Music
Everyone does end of the year top ten lists of various genres of music or movies or books or whatever. I’m not going there. I’m going to list all the music that I’ve bought that I think is good. At the end, I’ll give my opinion on the best song if anybody cares. The list basically just gives a heads up to things I think are pretty good (awesome) and worth a listen (if you’re not listening you’re really missing out).
Albums
If you’re a KCRW listener, you’ll probably recognize most of these artists. It’s my go to source for great music. Not all of the music was released in 2011. But they were all bought this year. And, for the most part, I leave out best-of compilations. They’re unfair in my humble opinion. That doesn’t mean I won’t. Especially if the artist/group has ceased to create music in that incarnation. And having said that, I’m going to lead of with a heavy hitter compilation. No particular order here btw.
Love by The Beatles. An album for the soundtrack to Love, the Cirque du Soleil extravaganza, of re-imagined and remixed versions of their song. Hewing closely to the original intent, it collects some of their most beloved tunes.
Rumors and Fleetwood Mac by Fleetwood Mac. Filling out my library here. Two of the best albums ever. Always conflicted on buying music with my meager (at least I think it’s meager) budget. Buy new or buy old? Finally decided I needed to have these two.
21 by Adele. One of the best albums ever. More on this later.
Build a Rocket Boys by Elbow. Awesome. Definitely one of the best this year. Saw them at a great concert at the Greek Theater.
Songs for Japan by Various Artists. Great cause and collection
Wounded Rhymes by Lykke Li. Awesome album. The video for Sadness is a Blessing is one of my all time favorites.
Epic by Sharon Van Etten. This album is short but every song strikes me hard. I suppose I should have a cutoff about how many songs is an album versus an EP. I don’t though. This is one of my all time favorite albums/EP. Just listen to it.
Tamer Animals by Other Lives. Some songs on here that when played, stops me from doing anything else.
Destroyed - Moby. A beautifully made album. Must listen.
Torches by Foster the People. Head bopping, dancing, maximum fun.
The King is Dead by The Decembrists. Pure song craftsmanship. Great great album
The Belle Brigade by The Belle Brigade. Such great fun. Put on a great show at McCabe’s Guitar Shop.
Spark by Natalie Walker. Really like this singer and her songs.
Ritual Union - Little Dragon. Jumpy nervous energy that’ll get you up and bopping around.
Ulrich Schnauss & Jonas Munk - Because I love shoegaze (whatever that is) and love Ulrich Schnauss’s soundscapes.
Gravity the Seducer - Ladytron. Really liking this.
The Space Left Behind by Carmen Rizzo. Love this guy’s music. He’s done some remixes which he hasn’t released yet. Wish he would.
Mylo Xyloto by Coldplay. So they’re super popular. Every bit of their music is worth listening to. Perhaps not their best, but certainly better than a lot of crap out there.
Ceremonials by Florence + The Machine. Great and powerful songs. This woman has a set of pipes.
Philharmonica by Agnes Obel. Different and sparse, tight and wonderful songs that can reach deeply into you. I think some of her songs would’ve fit right into the movie The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. If you listen to her set on KCRW, you can hear how deep her voice is when speaking compared to when she is singing. The opposite to Anna Calvi who sounds quite quiet when speaking but unleashes this massive voice on Blackout. See the songs below. Both have sets on KCRW which you should check out.
Life in Letters by Lucy Schwartz. Someone to watch and listen to. Looking forward to everything she does.
Okay, if you’ve managed to reach this far, I’m going to tell you what I think is the best album.
21 by Adele is an almost perfect album. All the albums Ive listed are excellent yet this one stands out, absolutely, as the best.
Best Songs 2011
No particular order here. I have left off three songs that I choose to be my 2011 best song candidates which I discuss at the end.
Lippy Kids - Elbow. A quietly brilliant song.
Save Yourself, Peace Signs, One Day - Sharon Van Etten. Three of maybe four or five really great songs on that album. Each one of these is something special.
Blackout, Desire - Anna Calvi. Big big songs. Couldn’t decide between the two. Rocking.
Young Blood - The Naked and the Famous. Get up and dance!
Helena Beat - Foster the People. And keep on dancing!
Sadness is a Blessing - Lykke Li. Make sure you see the video accompanying this song.
For 12 - Other Lives. Amazing sound and texture on this song.
Lie Down in Darkness - Moby. I’m always loving Moby.
Every Teardrop is a Waterfall - Coldplay. And I’m always loving Coldplay. I know people are suspicious when groups become super popular. I don’t know why. To me, they’re genuine and love performing their songs for their fans. And it was heart breaking to see them and Norah Jones at the Apple celebration for Steve Jobs.
Calamity Song - The Decembrists. Great song.
Belt of Orion - The Belle Brigade. The brother and sister duo sing as if they have but one voice. Great song.
I Found You - Natalie Walker. Lovely song that I just simply like.
Little Man - Little Dragon. Bop bop bop bop boping along.
My Name Is Trouble - Keren Ann. Great video for this and great song.
Dice - Finley Quayle & William Orbit (Nothing can compare...) Awesome song
To Begin - Alela Diane. Ace just ace.
What the Water Gave Me - Florence + The Machine. Powerful song for me.
Honest - Band of Skulls. Really liking this song.
Open Season - High Highs. Have to stop to listen to this.
Rain City - Lucy Schwartz. She’s going to be huge if there’s any justice in the world.
Riverside - Agnes Obel. Purity reaching out to me.
You Were Never There - Diego Garcia. Fun song
Special shout out to Rodrigo and Gabriela for their work on the soundtrack to Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. And another to Trent Reznor, Karen O, and Atticus Ross for the Immigrant Song remake. Awesomeness.
Ok, on to best song. This was tough for me to choose. The women as far as I’m concerned have really taken it this year. Oddly, the women have been mostly single artists though the singer from Little Dragon is amazing. The guys stepped up pretty much within groups with the exception of Moby. Elbow, Other Lives, and Coldplay doing great jobs at holding up the men’s side. Frankly though, the women this year have blown me away. All of the songs I’ve listed above could easily be the best for me.
The best song came down to two. Rolling in the Deep by Adele is an amazing song that she sings with power and emotion, soul shaking. I found it interesting that covers came out of it almost immediately. John Legend did an a cappella version. Linkin Park did a live version on an iTunes Live cocnert. Then Patti Smith covered it live. All amazing interpretations.
I thought Rolling in the Deep was safe.
Until Lana Del Rey.
Yeah, there’s a ton of crap about her on the internet which to me is simply irrelevant. Ignore it. Listen to the two songs. What’s really hard is that her two songs, Video Games and Blue Jeans are both fantastic.
Rolling in the Deep just rocks. It’s fierce and emotional and burns with passion. Genuine. That single lyric “don’t underestimate the things that I will do” is warning and threat, promises both good and terrible. While Adele laments what could have been, what was lost and destroyed, the backing chorus sings that darkness “You’re gonna wish you had never met me”. This is one woman you just shouldn’t’a lost and shouldn’t’a crossed.
Video Games/Blue Jeans grab me with the first chord and sweeps me along a river whispering to me the story. Easy to mistake as laid back, badness and goodness seeps out of her voice seducing its way into my bones, like an expensive French perfume shaking me down for my very last dime. Sensual and dangerous this woman should be wearing a warning from the surgeon general.
The best song is Rolling in the Deep. In any musical category she’s nominated for, if Adele doesn’t win it, then it’s a fail of epic proportions. She’s that good and the song is forever and the album is one of the best of all time.
And Lana Del Rey haunts me with those two songs.
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