist self-immolations. And I didn’t like her all that much, although I wanted to. She was a great young talent to be sure, but I guess I was never really grabbed by the hooks. So I basically had ignored her output since. Fast forward to 2011 and we have Let England Shake. This is record has absolutely enchanted me, and when I first heard it early in the year, I wondered if it might just end up being my number one. A concept album, Polly Jean ruminates on the atrocities, vagaries, memories, and shared cultural significance of Britain’s place in World War II and other conflicts. It is a haunting, challenging, and fulfilling musical narrative that channels Sandinista-era Clash, The Waterboys, and old English folk. An amazing accomplishment. Choice track: “Written on the Forehead”.
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