And without further ado, here are TWJ’s Top 10 albums of 2011. Stay tuned for our songs lists in the days to come!
#10 Youth Lagoons – Year of Hibernation (Fat Possum)
In a recent interview I read with Trevor Powers, Youth Lagoon’s brainchild, he described how he suffered terrible anxiety–an anxiety that led him to write these album’s blissfully heart-wrenching songs. He is only in his early 20′s, but with lyrics such as “If I hadn’t let go/then only god knows where I would be now/I made a bridge between us and I slowly burnt it”, you would think he has many more years under his belt. His explosive take on piano/keyboard driven emo power-pop is a true pleasure to listen to. And anxiety or not, when I saw him live just a few months ago, I think he snuck in some smiles. A true measure of a great songwriter truly enjoying what he does best.
-Cole
#9 Wye Oak – Civilian (Merge)
Baltimore, Maryland’s Wye Oak is but two people. One cheery Jenn Wasner, whose voice turns weighted and wood-grained the moment she begins to sing, and mild-mannered Andy Stack who transforms into a hundred armed Hekatonkheires, playing drums and keyboards simultaneously, and MIGHTY WELL too. Unlike other list toppers, Civilian isn’t made of a series of defining moments or songs. Although, there are fantastic songs on the record (“Holy Holy”, “Civilian”, “Fish”, “Hot As Day”, “Doubt”), Civilian is #9 because it has an overwhelming sense of connectivity, as if it spans and encompasses the whole scope of someone’s life. Over the ten tracks, Wasner narrates stories that can easily be interpreted as catalysts for growth; personal or otherwise. It’s as if the whole record is a journey guided by all the ghosts of Christmas; capable of introducing you to your past, present, and future. If you sit down and really listen to Civilian from beginning to end, it’s hard to deny that it has some measure of the weight of the world behind it. If you’re looking for an escapist experience, the 2011 Wye Oak submission doesn’t have the magical land you want. Instead, Civilian is that wise old man at the bar, who if you sit down next to him, will tell you his tale.
-Matt
#8 The Antlers – Burst Apart (Frenchkiss)
A lot of people are going to hate me for saying this, but I see the The Antlers’ Burst Apart, as a Radiohead combined with Arcade Fire. Even if you aren’t an indie music snob, I think there is something for everyone on Burst Apart, and recommend giving it a couple listens.
Peter Silberman’s vocals have a lot of similarities with Thom Yorke’s, and for me, this album is straightforward and very accessible. When I first heard Burst Apart I wasn’t completely smitten. After listening to the album again, it started to grow on me; and then the third round completely roped me in. The first song to catch my attention was “Parentheses”, which sounds to me right out of the Radiohead playbook. The soaring falsetto, driving baseline and drums, distorted guitar, could be on a trippy Bond soundtrack. “Rolled Together” and “Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out” are also great tracks. Both songs have a softness that builds into an aggressive sort of frustration. “I Don’t Want Love,” “Corsicana,” and “Putting The Dog To Sleep,” all contain a quieter quality, and are reminiscent of the more sorrowful preceding album, Hospice, without the acoustic guitar.
Do yourself and favor and give this album a first, or second, run through and check out The Antlers’ superb album. I’m just saying, Burst Apart is pretty amazing. I was surprised it wasn’t on more “best album of the year” lists.
-Glenn
#7 Anna Calvi – Anna Calvi (Domino)
Every second Anna Calvi’s self-titled debut is hidden behind a red velvet curtain infused by incense and smoke from the meetings and celebrations of a thousands patrons. Her secret rooms beyond the veil are lantern lit and slightly sinister: dark and shadow cast. The cabaret magic and gypsy cinders flow like a river out of each track on the 10 song compilation; each a massive profession of a declaration within Ms. Calvi’s timid soul. In person, she’s the quietest and most polite Fräulein (she’s actually quite English) in crimson and black you’ll ever meet. But once “Desire” hits, you’ll be flailing for a handrail. Lower my inhibitions one centimeter and I will rack up a century’s worth of embarrassment in those 3 minutes and 51 seconds. I will dance.
Anna Calvi is the one true character to emerge this year; splendid in her colored costumes and humble in personality. If ever there was an icon, a legend to be, mark my words, it WILL be her. With further songs like “Suzanne and I”, “Blackout”, “Love Won’t Be Leaving” -driven by her cyclical guitar churning and harmonium and percussive accompaniment- she can decimate your whole being. Be careful, but go to her now.
-Matt
#6 tUnE – yArDs – Whokill (4ad)
tUnE-yArDs’ sophomore release hit the music scene by storm this year. Connecticut native, Merrill Garbus rocks it as one-woman spectacular busting screeching lyrics through speakers worldwide. She was born to do it and Whokill aims to please.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, Merril is performing at the h…,” the first track relays to its audience followed by appropriated lyrics from “My Country Tis of Thee.” Pulling social and cultural references from the contemporary, the songs leave you with an eerie after-dinner mint as she sings sweet proverbs into the microphone, such as “the thing about living a lie is wondering when they’ll find out.”
Her single “Bizness” is an anthem for any triumph– and the music video fits the bill. The song, wait, the whole album, screams hipster dance party. Garbus’s voice speaking the dissonant lullabies of “Powa” will make you want to time-travel to a 1930s club in order to sway to the simple, yet fulfilling beat. A refrain at 2:54 reminds you of her ability to captivate with unexpected nuances. “Gangsta” and “You Yes You” will turn any bad day around.
Yes, this girl is on fire. “Gangsta” has been used in the television shows Weeds and The Good Wife. Can’t wait for the next release. My bad dance moves need this music and my soul needs the lyrics.
-Shiloh
#5 Little Scream – The Golden Record (Secretly Canadian)
It’s been a long time since I’ve been impressed by a debut album as much as I was by Laurel Sprengelmeyer’s Little Scream. Potentially Feist mark II, Sprengelmeyer has a voice that can whisper and soar within a breath and the song-crafting abilities to match it. On 2011′s The Golden Record, she goes choral on the very first track (“The Lamb”), almost going ethereal on the fading cries, and immediately blending into the album’s powerhouse, “Cannons”, which delivers a mighty speakeasy piano hook capable of knocking you off your lazy rocker. But what’s most impressive is how fantastically each song seems to (simultaneously) exactly where you want it to/where you least expect it to. As if Sprengelmeyer IS your mind’s gatekeeper, seeing and delivering precisely what you need.
With contributory help from members of Stars, Arcade Fire, and The National, her record doesn’t lack for breadth; expanding and contracting like a living thing, inhaling (“The Heron and the Fox”) and exhaling (“Your Radio”) with stadium guitar riffs and pounding percussive rhythms, and harmonies. Sweet, sweet massive harmonies. There isn’t a single song that doesn’t have something to delight you with. “Boatman” is one such example; giving the prim and proper their waltzing piano intro, only to snap kick into a metal guitar thrum and back again. And, quite perfectly, The Golden Record ends with a drenching thunderstorm. You’ll fade with the torrents and chimes.
-Matt
#4 Bon Iver – Bon Iver (Jagjaguwar)
Bon Iver has exploded into a household name in 2011. At first, I wasn’t sure why, considering For Emma, Forever Ago was not mainstream material, but Bon Iver seems to have reached many more people.
After listening to the self-titled album multiple times, it is much smoother and more produced, yet it still hasn’t lost the vulnerable uniqueness that made For Emma, Forever Ago so appealing. The most noticeable aspect of Bon Iver is Justin Vernan’s drawn out falsetto, but what they’ve done in the sophomore album is to add multi-layered instrumentation, with guest appearances on sax and lap guitar, and a much fuller sound, which the simpler For Emma didn’t have. Bon Iver also manages to bring a less lonely feeling, while still keeping the slow build up into a lavish crescendos. My favorite songs are all towards the beginning of album, including, the brilliant “Holocene”, with equally gorgeous video. “Minnesota, WA,” adds a new vibe to the album with double bass drums, and distorted saxophone. “Michicant” and “Towers” fill out the first five songs in excellent form.
You gotta listen to this album with headphones on in order to hear all of the intricacies, and my advice is to just lie back and let the soulfulness wash over you.
-Glenn
#3 Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues (Sub Pop)
Harnessing the energy of a great debut record is something special. Which is why the sophomore slump has felled many a band. But what Fleet Foxes has done with Helplessness Blues is impressive in two ways: first, they have retained the gorgeous harmonies and earnestness that made them appealing to legions of fans. And second, they have built on the sound that made us all believe in their promise after hearing that debut. Look no further for evidence of their growth than the guitar breakdown at the end of “Sim Sala Bim,” the examination of self and surroundings present on “Montezuma,” the transitions and dreamy balladry on the record’s title track, or the woodwinds and tempo shifts before the glorious conclusion to “The Plains/Bitter Dancer.”
There is such beauty on Helplessness Blues, and it comes from a darker place than did their debut. It is perhaps the reflection that comes with achieving a level of success. The sting of rejection and worries about mortality are mingled with the wide-eyed wonder here. And the complexity of the songs matches that depth of feeling. Everything here feels carefully constructed, but it doesn’t feel forced or fake. One of its strangest moments is perhaps the perfect example of why the album is so impressive: the final 90 seconds of “The Shrine/An Argument.” Brass and stringed instruments go a bit berserk, and a calm melody flows underneath all the while. Fleet Foxes take some impressive risks on Helplessness Blues, but the band’s members always lean on their exceptional gift for harmony and their talent as musicians. And those elements are strong enough to make all those taken chances pay off.
-Sean
#2 Feist – Metals (Cherrytree/Interscope)
This latest output from Feist has all the warmth an album recorded in a makeshift Big Sur studio should. To hear her tell it in interviews, the sessions for Metals were more collaborative than perhaps any she’s had in her career. The result is a record that breathes, and is alive. Vibrant even are the moments where this album is nothing more than Leslie Feist pouring her honey-dipped voice all over the listener’s eardrums.
A close listen to Metals reveals the wonderfully imperfect moments: the sounds of tambourines being picked up before they’re even played; a single, slightly off-kilter striking of a piano key; the unraveling vibration of electric guitar. There is no “1 2 3 4” on this record, and there doesn’t need to be. There are myriad working parts present on Metals. Every horn section, every orchestral flourish, each sung or shouted background chorus and vocal. These songs deliver intricate, breathtaking moments and are still somehow fit together by a single theme: the imperfection of real love, and how its faults sometimes overpower its more fanciful qualities.. And Leslie Feist delivers on every single track. She has a remarkable ability to sound so breakable one moment, and so unbreakable the next. These songs don’t feel as though they could be sung by anyone else, and their strength comes from — despite all the collaboration — being delivered with such clarity. Metals is unmistakably Feist.
-Sean
#1 M83 – Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming (Mute)
Anthony Gonzalez is now the only lifetime member of the entity that is M83, and Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming is meant to be an opus of sorts. Gonzalez spent more than three years constructing the 22 tracks, which reward repeated listening with both their intricacies and more overt, hammer-it-home moments. There are elements of everything M83 has produced up to this point, and yet nothing feels contrived or recycled, and each piece fits together perfectly. Each track builds on another, and that’s a credit to Gonzalez’s vision and his determination to make Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming something special, which it really is.
To name a handful of my favorite pieces of Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming is to leave a slew of them out, but try these: The slow-and-steady epicness of ‘Wait”; the catchy-as-hell guitar strum and charging beat of “Year One, One UFO”; the childlike fantasy-weaving of “Raconte-Moi Une Histoire,” voiced by adorable children; the musings about backseat makeout sessions on “Reunion”; the low-key sentimental psych-rock of “Soon, My Friend” and its one repeated line (I’ll be yours, someday); the brain-rattling drums, trippy synthwaves and soaring vocals on “Steve McQueen.” And that’s not even mentioning gems like “Midnight City,” which Matt described perfectly here, or “New Map.”
The fact of the matter is, no album this year felt as complete and cohesive to us here at The Wounded Jukebox than this one. Gonzalez stated that he felt the album encompassed his 30 years as a human being, and it’s easy to see where that sentiment comes from. Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming glows with that same intensity that we’ve all felt when we close our eyes at night and dive into a whole new world.
-Sean
And as a little bonus to ourselves and you, we’ve decided to share the personal Top 5 favorites records of the year from of all our editors, writers, contributors and graphic artists. Enjoy!
Sean
1. M83 – Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
2. Feist – Metals
3. Tune-Yards – Whokill
4. Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
5. The Rural Alberta Advantage – Departing
Matt
1. Anna Calvi – Anna Calvi
2. Little Scream – The Golden Record
3. Bombay Bicycle Club – A Different Kind of Fix
4. John Maus – We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves
5. Hail Mary Mallon – Are You Gonna Eat That?
Glenn
1. Bon Iver – Bon Iver
2. The Antlers – Burst Apart
3. Blue Scholars – Cinemetropolis
4. Cave Singers – No Witch
5. Shabazz Palaces – Black Up
Cole
1. M83 – Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
2. WU LYF – Go Tell Fire to the Mountain
3. Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks – Mirror Traffic
4. …and you will know us by the trail of dead – Tao of the Dead
5. Blanck Mass – Blanck Mass
Shiloh
1. The Kills – Blood Pressures
2. Tune-Yards – Whokill
3. Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
4. Eleanor Friedberger – Last Summer
5. Battles – Gloss Drop
Allison
1. Thao & Mirah – Thao & Mirah
2. Battles – Gloss Drop
3. Timber Timbre – Creep On Creepin’ On
4. Class Actress – Rapprocher
5. The Dodos – No Color
Lacie
1. Iron & Wine – Kiss Each Other Clean
2. Feist – Metals
3. The Decemberists – The King Is Dead
4. The Roots – Undun
5. Primus – Green Naugahyde
