Sorry that I tricked everyone into thinking this was a blog dedicated to videos of racists on the subway and long-winded justifications of my own peculiar social-interaction-based neuroses, but it's really a music blog! Music is great. I hate music.
Couple more loose ends to tie up here for 2011 music lists. I named my top Boston records of the year in the Boston Globe. Go check out the full list here. I also chimed in on a 'recommended if you like...' piece, The kindred spirits of the year’s top album releases. And lastly, I picked my top 11 songs of the year in the Boston Phoenix. Go check out the links with tons of good stuff from my typing-bros, and read my word-machines after the jump.
In case you missed them here last week, here are my picks for The shittiest piece of shit songs of the shitty year 2011 and the epic 50+ song round up of PTSOTL and friends' music that isn't awful 2011 | Pretty siqq playlist, bro. Listen to PTSOTL's best of Spotify playlist here.
Music. All of the musics -->
Music. All of the musics -->
There are three ways music writers can approach year end lists like these. It can be a chance to blow everyone's minds with how low brow and populist your tastes are, or the exact opposite, a monument to your very serious music person's curatorial affect. It might just be an attempt to genuinely turn people on to stuff you really like. I'd like to do a little of all three here, which is why I'm bummed the actual song of the year, Robyn's "Call Your Girlfriend," didn't technically come out this year, because it covers all the bases. [Editor's Note: It was released as a single on April 1, 2011, so fuck it.] Instead, I present to you, the most well-rounded best of list of the year, including buzz blog band chill vibes (Young Galaxy and Toro Y Moi), neo-disco indie house (Holy Ghost!, and Digitalism with Cut Copy just getting edged), a heartbreaking indie girl ballad (Eisley), hugely melodic and wistful throwback dad rock (Noel Gallagher), fuzzy 9tz retroism (Yuck), tr00-pop punk/emo to stay in touch with my roots or whatever, (The Story So Far), and three of the most hated, bloggable alt-personalities of the year, just so everyone knows IDGAF.
1. Kreayshawn, "Gucci Gucci" (single)
2. Skrillex, "First of the Year" (from More Monsters and Sprites EP)
3. Yuck, "Get Away" (from Yuck)
4. Digitalism, "Two Hearts" (from I Love, You Dude)
5. Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, "If I Had a Gun" (from Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds)
6. Eisley, "Ambulance" (from The Valley)
7. Lana Del Ray, "Video Games" (single)
8. Holy Ghost!, "Wait and See" (from Holy Ghost!)9. The Story So Far, "Swords and Pens" (from Under Soil and Dirt)
10. Young Galaxy, "Peripheral Visionaries" (from Shapeshifting)
11. Toro Y Moi, "Still Sound" (from Underneath the Pine)
2. Skrillex, "First of the Year" (from More Monsters and Sprites EP)
3. Yuck, "Get Away" (from Yuck)
4. Digitalism, "Two Hearts" (from I Love, You Dude)
5. Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, "If I Had a Gun" (from Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds)
6. Eisley, "Ambulance" (from The Valley)
7. Lana Del Ray, "Video Games" (single)
8. Holy Ghost!, "Wait and See" (from Holy Ghost!)9. The Story So Far, "Swords and Pens" (from Under Soil and Dirt)
10. Young Galaxy, "Peripheral Visionaries" (from Shapeshifting)
11. Toro Y Moi, "Still Sound" (from Underneath the Pine)
As my man Michael Brodeur writes in the intro to this Globe piece, "If you played it safe this year and stuck to 2011’s top releases, you may have missed some real gems. Below, find our critics’ picks for can’t-miss complements to the year’s biggest albums." Here are mine:
IF YOU LIKED: Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, ‘‘S/T’’; Beady Eye, ‘‘Different Gear, Still Speeding’’
YOU SHOULD HEAR: Viva Brother ‘‘Famous First Words’’
Two new albums from Oasis’s filial pugilists arrived this year. The first, from Liam Gallagher’s Beady Eye was as plodding and predictable as Noel’s was gorgeously anthemic. Every year a newUKband arrives lauded as heirs to the throne, and the closest in 2011 was Viva Brother. Their debut, and lead single in particular ‘‘Darling Buds of May’’, displayed everything you’d expect from hungry young Brit upstarts: swaggering bravado, effortlessly melodic hooks, and perhaps most importantly, a band decked out in brilliant rain jackets.
IF YOU LIKED: Cut Copy, ‘‘Zonoscope’’
YOU SHOULD HEAR: Digitalism, ‘‘I Love You, Dude’’
The much buzzed-about Australian outfit spent the past fewyears as the gateway drug of choice for indie rockers transitioning to the dance clubs, but their latest, while still top-notch, veered off into curiously quirky ’80s retro detours that tempered theBPMs. This year’s record from the German electro duo Digitalism laid down indie club bangers top to bottom—from disco-house to raved-up bass explosions—all while maintaining a Cut Copylike sense of melody.
IF YOU LIKED: Rise Against, ‘‘Endgame’’ ; Blink-182, ‘‘Neighborhoods’’
YOU SHOULD HEAR: The Story So Far, ‘‘Under Soil and Dirt’’
This was a great year for pop punk, with releases from venerable old acts like Blink-182, and politically-conscious populist heroes Rise Against. This style of music, however—melodramatically yearning, fast-paced, and explosive—is usually a young man’s game. California’s The Story So Far continued in the tradition of the elder statesmen here, reaching back into the punk past to pull a page from their forebears’ playbook, all the while infusing the music with the undeniable urgency of youth.
Says here MMOSS is from Dover, N.H., but that’s got to be a typo. These two tracks, released as a follow-up to last year’s ‘‘i’’ full length, sound more like relics from a gloomy Scottish moor somehow abutting the California coastline circa 1965. You might call it drone, but there’s too much harmony; psychedelic perhaps, but it’s rooted too firmly in the thickened mud of the earth. Shoegaze doesn’t seem right either, because it doesn’t feel like the soundtrack to your focus narrowing, but rather your consciousness expanding.
The best Boston albums of 2011
MMOSS ‘‘Wander/Another Day’’Says here MMOSS is from Dover, N.H., but that’s got to be a typo. These two tracks, released as a follow-up to last year’s ‘‘i’’ full length, sound more like relics from a gloomy Scottish moor somehow abutting the California coastline circa 1965. You might call it drone, but there’s too much harmony; psychedelic perhaps, but it’s rooted too firmly in the thickened mud of the earth. Shoegaze doesn’t seem right either, because it doesn’t feel like the soundtrack to your focus narrowing, but rather your consciousness expanding.
BEARSTRONAUT ‘‘Satisfied Violence’’
This collection of singles released by the Lowell-Boston band this year is a tour through the indie-rock dance club of the decade past. ‘‘Sensual Sanctuary’’ is shouty, expansive disco-punk that would make fast friends with something off the Rapture’s latest, then dance the night away. ‘‘Shannon’’ fuses synthy-noodling to a dirty cowbell beat, while ‘‘No Reunion’’ chimes with post-punk sheen. ‘‘Moniker’’ and ‘‘Roger Was a Dancer’’ show the band mastering the pop side of the equation, with big, singalong melodies, and on the latter, the sax solo of the year — Katy Perry be damned.
And just so we can get a jump on next year's Best, Also Probably Worst Boston traxxx, don't sleep on this brand spanking new "REAL TALK" remake from our boy Evan Kenney, who gives the R Kelly classic a shitty Boston-spitshine.
Real Talk (Boston Version) by KingEvRock
brought to you by
No comments:
Post a Comment