Not-Really-A-Mountain

Albums of 2011

I will not pretend to be super well versed in any musical genre.  I do not possess an academic knowledge of music.  I’m just a fan.  In no particular order my top 10ish…

Wye Oak - Civilian
This albums was the easiest to pick.  It’s the first album I fell in love with this year.  The Baltimore duo’s show at Sasquatch! 2011 was one of my favorites hands down.  Jenn Wasner has a voice that will break your heart and can shred on guitar.  It is a joy to watch Andy Stack play drums, keys and sing.  They are fuckin’ talented and write great pop songs.  Start to finish good album.  Favorite tracks: “Civilian”, “Fish”, “Hot As Day”, “Holy Holy”, “We Were Wealth”…aka just about the whole damn album.

Junior Boys - It’s All True
I have been a fan for quite a while so I’m a little biased.  I honestly can say that they continue to do what they do considerably well.  They kind of road in on the electro tail feathers of bands like Hot Chip in the early/mid 2000’s, but a little bit under the radar.  This album however shows that they are continuing to perfect their craft, developing the complexity of the sound, and showing their staying power.  Proof: the hot opening track “Itchy Fingers” into one of the more emotionally vulnerable songs of the year, “Playtime”.  The albums also has the great and epic “Banana Ripple” and the other super solid track “You’ll Improve Me”.

Little Dragon - Ritual Union
This album is great.  Yukimi Nagano has a brilliant voice.  Her appearance on SBTRKT’s “Wildfire” is amazing.  They toured like mad in support of this album and their performance at this year’s Bumbershoot Festival was one of my concerts of the year.  This album is a natural progression from their previous two albums.  The title track “Ritual Union”, “Crystalfilm” and “Nightlight” are all great pop songs.  The album start to finish is a very fulfilling listen.

M∆DE:IN:HEIGHTS:: APORIA: IN THESE §TREETS
This is the second EP from Sabzi of Blue Scholars and Kelsey Bulkin.  The beats are tight and Kelsey’s voice is beautiful.  That’s all I really need to say about this.  Listen to it.

Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring For My Halo
I was a little late in getting familiar with Kurt Vile.  I am more acquainted with The War On Drugs from which Mr. Vile came and whom also released a wonderful album this year (Slave Ambient).  I saw Kurt Vile at this year’s Capital Hill Block Party and was not really impressed by the performance but was still compelled to give the album a listen.  There is a wonderful classic rock feel, similar to his previous band, that I can’t help but love.  I sincerely feel he will be sticking around as soon to be great American singer-songwriter.

Cass McCombs - Wit’s End/Humor Risk
I’m embarrassed to say that I’m also new to Cass McCombs.  I wish I could be one to say I have been following his career since 2002.  Unfortunately, or I guess fortunately that I’ve heard him at, it took this long.  Both of the albums he released this year are wonderful.  I’m sad I missed him when he came through Seattle.  It would have been a pleasure to see him play these songs live.

Other Lives - Tamer Animals
This album is great front to back.  It sets and sustains a certain tone through the whole album.  It has an sense or grandeur, isolation, and bit of desert psychedelia all at once.  I am not surprised at all that they opened for Bon Iver this past year and will be opening for Radiohead this coming year when they cross the pond.  Much deserved recognition.

Toro y Moi - Underneath The Pines
Mr. Chaz Bundick is pretty bad ass.  His voice is kind of sexy.  Some of the tracks are kind of funky.  Some tracks are kind or chill.  Some have a new spin on old school R&B. It’s a wonderful driving record.  Or smoking weed record.  Or sex record.  What else could you possibly want from an album?

The Japanese Popstars - Controlling Your Allegiance
This brings me back to the days of going out dancing all night long (which I’m pretty sure is the point).  This album is pretty straight forward dance music.  It makes me want to shake my ass.  That’s it.  I gave it a listen initially because Robert Smith makes an appearance, but other tracks soon won me over more so than that track.  It’s a fun album and it’s been a while since a dance album has gotten my attention and kept it through the whole thing.

Yuck - Yuck
Being a child of the 90’s, it’s so difficult to not to fall in love with this album.  Thank goodness Yuck was able to pull it apart and put together only seemingly all of its best moments.  They performed at this year’s Capital Hill Block Party.  I had only heard a couple of tracks played on KEXP.  I had really no intention to catch their performance until I heard it pouring off the stage.  They are really something to behold live.  This will be an album I listen to for a long time.  I can’t wait to hear more from this band.

Other great albums of the year:

Beirut - The Rip Tide

The War on Drugs - Slave Ambient

Bon Iver - Bon Iver

Radiohead - King Of Limbs

The Weeknd - All three EPs released in the trilogy this year.

Raphael Saadiq - Stone Rollin’

I could go on…Case Studies, James Blake, plus all of the albums my buddy at Drunken Attraction spoke of.  It was a good year for music.

Sweden Produced The Year’s Best Pop Artists

*Robyn & Little Dragon/Yukimi Nagano*

What else is there really to say?  Both put on the two best shows I’ve seen all year (Sasquatch! 2011 & Bumbershoot 2011).  Both also put out some of the best pop music in the last two years.

Robyn’s Body Talk (November 2010) is truly a gift to pop music, and Robyn had appearances on various other tracks (Savage Skulls, Teddybears, Rye Rye).

Little Dragon’s Ritual Union (July 2011) is this year’s Body Talk. Their guest appearances both last year (Gorillaz, Maximum Balloon) and this year (SBTRKT, DJ Shadow) are pretty stellar too.