Here we go. Even with another year under my belt as music blog writer extraordinaire the experience shows itself to be of little value, because creating a top 10 albums and top 15 songs like last year is a much more daunting task for 2011. Having a full year this instead of half last is one factor, but just the wealth of great music releases this year is astounding and leaves me wondering how I will choose 1 from 2 let alone 9 from 10. Regardless, I will endeavor to do my best and you will be left with what may be accurate or just the whim of the day (I did, however, start writing this end of November, so hopefully the extended process enabled me to concrete my decisions by this new years).
My observations about 2011 is that artists did what they wanted. They were not all on some large bandwagon of popular style, but that their music was sometimes so eclectic as to avoid genre altogether. Take Björk for example, how do you really categorize her work? Or, The King of Limbs, well that was just Radiohead and nothing else was like it. And even new bands were experimenting, such as the Young Circles with Jungle Habits, instead of following some sort of pre-generated mold. Others like this were tUnE-yArDs, Rubblebucket (who I just saw in concert at Water Street Music Hall in Rochester the 29th! great show), Conquering Animal Sound and Darwin Deez. It is good to see some experimentation, some individuality, instead of last years dream pop new wave craze while everyone else tried to sound like Vampire Weekend. I know I'm grossly overgeneralizing, but you get the point.
The best (my favorites) of:
Top 10 Favorite Albums:
honorable mention in no particular order:
Room for a Dream EP - Kishi Bashi*
Audio, Video, Disco - Justice
100 Lovers - Devotchka
Sondre Lerche - Sondre Lerche
Omega La La - Rubblebucket
*I likely would have given this EP a top 10 spot if it had more than 4 songs, and a full LP is supposed to be released in 2012.
10 The Riptide - Beirut
9 No Color - The Dodos
8 Alesia - Housse de Racket
7 Darwin Deez - Darwin Deez
6 Biophilia -Björk
5 Solar - Rubik
4 Angles - The Strokes
3 Bon Iver - Bon Iver
2 The King of Limbs - Radiohead
and the winner goes to...
1 Odd Soul - MUTEMATH
Top 15 Favorite Songs:
honorable mention in no particular order:
"Crisisi Meeting at the Lyceum" - Rubik
"Storm in a Glass of Water" - Rubik
"World Around You" - Rubik
"Solar Death March in Octaves" - Rubik
"100 Other Lovers" - Devotchka
"Contrabanda" - Devotchka
"Chorus" - Housse de Racket
"Roman" - Housse deRacket
"Port of Call" - Beirut
"Payne's Bay" - Beirut
"Santa Fe" - Beirut
"Dark Matter" - Björk
"Crystaline" - Björk
"One More" - MUTEMATH
"Equals" - MUTEMATH
"On'n'On" - Justice
"Newlands" - Justice
"Hurts Like Heaven" - Coldplay
"Down in the Yards" - Rubblebucket
"Up in the Clouds" - Darwin Deez
"The City" - Darwin Deez
"Up in the Clouds" - Darwin Deez
"Bizness" - tUnE-yArDs
"Riotriot" - tUnE-yArDs
"Asthmatic" - Young Circles
"Domino" - Sondre Lerche
"Attic" - Harrys Gym
"Holocene" - Bon Iver
"Michicant" - Bon Iver
"Lullaby" - Bend Sinister
"Fracture" - Bombay Bicycle Club
"Machu Pichu" - The Strokes
"Good" - The Dodos
"Little by Little" - Radiohead
"Separator" - Radiohead
"Lotus Flower" - Radiohead
"Conversations at the End of the World" - Kishi Bashi
"Bright Whites" - Kishi Bashi
15 "Don't Stop" - The Dodos
14 "Feral" - Radiohead
13 "Every Teardrop is a Waterfall" - Coldplay
12 "Aquarium" - Housse de Racket
11 "Metabolism" - The Strokes
10 "Blood Pressure" - MUTEMATH
9 "Towers" - Bon Iver"
8 "Under Cover of Darkness" - The Strokes
7 Manchester" - Kishi Bashi
6 "Cavalries" - MUTEMATH
5 "Full Metal Whacket" - Young Buffalo
4 "Mutual Core" - Björk
3 "Radar Detector" - Darwin Deez
2 "Allies" - MUTEMATH
and taking the top honor, drum roll please...
1 "Morning Mr. Magpie" - Radiohead
In closing, I wish you a Happy New Year, 2012, and hope that you continue to find both/either pleasure in reading my blog and/or finding quality music on your own. I do appreciate your support, your readership, and that you might take time to comment on a post or two in the coming year. Self-less self-promotion, I know. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the list!
2 comments:
re-posted, because for some reason it was showing as having been posted Dec. 31st at 9 pm, when I definitely posted it at midnight January 1st.
Hey David, Thanks for introducing me to some awesome new bands! I especially liked kishi bashi, housse de racket, darwin deez, sondre lerche and the dodos! Thank you for sharing all these sweet tunes:)
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