Hey Friends of Folkways,
It’s another trip down memory lane as our writers list their favorite albums of 2011. Just because we didn’t write many reviews this year doesn’t mean we didn’t listen to music. Please have a safe and happy holidays and enjoy your new year responsibly. Now have a nice read!
Love,
Folkways Magazine
Let’s just say it right off the bat: I am beginning to become set in my ways. 2011 was one of the only music years in history in which I listened almost exclusively to older music. I found myself constantly spinning Smashing Pumpkins albums that I hadn’t previously listened to since middle school. I had little patience or interest for new bands and it took a HUGE push from friends for me to check out anything that had been released during this year. Due to this, I must assume that my role as a writer is evolving to become more reflective than reactionary.
While my list is shorter than most years, I was still surprised to look back and see how many albums I felt strongly about. Evan and I have been making these lists together for years now, (almost certainly since high school), and they always serve as a handy reminder of what we were experiencing during each year. While looking at the albums which comprise my 2011 list, it seems that the dominant sound of my year was a hazy sort of tranquility. I feel happy with where I am in my life and I am ready to greet 2012 and find out the surprises it holds.
Have a great new year everyone!
Bjork: Biophilia
While this is certainly not Bjork’s strongest album, her iPad based marketing campaign will likely be remembered as an innovative way to change the dynamics of how we experience music. I have read many year-end lists already that call this album a disappointment. They suggest that the iPad app structure and elaborate box set are far more impressive than the album itself due to a lack of good songs. I do not agree with this assessment, I find the songs on Biophilia pretty fascinating. They are very percussive and even though they are mostly made of organic sounds, they form tiny loops which create drones that are colored in with Bjork’s vibrant vocals. Definitely worth exploring.
Woods: Sun and Shade
When Woods first few lo-fi releases came out I really loved their sound. Over a series of increasingly well-produced albums they have gained a fairly sizeable following and have become a pretty reliable band. I actually like this album more than their last couple of records because I feel it does a better job of reconciling Woods’ slightly more experimental instincts with their newly polished sound.
Yuck: Yuck
When I first heard this album, I heard the clear influence of Pavement, Yo La Tengo and Guided by Voices and I thought to myself (actually I literally said out loud) why am I not listening to Pavement, Yo La Tengo or Guided by Voices? It seemed silly to be so derivative. Over time however I came to really enjoy this album for what it was: a fun journey back to the indie scene of the 90s. It doesn’t seem that long ago to me but if people ARE starting to create tributes to it already then it might as well be a solid band with the songwriting chops to pull it off. This band is Yuck.
Bon Iver: Bon Iver
When Bon Iver’s first album came out, I really liked a few of the songs but was underwhelmed on the whole. I found the sound a little too stagnant and felt the album became monotonous. This sophomore release completely eschews that complaint by being as versatile as possible. In fact, there are moments in which the ambition of this album falls a bit flat but I can’t fault it for that because the mere presence of this amount of ambition is legitimately thrilling.
The Field: Looping State of Mind
Yes, another album composed of loops which evoke a droning but pleasant sensation: a sensation that allows your mind to wander and relive cherished memories as time cycles around and around. How does this album stand out amongst its all too numerous peers? Well, it’s The Field for crying out loud! You need to hear this to understand how masterfully the loops are utilized. This album is a new entry in the endless debate as to whether sampling should be considered a legitimate form of art. These songs grow and expand and breathe as the churn around and around living out full lives between their first and last notes. If our interest in this type of music is to continue into next year, this is the sound to aspire to but don’t set your sights too high because I doubt you can beat it.
Atlas Sound: Parallax
Brandon Cox has released yet another awesome album. Is this getting boring to anyone? It better not be! You should be grateful! This time he has focused on vocals and has clearly worked at honing his production skills. This barely even sounds like a ‘bedroom pop’ project anymore. I do not think that his work as Atlas Sound has ever approached his work with Deerhunter but the records are always really interesting little diversions which allow you to see a bit more of his process as a song-writer. Parallax, just like his previous Atlast Sound (and Deerhunter) releases does a great job at working as an album. There is a consistent tone which ebbs and flows nicely and makes for a totally satisfying listening experience.
Battles: Gloss Drop
Battles’ debut album, Mirrored, is a modern day classic. Most of us were pretty worried when we heard that they lost their vocalist. As soon as the single, “ice cream”, was released, we all felt at ease. Gloss Drop is a genuinely fun record which does not quite have the magic of discovery which is all over Mirrored but instead has a strong group of songs performed by talented and confident musicians. A great listen.
Oneohtrix Point Never: Replica
I discovered the music of Oneohtrix Point Never last year when Evan sent me a copy of Returnal. It definitely made an impression on me and if I’m not mistaken, the album made my best of the year list. I know I could check to see if that is true or not but I’m too lazy. Replica has the same hypnotic energy of Returnal but the songs have an unusual vibe which I find hard to put my finger on. For one, the beautiful ambient soundscapes now have a little bit more rhythm behind them but that’s not quite what gives me that strange feeling. It was when I was reading an interview about the album on Pitchfork that I learned that most of the loops in the album are taken from 80s and 90s television commercials. Those garbled vocals are selling me things? Honestly, I have been impulsively buying used Clappers (you know “Clap on, Clap off”) from ebay since I started listening to this album. In a way, it’s a pretty powerful statement… these once disposable marketing gimmicks are now immortalized as part of our pop culture panetheon due to youtube and nostalgia sites like retrojunk. Can these same crass snippets become high art? Who shot Andy Warhol?
Deerhoof: Deerhoof Vs. Evil
Who doesn’t like Deerhoof? Seriously? This is a band that pushes themselves with every release. Their songs become more complex AND catchier. While Offend Maggie had a slightly more ‘progressive’ sound than most of their peppier fair, it showed the band pushing their songwriting and it sounded really great live. With Deerhoof Vs Evil the band has taken the sound of their poppier albums and stretched it in all directions until it sounds completely new but still completely like Deerhoof. Every song on this album has been stuck in my head at one point during the year and I look forward to playing it again and again as the new year comes upon us.
Danielson: The Best of Gloucester County
I sure have enjoyed following Danielson from album to album. From the Famile to his tree-sporting Brother work and most recently as Danielson (a shortening of the previous “everyone’s invited” incarnation of the Danielson-ship) this South Jersey resident has roots. One of my favorite things about the music of Danielson is how he always pushes himself to explore new structures without ever forsaking his joyous noise or his oddly touching expressions of religious devotion. The Best of Gloucester County has a big focus on home-life, familial responsibilities and looking back on a long and (I’d imagine) surprising career. His previous album Ships was at times chaotic and sometimes threatened to collapse under its own complexity. While I personally loved this about the last album, it should be noted that his practice recording other musicians on his Sounds Familyre label shines through because this album more than any of his others manages to wrangle in all the huge sounds and make them sound stable and comfortable without sacrificing the compositional complexity that we all love him for. It is thrilling listening to a song like “Olympic Portions” somehow hold itself together and I am drawn in each time I return.
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart: Belong
I really liked the debut album by The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. It was a fun, modern take on the dream-pop genre that wasn’t afraid to crank up the volume when appropriate. “Young Adult Friction” was one of my favorite songs of the year. This being said, I have a hard time listening to it now all because of Belong. I cannot remember the last time that I listened to a sophomore release that was so good that it somewhat invalidated the debut. Belong is produced by Flood (that guy who got really redundant by the end of the 90s but now is apparently back) and mixed by Alan Moulder. The change in fidelity is immediately evident and, for me, at first was a turn off but then come the songs. These songs are genuinely catchier, better written and more diverse that the songs which populated their debut. It seems that today when bands ‘grow’, it usually means that they are changing their style or ambition but this is not the case with The Pains of Being Pure at Heart: this is a band that is growing without drastically changing their sound. This is a band that is growing by becoming better songwriters. Is that too novel for today’s fickle music listener? Let’s hope not.
Fleet Foxes: Helplessness Blues
I was always impressed with Fleet Foxes debut, but I found it hard to sit through. I thought the songs felt a little monotonous and the album began to drag after a few tracks. I could listen to each song by itself and think it was great but, as most serious music listeners, I am an album person and their debut just did not cut the mustard. Helplessness Blues on the other hand works great as an album. The songs have enough diversity that you can listen through the album from start to finish without growing bored and (just like before) these songs deliver. That is to say that they are pretty great.
Wilco:The Whole Love
Wilco has long been one of my favorite bands and I look forward to each new release. Similar to many, I really fell for Wilco upon the dramatic circumstances surrounding the release of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot but I have a fond memory for each of the releases prior and subsequent to that landmark. Despite its lackluster reviews, Sky Blue Sky was an irreplaceable part of my college experience since it served as a friendly companion during late nights working on projects. That album marked a softening of Wilco’s experimental side and a focus on song craft; music for the sake of music. That album was followed by Wilco: the album which had a lot of great songs and an awesome tour but to my ears, felt a little too cobbled together and lacked the unity which has graced nearly all of Wilco’s prior releases. With The Whole Love it feels like Wilco has found the perfect balance of their newer, relaxed style and their more radical sonic explorations. The album’s structure is dynamic and engaging as the songs all support each other to make for a singular listening experience: you know, an album! This, my friends, is a beautiful thing. I only wish I got the chance to see them tour it. Maybe 2012 will be my year.
Radiohead: The King of Limbs
Musically, I have grown up with Radiohead. They introduced me to sounds that I wasn’t hearing anywhere else and they captured my attention throughout middle school, high school and even much of college. It is with this history that I can’t help but get excited by each new release. The King of Limbs was a joy to listen to. Its brevity is one of its greatest strengths in that I have been able to listen to it more times than any other album this year. These are deceptively simplistic sounding songs but with multiple listens, their nuances seep to the surface. I love how they all feel so small and compact but are still deeply satisfying in their masterful ambiance. The album creates a distinctive mood which surrounds the listener. It is maintained until the last song ends and you push the button to restart. If you listened to this album when it came out and left feeling disappointed, give it a few more spins and see if it will open up to you. You will not regret it.
Ducktails: iii Arcade Dynamics
Despite my opening paragraph, this is pretty much a record I bought on a whim. I was in an FYE in the mall and they had this album in their vinyl selection. I had heard Evan mention ducktails but had no idea what it would sound like or if this was a well-liked album. When I got home and put it on my turntable, I was immediately hooked. Ducktail is the solo project of Matthew Mondanile, a member of the band Real Estate. That’s right: he made two slots on my best of the year list! As Evan has noted to me, the guitar on this album has a really cool sound. It is definitely a lo-fi recording (it actually has a bedroom feel) but the tape-hiss is used in just the right way: to warmly blanket the various layers of instrumentation so that they are tucked-in together.
Real Estate: Days
This is one of those albums that you need to listen to again and again before the melodies begin to burn their way into your brain. Fortunately, the album drifts by so pleasantly that it is hard not to press repeat. After a strong debut, Real Estate has emerged as one of the best guitar pop bands on my radar with this magnificent sophomore outing.
Prince Rama: Trust Now
I have written a whole lot about this album fairly recently so I will try and keep this brief. If you like music that takes you on a journey and isn’t afraid to test your expectations (and possibly your comfort zones) then you really should check out this album. Prince Rama meld ancient chanting and tribal drumming with pop keyboard lines in such a way that the drones are never unnerving. They always feel reflective, beautiful and inviting. Please enjoy.
M83: Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
Evan introduced me to M83 with Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts a few years ago. It took that album a few listens to start to open up for me but Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming immediately grabs my attention and never lets go. I have never played this for someone without them having a strong positive reaction. I think that my favorite thing about this album is its sprawling ambition. It feels so huge and it is refreshing in the modern mp3 era of music. In interviews he mentions Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness by the Smashing Pumpkins as inspiration and this has caused me to go back to that album (an infinitely rewarding nostalgia trip). Thank you M83 for all the gifts you gave me.
Panda Bear: Tomboy
When I first heard these songs at the 2010 Pitchfork Music Festival, I was pretty much hypnotized by the warm repeating soundscapes they developed. Many patrons wandered away but I was frozen in my spot. Now that I have received the record in its completed form (and later the deluxe edition) these songs have only grown more powerful. Now despite what my gut tells me is probably popular opinion, I think that Tomboy is irrefutably a stronger album than Person Pitch. While Person Pitch is definitely an incredible record, it somehow fails to capture the passion and emotion that Tomboy has in spades. My definitive listening experience was on a temperate summer’s day. I listened to the album on headphones while taking a bike ride in the early morning and my excursion was all the better for it. The record perfectly (and I mean perfectly) soundtracks this activity. I defy you to try it yourself and disagree. I have never seen so many butterflies and bunny rabbits as I did that day. I can only assume that they wanted to listen too.
Beastie Boys: Hot Sauce Committee part 2
I grew up at just the right time to be well aware of the culture surrounding the 90’s while avoiding becoming a casualty of its narcissistic apathy. Bands like the Beastie Boys were a staple of my childhood radio and, in my world, their greatness always lay unquestioned. A few years ago, I was driving a friend (just four or five years my junior) to Orlando. I happened to put on a Beastie Boys album and after she asked me what it was she informed me that they’re terrible. She just rattled this statement off as if it was a fact that everyone in the world was privy to… everyone but me. In shock, I turned off the album and immediately dove into a bout of fearful introspection.
This generation that missed the 1990’s and, in turn, the musical education that it afforded through the simple happenstance of birth year, could they really be so ignorant? Perhaps the prolonged cell phone usage (which they started at a much younger age) has warped the shape of their ears and disallowed them the ability to properly process sound. Maybe there has been a marked difference in the style of music composed for children over that five-year span that separated our births. Maybe the rhythms and frequencies which they were originally introduced to has markedly affected type of sounds which they are attracted to as adults. How else could they not understand the greatness of the Beastie Boys?
This album is my favorite album of the year. While this may not be the Beastie Boy’s best album, it absolutely holds its own against a daunting (though brief) discography. It plays perfectly on a car ride, while cleaning at home or during a summer party; that, my friends, is called versatility and it should lead to a universal agreement on quality but somehow, I fear that this hasn’t happened. Actually, I believe that some of these younger listeners have been given a disservice and somehow have been damaged beyond repair to no fault of their own. Seriously, someone needs to start a telethon or something.
*Honorable Mentions (Close but no cigar): Girls, Cloud Nothings and surely many others…*
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Top 15 Metal Albums Of 2011
15. Obscura – Omnivium
Omnivium’s third album is a technical death metal masterpiece. With great guest musicians, an overall cohesion of form and a realization of potential. Obscura top their sophomore effort and propel their sound further.
14. Hate Eternal – Phoenix Amongst The Ashes
Another brain melting, ear crushing release from Erik Rutan. “The Art Of Redemption” might be his best song to date.
13. Wolves In The Throne Room – Celestial Lineage
Another great ambient black metal album from the Great American Northwest. Wolves get closer to portraying the landscapes and atmospheres of the Pacific Northwest with each release.
12. The Atlas Moth – An Ache For The Distance
The Atlas Moth caught me completely off guard. I was previously unaware of their existence until I came across this album. It’s crushingly heavy, vigorously groove oriented, and scorchingly blackened.
11. Svart Crown – Witnessing The Fall
In the same vein as Deathspell Omega, Ulcerate, and Withered, France’s Svart Crown produced one hell of a utterly dissonant blackened death metal album this year.
10. Lantlos – Agape
One of Neige’s many other side projects outside of Alcest, Lantlos is more aggressive and closer to traditional black metal than the others. Traditional black metal vocals accompany the music, which varies from traditional black metal, post-rock, and jazz infused interludes. Nevertheless, Agape still holds the beautiful crescendos and chord progressions Neige is now known for (“Eribo – I Collect The Stars”). Certainly worth checking out for fans of Alcest, Neige, or Black Metal in general.
9. Falkenbach – Tiurida
Straying further from the more traditional black metal sound that inhabited Falkenbach’s viking/folk sound, and incorporating more folk-tinged chanting, Vratyas Vakyas, the main man behind the band, has done it again. Falkenbach has been a favorite of mine for a while now, and this, his fifth release, keeps the beauty in the warmth found during cold nights gathered in distant mead halls of times past. Communal chants and choral melodies that seem to be taken straight from ancient campfires, flow like the grandest testaments to primal emotions (“Where His Ravens Fly…”).
8. Woods Of Desolation – Torn Beyond Reason
If it weren’t for another particular album, Torn Beyond Reason would be my pick for the number one atmospheric black metal album. I have only recently stumbled upon this incredible release and I have been unable to stop listening to it. Woods Of Desolation produce the epic grandeur of Agalloch and Alcest combined with distant, tortured black metal screeches and atmospheric layers that rise to the forefront and fade into the backdrop at precisely the right moments.
7. Altar Of Plagues – Mammal
Mammal, the second release from the Irish atmospheric black metal band, is an incredible release, and the one album that, for me, without a doubt, took the crown for atmospheric black metal this year. Altar Of Plagues continues with their insanely epic soundscapes that erupt into exploding tremolo picks and blast beats that soar above instead of dig down (“Feather And Bone”). They are quickly becoming one of my favorite bands in the genre and deservedly so.
6. Blut Aus Nord – 777 sect(s)/777 Desanctification
These are the first two albums of a projected trilogy by the ever consistent and progressive French black metal band, Blut Aus Nord. Not only have these two albums been at the top of my black metal list for 2011, but they have also forced me to look at black metal, yet again, differently. Sect(s) is immediately more aligned with traditional black metal but somehow distorted in a way that makes one marvel at the technique with which Vindsval orchestrates the music. Desanctification is the slower more progressive and experimental of the two, and yet just as strong, if not stronger. The use of extremely weird dissonance, confusing time-signatures, and electronic ambiance is what makes these releases so captivating and strong.
5. Mastodon – The Hunter
There seems to be a lot of debate over whether this album is good or not. This, I do not understand. I can see where prog fans would be let down with the absence of extravagant conceptual stories and long, winding progressive interludes that spiral outwards, things that Mastodon have not only perfected but have come to be known for. That being said, Mastodon are obviously moving forward with their sound, becoming a significant force in the metal world and creating some of the catchiest songs of their career. This album doesn’t try to measure up to some preconceived progressive guideline. It’s simply a great album, filled with strong songs.
4. Amon Amarth – Surtur Rising
If there was any doubt left in me that Amon Amarth would have trouble following their incredible album, Twilight Of The Thunder God, it ceased to be once the opening track of Surtur Rising broke loose. This album is certainly a step up, which is hard for me to say considering how much I loved their aforementioned previous album. Not only does the album provide some of the hardest hitting songs yet, but apparently their live shows do as well, where I received a black eye after colliding with someone’s head. The show I went to was being filmed and is now the official music video for “Destroyer Of The Universe.” Unfortunately, they left out the footage of me taking a head to the face, but there is a short, and I mean split second, clip of my friend and I helping lift someone up to crowd surf. Intense show. Intense album.
3. Moonsorrow – Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa
Ensiferum and Moonsorrow were the first bands I seriously got into when I started listening to viking/folk metal, or “epic heathen metal” as they like to be referred to. I remember listening to them for the first time, I believe it was “Sankatarina” from Voimasta Ja Kunniasta, and being completely overwhelmed by the powerful way their songs transported me. I heard waves crash against a distant shore while the crackling of a fire drew immediate attention to the grunts of people taking warmth around it, I immediately was at a campfire in a distant land surrounded by the primal past, the sounds that surround and embody their music are very authentic and heartfelt; this is why they have succeeded. Moonsorrow remain not only one of my favorite bands in this genre but they have risen to the top of it as well. They are certainly one of the strongest producers of epic greatness.
2. Insomnium – One For Sorrow
Along with Amon Amarth, the other melodic death metal band I originally got into was Insomnium. They remain one of my favorite bands and this years release, One For Sorrow, is about as close to perfection as they have come thus far. This, their fifth release, is absolutely incredible. The combination of strong, beautiful, somewhat saddening song writing, coupled with better production and immaculate musicianship helps this release rise above my previous favorite of theirs, Above The Weeping World.
1. Ulcerate – The Destroyers Of All
What is there to say about this band or this release that I haven’t already stated in my review? Well, plenty more praise that’s for sure. I really couldn’t recommend this album more. Ulcerate have done something that I thought near impossible, they have constructed a sound, a music, that reinvigorates my lust for originality. Most of the albums, that I wasn’t already looking forward to this year, were in direct influence to this one. What they have done cannot be replicated, only marveled at. The sheer crushing caliber of this music is that of earthquakes rupturing volcanic explosions while submerged under a flood of biblical proportions. Carrying on in the same fashion as their previous release, Everything Is Fire, Destroyers raises the bar once more and produces the metal album of the year.
Honorable Metal Mentions: Ash Borer – “Ash Borer.” An Autumn for Crippled Children – “Everything.” Cloak of Altering – “The Night Comes Illuminated with Death.” Devin Townsend – “Deconstruction/Ghost.” Fen – “Epoch.” Fleshgod Apocalypse – “Agony.” Ghost Brigade – “Until Fear No Longer Defines Us.” Krallice – “Diotima.” Mitochondrion – “Parasignosis.” Omnium Gatherum – “New World Shadows.” Scar Symmetry – “The Unseen Empire.” Shining – “VII: Fodd Forlorare.” Thy Catafalque – “Rengeteg.”
Top 15 Other Albums Of 2011
15. Blanck Mass – Blanck Mass
One half of Fuck Buttons equals incredible ambient music.
14. I Break Horse – Hearts
When I first heard this album I thought it sounded like Tamaryn, but with lush electronics replacing the lush guitar haze.
13. Oneohtrix Point Never – Replica
Being a very big fan of OPN’s first two albums, I was a little unsure of how to receive his latest endeavor. The looping aspect of the album is very prevalent which lends itself closer to drone. Once you accept the change, the album is crazier and deeper than anything else he has done.
12. Atlas Sound – Parallax
Another great album from the reigning king of indie. Lush, experimental and some of the best pop songs he has written.
11. Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Unknown Mortal Orchestra
A spaced-out, psychedelic, funky indie-rock album that took me by surprise. “Ffunny Ffrends” put me under a deep spell with wandering guitar lines and audio degradation techniques that make it sound like the music is being sent from another time, whether that time is past or future, is unclear.
10. Male Bonding – Endless Now
Listening to this album, one could draw comparisons to Isn’t Anything era My Bloody Valentine, or a sort of English version or Wavves, of course 90′s Brit-pop, and a bit of Slowdive’s “Dagger” on the song “The Saddle.” The biggest comparison I came up with was Ride. The singer sounds extremely similar and the song structures are very reminiscent. The album is catchy and hard hitting at times as well as being beautiful and lush at others. My affinity for British music around the 90′s is what propelled this album, not just because it sounds like it came from that time, but that it does such a great job of earnestly representing a love for that sound, feel, and atmosphere.
9. Radiohead – The King Of Limbs
At this point Radiohead will do whatever they want; not that they haven’t always done that, and not that it is what made, and makes, them so great. People seem to be stuck in an unwillingness to accept that Radiohead are not going to make another Ok Computer or Kid A. These albums happened and they are now passed them. In my opinion In Rainbows was just as good as the aforementioned albums and The King Of Limbs is another great album that people will criticize in comparison. Those who complain about the length can add “These Are My Twisted Words,” “Supercollider,” and “The Butcher” and feel better about it and themselves.
8. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – Belong
Their self-titled debut was a great album, immediately hooking me. Hearing that their follow up sophomore release was going to be produced by Flood and Alan Moulder, I was excited at the level of quality they would bring to the band’s expansive capabilities and grandiose qualities. The album is heartbreaking in it’s sincerity, the sound is huge, and the production makes these things clearer.
7. Tim Hecker – Ravedeath 1972
Recorded in a church in Iceland, the latest album from Tim Hecker is a sonic landscape of reverb laden isolation. The songs degrade and fall apart; the sounds seem to mash into each other, combining and producing an amalgam of tones that drift, stretch, and breath. Harmony In Ultraviolet was my favorite album by him, an ambient masterpiece, but this one seems to be fighting for the top spot as well, and winning.
6. Smith Westerns – Dye It Blonde
This album stuck with me throughout the whole year. It seemed to never stop impressing me. For most of the year, this album and Kurt Vile’s, were the strongest albums for me, never relenting, never getting old. The songs follow in a sunny, poppy, Beatles-esque pattern but they make them their own. Fuzzy production techniques only amplify their ability to write beautifully catchy songs with melodies that seem new with each repeated listen, and this is true for every single song on the album.
5. Panda Bear – Tomboy
Tomboy seemed very strange to me at first. I knew that these songs were poppy and catchy, but they didn’t behave as such. I couldn’t stop listening to the album, even though I was unsure of how much I liked it, or whether I thought it was as good as I hoped it to be. Possibly, the most confusing album for me to explain this year. The longer I listened to it, left it, came back to it under different ears and gave it another shot, the more I noticed things I hadn’t heard before, the more I fell deeper into things that were happening behind the chanting and the catchy melodies, the more the songs expanded into something that became all encompassing, garnering the ability to slyly show me just how sonically impressive a pop song can be.
4. Kurt Vile – Smoke Ring For My Halo
As I stated earlier in this list, as well as in my review for this album earlier this year, this album was one of the first of the year that I knew would make this list. It is a seemingly effortless masterpiece of laid back, retrospection supported by the driftingly beautiful musical accompaniments of Kurt’s unique guitar style. It’s more than folk, rock, or indie, it’s something that’s his. It’s hard to put a finger on what he is doing that is so intriguing but whatever it is, I say keep it up.
3. Bon Iver – Bon Iver
I need to state that picking the number one album of 2011 was a truly difficult thing to do. I have pondered over this and the proceeding two albums so much that I would have loved to have placed them in a three way tie for best album of the year. As I have heard that doing something like that is a copout, I have picked these albums based on how I have felt on this particular day. In the weeks leading up to this publication, I would shift the order of these three albums with each changing day, or each changing thought, mood, or realization. All three have something similar: the hard working dedication to the craft of creating intricate, beautiful music that is as near to their idea of perfection as they can get. So, let it be known that either of these three albums could be, as well as deserve to be, number one.
The reason for placing Bon Iver’s supremely incredible sophomore album at number three is that I feel like it didn’t provide me with the fulfillment of the listening experience. This album left to early, leaving me with a severe case of want. I needed more, even though this album is complete, perfect, beautiful in it’s structure, in a way similar to Pet Sounds, structures that are arranged with delicacy and purpose. Like his lyrics which are the strangest, yet most heartbreakingly beautiful, they leave me wondering, needing more explanation. But, maybe that’s what makes this album so hauntingly special. Crafting pieces together like an architect building monuments to memories of the past, whether good or bad, whether sad or unfortunate, Justin Vernon proves his importance to music.
2. Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
Truly the greatest folk rock album of the year, by the longest possible shot. The music, as it is with the other two albums, is immaculately arranged. Perfection is the most proper description, and you know it when you listen to it. That is the difference these albums share when being compared to other releases this year. The meticulous attention to detail within each song, within each second of each song, is evident. It is a thing of beauty. Fleet Foxes provide this through an assortment of song types. Some songs are more evident, showing the proof of their impressive arrangements (“The Plains Bitter Dancer,” “The Cascades,” and “The Shrine/ An Argument”). Other songs are perfect slices of folk/pop gold, that flash with brilliance for a moment and then are gone (“Battery Kinzie,” “Lorelai,” and “Grown Ocean”). Some last longer and provide epically (“Montezuma,” “Bedouin Dress,” and “Helplessness Blues”). Along with the foundation of great music, Robin Pecknold pens some of the most important and affecting lyrics, not only of this year, but of the last ten (“Helplessness Blues” and “The Shrine/ An Argument”). I saw them live, one of the best shows of the year, one of the tightest sets I have ever witnessed.
1. M83 – Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
I have loved M83 ever since I first heard “Run Into Flowers” and subsequently Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts. M83 have been a huge part of my life, and they have seriously effected my tastes and what I look for in electronic music. Being that they have been with me so long, and this, Anthony Gonzalez’s magnum opus, achieved, proved and provided well beyond the extremely high standards and expectations that he set forth and that I had as a fan. A double album undertaking that does not falter at any moment. Along with the previous two albums, this one is spotlessly clean. Everything is as it should be; no corner of this musical space is left empty or unchecked. There are pieces of most of his past albums on here. “Echoes Of Mine,” one of my absolute favorite tracks on the album, has the epic qualities of Dead Cities, while song like “Midnight City,” “New Map,” “Ok Pal,” and the glorious “Steve McQueen,” could fit perfectly on Before The Dawn Heals Us. “Claudia Lewis” has Saturdays = Youth written all over it, and the spectacular ambient tracks are the best he has produced since Digital Shades Vol. 1. There is an ethereal, uplifting quality to the music he makes that simultaneously brings you to tears while making you feel great about it, about life, about living, somehow about the past, like a reassurance of some kind that just feel right, it helps.
M83 and the previous two artists have done something special, they have achieved their idea of perfection. They have crafted albums that will remain some of the best this generation has seen. Which is saying a lot for this year alone. I couldn’t help but wonder if I had just been listening to more music this year, or if there really was a surge in great music going on. I’ve come to believe in the latter. Finally.
Honorable Other Mentions: Apparat – “The Devil’s Walk.” Beirut – “The Rip Tide.” Cloud Nothings – “Cloud Nothings.” Cults – “Cults.” Cut Copy – “Zonoscope.” Dirty Beaches – “Badlands.” The Field – “Looping State of Mind.” Girls – “Father, Son, Holy Ghost.” James Blake – “James Blake.” John Maus – “We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves.” Real Estate – “Days.” Stephen Malkmus – “Mirror Traffic.” Tom Waits – “Bad As Me.” Washed Out – “Within and Without.” A Winged Victory for the Sullen – “A Winged Victory for the Sullen.” Woods – “Sun and Shade.”
