Here’s my thoughts on 2011 music to which I listened and
preferred:
This year I got overwhelmed by the amount of music I
listened to for 2011. This semester in my MIS class, I had an Access
project to do, so I decided to use that as a way to solidify my rankings.
I think the running total for new albums last year for me was well over
300. I arbitrarily chose a five-star rating system, and the following
list is everything that scored 4.5 or higher. There’s additionally lots
of stuff I liked that was rated between 3.5 and 4, but that would make this
list just too unwieldy. Big surprise for me—almost no metal made the
list! Also, there’s lots of links for you to hear and watch for yourself.
Here we go!
Esmerine – La Lechuza ( http://soundcloud.com/constellation-records/sets/esmerine-la-lechuza-preview
)
What I would classify as Post Rock and Modern Classical
(which gets a lot of love from me this last year). Similar to Godspeed
You! Black Emperor and the world/folk of someone like Dead Can Dance.
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Really fun and kinda weird Dutch rock band that reminds me a
lot of Faith No More, not so much because they sound like them (although the
vocalist does have some very Mike Patton moments), but because they have a
large variety of styles that somehow meld into a cohesive whole. Aside
from Faith No More, they also remind me of Queens of the Stone Age, Firewater,
Spoon, Man Man, Tom Waits, ZZ Top and probably some other stuff I can’t
remember right now. I’m betting they are a lot of fun live, but because
they are Dutch they will probably never come remotely close. In addition
to some of the videos you can see on the previous link, here’s a few
more. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIy6iGg5vt8&feature=related
and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orrQGLIJMTQ
and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hZ-3RevUzc&feature=relmfu
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The Atlas Moth – An Ache for the Distance (http://www.screamingattheskypoundingontheearth.blogspot.com/2012/04/atlas-moth-your-calm-waters.html
)
One of my few metal entries (really, the only one), these
guys are if Mastodon ate Alice in Chains and then had sex with A Storm of Light
while listening to Thou.
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Noah Gundersen – Family (http://noahgundersen.bandcamp.com/
)
Heard this guy first on the last season of Sons of Anarchy,
and had to go find out who it was. Folky and a bit like Damien Rice, it’s
all good, but my fave is the title track.
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Glorie – Glorie (http://glorierock.com/album/glorie
)
Another instrumental, Post Rock, Modern Classical
group. Moments of Mogwai, Godspeed You! Black Emperor and movie-scorer
Clint Mansell. Here’s my fave, http://www.screamingattheskypoundingontheearth.blogspot.com/2012/03/glorie-looking-through-mirror.html
.
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Graveyard – Hisingen Blues (http://www.nuclearblast.de/de/label/music/band/diskographie/details/265695.219863.hisingen-blues.html
)
Mainly grabbed this because it was turning up on a lot of
the blogs I visit and I thought the album cover was fantastic. It’s as if
a classic rock band has been transported to modern times. Think Led
Zeppelin, Soundgarden, Trouble. http://vimeo.com/35288994
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Julia Kent – Green and Grey (http://music.juliakent.com/album/green-and-grey
)
Another Modern Classical. She’s a cellist for Antony
& the Johnsons, though I didn’t know that until later. This is also
in the vein of Clint Mansell or Kronos Quartet—think the scores to the movies
Last Requiem For a Dream, The Fountain and Sunshine.
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TV on the Radio – Nine Types of Light (http://soundcloud.com/igamusic/sets/tv-on-the-radio-nine-types
)
If you know Christin and I, you have already heard most, if
not all, of this. One of our favorite bands, and this album might be my
favorite yet. They manage to meld rock with electronic and R&B and
manage to sound like something completely their own. That being said,
it’s kind of like David Bowie, Peter Gabriel and Prince playing together.
Sexy, sexy = http://www.screamingattheskypoundingontheearth.blogspot.com/2011/05/tv-on-radio-will-do.html
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Radiohead – The Daily Mail & Staircase (http://www.radiohead.com/deadairspace/111219/The-Daily-Mail--Staircase
)
This is kind of cheating. These are actually B-sides
recorded during the King of Limbs album sessions. That album has taken
more than a year to grow on me, and didn’t quite make the list. It’s the
version of Radiohead that does electronic music. It is essentially a
chillout record. These two songs however, are reminders that they can
still write songs the rest of the band besides Jonny and Thom can play live.
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Olafur Arnalds – Living Room Songs (http://livingroomsongs.olafurarnalds.com/
)
Yet another Modern Classical, Post Rock album, this one from
the land of Bjork and SIgur Ros. Here’s what the website says about this
album: “Icelandic contemporary composer Ólafur Arnalds created and released a
new song, one per day for a whole week during the month of October 2011. The
songs were recorded and filmed live in the living room of his Reykjavik
apartment and released instantly for free as streamed videos and mp3
downloads.”
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Saul Williams – Volcanic Sunlight (http://www.saulwilliams.com/ )
Again, if you know us, you know this already (especially
since most of you travelled with us to see him live). We have loved all
of his work, but this one is more pop and less hip hop than usual. It
came at the right time for us, as it seemed his spiritual and personal journey
was mirroring our own. It is a positive album. An album of
love. If you watch the interview underneath the video for DNA on the
website, you will hear that it was the first album he created that was not out
of anger.
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Foo Fighters – Wasting Light (http://wastinglight.foofighters.com/
)
We watched a documentary on the Foos right after this came
out. I had listened to the album, but not paid that much attention.
The doc reminded me how many great songs they had written, and just how cool
and down-to-earth Dave Grohl really is. I’d argue that if the first song,
Bridge Burning, doesn’t get you pumped, then you just don’t like rock
music. My personal fave is Dear Rosemary, which features really cool
backing vocals from Bob Gould from Husker Du and Sugar. This in turn, led
me to listening to some of his stuff, and I must say, when you hear Bob Mould’s
solo stuff, you will hear where Dave gets his melodic influences from. We
also took Christin’s 14 year old nephew to see them for his first concert,
which let us be the “cool” aunt and uncle.
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The Civil Wars – Barton Hollow (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-DB2btV2oQ
)
By now, you probably already know who these guys are,
especially if you know what’s going on in the country music world.
They’ve had careers before becoming the Civil Wars, written songs for other
artists, won Grammys and been featured on the second biggest movie of the
year’s soundtrack. I was unfamiliar until bloggers I follow almost
unanimously put this album on their year end lists. They’ll probably just
get bigger and bigger if they keep writing albums like this one. Plus,
they are both pretty easy on the eyes, no?
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Puscifer – Conditions of My Parole (https://store.puscifer.com/ )
Vastly prefer this album to their first. I’ve always
described Puscifer as Maynard’s attempt to make trip hop like Massive Attack
and Tricky. If you go into it expecting either Tool or A Perfect Circle,
you will probably be disappointed. Ever since Maynard has been harvesting
grapes from his vineyards in the hills of the Arizona desert, water has become
an even more present theme in his lyrics. Live show is really fun; a mix
of vaudeville, music and philosophizin’ (plus now he uses one of my celebrity
crushes in his touring band).
Love it in this video when he prompts “Go Shaefer!” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bigVpjDEoCo
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Lamb – 5 (http://www.last.fm/music/Lamb/5
)
Speaking of Trip Hop, Lamb reunited after a long hiatus, and
I’d say the time off served them well. These guys started not long after
other acts, like Portishead and Massive Attack, but didn’t get quite the same
attention over here in the states. Lamb is kind of the other side of the
coin opposite Portishead. Where Portishead is more samples and blues,
with Beth Gibbons’ tortured lyrics and darkness-soaked vocals, Lamb is more
drum n bass and jazzy, with Lou Rhodes’ words more positive and empowering and
her vocals more childlike and light. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMQVqps9utg
By the way, here’s the video that got my attention back in
the late 90’s: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pt1Ef_ai_C4
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Alfheimr – What Allows Us to Endure (http://alfheimr.bandcamp.com/album/what-allows-us-to-endure
)
OK, another Post Rock album! The answer to the
potential question asked by the title of the album? Hope. I’m not
sure if he’s from Iceland or not, but he’s definitely influenced by Sigur
Ros. Obviously also a reader of Kundera. He is incredibly
prolific—if you look at his Bandcamp, you’ll see he released several albums
last year, but this is the one I liked the best. His albums are also
quite different. Some are more like Sigur Ros and Mogwai, while others
drift towards the electronic (like M83), and yet others are more ambient or
just soundscapes instead of the typical song structure. He pretty much
does everything himself, including recording. Fun fact, Alfheimr is home
to the elves in Norse mythology.
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Iron & Wine – Kiss Each Other Clean (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LHIYEf7nro
)
You probably already know these guys too; they’ve been
around awhile. Some people, too cool for me, complain over the change in
his sound, especially recent live shows. He’s still folky, but live, the
arrangements are often different, not just structurally, but the range of instruments
as well. He’s got an incredibly talented backing band (lots of guys that
used to play in Califone), and yes, that is Marketa Irglova (from the movie
Once and the Swell Season with Glen Hansard) you see in the video doing backing
vocals. People that are complaining simply haven’t been paying
attention—his introduction of additional and electric instruments, as well as
percussion and drums started back in 2005. He reminds me of a lot of
classic folksters: James Taylor, Gordon Lightfoot, Dan Fogelberg, Cat
Stevens. I like how his music seems like it comes from another
time. And those different arrangements? We thought every change was
really cool when we saw them live, and that is the mark of a talented
songwriter.
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