“These songs are for nighttime driving, for long exposures of stars circling overhead, for laying roadside, feeling small, for the cold rocks at Big Falls, for Marfa, that weird and beautiful oasis. These songs are about the ambient sides of life.”
This is the way that S. Carey describes his staggeringly pretty new EP, “Hoyas”, and anyone who knows me, knows that’s pretty much the vibe i look for in all of my favorites. “Avalanche” is a gorgeous, slice of latenight pop that takes its time grabbing you but by the mid-point you’ll have tapped the “repeat” button and settled in for an evening of multiple listens. The layered harmonies (especially when the female vocals slide in) and that subtle hum of the driving beat/synth line are just perfect, but the real master stroke here is the layered vocals, autotuned, warped, stretched, and formed into a dreamy beauty that will captivate ears (production was handled by Justin Vernon and Brian Joseph of Bon Iver) Absolutely highest recommendation.
“Ashes in the Air” by The Flaming Lips & Bon Iver // The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends (2012)
The Flaming Lips have a pretty incredible release lined up for this Record Store Day (April 21) that includes contributions from Bon Iver, Chris Martin, Jim James, Ke$ha, Neon Indian, and many more (with each contributing artist also offering up some of their actual blood for packaging reasons). Psych Explorations of the Future Heart are offering up looks into the making of the collaborations and now they’ve posted the Justin Vernon collaboration on Youtube for our listening pleasure. It’s a suitably batshit insane psych pop jam so it’s probably exactly what you’d expect.
“Con/A Sewer/Cat” by Amateur Love // It’s All Aquatic (2003 // re-issue 2012)
If there’s one thing that I dislike about the current state of music blogging, it’s the ever reaching grab for the newest, hottest, most underground tracks without even the quickest of looks over the shoulder at what might have been missed in months or years passed. Luckily from time to time, an old forgotten album that I’ve championed to people over the years gets a re-issue from a solid source and it offers people a chance to look at it anew without having to take time out of their newnewnew searches. Amateur Love’s excellent 2003 release “It’s All Aquatic” is one such release. A batch of vivid, noise pop and dream pop gems with an electronic edge from a band out of Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Luckily, the other famous guy in Eau Claire (Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon) has an imprint label (Chigliak) with Jagjaguwar and it’s first release is his old friend’s album, “It’s All Aquatic”, remastered and ready for a new generation of listens. In the event that you’ve missed out on Amateur Love in the past, now’s a good chance to catch up, and this is the first remastered taste of the album in the form of jittery, power noise pop jam “Con/A Sewer/Cat”. Highest recommendation.
* Amateur Love’s “It’s All Aquatic” will be re-issued May 22nd.
Seeing Justin Vernon surrounded by his massive touring band, churning out the jams on an ever growing stage is a magic thing, but it doesn’t quite hold up to seeing him and Sean Carey in a studio, just re-interpreting their songs into small, subtle, gorgeous re-inventions. This is absolutely incredible and well worth your time if you’re the slightest fan of the artist.
Tracklist:
Hinnom, TX // Wash. // I Can’t Make You Love Me // Babys // Beth/Rest
“In The Yard” by Bowerbirds // The Clearing (2012)
This haunting, slowly-building, new track from Bowerbirds is just the kind of right way to kick of a week. A dark, melancholic piano and drum combo lead the track through tempo changes that ultimately build to something all together wonderful. Most of this album was recorded at Bon Iver’s Wisconsin production studio and the close proximity might have worn off on Bowerbirds, because there’s something about this that reminds me of the Blood Bank EP. Then again, I might just be reading into it. Definitely a must listen.
I agree with Justin Vernon completely here. Everyone should listen to Richard Buckner. All of Richard Buckner. After all, he’s one of the great underrated storytellers in modern music.
Finally, the collection is complete. After a run in with a dying voicebox and multiple microphone issues, here are the final 20 songs in my favorite songs of 2011 collection (previous tracks 40-21 HERE). Once again, i’d like to reiterate that this is simply my favorite songs. I’m not putting my foot down and declaring them “the best”. I’m open to others choices, these are just the songs that grabbed me and held on the hardest.
I’m leaving the explanations for why, I chose what, inside the podcast. I won’t bother wasting your time by putting it here as well, so if something strikes you as particularly strange, feel free to listen. I might explain myself. As usual, you can stream or download the podcast. Please feel free to reblog and share if you like what you here or shoot me a message if you have concerns that i’ve lost my mind. Now, without further ado, here are my top 20 favorite songs of 2011.
THE LIST /// FAVORITE SONGS OF THE YEAR #20 - 1 (the top twenty)
20. “Moon Killer” by Small Black
19. “Pulse” by I Break Horses
18. “Island Answer Anywhere” by Pulseprogramming
17. “Give Us the Wind” by Future Islands
16. “Green Aisles” by Real Estate
15. “Into the Wilderness” by Burning Hearts
14. “Stutter” by Yuck
13. “Give Up the Ghost” by Radiohead
12. “Wicked Games” by The Weeknd
11. “The Last Line” by Tammar
10. “Mermaid” by Okkervil River
9. “Escape” by Richard Buckner
8. “Suicide Dream 3 (Orchestral Version)” by How to Dress Well
7. “Civilian” by Wye Oak
6. “Sara” by Chad Vangaalen
5. “Holocen” by Bon Iver
4. “Pure Affection (Beach Fossils Remix)” by Eternal Summers
That is that. The last of my favorite jams of 2011. I hope you enjoyed them even a fraction as much as I have this year. Hopefully, you discovered something that’s new and interesting, or hopefully you just enjoyed the countdown. Thanks for listening. I hope to keep things up for another year. If so, I hope you stick around as well. Take care and happy listening.
This took me a lot longer to finalize than I had planned. Truth be told, last year’s came easier because as a whole, I felt last year had a stronger collection of albums - so much so that I just picked a favorite and had everything else tie for second. This year, I felt that I had some room between some of them that I could play with and in the resulting list, actually pick a top ten favorites.
I use the word “Favorite” because this list was made by me, and I wouldn’t want to pretend that I am capable of knowing what’s “best” for anyone, so what you’re looking at is a list that’s my favorites. Not intended to spark an argument, but mostly hoping to maybe shine a light on an artist or album that perhaps you didn’t catch earlier in the year and when lined up next to some of these others, you might take the time to check them out as well.
So, without further ado, I’m going to list my top ten with short explanations, and then the back ten are the ten most played, most favorite, most-most that didn’t crack the ten (in alphabetical order). Hope you enjoy. The Favorite Songs lists will be up in the next couple of days with accompanying podcast and I promise they’ll be much more thorough and interesting, as they’ll be audible.
THE LIST///TOP TEN FAVORITE ALBUMS (2011)
“The King of Limbs” by Radiohead :: If you are familiar with my previous top five lists of years past, you know that I have a fondness for Radiohead. More often than not, they make my top spot. So this shouldn’t be as much of a surprise, but to me it really is. When I first heard “TKOL” I was underwhelmed. I enjoyed what I heard but it didn’t stick like previous material. I sat the album aside and moved on. Then, somewhere around the time that Radiohead performed the “From the Basement” sessions, I pulled the album back out and where previously I had felt that I was being challenged, I suddenly felt that familiar warmth. The songs were growing on me and where previously, I had all but dismissed this album as the one where Radiohead got away from me, I was embracing the textures and the layers and melodies and rhythms. I came back to this album more than any other this year and with each listen I discovered more to love. It wasn’t the mindblowing, earth shattering release that I was expecting to top my list, but that album never came. What came was a surprise album by my favorite band that i was not ready for, but luckily was still around when i found my reasons to be ready. I love the album. It’s not their best, but this year it was my favorite.
“Bon Iver, Bon Iver” by Bon Iver :: You could almost hear the backlash growing before the final notes of the final song played. Yes, it will appear on as many “best of” lists as it will on “most overrated” lists, but that’s just fine. For me, the album works. It’s a reminder of music that I hadn’t thought of in ages, by an artist who’s had hands in dozens of my favorite songs of the past few years. I trusted Justin Vernon to not rely on his simple charms and he didn’t disappoint. The album can be challenging to those expecting twelve more variations on “Skinny Love”, but anyone paying attention could see that this is a direction that he was likely to head from the moment he started touring in support of “For Emma”. I happened to really love the direction. I might not love the next, but that’s just fine. When you love something an artist has done, you’re not signing on for life. You can exit the bus at any stop. I’m happy to stick around and hear some more electric piano and abstract lyrics for the time being. It’s produced some really beautiful, haunting, and in the end welcoming music. No complaints.
“Burst Apart” by The Antlers :: Talk about low expectations. I had nothing going in to my first listen of “Burst Apart”. “Hospice” was a fine album, but a little dreary and easily forgotten for me at that time. “Burst Apart” felt like a band awakened and challenged to write big, expansive, artistically engaging pop songs and they lived up to the task without fail. Also, the 1-2-3 hit of “Hounds”, “Corsicana”, and “Putting the Dog to Sleep” are the best sequential album run all year.
“Days” by Real Estate :: At first listen I was afraid everything blended and sounded overly similar, but a couple of more listens and the details started flooding forth. It’s a deceptively simple album loaded with wonderful writing, beautiful melodies and incredible craftsmanship. “Days” just hit on all cylinders for me and reminded me of why I love bands who don’t shy from a well written pop hook.
“Charade is Gold” by Pulseprogramming :: Sort of what I’d hoped a grown-up version of Postal Service to sound like - only better. It’s a gorgeous, haunting, synth pop masterpiece.
“Our Blood” by Richard Buckner :: A criminally underrated singer-songwriter turned in his best album in years and again, no one seemed to notice. Some of the best writing I heard all year and Buckner’s vocals is still one of my favorite lived-in, weary instruments in all of music.
“Yuck” by Yuck :: Smart, nostalgic, indie pop that holds up with some of the greats. “Stutter” is one of the best songs of the year.
“The Ocean” by Two Bicycles :: While everyone was waiting for the new Teen Daze album to drop, many seemed to fail to notice that he’s already dropped an album one million times better just a couple of months before and it explored more interesting soundscapes by far.
“Moon Killer” by Small Black :: Had this been a full fleshed out album, it would have been higher. Small Black turned in one of the biggest surprises of the year with a free mixtape that makes me hope and wish that their next studio outing has this kind of sound, and this sort of confidence. Fucking killer songs.
“Romantic Comedy” by Big Troubles :: Maybe the catchiest, most infectious album that I heard all year. Loaded with dreamy, lo-fi, shoegazer sounds, but as good as they all are, none of them touch the brilliant album closer, “Never Mine”.
There you have my top ten. I could surely go on and on, but I’m sure more of you stopped reading back at Radiohead. For that, I will rush through and just list the back ten. In alphabetical order as I could not choose one over the other. These are simply the albums that I lived in and carried with me the most throughout the year (save for the first ten). Any of these ten would be a great listen. I can’t recommend them enough.
“You Are All I See” by Active Child
“The Rip Tide” by Beirut
“On the Water” by Future Islands
“Gardens and Villa” by Gardens and Villa
“Hearts” by I Break Horses
“Smoke Ring for my Halo” by Kurt Vile
“Organ Music Not Vibraphone Like I’d Hoped” by Moonface
‘“Rare” by Tearjerker
“House of Balloons” by The Weeknd
“The Year of Hibernation” by Youth Lagoon
There you have it. The list of Favorite Album of 2011, as decided by me. The Favorite Songs of 2011 list should provide more fun, as there will be accompanying sounds to go with, and the entire collection spreads far and wide. That should be up in the next couple of days. In the meantime, how about them albums? Did i drop the ball or forget anything? Surely, I did. At any rate, thanks for reading, take care, hope you enjoyed any or all of these as much as i have.
“Perth (The Polish Ambassador Remix)” by Bon Iver // Digital Single (2011)
I don’t usually go out of my way to seek out remixes, but there was something about this particular remix being described as an “electric lullaby” that made me press play and i’m quite glad that my finger made it’s way to that button. The Polish Ambassador has taken the gorgeous opener from Bon Iver’s latest release and given it a sweet, flickering, dream-like makeover. Like some after hours re-interpretation as your brain drifts between television static and dream - this track exists. It maintains all of the great parts of the original, but shifts and warps things just enough to keep it interesting. A really lovely take on an already wonderful song.
After reading a bunch of year-end lists and their corresponding comments sections, I’m starting to get the feeling that people’s opinion of Bon Iver’s Bon Iver has shifted. That was a quick turnaround.
“Hinnom, TX” by Bon Iver /// dir. Isaac Gale and David Jensen
Here’s a pretty little video accompaniment for Bon Iver’s “Hinnom, TX” that will be included as part of the Deluxe Edition re-release (featuring videos for all tracks) of Bon Iver that drops tomorrow. This piece in particular is heavy on atmosphere and light on storytelling, but it fits the music quite well.
Once again, 2009 was a major transitional year for me with far too much movement and emotional turmoil to really settle into a solid selection of albums that grabbed my attention. I suppose I just didn’t find the time that year to get absorbed into a lot of selections, hence my fairly obvious choices here.
For me, 2009 was much more about single song discoveries that I found myself obsessed with, but that’s not to take anything away from these selections. They’re all wonderful albums, full of incredible music. These were certainly the albums that stood out above the rest at the time, but in hindsight, I can see that I overlooked several choices that certainly were not properly absorbed until the following year.
All that being said, seeing these albums listed together does bring back a slew of memories from various points in that year that were often filled with grief and pain, but also some tremendous moments of self-discovery. Grizzly Bear and some of the tracks found on “Dark Was the Night” still carry reminders of a blossoming relationship that was building (perhaps too fast) in the early months. Phoenix was certainly the soundtrack to some of the more happy and successful moments of 2009 (the summer months), while The XX provided a mood for the later months as things started to turn dark on all aspects of my life.
It’s strange how you can let music be an escape as well as a tomb to lock yourself away and feed your depressions. Sometimes it feels like the right song can save your life or put a bullet in your head. Luckily, the singles from that year did more saving - or perhaps “distracting” is a better word.
Wow! Okay. Clearly, I didn’t let my crazed emotions get the best of me at this point in 2008 because all of these songs are fucking excellent and outside of some tweaks in order, I can’t imagine picking a stronger set of songs for that year. Sure, I was a total mess at the time of these selections, but at least I was listening to solid single songs. Then again, I’m sure if and when I look back over to a complete overhaul retrospective look at the decade, I’ll realize some glaring errors made here, but in the meantime - I’m happy to see this list and actually am ecstatic to break out “Black Rice” for a couple of spins. I hadn’t thought of that song in a while and I’m sure that I’m still completely in love.
