ISP. That Wheeler Brothers suggestion was great. Can we make sure this thread gets archived?
Posted on 12/28 8:46 PM | IP: Logged
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Originally posted by kjones_aggie:
ISP. That Wheeler Brothers suggestion was great. Can we make sure this thread gets archived?
Their album really popped out to me the first time I listened to it. Most of the time it takes me 2-3 times through before I know if I really like something. They mix it up really well and I didn't realize how young they were.
This thread typically stays bumped for a good 3-4 weeks, if not longer. I'm going to fire up Spotify and load it up with suggestions from here. I might put together some playlists for those that have it.This post was edited on 12/28 9:16 PM by I Stab People
Posted on 12/28 9:15 PM | IP: Logged
Most of these have already been mentioned but f-ck it, 2011 was a great year for music and this is my list.
20. Ryan Adams - Ashes & Fire. It was really nice to hear my old friend Ryan get back to the basics on this one. His last two adult-alternative albums had me thinking he couldn’t write a quality album without shooting speedballs, so it’s refreshing to see that I was wrong.
19. Black Lips - Arabia Mountain. These crazy assholes from Georgia cleaned up their act (a little bit) for their latest album. The highlight for me is "Modern Art," a fun little tale about when the Lips took a bunch of hallucinogens while exploring the Louvre.
18. Washed Out - Washed Out. Mood music for those times when you're making sweet, sweet love to a hipster chick.
17. Neon Indian - Era Extrana. Ahhh chillwave. How I love you so. A little less goofy/fun than the debut album, but holy hell do I love "Polish Girl." Maybe my favorite song of the year.
16. Dawes - Nothing Is Wrong. Just really good laid-back Canyon rock. These guys are great musicians and really know their way around a hook. "Time Spent In Los Angeles" and "If I wanted someone" are outstanding, especially if you're into The Band and folky Neil Young like I am.
15. Hayes Carll - KMAG YOYO. Few people, if any, are doing the classic country singer-songwriter thing with as much wit as Hayes these days. The title track is a fun reinvention of "Subterranean Homesick Blues" and "Chances Are" is probably the best straight-up tear-in-your-beer honky tonk song that's been released in years. Gary Stewart would approve.
14. Yuck - Yuck. Fantastic 90's indie rock throwback. For fans of early Smashing Pumpkins and Dinosaur Jr. For a while I actually thought this was a forgotten 90's band that was just being rediscovered. Turns out they're younger than me. Spring for the deluxe version, if you're gonna go the iTunes route because "Soothe Me" is great.
13. My Morning Jacket - Circuital. It's pretty hard to beat the opening one-two punch of "Victory Dance" and "Circuital," the latter of which is one of the best expressions of what MMJ is as a band that there is. It's rootsy and jammy and all MMJ. It's nice to hear them put together a more coherent album after the fun (but inconsistent) Evil Urges.
12. Radiohead - The King Of Limbs. Obligatory, I guess. This was a grower for me. I was a little bit let down when it was first released but I've grown to love it overt ime. Lovely and understated.
11. Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring For My Halo. Think Tom Petty on quaaludes. Vile is a great guitar player and this is good Sunday drivin' music. I think “Baby’s Arms” was on a car commercial so that’s neat. Also, check out his song “Blackberry Song” on the previous LP.
10. Bon Iver - Bon Iver. Nothing else I can really say that hasn’t already been said. “Holocene” is just so damn good. And I’m even one of the few that actually likes “Beth/Rest.”
9. Wye Oak - Civilian. A wonderful follow-up to their previous album, The Knot, which I loved. It's a lot more varied, musically, and has more energy and bright moments than their earlier efforts. "Holy Holy Holy," "Two Small Deaths," and "Plains" are all dirgey indie rock goodness.
8. Girls - Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. I absolutely loved Girls' first album and this one is a great, logical step forward. Christopher Owens is a really intriguing dude, and he pulls off the bleary-eyed romantic thing better than just about anybody else out there these days because he's not bullshitting anybody. All those songs with girl names as the title like “Laura,” “Alex,” and “Jamie Marie?” All real chicks that he’s had feelings for in one way or another. This is a warm, inviting guitar pop record, great for anytime of year. The epic "Vomit" is the highlight here, but “Jamie Marie” goes down perfectly over the stereo with a glass of whiskey.
7. Feist - Metals. There’s nothing on this album as immediately catchy and accessible as “1234” but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. This is a complex, deeply rewarding album and it’s Feist’s best to date. She’s able to seamlessly mix big, sweeping pop songs like “The Bad In Each Other” and “Graveyard” with quiet, arresting acoustic numbers like “Cicadas and Gulls.” And the thing that ties it all together is Feist’s voice which always sounds like it’s coming from an old radio.
6. Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Mirror Traffic. This is just a fun, easygoing rock record that hits all the right notes for me. I love Malkmus’ earlier work in Pavement, and this is his best album since Pavement’s Wowee Zowee, IMHO. Musically, it’s slightly jammy, but never too much so, and it manages to sound laid back while being pretty damn intricate as well. And it also sparked one of my favorite music news tidbits of the year. “The Senator” contains a line in the chorus with “blowjob” in it. So the band held a contest on their website where they took suggestions as to what should be the replacement word for the radio edit, with “corndog” eventually winning out. So on the off chance you hear the song on the radio, the chorus will start “I know what the senator wants/what the senator wants is a corndog.” And that’s pretty neat.
5. Cymbals Eat Guitars - Lenses Alien. Hard to believe these dudes have only been playing together for a relatively short time because they just sound so locked in on this record. If y’all are fans of early Sunny Day Real Estate or Built To Spill you will find a lot to like. And if you’re new to any of these bands you can enjoy the great guitar work and fantastic songwriting from lead singer Joe D’Agostino. My personal favorites are “Definite Darkness,” “Wavelengths,” and “Rifle Eyesight.”
4. Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears - Scandalous. This is my undisputed party record of the year and probably stayed in my car stereo/iPod longer than any of the others on this list. The Honeybears’ sound is kind of a punk rock/blues/soul hybrid that just about anybody could love, and there’s a lot to love on their latest album. My personal favorite might be “Mustang Ranch,” a talking blues tale about the (true story) time when the whole band decided to make a detour to the famous Mustang Ranch while on tour in order to “get [their] ham glazed.”
3. Toro Y Moi - Underneath The Pine. Chaz Bundick stepped away from his laptop and made a damn near flawless album this year. It will be called chillwave by many people, but, to me, it’s closer in sound and design to the jazz fusion of Miles’ Bitches’ Brew. It’s a funky, jazzy, and, yeah, pretty chill good time. “How I Know” is probably the most representative of all those ideas, and “New Beat” will be great for your next dancy party in Brooklyn/Austin.
2. F-cked Up - David Comes To Life. I really don’t know what to say about this one except that holy balls does it just kick all kinds of ass. F-cked Up is kind of like The Hold Steady except where THS’ Craig Finn is the guy at the end of the bar writing lyrics on a napkin, FU’s Damien “Pink Eyes” Abraham is the fat dude at the other end shattering pint glasses on his dome. He’s crazy, but also crazy intelligent. Beneath his throat-shredding vox lies an epic, 18-song rock opera whose lyrics read like a Charles Dickens novel. And you won’t find a better album opening this year than the combo of “Let Her Rest” and “Queen of Hearts.”
1. Real Estate - Days. For me it was love at first sight with Real Estate. I absolutely wore out their self-titled debut when it came out a couple years ago, and I knew once I heard the opening chords of “Easy” that Days would be my personal album of the year. It’s fitting that there’s a song called “The Wonder Years” on this album, because the same nostalgic feelings that made that show a hit are what make Days so wonderful. As a younger person who hasn’t been out of college very long, it’s very easy to connect to the lyrics of “Green Aisles” and “It’s Real,” and the accompanying musical arrangements feel like an old, worn-in jacket.
This post was edited on 12/28 10:42 PM by AngeloAg2010
Posted on 12/28 10:40 PM | IP: Logged
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