Album #1: Let England Shake by PJ Harvey
I’ve been a PJ Harvey fan for a long time and have loved nearly everything she’s done. But if you had told me in January that her record would be my favourite album in a year when Radiohead released a record, there’s no way I would have believed you or your hitler hairdo. But Let England Shake is such a brilliant record that it kind of forced its way here. In a year when some have argued there were no “important” albums, Let England Shake certainly comes closes. Documenting the horrors of war and the darkest side of humanity doesn’t make for easy listening but I find it to be essential listening. I pushed this album on more people than any other record this year and I will continue to do so in 2012. Just a stunning achievement from PJ Harvey.
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Song #1: Bloom by Radiohead
Radiohead’s consolation prize (but I really do love this song). Floating in the ocean bloom never sounded so good. The song’s final movement was my very favourite piece of music in 2011.
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So that’s it for 2011! The blog is totally fucked at the moment so finding permalinks to any of these is a lost cause at the moment but other than the technical issues I really enjoyed doing this list this year. Probably more than any other year, actually. I guess not writing much here in 2011 meant I had a backlog my brain needed to unload into the ether where it will float around bumping against all the other nonsense. I hope you have a merry Christmas (if that’s your thing) and a very safe New Year.
Album #2: The King Of Limbs by Radiohead The King Of Limbs is not my favourite album of the year, apparently. I go back and forth. But I must admit to experiencing an existential crisis of sorts with placing TKOL at #2. While it is certainly a “minor” Radiohead album (short, little publicity, no tour, no commercial single, etc), I still find myself listening to TKOL a lot. It’s got a unique mood and feel and features some really great songs including the album’s bookends – Bloom is a majestic sonic experiment while Separator closes out the record on a beautiful, positive note. In between the band manage to be incredibly delicate (Give Up The Ghost) and slightly manic (Feral) and Thom’s lyrics continue the more direct and personal approach of In Rainbows. Another worthy addition to Radiohead’s daunting back catalogue.
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Song #2: Written On The Forehead by PJ Harvey
Written On The Forehead isn’t the most immediate song on Let England Shake and it took a few listens before it grabbed me. But then it grabbed me and it has yet to let go. The lyrics are heartbreaking, detailing the slow death of a city at war. And the way PJ Harvey seamlessly weaves the sample into the song is pretty brilliant.
Album #3: Skying by The Horrors
Very rarely does a band so perfectly encapsulate the sound and vibe of a record through both the title and the album’s artwork, but The Horrors did just that with Skying. Much like M83′s Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, Skying is a big, beautiful dream-pop record that could soundtrack any scene in a 1985 John Hughes film. From the woozy opener Changing The Rain to the split personality of Endless Blue to the shimmery Oceans Burning, The Horrors have once again proven they’re the real deal.
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Song #3: Still Life by The Horrors
And the best song off Skying is the album’s lead single, Still Life. Can you not picture a young Molly Ringwald contemplating life’s big questions in her bedroom surrounded by Smiths and Simple Minds posters while this song is playing?
Album #4: Absence by Snowman
I don’t think any other record so effectively created one mood like Snowman’s swan song Absence did in 2011. At times Absence‘s ethereal beauty is tempered with unnerving menace and a feeling of despair but it never ceases to be an engaging atmosphere in which you wish to remain. A powerful final statement from Snowman, a band who will be missed immensely.
Snowman – Hyena
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Song #4: Midnight City by M83
You know how good Midnight City is? It’s so damn good I even like the saxophone solo. And I LOATHE saxophone solos. But seriously, this song is so ridiculously big and glorious that you can’t help but love it. And have you seen this guy?
Album #5: Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming by M83
M83′s Anthony Gonzalez has never shied away from ambition, but even by M83 standards Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming is an extremely ambitious album. Beyond being a double album, Hurry Up is grandiose and bombastic and it constantly demands that the listener pay attention. And if you do you’re rewarded with a blissful electro-rock record. On a song by song basis, Hurry Up might be M83′s strongest record yet. The album opens with the amazing Intro – a duet with Zola Jesus – and then hits one of 2011′s finest singles, Midnight City. Seemingly with nowhere to go but down, Hurry Up manages to up the ante throughout with Reunion, Year One, One UFO and Steve McQueen all absolutely stratospheric. Oh, and there’s a song narrated by a kid about a frog that sounds like a high school buddy describing his recent trip to Shroomtown. Only cuter.
M83 – Intro (feat. Zola Jesus)
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Song #5: Need You Now by Cut Copy
I’m a sucker for songs with slow builds that explode into glorious, optimistic anthems. Need You Now is a perfect example.
Album #6: Biophilia by Bjork
Bjork’s ambitious Biophilia project, highlighted by the release of an “app” album, was problematic on a number of levels. The most glaring of these issues is the fact that if you consider the “app” album the “definitive” version of Biophilia, well, then Bjork’s created an album you are encouraged to experience in solitude with headphones. And while that’s often the best way to listen to music, it totally kills any social element the music may inspire. Here’s why I found Biophilia to be such a great record: I bought it on vinyl and it sounds AMAZING. The scope and depth of some of the songs simply do not come across through the apps; this album needs speakers and space. Musically, Biophilia is an effective amalgamation of a few of Bjork’s more popular “styles” and while it never reaches the heights of Vespertine or Homogenic, it is one of the strongest collections of songs she’s released this decade. Opener Moon is a delicate harp piece while other songs like Mutual Core are more aggressive and feature heavy beats…and yet everything sits together nicely. I do wish she’d embrace melody again, however…
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Song #6: Ego (feat. Thom Yorke) by Burial & Four Tet
Ego encapsulates why I love collaborations between Burial and Four Tet: it takes the gritty, urban darkness of Burial’s work and Four Tet brightens it up just enough to let it shine in the darkness. And having Thom Yorke singing over the top doesn’t hurt either.
Album #7: Sound Kapital by Handsome Furs
As modern music’s finest flâneurs, Handsome Furs have once again captured the energy, confusion, and invigoration that comes from travel. Sound Kapital, largely inspired by a tour through Asia, is burst after burst of passion and intelligence. And it makes you want to jump up and down like an idiot. One of the year’s most underrated records and bands.
Song #7: Separator by Radiohead
Radiohead have a knack for crafting pretty incredible closing songs for albums and they did it again this year. The King Of Limbs concludes with the woozy, dreamy Separator and it is easily one of the albums finest moments. The bit when that little guitar refrain starts is pure bliss.
Album #8: Bon Iver, Bon Iver by Bon Iver
I wasn’t a massive fan of For Emma, Forever Ago so I didn’t have the expectations a lot of people did for Bon Iver’s follow-up. So of course this one clicked with me right away. It’s just so damn pretty. And I’m not quite sure what’s going on during the final song (cheesy 80s keys alert!) but it somehow rings true (don’t spoil it for me with talk of irony). If you like your “folk” music lush and lovely and gorgeous and all sorts of other manly words, than Bon Iver is pretty much your spirit animal.
Song #8: In Your Nature by Zola Jesus
Nika Roza Danilova’s voice slays me. I love the way this one, while being quite short, manages to build and release with such ease.
Album #9: Inni by Sigur Rós
Over the past decade, I’ve had the extremely good fortune to experience Sigur Rós live on quite a few occasions and each show has been an intense and memorable experience. From churches to fields to theatres and even in faceless pavilions, Sigur Rós are a powerful energy on stage and with Inni they’ve done a damn fine job of capturing some of the magic of a Sigur Rós show. Even more impressive is that this is the stripped down version of the band: just four guys making a whole lot of beautiful noise. And I still haven’t seen the film!
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Song #9: Repatriated by Handsome Furs
When Handsome Furs announced that their upcoming album had been written primarily on keyboards I was a tad nervous. Then I heard Repatriated and I just wanted to dance. The energy in this song is just so incredibly infectious.
Album #10: Smoke Ring For My Halo by Kurt Vile Smoke Ring For My Halo is not a showy album. Kurt Vile’s voice does not blow you away; the instrumentation is pretty typical; their isn’t anything groundbreaking here. But Smoke Ring For My Halo is a fantastic album for the most basic reason: these songs are really, really great. And accomplished songwriting trumps spectacle every time. Sleeper album of the year.
Song #10: Forget That You’re Young by The Raveonettes
When I first wrote about this song back in February I noted that The Raveonettes have a knack for crafting incredibly catchy melodies – the types of melodies typically reserved for saccharine, commercial pop songs. Forget That You’re Young has one of those melodies and reaffirms my belief that The Raveonettes are one of the closest things we have to a 60s Spector girl-group.
