Anyone interested in some music recommendations? No? Well, too bad. I haven't tried to make a year-end list for a while, but I thought it might be fun to do this year. Warning for people who get annoyed by my music recommendations: this is going to be a long one. Excuse the narcissism. And though I bet a lot of the bands aren't ones the majority of people on this list are closely familiar with, anyone looking for new music should give the youtube links a shot: when it comes down to it, I think my music tastes tend to fall way more on the populist side of things than the esoteric. Most of the band names may be unfamiliar, but you've heard music like this before.
Anyway, this didn't seem to be a year full of great, transcendent albums, but it had a lot of albums I liked. I had a hard time both cutting the list down to the size it is (I originally wanted to get it down to 10, but couldn't. Besides, 13's my number) and determining what was the best of the list, to give you an idea on the standard deviation of quality.
13) Grouplove - Never Trust a Happy Song
I heard this band on MTV, since they now occasionally play music videos. I guess they're pop-indie. One of their songs is currently all over the place on an iPod commercial. I like a lot of the songs on this album, but I'm not sure if they're an actual good band. Also, they lose points because their female singer occasionally does white-person rap on a couple songs. Still, when they're good, they're infectious and fun.
Standout songs:
Tongue Tied
Colours
12) MuteMath - Odd Soul
Just heard about this band (while reading another year-end best of list incidentally). They're from New Orleans. Some of their songs sound like the Black Keys; some of them sound like Jamiroquai. They should tour with The Heavy. If I had more time with this album before writing this list, there's a chance I would have ranked it higher.
Standout songs:
Blood Pressure
Allies
11) Fucked Up - David Comes to Life
I really, really, really didn't want to like a hardcore band called Fucked Up. But then I heard this album, which everyone everywhere has been praising. Oh, and apparently the thing's a rock opera. I still don't care too much for their lead singer's hardcore bark, but musically, these guys are really good. I like to imagine Craig Finn replacing the lead singer; in such a hypothetical, the album would probably at least be the equal to Separation Sunday.
Standout song:
Queen of Hearts
10) Wild Flag - Wild Flag
This band has two of the former members of Sleater-Kinney, and though I never got into that band, I may need to give them a listen, if they're as good as this album. Good old-fashioned alternative rock (with some hints of New Wave thrown in) with a lead singer that sounds like Chrissy Hynde of the Pretenders. Upbeat, and the good tracks are really good.
Standout songs:
Romance
Endless Talk
9) The Roots - Undun
Requisite hip hop pick to prove I'm not too white. But this is probably my favorite Roots album ever. This is another concept album, with the tracks telling a story about some guy on the streets. Unlike Kanye, they can do a concept album that doesn't feel self-indulgent.
Standout songs:
Kool On
Lighthouse
8) Blitzen Trapper- American Goldwing
Do you like Southern rock? Then you need to listen to this album immediately.
Standout songs:
Might Find it Cheap
Love the Way You Walk Away
7) Yuck - Yuck
I talked a lot about this band a couple days ago. They really have the early 90's sound down. I wonder if being so tied to other bands' sounds is the wisest decision career-wise, but for one album, at least, it's pretty damn enjoyable. Also, it's weird, because the band released a deluxe edition of this album, with six extra songs, and every one of those songs is better than the tracks on the official album. I'm not sure what that means.
Standout songs:
Get Away (the Dinosaur Jr song)
Milkshake (the Teenage Fanclub song)
Cousin Corona (the Pixies song)
6) The Naked and Famous - Passive Me, Aggressive You
I wasn't sure whether to count these guys as 2010 or 2011. Their album came out in the US in March of 2011, but it had been out in New Zealand for half a year before that and was all over youtube. Anyway, this band is kinda in the mold of MGMT or Passion Pit; that kind of dance-y indie stuff. What makes this album superior to anything those two bands have ever done, in my opinion, is that occasionally they'll rock out on some tracks, sounding almost like Pretty Hate Machine-era Nine Inch Nails, without all the tortured genius lyrics. I've been listening to this album for so long the bloom's a little off the rose, but they're good.
Standout Songs
Young Blood
All of This
Punching in a Dream
5) Bon Iver - Bon Iver
I mentioned it before, but I bought this album early in the year when it came out, gave it one listen, didn't feel it grab me, and forgot about it for several months. But once the weather turned up here, I gave it another spin, and it's a pretty good winter album. Probably a little too precious for any time listening, but when in the right mood, it's pretty beautiful. It's also impressive that Justin Vernon could add a lot of instrumentation this time around (his previous album was little more than a guy and his acoustic guitar) and sound consistent.
Standout songs:
Calgary
Holocene
4) The Joy Formidable - The Big Roar
The other early 90's throwback band on this list. This band sounds more shoegaze to me than lo-fi though. Maybe the best guitar album of the year. I think I probably listened to the song "Whirring" more than anything else this year. The coda of this song is up there with some all time greats in my book; son of a bitch just keeps building and building. Rock!
Standout songs:
Whirring
Cradle
3) Florence + the Machine - Ceremonials
Great voice, great songs, great production. Pretty close to the platonic ideal for vh1 rock. I don't mean that as an insult. Man, what if Jim Steinman and Florence and the Machine teamed up? This needs to happen. Dear God, this needs to happen.
Standout songs:
Shake It Out
Only If For a Night
Lover to Lover
2) The Decemberists - The King is Dead
As much as I enjoy baroque rock operas about English folklore, I'm pretty glad the Decemberists just decided to make a normal album this time around. This is probably the best R.E.M. album in at least a decade. Also has a little bit of Springsteen and Neil Young in it too. Good stuff.
Standout songs:
Down by the Water
This is Why We Fight
Calamity Song
1) The Bewitched Hands - Birds & Drums
So, I'm a little nervous about putting this band number one (or, at least would be, were I not positive that even the most persistent of you probably bailed on this email at least six spots ago). My nervousness comes from the fact that I've only been listening to this album for about a week; I first heard it mentioned on the Sound Opinions podcast year-end special. I worry I don't yet have enough perspective to rank the album up against everything else.
But as of right now, I'm really in love with this album. On Sound Opinions they were described as being like The New Pornographers (they're not all that much) and Broken Social Scene (that's a little closer) but with some psychedelia mixed in with their power pop. They actually seem to have learned a lot of their power pop from the Beatles (who hasn't?), but it's probably impossible to say a band sounds like the Beatles nowadays.
They're a French band, so I'm not sure the lyrics (which are in English) really mean anything, but like the New Pornographers, I don't need to know what the lyrics are about to know what the song is about.
Instrumentally, they sound like they have about 50 members but they're able to make it all sound catchy. I could (and have) been listening to them over and over again.
Standout songs:
Hard to Cry
Work
Happy with You
Sahara Dream
Hell, just listen to the whole damn album.
So that's my list. Anyone have anything they really liked this year that I missed? I'm always looking for new stuff to hear, and as hackneyed as all the year-end lists can be, they are pretty useful tools for finding stuff that slipped by your radar.
