I admit it, this year was kind of a let down for me, thinking about it initially. Looking back at last year, I don't think there was an album this year that can really stand up with My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy or This Is Happening. But then I hooked up my Ipod, sat and listened to M83, Destroyer, and Bon Iver's efforts right in a row, and changed my mind. This year was simply the year of the underdogs. When last year we had almost expected masterpieces from LCD Soundsystem and Kanye West, this year was different. The year of completely unexpected success from artists always coming just under the bar of masterpiece. When Radiohead's album falls after a Destroyer album on a list, you know somethings shifted. The musical paradigm has changed. But all in all, the unexpected masterpieces we've had this year are incredible. And it's time to count them on down. The Best Albums and Songs of 2011 are as follows:
Albums:
#9 The King of Limbs - Radiohead
This was my, and I expect many others, most anticipated album of the year. New Radiohead? That's the stuff that dreams are made of. And while this album is certainly not Kid A, Ok Computer, or In Rainbows, it's still as viable and gorgeous as a couple seasoned veterans can be. Containing some of Radiohead's most optimistic and dreamy works, some tracks are decent experiments ("Bloom"), some are great ("Lotus Flower"), and a couple are extraordinary ("Separator"). While I'm sad to see Radiohead's inevitable fate to become the elder craftsmen as opposed to the innovators, this album is one glorious transition, and can proudly stand among the bands life changing, music shifting, world creating works.
#8 Helplessness Blues - Fleet Foxes
The Fleet Foxes are giving us all exactly what we want to hear, and that is more of their gorgeous harmonies, fantastic lyrics, and wonderful arrangements on their anything but a slump sophomore release. With some absolutely knockout tracks such as "Grown Ocean" and the title track, this album reminds me of a much simpler time, even though I'm not sure I've ever actually experienced the simpler time it makes me think of. It brings me to a top of a mountain, breathing in the freshest air possible, and holds me up with the wind. And lets me believe that I could be a "functioning cog in some great machinery serving something beyond me".. Now that's a folk album.
#7 Tomboy - Panda Bear
Another hugely anticipated record for me, following one of my all time favorite, and deeply loved albums "Person Pitch", initially, this record was a let down for me. After many listens, I can more deeply appreciate it for what it is. No, it's not Person Pitch, and it was never trying to be. A much darker and more subtle record then the one that preceded it, it contains some of Panda Bear's most moving songs ever written ("Last Night at the Jetty"), while also evoking a mood that while still sunny and happy, contains a glimpse of darkness. While Person Pitch was idealistic, loving, and like a warm blanket, Tomboy is a realistic, stern, reflection of life. Panda Bear still has much music in him, I know, and while he may never achieve the beauty of Person Pitch again, it's great to know he still has music like this in his mind. I can certainly live with that.
#6 Strange Mercy - St. Vincent
St. Vincent has been around for a little bit, and has made a couple albums, and while all of them have been good, she finally hit the perfect mark with this one. I've been wishing that St. Vincent would finally come around and hit her perfect stride for a while, and for that to finally happen made me truly ecstatic. On standout tracks like "Cruel" and "Surgeon", we can finally see Annie shine the way she was always supposed to, and makes us look forward with immeasurable confidence for her next move. Because of Strange Mercy, I can say that I am very excited for the next St. Vincent album.
#5 James Blake - James Blake
I don't know about my list! I don't know about my, list anymore! All that I know is, I'm loving, loving, loving, loving... might as well love James. If anybody listened to his assortment of EPs that were released last year, the music on this album would have been the last thing we expected. While his EPs were pure post-dubstep insanity, this album drifts much closer to a singer/songwriter album then anybody could have predicted. But the great thing about James Blake, is that he can actually sing and write songs, so there is certainly nothing wrong with what happened. James Blake is most certainly one of the most promising artists to come around in a long time, and it's only fitting that his studio debut is stunning.
#4 Kaputt - Destoyer
On paper, the idea behind Kaputt sounds extremely awful. Smooth Jazz mixed with Electronic and Indie Pop? But somehow, the band who is more famous for contributing members to The New Pornographers then as an actual unit, pulled it off. And they pulled it off with immense style, creating a record that ebbs and flows perfectly. The standout tracks "A Suicide Demo for Kara Walker" and the title track prove by themselves that this concept works, and works extremely well. Destroyer has been around for quite a while, but it sounds like they finally found their niche. I just never thought that they would sound this good at something so strange.
#3 Father, Son, and Holy Ghost - Girls
Wow, I love this record. I always love it when a back to basics, pure rock and roll band comes around and proves that rock and roll, in its purest form, is still as viable and exciting as it was in 1955. But beyond that, to get a perfect idea of what this record sounds like, imagine The Beach Boys, Black Sabbath, Lovin' Spoonful, and My Bloody Valentine all had a child. Not getting how on earth they did that? Me neither, but that's what it sounds like. The vast types of rock and roll this record covers is alarming. "Honey Bunny" and "Magic" are the most pop sounding and instantly accessible, but "Love is Like a River" and "Forgiveness" could be the standouts, with their emotional complexity and arrangement. Girls have given me back an excitement for rock and roll that I haven't felt for a while, and I'm so excited for their next release. But this one, certainly, is good enough for now. Man, I love this record.
#2 Bon Iver - Bon Iver
If you would have told me that Bon Iver would have made a masterpiece following For Emma, Forever Ago, I honestly probably would have laughed. For Emma, Forever Ago, is an incredible album, without a doubt, but it's aura is surrounding it's legend much more than the acutal innovative quality of the music. However, Bon Iver shocked us all when we first heard "Calgary", and showed us his new choral, gorgeous arrangements of sound. And all I wanted was to hear more. Sure enough, when this album came out, and I heard "Perth", then "Holocene", and finally "Beth/Rest", I was convinced. Bon Iver is much more than just a guy who recorded an album in the woods. He's a musician, capable of writing and arranging complex music that can still intimately touch your soul. And this album sure touched mine.
#1 Hurry Up, We're Dreaming - M83
Hurry Up, We're Dreaming is a double album. This can mean a lot of different things to a lot of people. Where The White Album and Exile on Main Street were incredible, we need not look much farther than at Sandinista! to find where that concept was taken to excess. Before Gonzalez released this album, he was comparing to the the likes of The White Album and Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Hefty comparisons, to be sure, and I, like many others, didn't believe a word of it. We scoffed. But then I bought this record, closed my eyes, and listened. And let it take me through the looking glass. Fittingly, this record takes you through a dream. Through cities, countries, forests, and among the stars. And once you wake up, you're still trying to grasp the exact beauty you just experienced. I still am. I, like so many others, love it when an artist does not shy away from going big, and succeeds on every level. But more than that, the reason that this album is the best album of the year, is because years from now, this will still be the 2011 album that I'll be trying to understand and emulate. Maybe I'll never fully get it. But that won't stop me from letting it paint those dreams in my head.
Songs:
#10 Rolling in the Deep - Adele
#9 Super Bass - Nicki Minaj
#8 - Someone Like You - Adele
#7 Countdown - Beyonce
#6 Grown Ocean - Fleet Foxes
#5 Kaputt - Destroyer
#4 Last Night at the Jetty - Panda Bear
#3 Holocene - Bon Iver
#2 Midnight City - M83
#1 Separator - Radiohead
