The Best Albums of 2011
Victory Through Triumph - Burn Down the Oppressors (Victory): Truly the best hardcore album of the year. Lead singer Max Von Max learned how to read in 2010, and it pays off dividends in the lyric sheet, with verbs following nouns in a logical fashion. They also expanded their sonic oeuvre beyond two beat chugga chugga hardcore. Songs like "Fighting the Fight" and "Blood In My Eyes (Blind From the Blood)" display their new chooga chooga sound. It's totally not metal.
Windsor Dandies - Hands Flapping in the Winds (Slumberland): Not what the punks usually listen to, but has taken the scene by storm in the last 10 months. One of the highlights of this year was going to see the Windsor Dandies live in DIY punx squats and seeing people with mohawks and back patches trance dancing to songs like "Feeling a Feeling." Band girlfriend Melissa Frawk plays the keyboard like a drunk secretary fingerpecking out a memo, and it only endears her to nerd fetish music critics even more.
Red Wolf Anchor - Grizzled Up the Hizzle (Traffic Street/No Idea): Like people who continue to date lookalikes of their exes, beard punks will go out with any Hot Water Music wannabe in the vain hope of recapturing the magic that will never exist again because you will never be that age in those circumstances. Music for front porches and pearl-button flannel shirts.
Aggro Youth - Hurrrrrrrrrrrrr (Epitaph): Long after all all their peers broke up, Aggro Youth is still around, stupid name or no! Lasting long after pretty much everyone wanted them to break up, they come off their disastrous major label deal with only about 5,000 fans intact. They proved the haters wrong by releasing a somewhat rocking album that, by virtue of being a slightly rougher-sounding version of their major label albums, is seen as a return to the roots by fans desperate to find something, anything to like about it! Who cares if they're 40 and still trading off a name established by songs they wrote when they were 16? Our expectations are so diminished that anything short of them shitting on our doorstep is seen as an act of creative genius!
Gritty Ditty - Just Kill Me Already (Suburban Home): Dave Graltz, former signer of Rage Death, shows a softer side on these slow country ballads. The growler reveals a surprising croon that belies the tenderness to songs like "Burning to Death in the Sunlight," an aching track about infidelity and being a vampire. The grindcore breakdowns are replaced by slide guitars and Neko Case guest vocals, and it couldn't be more legitimate. Like the True Folk Song episode of the Twilight Zone, having this in my collection is proof of my broad musical tastes!
Windsor Dandies - Hands Flapping in the Winds (Slumberland): Not what the punks usually listen to, but has taken the scene by storm in the last 10 months. One of the highlights of this year was going to see the Windsor Dandies live in DIY punx squats and seeing people with mohawks and back patches trance dancing to songs like "Feeling a Feeling." Band girlfriend Melissa Frawk plays the keyboard like a drunk secretary fingerpecking out a memo, and it only endears her to nerd fetish music critics even more.
Red Wolf Anchor - Grizzled Up the Hizzle (Traffic Street/No Idea): Like people who continue to date lookalikes of their exes, beard punks will go out with any Hot Water Music wannabe in the vain hope of recapturing the magic that will never exist again because you will never be that age in those circumstances. Music for front porches and pearl-button flannel shirts.
Aggro Youth - Hurrrrrrrrrrrrr (Epitaph): Long after all all their peers broke up, Aggro Youth is still around, stupid name or no! Lasting long after pretty much everyone wanted them to break up, they come off their disastrous major label deal with only about 5,000 fans intact. They proved the haters wrong by releasing a somewhat rocking album that, by virtue of being a slightly rougher-sounding version of their major label albums, is seen as a return to the roots by fans desperate to find something, anything to like about it! Who cares if they're 40 and still trading off a name established by songs they wrote when they were 16? Our expectations are so diminished that anything short of them shitting on our doorstep is seen as an act of creative genius!
Gritty Ditty - Just Kill Me Already (Suburban Home): Dave Graltz, former signer of Rage Death, shows a softer side on these slow country ballads. The growler reveals a surprising croon that belies the tenderness to songs like "Burning to Death in the Sunlight," an aching track about infidelity and being a vampire. The grindcore breakdowns are replaced by slide guitars and Neko Case guest vocals, and it couldn't be more legitimate. Like the True Folk Song episode of the Twilight Zone, having this in my collection is proof of my broad musical tastes!