Best of 2011 #1: Ringo Deathstarr - Colour Trip

When I first heard Ringo Deathstarr, I thought that I was listening to a reformed and refocused Jesus and Mary Chain. As I said with the entry for Male Bonding, this was a great year if you loved shoegazer rock. Ringo Deathstarr take the fuzzed-out, feedback-drenched guitar esthetic of classic shoegaze ca. 1987 and merges it with a more modern pop sensibility, with a slight nod to the psychedelic rock of the 60s.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3xATi5s9-A



Once the drugged out guitar loop of the opening track, "Imagine Hearts", kicks in, the album hits you like a woozy and figurative tonne of bricks. The music swirls and disorients, the vocals fade in and out of comprehension. As the album progresses, the guitars get loud and fuzzy and the vocals become even more unintelligible. You are carried along in a wave of feedback and static. Then, this hits:

http://youtu.be/z6J-qS4eLWY



"So High" merges the sing along qualities of a 60s pop song with the feedback of a 90s guitar. Here is where the band truly coalesces its sound. Simultaneously playful and deadly serious, "So High" is the pinnacle of this stellar album. Every song on the album hits the right note, and this album deserves to be my #1 album of the past year. It also deserves more of your attention.

Best of 2011 #2: Braids - Native Speaker

Only a couple of albums this year truly made me emotional from the power of their music. Braids are a great band from Calgary, AB that didn't get the proper attention for album of the year from other critics, in my opinion. One, they released their debut album Native Speaker on the tiny Flemish Eye record label (Kanine Records in the States), and two, the album came out in the doldrums of music releases, early January. I had been paying attention to this band since they started their careers in 2008 as The Neighbourhood Council. Their debut EP as that band, Set Pieces, was a slow burn of spacy post-punk. The EP simmered and sparkled but never seemed to coalesce. With Native Speaker, the band truly found their places as musicians and the result was a lush album of sprawling post-punk with pop and goth tinges. Their sound is quite similar to how Animal Collective sounded like before they started listening to their own hype.

http://youtu.be/1RnfroBOgO0

Best of 2011 #3: Thurston Moore - Demolished Thoughts

I've loved Sonic Youth ever since my first listen to Daydream Nation way back in the early 90s at CKUL in Lethbridge. Their sound totally rewired my brain and made me rethink a lot of what I thought about rock music. Their unique "wall of guitar noise" approach to music appealed to me, as did their later experiments in more textured indy rock. The members of the band are ruthlessly and unapologetically experimental. Guitarist and vocalist Thurston Moore's latest solo effort is an often subtle album of understated guitar-based indy rock. Producer Beck Hansen's handiwork is apparent all of this album. Often the music less Moore's penchant for guitar skronk and more Hansen's tendency to layered, dense poppy rock. The collaboration produced some fantastic tracks though. If you're a fan of either Sonic Youth or Beck, you deserve to give this album a listen.

http://youtu.be/5wllPXb4lkI

Best of 2011 #4: Wild Flag - Wild Flag

Sometimes, I long for the crunch of a rock guitar. But only when it's done well. Sleater-Kinney were the best rock band around until they broke up a few years ago. We've been bereft of the awesome sound of Sleater-Kinney since then. Sure, Corin Tucker brought out an album with her own band, but her unearthly blues wail just wasn't the same without Carrie Brownstein's guitar and Janet Weiss's drums. Enter Wild Flag. This band is about the closest we'll get to a Sleater-Kinney reunion in a while, and while they don't exactly capture Sleater-Kinney's wild abandon, they get pretty close. Brownstein and Weiss are joined by Rebecca Cole of The Minders and Mary Timony of the obscenely underrated noise pop band Helium to form Wild Flag. If you like your guitars crunchy and melodic and your music just a touch snotty, Wild Flag are for you. And if you've never heard Helium, check them out too.

http://youtu.be/8J8n9R8rnB8

Best of 2011 #5: Austra - Feel it Break

Toronto's Austra made a heck of a splash this year. Propelled by the startlingly expressive and operating voice of Katie Stelmanis, Austra have the sheen of a classic 80s new wave act combined with the tautness of a modern indy rock band. Feel it Break seems a bit unfinished in places, but it is a shockingly powerful album. As a debut album, Feel is Break is strong, but I have a feeling that their next album will be the one that defines them and puts them on the international radar.

http://youtu.be/8LJtMrhb558

Best of 2011 #6: Brian Eno - Drums Between the Bells

Those of you that know me know I'm a frothing Brian Eno fan. The man practically invented whole genres of electronic music, and continues to reinvent himself every time he puts his musical knowledge to work, whether as a musician himself or as a producer. Since jumping to Warp Records a few years, Eno's output has increased and his experimentation has also expanded. Drums Between the Bells is a collaboration with poet Rick Holland, who's words are sung by Eno and a number of guest vocalists. The result is an album full of glitchy ambient music the way only Eno could produce. Whereas lesser artists embrace a droning tone as a simple background, Eno uses the drone to construct immense castles of sound.

http://youtu.be/RMQXm4etRhU

Best of 2011 #7: Cold Cave - Cherish the Light Years

Cold Cave's last album, 2009's Love Comes Close, was one of my favourite albums of that year. This past year's Cherish the Light Years was another good outing for this band, perhaps a step or two behind Love Comes Close, but engaging nonetheless. Whereas Love Comes Close was more textured and more electronic based, Cherish the Light Years is more rock and pop based. The electronics are a bit more subdued, in favour of more guitars and vocal styles. What's more is that the band sounds a bit more like a band and less like a side project. Hopefully, Cold Cave will continue to blossom and make more great music.

http://youtu.be/686K_X9C5qU

Best of 2011 #8: Small Black - New Chain

Yes, I know this album was released in 2010, but I didn't hear it until spring 2011, so I'm counting it. Small Black are one of the leading bands of the "chillwave" movement, a hit and miss style of music that borrows heavily from the analog electronic pop of the 80s and adding in the looping and sampling of the modern electronic world. Small Black's style of chillwave is a lush, looping style of electronics and vocal effects, trance inducing but noisy at the same time. Their dirty sound is a big draw for me, making them much more interesting than the more sterile Washed Out, whom I was very disappointed by this year. New Chain is an exciting and forward thinking album, but one that still pays homage to the artists that paved the way for them.

http://youtu.be/C_llci-C7hc

Best of 2011 #9: Dreamboat - Buddies

My #9 pick goes to a band that is very independent, so much there isn't even any of their music on Youtube. Dreamboat is Aaron Bergunder, a member of the Victoria based indy rock band Colourbook. Dreamboat is a pure synth-pop, straight out of the early 80s. Think a more minimalist Depeche Mode and you get the idea. I'm a sucker for retro sounds, and no album sounded more retro than Dreamboat.

http://dreamboat.bandcamp.com/album/buddies

Best of 2011 #10: Male Bonding - Endless Now

2011 was a great year if you liked shoegaze. London based Male Bonding have only been around since 2008 and Endless Now is only their second full length album, but the band already has a great handle on the British style of noise-rock. They sound a bit like a mix between The Wedding Present and Ride, with jangly, ferocious hooks laden in a fuzzed out guitar mess. I considered Canadian band Shimmering Stars for the #10 spot as well, but Male Bonding grew on me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXrwKOOacEw

Best Albums of 2011

1) Ringo Deathstarr - Colour Trip
2) Braids - Native Speaker
3) Thurston Moore - Demolished Thoughts
4) Wild Flag - Wild Flag
5) Austra - Feel it Break
6) Brian Eno - Drums Between the Bells
7) Cold Cave - Cherish the Light Years
8) Small Black - New Chain
9) Dreamboat - Buddies
10) Male Bonding - Endless Now

Honourable Mentions: Tune-Yards - whokill, Bibio - Mind Bokeh, Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact, Neon Indian - Era Extrana, The Horrors - Skying, Esben and the Witch - Violet Cries, Shimmering Stars - Violent Hearts

Overall, I felt it was a weak year for music. My Top 2 picks are truly smazing albums. Most of the rest have great moments, but aren't mindblowing overall. In depth reviews and music from the Top 10 will start next week.

Hipsters Ahoy: The Pitchfork Top 20 Albums of 2011

20) Nicholas Jaar - Space is Only Noise
19) Danny Brown - XXX
18) Atlas Sound - Parallax
17) Clams Casino - Instrumentals
16) Kurt Vile - Smoke Rings for My Halo
15) Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
14) Shabazz Palaces - Black Up
13) EMA - Past Life Martyred Saints
12) James Blake - James Blake
11) St. Vincent - Strange Mercy
10) The Weeknd - House of Balloons
9) Real Estate - Days
8) Drake - Take Care
7) Tune-Yards - Whokill
6) Oneohtrix Point Never - Replica
5) Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost
4) PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
3) M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
2) Destroyer - Kaputt
1) Bon Iver - Bon Iver

There was a time I used to visit Pitchfork religiously every couple of days, to keep up on what's hot in indy music. That was several years ago. Now, the website has become a pale copy of what it used to be. Pitchfork lists are very predictable too. They have the indy darlings (Real Estate, Kurt Vile, Atlas Sound), the flavour of the week (in this case, the mopey, folky indy rock that's infesting college radio lately, Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes), the "we're so hip, we have music no one has ever heard before" (Clams Casino) and the inexplicable mainstream hip-hop albums (Drake). I think this list underscores how poor music this year was. I think only PJ Harveym, Tune-Yards and St. Vincent have enough artistic merit to mention in a Top 20 this year, at least from this list.

My Top 10 is coming in exactly one week.

It begins: Best of 2011 albums coming in

First Paste Magazine:

1) Bon Iver - Bon Iver
2) Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
3) My Morning Jacket - Circuitual
4) Tune-Yards - whokill
5) Middle Brother - Middle Brother
6) Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. - It's a Corporate World
7) Wilco - The Whole Love
8) Dawes - Nothing is Wrong
9) M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
10) The Decemberists - The King is Dead
11) St. Vincent - Strange Mercy
12) Iron and Wine - Kiss Each Other Clean
13) Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost/Radiohead - The King of Limbs
14) Adele - 21
15) Deer Tick - Divine Providence
16) Yuck - Yuck
17) The Civil Wars - Barton Hollow
18) Wye Oak - Civilian
19) Cults - Cults
20) Beirut - The Rip Tide

And Rolling Stone:

1) Adele - 21
2) Jay-Z and Kanye West - Watch the Throne
3) Paul Simon - So Beautiful or So What
4) Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
5) Radiohead - The King of Limbs
6) Lady Gaga - Born This Way
7) The Decemberists - The King is Dead
8) Wilco - The Whole Love
9) Wild Flag - Wild Flag
10) Robbie Robertson - How to Become Clairvoyant
11) My Morning Jacket - Circuitual
12) The Black Keys - El Camino
13) Tune-Yards - whokill
14) Beastie Boys - Hot Sauce Committee Pt. Two
15) Cage the Elephant - Thank You Happy Birthday
16) R.E.M. - Collapse Into Now
17) TV on the Radio - Nine Types of Light
18) Feist - Metals
19) Eric Church - Cheif
20) Foo Fighters - Wasting Light

Comments: This year's music seems like a weak crop to me. It seems it's the year of the brooding hipster neo-folky, with the Top 3 in Paste's list falling into that category and even more beneath it. I'm surprised to see that Iron and Wine album on any list. I thought it was one of the most disappointing albums of the year. Bon Iver is decent, but very overhyped. No way it deserves to be anywhere near #1. The Rolling Stone list is predictably stacked with buzz-worthy acts and old bands that trotted out new albums, which only a few challenging picks (Wild Flag and Tune-Yards are nice to see in the Top 20). They had Bon Iver at #21. Proving that Rolling Stone loves old time rock, no matter how bland it is, they had Superheavy at #34. This is a collaboration between Mick Jagger, Damien Parley, Joss Stone and A.R. Rahman, which sounds great in theory, but turns into a sleeping pill on CD.