The sound is what found us
Another year, another bunch of albums that I bought or listened to extensively. I've read a bit how there isn't a really powerful consensus about great records for 2011, which I guess explains how the Adele album keeps turning up towards the top of so many lists: if we can't find something great, let's just be happy that this one album was super-popular and inoffensive. I don't want to sound as if I'm hating on Adele just because I've basically been dared to by every wrap-up that talks about how literally no one in the entire world dislikes her or her beautiful music (although...), but I have to say, she strikes me as a bit like Susan Boyle for the under-60 set.
Regardless, she's not on my list, because I didn't really hear all of 21 beyond the singles. As usual, I must point out that the list below is not a best-of. It is an all-of: every 2011 album I got my hands on. This makes the top five or ten the cream of the crop, followed by a bunch of albums I mostly liked, followed by a bunch of albums I found limited or disappointing in some way.
There wasn't an easy album-of-the-year choice for me this year the way that Treats, Hold On Now, Youngster, Boys and Girls in America, or I'm Going Away stuck out in years past. But other times, I've picked an album only to figure out the true album of the year the following year, so maybe if I pick up those Wye Oak or Cults records, I'll figure something out. In the meantime, here's what I heard this year and what I thought of it.
1. All Eternals Deck by The Mountain Goats
I know it's a little boring that I would choose the Mountain Goats for an album of the year, considering I've done it twice before, in 2004 and 2005. But hear me out: 2004 was one of those years where the right choice became clear to me in the next year; album of the year probably should've gone to Funeral, but I didn't hear it until 2005. And 2005 should've gone to Separation Sunday, but I guess that was a slow build because it only ranked #5 with me at the time. This sounds more like an argument for why I'm going to hear a better 2011 album later and wish I had given that album of the year rather than praise for the Mountain Goats, so let's start over: All Eternals Deck is excellent, a fine culmination of the full-band version of the Mountain Goats, the hushed-version incarnation of the Mountain Goats, the thematically-unified-albums incarnation(s) of the Mountain Goats, and pretty much everything they (which is to say John Darnielle, though his band members do excellent work, too) do so well. All Eternals Deck isn't quite as devastatingly beautiful as The Sunset Tree, but it has everything you need in a Mountain Goats album: a barn-burner ("Estate Sale Sign"), a gently anthemic opener ("Damn These Vampires), an oddity (the barbershoppy "High Hawk Season"), Darnielle going "yeah!" or something similar off-mic ("Birth of Serpents"), and a great closer ("Liza Forever Minnelli"). It's also an album I can just throw on and listen to front-to-back and never feel like shutting off because I've passed the best parts.
2. Last Summer by Eleanor Friedberger
A close call for album of the year, Eleanor Friedberger's first solo album is undoubtedly more accessible than eighty to ninety percent of the albums by her main band, the Fiery Furnaces. Yet Last Summer isn't just Eleanor softening up and doing sweet pop songs. In fact, after the catchy opener "My Mistakes," there are some songs as strange as any number of Fiery Furnaces tracks. But even at its weirdest, Last Summer sounds more personal and less abstract than the more indulgent FF moments, and at its best, it's just as good or better (and this is coming from someone who named I'm Going Away album of the year in 2009). Fiery Furnaces albums often feel unified by their bizarre aesthetics, but Last Summer ties itself together via Friedberger's lyrics, a series of personal, sometimes oblique, but surprisingly effective snapshots, mostly from NYC. With its references to Manhattan Avenue and Governors Island, I was bound to love it; I was also inspired to look up the park that gives "Owl's Head Park" its title, and go there. The click-clack backbeat of that song leads into "Early Earthquake," which is so delicate and gorgeous that it reminds me of Paul Simon (no easy feat in a year when Paul Simon made his own strong record). There are some pop songs, too: besides "My Mistakes," there's "I Won't Fall Apart on You Tonight," one of her catchiest songs to date.
3. Paradise by Slow Club
Marisa and I have been singing the praises of Slow Club all year, and while we have a few converts (Briana! Jeff!), I'm not ready to shut up about them just yet. The first band I ever got into straight up because of Twitter (not nearly all rock and roll band Twitter accounts are worth following, but please consider: Los Campesinos! basically told me to check out their buddies Slow Club. That's kind of awesome, right? I didn't have to wait for them to take them out on tour -- though they should, that would be great -- or mention them in a magazine article. Just saw it on Twitter). Paradise, their second record, isn't quite as poppy or peppy as Yeah, So, but it still has plenty of up-tempo numbers like "Where I'm Waking" and "If We're Still Alive." Rebecca Taylor, the girl half of this boy-girl duo, has a gorgeous, expressive voice equally at home doing quiet folky things or big soaring (but not bombastic) things, or both on songs like "You, Earth, or Ash." In fact, the whole of Paradise is a study in how to make me care about big-sounding vocals: use them with control, make the instrumentation pretty and a little clamorous, and sing good lyrics. Undoubtedly my band-crush of the year. (For a more formal write-up that says similar stuff, check out #68 on this list.)
4. I Am Very Far by Okkervil River
Unconventional Favorite, Part One: I think this might be the best or at least my favorite Okkervil River record. I like the band very much, but I've been a little hesitant to buy Will Sheff as this ace lyricist on par with Darnielle or Finn in terms of semi-literary indie-rockers, so the fact that he gets a bit more abstract and less poetic on this record suits me fine. And in the fine Okkervil River tradition of the chorus to "Sloop John B" kicking "John Allyn Smith" into gear, here "Rider," probably the best song of this bunch, quotes the Ramones to drive it home.
5. The King is Dead by The Decemberists
I don't disparage the Decemberists' prog-rock leanings, but it is indeed refreshing, as almost everyone said, to hear them going for straight-ahead, unfussy, simple folk-pop songs with plenty of R.E.M. and Smiths jangle (whatever that is), from the driving "Calamity Song" to the gorgeous "January Hymn."
6. Wild Flag by Wild Flag
Besides providing a home for "Romance," one of my favorite songs of the year (see #19 here, Wild Flag also gives two thirds of Sleater-Kinney room to kick ass just like they used to back in the nineties and aughts. I actually loved Corin Tucker's solo record from last year, and Wild Flag's is just as good; both S-K offshoots manage to sound like parts of the old band without slouching into poor-substitute territory. A lot of these songs, like "Electric Band" and "Glass Tambourine," sound like they're about music and being in a band, but not in that myopic Reel Big Fish kind of way. Also, the keyboard riff and end-chorus/epilogue/whatever on "Future Crimes" is amazing.
7. Nine Types of Light by TV on the Radio
Unconventional Favorite, Part Two: I think this might be the best or at least my favorite TV on the Radio record. While Okkervil River got there by going wilder and weirder than their more reined-in literary material, TV on the Radio turns in their prettiest, least amped album, and as it turns out, I quite like them this way, much moreso when they're trying to be sexy and funky (a little of that goes a long way). Nine Types of Light feels relaxed in the best way. It helps that there are still some stompers like the Pixies-y "Caffeinated Consciousness," and also a limit to the embarrassing flights of awkward chanting (OK, I kind of hate "Repetition").
8. Join Us by They Might Be Giants
I wrote at length about this record when it came out, and in the months since it has, of course, become assimilated into my TMBG knowledge base; to a degree, like all of their albums, I can't really put it against other albums easily beyond saying that I like it and it's not my absolute favorite. It does, however, contain a number of candidates for the next iteration of my Favorite TMBG Songs list: "Can't Keep Johnny Down," "Old Pine Box," "Canajoharie," and "Cloisonne," among others. As a full album, Join Us has some strange instrumentation choices: it's intentionally sparer than some of its predecessors, but also seems to lean on a horn section moreso than most of their albums. It's an odd combination; normally, I'd delight at the prospect of TMBG using the horns more often, but with less guitar/bass/drums backing it up, it doesn't meet the glories of the horn-heavy John Henry. There's also the matter of my personal preferences about some of the songs included here over some excellent tracks on their B-sides/rarities compilation (see #26, below), but that's really what it comes down to: I, as a ridiculous TMBG fan, have my own weird ideas about what's best for their music, and they have theirs; their ideas are what count, and thankfully they're still pretty fresh almost thirty years in. (For a nice appreciation of this record, see Marisa's write-up at #55 here. I also wrote a bit about "Can't Keep Johnny Down" at #75 here.)
9. Hello Sadness by Los Campesinos!
Technically, this is probably my least favorite Los Campesinos! record, but as it's grown on me over the past month, I've come to admire that it's more mature than their earliest work and more concise than Romance is Boring. As usual, they have some killer LC! shoutanddancealongs out front: "By Your Hand," "Songs about Your Girlfriend," and the title track. But the slower stuff is often pretty and well-honed, with only the occasional slog through that titular misery (I have to be in the right mood not to roll my eyes at "Life is a Long Time"). I'm a little afraid that someday they'll make a record that sounds like "Hate for the Island" all the way through, but for now, the sadness/catharsis mix is working for me.
10. Celebration, Florida by The Felice Brothers
The second Felice Brothers record was very much a honing of the techniques from their first, so it's a bit of a surprise to hear their third album veer off into child choruses, industrial noises, samples, and epic song structures, even if the core of the band - gloriously sketchy singalong Americana - remains unchanged. The shift doesn't always pay off; even on their more straightforwardly folky records, some of the songs sound a little dirge-y, and that's more of a problem here. But the best of Celebration, Florida stands with the best of their work, period: "Fire at the Pageant," rollicking "Honda Civic," and the menacing, huge-sounding "Ponzi."
11. The King of Limbs by Radiohead
I was a little surprised by the raves that greeted In Rainbows, not because it isn't pretty fucking great, but because I wouldn't rate it above Amnesiac or even necessarily Hail to the Thief. So I was even more surprised by the (somewhat less excited, but still) raves for The King of Limbs, because it's the first Radiohead album where it's basically like: oh, yeah, more of that Radiohead stuff. I guess there was some of that between Kid A and Amnesiac, but they feel more like companions than copies, and also, they came out less than a year apart. The King of Limbs came a solid three and a half years after In Rainbows, which came four years and change after Hail to the Thief. This paucity of Radiohead material in the past decade -- King of Limbs only has eight songs, for Christ's sake -- makes their electronic skittering and heartbreaking ballads feel slight, for pretty much the first time. Yet ignoring those outside factors (which is difficult), there are great songs on King of Limbs: "Codex" and "Give Up the Ghost" are gorgeous; "Lotus Flower" is slinky and cool; the brevity of the album in general keeps it from wearing out its welcome. But it does feel a little like Radiohead going through the motions. Which is to say: superior to most albums; not superior to other Radiohead albums.
12. 4 by Beyonce
This album didn't get raves when it came out, and it felt like Team Beyonce went on a major campaign to increase appreciation by releasing most of it as videos and/or singles, proving that yes, actually, there are a bunch of catchy songs here. Even as people seem to have come around on songs like "Countdown" (which for some reason no one seemed to notice was ON this album until there was a video for it), 4 has been largely absent from the more indie-minded album countdowns, even those that reserve space for Watch the Throne. I'm not sure why; while nothing here is a certified wedding-reception classic in the mode of "Crazy in Love" or "Single Ladies," this is by far the most consistent and yet also eclectic record of Beyonce's career so far. I Am Sasha Fierce split the party rockers and the ballads into separate mini-albums; 4 just goes ahead and understands that albums have this stuff mixed together sometimes. The unification comes more from the themes: these are mostly relationship songs, and mostly happy ones, though Scorned Beyonce makes a cameo for "Best I Never Had," an excellent (and, yes, happier) kiss-off song. Beyonce's talent for making great stand-alone songs does sometimes overshadow her album-craft; I'd be lying if I said I haven't listened to the late-album trilogy of "Love on Top," "Countdown," and "End of Time" a lot more than the whole thing, or if I said I liked "Party" or "I Was Here" as much as the rest, but it's a mainstream pop record with a lot of great, weird, catchy moments beyond the best five or ten minutes. As silly as it sounds to say this about one of the world's biggest music stars, Beyonce just doesn't call as much attention to her great, weird, catchy album as the likes of Lady Gaga or Taylor Swift. In its sometimes goofy, sometimes serious way, 4 feels like the work of an adult.
13. So Beautiful or So What by Paul Simon
Or, the Rolling Stone Memorial Award for old-timer's album that is actually quite strong. I'm not sure if it's leagues ahead of other Paul Simon albums since Graceland, but it is more concise and straightforward while maintaining his musical inventiveness.
14. Strange Mercy by St. Vincent
I wasn't all the way on the St. Vincent train before Strange Mercy. Now I may still have a foot dangling off in the breeze, but I'm pretty much on board. Her lyrics sometimes get repetitive, like she's trying to lull you into a trance, but the weirdness, catchiness, and beauty of most of these songs shine through, especially when she allows some guitar noise to cut through the prettiness.
15. The Babies by The Babies
Out of all of the lo-fi, slightly shambling, but somewhat pop-influenced records I heard this year, I think I liked this one the best. It's very unassuming and, if anything, underhyped, but songs like "Meet Me in the City" and "Run Me Over" are exactly the kind of boy-girl slightly off-key indie-rock that I love.
16. Collapse Into Now by R.E.M.
In retrospect, it does make sense as a final R.E.M. album. It's got a little Out of Time, a little Accelerate and Monster, more than a little (almost too much) Automatic for the People. It's very R.E.M. As such, it's more varied than Accelerate but also less novel; like The King of Limbs, it sounds more like a band doing what they think they do best, not exploring new corners of their song. But now it makes sense.
17. David Comes to Life by Fucked Up
Frankly, I wish I liked this album more. The best of it kicks unholy ass, mixing hardcore vocals, pummeling guitars, and some decidedly non-hardcore backing vocals and instrumentation. But I mean, have you tried listening to this album all the way through in a single sitting? It's an hour, and the dude's voice never stops sounding like that. I tend to think that the critics going nuts for it must have been pretty into hardcore at some point in their lives, and I tend to think if I listened to a lot of hardcore when I was younger, I would be going nuts for it, too. I hope that doesn't sound condescending, because the ambition and conviction of this record is huge. But like most concept albums, I couldn't really tell you what happens over the course of it. I can tell you that "Queen of Hearts" is spectacular and "Turn the Season" and "The Other Shoe" and several others are pretty close to it.
18. Sky Full of Holes by Fountains of Wayne
Fountains of Wayne have become so consistent that they're also easy to overlook. That's not entirely our fault: that consistency means never waiting less than four years between albums, and also rarely making a front-to-back classic (at least not since Utopia Parkway). Their slowed-down timeline, though, means that each record has time to advance into a different demographic; as many have pointed out, Utopia sounds like high school into college; Welcome Interstate Managers sounds like twentysomethings; Traffic and Weather feels like your thirties; and now the slightly more languid, acoustickier Sky Full of Holes breaches into a settled-down early forties (oddly, Fountains of Wayne themselves have seemed approximately thirty-five for most of this time). Less spotty than Traffic and Weather, this album continues their ace character sketches ("The Summer Place," "Richie and Ruben"), Cars-y pop ("Someone's Gonna Break Your Heart"), and wistful melancholy ("Cemetery Gates"). Their sense of humor seems a little less condescending this time, so if there aren't quite as many moments that sparkle like "Mexican Wine" and "Stacy's Mom," it's easy to fall back into their well-worn, worthwhile routines.
19. Whokill by Tuneyards
I hope it doesn't sound dismissive to call this the year's best Bjork album (or to refuse to fuck around with that stupid spacing/capitalization that not even Bjork has tried). Whokill is by turns offbeat, a little annoying, crazy catchy, and just plain crazy -- for better or worse on both sides, it's more propulsive than anything Bjork has done in awhile. For all of the explicitly nineties-influenced rock acts out there, Tuneyards sounds most attuned to the collage-y experimental pop sounds of Bjork and Beck. In other words, it's a forward-looking sort of throwback.
20. Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 by Beastie Boys
It's a Beastie Boys record! And it's a good one! Maybe not up to their Hello Nasty peak (I've come to terms with Hello Nasty being probably my favorite overall), but in that style.
21. Only in Dreams by Dum Dum Girls
God damn to hell whoever pointed out to me that the chick from Dum Dum Girls sounds like Chrissie Hynde. I mean, I probably would've figured it out eventually, but now I can't un-hear it, and it's totally true, especially on their second full-length album, with clearer, more confident production placing her voice front and center. I must admit: it sounds great. Lots of bands dabble in various ratios of surf-rock and girl-group sounds, but while Dum Dum Girls aren't as menacing as they sounded on their debut, they sound bigger, better, and more polished doing it than many of their peers. But I still hate the fucking Pretenders.
22. Bury Me in My Rings by The Elected
Poor Blake! Everything I write about the Elected seems like it's prefaced and postscripted with that sentiment: poor Blake! Poor Blake not because he's untalented, because he's actually quite talented, but because he makes folk-and-country-inflected indie pop records and no one really seems to notice or care that much. Bury Me in My Rings isn't as great as Sun, Sun, Sun, but the best of it is still pretty strong: the kiss-off "Go for the Throat" is the centerpiece, but there's also some slightly disco-inflected songs like "Look at Me Now" that show the musical invention Blake brought to Rilo Kiley.
23. Belong by The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
This album peaks early, with the nineties guitars that kick in thirteen seconds into the first track. There's other good stuff, of course (like the way the nineties guitars kick in and out all through that first track), but nothing hits that simple high, though the entirety of "Heart in Your Heartbreak" comes close. Each of these songs taken individually might seem just as good, but cumulatively, the second Pains of Being Pure at Heart album never becomes more than a collection of pretty-good-to-really-good songs. No small feat, but no amazing one, either.
24. The People's Key by Bright Eyes
Apparently I can no longer talk about Bright Eyes with Rob after mentioning that Cassadega is my favorite of his albums. Apparently this also makes me a bit of an outlier in not finding The People's Key a major comeback after some disappointing work, although judging by the end-of-year lists and the lack of People's Key on them, I think the rest of the world is gradually coming around to my side on that, if only by default. I really like "Shell Games" and "Haile Selassie" and several other songs on here ("everyone on the count of three!" on "Shell Games" is a classic Bright Eyes moment), and it is indeed refreshing to hear Conor move in a synthier direction after the rootsy Cassadega. But it turns out I like him best doing semi-quaveringrootsy music. Go figure. Also, Conor, you have to cool it with the hippie-mystic spiritual-wandering spoken-word bullshit.
25. Metals by Feist
This is good music for doing the dishes, or walking home after dark on a quiet evening. That might sound like the recommendations of an aging and/or thirtysomething and/or yuppie, but, well, I am indisputably thirtysomething and aging. Doing the dishes and walking home on a quiet evening are things I do a lot. Also, without a "1 2 3 4" promising potential catchiness, in a weird way the less catchy nature of Metals bothers me less than the weaker tracks on The Reminder did (although, really, it's Feist: how bothered can anyone get over her?).
26. The Best Imitation of Myself by Ben Folds and Album Raises New and Troubling Questions by They Might Be Giants
I'm pairing these records down here because there's no real fair way to place a compilation album against actual albums, but because these are compilations from a couple of my favorite artists including some excellent new songs, I must admit that I will listen large parts of these a lot. They Might Be Giants used to put out ace EPs [most of which I have collected], but while plenty of bands still do EPs, especially digital-only versions, in recent years TMBG has taken to basically putting out all of their B-sides and such onto a single disc alongside their proper album. First pressings of The Else came with a compilation featuring twentysomething songs originally released on their podcast; this year, Join Us was followed a few months later by a collection of what obviously would've been B-sides in earlier years: songs that didn't make the album, a few remixes and new versions of old songs, and a couple of covers. The danger of putting all this out at once is that hardcore nerds like me might wonder, hey, why didn't "How Now Dark Cloud?" or "The Fellowship of Hell" or even the jokey but amazing "Marty Beller Mask" not make it onto Join Us? Which is a valid question as any of those songs might've moved Join Us up a notch or two in my estimation. That said, they did make it onto this non-album album, and as a fan I love stuff like this. As a Ben Folds fan, meanwhile, I wasn't a great candidate to buy The Best Imitation of Myself, a greatest-hits album, just to get the new Ben Folds Five single produced for its release. But I have to say, Ben Folds did the career-retrospective thing right: there's a single-disc greatest-hits version for those who really want that, but he also put out a three-disc version at a not-unreasonable price that basically includes an entire live album and an entire B-sides/rarities album. The new Ben Folds Five songs (there are three on the longer edition) are great, the various B-sides and demos are cool, and the live songs well-chosen to supplement the greatest-hits stuff. So when I say "for fans only," I mean it as a compliment.
28. Biophilia by Bjork
I don't exactly need Bjork to make a great record. That sounds like the warm-up to the ol' faint-praise damnation, but it's just the truth: I like Bjork a lot, and love Homogenic, and like a lot of music acts that put out two or three albums when I was in high school and three or four albums since, I'm fine with buying her new record, putting it on when I'm in the mood, and not really expecting it to be my new favorite. Usually with this sort of artist, the new record does do some time as my favorite since whatever my real favorite is, and that may be true of Biophilia. It has aspects of Vespertine (beautiful/boring), Medulla (inventive/spare), and Volta (weird and cool/not particularly catchy), and I think I like the mixture of those textures more than an album-length exploration of any on their own.
29. Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes
This is good music for sitting in a field at dusk. I assume. It sounded great in a not-field in Brooklyn at dusk, so I can only imagine how great it sounds in a field. The title track is one of my favorite songs ever. The rest sort of blend together, but I liked this enough to go see Fleet Foxes and buy a used copy of their earlier album, which I think counts as a breakthrough for me and this band.
30. The Green Album and The Muppetsby Various Artists
Neither of these feel exactly full enough to stand alone as a listening experience: thirty or forty minutes of Muppet covers, and then twenty or thirty minutes of new Muppet songs plus some dialogue plus a couple of random non-Muppet songs. But together, they're a lot of fun, especially the Muppets songs, mostly by Bret McKenzie from Flight of the Conchords and a perfect match of catchiness and comedy (or, in the case of the non-McKenzie "Pictures in My Head," pathos). I listen to "Me Party" a lot.
32. Noel Gallagher's High-Flying Birds by Noel Gallagher
Noel's long-in-the works solo jaunt is out, and it... pretty much sounds like songs that could've been the Noel-sung tracks on any of the last three or four Oasis records. That's not a bad thing; with Liam's voice degraded, their instincts for hard rocking less sharp, and the lyrics as dopey as ever, Noel-led songs have tended to be the highlights of mid-to-late-period Oasis albums ("Mucky Fingers," "Little by Little"). It follows, then, that this High-Flying Birds business is equal to or better than most Oasis albums since Standing on the Shoulder of Giants. Granted, that's a conclusion reached more by math than feeling; I'm not going to reach for this one like it's Be Here Now or Morning Glory. But there's something pleasantly relaxed and less overblown about Noel on his own, even when he's still using the basic Oasis sound, which is, by its nature, pretty overblown. Usually my reaction to non-brilliant solo albums is "why didn't you just save the good stuff for your main band?" but here my reaction is more "you sound happier without your jag brother singing some of your songs; why didn't you do this earlier?"
33. Share the Joy by Vivian Girls and Brilliant! Tragic! by Art Brut
I pair these bands because they've both put out several albums in a short period of time, both tend to do pretty much the same (cool) thing each time out, and both tried mixing it up to some degree in 2011. Share the Joy has some longer songs mixed in with the fuzzed-out girl-group sound, while Art Brut's Eddie Argos tries his hand at whisper-singing on much of Brilliant! Tragic! Neither record is particularly essential, but fans of either band shouldn't be disappointed. Vivian Girls might have the edge because I could see an argument for this (or any of their three) being their best record, while Art Brut's best record is clearly either their first or second (probably their first). But let's call a tie between two bands who do their thing and do it well.
36. Dye It Blonde by Smith Westerns
There's something extremely pleasing about the best melodies on Dye It Blonde, something vaguely reminiscent of a lighter David Bowie. Allmusic mentions Mott the Hoople, and while I only know Mott the Hoople as a band that does a few songs that people assume are Bowie, that sounds about right, too. Boring Indie Voice threatens to rear its head (see also #39) and the whole thing is on the thin side, but this is a pleasant wisp of a record.
36. Camp by Childish Gambino
Or, Rap White People Like. Except maybe not: Donald Glover from Community sounds like a slam dunk with the Beastie Boys/Outkast/maybe-some-Kanye crowd, but the first wide-release Childish Gambino album isn't quite the funny, playful nerd-rap romp you might expect, though it has some clever moments. Throughout, Glover sounds defensive, bratty, rueful, confident, and wounded... in other words, kind of like Kanye West, though not quite so toxic. It doesn't have Kanye's musical epicness (or best hooks), but Glover's point of view is often more interesting to me even if it sometimes descends into generic rap braggadocio. Also, the monologue about riding the bus back from camp that concludes "That Power" and the whole album is pretty amazing.
37. A Very She & Him Christmas by She & Him
I don't really know where to rank a Christmas album in here. I like this one a lot, actually: it's spare and pretty and not too show-offy. But obviously I'm not going to listen to it more than one month per year (and for that matter, it's probably secondary to that Slow Club Christmas EP, because that one has originals, not just covers).
38. Angles by the Strokes
I shouldn't bag on the Strokes, because "Under Cover of Darkness," this album's first single, is a stone cold instant classic. The rest of the record, well, it doesn't suck. Mostly. The Strokes seem like great examples of that maxim about how you have several years to write the songs for your first album, and then in most cases six or eight months to write the songs for your subsequent albums, except the songs on the first Strokes record still sound like they were written in a few months.
39. Watch the Throne by Jay-Z and Kanye West
Admittedly, I am not the target audience for this record, as I like Kanye West way more than I like Jay-Z, who in my limited experience I've found pretty solidly overrated, and given how uninterested I've been in Jay-Z my whole life, Watch the Throne is pretty listenable. "Otis" is pretty great and I like "New Day" and "Welcome to the Jungle" pretty well: good backing-vocal samples/hooks, energetic rapping. The chorus to"Why I Love You" sounds like the kind of Kanye weirdness that makes me prefer him. Obviously I enjoy "Lift Off" with its Beyonce hook, although the people at Vulture who offhandedly called it catchier than anything on 4 were so wrong it makes me sad. Moreover, the much-vaunted "N***** in Paris," seriously, this is just Jay-Z and Kanye dropping a bunch of brand names and say "that shit cray" over and over, right? I mean, I appreciate the Blades of Glory samples, but I think we can do better. And even in the better songs, there's just so much shit about how rich and successful and awesome Jay-Z and Kanye are. I'm glad they've found each other to talk about this over and over.
40. 12 Desperate Straight Lines by Telekinesis
I think it comes down to this guy's voice. It's not annoying, exactly, but there's something a little bland and generic about the way his solid guitar-pop songs are sung, and I wonder how they'd fare with a more charismatic singer. The songs themselves range from wonderful ("Car Crash") to pretty fucking stupid, like "50 Ways," which sounds like a cute Paul Simon namecheck until you realize that a chorus saying (repeating) "Paul Simon probably said it best: there truly are 50 ways" is actually just saying "I agree with this other song" over and over.
41. Screws Get Loose by Those Darlins
Derrick burned me a copy of the first Those Darlins album, so I bought a cheap download of their new record, and you'd think with a slightly garagier, punkier attitude, their all-girl indie-country would be even better for me. But nope: I like their first record better. Screws Get Loose is OK, but it doesn't have a "Red Light Love" on it.
42. No Color by The Dodos
Sometimes I go see a band I like, and their opening band is another band I've read about or heard about from other people, and I see them in concert and I say, hey! This is pretty good! Just like my friends and magazines told me! Hooray! Then I buy their next album, all excited, and turn out to not really listen to it that much. I couldn't say that the Dodos album No Color isn't good. I like listening to it well enough. I liked them when I saw them live. But I don't know, nothing about it really stands out to me.
43. Different Gear, Still Speeding by Beady Eye
I bought this album [for three dollars] because it seems like if I'm willing to get the Noel Gallagher solo experience the day it comes out, I should at least give Liam and the rest of Fauxasis a shot [for three dollars]. I think Noel actually did these guys a great service by waiting to put out his first solo record, because it allowed people to kinda-sorta pretend to kinda-sorta care about a Noel-less version of Oasis for a few weeks by virtue of it being the first post-Oasis project so far. Can you imagine what Beady Eye would sound like six months after even an okay Noel solo record? "Oi, hold up, wait for us, you knobs! Listen to me new band! It sounds a right lot like me old band! We've got a bleedin' record too!"
Actually, for all of my slagging on Beady Eye I'm doing, this record is a bit better than I was expecting. It's more or less what you'd expect from a real-life incarnation of the Liam Beatles, but surprisingly it veers more towards bluesy classic rock-sounding songs rather than the bombast, sentiment, and inanity I was expecting. I mean, it's still pretty inane. But it's not unlistenable.
44. Departing by Rural Alberta Advantage
It's not that this album is terrible, but it pretty solidly confirmed that I don't need to continue to buy Rural Alberta Advantage albums, and may have retroactively made me less interested in listening to the Rural Alberta Advantage album I already liked, which this album sounds like, a lot, except without a song as great as "Four Night Rider" (or any of the Neutral Milk Hotel songs that this also sounds like).
Twenty Awesome Songs to Go on Mixtapes Forever
1. "Romance" by Wild Flag
2. "Estate Sale Sign" by the Mountain Goats
3. "Countdown" by Beyonce
4. "Canajoharie" by They Might Be Giants
5. "Under Cover of Darkness" by the Strokes
6. "Where I'm Waking" by Slow Club
7. "Early Earthquake" by Eleanor Friedberger
8. "What the Hell" by Avril Lavigne
9. "Super Bass" by Nicki Minaj
10. "Hello Sadness" by Los Campesinos!
11. "Caffeinated Consciousness" by TV on the Radio
12. "Queen of Hearts" by Fucked Up
13. "Rider" by Okkervil River
14. "The Daily Mail" by Radiohead*
15. "Cruel" by St. Vincent
16. "Helplessness Blues" by Fleet Foxes
17. "Gangsta" by Tuneyards
18. "Discoverer" by R.E.M.
19. "Make Some Noise" by Beastie Boys
20. "Ponzi" by the Felice Brothers
*Radiohead released this digital double A-side of "The Daily Mail" and "Staircase" and I've been listening to it as if it's an album, which is to say: over and over, except it's just two songs. I'm not sure why these weren't on The King of Limbs but "The Daily Mail" in particular is awesome.
So what should I be catching up with on Spotify? Don't say Lana del Rey.
Regardless, she's not on my list, because I didn't really hear all of 21 beyond the singles. As usual, I must point out that the list below is not a best-of. It is an all-of: every 2011 album I got my hands on. This makes the top five or ten the cream of the crop, followed by a bunch of albums I mostly liked, followed by a bunch of albums I found limited or disappointing in some way.
There wasn't an easy album-of-the-year choice for me this year the way that Treats, Hold On Now, Youngster, Boys and Girls in America, or I'm Going Away stuck out in years past. But other times, I've picked an album only to figure out the true album of the year the following year, so maybe if I pick up those Wye Oak or Cults records, I'll figure something out. In the meantime, here's what I heard this year and what I thought of it.
1. All Eternals Deck by The Mountain Goats
I know it's a little boring that I would choose the Mountain Goats for an album of the year, considering I've done it twice before, in 2004 and 2005. But hear me out: 2004 was one of those years where the right choice became clear to me in the next year; album of the year probably should've gone to Funeral, but I didn't hear it until 2005. And 2005 should've gone to Separation Sunday, but I guess that was a slow build because it only ranked #5 with me at the time. This sounds more like an argument for why I'm going to hear a better 2011 album later and wish I had given that album of the year rather than praise for the Mountain Goats, so let's start over: All Eternals Deck is excellent, a fine culmination of the full-band version of the Mountain Goats, the hushed-version incarnation of the Mountain Goats, the thematically-unified-albums incarnation(s) of the Mountain Goats, and pretty much everything they (which is to say John Darnielle, though his band members do excellent work, too) do so well. All Eternals Deck isn't quite as devastatingly beautiful as The Sunset Tree, but it has everything you need in a Mountain Goats album: a barn-burner ("Estate Sale Sign"), a gently anthemic opener ("Damn These Vampires), an oddity (the barbershoppy "High Hawk Season"), Darnielle going "yeah!" or something similar off-mic ("Birth of Serpents"), and a great closer ("Liza Forever Minnelli"). It's also an album I can just throw on and listen to front-to-back and never feel like shutting off because I've passed the best parts.
2. Last Summer by Eleanor Friedberger
A close call for album of the year, Eleanor Friedberger's first solo album is undoubtedly more accessible than eighty to ninety percent of the albums by her main band, the Fiery Furnaces. Yet Last Summer isn't just Eleanor softening up and doing sweet pop songs. In fact, after the catchy opener "My Mistakes," there are some songs as strange as any number of Fiery Furnaces tracks. But even at its weirdest, Last Summer sounds more personal and less abstract than the more indulgent FF moments, and at its best, it's just as good or better (and this is coming from someone who named I'm Going Away album of the year in 2009). Fiery Furnaces albums often feel unified by their bizarre aesthetics, but Last Summer ties itself together via Friedberger's lyrics, a series of personal, sometimes oblique, but surprisingly effective snapshots, mostly from NYC. With its references to Manhattan Avenue and Governors Island, I was bound to love it; I was also inspired to look up the park that gives "Owl's Head Park" its title, and go there. The click-clack backbeat of that song leads into "Early Earthquake," which is so delicate and gorgeous that it reminds me of Paul Simon (no easy feat in a year when Paul Simon made his own strong record). There are some pop songs, too: besides "My Mistakes," there's "I Won't Fall Apart on You Tonight," one of her catchiest songs to date.
3. Paradise by Slow Club
Marisa and I have been singing the praises of Slow Club all year, and while we have a few converts (Briana! Jeff!), I'm not ready to shut up about them just yet. The first band I ever got into straight up because of Twitter (not nearly all rock and roll band Twitter accounts are worth following, but please consider: Los Campesinos! basically told me to check out their buddies Slow Club. That's kind of awesome, right? I didn't have to wait for them to take them out on tour -- though they should, that would be great -- or mention them in a magazine article. Just saw it on Twitter). Paradise, their second record, isn't quite as poppy or peppy as Yeah, So, but it still has plenty of up-tempo numbers like "Where I'm Waking" and "If We're Still Alive." Rebecca Taylor, the girl half of this boy-girl duo, has a gorgeous, expressive voice equally at home doing quiet folky things or big soaring (but not bombastic) things, or both on songs like "You, Earth, or Ash." In fact, the whole of Paradise is a study in how to make me care about big-sounding vocals: use them with control, make the instrumentation pretty and a little clamorous, and sing good lyrics. Undoubtedly my band-crush of the year. (For a more formal write-up that says similar stuff, check out #68 on this list.)
4. I Am Very Far by Okkervil River
Unconventional Favorite, Part One: I think this might be the best or at least my favorite Okkervil River record. I like the band very much, but I've been a little hesitant to buy Will Sheff as this ace lyricist on par with Darnielle or Finn in terms of semi-literary indie-rockers, so the fact that he gets a bit more abstract and less poetic on this record suits me fine. And in the fine Okkervil River tradition of the chorus to "Sloop John B" kicking "John Allyn Smith" into gear, here "Rider," probably the best song of this bunch, quotes the Ramones to drive it home.
5. The King is Dead by The Decemberists
I don't disparage the Decemberists' prog-rock leanings, but it is indeed refreshing, as almost everyone said, to hear them going for straight-ahead, unfussy, simple folk-pop songs with plenty of R.E.M. and Smiths jangle (whatever that is), from the driving "Calamity Song" to the gorgeous "January Hymn."
6. Wild Flag by Wild Flag
Besides providing a home for "Romance," one of my favorite songs of the year (see #19 here, Wild Flag also gives two thirds of Sleater-Kinney room to kick ass just like they used to back in the nineties and aughts. I actually loved Corin Tucker's solo record from last year, and Wild Flag's is just as good; both S-K offshoots manage to sound like parts of the old band without slouching into poor-substitute territory. A lot of these songs, like "Electric Band" and "Glass Tambourine," sound like they're about music and being in a band, but not in that myopic Reel Big Fish kind of way. Also, the keyboard riff and end-chorus/epilogue/whatever on "Future Crimes" is amazing.
7. Nine Types of Light by TV on the Radio
Unconventional Favorite, Part Two: I think this might be the best or at least my favorite TV on the Radio record. While Okkervil River got there by going wilder and weirder than their more reined-in literary material, TV on the Radio turns in their prettiest, least amped album, and as it turns out, I quite like them this way, much moreso when they're trying to be sexy and funky (a little of that goes a long way). Nine Types of Light feels relaxed in the best way. It helps that there are still some stompers like the Pixies-y "Caffeinated Consciousness," and also a limit to the embarrassing flights of awkward chanting (OK, I kind of hate "Repetition").
8. Join Us by They Might Be Giants
I wrote at length about this record when it came out, and in the months since it has, of course, become assimilated into my TMBG knowledge base; to a degree, like all of their albums, I can't really put it against other albums easily beyond saying that I like it and it's not my absolute favorite. It does, however, contain a number of candidates for the next iteration of my Favorite TMBG Songs list: "Can't Keep Johnny Down," "Old Pine Box," "Canajoharie," and "Cloisonne," among others. As a full album, Join Us has some strange instrumentation choices: it's intentionally sparer than some of its predecessors, but also seems to lean on a horn section moreso than most of their albums. It's an odd combination; normally, I'd delight at the prospect of TMBG using the horns more often, but with less guitar/bass/drums backing it up, it doesn't meet the glories of the horn-heavy John Henry. There's also the matter of my personal preferences about some of the songs included here over some excellent tracks on their B-sides/rarities compilation (see #26, below), but that's really what it comes down to: I, as a ridiculous TMBG fan, have my own weird ideas about what's best for their music, and they have theirs; their ideas are what count, and thankfully they're still pretty fresh almost thirty years in. (For a nice appreciation of this record, see Marisa's write-up at #55 here. I also wrote a bit about "Can't Keep Johnny Down" at #75 here.)
9. Hello Sadness by Los Campesinos!
Technically, this is probably my least favorite Los Campesinos! record, but as it's grown on me over the past month, I've come to admire that it's more mature than their earliest work and more concise than Romance is Boring. As usual, they have some killer LC! shoutanddancealongs out front: "By Your Hand," "Songs about Your Girlfriend," and the title track. But the slower stuff is often pretty and well-honed, with only the occasional slog through that titular misery (I have to be in the right mood not to roll my eyes at "Life is a Long Time"). I'm a little afraid that someday they'll make a record that sounds like "Hate for the Island" all the way through, but for now, the sadness/catharsis mix is working for me.
10. Celebration, Florida by The Felice Brothers
The second Felice Brothers record was very much a honing of the techniques from their first, so it's a bit of a surprise to hear their third album veer off into child choruses, industrial noises, samples, and epic song structures, even if the core of the band - gloriously sketchy singalong Americana - remains unchanged. The shift doesn't always pay off; even on their more straightforwardly folky records, some of the songs sound a little dirge-y, and that's more of a problem here. But the best of Celebration, Florida stands with the best of their work, period: "Fire at the Pageant," rollicking "Honda Civic," and the menacing, huge-sounding "Ponzi."
11. The King of Limbs by Radiohead
I was a little surprised by the raves that greeted In Rainbows, not because it isn't pretty fucking great, but because I wouldn't rate it above Amnesiac or even necessarily Hail to the Thief. So I was even more surprised by the (somewhat less excited, but still) raves for The King of Limbs, because it's the first Radiohead album where it's basically like: oh, yeah, more of that Radiohead stuff. I guess there was some of that between Kid A and Amnesiac, but they feel more like companions than copies, and also, they came out less than a year apart. The King of Limbs came a solid three and a half years after In Rainbows, which came four years and change after Hail to the Thief. This paucity of Radiohead material in the past decade -- King of Limbs only has eight songs, for Christ's sake -- makes their electronic skittering and heartbreaking ballads feel slight, for pretty much the first time. Yet ignoring those outside factors (which is difficult), there are great songs on King of Limbs: "Codex" and "Give Up the Ghost" are gorgeous; "Lotus Flower" is slinky and cool; the brevity of the album in general keeps it from wearing out its welcome. But it does feel a little like Radiohead going through the motions. Which is to say: superior to most albums; not superior to other Radiohead albums.
12. 4 by Beyonce
This album didn't get raves when it came out, and it felt like Team Beyonce went on a major campaign to increase appreciation by releasing most of it as videos and/or singles, proving that yes, actually, there are a bunch of catchy songs here. Even as people seem to have come around on songs like "Countdown" (which for some reason no one seemed to notice was ON this album until there was a video for it), 4 has been largely absent from the more indie-minded album countdowns, even those that reserve space for Watch the Throne. I'm not sure why; while nothing here is a certified wedding-reception classic in the mode of "Crazy in Love" or "Single Ladies," this is by far the most consistent and yet also eclectic record of Beyonce's career so far. I Am Sasha Fierce split the party rockers and the ballads into separate mini-albums; 4 just goes ahead and understands that albums have this stuff mixed together sometimes. The unification comes more from the themes: these are mostly relationship songs, and mostly happy ones, though Scorned Beyonce makes a cameo for "Best I Never Had," an excellent (and, yes, happier) kiss-off song. Beyonce's talent for making great stand-alone songs does sometimes overshadow her album-craft; I'd be lying if I said I haven't listened to the late-album trilogy of "Love on Top," "Countdown," and "End of Time" a lot more than the whole thing, or if I said I liked "Party" or "I Was Here" as much as the rest, but it's a mainstream pop record with a lot of great, weird, catchy moments beyond the best five or ten minutes. As silly as it sounds to say this about one of the world's biggest music stars, Beyonce just doesn't call as much attention to her great, weird, catchy album as the likes of Lady Gaga or Taylor Swift. In its sometimes goofy, sometimes serious way, 4 feels like the work of an adult.
13. So Beautiful or So What by Paul Simon
Or, the Rolling Stone Memorial Award for old-timer's album that is actually quite strong. I'm not sure if it's leagues ahead of other Paul Simon albums since Graceland, but it is more concise and straightforward while maintaining his musical inventiveness.
14. Strange Mercy by St. Vincent
I wasn't all the way on the St. Vincent train before Strange Mercy. Now I may still have a foot dangling off in the breeze, but I'm pretty much on board. Her lyrics sometimes get repetitive, like she's trying to lull you into a trance, but the weirdness, catchiness, and beauty of most of these songs shine through, especially when she allows some guitar noise to cut through the prettiness.
15. The Babies by The Babies
Out of all of the lo-fi, slightly shambling, but somewhat pop-influenced records I heard this year, I think I liked this one the best. It's very unassuming and, if anything, underhyped, but songs like "Meet Me in the City" and "Run Me Over" are exactly the kind of boy-girl slightly off-key indie-rock that I love.
16. Collapse Into Now by R.E.M.
In retrospect, it does make sense as a final R.E.M. album. It's got a little Out of Time, a little Accelerate and Monster, more than a little (almost too much) Automatic for the People. It's very R.E.M. As such, it's more varied than Accelerate but also less novel; like The King of Limbs, it sounds more like a band doing what they think they do best, not exploring new corners of their song. But now it makes sense.
17. David Comes to Life by Fucked Up
Frankly, I wish I liked this album more. The best of it kicks unholy ass, mixing hardcore vocals, pummeling guitars, and some decidedly non-hardcore backing vocals and instrumentation. But I mean, have you tried listening to this album all the way through in a single sitting? It's an hour, and the dude's voice never stops sounding like that. I tend to think that the critics going nuts for it must have been pretty into hardcore at some point in their lives, and I tend to think if I listened to a lot of hardcore when I was younger, I would be going nuts for it, too. I hope that doesn't sound condescending, because the ambition and conviction of this record is huge. But like most concept albums, I couldn't really tell you what happens over the course of it. I can tell you that "Queen of Hearts" is spectacular and "Turn the Season" and "The Other Shoe" and several others are pretty close to it.
18. Sky Full of Holes by Fountains of Wayne
Fountains of Wayne have become so consistent that they're also easy to overlook. That's not entirely our fault: that consistency means never waiting less than four years between albums, and also rarely making a front-to-back classic (at least not since Utopia Parkway). Their slowed-down timeline, though, means that each record has time to advance into a different demographic; as many have pointed out, Utopia sounds like high school into college; Welcome Interstate Managers sounds like twentysomethings; Traffic and Weather feels like your thirties; and now the slightly more languid, acoustickier Sky Full of Holes breaches into a settled-down early forties (oddly, Fountains of Wayne themselves have seemed approximately thirty-five for most of this time). Less spotty than Traffic and Weather, this album continues their ace character sketches ("The Summer Place," "Richie and Ruben"), Cars-y pop ("Someone's Gonna Break Your Heart"), and wistful melancholy ("Cemetery Gates"). Their sense of humor seems a little less condescending this time, so if there aren't quite as many moments that sparkle like "Mexican Wine" and "Stacy's Mom," it's easy to fall back into their well-worn, worthwhile routines.
19. Whokill by Tuneyards
I hope it doesn't sound dismissive to call this the year's best Bjork album (or to refuse to fuck around with that stupid spacing/capitalization that not even Bjork has tried). Whokill is by turns offbeat, a little annoying, crazy catchy, and just plain crazy -- for better or worse on both sides, it's more propulsive than anything Bjork has done in awhile. For all of the explicitly nineties-influenced rock acts out there, Tuneyards sounds most attuned to the collage-y experimental pop sounds of Bjork and Beck. In other words, it's a forward-looking sort of throwback.
20. Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 by Beastie Boys
It's a Beastie Boys record! And it's a good one! Maybe not up to their Hello Nasty peak (I've come to terms with Hello Nasty being probably my favorite overall), but in that style.
21. Only in Dreams by Dum Dum Girls
God damn to hell whoever pointed out to me that the chick from Dum Dum Girls sounds like Chrissie Hynde. I mean, I probably would've figured it out eventually, but now I can't un-hear it, and it's totally true, especially on their second full-length album, with clearer, more confident production placing her voice front and center. I must admit: it sounds great. Lots of bands dabble in various ratios of surf-rock and girl-group sounds, but while Dum Dum Girls aren't as menacing as they sounded on their debut, they sound bigger, better, and more polished doing it than many of their peers. But I still hate the fucking Pretenders.
22. Bury Me in My Rings by The Elected
Poor Blake! Everything I write about the Elected seems like it's prefaced and postscripted with that sentiment: poor Blake! Poor Blake not because he's untalented, because he's actually quite talented, but because he makes folk-and-country-inflected indie pop records and no one really seems to notice or care that much. Bury Me in My Rings isn't as great as Sun, Sun, Sun, but the best of it is still pretty strong: the kiss-off "Go for the Throat" is the centerpiece, but there's also some slightly disco-inflected songs like "Look at Me Now" that show the musical invention Blake brought to Rilo Kiley.
23. Belong by The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
This album peaks early, with the nineties guitars that kick in thirteen seconds into the first track. There's other good stuff, of course (like the way the nineties guitars kick in and out all through that first track), but nothing hits that simple high, though the entirety of "Heart in Your Heartbreak" comes close. Each of these songs taken individually might seem just as good, but cumulatively, the second Pains of Being Pure at Heart album never becomes more than a collection of pretty-good-to-really-good songs. No small feat, but no amazing one, either.
24. The People's Key by Bright Eyes
Apparently I can no longer talk about Bright Eyes with Rob after mentioning that Cassadega is my favorite of his albums. Apparently this also makes me a bit of an outlier in not finding The People's Key a major comeback after some disappointing work, although judging by the end-of-year lists and the lack of People's Key on them, I think the rest of the world is gradually coming around to my side on that, if only by default. I really like "Shell Games" and "Haile Selassie" and several other songs on here ("everyone on the count of three!" on "Shell Games" is a classic Bright Eyes moment), and it is indeed refreshing to hear Conor move in a synthier direction after the rootsy Cassadega. But it turns out I like him best doing semi-quaveringrootsy music. Go figure. Also, Conor, you have to cool it with the hippie-mystic spiritual-wandering spoken-word bullshit.
25. Metals by Feist
This is good music for doing the dishes, or walking home after dark on a quiet evening. That might sound like the recommendations of an aging and/or thirtysomething and/or yuppie, but, well, I am indisputably thirtysomething and aging. Doing the dishes and walking home on a quiet evening are things I do a lot. Also, without a "1 2 3 4" promising potential catchiness, in a weird way the less catchy nature of Metals bothers me less than the weaker tracks on The Reminder did (although, really, it's Feist: how bothered can anyone get over her?).
26. The Best Imitation of Myself by Ben Folds and Album Raises New and Troubling Questions by They Might Be Giants
I'm pairing these records down here because there's no real fair way to place a compilation album against actual albums, but because these are compilations from a couple of my favorite artists including some excellent new songs, I must admit that I will listen large parts of these a lot. They Might Be Giants used to put out ace EPs [most of which I have collected], but while plenty of bands still do EPs, especially digital-only versions, in recent years TMBG has taken to basically putting out all of their B-sides and such onto a single disc alongside their proper album. First pressings of The Else came with a compilation featuring twentysomething songs originally released on their podcast; this year, Join Us was followed a few months later by a collection of what obviously would've been B-sides in earlier years: songs that didn't make the album, a few remixes and new versions of old songs, and a couple of covers. The danger of putting all this out at once is that hardcore nerds like me might wonder, hey, why didn't "How Now Dark Cloud?" or "The Fellowship of Hell" or even the jokey but amazing "Marty Beller Mask" not make it onto Join Us? Which is a valid question as any of those songs might've moved Join Us up a notch or two in my estimation. That said, they did make it onto this non-album album, and as a fan I love stuff like this. As a Ben Folds fan, meanwhile, I wasn't a great candidate to buy The Best Imitation of Myself, a greatest-hits album, just to get the new Ben Folds Five single produced for its release. But I have to say, Ben Folds did the career-retrospective thing right: there's a single-disc greatest-hits version for those who really want that, but he also put out a three-disc version at a not-unreasonable price that basically includes an entire live album and an entire B-sides/rarities album. The new Ben Folds Five songs (there are three on the longer edition) are great, the various B-sides and demos are cool, and the live songs well-chosen to supplement the greatest-hits stuff. So when I say "for fans only," I mean it as a compliment.
28. Biophilia by Bjork
I don't exactly need Bjork to make a great record. That sounds like the warm-up to the ol' faint-praise damnation, but it's just the truth: I like Bjork a lot, and love Homogenic, and like a lot of music acts that put out two or three albums when I was in high school and three or four albums since, I'm fine with buying her new record, putting it on when I'm in the mood, and not really expecting it to be my new favorite. Usually with this sort of artist, the new record does do some time as my favorite since whatever my real favorite is, and that may be true of Biophilia. It has aspects of Vespertine (beautiful/boring), Medulla (inventive/spare), and Volta (weird and cool/not particularly catchy), and I think I like the mixture of those textures more than an album-length exploration of any on their own.
29. Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes
This is good music for sitting in a field at dusk. I assume. It sounded great in a not-field in Brooklyn at dusk, so I can only imagine how great it sounds in a field. The title track is one of my favorite songs ever. The rest sort of blend together, but I liked this enough to go see Fleet Foxes and buy a used copy of their earlier album, which I think counts as a breakthrough for me and this band.
30. The Green Album and The Muppetsby Various Artists
Neither of these feel exactly full enough to stand alone as a listening experience: thirty or forty minutes of Muppet covers, and then twenty or thirty minutes of new Muppet songs plus some dialogue plus a couple of random non-Muppet songs. But together, they're a lot of fun, especially the Muppets songs, mostly by Bret McKenzie from Flight of the Conchords and a perfect match of catchiness and comedy (or, in the case of the non-McKenzie "Pictures in My Head," pathos). I listen to "Me Party" a lot.
32. Noel Gallagher's High-Flying Birds by Noel Gallagher
Noel's long-in-the works solo jaunt is out, and it... pretty much sounds like songs that could've been the Noel-sung tracks on any of the last three or four Oasis records. That's not a bad thing; with Liam's voice degraded, their instincts for hard rocking less sharp, and the lyrics as dopey as ever, Noel-led songs have tended to be the highlights of mid-to-late-period Oasis albums ("Mucky Fingers," "Little by Little"). It follows, then, that this High-Flying Birds business is equal to or better than most Oasis albums since Standing on the Shoulder of Giants. Granted, that's a conclusion reached more by math than feeling; I'm not going to reach for this one like it's Be Here Now or Morning Glory. But there's something pleasantly relaxed and less overblown about Noel on his own, even when he's still using the basic Oasis sound, which is, by its nature, pretty overblown. Usually my reaction to non-brilliant solo albums is "why didn't you just save the good stuff for your main band?" but here my reaction is more "you sound happier without your jag brother singing some of your songs; why didn't you do this earlier?"
33. Share the Joy by Vivian Girls and Brilliant! Tragic! by Art Brut
I pair these bands because they've both put out several albums in a short period of time, both tend to do pretty much the same (cool) thing each time out, and both tried mixing it up to some degree in 2011. Share the Joy has some longer songs mixed in with the fuzzed-out girl-group sound, while Art Brut's Eddie Argos tries his hand at whisper-singing on much of Brilliant! Tragic! Neither record is particularly essential, but fans of either band shouldn't be disappointed. Vivian Girls might have the edge because I could see an argument for this (or any of their three) being their best record, while Art Brut's best record is clearly either their first or second (probably their first). But let's call a tie between two bands who do their thing and do it well.
36. Dye It Blonde by Smith Westerns
There's something extremely pleasing about the best melodies on Dye It Blonde, something vaguely reminiscent of a lighter David Bowie. Allmusic mentions Mott the Hoople, and while I only know Mott the Hoople as a band that does a few songs that people assume are Bowie, that sounds about right, too. Boring Indie Voice threatens to rear its head (see also #39) and the whole thing is on the thin side, but this is a pleasant wisp of a record.
36. Camp by Childish Gambino
Or, Rap White People Like. Except maybe not: Donald Glover from Community sounds like a slam dunk with the Beastie Boys/Outkast/maybe-some-Kanye crowd, but the first wide-release Childish Gambino album isn't quite the funny, playful nerd-rap romp you might expect, though it has some clever moments. Throughout, Glover sounds defensive, bratty, rueful, confident, and wounded... in other words, kind of like Kanye West, though not quite so toxic. It doesn't have Kanye's musical epicness (or best hooks), but Glover's point of view is often more interesting to me even if it sometimes descends into generic rap braggadocio. Also, the monologue about riding the bus back from camp that concludes "That Power" and the whole album is pretty amazing.
37. A Very She & Him Christmas by She & Him
I don't really know where to rank a Christmas album in here. I like this one a lot, actually: it's spare and pretty and not too show-offy. But obviously I'm not going to listen to it more than one month per year (and for that matter, it's probably secondary to that Slow Club Christmas EP, because that one has originals, not just covers).
38. Angles by the Strokes
I shouldn't bag on the Strokes, because "Under Cover of Darkness," this album's first single, is a stone cold instant classic. The rest of the record, well, it doesn't suck. Mostly. The Strokes seem like great examples of that maxim about how you have several years to write the songs for your first album, and then in most cases six or eight months to write the songs for your subsequent albums, except the songs on the first Strokes record still sound like they were written in a few months.
39. Watch the Throne by Jay-Z and Kanye West
Admittedly, I am not the target audience for this record, as I like Kanye West way more than I like Jay-Z, who in my limited experience I've found pretty solidly overrated, and given how uninterested I've been in Jay-Z my whole life, Watch the Throne is pretty listenable. "Otis" is pretty great and I like "New Day" and "Welcome to the Jungle" pretty well: good backing-vocal samples/hooks, energetic rapping. The chorus to"Why I Love You" sounds like the kind of Kanye weirdness that makes me prefer him. Obviously I enjoy "Lift Off" with its Beyonce hook, although the people at Vulture who offhandedly called it catchier than anything on 4 were so wrong it makes me sad. Moreover, the much-vaunted "N***** in Paris," seriously, this is just Jay-Z and Kanye dropping a bunch of brand names and say "that shit cray" over and over, right? I mean, I appreciate the Blades of Glory samples, but I think we can do better. And even in the better songs, there's just so much shit about how rich and successful and awesome Jay-Z and Kanye are. I'm glad they've found each other to talk about this over and over.
40. 12 Desperate Straight Lines by Telekinesis
I think it comes down to this guy's voice. It's not annoying, exactly, but there's something a little bland and generic about the way his solid guitar-pop songs are sung, and I wonder how they'd fare with a more charismatic singer. The songs themselves range from wonderful ("Car Crash") to pretty fucking stupid, like "50 Ways," which sounds like a cute Paul Simon namecheck until you realize that a chorus saying (repeating) "Paul Simon probably said it best: there truly are 50 ways" is actually just saying "I agree with this other song" over and over.
41. Screws Get Loose by Those Darlins
Derrick burned me a copy of the first Those Darlins album, so I bought a cheap download of their new record, and you'd think with a slightly garagier, punkier attitude, their all-girl indie-country would be even better for me. But nope: I like their first record better. Screws Get Loose is OK, but it doesn't have a "Red Light Love" on it.
42. No Color by The Dodos
Sometimes I go see a band I like, and their opening band is another band I've read about or heard about from other people, and I see them in concert and I say, hey! This is pretty good! Just like my friends and magazines told me! Hooray! Then I buy their next album, all excited, and turn out to not really listen to it that much. I couldn't say that the Dodos album No Color isn't good. I like listening to it well enough. I liked them when I saw them live. But I don't know, nothing about it really stands out to me.
43. Different Gear, Still Speeding by Beady Eye
I bought this album [for three dollars] because it seems like if I'm willing to get the Noel Gallagher solo experience the day it comes out, I should at least give Liam and the rest of Fauxasis a shot [for three dollars]. I think Noel actually did these guys a great service by waiting to put out his first solo record, because it allowed people to kinda-sorta pretend to kinda-sorta care about a Noel-less version of Oasis for a few weeks by virtue of it being the first post-Oasis project so far. Can you imagine what Beady Eye would sound like six months after even an okay Noel solo record? "Oi, hold up, wait for us, you knobs! Listen to me new band! It sounds a right lot like me old band! We've got a bleedin' record too!"
Actually, for all of my slagging on Beady Eye I'm doing, this record is a bit better than I was expecting. It's more or less what you'd expect from a real-life incarnation of the Liam Beatles, but surprisingly it veers more towards bluesy classic rock-sounding songs rather than the bombast, sentiment, and inanity I was expecting. I mean, it's still pretty inane. But it's not unlistenable.
44. Departing by Rural Alberta Advantage
It's not that this album is terrible, but it pretty solidly confirmed that I don't need to continue to buy Rural Alberta Advantage albums, and may have retroactively made me less interested in listening to the Rural Alberta Advantage album I already liked, which this album sounds like, a lot, except without a song as great as "Four Night Rider" (or any of the Neutral Milk Hotel songs that this also sounds like).
Twenty Awesome Songs to Go on Mixtapes Forever
1. "Romance" by Wild Flag
2. "Estate Sale Sign" by the Mountain Goats
3. "Countdown" by Beyonce
4. "Canajoharie" by They Might Be Giants
5. "Under Cover of Darkness" by the Strokes
6. "Where I'm Waking" by Slow Club
7. "Early Earthquake" by Eleanor Friedberger
8. "What the Hell" by Avril Lavigne
9. "Super Bass" by Nicki Minaj
10. "Hello Sadness" by Los Campesinos!
11. "Caffeinated Consciousness" by TV on the Radio
12. "Queen of Hearts" by Fucked Up
13. "Rider" by Okkervil River
14. "The Daily Mail" by Radiohead*
15. "Cruel" by St. Vincent
16. "Helplessness Blues" by Fleet Foxes
17. "Gangsta" by Tuneyards
18. "Discoverer" by R.E.M.
19. "Make Some Noise" by Beastie Boys
20. "Ponzi" by the Felice Brothers
*Radiohead released this digital double A-side of "The Daily Mail" and "Staircase" and I've been listening to it as if it's an album, which is to say: over and over, except it's just two songs. I'm not sure why these weren't on The King of Limbs but "The Daily Mail" in particular is awesome.
So what should I be catching up with on Spotify? Don't say Lana del Rey.