Ethan's Top 50 Albums of 2011
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But here it is in all it's half-assed glory: 50 records worth checking out. Honestly, 2011 was not as good as 2010 in terms of music. The albums were not as awe-inspiring, pop music sucked, "Dubstep" became even more popular and confused me because I thought everyone was listening to Burial, and the trendy thing among good music was... black-and-white album covers? No matter. The great music here is what counts, and there is a whole lot of it! So sit back, skim through my analyses, ignore the paragraphs that aren't well-developed, and listen to weird music that I actually like. It's better than the Grammys.
50. Eleanor Friedberger : Last Summer
How was your summer? Mine was, much like this album, somewhat leisurely but also sprinkled with weird and interesting stories. On her solo debut, Eleanor Friedberger (one half of indie rock's notoriously experimental Fiery Furnaces) creates one of the year's nicest pop albums by singing to us about her experiences. The listen is as breezy and enjoyable as "Here Comes the Summer", perhaps the best straightforward pop song the Furnaces ever wrote. Opener "My Mistakes" stands as a clear highlight, but the rest of the album holds up quite well (especially "I Won't Fall Apart On You Tonight"). Chalk this one up as a win for Ms. Friedberger, a wonderfully talented songwriter and singer. Plus, just look at those bangs.
49. Deaf Center : Owl Splinters
I'm not gonna lie, Owl Splinters sometimes reminds me of the Tribal Council music on Survivor. But shit is deeper. You can feel the spirit of a dark rainy night through its strings, piano and drone tones. The patient buildup of sound really carries the album, and the best tracks here are the longest. "The Day I Would Never Have" is a haunting centerpiece, and the penultimate "Close Forever Watching" utilizes a sudden hit of piano to great effect. So I guess Owl Splinters proves that ambient music can sound like Survivor and still be really good.
48. Wild Beasts : Smother
Wild Beasts keep getting sexier and better. Smother continues in the style of their first two albums (clean production, polyrhythms, falsetto abound), but to a more interesting and enjoyable extent. From the first few minutes here you can tell lead singer Hayden Thorpe is ready to get frisky in pretty much every scenario. "Any old bed of nails would do", so goes "Bed of Nails". The drums roll and the dark twisted fantasy unravels over 42 minutes of greatness.
47. Blackout Beach : Fuck Death
"NO SUICIDE!"
This strange exclamation appears at the end of the lyric sheet of Paul's Tomb, James Mercer's last album since Fuck Death, despite not being an audible lyric on the record. Mercer is one of those artists who seems to imbed a certain thematic continuity between his albums, so perhaps the title of Fuck Death continues this theme of... anti-death. Regardless, the epic "Drowning Pigs" is one of the greatest things he has ever composed.
46. Los Campesinos! : Hello Sadness
In 2011 I discovered the treasures of the world's cutest musical genre: Twee. Beat Happening, The Field Mice, Heavenly, and other classic twee-as-fuck bands giggled out my laptop speakers. Although we are long past the golden age of twee, LC! are doing a pretty solid job making today's equivalent of it.
45. SebastiAn : Total
If you're a Justice fan looking for a successful follow-up to †, then chances are that Audio, Video, Disco did not meet your expectations. So: fuck that album and listen to Total instead. 5 years in the making, SebastiAn's debut provides an hour's worth of some of the greatest Ed Banger bangers. This mix is guaranteed to electrify any dance party, even if it's just you with your headphones on. On the cover, SebastiAn is making out with himself, which is awesome but also feels apt due to the indulgence of Total, which ultimately makes the album drag a bit. But overall we have here a very solid and under-appreciated record. Blast this shit!
44. Beyoncé : 4
Aside from "Best Thing I Never Had" and "I Was Here", two majorly overwrought ballads, 4 is solid from front-to-back and one of the best major pop albums in recent memory. "1 + 1", "Party" (shoutout to 3 stacks) and "Countdown" are all contenders for pop song of the year, and the wonderfully subtle "I Miss You" is so honestly emotional that it hurts. Props to B and give the next kid a better name.
43. Destroyer : Kaputt
I don't love Kaputt. Most of my favorite publications did, but I feel like I'm missing something. I hear a wonderful album but I have yet to uncover a revelation. Nevertheless, I think this is a great album (hence the position here) that makes "Destroyer" an even more hilarious name for Dan Bejar's output. This is about as close to the "easy-listening" genre as modern indie music (or at least the notable stuff) has gotten. But this ain't yr parents' Kenny G. This is 43rd best album of the year quality stuff.
42. Woods : Sun & Shade
Sun & Shade has two long jams, "Out of the Eye" and "Sol y Sombra". And they are... kinda boring. But otherwise this is an outstanding little collection of folk gems.
41. Rangers : Pan Am Stories
This can't be fair. Every song on Pan Am Stories sounds the same. All are put through a filter of psychedelic noise that sort of botches the overall credibility of Rangers' songwriting abilities. But damn, it's such a good sound when the time is right.
40. Freddie Gibbs : Cold Day in Hell
Indiana native Gangsta Gibbs unfortunately has yet to release his major-label debut, which is about a couple years in the making. But he did release Cold Day in Hell, a real good mixtape on which he utilizes his godly flow over some hot beats.
39. The Psychic Paramount : II
Gamelan Into the Mink Supernatural, The Psychic Paramount's phenomenal debut, stood out among other instrumental rock albums because it found an amazing blend of noise and post-rock. II isn't quite as good, but they most definitely continue with the successful formula. Now I just have to catch these dudes live.
38. Lykke Li : Wounded Rhymes
I don't think that Lykke Li has yet created a phenomenal work of music, but if you never listened to Wounded Rhymes then you just slept on a really great pop album.
37. Tom Waits : Bad As Me
If you've heard Tom Waits and you don't already think he's a genius, Bad As Me won't convince you. I could chalk this up as "another good Tom Waits album", but that's kind of unfair. Bad As Me doesn't stand up against a couple of Waits' earlier masterpieces, but it's a really great record with outstanding moments. Most notably the stunning "Hell Broke Luce", which probably contains the best use of machine guns ever in music.
We also hear a very sweet side of Tom Waits here on "Kiss Me". So yeah: Bad As Me is one of the Weaker Tom Waits albums, but when you're GOOD AS HIM*, that means it's a record that's more than worth your time.
*sorry
36. Wild Flag : Wild Flag
If I could choose any band in the world to reunite (not including the possibility of some miraculous resurrection of John & George or Kurt here), it would be Sleater-Kinney. The Woods, their last album released before an indefinite hiatus in 2005, is fucking HUGE: a masterpiece of rock music; one of the greatest guitar albums of all time and probably worth whatever hyperbole I could use to continue raving about it. So until that day when S-K get back together for a new album and a national tour and my faith in God is restored, I'll have to settle with 2/3 of Sleater-Kinney as 2/4 of Wild Flag. And that's okay, because other than the absence of Corin Tucker and that ugly-ass album cover, Wild Flag is totally awesome. "Romance" kicks the door open with considerable aplomb and one of the catchiest choruses of the year, and from their on the energy does not let up. The ride of these 10 songs does of course recall Sleater-Kinney, but with Rebecca Cole on the keyboards it's a tweaked sound that will do more than suffice.
35. Group Doueh : Zayna Jumma
What Zayna Jumma lacks in variation, it makes up for in quality. This is West Saharan guitar music of the highest caliber!
34. tUnE-yArDs : w h o k i l l
aWeS-oMe
33. WU LYF : Go Tell Fire to the Mountain
WU LYF have done a great job of mysteriously marketing themselves to a demographic of new music bloggers. While they fall short of being the totally revolutionary band that some suggest, Go Tell Fire to the Mountain manages to sound epic with its heavy use of organ and spacey electric guitar notes. Here's a good band to keep an eye on.
32. Bon Iver : Bon Iver, Bon Iver
I never thought For Emma, Forever Ago was the masterpiece it's cracked up to be, but it's a great album and it made a lot of people really happy. So Bon Iver's followup is kind of a big deal. I would also argue that it's a better album. Justin Vernon is really showing his strengths as a producer and making really detailed music. The style varies here more than it did on For Emma. Opener "Perth" utilizes a post-rock progression, "Towers" reaches a wonderful horn climax, and then finally there's "Beth / Rest". It really kind of sounds like "Faithfully" by Journey... but I absolutely love it. If Bon Iver can pull that shit off then he has a bright career ahead of him.
31. Bill Orcutt : How the Thing Sings
Certainly the most experimental album on this list, How the Thing Sings has made me question its validity as good (or even real) music. The premise: a guy from a band named Harry Pussy plays an acoustic guitar for 35 minutes, backed by no instruments and emitting no audible words. It is about as challenging as it sounds, but there is something so pure and raw here that I can't discredit it. It's John Fahey on cocaine.
30. Grimes / d'Eon : Darkbloom
"Vanessa" might just be the best song of 2011, and the rest of the Grimes side of Darkbloom is similarly wonderful. But the great surprise here is d'Eon, navigating a delicious theme on his side. The combo makes Darkbloom one of 2011's greatest slabs of wax.
29. Terius Nash : 1977
We need The-Dream (aka Terius Nash). Even when he's throwing some random songs onto a free album it still turns to gold (or at least the bronze or whatever that is on the cover).
28. Elzhi : Elmatic
If you are going to create your own full-blown interpretation of what might very well be the greatest hip-hop album of all-time, you had better be a good rapper. Enter Elzhi. He is dropping mad science over Elmatic, thus making it an impressively successful project. This is the same guy who killed his verse on the classic Detroit posse cut, Binary Star's "The KGB". This is a breakthrough for Elzhi and hopefully a harbinger of dope albums to come.
27. Cass McCombs : Wit's End
Wit's End is another great argument for the outstanding songwriting abilities of Cass McCombs (I swear I hear Paul McCartney on "Memory's Stain"). The pace of Wit's End can drag ("Saturday Song" is just downright depressing), but overall this is a wonderfully-crafted gem.
26. Cut Copy : Zonoscope
25. Big K.R.I.T. : Return of 4Eva
Kanye proved that a killer producer can still rock a mic like a pimp, and on Return of 4Eva Big K.R.I.T. does everything he can to convince us that his multifaceted approach will yield a stunning commercial debut. He balls hard on tracks like "Highs & Lows" and "My Sub"; he expresses genuine emotional reflection on "Dreamin'" and "The Vent". Also, Chamillionaire has an awesome verse. Yeah, Chamillionaire!
24. Smith Westerns : Dye It Blonde
As much as it owes its life to Bowie and Bolan, Dye It Blonde gets big ups from me because it just puts a big smile on my face.
23. Shabazz Palaces : Black Up
For a considerable amount of time, Black Up was my pick for album of the year. But then I began to notice some major flaws that make this a frustrating listen for me. Don't get me wrong, Black Up is most certainly next-level shit. Every time I listen to it, I am at some point amazed at how the sound of Shabazz Palaces can just be really fucking dope. Like, "Youlogy". That has to be the future, right? Well, I think what frustrates me the most is that Black Up seems to have the ability to sound better than any other rap music being released today, but it just isn't always enjoyable. I mean, yeah, it's cool that "An echo from the hosts that process infinitum" rides a ridiculous vocal loop and then features a kalimba bridge. But is it really enjoyable? To an extent, but, I would argue, not as much as it seems to initially promise. Black Up is full of songs like this: experimental to a minor fault; fascinating but not always fun. There is only one track that I think just totally nails all of its experimental risks and also sounds extremely enjoyable, and that is "Recollections of the wraith". The "My Angel Rocks Back and Forth" percussion, the bass, the sample (Do you not catch yourself in the shower belting out "OooooooooOoooooOOOOOOOOOOooooOOOooh"?), the rhymes ("every word come out my mouth just sparkles up"!); it's perfect. I am optimistic about the future of the Shabazz Palaces project, and all it takes is a listen to either Digable Planets album to notice that mastermind Palaceer Lazaro (aka Butterfly aka Ishmael Butler) is a genius. I emailed him via the Shabazz Palaces website early on in 2011 to tell him how killer he is and I got back a nice "[I] Appreciate it bro." Here's to down-to-earth people spacing out.
22. Cymbals Eat Guitars : Lenses Alien
Modest Mouse!?!?!?1
21. L.W.H. : The Tape Hiss Hooligan
holy fuck it's SNES + MAX VON SYDOW SWAG
thisisthesounduvmurda
20. St. Vincent : Strange Mercy
What a terrible album cover. I mean, what is it supposed to be? A ghost? Someone attempting to bite through a white sheet of plastic? It's really a shame because she graced those first two albums with her pretty and interesting face. I dunno.
Anyways, excellent album here.
19. Jenny Hval : Viscera
Golden showers
Secret milk passes between our lips
An electric toothbrush pressed against my clitoris
Jenny Hval is a freak.
18. Telebossa : Telebossa
Here's the future of bossa nova.
17. Danny Brown : XXX
If you ain't pullin a nigga dick out and slappin yoself wit it... fuckin all night and drinkin protein shakes in the mornin, then get the FUCK outta here!
So says Dopehead on "Bruiser Brigade", one of two songs on Danny Brown's 19-track opus XXX to feature a guest verse. It's a good quote to represent the album as a whole: XXX is, as its title suggests, hardcore. A majority of these raps are about sex and drugs. But these stereotypical hip-hop topics are skillfully approached with a brilliant touch of sarcasm that separates Danny Brown from generic rappers. For example, "Blunt After Blunt" immediately begins with "Kush got a nigga feelin AWESOME", as if it were extremely necessary for him to tell us how much he likes smoking weed. Danny Brown has talked in interviews about his former ties to G-Unit, 50 Cent's once-dominant gangster click. But it becomes apparent on XXX that he's way too goofy (and awesome) for them. Less than half a minute into the album and he's already mentioned Squidward.
This great whirlwind of fucking and getting fucked up comes to an intense head on the finale "30", on which Danny recalls the struggles of his career that led up to this breakout achievement. But the greatest climax of XXX is "Monopoly", a totally off-the-wall banger on which he goes insane like a Supreme Clientele-era Ghostface. Listen to it and Cool Ranch Doritos will never be the same.
16. Jay-Z & Kanye West : Watch the Throne
Although I'm glad the whole project was a success, so many things make Watch the Throne straight-up weird for me. There's that ridiculous artwork (inside and out), two Frank Ocean hooks, no guest verses, a fucking dubstep track, an Otis Redding "feature", all those James Brown screams, and the fact that four of the very best songs made in this collaboration ended up as bonus tracks. Kanye and the RZA connect for a track about... having a son? Swizz Beatz yells "goddammit!" on "Welcome to the Jungle", which sort of blows.
I guess that there was almost no way for WTT to live up to Kanye's Best Fucking Thing Ever less than 9 months after its release. And really, this is just another win for Ye, hip-hop genius and Jay, God MC. "Otis" ressurected a legend and "Niggas in Paris" changed English vernacular. Live, the experience was an unparalleled performance of musical entertainment.
But seriously, put the good songs on the album next time!
15. The Mountain Goats : All Eternals Deck
John Darnielle Schools the Game: Part XIII
14. EMA : Past Life Martyred Saints
I'm not sure if she's heard I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning, which did the "Ode to Joy"-as-closer thing first, but otherwise EMA's debut is strikingly original and vital. Like Bright Eyes, EMA is not afraid to be blatantly emotional, knowing that there is an artistic reward in honesty. "When you see the ship / it is the ship you can see" somehow feels like an outstanding first line on an album instead of a really stupid one, and "The Grey Ship" proves itself an incredible opener. What's even better when it's done is that there's half an hour of this music left.
13. Girls : Father, Son, Holy Ghost
Girls have really embraced the influences of 50s pop music: "Love Like a River" has the beat of "Earth Angel" and the backing vocals throughout the album are totally doo-wop. The pop sensibility is what makes Father, Son, Holy Ghost a really fresh listen.
12. Grouper : A I A
Liz Harris, queen of drone, has been killin' it for several years as Grouper, and A I A is the massive follow-up to 2008's watershed Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill. The sounds are largely homogenous, but A I A is a wonderful album to get lost in, and "Come Softly" is one of the most beautiful album-closers I know.
11. PJ Harvey : Let England Shake
Crazy shit went down in England last year. Also, PJ Harvey released her best album in a decade.
