You know what December means, besides reading schmaltzy Christmas books? It’s Top Ten time! Without further ado…
10. Yuck - Yuck
It’s 1993 again, you guys, except no homework!
Favorite songs: “Georgia,” “The Wall,” “Sunday”
9. A Winter Tale – Bobby Long
Whatever – I’m not ashamed.
Favorite songs: “In the Frost,” “Two Years Old,” “Being a Mockingbird”
8. The People’s Key – Bright Eyes
Conor Oberst goes mainstream (with the my favorite crazy ramblings – paaaahmagranate).
Favorite Songs: “Jejune Stars,” “Shell Games,” “Triple Spiral”
7. Take Care, Take Care, Take Care – Explosions in the Sky
I think this may be my favorite work of theirs so far; it feels the most warm to me.
Favorite songs: “Trembling Hands,” “Postcard from 1952,” “Last Known Surroundings”
6. Bon Iver - Bon Iver
I can even forgive the song that sounds like bad* Phil Collins, because the rest is so good.
Favorite songs: “Holocene,” “Towers,” “Calgary”
5. The King is Dead – The Decemberists
The Decemberists are back on form, and thank God. Best ballad-writing of the year!
Favorite Songs: “January Hymn,” “Calamity Song,” “June Hymn”
4. Mountaintops - Mates of State
Because everyone needs a little glee in their lives, and I’m not talking about the TV show. Best singalong of the year!
Favorite songs: “Maracas,” “Palomino,” “Change,” “Desire”
3. Helplessness Blues – Fleet Foxes
I want to curl up in front of a fire with Robin Pecknold’s voice. Best harmonies of the year!
Favorite songs: “Helplessness Blues,” “Battery Kinzie,” “Grown Ocean,” “Montezuma,” “Lorelai”
2. Hotel Shampoo – Gruff Rhys
Gruff’s most sophisticated solo album yet, and its inclusion here is hardly surprising. Best lounge rock of the year!
Favorite Songs: “Vitamin K,” “Honey All Over,” “Christopher Columbus,” “At the Heart of Love,” “Follow the Sunflower Trail (Theme Tune for a National Strike) [bonus track]“
1. What Did You Expect from the Vaccines – The Vaccines
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! Album of the year!
Favorite songs: Pretty much all of them, but especially “Post Break-Up Sex,” “Wetsuit,” “If You Wanna,” “A Lack of Understanding,” “All in White”
And here is a bit more:
Best songs from albums on the cusp:
“Weekend” from Dye it Blonde by Smith Westerns
“Heart in your Heartbreak” from Belong by The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
“Dig a Little Deeper” from Gimme Some by Peter Bjorn & John
Biggest disappointments:
Burst Apart – The Antlers
Kaputt – Destroyer
Embarrassingly Small List of Concerts I Attended (or, as my husband puts it, Wow, We Were Lame This Year)
(this may be the strangest list ever)
The Antlers
Bobby Long
Usher
Journey
Lil Wayne
Morrissey
Please feel free to share your top tens or favorites from this year in the comments. I’d love to see what you thought of this year’s music!
*Not all Phil Collins is bad… you do know this, right? Don’t make me break out “Take Me Home” on you.
I haven’t checked your list yet, so I will come back for comments…
Here’s my TOP 10 of 2011:
10. WOUNDED RHYMES – Lykke Li
9. GO-GO BOOTS – Drive-By Truckers
8. HELPLESSNESS BLUES – Fleet Foxes
7. ALL ETERNALS DECK – The Mountain Goats
6. SUCK IT & SEE – Arctic Monkeys
5. FATHER, SON, HOLY GHOST – Girls
4. WATCH THE THRONE – Jay-Z & Kanye West
3. HURRY UP, WE’RE DREAMING – M83
2. TAKE CARE – Drake
1. KAPUTT – Destroyer*
*It’s a masterpiece, no matter what Mandy and Victor say…
Mark –
I tried SO HARD with the Destroyer album, but all I could do was picture someone in white loafers doing lines of coke.
We just got that Drake album, and I’ve enjoyed it so far. I’ll have to give it a few more listens.
I think I like Jay-Z and Kanye when they’re not just telling me how rich they are. I prefer sad, angry Kanye à la his last two albums. That being said, “Niggas in Paris” is a great song. That shit cray.
Hip-hop has always been about braggadocio, yo! Don’t hate (“ain’t that like LeBron James?/Ain’t that just like D-Wade?”)! But the album is deeper than that. And the tracks are outstanding. Way better that MBDTF.
I think we hear Kaputt differently too. I think it’s one of the best records about women and fleeting love that I’ve ever heard. And as far as those albums go, I think it stands alone in its representation. As for the sound – much like M83 does – I think Dan Bejar claiming that “dated” sound and making it his own. I don’t hear it as throwback or tribute (as others do, but I certainly see WHY others do), mainly because the subject of the album comes through so strongly.
The longer we live in different cities, the more difficult it gets in prediticting your list.
I remember you raving about the Vaccines early in the year (“working out to the Vaccines!” you texted) but I forgot about them. I will have to keep my eye out for the album in the used bin (that’s not a dis, I’m just cheap).
Gruff Rhys… well, let’s be honest, he could read the Bible over a Casio loop and he would make your Top 10, right?
J/k.
Fleet Foxes… I’m just excited that you like this album because I remember you not caring for the eponymous one, and that made me sad.
GUESS WHAT? The Lil Wayne album – The Carter IV – is way underrated. I think it suffered critically because of his overexposure. It’s a really weird album. he might actually be goinga little nust now. ALSO… I can’t believe you and your sister actually went to his show. That’s pretty awesome!
Just missing the cut: What Did You Expect from the Vaccines – The Vaccines
10. Father, Son, Holy Ghost – Girls
Favorite Songs: “Saying I Love You,” “Just a Song”
9. Go With Me – Seapony
Favorite Songs: “Dreaming,” “Always”
8. Let England Shake – PJ Harvey
Favorite Songs: “Let England Shake,” “The Glorious Land”
7. Dye it Blonde – The Smith Westerns
Favorite Songs: “Weekend,” “All Die Young”
6. Self-Titled – Yuck
Favorite Songs: “Georgia,” “The Wall”
5. Take Care – Drake
Favorite Song: “Headlines,” “Shot for Me”
4. The King is Dead – The Decemberists
Favorite Songs: “January Hymn,” “This is Why We Fight”
3. Self-Titled – Bon Iver
Favorite Songs: “Towers,” “Holocene”
2. Only in Dreams ¬– Dum Dum Girls
Favorite Songs: “Bedroom Eyes,” “Caught in One”
1. Helplessness Blues – Fleet Foxes
Favorite Songs: “Helplessness Blues,” “Lorelai”
On Bon Iver… I’m guessing you’re speaking of “Beth/Rest”?
1. Phil Collins isn’t ever bad (haven’t we discussed this?)…
2. … but Mike and the Mechanics is, and that’s what “Beth/Rest” evokes. Seriously, listen to the chord structure in “The Living Years” and then listen to “Beth/Rest”.
Even then, I still kinda like the song.
We just got the Yuck album (free!), so I am anxious to finally listen to it.
And, ok, Victor is right in that the last minute of “The Shrine/An Argument” was a mistake, but the first 7 minutes is brill!! Especially the part about washing names off of clothes in the ocean.
On Victor…
I had been keeping Smith Westerns in the back of my mind all year for him because I remember how much he loved it. I really enjoy listening to that album, but something about them couldn’t quite get me over the hump to where I “wanted it inside of me” (this is a nod to when Marilu Henner told Sting on Jay Leno that she wanted his album “The Dream of the Blue Turtles” inside of her).
The Decemberists… is this another conversion for you (ala Konner O’burst), or have you always been on board?
Let England Shake is scary good for an artist with 20 years on her track record already. Not sure why it didn’t make my list. But I do feel happy that this album pretty much confirms that she’ll be making music for life.
CORRECTION: I think my Bon Iver commentary was wrong. It’s Bruce Hornsby’s “Mandolin Rain” not M&TM’s “The Living Years”. My bad!
No order:
Real Estate – ST
Iceage – New Brigade
King Krule – ST EP
Mr. Oizo – Stade 2
Beach Fossils – What a Pleasure EP
PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
Destroyer – Kaputt
Yay! Sean is down with the KAPUTT!
I want to hear King Krule. Just read about him this past weekend and he sounds intriguinig. I like – in the picture I saw at least – he just looked like your everyday English kid.
Also, am I the only one who finds the YUCK album cover disturbing? I guess it IS true to early 90′s album cover art.
Victor – I’m sad the Vaccines aren’t on your actual list!
Mark – Yes, “Beth/Rest.” And I can see the Bruce Hornsby thing. And while I understand that there’s tons of braggadocio in hip-hop, but this is too over-the-top for me. Maybe I just need an other, other Benz to really appreciate it. Finally, I think you’ll like the Yuck album. I meant to give it “Worst Album Cover of the Year,” but I forgot.
Sean – Thanks for playing! Your list is full of things I haven’t heard yet, so I’ll check them out.
All three of you – not surprisingly, I hate that PJ Harvey album. Maybe someday it’ll click, and I’ll finally understand her appeal. Maybe I’ll one day have some crazy epiphany and become a huge Pixies, PJ Harvey, and Stereolab fan.
Or maybe not.
Mandy – still hatin’! If you had all those handlers and hangers on you would need maybachs-on-bachs-on-bachs too. Quit trying to keep a brotha down!
But on the reals – and I’m not trying to turn you, just stating my case – after the Lift Off/Niggas in Paris/Otis tryptich, the rest of the album is much less about wealth.
And I still contend that the tracks (!!!) and wordplay are just incredible, although Kanye has some work to do if he wants Top 10 rapper status. He does get mileage from his willingness to sound goofy, though.
Mark – I’ll give it a closer listen. Oh, and about the Weezy album… I am embarrassed to say I don’t have it. I heard it a bunch of times when my sister was here, though, and I enjoyed it. I didn’t understand all the hate it got in the press. The show was really fun.
BTW… why is Bobby Long “shameful”. What’s wrong with him? I remember you saw him perform, but I don’t remember what was wrong with him (and why Victor didn’t go along).
He’s friends with RPattz and got famous because he co-wrote some songs on the TWILIGHT soundtrack. That’s why.
Victor went the second time I saw him, but he spent the show watching hockey at the bar.
He’s also really hot.
I’m sure Victor was stealing glances. He’s a closet Long fan or he would have just watched hockey at home.
P.S. Nice hockey.
sorry I got the Real Estate record name wrong… not self-titled… “Days”.
shit list and the bad phil collins song is thebest song on the bon iver LP.
Ah, bless.
[...] and P.S.: Totally love that Bon Iver song. Though, we know that already from my 2011 Top Ten Albums list. GA_googleAddAttr("AdOpt", "1"); GA_googleAddAttr("Origin", "other"); [...]