Okay, okay, it’s a little late, I know. Get off my back; I’ve had a busy year. If you care, here’s the list of my favorite albums of 2011. Have fun.
10. Blink-182 Neighborhoods
I was never a fan of Blink-182. They sharpened their teeth on the likes of Green Day and made pop-punk a standard in the ’90s. They spawned many imitation bands and basically turned the punk scene upside down (in a bad way). When they got serious for their self-titled effort, it didn’t do much for me either. While recognizing the talents of Travis Barker, perhaps the best drummer in the pop world, I never gave them much thought. Enter Neighborhoods. This album blew me away. And deserves recognition of the return of Blink-182 out from their indefinite hiatus, drama between members, formation of mediocre groups. This is where my journey with Blink-182 begins. All is forgiven.
9. Fisticuffs You’ll Not Take Us Alive
I have also found a lot of refuge in punk this year. Fisticuffs is a Chicago based band with a lot of similarities to The Dropkick Murphys, but they have more of an organic sound and they’re quite a bit grittier (thats a good thing). Like Titus Andronicus, they exude a classic Americana vibe that I happen to love. But I’m a nerd, I don’t expect everyone to be this way. Not quite Pirates, not quite Murphys and not quite civil war ghosts, they make some great tunes to twist your mustache to.
8. Girls Father, Son, Holy Ghost
This is probably the most polished bit of indie-pop to come out this year. Girls make a great record which includes everything but the kitchen sink. Many types styles permeate through the grooves, from the surfer rock starter like “Honey Bunny” and transitions to a Sabbath-esqe song like “Die”, and “Vomit” which is very reminiscent to “The Great Gig in the Sky”. A very efficient, fun and precise piece of work from a band I didn’t think I’d like. They’re getting a lot of hipster hype, and it’s easy to see why.
7. Radiohead The King of Limbs
Nobody is going to say this was the best Radiohead record. For a band with such a prolific body of work, and being the gods of hipsterism (just as Pitchfork), it’s hard to top their “pay what you want” recovery of In Rainbows. But The King of Limbs is probably considered the autistic step-child of Kid A and Hail To The Thief. A brooding album, a rhythmic album, a short album. It’s a little strange for a Radiohead album but also very familiar, which is probably why it didn’t really get amazing reviews. For me this rides the coattails of my favorite Radiohead album Kid A, and has great songs on it, as well as a few that tend to stretch the listener just a bit (See “Bloom”). That, for me deserves a place on my top albums of the year.
6. Trap Them Darker Handcraft
I tend to view music from the lens of a metal head. So I look for metal albums that might pique my interest. But as common as death is in this music, the metal scene, to me, has been lacking luster for the past 5 years. Metal is in rough shape. New bands try to reach back to the heyday of Metal in the 80’s. The highly talented and technical demand for metal also tends to make every band sound the same. It’s not unusual for bands to want to experiment. For metal, these efforts, if not ambitious, turn out to alienate fans from their previous work and people move on to the next lemmings in the line metal bands. Trap Them’s music seem to have a carefree attitude about their heavy music. They’re sort of like a poor-man’s Converge, if that makes any sense. They’re talented, but not showy, heavy but not boring. They say what they need to say, blow our your ear drums and leave. Just how most metal bands should be. I don’t care about your 30 minute solo, unless you have some sleeping pills and pillow, because you’re boring the heck out of me.
5. Fleet Foxes Helplessness Blues
There aren’t many albums that make you almost hate a band’s previous work. This album do this to me. I thought for a while that Fleet Foxes’ self-titled debut was elementary compared to this album. It took some time to realize that there is color in both, albeit different colors. With tight harmonies, like their previous effort, and longer more epic songs, Fleet Foxes are just spreading their wings. It’s exciting to see where they’ll be going from here. Notable songs are “The Shrine/An Argument” and the title track “Helplessness Blues”, but it might prove worthy of a full listen from your ears because like almost all good albums, all songs support each other.
4. St. Vincent Strange Mercy
Annie Clark is probably one of the most prolific songwriters of our time. A guitar virtuoso in her own right, she knows how to play and craft music better than most. It’s no mystery that she would mature and make amazing music onset third effort Strange Mercy. With a great sense of humor, most apparent in her music videos, she has a tongue and cheek view of the world, but it’s certainly not convoluted or overly sarcastic. She seems like Bjork’s offspring with a little more rock to boot. This girl has momentum and there doesn’t seem to be much that’s slowing her down.
3. The Low Anthem The Smart Flesh
You can call them snobs for their Ivy League education, or love them for their low-fi almost lovable sound, but there’s no doubt that the Low Anthem is a sleeper in the music world. Not quite as big as their counterparts, they do process strong song-writing skills. With their allusions to long dead individuals, playing of uncommon instruments and recording in a warehouse for an almost haunting sound, I fell in love with them. Originating from New England, it’s hard for me not to love them for that fact alone. The Smart Flesh does come in under their previous work Oh My God, Charles Darwin, but I won’t rob this album of all it’s glory for the year of 2011.
2. Tom Waits Bad As Me
Seven years after Waits released his last album of new material, Real Gone, Waits releases a “cut-the-fat” album that is nimble like a young olympic athlete. Clocking just under 45 minutes, it’s one of Tom’s shortest albums, but it packs quite a punch with fantastic numbers like the title track, “Raised Right Man”, “Hell Broke Luce”(sic), and my favorite “New Years Eve”. It’s good to see that Tom at 63 is still relevant making masterful junkyard music. What else would you expect from a living legend?
1. Chuck Ragan Covering Ground
I had a hard time determining what would make the top of the list. But this album was in the heaviest rotation on my long drives to and from work. This is Chuck’s third effort. His first, Feast or Famine borrowed heavily from his Hot Water Music days (which appears to be coming back again), Gold Country took a step into more an American Roots and Country touch a little too much and left the effort a little dull. However, Covering Ground strips down Chuck’s sound. With very little percussion as seen on Gold Country, Chuck is more emotional and heartfelt, his voice is clear and his songs on this record resonated with me more than anything he released previously. ”Get What You Give” was stuck on repeat, with his top-of-the-lung bellowing, to “Valentine”, both of which make some great love songs. ”Nomad By Fate” with it’s anthem like tendencies all the way to the hidden track “Camaraderie of the Commons” have an honesty not seen in many artists in their entire career. While not the most progressive album of the year, it treads familiar ground with much of the music I listen to, but it doesn’t make it less of a solid record.
Honorable mentions:
Jay-Z and Kanye West Watch the Throne
The Decemberists The King Is Dead
Bright Eyes The People’s Key
Wilco The Whole Love
Lisa Hannigan Passenger
