Best of 2011 - Music

[jerichoholicninja]

Obligatory music today sucks post.

 

Was Brothers 2010 or 2011? That was pretty good.

El Camino was their release this year. Pretty good stuff.

Ya. Really like what I heard of what they released on their website. I haven't heard the whole thing yet so I'm withholding judgement but I assume it will be awesome.

[patrickgpe]

I'm way out of touch with Pitchfork nation these days.

i had their top 100 playlist on spotify up earlier this week, haven't heard most of the songs and wasn't a fan of alot of them. seems like they are trying harder and harder to stay out of the mainstream as indie music becomes more mainstream.

[brettac1]

I still check the site daily, but mostly out of habit. I find that the AV Club reviews stuff that I have far more interest in. Once P4K got into promoting stuff like Wavves that is completely unlistenable, I pretty much dropped out.

[thebruce44]

I still check the site daily, but mostly out of habit. I find that the AV Club reviews stuff that I have far more interest in. Once P4K got into promoting stuff like Wavves that is completely unlistenable, I pretty much dropped out.

They are definitely hit and miss with my tastes, or maybe I just don't listen to enough music to keep up. For the top end stuff though I seem to agree with them. Their top 3 albums of the year (Bon Iver, Kaputt, & M83) were all in my top 10. For their 11-50 though, it seems like I've never heard of half of it.

NPR's All Songs Considered seems to touch on a lot of the stuff I like more than Pitchfork, or at least this year.

[jjkoestler]

I guess I need to give M83 a few more spins. At first it just struck me as an 80s synth throwback record. I'm going to be very happy when the 80s retro sound goes far far away.

[brettac1]

I liked their last album.

[Kelbysdaddy]

i really liked the solo albums from Dave Hause and Dan Andriano that came out this year. i just got done looking through pitchforks top 100- i only recognized like 8 bands- not cds- but bands. i didnt realize i've gotten so old. in no particular order i liked-

I Am the Avalanche-avalanche united

horrible crows- elsie

girls- father, son, holy ghost

taking back sunday-s/t

ryan adams- ashes and fire

the get up kids- there are rules(not great but i still liked it)

explosions in the sky- take care, take care, take care

frank turner- england keep my bones

william elloit whitmore- field songs

jacks mannequin- people and things

 

i think it was a pretty good year for hip hop with really good albums put out by doomtree, prof, greives, hail mary mallion, kanye/jay-z, sims, das racist, and the roots. if you haven't heard the wugazi cd- look it up. the soundtrack for the muppet movie and the muppet covers cd were pretty awesome as well.

[jerichoholicninja]

Boy am I out of touch. I may be 24 but I've only heard of about 2 or 3 of the bands mentioned in this thread.

[patrickgpe]

I guess I need to give M83 a few more spins. At first it just struck me as an 80s synth throwback record. I'm going to be very happy when the 80s retro sound goes far far away.

really liked their last 2 albums

[patrickgpe]

i really like the sound opinions show out of chicago public radio, here is their top 10's

 

Greg Kot’s Top

Ten of 2011

 

1. Wild Flag, Wild Flag

2. The Roots, Undun

3. tUnE-yArDs, WHOKILL

4. Van Hunt, What Were You

Hoping For?

5. F****d Up, David Comes

to Life

6. The Feelies, Here

Before

7. Raphael Saadiq, Stone

Rollin

8. Bewitched Hands, Birds

and Drums

9. Das Racist, Relax

10. Fleet Foxes, Helplessness

Blues

 

 

View Greg’s complete list

1. Le Butcherettes,

Sin Sin Sin

2. Wild Flag, Wild Flag

3. Das Racist, Relax

4. The Feelies, Here

Before

5. Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi, Rome

6. F****d Up, David Comes

to Life

7. Bewitched Hands, Birds

and Drums

8. tUnE-yArDs, WHOKILL

9. The Decemberists, The

King is Dead

10. The Go! Team, Rolling

Blackouts

[brettac1]

Isn't Jim DeRogatis on that show? No Wilco? That would blow my mind.

[Glennron]

I'm way out of touch with Pitchfork nation these days.

i had their top 100 playlist on spotify up earlier this week, haven't heard most of the songs and wasn't a fan of alot of them. seems like they are trying harder and harder to stay out of the mainstream as indie music becomes more mainstream.

I've thought that too, but it also seems like they'll go out of their way to "promote" very mainstream songs. I think there's like 3 Drake songs on their top 100 tracks, plus they seem to love pop acts like Beyonce and Rihanna. I'm pretty sure I've seen Britney Spears stuff on there too. Hell, that Kreayshawn song is on their top tracks list.

[RyDogg66]

the Black Keys, I have loved them since Thickfreakness came out, but El Camino sort of flew under the radar, I had no idea they released this album until I read this list.

 

That being said, I see it was produced by Danger Mouse, same as "Attack and Release". I thought "Attack and Release" was by far their weakest album, is El Camino anything like Attack and Release?

 

Thanks.

[Godspeed]

'El Camino' is head and shoulders above 'Attack and Release'. Like a denser 'Brothers'. I like it the best of their last 3, and better each time I listen to it.

[thebruce44]

the Black Keys, I have loved them since Thickfreakness came out, but El Camino sort of flew under the radar, I had no idea they released this album until I read this list.

 

That being said, I see it was produced by Danger Mouse, same as "Attack and Release". I thought "Attack and Release" was by far their weakest album, is El Camino anything like Attack and Release?

 

Thanks.

Its much better than Attack and Release. Probably not as good as Brothers, but its hard to expect that.

[EdgarDiazRocks]

Wild Flag is nice to again listen to the wonder that is Janet Weiss on the skins.

 

Other than that I was really too obsessed with The Joy Formidable to enjoy anything else.

[BrewCrewForever]

Didn't buy to many album that came out in 2011 in 2011. So my list is short.

 

Foo Fighters "Wasting Light"

 

Radiohead "King Of Limbs"

[SenatorShriv]

Just to stir the pot a little bit I'll jump in and say that I think El Camino is The Black Keys weakest album to date. Their early stuff is awesome because it is gritty, packed with great lyrics and straight up rock and roll. Their newer albums have been good because it showed the band had some versitility and was still able to produce great music even as their sound evolved. El Camino just feels like they pooped something out to continue the commercial success of their last two albums - strike while the iron is hot type mentality. It doesn't do anything new or different which would be ok except the songs just didn't seem as thoughtful as the majority of songs on past albums have been.

I'm fairly sure I'm in the minority here.

Someone else mentioned they felt that the Decemberists "King is Dead" album was weak. I'm not going to say that it is a masterpiece by any means but I enjoy it a lot and its been heavy rotation for me since I first downloaded it.

[And That]

I'd have to think about the albums, but the best song from this year is:

 

[Hammer]

I am really old (34)! That said, I have sold my soul to the Hits 1 and 90's on 9 and Lithium on XM so you guys are probably going to laugh. Also, I do not purchase CD's, only iTunes...

 

Favorite songs of 2011 -L.M.F.A.O - Party Rock Anthem and Sexy and I know it. There, I said it. Trash away!!

 

Honorable mentions go to:

Super Bass (Nicki Minaj)

Grenade (Bruno Mars)

Pumped up Kicks (Foster the People)

Black and Yellow (Wiz Khalifa)

[brettac1]

I've never heard a single one of those songs... So am I really, really old at 27?

[Glennron]

Someone else mentioned they felt that the Decemberists "King is Dead" album was weak. I'm not going to say that it is a masterpiece by any means but I enjoy it a lot and its been heavy rotation for me since I first downloaded it.

I had low expectations because I didn't really like The Hazards of Love at all, so in that regard The King is Dead was a pleasant surprise. I still don't think it's close to Picaresque or The Crane Wife, though.

 

Brett, I'm about 99.9% you'd have heard Party Rock Anthem at some point. Same goes with some of those other songs too, you just may not know it.

[TooLiveBrew]

Oh, man, I (still) think The Hazards of Love is brilliant. I definitely like it more than The Crane Wife (which I love, fwiw).

 

I'm a huge Decemberists fan, but was really disappointed in that album [The King is Dead]

Can you explain a bit more? I really like The Decemberists, but didn't even realize they had a new album out... so obviously I'm no diehard. Please bear in mind my above response to Glennron about Hazards of Love.

[patrickgpe]

i though the king is dead has some good songs, but isn't a complete album like the crane wire of the hazards of love. I compare it to castaway's and cutouts more than the 2 previous listed.

 

the also released a followup callled long live the king, only a 6 song EP, really only like 2 out of the 6 songs though.

[thebruce44]

Oh, man, I (still) think The Hazards of Love is brilliant. I definitely like it more than The Crane Wife (which I love, fwiw).

 

I'm a huge Decemberists fan, but was really disappointed in that album [The King is Dead]

Can you explain a bit more? I really like The Decemberists, but didn't even realize they had a new album out... so obviously I'm no diehard. Please bear in mind my above response to Glennron about Hazards of Love.

Well for starters, I too loved Hazards, though my favorite Decemberists album is probably Picaresque.

One of the many reasons I like the Decemberists is that they often take on different genres of music, ones that I don't particularly like, yet do them incredibly well (Meloy's voice doesn't hurt either). In Hazards, they had a few tracks moving into more of a rock genre, which was awesome for me to hear. They did this somewhat on Crane Wife too. With all that said, The King is Dead is a definite departure in that its more of a country album, which I'm okay with but that was personally a little disappointing.

Keeping with that country genre, Meloy used to be in the band Tarkio, which I thought did country better than The King is Dead. For the most part, I think this is why I found the album disappointing. Its almost, and again this is my very personal opinion, a regression, which is the last thing I expected from Meloy.

Finally, the album runs a total length of around 40 minutes. I realize albums are getting shorter and shorter, but I find it very difficult to put an album of this length into my top 10 (even though I did with El Camino). But an album of this length from The Decemberists? I hold them to a higher standard due to what they have done in the past. Maybe thats me being overly critical as I think its cool that they put out an album this time without a real defined theme or narrative. Perhaps thats why they excluded some of the interludes they usually use, but for whatever reason I expected more.

Finally, the first song that really caught me on this album, "This Is Why We Fight" just isn't as enjoyable to me as some of their past catchy songs (I'm not using the word single on purpose here). It can't compare to "The Rakes Song," "O Valencia" (or the brilliant close to Crane Wife, "Sons and Daughters"), "LA I'm Yours," "Bach and Bride," or "July, July."

So I probably just wasted a bunch of your time if anyone actually read all that, but long story short, personally I was disappointed.