Each new year a few buddies from high school put together a website compiling our top ten albums from the previous year. I promise to include a link once that website's published, but in the meantime here's my 2011 list. Maybe you'll find something new for your iPod. Enjoy!
1) Let England Shake – PJ Harvey
Favorite tracks: “ In the dark places” and “Let England Shake”
Last year, PJ made my “Top Ten albums of the Decade” list with Stories from the City, Stories from the City (still my all-time favorite PJ Harvey album), but Let England Shake is a totally different beast. It’s moody, dark and strange, but oh so good. It took me a few listens to really get into the sound of it, but once I saw PJ in concert at Terminal 5 in NYC in April, I played this album all the time. Between PJ’s autoharp, the amazingly talented band, the lyrics and the dark political theme of this album, it really is one of her masterpieces.
Here’s a vid of her performing “In the dark places” in London. She was wearing a similarly crazy feathered headpiece at the concert in NYC.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7HdesDTDWc&feature=related
2) Live Music – The Strange Boys
Favorite tracks: “Me and You,” “Omnia Boa” and “Punk’s Pajamas”
Mix up garage rock, a little punk, a little folk-rock and a little alt-country and you’ve got The Strange Boys, an Austin-based band who seem to be having great fun making music together. If you like Wilco, Bob Dylan, The Kinks, early Rolling Stones (or all of the above), you’ll love listening to this album. Call me sentimental, but I have a soft spot for any band whose members met and started playing together in the eighth grade.
There’s some seriously funny stuff in their video of “Me and You,” check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2KRB30HVX4
3) Carrion Crawler/ The Dream – Thee Oh Sees
Favorite Tracks: “Contraption/ Soul Desert” and “Carrion Crawler”
San Francisco-based band Thee Oh Sees is an incredibly energetic psychedelic punk/ garage rock band reminiscent of Jefferson Airplane, The B52s, and The Pixies. Can you imagine that combo? With tracks like “Contraption/ Soul Desert” you will soon be jumping around your living room. So if you’re looking to get your heart rate going, stop reading this and just start downloading the awesomeness now.
Here’s the band performing “Contraption/ Soul Desert” on KEXP:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBLQ7TSrHpU&feature=related
4) So Beautiful or So What – Paul Simon
Favorite tracks: “Rewrite” and “So Beautiful or so what”
What can I say about Paul Simon? He’s a living legend. As always with his albums, his acoustic guitar is as sweet as ever and the lyrics are all at once touching, refreshing and smart. As a struggling writer, I’m particularly fond of his song “Rewrite.” The lyrics tell the tale of an older aspiring writer who works at a car wash during the day, and who struggles to finish his novel during the evening. The guitar work is rhythmic, upbeat, and filled with cute little harmonic flourishes. “Rewrite” is definitely his best track on the album (if you’re looking to download just one).
Here’s a vid of him performing “Rewrite.” After he does his cool one-handed solo in the middle, he accidently whacks his low E string, and then cracks himself up. It’s definitely worth seeing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qi2DypBHyUg&ob=av2n
5) The Bridge School Concerts 25th Anniversary – Various Artists
Favorite Tracks: Norah Jones covering Wilco’s “Jesus, Etc,” Paul McCartney’s “Get Back,” The Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again”
Every year since 1986, Neil Young and his wife organize a benefit concert for The Bridge School in Northern California. The school helps students with severe speech and physical impairments. This year marked the 25th anniversary of the Bridge School Concerts and Neil Young compiled some the best live tracks since 1986 for this anniversary album. What’s also great is that if you buy any individual track (or all of them) on iTunes all proceeds go to The Bridge School.
6) A Creature I Don’t Know - Laura Marling
Favorite Track: “ Sophia”
Imagine a love child between Nick Drake and Joni Mitchell had been born with similar guitar skills and songwriting ability. Meet Laura Marling. She’s already put her stamp on the indie-folk scene in the UK, winning “Best Solo Artist” at both the 2011 Brit Awards and the NME Awards, but it seems she is only starting to get airplay here in the US. With tracks like “Sophia,” which starts so bare-boned and quiet and then builds beautifully around the three-minute mark with the addition of drums and string instrumentation like bass, mandolin, cello and (of course) Marling’s vocal harmonies, you will be hooked. Thankfully, since she’s only 21 years old, it’s likely we’ll be hearing much more from her in the years to come.
Here’s the official “Sophia” vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-TMl5oCRjk
7) Passenger – Lisa Hannigan
Favorite Tracks: “Knots” and “Passenger”
Lisa Hannigan. Sounds familiar, right? Do you remember the awesome female vocalist who sang with fellow Irishman Damien Rice on some of his best tracks like “Volcano” from his 2002 album O? That’s Lisa Hannigan. Passenger is her sophomore album (her first solo album from 2009 Sea Sew won all sorts of accolades in Ireland) and with tracks like “Knots” on this new one showing off her vocal skills and ukulele ability, you might just want to take a moment right now to listen.
Here’s her performing “Knots” live at WFUV (one of the best non-commercial radio stations in NYC):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgknRAl9GLU&feature=related
And the official “Knots” vid (I had to include this too because it’s such fun):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYdPtcx-4mo
8) Sing it Loud – k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang
Favorite Tracks: “Sugar Buzz” and “I Confess”
Are you ready to be put into an adult-contemporary trance? Well, give yourself a few minutes with this latest k.d. lang album and you’re sure to be swept under. The track “Sugar Buzz” is a perfect example. What’s amazing is that I heard in an interview with k.d. that the majority of the lyrics for “Sugar Buzz” she wrote over text message. If the lyrics and k.d.’s voice don’t do it for you, the music will. The chord progressions in these tunes are incredible. The slide guitar, the organ, the drums…that Siss Boom Bang has got it goin’ on.
Here is a killer acoustic version of “Sugar Buzz” live on WFUV:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgyVsn4Ct68
9) Within and Without – Washed Out
Favorite Tracks: “Amor Fati” and “Eyes be closed”
I first heard of electronic artist Ernest Greene, aka Washed Out, because “Feel It all around” from his 2010 EP Life of Leisure, is the theme song to the hilarious sketch comedy show Portlandia. Greene describes his music as “chillwave” which seems perfectly accurate. It’s a combination of synthesizer, Greene’s quiet vocals and synced drum patterns that is perfectly suited to whisk you away to another mellower destination on those days when you need it most. The only issue with Washed Out, is that his music seems pretty hard to recreate outside of the studio. Any live versions I’ve found on youtube, when he uses other bands to make up the rhythm section, just don’t do Greene’s solo recordings justice.
Here’s the “Amor Fati” official vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fy2N1dTIQf4
10) Cape Dory – Tennis
Favorite Tracks: “South Carolina” and “Waterbirds”
What I love about Tennis is also what drives me crazy about them: their music is pretty simple stuff. Problem is, despite it being non-offensive and simple, I’ve enjoyed listening to this album pretty consistently throughout the year. It’s also endearing that Tennis is a husband and wife duo, the wife Alaina sings and plays organ, and her husband Patrick plays electric guitar. You might not be blown away by Tennis at first, but there’s a good chance you’ll soon find yourself listening to the album over and over, even if you’re slightly embarrassed to admit it.
Here’s the band’s “Waterbirds” vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1ecuwllU44&feature=related
Ten Singles from 2011 that are also awesome, but okay, I didn’t listen to the whole album:
1) "Rockaway Blind" by Lindsey Buckingham from Seeds We Sow
2) "Samurai Cowboy" by Kurt Elling from The Gate
3) "Good Day" by The Gaddabouts - self-titled debut (Edie Brickell side-project)
4) "Contrabanda" by DeVotchKa from 100 Lovers
5) "You’re Gonna Miss Me" by Ollabelle from Neon Blue Bird
6) "How Come you never go there" by Feist from Metals
7) "Magic" by Girls from Father, Son, Holy Ghost
8) "She walks in So many ways" by The Jayhawks from Mockingbird Time
9) "Roosevelt Island" by Eleanor Friedberger from Last Summer
10) "Got it all (This Can’t be living now)" by Portugal. The Man from In the Mountain In the Cloud
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