1. The Decemberists: The King is Dead/Long Live The King/Live at Bull Moose/iTunes Sessions.
In a year when R.E.M. released a new record, reissued another, broke up, and put out a comprehensive greatest hits, the best R.E.M. record of the year was made by the Decemberists. Following the full length up with a pair of live EPs and a studio EP that is all killer, no filler just added to the quality of their 2011. Any band that can make me like a Grateful Dead song (“Row Jimmy”) earns a #1 spot in my heart. Not to mention Jenny Conlee kicking cancer’s ass.
2. The Horrors: Skying.
After a dud of a first album, the sophomore record moved from Cramps/Bad Seeds worship to a Big Music approach. This continues that trend, adding shoegaze and dreampop to a mix of Echo and the Bunnymen/Psychedelic Furs styled anthems. “Endless Blue” opens with a blissed out intro that could come from a Spiritualized record, then abruptly switches up midway through into a Sonic Youth flavored raveup.
3. Frank Turner: England Keep My Bones.
PJ Harvey made a Mercury-prize winning album about England this year, but I offer this as the most English record of 2011. Former hardcore screamer Frank Turner has become a full fledged folk singer, and the record is full of references to English places and spaces (“Wessex Boy”). An a capella English folk song (“English Curse”) is followed by a punky rave up. Self-excoriating psychoanalysis explodes into primal scream (“Redemption”) and the album ends with a spiritual anthem for atheism. His popularity has grown so much that he will headline Wembley in 2012, and deservedly so.
4. Dawes: Nothing is Wrong.
A fairly straightforward alt-country record, leaning towards the softer side of California Americana. Both Robbie Robertson and Jackson Browne have used them as a backing band, if that helps solidify the kind of sound they produce. Great road songs and relationship songs, and the closer (“A Little Bit of Everything”) traverses a suicide, an old man in a buffet line, and a woman writing wedding invitations without ever seeming scattershot.
5. Yuck: Yuck.
The 20th anniversary of Nirvana’s Nevermind (a solid but overrated record) came this year, and it seems clear that the sounds of alt-rock that came after the grunge explosion have seeped into the consciousness of younger bands. The members of Yuck were barely born when the sounds they borrow from (early Dinosaur Jr, Smashing Pumpkins, Teenage Fanclub’s Bandwagonesque) were hugely popular, but they merge them with 2011 indie for a catchy pile of tunes. Bonus points for reissuing the album with a bonus EP of b-sides AT THE SAME PRICE six months later, instead of jacking the price up.
6. Noah & The Whale: Last Night On Earth.
In a bid for Coldplay (or, at least Mumford and Sons)-sized popularity, Noah & The Whale wrote some arena-ready anthems, and backed them with big orchestration and instrumentation. The songs are great, the performances bigger than life. There is a strong echo of (early) Waterboys and, particularly, Deacon Blue in these songs. This is meant as high praise.
7. Elbow: Build a Rocket, Boys!
It’s hard to top 2008’s Mercury Prize winner The Seldom Seen Kid, and I won’t say that this record does, but that’s not a shot. More quiet, melancholy musings about life and lippy kids on the corner. When Guy Garvey implores “build a rocket boys”, I’m inclined to do what he says.
8. The Pains of Being Pure At Heart: Belong.
Amping up the radio-friendly quality by toning down the twee and turning up the 90’s alt-rock, The Pains turned to the duo of Flood and Alan Moulder to mix and produce this record, which mashes up the best of 90’s alternative (including a hazy shoegaze film over the top of everything) with super-catchy pop songs.
9. Glossary: Long Live All of Us.
Like fellow Tennesseans Lucero, Glossary have added a whole pile of Memphis-style horns to their already energetic alt-country to great success. Joey Kneiser has always had a soulful twang, but the R n’ B edge that the horns bring these songs from solid alt-country to barroom anthems.
10. Middle Brother: Middle Brother.
An odd little alt-country ‘supergroup’ made up of members of Dawes, Deer Tick, and The Delta Spirit. They cover a late period Replacements rarity (“Portland”) and make it sound like a mid-period Replacements album track.
11. Big Troubles: Romantic Comedy.
The debut was a little kooky and underproduced, but this one is guided by the adept hand of Mitch Easter, and he tones the amped up indie pop to something more akin to perfect (indie) power pop a la vintage Guided By Voices. My favorite power pop record of the year, and that’s something when the year contains a Fountains of Wayne record.
12. Butch Walker and the Black Widows: The Spade.
Butch Walker gets credit for being a great pop songwriter and producer, but he also writes evocative story-songs about slices of life. Case in point: “Bodegas and Blood”, which stars a bunch of messed up people, some blood, and (duh) a bodega. Butch’s autobiography (“Drinking With Strangers”) was one of the funniest rock book reads of 2011, and several songs on this record (“Summer of ‘89” and “Bullet Belt”) revisit the days of SouthGang with only a little bit of embarrassment.
13. The Vaccines: What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?
I didn’t expect anything, really. The latest in a LONG string of super-hyped British bands, I hoped for Oasis but expected The View. In reality, this is one of the tightest, catchiest Britpop records of the year. Many of the songs linger under the three minute mark. They released a standalong single late in 2011 called “Tiger Blood” to prove that they are winning, duh.
14. The Joy Formidable: The Big Roar.
A blast of shoegaze and stadium friendly alt-rock (a Dave Grohl fave) with a pixieish Welsh frontwoman, I expected this to sound like Lush. Instead, it sounds more like gutsy, noisy shoegaze (Catherine Wheel, Swervedriver) and far less ethereal.
15. The Twilight Singers: Dynamite Steps/Live in New York
Another great set of songs from Greg Dulli. A live disc, later in the year, only shows how much grit and dark soul the band brings live.
16. Ryan Adams: Ashes and Fire.
Critics have called this his best since Heartbreaker, which is odd because Ryan has chucked out several great records (Gold, Love is Hell) since his first. This one has a mellow (but not hippy-jammy) vibe, and at times it seems a little one note, but the highs (“Lucky Now”) far outstrip any lows.
17. Fountains of Wayne: Sky Full of Holes.
When people talk about how great the melodies are in FoW songs, they almost always neglect to mention how well-crafted the stories in the songs are. Characters worthy of Raymond Carver short stories (the kid who flunked out of FIT and sells overpriced jeans, the middle aged dad who imagines being a superhero while fighting health issues) pop up inside sunny tunes.
18. M83. Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming.
A pretty sprawling, massive double-album filled with gorgeous synths, guest vocals (Zola Jesus steals the show) and impressive singing from frontman Anthony Gonzalez.
19. Real Estate: Days.
All of the jangle of the debut is there, but improved songs and better production make this far more memorable. “It’s Real” and “Green Aisles” are easily in my top 20 songs of 2011.
20. Still Corners: Creatures of An Hour.
Female-fronted orch-pop/shoegaze combo adds the flourishes of cinema scores a la The Tindersticks with melancholic soft vocals. Lovely stuff.
21. Fucked Up: David Comes to Life.
I’m not a huge fan of the hardcore shouting vocals of Pink Eyes, but I appreciate his energy. However, this concept record (which features loads of guest vocals as counterpoint to Pink Eyes’ growling) is loaded with cool melodies and an interesting storyline. Bonus points for the faux K-Tel compilation David’s Town (featuring a collection of bands from fictional Byrdesdale Spa) which features more Fucked Up tunes, fronted by guest vocalists.
22. British Sea Power: Valhalla Dancehall. Yet another in a stream of powerful, sometimes weird, but always memorable records from BSP.
23. Girls. Father, Son, Holy Ghost. Christopher Owens seems to have a bottomless supply of catchy-yet-familiar melodies at his disposal.
24. Los Campesinos! Hello Sadness. A breakup record somewhere between punk and twee/C86, full of sadness (duh, it’s in the title) and melancholy.
25. Comet Gain: Howl of the Lonely Crowd. This intermittently active, loosely structured British combo recruited Edwyn Collins and Derek Jarman (The Cribs) to produce. “Some of Us Don’t Want to the Be Saved” was the second-best atheist anthem of the year, after Frank Turner’s.
26. Veronica Falls. Veronica Falls. The influence of 80’s British jangle pop, twee, and C86 loomed large over music in 2011, but this record sounds like a great, lost classic from 1986, unearthed from a pile of musty copies of the NME and a shrine to The Weather Prophets.
27. Rhett Miller: The Interpreter-Live at Largo. I usually include live records in my other list (of reissues, compilations, and whatnot) but this one is too good, and too left-field, to pass by. Old 97’s frontman Miller gets into the spirit of covers at a show in LA’s Largo, playing a set of other people’s songs. Stellar versions of songs by Bowie, Petty, Paul Simon, Aztec Camera, Elvis Costello, and so on. The Jon Brion-assisted studio cover of Robyn Hitchcock’s “Cynthia Mask” takes the stripped down original to its pop conclusion.
28. Arctic Monkeys: Suck It And See. The debut was huge, but choppy. Since then, frontman Alex Turner’s singing has improved greatly (check out his contributions to the Submarine soundtrack, or his work with Miles Kane in Last Shadow Puppets) and the production of Josh Homme has dirtied up the Monkeys sound to something really interesting.
29. Male Bonding: Endless Now. A potent mix of 90’s alt rock, including grunge angst and shoegaze melody, but frontloaded with great vocal harmonies and catchy tunes. A leap forward from a good but not great debut.
30. Apex Manor: The Year of Magical Drinking. After the breakup of his previous band, The Broken West, Ross Flournoy went on a bender and got writers block. An NPR songwriting contest got him back in the game (“Under The Gun” is stellar) and power pop’s gain is alcohol’s loss.
31. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds: Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds. Without Liam’s input, Noel leans heavily on Beatles-influenced melody lines (to people who slag Noel as a copycat, I say SO WHAT? It’s the freakin’ Beatles!) but the bulk of the songwriting talent in the Gallagher brood is clearly in Noel’s hands. He proves to be quite capable as a vocalist, as well.
The rest, without much commentary.
32. Kurt Vile: Smoke Ring For My Halo
33. S.C.U.M.: Again Into Eyes
34. We Are Augustines: Rise Ye Sunken Ship. Ex-members of Brooklyn indie band Pela. You might have heard “Chapel Song” on an REI commercial.
35. Marc Carroll: In Silence
36. Kasabian: Velociraptor!
37. The See See: Late Morning Light. This was originally released in 2010, but got wider release in 2011. Reminiscent of Cosmic Rough Riders.
38. Coldplay: Mylo Xyloto
39. Barreracudas: Nocturnal Missions
40. Telekinesis: 12 Desperate Straight Lines
41. Cut Copy: Zonoscope
42. The Head and the Heart: The Head and the Heart. The new sound of Seattle is now pensive and folksy (Fleet Foxes, Motopony, these guys)
43. Beady Eye: Different Gear, Still Speeding
44. East River Pipe: We Live in Rented Rooms
45. Atlas Sound: Parallax
46. Black Keys: El Camino. The Black Keys have back-shelved the blues in favor of classic hard rock, which suits them.
47. Tame Impala: Innerspeaker
48. The War on Drugs: Slave Ambient. I read this album categorized as “Boss-gaze”, implying a merger of Springsteen and shoegaze. That seems about right to me.
49. Cold Cave: Cherish The Light Years
50. R.E.M.: Collapse into Now. Honestly, a very good effort from R.E.M. We can look back through it for clues about the impending breakup, but the songs and performances might be the band’s best overall set of songs since New Adventures in Hi-Fi.
51. Wilco: The Whole Love.
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