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

it's okay. no real "songs" to hold onto.

dealwith.gif are you putting together a drone/ambient/experimental list?

― lord of snow and shadows (є(٥_ ٥)э), Wednesday, December 21, 2011 5:30 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Permalink

mmmmmmmmaybe

did you handpick that top three on the R&B list specifically to troll ppl here, lol

lol thanks for the warning.

There was a Gui Boratto album between this and Chromophobia too, it wasn't great though.

People sleep on Gui cause he's consistent. No OMG NARRATIVE

oh my god i just can't handle things without narratives

I like Take My Breath Away!

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/the_music_club/features/2011/music_club_2011/best_music_2011_will_someone_please_explain_why_adele_isn_t_completely_boring_.html

Jody Rosen discussing the year with Nabisco, Ann Powers, Jonah Weiner, and Carl Wilson

I came round to "Let England Shake" yesterday - played it twice in a row and really got into it. I love it when she starts splicing in Blood & Fire - I thought it was a mistake or somehow I'd managed to get two songs playing at the same time. Had to pause it to make sure.

Great album list from The Liminal:
http://www.theliminal.co.uk/2011/12/the-liminal-albums-of-the-year-2011/

1. Pete Swanson, Man With Potential (Type)
2. Grouper, AIA Dream Loss/Alien Observer (Yellow Electric)
3. Andy Stott, Passed Me By/We Stay Together (Modern Love)
4. Hallock Hill, The Union (Hundred Acre Records)
5. Julia Holter, Tragedy (Leaving Records)
6. Matana Roberts, Coin Coin Chapter One: Gens De Couleur Libres (Constellation)
7. Ellen Fullman, Through Glass Panes (Important)
8. Gang Gang Dance, Eye Contact (4AD)
9. Tim Hecker, Ravedeath 1972 (Kranky)
10. Corrupted, Garten der Unbewusstheit (Nostalgia Blackrain)
11. Bill Orcutt, How The Thing Sings (Editions Mego)
12. Colin Stetson, New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges (Constellation)
13. Gillian Welch, The Harrow And The Harvest (Acony)
14. Leyland Kirby, Eager To Tear Apart The Stars (History Always Favours The Winners)
15. Michael Chapman, The Resurrection And Revenge Of The Clayton Peacock (Ecstatic Peace)
16. Roly Porter, Aftertime (Subtext)
17. Cut Hands, Afro Noise (Very Friendly)
18. Jenny Hval, Viscera (Rune Grammofon)
19. Rustie, Glass Swords (Warp)
20. Moritz von Oswald Trio, Horizontal Structures (Honest Jon’s)
21. Chris Watson, El Tren Fantasma (Touch)
22. Liturgy, Aesthethica (Thrill Jockey)
23. Fire! with Jim O’Rourke, Unreleased? (Rune Grammofon)
24. DJ Rashad, Just A Taste Vol. 1 (Ghettophiles)
25. Peter Evans, Beyond Civilized And Primitive (Dancing Wayang)

Pretty shocked to see that the Mountain Goats album hasn't appeared on one single list. (Except for Cibuloid's, but that doesn't count)

That Julia Holter album's pretty decent.

Good to see the Liminal picked the right Leyland Kirby album.

Have to say i don't really "get" his sampled from 78s stuff. What is he adding to it really? Eager To Tear Apart The Stars is great though

You talking about The Caretaker? I guess it's more collage work than original composition. Hauntology and all that jazz... I like how with many of the tracks you don't know whether it's a loop or not, and where the loop starts or stops. Really I just hear it as a pleasant, ghostly recontextualisation of pre-war dancehall.

The first two albums he released himself on CDr as The Caretaker are amazing. He's adding some amazing effects is what he's adding there. But since then it's been diminishing returns.

ghostly recontextualisation of pre-war dancehall.

― dog latin, but cool (dog latin), Thursday, December 22, 2011

Don't understand this - pre-war pop music is already really ghostly sounding!

Just find it really detracts from some of the best music of the last century

Well, it's Disintegration Loops meets Ghostbox, so if those are for you then it's great. There's a psychological subtext to it as well, which I'm not sure I fully understand. But yeah, I dig it.

Do you like Jack Hylton?

Not knowingly heard him (although I'm sure I must have somewhere down the line). I guess that's the good thing about the Caretaker is that it brings this kind of music to audiences who might not have heard a lot of it.

Like that Frank Ocean fellow!

Somewhere out there there's a music-hall aficionado kissing his damn spats over the Caretaker.

Maybe they're even here right now

All of Boomkat's lists are now up.

Guardian Readers' Albums of 2011

Readers' albums of 2011
https://apps.facebook.com/theguardian/music/musicblog/2011/dec/22/best-albums-songs-2011-readers
20 Destroyer - Kaputt
19 Adele - 21
18 Anna Calvi - Anna Calvi
17 Björk - Biophilia
16 St Vincent - Strange Mercy
15 King Creosote & John Hopkins - Diamond Mine
14 The Arctic Monkeys – Suck it and See
13 Gil Scott-Heron & Jamie XX - We're New Here
12 Josh T Pearson - Last of the Country Gentlemen
11 Wu Lyf - Go Tell Fire to the Mountain
10 Metronomy - The English Riviera
9 Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost
8 Katy B - On A Mission
7 The Horrors - Skying
6 Tom Waits - Bad as Me
5 James Blake - James Blake
4 Wild Beasts - Smother
3 Bon Iver - Bon Iver
2 PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
1 Matt Cardle - Letters

Readers' songs of 2011
20 St Vincent - Cruel
19 Nicola Roberts - Beat of My Drum
18 Azealia Banks - 212
17 Foster the People - Pumped Up Kicks
16 Summer Camp - Better Off Without You
15 Wild Beasts - Bed Of Nails
14 Bombay Bicycle Club - Shuffle
13 Lady Gaga - Born This Way
12 Bon Iver - Holocene
11 Joe Goddard - Gabriel
10 SBTRKT - Hold On
9 Laura Marling - Sophia
8 Metronomy - The Look
7 Radiohead - Lotus Flower
6 PJ Harvey - The Words That Maketh Murder
5 Adele - Someone Like You
4 M83 - Midnight City
3 The Horrors - Still Life
2 Lana Del Rey - Video Games
1 Matt Cardle - Starlight

Someone alert The Indie's Jonathan Owen

XXP: With the Caretaker at his best, you can't really tell what the source material is because he's made it into something new.

At his worst, it's just Glen Ponder with a load of echo.

Is Matt Cardle the fat guy from Gavin and Stacey?

think so

Julia Holter at number one on the Boomkat albums chart... :-)

http://boomkat.com/collections/charts-2011-boomkat-top-100-albums

http://boomkat.com/collections/charts-2011-boomkat-top-100-singleseps

they really should do the readers poll before the writers one

simon reynolds

11 for ‘11

Metronomy, The English Riviera
Rustie, Glass Swords
Oneohtrix Point Never, Replica
James Ferraro, Far Side Virtual
Woebot, Chunks
Maria Minerva, Tallinn At Dawn
Ekoplekz, Intrusive Incidentalz Vol 1
KWJAZ, s/t
The Horrorist, Joyless Pleasure
Ursula Bogner, Sonne = Black Box
Moon Wiring Club, Clutch It Like A Gonk

the next 11

Kuedo, Severant
Jon Brooks, Music for Thomas Carnacki
Rangers, Pan Am Stories
Julia Holter, Tragedy
Various, Bangs & Works Vol 2
Kangding Ray, Or
Peaking lights, 936
tUnE-yArDs, whokill
Ford & Lopatin, Channel Pressure
Toro Y Moi, Underneath the Pine
Hacker Farm, Poundland

another 11

Tim Hecker, ravedeath 1972
Laurel Halo, Hour Logic
Andrew Pekler, Sentimental Favourites
The Deeep, Life Light
Maria Minerva, Cabaret Cixous
2562, Fever
Prince Rama, Trust Now
Charles Vaughan, Documenting the Decay
Destroyer, Kaputt
Bee Mask, Canzoni Dal Laboratorio Del Silenzio Cosmico
Clams Casino, Rainforest

tunes of '11

Dev, “In the Dark”
Maria Minerva, “A Little Lonely”
Ke$ha, “We R Who We R”
Rihanna, “Cheers (Drink to That)”
Britney Spears, “Till the World Ends”
Martin Solveig & Dragonette, “Hello”
Etta James featuring Flo Rida, “Good Feeling”
Nicki Minaj, “Super Bass”
New Boyz featuring The Cataracts & Dev’s “Backseat Driver”
Afrojack featuring Eva Simons, “Take Over Control”
LMFAO, “Party Rock Anthem”
LMFAO, “Sexy and I Know It”
Toro Y Moi, “Still Sound”
Scritti Politti, “A Day Late and a Dollar Short (unreleased new-ish track on Absolute comp)
Maria Minerva, “Hagasuxzzavol”
Rustie, “Ultra Thizz”
Lil Wayne, “How To Love”
Joker featuring Buggsy & Otis Brown, “Lost”
Big Sean featuring Nicki Minaj, “Dance (A$$)”
Chris Brown not featuring Chris Brown, “Look at Me Now (INSTRUMENTAL)”
Laurel Halo, "Head"
Kreayshawn, “Gucci Gucci”
Maria Minerva, “Ruff Trade”

inexplicably uninvolved by

Zomby
PJ Harvey
John Maus
Panda Bear
Hype Williams
James Blake

transfixed at the border twixt rapture and revulsion

Drake
Liturgy
Skrillex
Katy Perry

skrillex is the aural equivalent of necking half a bottlesworth of vodka and red bull and taking three dodgy berries. You'll probably have quite a good time, but you'll be left feeling like a terrible terrible human being for it.

skrillex should forget music and just stick to animated gifs

http://www.sickchirpse.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/skrillex-kim-jongil-750x400.jpg

Let me guess, Kim Jong Skril, right?

MY TRACKS http://alexmacpherson.tumblr.com/post/14617464612/my-top-120-tracks-of-2011

MY ALBUMS http://alexmacpherson.tumblr.com/post/14614655894/my-top-50-albums-of-2011

dog latin you are posting...a lot right now

lol

it's downtime in the office today...

amazing lex

> 17. PHAEDRA - The Sea

^ this beautiful thing really came into its own in the autumn - good shout Lex! Also great to see Frivolous getting more love.

so my day off tmrw will be spent copy/pasting lex's trax list into youtube. Cool! Thx Lex :) Sure beats xmas shopping.

yeah i didn't think the phaedra album was a contender and then bam, autumn happened

i actually started a youtube playlist including both album standout tracks and standalone tracks but it was taking aaaaages and i got bored http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL65FDD501BC4A3CA8

great lists lex - surprised there's no Jhene though!

Tom Waits??

uh oh...

thx BW - i like jhené but as i was putting the lists together i kinda realised i don't love her yet? i did not feel compelled to return to her music as much as i expected to. if i wanted to be a bit mean i'd say i preferred cassie the first time round and w/o the slight drake taint.

great lists lex - surprised there's no Jhene though!

^^^ + no kandi either?