Even if you are a casual follower of end-of-the-year lists, chances are by now you’ve grown weary of reading so many. We are admittedly a little late to the game, which is bound to happen when blogging about pop culture is relegated to our leisure time. If you haven’t read any other “Best of 2011″ lists, there really are some great ones sprinkled all about the Internet that you should check out. We relied on these lists ourselves to highlight what shouldn’t be missed. Then we came together and in very meta fashion compiled our own list, specific to the GRTM community. But really, its not so much about the list as it is about taking the opportunity to discuss what music got us excited and why. We hope you enjoy reading the post and if this list encourages you to buy one of these artists’ albums or go to a show, well then all the furious debate and agonizing over ranking and point systems will have been worth it. There’s so much great music not even mentioned here, so feel free to speak up and let us know what your 2011 jam was.
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10. Wild Flag – Wild Flag
No album exuded more pure joy than Wild Flag’s self-titled debut. Comprised of seasoned veterans from Sleater-Kinney, Helium, and The Minders, Wild Flag gets to have its cake and eat it too, combining the joy of youthfulness and the kind of talent that only emerges from experience. This is straight up guitar rock, but expertly crafted, with scuzzy riffs and propulsive drum fills aplenty, and peppered with hints of psychedelia or punk in tracks like “Glass Tambourine” or “Short Version,” respectively. The sensation of the pure ecstasy that permeates the album is what truly sets it above the fray, though. Songs like album opener “Romance” or foot-stomper “Electric Band” are all about the communal rapture that is the distinct byproduct of living in the music, either by making or listening to it. “We love the sound/The sound is what found us/The sound is the blood between me and you.” After years making music, Wild Flag knows that, unless your hips are shaking and feet are tapping, you’re doing it wrong.
(Evan Mather)
9. The Decemberists – The King is Dead
This was my early frontrunner for 2011 album of the year, and it never relinquished the top spot. There were a few close moments as I fell in love with these other albums, but this is too perfect an album to not take my personal top spot. In fact, the biggest knock on The King Is Dead seems to be that it’s too perfect. The King Is Dead comes from a long line of great and varied albums by the Decemberists, and this one’s an Americana-pop masterpiece. It’s the most concise and accessible songwriting Colin Meloy has ever shown us, and it works on every level. From stomping anthem (“Don’t Carry It All”), to post-apocalyptic two-step (“Calamity Song”), to heartfelt ode to Meloy’s son (“Rise to Me”), it all works. Add Gillian Welch’s perfect background vocals to the mix, and you have an endlessly interesting and listenable record. Our whole family of five loves this album. I would guess that we’ve listened to this entire album well over 50 times this year, never skipping a track, with many more listens to come.
(Andrew Gates)
8. St. Vincent – Strange Mercy
Strange Mercy took listeners on a winding path, making sharp turns whenever it seemed like we knew where Annie Clark was going. Her tremendous guitar skills are featured much more prominently than on 2009’s Actor, often ripping through elegiac string arrangements like a chainsaw. Her mixture of electronic instruments, complex and lofty vocals and buzzing guitar creates a textured and elastic-sounding album that draws the listeners in again and again. Clark’s lyrics paint vivid landscapes that recall David Lynch’s vision of the suburbs, a dark and sad core within a polished, idealized exterior. The album is at its best with the one-two punch of “Cheerleader,” whose angry chorus pounds like slamming doors, and “Surgeon,” a hazy, gorgeous ballad that burns with a strange mix of desperation and seduction.
(Ryan Ebling)
7. TV on the Radio – 9 Types of Light
TV On the Radio is a very complex band. They combine many disparate elements from Jazz to Funk, Soul and Hip Hop to Punk. They often prove to be an acquired taste if for no other reason than the fact that it takes several listens to sort out everything that is going on in their music and find the thread of cosmos that unites all of their seeming chaos. But that underlying order is definitely there, and it is especially easy to tap into in their latest album, 9 Types of Light. Admittedly, I got into TV on the Radio on this album, but it wasn’t for lack of trying previously. For me this is the album that made all of their previous work click. This album is not merely strong for being the most accessible, however. It is really strong for being, in my opinion, the best and most artful fusion of all of these disparate elements they constantly work to marry together. Many bands try to fuse genres that we are supposed to appreciate and result in something that is more “experimental” than interesting, but the core strength of 9 Types of Light is that it isn’t music that demands detached appreciation, it wants you to get up and move.
(Tim Yoder)
6. Tom Waits – Bad As Me
Tom Waits has been around longer than any other artist on this list, and with that said, your like or dislike of Bad as Me may well be a foregone conclusion. By now, either you know and like him, you don’t, or you have yet to discover him for yourself. This album may not be the best place to start with our old friend, but what makes it so refreshing is the simple fact that it is still really good. So many artists out there with as many years of acclaim behind them simply run out of steam and keep producing mediocre material rather than go a long time without releasing something. Others do some very inadvisable things in an attempt to stay relevant (Mr. Reed, for example, who will not be appearing on this list). Tom Waits does not need to truck with that. Somehow he manages to continue producing the same high-quality material while staying every bit as odd and innovative as before. You may not agree with each experimental element he adds, but in the end, Waits can always fall back on his exceptional story telling to make his albums great.
(Tim Yoder)
5. Low – C’mon
2007’s Drums and Guns left most Low fans wondering what on earth was coming next. Its sonic palette, based predominantly on simple loops, a droning organ and a very angry Alan Sparhawk, made for a substantially different appeal than the lovely minimalism of the old days. Clearly, here was a band tired of the same old and ready to try something new, even at the expense of alienating longtime fans and arguably eschewing an aesthetic which they had themselves made into a cult. So it was with a measure of relief that longtime Low fans put on this year’s C’mon and heard: a lovely record – a very, very lovely record. Lush, understated, and melodic, it plays like an overview of Low’s discography, with elements of the bleak early stuff, yet more song-based, as has been their wont more recently. Sparhawk’s guitar work has matured quite a bit in recent years, and that’s on display here, most notably on the 8-minute epic “Nothing But Heart.” Meanwhile, the songwriting is as strong as ever, and at times even a bit stronger. Notably the songs themselves are more developed, both sonically and melodically, than in the past, and while this makes for a different appeal than the early stuff, it also makes for a terrific record which only gets better with repeated listens.
(Ethan McCarthy)
4. Wilco – The Whole Love
The first sounds of opening track “Art of Almost” are revelatory. I’ve long loved Wilco, so I was expecting to like this record, but it only took a few seconds to know that I’d probably love this one. When I saw Wilco in concert in 2006, I suspected that I was witnessing one of the greatest American rock bands of all time in action, and as they continue to make music, they only confirm that suspicion. This album contains pop gems (“I Might,” “Dawned on Me,” “Born Alone” and the title track) alongside strong ballads (“Black Moon,” “Open Mind,” “Rising Red Lung”), sandwiched between two of the best songs Wilco’s ever recorded (“Art of Almost” and “One Sunday Morning”). As I declared upon my first listen, a bit tongue-in-cheek, ”The Whole Love is the whole truth.” Listen and discover how true it is.
(Andrew Gates)
3. Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
On paper, Helplessness Blues, the Fleet Foxes’ follow-up to their self-titled debut, isn’t too far of a departure, but more of a refining and deepening of their lushly harmonized folk sound. But oh, what a deepening! The songs springing from band-leader Robin Pecknold were so numerous that they needed to be combined into several multi-part song medleys ala side B of Abbey Road. The melodies on this album seem to have been harvested from some profound, elemental source, with a sound so eternal that it seems as if these arrangements of notes always existed even before they’d ever sprung from anyone’s lips or fingers. There’s more lyrical complexity, whether wistful in love songs like “Lorelai” or profound and spiritual in “The Plains/Bitter Dancer.” Still, it’s the music that sets this album as one of the true masterpieces of modern folk music, with sonic ventures like the conclusion of “The Shrine/An Argument” sounding like the combination of an orchestra tuning up and a crowded barnyard, which is exactly what the whole album is: a marriage of the purest elemental nature and the mystical struggle to transcend it all.
(Evan Mather)
2. Radiohead – The King of Limbs
To me, the phantom blobs haunting the cover of King of Limbs are a spot-on representation of this year’s Radiohead album. Unlike the more song-oriented In Rainbows, King of Limbs might require a few listens before revealing the structure hiding in the music. This collection of songs is more like an amoeba, fluid and shapeless but with a strong membrane of unique melodies holding it all together. Ambient samples and loops swirl and swell in and out of the mix leaving you unsure of what you’re supposed to be focusing on. The tones creep up and come from weird places- the pulsating feedback loop signaling the chorus of “Morning Mr. Magpie,” fugelhorns echoing from a distance on “Bloom” and “Codex,” or the entire mix functioning as its own volume knob on “Feral.” King of Limbs is a studio-oriented album capturing one of today’s most innovative bands stretching the boundaries of sound manipulation. The experimentation on side A sets the listener up for a near perfect side B. All the elements of Radiohead’s technique build up to a perfect execution in “Lotus Flower” right before moving into “Codex” and “Give Up The Ghost,” arguably the most beautiful 8 minutes of music in 2011. King of Limbs is Radiohead’s shortest album yet. At just over 37 minutes it never outwears its welcome. Its easy to put on repeat and listen to 3-4 times in a row, finding something new each and every time. Which, after all, is what we’ve come to expect from Radiohead at this point.
(Nate Gass)
1. Bon Iver – Bon Iver
I gave this album a thorough listen during a rainy day in Indiana. My friend was gushing about this album while giving me a tour of the recession-destroyed area surrounding South Bend. That setting might have to be the required environment for a first exposure to Bon Iver, and while I’m willing to admit that’s mostly me prescribing my context, there’s a bit of truth to it. Justin Vernon has had a strong connection to the midwest, particularly Wisconsin, my home state, since he started. Somehow, an artist coming out of an uncool place and making some uncool decisions on his newest album managed to produce the most heartfelt and trend-bucking album of the past few years. To the extent that he’s a folk artist who created an album that deviates dramatically from his previous sound, he’s treading a path beaten by Sufjan Stevens last year and Iron & Wine earlier this year. Still, In a decade drenched in nostalgic throwbacks, he utilizes older sounds that don’t seem borne down by the weight of pop’s history. In addition to risks like the inclusion of the smooth synth and sax and the double kick drum, he also risked being completely sincere about all of it. Age of Adz occasionally turned a winking eye to the audience, but Vernon’s falsetto never betrays an ounce of irony or misdirection and in the hands of virtually any other artist, songs like the miraculous “Beth/Rest” would have become a guarded joke or cut altogether. Bon Iver is a masterful album that deserves all of the praise it has received this year and more.
(Stephen Hull)
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