Top 25 Albums of 2011

An inordinate amount of my favorite albums this year were debut releases. While that might mean 2011 was a relatively light year on fantastic albums from established acts, it's cool to have some new blood.

25)  Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Hysterical 

After the disappointing 'difficult second album' Some Loud Thunder and a long hiatus, Hysterical is an enjoyable effort from a band I wasn't sure I'd ever hear from again.

24)  Wild Beasts - Smother   

"Lion's Share" is great.


23)  Bon Iver - Bon Iver, Bon Iver  

I've seen this record topping a lot of lists at #1. I just don't find it as compelling or exciting to place it that highly, but there is some beautiful music here. "Holocene" is a great song.

22)  James Blake - James Blake

Although officially released in 2011, I most listened to James Blake back in December 2010. Admittedly, I have to be in the right mood for this, but it is an interesting sound. Kudos for showing me that it's possible to use auto-tune and have it not be terrible.

I don't know shit about dubstep, and I don't really plan on rectifying that anytime soon, but James Blake has established himself as an artist of interest.

21)  Caveman - CoCo Beware

"Thankful" is fantastic.

20)  Radiohead - The King of Limbs

Damn that album art is cool.

I was disappointed by The King of Limbs upon first listen, and I can't say my feelings about this record have radically changed. Previous record In Rainbows showed us that Radiohead could be post-Kid A weird and could still rock out (see "15 Step"). The King of Limbs was essentially Radiohead telling me "but we don't want to rock out".

I still hate opening track "Bloom", which remains insufferably minimal and clicky and totally non-musical.

So how is this one of my favorite records of 2011? Well it's still Radiohead. Thom Yorke's voice is still amazing. Not to turn a positive into yet another complaint, but I'd have to say Radiohead are coasting on Thom's voice with this record. You don't have a great singer on here and a number of these songs would be dismissed immediately.

Anyway, this album is saved for me by Side B, starting with 'single' "Lotus Flower" and especially the hauntingly beautiful piano-driven track "Codex", one of my favorite songs of the year.

19)  Mister Heavenly - Out of Love 

I won't really get into how Mister Heavenly are a supergroup of sorts. I was interested because of Nick Thorburn's (Unicorns / Islands) involvement, and I was not disappointed.

This group/record coined the term 'doom wop', which I guess means it has a poppy sound but with some menace underneath. Some fun and catchy songs.

18)  Active Child - You Are All I See 

Active Child employs harp and electronics in his dream pop music. "Hanging On" was a monster song for me, loved it. And "Playing House" featuring How to Dress Well is an interesting slice of alternate universe R&B music.

Ultimately I might have liked the overall direction on Active Child's EP better, but this is a solid album with a handful of great songs. I'll be excited to see what he does next.


17)  Washed Out - Within and Without

As with Active Child above, Washed Out's debut LP Within and Without is not as impressive as his EP Life of Leisure. I've heard this effort described as 'lazy', and I can't really refute that.  Still, songs "Amor Fati", "Eyes Be Closed", and "Before" are great 'chill' electronic music.

16)  Destroyer - Kaputt  

I'm a big fan of Dan Bejar, but I will admit I generally like him better when he's collaborating with A.C. Newman in The New Pornographers. Kaputt might be the best Destroyer record though.

15)  Youth Lagoon - The Year of Hibernation


Youth Lagoon's debut record The Year of Hibernation was a surprise for me, and it took me a little while to get into it. Vocals being distorted and buried under reverb and other effects is very much in vogue nowadays, but even still, this dude from Youth Lagoon, his vocals are ultra fragile. If he's 'hibernating', his vocals are coming to the song from a distant place, from deep inside a cave somewhere.

Anyway, this makes it a bit difficult to connect with the vocals at first. But you let the songs play. A typically used song structure here is the song starts off slowly and builds, and then the undercurrent explodes. And those buried vocals nonetheless manage to effectively convey some powerful emotions. Now I'm really enjoying this.


14) Handsome Furs - Sound Kapital

I was very sad to hear about Wolf Parade's 'indefinite hiatus', and while I still am, Handsome Furs, which features Dan from Wolf Parade and his wife, came along with by far their best record yet, giving me hope for a post-Wolf Parade career.

There are some interesting themes in the lyrics, about being in another land, about censorship and oppression.

"Memories of the Future", "When I Get Back", and "Repatriated" are favorite tracks of mine.

13) Mother Mother - Eureka

This Canadian band is massively underrated, at least here in the US. Some of the best alternating male/female vocals I've ever heard, wonderful pop sensibilities. Every song on here is super catchy. If you like say, The New Pornographers, absolutely check this out.


12) Starfucker - Reptilians

I wrote a lot about this record when it first came out, so I'd best simply direct you to my review.

11) TV on the Radio - Nine Types of Light

TV on the Radio return, and they're not producing edgy spacey music so much anymore. No, here on Nine Types of Light, they're more into balladry. Still it's damn good stuff. Easily one of the most underrated albums of the year.

10) Nerves Junior - Bright As Your Night Light

Another fantastic debut record. Thanks go to We Listen for You for making me aware of this band. They remind me of Radiohead in some ways, but maybe with a bit more swagger? There are some spacey electronics, but they are used more to add additional texture, rather than being the driving force of the songs. Just listen to this record.

09) Gauntlet Hair - Gauntlet Hair



And yet another debut. Gauntlet Hair have some of the tribal singing elements that remind me a bit of Animal Collective, but way more rockin'. Strong percussive grooves, fun and very energetic songs.

"Lights Out" especially is amazing.


08) The Antlers - Burst Apart


I completely ignored Antlers' previous record Hospice, and I still haven't quite put the time in to try and get into it, but I love this record, Burst Apart.

Emotional, tightly crafted songs.


07) Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost

Girls have a more 'straightforward' rock sound than most groups I would rank as my favorites. As in, they don't do electro-pop or none of that stuff that I'm often drawn to. But Girls make well-crafted music that comes off as genuine and heartfelt, and that stands on its own.

06) M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

The criticism that applies to virtually every double album ever released also applies here - there is some filler. But M83 was going for big and epic here, and he achieves it. The level of imagination is high, and there are some gorgeous sounds.

"Midnight City" might just be the single of the year.

05) Atlas Sound - Parallax

What would a year end list be without a contribution from Bradford Cox, the insanely prolific frontman of Deerhunter who releases his solo material under the moniker Atlas Sound?

Bradford has never done such singer-songwriter material before. This doesn't have quite the same edge for me as Logos, which is likely the point - this is far and away the most accessible Atlas Sound record.

"Te Amo", "Mona Lisa", and "Angel Is Broken", among others, are beautiful.

04) Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Unknown Mortal Orchestra

Whoa, where did this come from? Unknown Mortal Orchestra, or UMO, have a sound that feels both vintage and modern, kinda bluesy, with a really deep low end.

"Jello and Juggernauts", "Ffunny Ffriends", and "How Can U Luv Me" are all fantastic. 

03) Neon Indian - Era Extraña

With Era Extraña, Neon Indian delivered for me on the promise of Psychic Chasms, made more of a pop record, with perhaps some darker material underneath. Alan Palomo gave us more of the pure pop he was working with in VEGA, and he really hit my pleasure center with those bleeps and bloops and synths.

"Hex Girlfriend" is my favorite. "Polish Girl" is crazy catchy. "Arcade Blues" has grown on me to become another favorite.

An incredibly addictive listen overall.

02) Toro y Moi - Underneath the Pine

What a fucking year for Toro y Moi. 2010 saw Toro emerge as a promising new artist with his debut Causers of This. His brand of electronic-based music was grouped together along with Neon Indian, Washed Out, Small Black, and others under the 'originally a joke' term 'chillwave'.

Toro resurfaced quickly in 2011 with Underneath the Pine, switching it up and exchanging his electronic samples for more standard instrumentation, going for a more organic feel. And it fucking works. The sound is lush, really paints an atmosphere. Toro definitely proved for me he is not to be pigeonholed in any one sound, and he gave us some great songs in the process.

The funky "New Beat", "Still Sound", and especially my favorite cut "How I Know" are all great.

To say nothing of the fact that Toro y Moi followed this up with the EP Freaking Out, which is something of a mix of the styles from Causers of This and Underneath the Pine, and is also fantastic.

01) Cut Copy - Zonoscope

 

Cut Copy's Zonoscope came out early in 2011, and I can't say that it jumped to the top of my list immediately. Over the course of the year, however, my love for this band and this record grew. Ultimately, I have to say this is my most consistently enjoyable collection of songs to be released this year.

Yes, the record is somewhat front loaded, though I honestly I can't imagine being in a band and not putting my best foot forward when making a record. Also, late track "Hanging Onto Every Heartbeat" is amazing. 15-minute song "Sun God" might stretch on for too long, but is an interesting experiment, and works as a closer.

"Need You Now" and "Blink And You'll Miss A Revolution" are absolute bliss.

Finally, that album art is just the best.

Atlas Sound - "Cherry Incognito"

It's been over 2 months since I've posted anything - madness! Sorry to anyone who reads this blog. Sometimes I will keep up with posting, and other times I will not.

Anyway, my favorite Bradford Cox performed a brand new Atlas Sound song at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival in England last weekend, and someone was gracious enough to record the performance and put it up on YouTube. 

Check out the video above. And thanks to P4K for the heads up.

Lotus Plaza - The Floodlight Collective

If you're a fan of Deerhunter, you should definitely be familiar with frontman Bradford Cox's other project Atlas Sound, responsible for one of 2009's best albums, Logos.

You should also make yourself familiar with Lotus Plaza, the other project for Deerhunter's guitarist Lockett Pundt. Lotus Plaza have a single album so far - it's called The Floodlight Collective.

A lot of the special qualities that make Deerhunter the band it is can be found here as well. There's a dreamy, hazy, atmospheric nature to most of the songs.

Standout tracks include "What Grows?", "Red Oak Way", and "Quicksand".

Tracklisting:

01) Red Oak Way
02) Quicksand
03) These Years
04) Different Mirrors
05) Whiteout
06) What Grows?
07) Sunday Night
08) Antoine
09) The Floodlight Collective
10) A Threaded Needle

Atlas Sound Bedroom Databank Vol. 1-4

Realized I never got around to covering this...incredibly prolific musician Bradford Cox, after producing one of the finest records of 2010 as Deerhunter (Halcyon Digest), went on to release 4 albums as Atlas Sound in the course of a week.

Now, as crazy as that is, these aren't albums proper. Collections of demos might be more appropriate. I'd imagine that, as the name suggests, these songs were simply recorded in Bradford's bedroom.

Not all of the tracks are noteworthy, but there's definitely some gold here.

You can download Bedroom Databank Vol. 1-4 at the Deerhunter / Atlas Sound blog:
http://deerhuntertheband.blogspot.com/

Deerhunter @ Webster Hall October 15

One week from today, I will be catching my favorite band Deerhunter perform live at Webster Hall.  It's the first time I'll be seeing one of their shows, although I've seen frontman Bradford Cox's other project Atlas Sound before.  From all accounts I've heard, they produce an amazing live experience.

I leave you with this hilarious picture of Bradford.  He's the fucking man.

last.fm - Artists 06-10

06. Animal Collective - 812 plays
Only my top 5 have cracked 1k plays, that's a solid divider.

Yes, I totally got on board the Animal Collective train when Merriweather Post Pavilion came out.  I mean, "My Girls" blew me away.  And it was only in this time that I started listening to the sort of music that AnCo produce.

I'll still hold MPP as my favorite album of theirs, and without a doubt one of the best albums to come out in 2009 (though Logos might be better).  But I really love Sung Tongs.  Strawberry Jam is really good too - I'm surprised a lot of fans don't like it.  I dig Feels, but it's probably my least favorite of these 4.

Similar to of Montreal, Animal Collective have several albums prior to Sung Tongs, but I haven't really gotten into any of that material.  Still, that's 4 pretty amazing albums, plus an EP - last fall's Fall Be Kind, especially the Grateful Dead sampling "What Would I Want? Sky".

07. Grizzly Bear - 681 plays
Grizzly Bear!  I would place them akin to Deerhunter in that they're also very atmospheric to me.  Veckatimest took me away to a different place.  I saw them in Central Park opening for The Decemberists, before I actually knew them.  Must see them again now.

08. The Shins - 640 plays
Really good poppy indie stuff.  I don't listen to The Shins so much anymore, though I'm definitely digging the Broken Bells album.

09. Atlas Sound - 630 plays
Bradford Cox has 2 groups in my Top 10!  Started off as Bradford doing bedroom electronic type stuff apart from Deerhunter, but it goes beyond that with Logos.  I fucking love Logos.

10. Destroyer - 611 plays
Dan Bejar, one of the singers for The New Pornographers, also has his own project - with a bunch of albums.  You would really have to say The New Pornos is his side project.  Some good stuff here - "New Ways of Living" is one helluva tune.  His eccentricities pretty much run rampant here, while they are kept in check and combined with different elements (A.C. Newman's brand of power pop) in The New Pornos.

Atlas Sound - Linger (Cranberries Cover)

As if releasing one of 2009's best albums wasn't enough (If you haven't listened to Logos yet, do yourself a favor and go give it a spin), Atlas Sound have done a number of cool and surprising covers.  Check out Bradford playing "Linger" by The Cranberries in the video above.

Thanks go to The Decibel Tolls for the clip.

Dare I dream for a new Deerhunter album in 2010?  It would be ridiculous to expect one so soon, but Bradford has been just that prolific.  Maybe.

Christoph's Top 10 Albums of 2009

10) The Flaming Lips - Embryonic
I love the bass sound on this album.  Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots was my last experience with the Lips - for some reason I never got around to listening to At War With the Mystics.  Anyway, where Yoshimi was sunny and poppy, Embryonic is dark and heavy and intense.  Both are awesome flip sides of the same coin.  Album closer "Watching the Planets" is the standout track for me.

"Oh, oh, oh, finding the answer.  Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.  Finding that there ain't no answer to find."

09) Sunset Rubdown - Dragonslayer
Sunset Rubdown is supposedly the side project of Spencer Krug from Wolf Parade, but this being Sunset Rubdown's 4th album compared to Wolf Parade's 2, you could be fooled into thinking this was Spencer's main gig.  Anyway, while previous albums Shut Up, I Am Dreaming and Random Spirit Lover are really good, I think Dragonslayer is their best set yet.  It's got more of a live sound than its predecessors, and the strong female backing vocals really compliment Spencer's yelp quite nicely.  Album opener "Silver Moons" grabs me from the start.

"I believe in growing old with grace.  I believe she only loved my face.  I believe I acted like a child, making faces at acquired tastes.  And now silver moons belong to you..."

08) Passion Pit - Manners
I love Passion Pit.  I first starting getting into this Massachusetts band a few months before this album came out.  Their first release was an EP called Chunk of Change.  It featured an incredible song called "Sleepyhead", with chipmunk vocals and an awesome beat.  That track is included here on their debut album Manners as well, for good reason, but there are new tracks that match that song's gloriousness.  "Make Light", "Little Secrets", "The Reeling", and "Moth's Wings" are all spectacular.  Passion Pit have a bubbly electro pop sound with strong falsetto vocals from singer Michael Angelakos.  This is happy music, it puts a smile on my face.  A very impressive debut, and I can't wait to hear what they come up with next.

"Let this be our little secret.  No one needs to know we're feeling...higher and higher and higher, higher and higher and higher."

Atlas Sound

Atlas Sound is the solo project of Deerhunter frontman Bradford Cox.  The first Atlas Sound album, Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel, has primarily a bedroom electronics type of sound.  His second album Logos has more of a folk sound and includes guest vocals from Animal Collective's Noah Lennox (Panda Bear) and Stereolab's Laetita Sadier.  It's without a doubt of the best records to be released in 2009.

Atlas Sound feat. Noah Lennox - Walkabout

Atlas Sound - Logos

In addition to the albums, Bradford is constantly releasing free music on his blog.  With the combined output of his two groups, I don't know where the dude finds the time to make so much music.

I caught Atlas Sound play at Music Hall of Williamsburg back in October, as part of the CMJ Music Marathon.  It was a stellar show.  I took some videos with the iPhone.  Check 'em out.