BAP's 25 Favourite Songs and Albums [And Some EPs] of 2011, In No Particular Order, But At Least All of These Were Actually Released in 2011, And There Are Pretty Pictures, So That Totally Merits Some Plus Points For Effort.
* all song titles link to a Youtube video. I trust you guys to be a bunch of Internet-savvy mofos, but if you run into any trouble tracking down a song or a band, let me know and I'll do what I can to help.
1. James Blake [James Blake] // The Wilhelm Scream
James Blake and his ridiculously sexy voice are responsible for making some seriously sexy music. This song in particular is a perfect example of that ; odd, repetitive blocks of sonic loops, plenty of bleeps and bloops that sound like they're coming from under the ocean or something, and with the same three or four lines of lyrics being repeated over and over and over again ( I don't know about my dreams/I don't know about my dreaming anymore/All that I know is that I'm falling, falling, falling, falling/Might as well fall) until they start to feel like a mantra you've always known but only remember when Mr. Blake sings them to you. It's stunningly hypnotic, surprisingly comforting, and I for one would be happy if this song just never ended. Ever.
2. Kurt Vile [Smoke Ring For My Halo] // Runner Ups
Every review I've read of Kurt Vile's 2011 release makes some mention of his music being the epitome of slacker folk , almost as if "Bob Dylan had gone shoegaze". Vile himself makes a self-deprecating reference to with this line from Runner Ups: "When I walk in, my head is practically dragging". Don't be fooled though ; music this intricate and meditative takes a great deal of love and care and attention to detail, and it shows through in songs like this one. Every pick of the guitar sounds achingly, clearly gorgeous, and there are some terrific lyrics in there, masked by a voice that sounds, on occasion, like a zoned-out drone. This album takes some work to really get into, but is ultimately one of my most rewarding listens of the year.
3. Of Monsters And Men [My Head Is An Animal] // Six Weeks
Credit goes to Allison of Flying Buttresses for alerting me to the existence of this delightful folk-rock act from Iceland. My familiarity with Icelandic music starts with Sigur ros and ends with Bjork, so it was a nice surprise to discover that these guys sound more like the joyfully feral godchildren of Arcade Fire. The guitars in Six Weeks are exuberant, the communal refrains and choruses are emphatic and ferociously life-affirming. The 2:23 mark in particular makes me feel like I should be running barefoot across a glacial Icelandic landscape with Icelandic wind in my hair and this song playing on full-ass volume in the background and shit. It's impossible to be unhappy when you're listening to this. Impossible, I say.
4. The Rural Alberta Advantage [Departing] // Barnes' Yard
I knew from the first time I gave this album a digital spin that Barnes' Yard would end up being my favourite track at the end of the year. Clocking in at barely two and a half minutes, it deals with all the band's usual themes of hometowns and parents and lovers and highways and escaping. Add that to the jangly, up-tempo beat and this knockout of a couplet (We're broken down lovers at the side of the road/We're broken down lovers in the city of oil) and I am a complete and total goner for this song, this album, and this whole entire band. If you can hear me all the way in Rural Alberta, I LOVE YOU GUISE.
5. Typhoon [A New Kind Of House EP] // Summer Home
First of all, Kyle Morton's voice is so clear and so lush that makes me want to cry just thinking about it. If I could, I would totally hire him as my personal lullaby singer. When he sings, it hurts. I don't know where that ache comes from, but this guy brings it. Typhoon's songs deal largely with death, sin, mortality and humanity, and they still manage to work as many handclaps, trumpets and sing-along choruses into the mix as they possibly can. And for a band with 12 musicians in it (there are only 10 in the picture above - it's really hard to keep track) they do a hell of a job at sounding larger than life, using mainly acoustic instruments. Summer Home takes its time getting started, but by the time Kyle's voice kicks in, you know you're in for a treat. And when he quiveringly inquires "Can we hold out for summer again?" it's pretty much all I can do not to want to fall at his feet and be all, "Dude, Kyle, I would wait a THOUSAND summers if that's what you really want". These guys are something special, and I can't wait to hear what comes next.
6. David Wax Museum [Everything Is Saved] // Yes, Maria, Yes
These guys were in my mid-year best of list, and here's what I said about them back then : "Irresistibly infectious countrified folk rock with large doses of Mexican influences and enough handclaps to make anyone giddy. Also they use a donkey's jawbone as part of their percussion because that's not creepy at all."
I am glad to say I don't love them any less than I did in June. As for what makes Yes Maria Yes my favourite of the bunch, let's just put it this way : handclaps + accordion. Also it's hard not to love a band that throws some delicious phonetic wordplay at you now and then (I talktalktalk you don't listen/ I talktalktalk you don't listen).
7. M83 [Hurry Up, We're Dreaming] // Steve McQueen
The major flaw first : as Beckeye has pointed out in her own list, Hurry Up We're Dreaming really does not need to be a double album. There is only so much swirling synth and ethereal vocal harmony that one mortal listener can stomach. Taken in small doses though, there are some seriously standout tracks on this record. My initial favourite was the saxophone-filled goodness of Midnight City, but Steve McQueen started growing on me more with every listen. I would have never imagined describing a song built almost entirely on synths and keyboards and an 80s sound template to be EPIC, but that is exactly what this song is. It's HUGE ; the drums are thunderous, the keyboards and synths swirl and explode like they are their own cosmic event, the lyrics are grandiose as all hell. I am not much of a fan of electronica, but when I meet an album and a song as transcendent as this, I really just have to swallow my prejudices, sit back, and enjoy the experience.
8. The Lonely Wild [Dead End EP] // Dead End
This song in particular is a boy/girl harmony combo, which doesn't have much room on my musical taste template. But these two sound like they were pretty much born to sing together, and with no one else, and it's hard not to melt just a little. The melody is gorgeous, the guitar riff is stunning, the harmonies are of course perfect beyond all fault, and there is just the right amount of aching steel guitar working away in the background. Understated, classy, and just plain beautiful. Also, yes, lead singer dude is fairly easy on the eye. Not that physical appearance matters when it comes down to good music, but a pretty guy with a pretty voice singing pretty songs never hurt anybody, I say. Pretty on, Lonely Wild dude.
9. Fleet Foxes [Helplessness Blues] // Helplessness Blues
I'm probably in the minority when I say I enjoyed the Fleet Foxes' debut more than this release, but Helplessness Blues (the track) is right up there on my list of favourite songs...of forever, maybe. Again, the harmonies are killer. The acoustic guitar is positively jubilant and almost on the verge of snapping under the weight and intensity of Robin Pecknold's existential crisis. If you were to ask me to pick a snippet of my favourite lyrics from this one, I would not be able to do it ; every word and every turn of phrase is perfection.
10. James Vincent McMorrow [Early In The Morning] // We Don't Eat
Bon Iver comparisons have been inevitable and relentless for Irishman Mr. McMorrow, who also shut himself away in a woodland cabin to compose songs of heartbreak, in isolation. But where Bon Iver's debut initially did nothing but put me to sleep, James' lush, soulful voice and gorgeous instrumentation caught my attention immediately. This is just pretty, you guys. Woodland cabin aside, the only thing this man has in common with Justin Vernon is that falsetto, and a healthy amount of folk-beard. We Don't Eat is a slow-burner of gently growing gorgeousness and building strings and subtle harmonies, topped with one of my favourite choruses of the year : "We don't eat until your father's at the table/We don't drink until the devil's turned to dust". This man needs more love, and you can start right here, right now.
11. Arctic Monkeys [Suck It And See]// Suck It And See
It was a joy and a pleasure to see 2011 provide a return to my favourite flavour of Monkeys. These guys can rock out just as hard as the hipsterest of them, but to me they are at the top of their game when they're sweet, melodious, funny, tender, when they bring in the irresistible hooks, and when Alex Turner's remarkably witty, pithy and downright adorable lyrical prowess is given the chance to shine ( You're rarer than a can of dandelion and burdock/And those other girls are just post-mix lemonade). I've said before that the title track is probably the most gorgeous thing Turner and co. have ever recorded to date, and this sentiment still holds true now, at the end of the year.
This is an album I have been steadily falling (and remaining) in love with throughout 2011, and there is absolutely no sign that my affection for this set of 12 songs is going to fade any time soon. If I had arranged this list by rank, Suck It And See would be number one, without a shadow of a doubt. It was too much trouble sorting out numbers 2 to 25 though, so you'll have to settle for this.
O Arctic Monkeys, we've come such a long way since those dark days when I shunned you because of your accents, and then again because of the widely-maligned Humbug. Forgive me my youthful follies, and let us promise to never ever ever break up ever again.
12. Zola Jesus [Conatus] // Vessel
Zola Jesus is the 22-year old (there we go again with the talented young people making me feel inadequate) Russian-American songwriter Nika Roza Danilova. Mixing large amounts of electronica with some sort of goth-opera to taste, Vessel is a wide, sparse and very dark sonic landscape of synths, ghostly electronic bloops and creaks, and chillingly chopped up vocals. Other songs on the album provide dashes of piano and even strings, but the end product is always minimalistic, almost but-not-quite to the point of being skeletal. Conatus is not an easy listen, but it's always hauntingly beautiful in its own creepy way, and more importantly, never boring.
13. Patrick Wolf [Brumalia EP] // Pelicans
Here's the thing ; I did not enjoy Patrick's 2011 full-length release, Lupercalia. I did like some parts of it, and as an indie pop product it wasn't horrible. But Patrick Wolf was happy, content and perfectly joyous when he wrote the songs on that album, and while I am happy that Patrick is happy, Lupercalia ended up being far, far, far less interesting, mysterious and enthralling than his usual work, and it was chock-full of the most sugary-sweet romantic sentiments, and lyrics so generic I had to stop myself physically cringing at times. The Magic Position was also an extremely pop-based album, but at least that contained more than enough sinister tones and subject matter to make sure the songs never came close to becoming trite. Lupercalia was a crushing disappointment.
I still worship the man, but fortunately Brumalia came along to appease me. The handful of songs it carries contains enough darkness, strings, multiple-Patrick harmonies and distorted, chopped-up electronica to make them sound like they could have very easily fit into Patrick's two earliest (and my personal favourite) albums, Lycanthropy and Wind in the Wires. The guy is allowed to make happy music if he wants to, but this EP pretty much solidified the fact that I like my Patrick Wolf darker, angstier, bloodier and way more melodramatic.
14. WU LYF [Go Tell Fire To The Mountain] // Heavy Pop
It was quite a task picking one standout track from an album full of cathartic, euphoric anthems, but Heavy Pop wins out in the end. WU LYF (or World Unite! Lucifer Youth Foundation - yeah I have no idea why either. Pretentious assholes). WU LYF are a bit of an acquired taste in the sense that lead singer Ellery Roberts' voice never evolves beyond a full-throated, animalistic roar most of the time. Depending on where you're coming from, that either means he can't be arsed to enunciate properly, or that the songs are meant to communicate such a primal level of emotion and pure, hands-in-the-air euphoria that it will never matter what the lyrics are, anyway. I particularly like Consequence of Sound's description of his vocal stylings : "Ellery James Roberts, lead singer of WU LYF, talks in the same voice he sings in, which is a cross between Tibetan monk throat singers and a 20-something Tom Waits". If this seems appealing to you, dig right in!
Like M83, these guys have more than earned the label EPIC - the album was even recorded in a church. Heavy Pop is probably the epitome of what these guys do best ; every song has that soaring guitar, those EARTH-SHATTERING drums, Ellery Roberts' frantic yowling (the only thing you'll be able to make out is "I wanna feel at home" ), and the organ music, which gives a lovely cathedral-esque, larger than life atmosphere. The track takes it time getting warmed up, and by the time that distant harmonica introduces itself at around the 2-minute mark, and the EARTH-SHATTERING drums kick in, you're probably starry-eyed and completely, shamelessly sold (if you're anything like me, that is). Check out a terrific Blogotheque version of the track over here.
15. The Cave Singers [No Witch] // No Prosecution If We Bail
Folk-rock has never sounded so badass. Like our friend the divisive Ellery Roberts, The Cave Singers are also fronted by a singer with a feral, yowly voice, but to this guy's credit, he actually enunciates more. He can also sound, by turns, tender, nostalgic, and like on this track I've chosen, pretty much ready to kick your teeth in, effortlessly transitioning between yelping, growling, and his normal register. I am still not sure what exactly he's singing about, but this song is rowdy, dirty fun, and hell, even a little sexy.
16. Foster The People [Torches] // Helena Beat
Like most people, my first introduction to Foster The People was the chilled-out, bass-alicious sounds of Pumped Up Kicks. After listening to the full album a few times, however, I realized that judging Foster and co. by that one breakout track was not only unfair to the dudes, but also not an accurate representation of what these guys actually sound like. Tracks like Helena Beat, Houdini and Call It What You Want totally (and unexpectedly, for me) blow Kicks right out of the proverbial water. They're not mindblowingly original and are unlikely to be hailed as groundbreaking pioneers of electronica or indie pop (they totally win my award for CUTEST BAND EVER though, giggle giggle), but they're fun, they're catchy, and they're refreshing. Call them MGMT-lite if you will, but sometimes all you need is something to dance to. I'm super excited to be seeing them live in about a couple weeks' time. If you're reading this and you're going to be in the KL area in the second week of January, what are you waiting for? GO GET TICKETS before that shit's sold out!
17. Frightened Rabbit [A Frightened Rabbit EP] // Scottish Winds
It may seem a bit like cheating to have a tiny little 3-song EP on a best albums list, but everything Frightened Rabbit does is flawless. FLAWLESS. If they had released nothing this year save for a sample of a three-chord progression, it would have probably made this list, and perhaps even topped it. What I have for these guys is mad mad love, kay? The three songs on this release are typical mist-and-rain drenched Scottish misery, with the usual lush instrumentation, and Scott Hutchison's melancholy brogue seemingly wrenching every word from the depths of his talented, long-suffering guts. Scottish Winds in particular wins for having some of the most gorgeous lyrics I have had the pleasure of hearing in 2011, and for making me feel more patriotic than any national anthem I have ever come across, including Italy's. And the Italian anthem is pretty damned stirring and all, so you know I mean business.
"Come burl around my body Scottish blood
I'll try not to spill a drop, I'm sure you've spilled enough
And the English fucking rule will mean nothing to these towns
Run forever in my veins bold Scottish blood"
18. Beirut [The Rip Tide] // Goshen
If I could, I would also totally hire Zach Condon to be my personal lullaby singer. It's like every sound that comes out of this guy's mouth is designed to make me melt. I love the stripped-down, minimal approach he has taken with The Rip Tide, which showcases the gorgeous gorgeous melodies, and Zach's even more gorgeous voice. Like East Harlem, Goshen centres around the same verses and chorus being repeated over slowly-building harmonies and drums and (for once, understated) trumpets. By the time this song has hit the 2-minute mark, I am already a puddle of gooey happy on the floor.
19. Florence + The Machine [Ceremonials] // What The Water Gave Me
Florence's second album is even more bombastic, grandiose and massive than her first, which is a feat I did not think she was capable of accomplishing. Her songs rarely go into subject matter more profound than boys and falling in love and breaking up, but all these are akin to cosmic events in Miss Welch's emotional spectrum, and the songs reveal this. The hooks are massive, the string section is filled to overflowing, the drums are thunderous and tribal, and her voice still soars over it all like some fiery-haired avenging angel.
Despite this, my favourite track off the album is the one with the most restraint, the most control, and as a result the most sophistication in songwriting and production. This is dark, sexy, compelling stuff. And unlike her usual dynamics of LOUD-soft-LOUDER-soft-LOUDEST, this track actually builds upon itself with a purpose and a tension, before finally breaking out into that crazy final section of crashing drums and harp and electric guitar. As much as I love Florence when she is loud and unabashed and excessive, What The Water Gave Me is a testament to how good she can be when she holds back. Time to take some pointers from yourself, girlfriend.
20. Frank Turner [England Keep My Bones] // Glory Hallelujah
Ever since I first met Frank Turner in a mixed CD sent to me by the always awesome Badtempered Zombie, I was unreasonably convinced that the guy was Canadian. Imagine my surprise when I finally found out that he is very English, and that his most recent album is a glorious meditation on Shakespeare,mortality and the very essence of Englishness. Glory Hallelujah, although probably not the best track on this album, is my favourite nonetheless ; it reminds me of everything I have learned to love about Mr. Turner. In four and a half minutes, and with the simplest of lyrics, he manages to defy God, divine intervention and organized religion, which may sound like atheist propaganda. But this track does more; it celebrates everything large and small about the beauty and freedom and joy of simple human existence, and on top of that he's got us clapping our hands and tapping our feet. Regardless of your opinions on God, this is just a great jam, you guys. And for a guy who spends so much time singing about death, Frank Turner makes some of the most life-affirming music I have ever heard in my still-young life.
21. Lykke Li [Wounded Rhymes] // Love Out Of Lust
Lykke Li's debut album was far too cutesy and precious for me to get into, so I truly welcomed the change in her sound this year. The new Lykke is edgy, angry, intense. Her voice is used to its full depth and volume, and what a voice it is. The tracks blend everything from synths to booming tribal drums to 60s girl group vocal stylings, and Lykke herself is by turns aggressively sexual and tenderly vulnerable. She is sassy and sensual on Get Some, where even her seduction sounds more like a death threat. But is when she gets melancholy and soft that she appeals to me the most ; Love Out Of Lust is gorgeous - the pounding drums are still there, but there is a longing, haunted quality to every instrument, down to that high-pitched, soaring whistle-thing that comes in during the chorus. "We will live longer than I will/We will be better than I was/We can cross rivers with our will/We can do better than I can". Badass Lykke Li is amazing, but this song is the most vulnerable and open she allows herself to become, and I can't help but love her all the more for it.
22. Ezra Furman & The Harpoons [Mysterious Power] // Teenage Wasteland
It's probably a bit much for a bunch of guys well out of college to keep singing about rebellious teenage apathy, but Ezra and his Harpoons do such a damn fine job of it, it's really hard to fault them. They are able to perfectly and hilariously articulate every angst-filled concern anyone has ever felt about their identity and place in the world (and failed relationships, for good measure) during the years of teenage-hood and the early twenties, and then couple that with noisy, raucous, harmonica-driven punkish rock that sonically encapsulates all the frustration and restlessness of that period of life. These guys make existential dilemmas FUN, and frankly I never want them to stop, because who knows what they've got in store for the mid-life crisis albums.
23. Bon Iver [Bon Iver, Bon Iver] // Holocene
Bon Iver and a kitty!
This album is still taking its time to grow on me, but I much prefer the more electric-based Bon Iver to the acoustic leanings of his debut which - and I have said this many times over many posts - initially succeeded only in putting me to sleep every time I tried to give it a shot. I've learned to appreciate the Justin Vernon vibe since then, but having said that, it's the single, almost 100% acoustic track Holocene that won me over. It's just a flat-out beautiful song in every way, and even the music video was filmed in Iceland. You don't get much prettier than Iceland, I tell you.
24. Lia Ices [Grown Unknown] // Daphne (featuring Justin Vernon)
Lia Ices' (which is evidently not her real name ; I should Google this shit) album is full of floaty, dreamy, string-drenched and handclap-adorned forest-esque folk. Tracks like the Bon Iver-supported and approved Daphne, and Ice Wine make me feel like I am being serenaded by a wood nymph or something. Every instrument has this air of ethereal sorrow about it, and it says a great deal that I find her voice the most beautiful and moving when she isn't singing words at all ; check out the 2:00 minute mark on Daphne and justify my feelings, dammit. Also this Justin Vernon douche is like, all over the place, isn't he? But the track really picks up and ascends into a higher level of gorgeousness once his unmistakable falsetto joins in, with drums and piano and electric guitar thrown in for good measure. Brings a tear to my eye, this does.
25. Austra [Feel It Break] // Lose It
Less creepy than the aforementioned Zola Jesus, Austra still comes armed with massive synth hooks and enough dark lyrical imagery to remind me of a less ethereal Bat For Lashes. While Beat and the Pulse would probably win the award for the most badass intro to any song I've heard this year, the wordless chorus in Lose It is simply the epitome of an earworm. It's fun and catchy, and for a track on an album with so much synth and electronica and cold robot sounds, it manages to be warm and wonderfully enchanting despite itself. Well played, Canadians.
