Magazine/website/record store BEST OF 2011 end-of-year list pile-up

I don't see what's so great about TVOTR - they seem like the middle-ground or the centre-point or the culmination between a whole load of acts who grew popular around the time - everything from Oneida to Wilco to Animal Collective. As such I see why they might be popular as a "default" US alterna-band as viewed by those not really invested in that kind of music, but they're just so boring.

What are White Denim like? I don't like the name...

I'm not a massive TVOTR fan (I just bought Dear Science last week) but I stumbled across them doing an outdoor live show in Boston a few years ago and they were captivating, sonically and visually (ie, it was odd and exciting to see close to a thousand people in a plaza watching a mostly black group playing Radioheadish music).

I like TVOTR for the songs, not for what ground or point they supposedly represent. I don't think they sound like any of those other bands.

White Denim change a bit every album, but they are kind of what I wished Meat Puppets would have evolved into in the late 80s. Chaotically psychedelic guitar riffery, occasional sweet melodies, vocals the evolve and improve every record.

dear science is awes

I did hear they're great live, yeah. But I dunno, I've tried listenign to TVOTR and I struggle to get through a whole song. They make me itchy.

not sure that this is the place to ask this but is the new miranda lambert worth hearing? i haven't heard anything about it, or even really realized there was a new one until i saw it on the american songwriter list.

Definitely worth hearing, but it's a minor record. She saved her best songwriting for the Pistol Annies project.

haven't heard Pistol Annies either. i'll have to check out both

pistol annies is my #4 album of the year. just a brilliant, brilliant record, so concise but every word and note is necessary.

what are they like?

Imagine the Trio project (Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harrirs, and Linda Ronstadt) with sharp self-written songs about rural working class life.

this year's finest recession album too

The White Denim album really is excellent, so much going on in each song.

also, is there an actual honest to goodness country album on "folk-country"

― v-shasty, Sunday, December 4, 2011

Just alt-country-- but of course I am sure they would foolishly insist that this is the real stuff, and that Toby Keith and Miranda Lambert are not.

Mordy you shd def check out the Sunny Sweeney album too, although the first three songs are the most worth hearing imo

the gorilla vs bear schmo being super into ASAP rocky is pretty hilarious

I like White Denim. I usually hate garage rock and they manage to do interesting stuff within the genre but even so it's not end of year stuff.

TVOTR... What happened to them? I thought they were going to be awesome when I first heard them in 2003. The Young Liars EP was bad ass, like an anticon thing with tunes and good singing but it's been a case of diminishing returns ever since. I always want them to come good but everything's a bit too tasteful. The Wilco comparison is a good one. They're obviously a good band with talented members etc but I can't imagine ever thinking, 'Man, I can't wait to get home so I can listen to the new TVOTR album...'

I think there's a really good point for PJH's singing style on the new album but that's probably a different discussion for a different day.

"tasteful" is the word. they do what they do and they do it well, but i've never noticed them going above and beyond their remit. i'd def like to be proven wrong.

not sure that this is the place to ask this but is the new miranda lambert worth hearing?

Very worth hearing. I'm afraid I am once more having to accept that I just don't like country though, despite all Miranda Lambert's talent.

especially "mama's broken heart" and "dear diamond".

I agree with this. "Mama's Broken Heart" really jumped out at me last time I listened. I must not have been paying close attention the first time(s) I heard it.

four the record might well be the worst album title by an artist i like of 2011 though.

Haha.

what does Lambert do differently from other country artists?

I LISTEN TO EVERYTHING BUT RAP AND COUNTRY

Good list Doran

Alfred, was that to me? I don't know. Like I said, last time I listened to Four the Record, even though I think it's good and that Lambert is super-talented, I still ended up feeling that even the country I find most accessible isn't something I can click with in a big way. Maybe Crazy Ex-Girlfriend just caught me at a good time? I haven't listened to enough country to attempt to answer why I like Miranda Lambert more than most (but I have tried some other in the "If you like ML, you might like this" category, and haven't taken to them). The way Crazy Ex-Girlfriend straddles the line between country and classic rock probably helped, but I'm sure there's a lot of other country that does that. (Also, I mostly don't even listen to classic rock, so how is that an explanation for liking the album? But maybe it hits a residual classic rock spot in me.)

Seems a bit more leftfield list for Quietus than in 2010, and that's appreciated.

And yes, pomplamau5, you need to hear the Cut Hands. Its more a companion to something like the Konono nº1 albums than dancefloor fare.

Good list Doran

― oPal, Monday, December 5, 2011 11:39 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Permalink

Except lol Clams Casino smh

Ah, shut it, Clams Casino = awesome.

Particularly heartening for me to see a second placing for Zun Zun Egui, but a bit disheartening that Kogumaza haven't made it into a single year-end list at all. Boo.

Rudiphrous I def feel like lots of new country shows a classic rock inflence. 70s AOR has totally become an element of their heartland idyll

And the FACT tracks begin:
http://www.factmag.com/2011/12/05/50-best-tracks-of-2011-50-41/

50: OSSIE ‘TARANTULA’ (LIGHTWORKS)
49: MR. BEATNICK ‘SYNTHETES’ (DON’T BE AFRAID)
48: PUSHA T ‘ALONE IN VEGAS’ (from FEAR OF GOD, MIXTAPE)
47: PAUL WOOLFORD & PSYCATRON ‘STOLEN’ (HOTFLUSH)
46: MARK ERNESTUS MEETS BBC ‘MARK ERNESTUS MEETS BBC’ (VERSION) (HONEST JON’S)
45: AUTRE NE VEUT ‘SWEETHEART’ (from BODY, HIPPOS IN TANKS)
44: PHOTEK ‘CLOSER’ (PINCH REMIX) (TECTONIC)
43: LEVON VINCENT ‘IMPRESSIONS OF A RAINSTORM’ (NOVEL SOUND)
42: E.R.P. ‘LUNAR RUINS’ (HARBOUR CITY SORROW)
41: CREEP feat. NINA SKY ‘YOU’ (YOUNG TURKS)

Wait, Photek is still a thing?

that Creep track is one of my favorite songs of the year

clams casino is garbage

also i really dg why hour logic is the one of the 5000 things laurel halo was involved in this year that people like/have heard

that photek song is p good!!

ILM (i forget what thread) is the answer to your xp question for me, what is better?

50: OSSIE ‘TARANTULA’ (LIGHTWORKS)
49: MR. BEATNICK ‘SYNTHETES’ (DON’T BE AFRAID)
43: LEVON VINCENT ‘IMPRESSIONS OF A RAINSTORM’ (NOVEL SOUND)
41: CREEP feat. NINA SKY ‘YOU’ (YOUNG TURKS)

^^massive cosigns, particularly "synthetes" and "you"

(thought levon v's "man or mistress" was better but it might be yet to come)

i'm surprised not to see the brandt brauer frick album on these lists, am only belatedly discovering it but it's fucking great

that's... a really random rap song to coalesce around

http://open.spotify.com/user/djperry1973/playlist/5KMVL4vKFAEHkuemnt5jFU

Figured I might as well start a Spotify playlist for the FACT tracks countdown

I like brandt brauer frick and Roll The Dice but they're not quite EOY for me.

"Tarantula" and "Synthetes" come across as very mannered and polite, kind of like house music that wouldn't offend your conservative older relatives; I'm not really feeling either of them. (This is kind of my problem with dance music in general these days; it's either too anonymously mannered or too anonymously brash, with nothing actually sticking out as exciting.)

Pusha T is... okay? Again, kind of boring/unengaging, like I'm listening to it through a thick pane of glass that's blocking me from making an emotional attachment to the music.

i don't really think of "synthetes" as dancefloor-focused particularly - i just love the sweep of the strings

ha yeah that's very close to what i was saying yesterday about how both kendrick lamar and pusha kind of try to project a personality in their words that never comes out in their voice (xpost)

dan might like this by mr beatnick and ahu, who's an absolutely wonderful turkish singer (it's from 2010)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQwZ_WcaPe0

I think my headphones are letting me down massively with "Mark Ernestus Meets BBC"

hadn't heard the Ossie track before - its slightly reminiscent of Kerri Chandler's bar-a-thym

lol lex that had no sound for me! Fortunately one of the related links had it; this is... okay? It's a little like the Night Slugs reaction all over again; it's all decent/well done but it doesn't actually speak to me.

Like, this is basically downtempo Jill Scott record and I already have enough Jill Scott that I don't really need something that just reminds me of her.

"Sweetheart" is already interesting me more because the vocals are on the weird side. It's definitely my favorite of the songs I've played so far (obv not better than "You")

I'm listening to something by Brandt Brauer Frick on Spotify right now and it's great, but apparently from 2010? Is there something from 2011 I should know about?

lol I feel like calling this year the time when music stopped getting real, and started getting polite </realworldnerd>

o i c, they added "Ensemble" to the name for 2011 xp