RWG's Top 100 Albums of 2011 Options

[RWG]

I really got into music writing this year. Because I have a list I worked on over the course of the year that I'm posting on another site, I thought I'd post it here to maybe garner some discussion about lesser known artists and throw some suggestions your guys ways.

The list includes indie, alternative, blues, country, pop, electronic, soundtracks, compilations, and top 40. It may not be right up the alley of everyone here, but I think there will be something for everyone.

I'll start posting in intervals of ten and post 100-91 later tonight.

[RWG]

70. Wolfroy Goes to Town
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
Drag City



I first heard Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy this year, not through this album, but through the song “I See a Darkness.” The haunting track’s speaker is drawn to sinister thinking and, using literal lyrics, describes darkness as a sort of demon he "sees" and is unable to block out of an otherwise sunny life. Wolfroy Goes to Town doesn’t feature anything half as riveting but is a thoughtful folk-country album nonetheless. On the singer/songwriter’s sixteenth studio album, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy—the stage name of Will Oldham—uses mostly soft, lullaby-like vocal tones, appropriate finger-plucking acoustic guitars, and light harmonies with backup singers. Oldham has a perfected vintage country sound. Many of the songs have religious undertones, but Oldham writes them in a John Donne-like, self-deprecating manner that appropriates them for more the more secular indie crowd. The album’s highlight is “No Match,” which, while uplifting and upsetting at the same time, seems an objectively nice listen. “Black Captain” and the happier “Quail and Dumplings” are the album’s other strong tracks, but in one listen from start to finish, Wolfroy Goes to Town is a bit boring. Really, anyone wanting a proper introduction to Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy or just in need of a powerful song should check out “I See a Darkness.”

Recommended tracks: “No Match” “Black Captain” “Quail and Dumplings”

69. Deformer
Dog Day
Independent



I was surprised to learn of how long Dog Day had been around when I researched them after hearing them for the first time this year. They’ve released three full-length albums and a number of related EPs since 2005, yet they aren’t signed to a label and seem to have very little online profiling. Notwithstanding, their music seems well suited to this level of mystery. The married couple of Seth Smith and Nancy Ulrich seem most commonly classified as indie, yet with low-staffed vocals and distorted guitars with fast, tame strum patterns, the music on Deformer connotes itself more to lo-fi and a Sonic Youth-esque brand of grunge. On first listen, Deformer struck me as thorough with no real stylistic ventures, but some songs definitely merited revisiting more than others. This is a band I’ll be sure to follow in upcoming years.

Recommended tracks: “Eurozone” “I Wanna Mix” “Part Girl”

68. Suck It and See
Arctic Monkeys
Domino Recording Company Ltd.



With an awful title and an album cover that makes a painful stab at The Beatles’ The White Album, Suck It and See fails in terms of superficials. Beyond that? Not bad. Without calling it amazing or terrible, I’d probably slip it in under 2006’s Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not and 2009’s Humbug and above 2007’s Favourite Worst Nightmare, but readers need remind themselves that the Sheffield-based Arctic Monkeys have been one of modern rock radio’s bright spots this century. Suck It and See has been heralded a return to the band’s roots and the “nightlife rock” people loved on their first album. Some of the album’s better songs, such as "Suck It and See," “She’s Thunderstorms,” and “Black Treacle” showcase this, but with more mellow song structures and a dreamier demeanor than songs like “I Bet You Look on the Dance Floor,” which could almost be said to be from the band members’ childhoods. Yet for those who liked the darker, heavier approach the band took on Humbug, tracks like “Don’t Sit Down ‘Cause I’ve Moved Your Chair,” “Brick by Brick,” and “All My Own Stunts” make sure the last album’s "full-band" sound, with its distorted riffiness, heavy baselines, very audible drumming, and sinister lyrics remain a part of the Monkeys’ repertoire. This isn't their best album, but it shows both sides of their coin.

Recommended tracks: “Suck It and See” “Don’t Sit Down ‘Cause I’ve Moved Your Chair” “Brick by Brick” “She’s Thunderstorms”

67. Goodbye Bread
Ty Segall
Drag City



Ty Segall is a California-based garage rock artist whom, at only 24, some have heralded the subgenre’s wunderkind. Anyone loosely familiar with his music probably knows the song “Girlfriend” from his 2010 sophomore album Melted, which is heavy, loud, distorted, and strange. With Goodbye Bread, Segall matures slightly with songs that fall a bit more nicely on unfamiliar ears. Tracks like “I Can’t Feel It” and “Fine” are more distinguished, so to speak, than anything resembling the less mellow “Girlfriend.” “My Head Explodes,” playing like a slow drive to and over the grand canyon, bases itself around a gradual build and proves a song that “goes somewhere,” a developing singer/songwriter tactic. “Goodbye Bread” is another “easy-sounding” garage rock song that features some of his nicest guitar work in the solo. Notwithstanding, while Goodbye Bread marks some maturation, it doesn’t mark too much. The album is still distorted and obnoxious, and Segall is still a far cry from being tied to the pop label.

Recommended tracks: “My Head Explodes” “I Can’t Feel It” “Fine”

66. Angles
The Strokes
RCA Records



The Strokes’ 2001 release Is This It? may be my favourite album of the 21st century so far. Its uptempo nature, memorable lyrics, smoky vocals, and authentic take on NYC rock and roll evoke the absolute best night-out memories I have (my legality isn’t nearly as old as the album, but you get the picture). For anyone still hung up on that part of the band’s history, Angles presents a truth that may be hard to accept: the band’s rock and roll days look to be gone. They’ve slid from rock and roll to “indie” indie and thus lost their Lou Reed-esque throwback feel. Lead singer Julian Casablancas has become a family man, sobered up, and quit smoking, resulting in the loss of the rough smokiness that made his voice great in the early years (I’ve always found substances’ affect on rock and roll voices a bit of a catch-22 with regards to health and quality of voice) and, more importantly, the sense of uninhibited youth that went into Is This It? and its successful follow-up Room on Fire. But while Angles may not be the same as what we want to know The Strokes for, it’s not a bad album it its own right. The ten-song, sleek-sounding record draws on the high-tech trippiness one may get from its cover, and features the band's fanciest guitaring in “You’re So Right” and “Taken for a Fool.” Most of the songs work fine at a party, and the album's best songs do maintain a similar sense of gleefulness listeners recognize from the band’s earlier work. But for those of us who hold Is This It? too closely to our hearts, this just isn’t the same.

Recommended tracks: “Taken for a Fool” “Under Cover of Darkness” “You’re So Right”

65. The King Is Dead
The Decemberists
Capitol Records



I’ve never considered The Decemberists to be a great bad. “The Crane Wife 3” is a beautiful song, and the band has a wide range of other nice-sounding piece, but Colin Meloy’s voice had never really done it for me, and more principally, they’d never really stood out to me as anything unique or interesting. The King Is Dead is not only a recovery from the 2009 disaster The Hazards of Love, but a great artistic manoeuvre. Drawing on fiddles, southern rock influences, patriotism, harmonicas, and jig-like folk structures, the album provides a truly unique conception of an American folk-rock album. As Meloy explains: “If there's anything academic about this record, or me trying to force myself in a direction, it was realising that the last three records were really influenced by the British folk revival [...] this whole world that I was discovering, that I was poring over, learning inside-out. It was a wanting to get away from that. And looking back into more American traditions, reconnecting with more American music." Now that’s something I haven’t heard. It’s The Decemberists’ finally giving themselves their own thing to stand for. Sounding like something off an early-Neil Young album, “Down by the Water,” possibly the band’s rockingest song to date, may also be my favourite song they’ve ever done. The surprisingly patriotic “This Is Why We Fight” is beautiful and undeniably American, while the jiggy “Rox in the Box,” “June Hymn,” and “Calamity Song” reinstate the album’s mission generically. The King Is Dead is something different; I’ve never heard the phrase “American traditionalism” applied to pop or rock music like this before, and I consider it quite smart.

Recommended tracks: “Down by the Water” “This Is Why We Fight” “Rox in the Box” “June Hymn”

64. Torches
Foster the People
Sony Music Entertainment



For a long time, I hated Foster the People (I didn’t add them to this list until late November). The main reason was the fact I couldn’t get past “Pumped up Kids.” The chorus in particular was agonizing. Every time I heard it, I felt I was the visiting team at a sporting event being taunted by the home fans. But eventually, it got through; I grew to find its particularities (baseline, lyrics, whistling) charming, and I’m thankful for that, as it lead me to a solid-sounding indie rock album. As a whole, I wouldn’t call Torches a mindboggling piece of art, but some songs are microcosms of what could be. Torches is only the debut for the L.A.-based band, and they’ve already have a distinct sound, a major label deal, and staggering popularity; I can’t think of a band that made it bigger so quickly since The Killers. The songs have catchy vocal hooks and are decorated with mostly up-tempo beats and synthesizers. “Helena Beat” and “Don’t Stop (Color on the Walls)” are slightly less well-known that the overplayed “Pumped Up Kicks” but better, and “Houdini” is another catchy find. If you too abhor “Pumped Up Kicks,” bear with this album; it’s worth it.

Recommended tracks: “Don’t Stop (Color on the Walls)” “Helena Beat” “Houdini” “Pumped Up Kicks”

63. The King of Limbs
Radiohead
Ticker Tape Ltd.



Despite its critical acclaim and record sales, Radiohead’s electonica stint has probably been going on long enough to criticize it. It’s simply easy to pine for the plethora of great, accessible rock songs they wrote for The Bends and OK Computer and somewhat off-putting in the way they turned their back on it. Many who love Radiohead’s more recent albums as much as they loved Kid A are often accused of being obsessed dummies who describe the band with hyperbole. Frustration regarding the band’s reluctance to return to radio rock is well documented, and their emphasis on anti-commercialism started to get a bit desperate when they implemented the “pay what you think is fair” marketing scheme for their last album, In Rainbows (they didn't do it this time). Despite these, I have respect for the success Radiohead has achieved while making exactly the kind of music they want, but I actually like certain things about The King of Limbs. The first few songs are highly rhythmic and seem to be written for genuine Radiohead fans. The rest is more accessible for me and (likely) you. “Little by Little,” glory to God, even has a chorus; I’d call it the ideal split of emphasis between melody and rhythm. Additionally, “Codex” is a beautiful song, and the subdued “Give Up the Ghost” is another recommendation for those wanting to stay clear of the drum and bass. These are terrific tracks, but I skip the rest because I find it highly redundant by this point.

Recommended tracks: “Little by Little” “Codex” “Give Up the Ghost”

62. Departing
The Rural Alberta Advantage
Paper Break



Headlined with a premise of “songs about growing up in Alberta,” The Rural Alberta Advantage sound like a dull band. However, I thought their first album had a couple gems (most notably, “Don’t Haunt This Place”), and the follow-up has many. Departing showcases both vocalist Nils Edenloff’s knack for writing rangy, memorable melodies and his ability to sing them; such can be heard on “Tornado ’87,” a touching song about enduring Edmonton’s 1987 tornado, and “Two Lovers,” the romantic and melodically wavy leadoff that invites comparisons to Neutral Milk Hotel. Beyond interesting melodies, the band’s technical soundness is reinforced by great drum work on nearly every song. But The Rural Alberta Advantage is not all about technicalities. At the heart of their music is simple and sincere meaning about life and love; Departing plays like an audiotape to a great bildungsroman.

Recommended tracks: “Tornado ‘87” “Two Lovers” “Muscle Relaxants”

61. The Party Ain't Over
Wanda Jackson
Third Man Records



With thirty-three albums under her name since 1958, Wanda Jackson has earned her uncontested status as “Queen of Rockabilly.” Produced by Jack White, The Party Ain’t Over is, in a nutshell, a 1950s party. It features an authenticity that creates an obvious partition between modern artists catalogued as “throwback” or “vintage” and artists who actually lived through and know about the era after which they style their music. The early segment of the album is the true rockabilly side: “Shakin’ All Over,” “Rip It Up,” “Busted,” and “Nervous Breakdown” showcase a wildness and distortion listeners I’m tempted to attribute to Jack White’s production, but I’d hate to sell Jackson’s songwriting short. “Like a Baby” showcases a rough blueness that sounds like Etta James gone mean. Other shades on the album are more toned down and lend themselves to surf rock and country rock, both of which fall under rockabilly’s umbrella. Furthermore, Jackson establishes herself as a professional with two solid covers: Bob Dylan’s “Thunder on the Mountain” and Amy Winehouse’s “You Know I’m No Good.” All in all, I love this album. It’s a great deal of fun.

Recommended tracks: “Shakin’ All Over” “Like a Baby” “You Know I’m No Good” “Rip It Up”

This post has been edited by RWG: Dec 27th 2011, 3:18 PM