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December 18, 2011
Daniel Bromfield, Music Journalist
1. Destroyer – Kaputt. The best record of the year–an ‘80s-style lounge-pop record, smack in the middle of 2011? Why not something more revolutionary? Well, why does a great album have to be revolutionary? Kaputt is one of the rare albums on which everything comes together, an album that not only navigates around its potential flaws but uses attributes that might have worked against the artist on a lesser album to its advantage. Dismiss Dan Bejar’s rambling lyrics as little more than a drunken maniac’s nonsense (which is probably true), but his evocative words are the envy of many lyricists. And if the immaculately constructed backgrounds of hypnotic jazz-pop are “elevator music,” I’d like to see how many people would miss their stop if the album were played in an actual elevator. Beautiful, challenging, fascinating, willingly experimental, infinitely listenable, touchingly human–Kaputt has all the trappings of a great, timeless record.
2. Oneohtrix Point Never - Returnal. Daniel Lopatin is creating more than just a soundworld on Replica–he is creating an actual world. The chopped-up samples from old commercials that constitute much of the synth genius’s latest work combine to create a portal to another universe, one that may be cold and dystopian but has a certain beauty that is not found here. It’s a fascinating and unusual world, and how long you want to stay there is up to you. But once you’ve stepped into it, it will stay with you forever.
3. Bon Iver - Bon Iver. It’s almost ridiculous to think Justin Vernon could pull this off, but he does, and splendidly. Bon Iver feels like the culmination of nearly every trend that has popped up in underground rock over the past few years–jazzy sax arrangements, Eighties synths, reverence for the glory days of Laurel Canyon, and a massive debt to Sufjan Stevens. It’s hardly an introspective or personal record like his debut, For Emma, Forever Ago–Vernon’s lyrics are often inscrutable, and the focus is clearly meant to be the elegant soundscapes in the background. Bon Iver may not be the most emotionally gripping record of the year, but in terms of sonic beauty and majesty, it certainly ranks close to the top.
4. Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues. Fleet Foxes’ long-delayed follow-up to their universally lauded full-length is a record that embodies timelessness. The songs could have been written anytime in the last 45 years and written about any time in the last 4500 years, save for the occasional “man on the screen” reference. The tracks that are five or even eight minutes long sound just as concise and are just as jam-packed with great musical ideas (if not more) than the numerous two-or-three-minute songs with which they share albumspace. Their harmonies never sounded this full and soulful on their debut or earlier EPs, nor have their instrumentals–in other words, this is the best they’ve ever sounded.
5. St. Vincent - Strange Mercy. Don’t let those doe-eyes and pretty orchestral arrangements fool you–Annie Clark intends her music to be listened to LOUD. Every sound, every instrument, every word, every thought, every emotion is pushed up against the listener’s ear until it’s uncomfortable but strangely transfixing. It’s hardly unsubtle, and it’s not quite “aggressive,” but Clark knows what she wants you to hear. From the salvia-cackling synthesizers on “Neutered Fruit” to her avalanche of a guitar solo on “Cruel,” the wash of orchestral sound on “Champagne Year” to the all-out headbanger “Cheerleader,” Strange Mercy is a record that demands your full attention and will have it by any means possible.
6. Julianna Barwick – The Magic Place. Julianna Barwick is a former Southern church singer with the capability to fill the hearts of saints and sinners alike with the power of God far more effectively than any Bible-thumper. Barwick sounds like nothing of this earth, but otherworldly is a less apt adjective as ghostly–this is what I imagine one would hear before being spirited away to the afterlife. This publication is not liable for any transformations into intangible aether you may experience while listening.
7. James Blake – James Blake/Enough Thunder EP. These are both flawed works, but if you isolated the best songs from both of them, you would have a decent-length and completely fantastic album. While James Blake focuses more on electroacoustic songs that showcase the production skills he picked up as part of London’s dubstep scene, Enough Thunder is more centered around acoustic ballads. James Blake is an incredibly talented singer, keyboardist, and producer, and he showcases all of his skills on both works (James Blake more so for the latter and Enough Thunder for the former two). And if his frequent repetition of simple phrases throughout a song (as on the cathartic “I Never Learnt To Share, a song that tells an elaborate story with few words and a cryptic title), leaves you in any doubt as to his songwriting skills, just give a listen to “Give Me My Month,” an aching soul ballad set over a sparse piano part that could have been written by Schumann or Elton John.
8. Shabazz Palaces – Black Up. 2011 has been a phenomenally good year for hip-hop, but one record that stands above the rest is one that does not belong to any school of hip-hop I know of, not even the new underground that has produced so many great mixtapes this year. Former Digable Planets member Butterfly, who leads this project as Palaceer Lazaro, is not a brilliant rapper, but by channeling his knack for Afro-futuristic mysticism with help from female vocal duo THEESatisfaction and an unknown cast of supporters–and by setting it over some of the eeriest beats I’ve ever heard–he has created a “rap” album like no other.
9. Kate Bush – 50 Words For Snow. It’s been over thirty years since a teenage Kate Bush became the first woman in history to self-write a platinum debut album, and she still sounds like absolutely nothing else. As a result of her position as a successful and influential artist in both the pop and avant-garde canons, Bush has never needed to worry about certain audience expectations, and on her tenth album, 50 Words For Snow, Bush shows she is still capable of making unique and beautiful music. This is a concept album about snow and winter, themes which she evokes beautifully with powdery piano and her own wind-through-a-cave vocals. In a blizzard, it’s never easy to see what’s coming.
10. Bill Callahan - Apocalypse. “America,” the centerpiece of Apocalypse, finds Bill Callahan name-dropping great artists who served in the U.S. military–Captain Kris Kristofferson, Sergeant Mickey Newbury, Leatherneck Jones, and Sergeant Cash–before stating bluntly, “I never served my country.” Callahan, the artist formerly known as Smog, is no Cash as far as I know, but if he kept making albums like Apocalypse, he could be next in the tradition of great Americana singer/songwriters. Callahan’s third album under his own name is a dark, frequently bizarre roots-rock record that offers some of the best lyrics and instrumental performances you’ll find all year, hearkening back to the days when artists recruited top-notch session musicians to realize their sound. It’s also one of the rare records that sounds neither trendy nor old-fashioned but carries a sense of modern sociopolitical urgency that is distinctly 2011. I will most likely be listening to this album for years to come.
11. Thundercat – The Golden Age Of Apocalypse. Stephen Bruner is an extremely skilled bassist best known for his membership with Suicidal Tendencies as well as his work with Flying Lotus and Erykah Badu. One might expect this record to be filled with mindless noodling, but Bruner uses his seemingly limitless prowess on the bass to carve out trippy, electro-informed jazz-funk tunes that take cues from the various artists Bruner has worked with. Aspects of Suicidal Tendencies’ funk-metal show up here, and the left-field Afrofuturism of FlyLo and Badu permeates this album. Yet The Golden Age Of Apocalypse has a sound of its own, one that borrows from other artists but mixes its influence into a unique melange that sounds like little else.
12. The War On Drugs – Slave Ambient. Escapism is one of the dominant sentiments in rock right now, but the original rock n’ roll escapist legend–the endless highway drive as mind-numbing nirvana–has not experienced much of a renaissance. Enter ambient-roots-rock outfit The War On Drugs, whose latest release, Slave Ambient, revels in Americana’s romantic cliches and makes them sound fresh. The War On Drugs draw on Bob Seger and Tom Petty as influences but do not repurpose their freeway-rock for ironic effect–this is a genuine celebration of Americana’s romantic side and its oldest and most poignant myths.
13. Radiohead – The King Of Limbs. At 8 songs and 37 minutes, Radiohead’s eighth album will likely go down as a minor album in their oeuvre (at least compared to their last six epics). It’s a substandard Radiohead album, yes, but remember we’re talking about a band that’s produced at least two records generally considered among the best ever made. The King Of Limbs has its share of clattering, clicky beats, but tunes like “Codex” or “Give Up The Ghost” are tender, acoustic-based ballads with subtle hints of blues. The King Of Limbs is nowhere near as cerebral or obtusely conceptual as Radiohead fans may be used to–it’s Radiohead’s equivalent of an easy, quick listen, and what a listen it is.
14. Paul Simon – So Beautiful Or So What. I am cynical about musicians who make backwards-looking albums in old age, but a definitive mental image of a young Paul Simon is harder to conjure than those cliche images of Elton John and his outrageous outfits, Elvis Costello in his Buddy Holly glasses, even Gregg Allman’s embodiment of the Almost Famous rock ideal. So Beautiful Or So What, Simon’s twelfth album, sounds like what one would imagine the Platonic ideal of Paul Simon record to be like–African influences, bluesy guitars, evocative, observant songwriting. If you’re a classic-rock devotee dying to hear a worthy new offering from an old favorite, or simply a music lover looking for a great artist to count on who is still making great albums, So Beautiful Or So What is your best bet.
15. Clams Casino – Instrumental Mixtape. If you had to get one mixtape this year to represent the changing face of hip-hop in 2011 (which is ridiculous due to both the sheer volume of quality mixtapes this year and the fact that they are all free), Instrumental Mixtape would be an ideal choice. Yet there is absolutely no rapping on this album whatsoever–this is a collection of beats by New Jersey-based producer Clams Casino, most of them for Lil B or Soulja Boy. Clams’ productions are not so much hip-hop beats as lush, ambient soundscapes that are relaxing but hard-hitting at the same time, filled with ghostly sounds sampled from sources even Clams often couldn’t identify. With his idiosyncratic sound, avant-garde influences, and ability to evoke moods and emotions generally not associated with music in his field, Clams and his Instrumental Mixtape embody the changing face of hip-hop.
16. tUnE-yArDs – W H O K I L L. Merrill Garbus’s second album as tUnE-yArDs is exciting, vibrant, multicultural, and dangerous as her Oakland hometown. Though her debut, 2009’s bIrD-bRaInS, was limited by her low recording and instrumental budget, higher-fi production and more musicians at her disposal allow Garbus to realize her wildest musical fantasies–which are very wild. With its chaotic style and eccentric arrangements, W H O K I L L could be considered art-pop, but it’s hardly pretentious or arch–this is fun, hip-shaking music that can drive even the most stoic hipster into a frenzy.
17. M83 – Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming. Maybe the double album wasn’t the best format for M83’s sixth album, which is filled with the French synth-rockers’ poppiest tunes yet as well as the grand, bombastic epics they’re known for. At the same time, it’s only appropriate, considering that M83 mastermind Anthony Gonzalez likes to do things big. Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming combines the New Wave directness of their 2009 masterpiece Saturdays=Youth with the gargantuan scale of earlier releases to create an album that will satisfy longtime fans’ sweet tooths but could also serve as an effective intro to the band for newbies. In other words, this isn’t the band’s best record, but it could be the best distillation of their style and aesthetic.
18. Danny Brown – XXX. 2011 has been an absurdly fertile year for hip-hop, but of all the seemingly countless high-quality mixtapes that have been released this year, Danny Brown’s XXX stands as the best. Over dark, punk-informed beats, the Detroit rapper spits almost uncomfortably candid rhymes that are mainly about sex, drugs, and life on the streets but do not glorify any of those things in stereotypical hip-hop manner. Brown is at his best when he raps about the latter, and his descriptions of life in one of America’s poorest cities are brutal. Yet for all of XXX’s bleakness, it is still a fun album, and Brown’s knack for stringing together killer one-liners into cohesive verses will keep you
19. John Maus – We Must Become The Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves. John Maus is as intellectual as they come, but this album is hardly as cerebral or philosophical as he would like to believe it is. Censors is a cheesy, goofy, fun, weird, and sometimes shockingly beautiful ‘80s-style synthpop album that puts 99% of his synth-pop contemporaries to shame. Most of this album is a quirky riot, but songs like “Hey Moon” and “Believer” are nothing short of gorgeous.
20. Balam Acab – Wander/Wonder. Like Washed Out, Balam Acab represents another frequently scoffed-at microgenre–in his case, “witch house,” which is essentially instrumental chopped-and-screwed hip-hop with goth and shoegaze influences. Wander/Wonder is witch house’s single best release so far, expanding upon the genre’s typically cartoonish Halloween vibe to produce fascinating, spooky soundscapes that seem to suck you in. Wander/Wonder is like an amusement park tunnel of terror ride–dark, steamy, scary, fun, and you come out the other side feeling refreshed.
21. Cass McCombs – Wit’s End/Humor Risk. Though they were released in the same year, these two albums are hardly companion pieces. Wit’s End is an album of dark, brooding folk-rock that incorporates the desolate, wintry atmosphere of chamber pop in equal measures with the warm heart of classic soul. Humor Risk, on the other hand, is more upbeat and fits in comfortably with the work of contemporary folk-rockers like M. Ward. Each has its own highlights–Wit’s End has the great blue-eyed soul ballad “County Line,” while Humor Risk has the pulsing “The Same Thing,” which bears a strong similarity to AIR’s remix of MGMT’s “It’s Working.” While I personally prefer Humor Risk, I cannot say for sure which of the two you will like more–Wit’s End is more emotional and atmospheric, while Humor Risk is faster-paced and a lot more fun.
22. SBTRKT – SBTRKT. The music made by masked producer SBTRKT goes to show how diverse the bass music/post-dubstep scene truly is. While James Blake, the scene’s poster boy, makes music that is clearly intended as “art,” SBTRKT is mainly concerned with making pop music. His self-titled debut is catchy without being sugary, accessible without sacrificing its edge, charismatic without sacrificing its mystique. One of the most fun and interesting electro albums of the year.
23. The Mountain Goats – All Eternals Deck. Hearing John Darnielle’s voice for the first time on “Damn These Vampires,” the first track on All Eternals Deck, is one of the most satisfying moments on any record this year, especially when you know he’s going to deliver another killer set of idiosyncratic folk-rock tunes. The Mountain Goats are still not as effective as a rock band as a one-man bedroom project, but Darnielle distracts from any musical missteps with his literalist let effortlessly evocative lyrics, which once again suggest he may be the single best songwriter of the last decade and a half.
24. Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Unknown Mortal Orchestra. Talk about the New Zealand psych-rock tradition or the Elephant 6 collective all you want–what I hear in Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s debut is lots and lots of Led Zeppelin. Singer/guitarist Ruban Nielson has a knack for heavy, catchy riffs and more than a passing vocal similarity to Robert Plant in his prime, and (as is appropriate for a band from Middle-Earth) their lyrics pack plenty of mystical fantasy references that wouldn’t be out of place on Zep 4. While the songs on this album are lo-fi (in the old-movie sense more than the static-and-distortion sense) as any indie rock, those riffs and guitar solos scratch a certain itch in my soul that remained after my conversion from classic-rock kid to underground music geek.
25. Neon Indian – Era Extrana. Alan Palomo laid the foundation for chillwave with his funky yet laid-back debut album, 2009’s Psychic Chasms. Era Extrana strips away the warm psychedelic sheen of Psychic Chasms and replaces it with genre-bending songs that alternately flirt with rock and electronic music but do not contrast with each other–the entire sound is held together by Palomo’s acute sense of funk. It’s the rare mixed bag that sounds cohesive, is low on filler, and is ultimately a satisfying back-to-front listen.
