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

how did the decemberists beat foster the people

how did the editors at rs remember that radiohead released a record this year

we could have had it all

How did Fester the Peehole make it to #11

btw one of my proudest achievements this year was getting my wife to refer to that band as Fester the Peehole

did far side virtual ever get a physical release? it probably did but its sorta s.thing to have an (initially) digital only release as yr best album of the year

o____O @ rolling stone putting adele at #1

also i have no idea what one of the albums in the rolling stone top 10 is! i'm getting younger!

The Robertson album is the only one I wasn't aware of, though I know who Robertson is.

More WIre magazine lists...

no erstwhiles = fail

Archive Releases of the Year 1–50:

1 John Fahey Your Past Comes Back To Haunt You: The Fonotone Years 1958–1965 (Dust-To-Digital/Revenant)
2 Albert Ayler Stockholm, Berlin 1966 (HatOLOGY)
3 Bill Dixon Orchestra Intents And Purposes (International Phonograph)
4 Theo Parrish Ugly Edits (Ugly Edits)
5 Annette Peacock I’m The One (Ironic)
6 Disco Inferno The 5 EPs (One Little Indian)
7 LFO Frequencies (Warp)
8 Hecker Sun Pandämonium (PAN)
9 Steve Roden I Listen To The Wind That Obliterates My Traces: Music In Vernacular Photographs 1880–1955 (Dust-To-Digital)
10 Moniek Darge Sounds Of Sacred Places (Kye)
11 Christian Wolff Kompositionen 1950–1972 (Edition RZ)
12 Can Tago Mago 40th Anniversary Edition (Spoon/Mute)
13 Alice Coltrane Universal Consciousness/ Lord Of Lords (Impulse!)
14 Alvin Curran Solo Works: The 70s (New World)
15 Richard Skelton The Complete Landings (Sustain-Release)
16 Julius Hemphill Dogon AD (International Phonograph)
17 Craig Leon Nommos (No label)
18 Opika Pende: Africa At 78rpm Various (Dust-To-Digital)
19 Invasion Of The Mysteron Killer Sounds In 3D Various (Soul Jazz)
20 FMP: Im Rückblick – In Retrospect Various (FMP)
21 TCM The Criminal Minds (Rephlex)
22 Lionel Marchetti Une Saison (Monotype)
23 Dub Taylor Lumiere (Sub Rosa)
24 The Bachs Out Of The Bachs (Time-Lag)
25 The Fall This Nation’s Saving Grace Omnibus Edition (Beggars Banquet)
26 Dinosaur L 24→24 Music (Sleeping Bag)
27 Silver Bullet Bring Down The Walls No Limit Squad Returns (Original Dope)
28 Dicky Landry Fifteen Saxophones (Unseen Worlds)
29 Autechre EPs 1991–2002 (Warp)
30 Tav Falco’s Panther Burns Lore And Testament Vol 1: Behind The Magnolia Curtain/Blow Your Top (Stag-O-Lee)
31 Howard Riley The Complete Short Stories 1998–2010 (No Business)
32 Group Ongaku Music Of Group Ongaku 1960–1961 (Seer Sound Archive)
33 Demdike Stare Triptych (Modern Love)
34 Derek Bailey Concert In Milwaukee (Incus)
35 Roy Harper Stormcock (Believe Digital)
36 These Trails These Trails (Drag City)
37 Jason Lescallet This Is What I Do (Glistening Examples)
38 The Raincoats Odyshape (We ThRee)
39 Those Shocking Shaking Days: Indonesian Hard, Psychedelic, Progressive Rock & Funk 1970–1978 Various (Now Again)
40 Lee Konitz The Complete Remastered Recordings On Black Saint & Soul Note (Cam Jazz)
41 Ghédalia Tazartès Repas Froid (PAN)
42 Chris & Cosey Songs Of Love And Lust (Conspiracy International)
43 Nigeria 70: Sweet Times: Afro-Funk, Highlife & Juju From 1970s Lagos Various (Strut)
44 Tom Zé Grande Liquidação (Mr Bongo)
45 The Jesus And Mary Chain Psychocandy (Edsel)
46 Our Lives Are Shaped By What We Love: Motown’s MoWest Story 1971–1973 Various (Light In The Attic)
47 Christoph Heemann Rings Of Saturn (Robot)
48 Mickey Newbury An American Trilogy (Saint Cecilia Knows/ Mountain Retreat)
49 Delta Swamp Rock: Sounds From The South At The Crossroads Of Rock, Country And Soul Various (Soul Jazz)
50 Throbbing Gristle 20 Jazz Funk Greats (Industrial)

Avant Rock A–Z

Matt Baldwin Night In The Triangle (American Dust)
Barn Owl & The Infinite Strings Ensemble The Headlands (Important)
Ex-Easter Island Head Mallet Guitars One (Low Point)
Expo 70 Inaudible Bicoastal Trajectory (Aguirre)
Iceage New Brigade (Dais)
C Joynes Congo (Bo’Weavil)
Liturgy Aesthethica (Thrill Jockey)
The Men Leave Home (Sacred Bones)
Noveller Glacial Glow (Weird Forest)
Angel Olson Strange Cacti (Bathetic)
Peaking Lights 936 (Not Not Fun/Domino)
Skullflower Fucked On A Pile Of Corpses (Cold Spring)
Staccato Du Mal Sin Destino (Wierd)
Alexander Tucker Dorwytch (Thrill Jockey)
Village Of Spaces Alchemy And Trust (Corleone)

Critical Beats A–Z

Actress Twitter tracks (No label)
Africa Hitech 93 Million Miles (Warp)
BNJMN Black Square (Rush Hour)
Coki Don’t Get it Twisted (DMZ)
Darq E Freaker Cherryade (Oil Gang)
Funkystepz Fuller (Hyperdub)
Instra:Mental Resolution 653 (Nonplus)
Faze Miyake Take Off (Woofer Music)
Massive Attack vs Burial Four Walls (The Vinyl Factory)
Moony I’m A UK G (Gobstopper)
Morphosis What Have We Learned (Delsin)
Preditah Circles (No label)
Andy Stott We Stay Together (Modern Love)
Swindle/Royal T Mood Swings VIP/Orangeade VIP (Butterz)
Bangs & Works Vol 2: The Best Of Chicago Footwork Various (Planet Mu)

Dub A–Z

Lee Perry & The Upsetters The Return Of Sound System Scratch (Pressure Sounds)
Disrupt & Soom T Ode To A Carrot (Jahtari)
King Midas Sound Without You (Hyperdub)
Bunny Lee & The Aggrovators Dub Will Change Your Mind (King Spinna)
Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry Nu Sound & Version (On-U Sound)
Muslimgauze Babylon Iz Iraq (Fathom)
RSD Go In A Good Way (Zettai Mu)
African Head Charge Voodoo Of The Godsent (On-U Sound)
The Revolutionaries Dial M For Murder In Dub Style (Pressure Sounds)
Deadbeat Drawn & Quartered (BLKRTZ)

Electronica A–Z

Balam Acab Wander/Wonder (Tri Angle)
Ursula Bogner Sonne = Blackbox (Faitiche)
Borden/Ferraro/Godin/Halo/Lopatin FRKWYS 7 (FRKWYS)
Margaret Dygas Margaret Dygas (Perlon)
Ekoclef Tapeswap (Magic & Dreams)
Lawrence English The Peregrine (Experimedia)
Mark Fell Manitutshu (Editions Mego)
Steve Hauschildt Tragedy & Geometry (Kranky)
Kangding Ray OR (Raster-Noton)
Kuedo Severant (Planet Mu)
Oneohtrix Point Never Replica
(Software/Mexican Summer)
Roll The Dice In Dust (Leaf)
Pinch & Shackleton Pinch & Shackleton (Honest Jon’s)
Andy Stott Passed Me By (Modern Love)
Cristian Vogel Black Swan (Sub Rosa)

Global A–Z

Bambara Mystic Soul: The Raw Sound Of Burkina Faso 1974–1979 Various (Analog Africa)
ZM Dagar & ZF Dagar Ragini Miyan Ki Todi (Country & Eastern)
Fanafody: A Collection Of Recordings & Photography From Madagasikara Vol II Various (Mississippi)
Franco & Le TPOK Jazz Francophonic Vol 1 1953–1980 (Sterns)
Jeong Ga Ak Hoe Gagok (Female)
Pungnyu III (Akdang)
Issa Juma & Super Wanyika Stars World Defeats The Grandfathers – Swinging Swahili Rumba 1982–1986 (Sterns)
Korea: Jongmyo Jeryeak: Ritual Music For The Royal Ancestors Various (Ocora)
Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 From Africa With Fury: Rise (Knitting Factory)
Opika Pende: Africa At 78rpm Various (Dust-To-Digital)
Tabu Ley Rochereau The Voice Of Lightness Vol 2 (Sterns)
Young Ho Shu Ajaeng Sanzo (Akdang) Omar Souleyman Haflat Gharbia: The Western Concerts (Sublime Frequencies)
Wallahi Le Zein!!: Wezin, Jakwar, And Guitar Boogie From The Islamic Republic Of Mauritania Various (Latitude)
Emin Yagci Tulum: A Sound From The Black Sea (Felmay)
Lingling Yu/Guo Gan Yue Luo: Jiangnan Sizhu Music (Felmay)

Hiphop A–Z

Chris Brown featuring Lil Wayne & Busta Rhymes Look At Me Now (Jive)
Danny Brown XXX (Fools Gold)
Jay-Z & Kanye West Niggas In Paris (Def Jam)
Kendrick Lamar Section 80 (TDE)
Lil B Bitch Mob: Respect Da Bitch Vol 1 (No label)
Meek Mill House Party (Maybach Music Group)
Mr Muthafuckin’ Exquire Huzzah (YouTube clip)
Tyler, The Creator Yonkers (OFWGKTA/XL)
Don Trip & Starlito Step Brothers (No label)
Waka Flocka Flame Duflocka Rant (No label)

Jazz & Improv A–Z

Derek Bailey Concert In Milwaukee (Incus)
Billy Bang’s Survival Ensemble Black Man’s Blues (NoBusiness)
Michel Doneda/Jonas Kocher/ Christoph Schiller ///Grape Skin (Another Timbre)
Dörner/Dafeldecker/Johansson Der Kreis Des Gegenstandes (Monotype)
Bertrand Denzler Tenor (Potlach)
Klaus Filip & Nikos Veliotis Slugabed (Hibari)
Flow Trio Set Theory, Live At The Stone (Ayler)
Hession/Wilkinson/Fell Two Falls & A Submission (Bo’Weavil)
Charlotte Hug Slipways To Galaxies (Emanem)
Eli Keszler Oxtirn (ESP)
Mural Live At The Rothko Chapel (Rothko Chapel)
William Parker Crumbling In The Shadows Is Fraulein Miller’s Stale Cake (Centering)
Akira Sakata & Chikamorachi Live At Hungry Brain (Family Vineyard)
Sheriffs Of Nothingness A Summer’s Night At The Crooked Forest (Sofa)
David S Ware/Cooper-Moore/William Parker/Muhammad Ali Planetary Unknown (AUM Fidelity)

Modern Composition A–Z

John Cage The Works For Percussion 1 (Mode)
Friedrich Cerha Bruchstück, Geträumt/Neun Bagatellen/ Instants (Kairos)
Alvin Curran Solo Works: The 70s (New World)
Luc Ferrari Piano And Percussion Works (Hat HUT)
Hans G Helms Fa:m’ Ahniesgwow (Wergo)
Ben Johnston String Quartets (New World)
David Lumsdaine Big Meeting (NMC)
Roger Reynolds Sanctuary (Mode)
Richard Skelton The Complete Landings (Sustain-Release)
Christian Wolff Kompositionen 1950–72 (Edition RZ)

Outer Limits A–Z

Bee Mask Canzoni Dal Laboratorio Del Silenzio Cosmico (Spectrum Spools)
Frieder Butzmann Wie Zeit Vergeht (PAN)
Caboladies Renewable Destination (Students Of Decay)
Cut Hands Afro Noise I (Very Friendly/Susan Lawly)
Head Boggle Unsounds And Domo Live (NNA Tapes)
Hecker Speculative Solution (Editions Mego)
Idea Fire Company Music From The Impossible Salon (Kye)
Thomas Lehn & Marcus Schmickler Live Double Séance [Antaa Kalojen Vida] (Editions Mego)
John Mannion Slice Through Or/In Glassmetal (Hanson)
Francisco Meirino Recordings Of Voltage Errors, Magnetic Fields, On-Site Testimonies & Tape Tension (Misanthropic Agenda)
Jim O’Rourke & Christoph Heemann Plastic Palace People Vol 1 (Streamline)
Peterlicker Nicht (Editions Mego)
Raionbashi/Krube Split (Hrönir)
Rodger Stella/Kites Interior Moon (Mutter Wild)
Werewolf Jerusalem Confessions Of A Sex Maniac (Second Layer)

Size Matters A–Z

Chora Songs From The Husk-Hair Malt (Winebox Press MC)
Tom Fazzini Stats (Loophamystery 7")
Lantern Deliver Me From Nowhere (Electric Voice MC)
Leopard Et Moi L’Amour De La Nature (Brise-Cul MC)
Mad Nanna I’ve Been Talking (Alberts Basement 7")
Matsuo Ohno Play On Animals (Em 7")
Bill Orcutt All Tongues/Tender Bottoms (Palilalia 7")
Primitive Calculators/Slug Guts Pumping Ugly Muscle split (Sweet Rot 7")
3 Toed Sloth … against the odds (Unwucht 2×7")
Wonderfuls Piss Fist (Negative Guest List 7")

no erstwhiles = fail

that is just a c&p fail btw

those lists are A LOT better than their disappointing main one i think

Thanks for that! I award you the 2011 Don Quixote award for services to transcription.

wasn't me (for once)

Yeah, those lists make a lot more sense to me than the meta-list. Though the hip-hop one doesn't look that good to me - anyone who's actually more of a head about that stuff disagree? (I actually like a couple of things in it, it just looks... like they haven't dug that deep?)

not sure how iceage or the men are "avant rock" but all genre names are dumb so whatever

wire hip hop lists are usually just noz i think, it's a pretty decently representative list of things a lot of people liked, and one of the only kind of surprise picks (meek mill's "house party") is a song i love so i can't complain

Would like to hear these:

Korea: Jongmyo Jeryeak: Ritual Music For The Royal Ancestors Various (Ocora)
Wallahi Le Zein!!: Wezin, Jakwar, And Guitar Boogie From The Islamic Republic Of Mauritania Various (Latitude)

And maybe a couple of the others that look Korean to me. I know there's got to be some Korean music I would like but the recordings I've hear are either pop that I'm not into, too avant-garde, or some overly rarified court music. But I've heard some Korean melodies that were amazing. Also, I bet some less traditional Mauritanian music could hook me in, in a big way. (Dimi Mint Aba was great live partly because of the sheer power of her voice, but I find the recordings mostly inaccessible.)

Why does most avant-rock I check out have troubled angular rhythms?

theres some great, overlooked stuff in the outer limits list but that peterlicker tape was garbage

i didnt realize that noz did the hip hop list himself, i thought it was weird that they didnt go more of the cloud rap, wire-y hip hop released this year

i dunno if he did it entirely on his own but it seemed like the last year or two it was all or mostly him, i was just saying

hip hop's list is on point & is all noz

i am just not getting this James Ferraro stuff.

only posting this list because the no. 3 album -- Matana Roberts' Coin Coin Chapter One: Gens de Couleur Libres -- is really good. not for everyone, it can be skreechy and abrasive at times, but at its best, it is powerful, raw jazz.

actually the overall list looks interesting. i just haven't had enough exposure to many of the titles listed on it.

So many of the African albums on that Wire Global list are reissues. And I see they are still doing a dub reggae list but not a dancehall one...

wait guys i think i just figured out what curmudgeon's new display name is

ding ding ding! You win

Rudipherous: The Wallahi le Zain comp is decent. I would say for pure enjoyment's sake, there is no need for it to be 2 cds, it's bloated. On the anthropological tip maybe the 2 cds is necessary.

The music is decent, but a lot of the songs start sounding same-y even to someone familiar with the different styles, mostly because of the guitar tones. But it's not like there's a glut of Mauritanian music so any is appreciated. I would like to see more releases of haraatin music though.

Also it was kind of weird reading the liner notes, the compiler talked about how this music was party and wedding music and he discussed the community aspect of the dancing and stuff, which is cool and all but kind of puts the listener in a weird space because we are necessarily listening to the comp in absentia of the wedding parties. I don't think the vibe he was trying to capture by taping live instead of studio recordings really comes across.

james ferraro album rules but i had no idea critics would be into it at all

i know one who isnt

well he's certainly no skrillex

This is two days late, but that Wye Oak album ... I can understand calling it "generic," because in a lot of ways it's a very dead-center kind of indie-rock, especially for anyone who perhaps enjoyed indie-rock in the later 90s. It is EXTREMELY good at that, though (which is not exactly common right now), and extremely interesting in its way, too.

Also:

I just have to accept that Nabisco is not interested in some 2011 things that I am--charting rap and r'n'b; African, Caribbean (soca & dancehall) and Latin music; country, southern soul and Americana.

Parts of this are true, but it's a lot to assume from one year's top-10 list! I mean, ten is a small number. I liked a lot of charting rap and r&b (and pop, a country) this year, just nothing that stuck out to me in a top-10 way in album form. And I've have felt silly shoehorning a record in just to prove that I paid attention to some country, or whatever.

But yes, a lot of those areas, especially internationally, I just don't know much about, and they're not really part of my purview job-wise -- I mean, I enjoy modern African pop, but I don't presume to be much of a "critic" or well-informed follower of it, just an ordinary listener. (And I already have to listen to a bunch of other stuff for work, so it's a lot less often that I can explore something out of personal curiosity. I also get the feeling I am a "slow" listener, if that makes sense.)

Another ten tracks from FACT
http://www.factmag.com/2011/12/05/50-best-tracks-of-2011-50-41/4/

20: BLAWAN ‘GETTING ME DOWN’ (WHITE LABEL)
19: CHRIS BROWN feat. BUSTA RHYMES & LIL WAYNE ‘LOOK AT ME NOW’ (JIVE)
18: DISTAL ‘COKE BOTTLE’ (GRIZZLY)
17: PANGAEA ‘WON’T HURT’ (HESSLE AUDIO)
16: MASSIVE ATTACK vs. BURIAL ‘PARADISE CIRCUS’ (VINYL FACTORY)
15: INC. ‘MILLIONAIRESS’ (from 3 EP, 4AD)
14: OBJEKT ‘THE GOOSE THAT GOT AWAY’ (OBJEKT)
13: UNKNOWN ARTIST ‘SICKO CELL’ (SWAMP81)
12: XXXY ‘ORDINARY THINGS’ (TEN THOUSAND YEN)
11: LANA DEL RAY ‘VIDEO GAMES’ (INTERSCOPE)

yeah obviously one's top ten albums for the year inevitably become a postage stamp 'statement' about what you listen to and care about, but it really is a pretty small window into one's tastes that the absence of one thing or another really shouldn't be interpreted as a total lock of interest in that whole genre or anything (xpost)

DEL REY. DEL REY. IT'S FUCKING DEL REY NOT DEL RAY

/subeditor snap

as in the spanish for king

aaargh

20: BLAWAN ‘GETTING ME DOWN’ (WHITE LABEL)
^^^^yes!!!! banger
19: CHRIS BROWN feat. BUSTA RHYMES & LIL WAYNE ‘LOOK AT ME NOW’ (JIVE)
^^kmt, ok the beat is good but none of those three are notable at all. why not just rep for another version of it so you recognise the beat without having to give space to chris brown? like this one for instance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pDCcnrgP4c

17: PANGAEA ‘WON’T HURT’ (HESSLE AUDIO)
^^^uh what? this was one of those i haven't given a second's thought to since hearing it. Pangaea's "hex" was much better

14: OBJEKT ‘THE GOOSE THAT GOT AWAY’ (OBJEKT)
^^^weird, it was the flipside of this that i really loved! gorgeous stuff
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xozMkGpiPrM

12: XXXY ‘ORDINARY THINGS’ (TEN THOUSAND YEN)
^^ok i guess, i can't hear why you'd particularly highlight it

The Rolling Stone list is actually more progressive than the Wire list.

But yes, a lot of those areas, especially internationally, I just don't know much about, and they're not really part of my purview job-wise

So New York Dominican band Aventura can play Madison Square Garden multiple nights and a New York City publication that covers a broad range of music, does not think that having any staffers or freelancers ever take note of that group, is part of their purview(the publication as opposed to you. No one writer is expected to cover everything) but all kinds of indie-rock is...

that's a x-post to nabiscothing

The Rolling Stone list is actually more progressive than the Wire list.

― OCCUPY DEPRESSION (Fotherington Thomas), Thursday, December 8, 2011 1:50 PM (33 minutes ago) Bookmark Permalink

heh otm

What is the definition of 'progressive' that you are using here? (Not disagreeing, I just literally have no idea what criteria you are using to describe something as 'progressive' in this context.)

Progressive challops.

to suit their tastes presumably
xp

OTOH it might be the fact that the Rolling Stone list actually has some women on it.

or politics then

19: CHRIS BROWN feat. BUSTA RHYMES & LIL WAYNE ‘LOOK AT ME NOW’ (JIVE)
^^kmt, ok the beat is good but none of those three are notable at all. why not just rep for another version of it so you recognise the beat without having to give space to chris brown? like this one for instance

there are 80 million versions of that song but they're all pretty much the same song.

also "great job diplo but sorry busta rhymes you just don't cut the mustard" is some horseshit

I mean I don't really know who's in 'Wonderful Piss Fist' but I'm just guessing here...

do you want to?

Huh, that's funny, because as far as I can tell both lists have two female artists in the top 10.

xpost to Matt DC.

would be funny if it was an all female bubblegum group though
xp