Yaow! as Henrik Berggren would have said.
Now, some music has been made during the year of 2011, which deserves quite some attention. Here are my faves in no special order whatsoever. Do the mouse-over on the images for some songs, Wikipedia links and other extravaganza!
New music
SebastiAn...how to say this? I was let down by this album. Despite some really good tracks, especially those which have already been released on singles and compilations, there's a weird and quite sad re-working of his old song "Dog" here. Why? Well, it all smells old and reissued.
Au contraire, the things I love are in here as well, like "Hudson River" and "Love In Motion", interspersed by wonderful mini-cuts like "Total" and "Night (Interlude)" which makes me wish for more, more and more. All in all, he's still one of the greatest electronic dance-ish artists out there and one of the most shakin' in the past decade.
I actually have trouble knowing if this one or "Black Sheep Boy" is the best album that Okkervil River has made, and this is a good thing. Will Sheff kind of pushed his own envelope through the lyrics, which are youthful, experimental and almost cut-up in the syntax. He's an experimental fellow, that young 'un. And Okkervil's last gig I saw this year (and I've seen a few) was really, really good. Patrick sang nicely and the entire band is just sweet enough to eat. Haa!
Really though, the songs are different. What the hell, "Piratess"? The compact Prince-ish feel to it, with electronic marimbas, strings and a steady beat. And "The Valley", very camp, definitive and multi-layered without losing focus, maybe losing focus, and that's another of this band's strength, trying to find new ways to do stuff. Be it Will singing vocals through a telephone or recalling Vampire Weekend through "Your Past Life As A Blast" (which I think is one of the poorest tracks on the album) they try and do shit. "Wake And Be Fine" is a great example of this; the mere structure of the song, the way they've mic'ed the song and Phil Spector-ed it, it's just inspirational and good. And yes, they fucking rock. Go see them live and buy the deluxe album set now, thank you.
And yeah, "Show Yourself" might be the most underrated track of 2011.
Hoo-yeah! as Peggy Hill would have put it. A follow-up to "Golden Opportunities", recorded over a few days, shows a) how the band's grown and b) that Will Sheff's a great music snob. Love it. This is available for free at their site. Just click one of the links in the image to download the EP as MP3 320 Kbps or "lossless" as MP4.
There's nothing bad about Wiz Khalifa, a musician who raps about weed all the time. Well, he does. So much that he makes the old Snoop look like a softie. That, interlaced with a mighty live performance and the electronic backdrop in tracks like "Black & Yellow" I think he'll make it big in 2012.
PJ's album has won nearly everything this year. It's grand, and yet subtle. The sound of an artist who's been sticking to her sound for a long time and just matured without becoming jaded. A strong piece of work.
England's #1 party band The Go! Team started off 2011 with this album, a reminder that things don't have to be too serious to work out in the end. The song "Buy Nothing Day" (featuring Bethany Cosentino from Best Coast) really means something to me, as my wife and unconsciously nearly almost always buy all of our xmas presents on that day.
Even though I may be the only one to love this EP, I think it's adorable. The Flaming Lips in cahoots with Lightning Bolt. Of course it's experimental, just like TFL's collaboration with Neon Indian prior to this. Very nice indeed.
Speaking of which, yeah, yeah! Our tiny man Alan went to Helsinki for a long, cold while and recorded stuff and released shit to make our minds bend. This is less way out there than the first album, but he's going full-out! He's made an album that included a synthesizer that shipped with the deluxe box, and he's a gentleman, too.
Best Coast tipped me about this: Those Darlins is a garage-inspired band with a girl-pop tinge. Great melodies and lyrics out of the ordinary. Lazy-sounding but focused and very, very groovy.
EMA is new. She's fresh and imagine Scout Niblett with the Stina Nordenstam torn out of her, with the aesthetics of distortion, a very small ego and Kurt Cobain a tad thrown-in. Just check EMA's cover of "Endless Nameless" which I think is very, very underrated. Still, that's just a blip in comparison with her songs such as "California" from the above, her debut album.
More music in the veins of Those Darlins, here's Cults, a wife-husband duo who write dancey, girl-groupish songs with a lot of xylophone thrown in. The singer's style of dance is marvellous.
Lovely Atari Teenage Riot. They're still angry and rebelling and are today much more about Wikileaks and keeping data private than smashing governments, but that's what ageing leads to, I suppose. Then again, they're really relevant and perhaps needed more than ever. And they have a live show to beat any kind of so-called competition to a pulp.
Bird of Youth is Beth Wawerna, protegé of Will Sheff (of Okkervil River), who co-produced her debut album, "Defender". It's a really strong effort: odd lyrics with notable titles. It all feels really sturdy: not any really distorted guitars, no real big surprises - but that's the surprise. It's not really surprising to feel the sound of The New Pornographers as the other co-producer here is Phil Palazzolo (who's also produced Neko Case), because that sound is really in-place here. Sometimes Wawerna's voice resonates, sometimes feels dull but it's never boring. Get into it, hear the album three times and you'll be humming catchy shit from it over and over.
Holy shit, he did it again. Almost. He explores, that's what I'll say about Justin Vernon, the main force and frontman of Bon Iver, whose second album has now exploded, rightfully so. There are so many highs here, and it's safe to say it is on par with the quality of his first album.
Brodinsky is often called a DJ's DJ, which I think means he doesn't cater by selling himself; I don't care about that, but this mix album rawks. In the image there's a Soundcloud link to the entire album. This is the best house mix album I've heard all year.
Shitty film, but the soundtrack for "Contagion" is my pick for original soundtrack of the year. Cliff Martinez makes surprising music for films. Actually, for me this beat out Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross' soundtrack for "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo".
Dan Bejar, member of The New Pornographers, has since long made music as Destroyer. Back in the day, when my wife introduced me to him, one could only find music regarding Pig Destroyer, some hard rock group.
Today, Destroyer has made a mark completely different from that. His gig at the Way Out West festival this year might be gig of the year for me, and the album "Kaputt" is one of the top three albums of the year for me.
It's jazz, but synths; old, but new, experimental and angry. The lyrics are some of the most poetic of the year, and angry at times. I miss anger in lyrics. And a lot of onomatopoetic stuff, like "la-da-da-da-daaah"
I've been playing this over and over since the day it leaked, and then as I bought it. Franz Ferdinand make powerful songs, as is evident when they're played by other very fine people; Stephin Merritt, the wayfaring captain of The Magnetic Fields, turns "Dream Again" into dub reggae, while ESG churn funk lazily; Franz themselves play with Debbie Harry (!) and sort of cross stars in the heavens as their sound is really influenced by Blondie, but LCD Soundsystem really hit it off through "Live Alone", a cover that hits the heavens and actually...isn't that David Bowie singing chorus? Peaches: nice, heavy, hamfisted and still sophisticated as always.
Franz have recently posted videos for these tracks through their Facebook page. Peaches and LCD Soundsystem are included.
Mr. Oizo and SebastiAn really took the cake this year, kind of yanking it from Vitalic ((Who's releasing a soundtrack and a new album in 2012!)) with this album. It's hit-and-miss, but when it hits, it's impeccable. Experimental, daring and childish.
Melodies! Calmness. Still a lot of rush.
Tom Waits will hold for no-one. This album is an attack using beautiful weapons, more a threat than something put on hold for an observer to comment, so I'll just shut the hell up. And yes, his voice is still wonderful.
Reissue, repackage, repackage
Thank the LAWD for this one! A double-album filled with southern American rock, dispelling every rumour that states it's all Creedence and no swing. Just listen to Lynyrd Skynyrd or Cher covering Dr. John. It's magic at every corner.
The Edsel reissues of The Jesus and Mary Chain albums this year are nothing short of spectacular. The DVDs included, and the extra CD with radio stuff and weird versions - e.g. "Darklands" with strings on it - make a very, very worth-while find. "Darklands" even includes the "Some Candy Talking EP"! Go buy these classic albums...oh my word.
The Smiths "Complete" is a 50/50 win as Johnny Marr was committed to the project but Morrissey wasn't asked to join, but... Marr did make the music, and is the audiophile, I reckon. He was the one involved the most in the engineering and studio work, during the recordings, so I deem him the best to have made this project worth-while.
So, is it worth it? Only 4000 boxes were issued, but I've heard this. Yes, it's available through WiMP, Spotify and probably Rdio and other streaming sources. The songs are definitely less murky, more sprightly. Just check out "The Headmaster Ritual" from "Meat Is Murder", and you'll instantly notice the difference.
Yes, the Suede remasters sort of goes hand in hand with that of The Smiths: extra tracks, DVDs, and Bernard Butler overseeing the entire thing with Bret Anderson, but with interviews and videos, and no box. "Dog Man Star" is definitely my fave as it's the decay of the original version of the band. And finally the unedited version of "The Asphalt World" is available at 16 minutes...guffawing good.
What the hell? A.k.a. What happened to:
Lady Gaga's new album - I loved her past. Witch House: this genre died a well-deserved death The Subways' "Friday": this song is probably the poorest ever. Justice's second album: I miss the kicks. Although I understand them not doing that all the time. Even they have to rest. Until the next time, we'll have Soulwax...right?