The Top 20 Albums of 2012

I have to say, the 2012 musical output felt mediocore for many months.  I was consistently underwhelmed by quite a few offerings and too often disappointed by the good records that I expected would be great.  But ultimately, the year redeemed itself in the last third, and when the dust settled, there were once again plenty of terrific records.   I would not say that there were any particular genres or musical trends that captured my attention this year and I was pretty much all over the place, covering folk-hippie, garage-pop, electronic, shoegaze, indie-rock, and heavy post-punk. 

My Top 20 surprised me with 8 or so brand new (to me) bands entering the fray at the expense of a number of bands I may have taken for granted.  So let’s start with the disappointments.  Note that these are relative to previous outings and the general awesomeness required for Top 20 placing.  These weren’t all bad albums, but ones that fell short of expectations:  Sigur Ros, Animal Collective, Spiritualized, Stars, Here We Go Magic, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Magnetic Fields, Titus Andronicus, Silversun Pickups, Sun Airway, Best Coast and Ringo Deathstarr all put out good albums, but not great and not on par with their history (although Stars seem to be carving out a history of mediocrity).  These are some of my most favorite bands, so this was distressing. The category of “crappy”, on the other hand, was visited by usual luminaries Cat Power, Bear in Heaven, Ariel Pink and, well, Rush (a purchase based on vast respect, not expectations).   Ariel Pink was especially awful and it felt so intentional that I don’t think I’ll be paying much attention to him anymore.  Memoryhouse (from hometown Guelph!) sort of disappointed too…had high hopes for a Cocteau Twins/Lush renewal.   It was not to be.  And I will not understand all the Cat Power love.  The new album is a shadow of her previous The Greatest.  I’m glad Chan Marhsall seems to be happier, however. And there will be no Frank Ocean on this list, a perennial number 1 in the press.  Exceptional voice, slick production, some innovation – yet boring as fuck.

A list limited to 20 spots of course has some casualties and, by tradition, it is only fair to name those bands with records that by my estimation warranted an 8/10 or better (i.e., excellent!).  Non-list making excellence goes to Patrick Watson, School of Seven Bells, Beach House, Merchandise, Fang Island, Frankie Rose, The Heart Strings, The Shins, Metz, Wintersleep, Grizzly Bear, Sleigh Bells, James Blackshaw, Lavender Diamond, and Snowblink.  Triumphant records!

On the EP front, a large shout-out goes to the horribly named Gashcat, who had a full-length last year (which I missed) and a new e.p. this year, Devil Kid Demos.  Gashcat is the second coming of Neutral Milk Hotel (with a bit of Mountain Goats) and is seriously amazing.  This is list of long-players, but this EP deserves mentioning.  As do Shadow by Ringo Deathstarr and State Hospital by Frightened Rabbit.

And now, the Top 20 of 2012!  

20. Bruce Springsteen – Wrecking Ball

While I am certainly not a rabid fan, I have a definite respect for what I know of Springsteen’s canon.  I’m not sure why I have not gone deeper.  Hardcore Springsteen fans blanch when I notify them that my favorite album is Born in the USA and that “Glory Days” ranks as one of my favorite songs.  Personal history, I guess.  Anyhow, I keep loose tabs on the man.  Wrecking Ball caught me by surprise.  It is a definite departure from his regular fare.  It is a shit-kicking, foot-stomping, old folk revival.  I could certainly do without the vacuous religiosity, which I find curious coming from a man who routinely confronts oppressive power structures.  But the attraction is in the music itself – a tremendous, raucous populism that is as angry as it is celebratory.  Kudos, Boss.  Choice track:  “Death to My Hometown”.

19.  The Mountain Goats – Transcendental Youth

There is currently a petition to the US government to name John Darnielle the Poet Laureate.  I know little of contemporary  poetry  and so cannot comment on the legitimacy of this request.  But I care about poetry in the vehicle of song, and John Darnielle is an American giant.  He retains his minimalist approach, largely sticking to catchy acoustic (and often frenetic) strumming, bass, and drums, but with some added piano lines and occasional brass.  Over straightforward progressions he weaves profoundly clever meditations on love, life, and loss.  Every song is a penetrating and captivating story.  Choice track:  “Harlem Roulette”.  

18.  Chester Endersby Gwazda – Shroud

Gwazda is a Baltimore compatriot of electro-dance geek Dan Deacon, co-producing/engineering the latter’s America album (#14 on this list) and serving as band member on the 2012 tour.  When I saw Deacon in Toronto, Gwazda opened.  It was a catchy little set, with some prepackaged samples, his guitar, and some pleasant singing.  Enough for me to check him out online.  His bandcamp page yielded Shroud, which was an unexpected treat.  It sounds a lot like Deacon in some ways, and one suspects they shared equipment.  The difference is that while Deacon defaults to hyperactive dance beats and krautrock freak outs, Gwazda reels it all into a catchier pop form, with better and more prominent singing, guitar centrepieces, and clearer song structures.  Dan Deacon meets Panda Bear meets The Beach Boys.  Choice track:  “Skewed”.

17.  Melody’s Echo Chamber – S/T

The name chosen by band lead Melody Prochet is appropos.  This is heavily reverbed, airy, and ethereal guitar-based pop, recalling The Cocteau Twins and Lush, and aligned with a number of contemporary acts like School of Seven Bells, Little Scream, and Washed Out.  Gossamer and woozy with angelic, laid back vocals that, well, kind of put you in some sort of echo chamber.  A great debut.  Choice track:  “Endless Shore”. 

16.  Lightships – Electric Cables

Lightships is the debut solo outing by Teenage Fanclub’s bassist Gerard Love.  I’ve always been a TFC fan and was understandably curious.  The signature voice is there, but this is a much more toned-down, mellow album than typical TFC fare.   And it works wonderfully.  Catchy, melodic folk-pop reminiscient of Mojave 3/Neil Halstead, The Kingsbury Manx, and Kurt Vile.  Love has a decisive knack for spinning nostalgia-inducing gems.  Sit back and visit your distant memories.  Choice track:  “Muddy Rivers”.  

15.  Trail of Dead – Lost Songs

...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead seem revitalized and somehow set free from the endless queue of detractors who seem to love to lambaste them at every turn (“bombastic”, “self-important”, “bloated”, blah blah blah).  Lost Songs, their 8^th full-length, sounds like a triumphant return to the excellence of Source Tags and Codes, their 3^rd record and venerable indie-rock favorite.  And for this reason, the are favorable comparisons to early Green Day, Smashing Pumpkins, Built to Spill, and Pearl Jam’s heavier rants.  But they mostly sound like early Trail of Dead, and that’s a damn fine thing.  Anthemic, pounding, and gritty.  Choice track:  “Opera Obscura”.  

14.  Eternal Summers – Correct Behavior

This Virginian duo turned trio produce that delicious brand of infectious indie pop popularized by bands like The Pastels, The Aislers Set, The Concretes, Vivian Girls, The Wedding Present, and The Go-Go’s.  And at times, they throw a few curveballs that remind of The Sundays, early Yo La Tengo, or Run On.  They been quoted as calling their style “dream punk”.  This seems to fit their upbeat, three-chord rave-ups with trebly, over-driven  guitar and sassy bubblegum vocals.  Heavy on the reverb, light on the pomp, but all rock , Correct Behaviour is happy-go-lucky while substantive.  This year, it’s essential listening.  Choice track:  “Heaven and Hell”. 

13.  Dan Deacon –  America

This year’s concert of the year was Dan Deacon.  There is something special about Deacon’s participatory populism of “music with the people” and there are very few artists who could get this 40-something into a seething dance pit of electronica rave geeks.  But that’s what happened.  Mind-blowing live show (and audience smartphone lightshow) aside, Deacon’s new album is wonderful, provided you dig 180 bpm, vintage 8-bit sonics, chipmunk voicings, and a brilliant use of repetition and release.    While modern dance music is diverse, the bulk of it leaves me profoundly bored.  Not so with America, an authentic tribalistic dance freak out that welcomes one, welcomes all.  The fact that the record is an explicitly political document is an added feature that I haven’t even begun to sort out.  I’m too busy bouncing around.  Choice track (and great video!):  “True Thrush” 

12. A.C. Newman – Shut Down the Streets

Leading off with one of the best songs of the year (“I’m Not Talking”) Carl Newman does what he does best – creates a New Pornographers album without any distracting Dan Bejar songs.  While admittedly the New Pornos are often more peppy and louder, Newman’s lead songwriting influence repeats itself in  all his solo work.  With brilliant, crystalline production, every track is an ear pleaser. A great pop song should grab you with the verse, trip you up with a well-timed bridge, and then pin you down with the chorus.  Doing this consistently is a difficult art, and so many tunes fail to bring all the moves together.  Carl Newman demonstrates once again that he is a true master of the art-from and, in 2012, a revered grandfather of indie rock.  Choice track:  “I’m Not Talking” 

11.  Sharon Van Etten – Tramp

I struggle to identify the music that Sharon Van Etten plays.  It seems old, classic, and timeless but I am wary of calling it folk, blues, country, or rock.  Sometimes it’s these things, I suppose.  But to sum it up better, she has a tremendous voice and presence over top of a compelling mix of mournful, chiming guitars (that sound like they were recorded in a cathedral), disciplined, spare drums, and Van Etten’s acoustic strums that keep it all together.  With a gaggle of indie-rock luminaries contributing (members of The National, Wye Oak, The Walkmen), the songs are woeful and lamenting, but never whiny and almost always powerful.  She clearly has some shit to work out.  Regardless, her future looks bright, as she is poised (along with Annie Clark of St. Vincent) to be one the greatest and influential female rock voices of the 2000’s sophmore decade. Choice track:  “Leonard”. 

10.  Lord Huron – Lonesome Dreams

Lord Huron was a great new 2012 discovery, although memory fails as to how they arrived at my ears.  With beautiful, bright and airy production, the band reaches the same stellar heights as Fleet Foxes and Beachwood Sparks.  The songs effortlessly invoke open spaces and natural grandeur, like a soundtrack to a mountain visit or canyon hike.  It’s that sort of feel-good orchestral folk that pairs well with sunny days and solitude.  I look forward to hearing more and don’t be surprised if they begin to enter the mainstream radar in much the same way as Fleet Foxes did.  Choice track:  “Ends of the Earth”.

9.  Plants and Animals – The End of That

After the critical darlinghood of their debut Parc Avenue, Plants and Animals got absolutely panned in their reviews of their follow up La La Land.  While there has been a slight uptick, the reviews for this third album have been similarly crappy (metacritic average of 64%).  I have this to say:  What is wrong with all you jackassess?  Holy shit, this is a great album!  There, my substantless rebuttal is complete.  Seriously folks, we’re back to Parc Avenue standards here, with groovy verse delivery, big swelling choruses, and some great rock musicianship.  Included is an amazing Velvet Underground impression on the title track.  Choice track: “Lightshow”.

8.  Parquet Courts – Light Up Gold

Ah, what a find!  Based on an mp3 post on www.popstache.com, I checked out these precocious youngsters’ bandcamp and was summarily blown.  This is old school power pop, channeling The Modern Lovers and the simple/raw garage/surf rock of the 60’s; and later pop-punk bands like The Feelies, The Muffs, and the Flying Nun Records sound.  And Wire and Pavement. When I listen to this album, I am sometimes embarrassed for my other favorite records that suddenly seem bloated and self-absorbed.  The Parquet Courts are….base.  They are an anachronism, yet their sound is vital to the present.  How have we arrived at this place where putting out a basic (and kind of sloppy) proto-punk record is an acheivement to be lauded? It is what it is.  Long live Parquet Courts!  Choice track: “Careers in Combat”.  Check out the whole album on their bandcamp. 

7.  Japandroids – Celebration Rock

No puffed up irony here.  This is indeed “Celebration Rock”.  Japandroids are an extraordinary Canadian duo that rock as hard as anybody out there, and with a nostalgia for the days of youth long past that is almost anguished.  Every song feels like an eulogy delivered during a post-punk wake.  These boys manage to elicit the same feelings that Billy Corgan used to conjure with his early Smashing Pumpkins.   The idolatary of youth, freedom, recklessness, and celebration, with turned-to-11 power chords and heart attack inducing drum lines.  To think they almost called it quits before their debut.  I hope they never lose that loving feeling.  Choice track:  “Younger Us”.

6.  Freelance Whales – Diluvia

I enjoyed the first couple FW records but was sometimes put off by their “dorkestral” conceits.  Too many instruments with the sort of swelling choral arrangements that unexpectedly become tiresome.  It’s tough to explain, but I suppose it’s the fault of trend-setters Arcade Fire (who are amazing) and The Decemberists (who are not).  A transformation has taken place, however.  Freelance Whales are far closer to Young Galaxy in my estimation (a contemporary favorite of mine) – there is still lots to pay attention to, but you are not hit over the head with it.  It is more measured, refined, and complex in an attractive way.  A surprise showing this year, Diluvia is an incredible restructuring of a good band into a great one.  Choice track: “Spitting Image”.

5.  Woods – Bend Beyond

Woods impressed me with 2010’s Echo Lake, which offered a delightful chunk of lo-fi, 60’s-influenced garage rock.  It was messy and raw, but catchy as hell.  So I was excited for this 2012 follow-up (somehow I missed Sun and Shade, but I will correct that momentarily).  I was not disappointed.  The same formula is used here, but improved somehow.  Maybe just the songs, top to bottom, are stronger.  It feels like a dusty psychedelic/folk garage record that was found and lovingly released by Nuggets compilers.  Akin to the retro-vibes of Black Mountain/Pink Mountaintops and Blitzen Trapper, Bend Beyond is perfect homage to underground rock of yore.  Choice track:  “Cali in a Cup”.

4.  The Men – Open Your Heart

YEAH!  The Men officially kicked my ass in 2012, with diverse rock numbers found on Open Your Heart.  I had to look past the fact that the title track (and the best track) is a massive rip off of The Buzzcocks “Ever Fallen In Love” (listen here).  I got over it.   I know and enjoy bands like The Strokes, Yeah Yeahs Yeahs, Franz Ferdinand and all those early 2000s bands who revived and updated the punk aesthetic (i.e., when grunge ultimately failed us all).  The Men are kind of like that, but better, and not homogeneously so.  There is intriguing diversity on this record, not just the blood and guts.  Insistent, manic, and irreverent with no bullshit.  They just bring it.  Choice track:  “Open Your Heart”.

3.  Jim Guthrie – Indie Game: The Movie Soundtrack

Hometown Guelphie and former Human Highway and Royal City member has carved out a whole new niche for himself.  Guthrie thankfully has turned his considerable talents away from advertising jingles (e.g., Capital One’s insanely catchy “Hand in my Pocket”) to soundtracking video games and, in this case, a documentary on independent video game creation.  Far removed from his brilliant, orchestral record Now More Than Ever, Guthrie has returned to his original penchant for digitized, 8-bit sounds, but it is more fully updated, cohesive and realized.  Following wonderful concept records Swords and Sworcery (a game soundtrack) and Children of the Clone, Guthrie returns with a soundtrack to the documentary Indie Game.  This is an amazing, compelling doc that I highly recommend to all, regardless of your level of interest in the medium.  The soundtrack provided the perfect expository mood to the film but I wondered if it would stand alone.  It does, and then some.  Guthrie has mastered this form of musical expression, using seemingly archaic tools like a PSone with MTV’s music generator software.  It is at once futuristic and anachronistic – like playing Atari 2600 in 2020.   And through all the bleeps and bloops, Guthrie coaxes out emotional poignant melodies that will stick in your head like pixelated afterimages.  Choice track: “Maybe You’ll Get Some, Maybe You Won’t”.

2.  Dana Buoy – Summer Bodies

I am big fan of Akron/Family and even bigger fan of Animal Collective (although their 2012 entry, Centipede Hz fell short of their lofty standards, IMO).  Here we get both at once, with the solo effort of A/Fs Dana Janssen doing his best impression of Panda Bear.  This one truly caught me by surprise and was immediately slotted into my mental nominations for Album of the Year when I first heard it.  I don’t see a lot of press on this record, which I find surprising given Janseens full-time outfit.  What we have here is a glorious, polyphonic, multi-rhythmic celebration which sources The Beach Boys, Freelance Whales, Yeasayer, and The Dodos, with heady doses of tropicalia, psychedelia, and an exceptional knack for hooky melodies.  Simultaneously, the music feels equally at home with the likes of Washed Out, Small Black, Delorean, and Youth Lagoon.  This is the most quintessentially “contemporary” album within the indie-rock landscape, yet it feels so unique. And definitely undervalued.  Get it.  It’s great.  Choice track: “Call To Be”. 

1.  Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes – Here

I know next to nothing about Alex Ebert’s previous outfit Ima Robot.  Actually, I am youtubing them right now and my initial 3-song opinion is that they are tepid and contrived.  This is relevant because I have been getting the sense that Ebert’s current outfit, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes have been experiencing an awful, petty, and horribly misplaced backlash based on the perceived malignancy of his prior band.  We’ve seen this before – successful but polarizing figure reinvents themselves but fails critically due to the undroppable baggage associated with their previous incarnation – we could call it Justin Timberlake Syndrome, perhaps (this is a slightly different version of the “critically acclaimed artist who reinvents themselves poorly and sours the fanbase” – see Sinead O’Connor’s  Am I Not Your Girl?).   In any case, I am flabbergasted at the widespread panning of the album Here, my undisputed #1 of 2012.  It’s unforgiveable.  Apparently a precocious, image-driven, drug-addict cannot possibly reform themselves and hope to release an album that is accepted on its own merits.  To the cynical and unprincipled music press, ES and the MZs is merely another fabrication of Ebert, another contrived vehicle to woo the susceptible, superficial consumer.  I call bullshit.  I had the exact same experience when Tim Delaughter formed The Polyphonic Spree out of the ashes of pop-grunge outfit, Tripping Daisy.  People couldn’t hack it.  White gowns? Really?  You were MTV pranksters and now you’re preaching communal flower-power love, like some whacked-out cult.  The reality is that the Spree made fabulous music and DeLaughter’s image motivation was irrelevant.  Similarly, Here  is a skilled, joyous, romp down the rusty tracks laid down by old-timey americana/folk artists.  It feels like folk in the most traditional sense – when music had to be consumed live, and shared in a vibrant communal space.  Maybe Ebert IS being calculated in propagating this image – why is he suddenly a roots-informed leader of a hippie collective, transformed from an androgynous pop singer?  Does it matter?  Hell no.  Every song on this record feels authentic, because the authenticity can be found in the sound, the instrumentation, vocals, the choruses, the production, the lyrics…the whole aesthetic.  I think it’s brilliant and this is my anti-review review.  Listen without prejudice. Choice track (and stellar vid):  “Man on Fire”.

The Top 20 Albums of 2011

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.

20.  Hooray For Earth– True Love

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”.

19.  Secret Cities –Strange Hearts

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”.

18.  Banjo or Freakout– S/T       

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”.

17.  Thurston Moore –Demolished Thoughts

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”.

16.  Sandro Perri –Impossible Spaces

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”.

15.   ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead – Tao of the Dead

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"

14.  Iron & Wine –Kiss Each Other Clean

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”.

12.  The Soft Province– S/T

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”.

11.  Ringo Deathstarr– Colour Trip

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”.

10.  The Pains ofBeing Pure At Heart – Belong

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”.

9.  tUnE-yArDs –Whokill

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”.

8. Two Koreas – Science Islands

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”.

 

7. Akron/Family - Akron/Family II (The Cosmic Birth AndJourney Of Shinju TNT)

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”.

6. Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues

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”.

5. Dog Day – Deformer

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”.

 

4. Little Scream – The Golden Record

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”.

3. M83 – Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming

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”.

2. EMA – Past Life Martyred Saints

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”.

1. PJ Harvey – Let England Shake             

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”.

#12. Old England by The Waterboys

From the Album This is the Sea, 1985

Recently my sister and  I were helping my Mom move into her new condominium and I was the only one (surprise, surprise) with any music handy.  In my car were a bunch of old CD mixes and I threw on one called “Camping 1”, because I recalled that the songs were summery and leaned toward the classic rock end of the spectrum.  My mom is fairly traditional and narrow in her likes (The Rankins, Holly Cole, Celine Dion, Dianna Krall, Oscar Peterson) and my sis has broader tastes, but still fairly limited to mainstream and classic rock/pop/country (Elton John, Garth Brooks, James Taylor, any number of modern singer-songwriters).  I figured this mix would at least be tolerated.  Mom didn’t like much of it – minor rockisms make her “hyper”, which actually translates into “stressed”.  Apparently strumming an electric guitar chord is, for my mom, the sonic equivalent of taking a chainsaw to an oil drum.  My sis perked up when many songs came on, such as “Waiting on a Friend” by the Stones and “Heroes” by Bowie.  But both of them proclaimed one song as “terrible” and “awful” – an insult to their ears, an aggravated assault.  This song was #12. “Old England” by The Waterboys.

It is run-ins like these that discombobulate me and send me back to my Top 500 writings to work it all out.  Ultimately, I really don’t care what my family’s opinions are on my musical taste.  It is clear that we populate entirely different philosophical planets when it comes to music, although I know how to strategically visit their homeworld when needed.  For example, I can buy my Mom a Nina Simone best-of or interesting nouveau jazz-pop records and feel confident that I spread decent music around to provide an antidote to....sorry, getting opinionated again.  Bottom line is that it’s quite a bit of work to find musical common ground with my Mom.  It’s easier with my sis – we just harken back to 1975 and all is well.  "Rocket Man" is excellent.  So why do I care in this instance?

I guess I care because a) Old England is #12 ALL TIME on my list and b) it is organized around a gentle piano riff and dignified, almost hymnal, melody, and c) it has copious saxophone interludes.  My assumption is that this combination of factors MUST result in general appreciation by more conservative ears.  But they fucking hated it.  

Why?  Because Mike Scott is not the greatest singer, at least from a technical/conventional standpoint and because the last saxophone part is discordant and chaotic.  No offense to my family, but these reasons confound and upset me.   Scott's vocals are never great (although they’re kind of perfect in this context) and they get kind of strained at the end and the sax paroxysm obviously creates some listener agitation – but that is the apex of the song!  It is the end of the narrative, it is where England is screaming its death throes and eating itself alive!  It is a necessary and beautiful build up.  

Perhaps I am being unfair.  Mom and Sis were likely going about their business, unwrapping and unpacking, only half aware of the genius on the stereo and only began to pay attention at the assaultive crescendo.  If one does not pay attention to the build, the conclusion may be heard as bombastic, unnecessary noise.  So I’ll let them off the hook. 

Rocks Songs and Imperialistic Decay

The Brits (and for convenience, the Irish, since U2 needs to be included in this category) have an exclusive knack for hymnal, self-critical rock songs that sonically and lyrically capture the essence of the UK’s historical past and current degradation.  These are songs of ironic nostalgia and damning critique of contemporary nationhood.   Let’s make a Top 5 list, shall we:

Top 5 Songs By British Artists About Nationalistic Mourning

1.  Old England – The Waterboys

2.  51^st State – New Model Army

3.  Something About England – The Clash

4.  Heartland – The The

5.  Sunday Bloody Sunday – U2 

Usually some metaphor is at play in these songs’ narratives.  In the case of Old England, the allegory is an old, dilapidated man who is clearly facing death, but who is obstinate to the end, stubbornly clinging to romanticized notions of the Empire’s glorious past.  Mourning lost traditions of course obfuscates the problems of the present, problems that the old society could not possibly address or even understand.  The new world is a cruel one of fear, poverty, pollution, and decay, and whose genesis lies in generations of cold detachment by the ruling class.   Here, Scott is influenced by Yeats (the first two lines of the final verse are his) and Joyce (who penned the phrase “Old England is Dying”).    

A man looks up on a yellow sky

And the rain turns to rust in his eyes

The rumours of his health are lies

Old England is dying

His clothes are a dirty shade of blue

And his ancient shoes worn through

He steals from me and lies to you

Old England is dying

Still he sings an Empire song

Still he keeps his navy strong

And he sticks his flag where it ill-belongs

Old England is dying

You’re asking what makes me sigh now

What it is that makes shudder so

Well I just freeze in the wind

and I’m numb from the pummeling of the snow

That falls from high in yellow skies

Where the well-loved flag of England flies

Where homes are warm and mothers sigh

Where comedians laugh and babies cry

Where criminals are televised

politicians fraternize

journalists are dignified

and everyone is civilized

and children stare with heroin eyes, heroin eyes, heroin eyes

Old England is dying

But this is the trick – the Waterboys make you feel sorry for the Old Man/Old England, which is the equivalent of taking pity on a war criminal because he is not of this time, ravaged by disease, and suffering in his own dishonor.  How they manage to do this is fascinating because there is no direct redemption of any sort in the lyrics – just persecution and regret.

I think they accomplish this feeling of pity (and profoundly so) through the use of musical idioms that temper and even recast the lyrics.   What sounds make one think fondly of imperialist England?  Chimes and military drums, of course.  The chimes that open the song remind of Protestantism, somehow, and the percussion is an austere snare in a dignified march rhythm.   The piano chords keep a measured pace accordingly, never straying off their eighth note beat.  Then we hear Karl Wallinger’s (later of World Party) synthesized harmonium in the high register, wistful and regretful and reminiscent of classical/religious dirges and hymns.  Finally, the understated backing vocal hums remind of soldiers and state funerals, the sort of sound that would fit snugly on Pink Floyd’s The Wall or The Final Cut.  The totality of the feeling is heart-breakingly sombre, an anachronistic pride.

The saxophone, however, throws a veritable wrench into this noble recipe.  It is feels antithetical to the structured discipline of the song.  It tears at the pageantry and veneer.  How often does one hear an anguished, raging sax in church? (Well, in a Protestant church – the southern Baptists might rock that shit out).  Who is the voice of the sax?  Is it the last, draining humanity of the Old England person/country/symbol?  Is it the raging against the dying of the light?  Is it the last bellowing regrets of a killer to its victims? 

I think it is fairly ridiculous that I get all of this from production and composition and maybe I am exaggerating the musical transmission of message.  Maybe I should be embarrassed.  I would love to ask Mike Scott, but one can infer from his liner notes that everything is intentional, as he presents his own musical style and techniques as including:  “a belief in music and song as forces of transformation and evocation” and “the conviction that music can evoke landscape and the elements, inspiring a sense of place”.  Any Joe could say such things, but Scott accomplishes them, and magically so on Old England.

But that could be 20/20 post-production hindsight.  It’s quite possible that the Waterboys did not compose the song in such a symbolically literate manner.  The sax guy probably said, “eh, mates, shall I throw a solo in here then?” But I would like to think it was songcraft of premeditated genius.