As you get older, you get more set in your ways and it’s hard to keep up, seek out and absorb new music and much easier to just flip on Pandora (or the radio, if you’re 100), and just go with the flow. Keeping up with your favorites is easy but generally your favorites tend to disappoint just an album or two after they’re anointed with the distinction. Albums by The Strokes and Radiohead fell short this year which left room for some discoveries. The music I listened to most in 2011 was a mix of my favorite bands (Okkervil River, Handsome Furs), newer artists (Smith Westerns, Lykke Li), bands I’d already written off (Fountains of Wayne, Wilco) and a few artists that had been around for decades but had never clicked with me until now (PJ Harvey, Stephen Malkmus).
1. Okkervil River - I Am Very Far
Favorite Tracks: Piratess, Rider, Wake And Be Fine
2. PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
Favorite Tracks: Let England Shake, The Last Living Rose, The Words That Maketh Murder
3. Smith Westerns - Dye It Blonde
Favorite Tracks: Weekend, Imagine Pt. 3, Dye The World
4. Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes
Favorite Tracks: I Follow Rivers, Unrequited Love, Get Some
5. Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost
Favorite Tracks: My Ma, Vomit, Jamie Marie
6. Stephen Malkmus - Mirror Traffic
Favorite Tracks: Tigers, Stick Figures In Love, Long Hard Book
7. The Black Keys - El Camino
Favorite Tracks: Lonely Boy, Dead And Gone, Run Right Back
8. Fountains of Wayne - Sky Full of Holes
Favorite Tracks: The Summer Place, Someone’s Gonna Break Your Heart, Cemetery Guns
9. The Pains of Being Pure At Heart - Belong
Favorite Tracks: Belong, Heavens Gonna Happen Now, Heart In Your Heartbreak
10. Handsome Furs - Sound Kapital
Favorite Tracks: Memories Of The Future, Repatriated, No Feelings
Notable: Alex Turner, Beirut, Bon Iver, Cults, Drive Soundtrack,Fleet Foxes,Radiohead, The Strokes,TV On The Radio, Wilco.
music
listomania
okkervil river
pj harvey
smith westerns
stephen malkmus
lykke li
girls
drive
wilco
fountains of wayne
pains of being pure at heart
handsome furs
tv on the radio
fleet foxes
bon iver
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Pains Of Being Pure At Heart started streaming their sophomore album “Belong” on their website on Friday and I listened to it about a dozen times before (and after) realizing it was automatically repeating itself. My only criticism of the band the first time around was that they made it seem too easy but the songs are still good so I really can’t complain. The guitars are a little louder this time around thanks to production by Alan Moulder and Flood superproducers behind 90s albums from Smashing Pumpkins, My Bloody Valentine among others. This album sounds like Spring.
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pains of being pure at heart
1. HANDSOME FURS - FACE CONTROL
The first album I really loved this year remains my favorite album of 2009. While I still prefer their debut Plague Park, the songs on this album were built for being played live, which helps considering I saw them 3 times this year.
FAVORITE TRACKS: I’m Confused, Thy Will Be Done, Radio Kaliningrad
2. PHOENIX - WOLFGANG AMADEUS PHOENIX
Phoenix make it all look so easy. Monster singles make Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix endlessly replayable (even if the middle of the album sags a bit). They are also incredible live, they may be “indie” in America but they are rock stars in Europe and it shows when they play.
FAVORITE TRACKS: Lisztomania, 1901, Armistice
3. GRIZZLY BEAR - VECKATIMEST
I’d tried listening to Grizzly Bear’s previous album Yellow House a few times but it wasn’t until earlier this year when their song Knife finally grabbed me. Veckatimest was the perfect storm of being ready to hear the album and the album delivering.
FAVORITE TRACKS:Two Weeks, Cheerleader, While You Wait For The Others
4. YEAH YEAH YEAHS - IT’S BLITZ
The first half of this album is all hits, if the second half could keep up this would be even higher on my list. I saw them live 4 times this year and they were always the best.
FAVORITE TRACKS: Heads Will Roll, Soft Shock, Dull Life
5. BEIRUT - MARCH OF THE ZAPOTEC/HOLLAND
This bi-polar double EP was enough to carry me through the early months of this year during my Beirut obesssion.
FAVORITE TRACKS: La Llorona, My Night With The Prostitute From Marseille, The Concubine
6. JULIAN CASABLANCAS - PHRAZES FOR THE YOUNG
Once you get over the layer of 80’s synth gloss, there are really good pop songs on this album and I was able to enjoy them without bringing any of the expectations I would to a new Strokes album. That said, let’s bring on the new Strokes album.
FAVORITE TRACKS: Out Of The Blue, Left & Right In The Dark, Tourist
7. THE FLAMING LIPS - EMBRYONIC
I’ve never been a huge Flaming Lips fan, so I’m as surprised as anybody to find their “difficult” new album so compulsively replayable.
FAVORITE TRACKS: Convinced Of The Hex, See The Leaves, Silver Trembling Hands
8. DEERHUNTER - RAINWATER CASSETTE EXCHANGE
Only 5 songs but still better than almost everything else this year.
FAVORITE TRACKS: Disappearing Ink, Famous Last Words, Circulation
9. WHITE RABBITS - IT’S FRIGHTENING
In lieu of a new Spoon album, the White Rabbits did a good job of filling the void of the great Spoon drought of 2009.
FAVORITE TRACKS: Percussion Gun, Rudie Fails, They Done Wrong/We Done Wrong
10. THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART
Belle & Sebastian + REM + My Bloody Valentine + The Cure = Try not to listen to this.
FAVORITE TRACKS: Contender, Come Saturday, Young Adult Friction
11. KAREN O AND THE KIDS - WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE
Before it gets released on Blu-Ray the movie exists only in my head when I hear these songs. I may prefer this one to the one I saw in theatres.
FAVORITE TRACKS: Worried Shoes, Rumpus, Heads Up
12. LILY ALLEN - IT’S NOT ME, IT’S YOU
I’m not sure how this got here.
FAVORITE TRACKS: The Fear, Not Fair, Chinese
13. PASSION PIT - MANNERS
Something happened this year where I really wanted to listen to Passion Pit until I really could not stand to listen to them anymore. Still, credit must be paid.
FAVORITE TRACKS: Little Secrets, The Reeling, Sleepyhead
14. PETER BJORN & JOHN - LIVING THING
Early in the year PB&J stood out. Now: notsomuch.
FAVORITE TRACKS: It Don’t Move Me, Nothing To Worry About, Blue Period Picasso
15. VARIOUS ARTISTS - DARK WAS THE NIGHT
A grab bag of songs from various indie artists ends up feeling almost like a “real” album.
FAVORITE TRACKS: Knotty Pine, Deep Blue Sea, You Are The Blood
listomania
music
handsome furs
phoenix
grizzly bear
yeah yeah yeahs
beirut
julian casablancas
the flaming lips
deerhunter
white rabbits
pains of being pure at heart
karen o
lily allen
passion pit
peter bjorn & john
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
I’ve had this album for a couple months and it’s so catchy that I actually don’t trust it. You can hear traces of Belle & Sebastian, The Jesus and Mary Chain, REM, My Bloody Valentine and The Cure in each of the 10 familiar sounding tracks. Sounds good, right? It’s not reinventing the wheel, but it’s really fun. And suspiciously listenable.
pains of being pure at heart
music
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