Daniel & Derek's Favorite Albums of 2011

[Derek]

Aww, yeah. It's that time of year again, but after going solo for the last 4-5 years, this year I'm combining forces with the legendary Daniel Davis because two D's are better than one. And this way you prog metalheads can have a little fun too, since I'll sure as hell not be mentioning it!

So, 2011. Following the relatively tame year of music that was 2010, it brought us the most variety of brilliance in quite some time, with nearly every genre and sub-genre bringing at least one or two great albums to the table and even more importantly, artists pushing the boundaries of these arbitrary cages. As a whole, the music of 2011 often reflected the global anxieties and insecurities, manifesting this sense of helplessness in revolutionary forms. Of course, any broad, sweeping statement like that about any year is at least half bullshit, but it does seem music was more about pushing buttons and breaking boundaries (take my middle 3 honorable mentions alone) than any year in recent memory.

On that note, I'll leave you with my 5 honorable mentions, each of which was on my top 30 at some point within the past few weeks, so consider these equally strong recommendations as the picks I have coming up later.


HONORABLE MENTIONS (Listed Alphabetically)

Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues

Not as consistent as their self-titled debut, Helplessness Blues nonetheless shows Robin Pecknold as a blossoming song-writer, full of confessions, self-doubt and sweet nothings amidst the deft combination of Pecknold's gentle, quiet solos and the group's beautiful harmonizing.

Pgv6dKV03dA

The Necks – Mindset

Mindset is composed of two contrasting pieces, the first, "Rum Jungle", increasingly aggressive, unsettling and forboding, layering dark piano improvisations upon repetitive stand-up bass riffs, the second, "Daylights", minimalist, spacious, a comedown from the oblivion the first track takes you to. This band has been one of my best discoveries of 2011 and this album further secures their spot as one of the few go-to modern jazz bands out there.

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Snowman– Absence

The fury of The Horse, The Rat and The Swan is gone, but while it's highs don't quite hit those of its predecessor, Absence is a far more focused, consistent album that delivers weirdo, moody post-punk that few bands or albums can match. And now that they've broken up, we'll never know how much better they could've become.

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Colin Stetson – New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges

Perhaps no musician worked to redefine what his/her instrument can accomplish than Colin Stetson and his huge-ass saxophone. New History Warfare is full of skreetches and scronks, sounds that I didn't even realize a sax could make, transformed even further by extensive looping and occasional electronic backing to further intensify the album's wholly unique dark atmosphere.

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The War on Drugs - Slave Ambient

The best Kurt Vile album of the year was not Kurt Vile's, but his former band's. Slave Ambient certainly wears its love of Spacemen 3, Dylan and Springsteen on its sleeve, but this has a laid back confidence about it that makes it work as something totally its own.

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[sevenarts]

Wow, pretty cool to see The Necks and Snowman get mentions here. Snowman was a 2011 discovery for me and I've gone back through their catalog after hearing the very good Absence. Definitely a really interesting band; I'm a sucker for bands that show that new sounds can still be found within the bounds of rock, and it's a shame that this'll be their last album.

That Necks album hasn't really grown on me yet. They're one of my favorite bands, but compared to the brilliance of discography highlights like Chemist or Drive By, this one seems like a letdown, and the first Necks album that I haven't instantly fallen in love with. It's not bad but I've come to expect transcendence from them, and this hasn't really delivered.

[D_Davis]

2011 was, for me, a different sort of year than that past few years have been. I listened to far more commercially available music, and far less ambient. But that's not to say that there won't be any netlabel or ambient music on my list, because there will be, and the entries representing those two categories are pretty darn fantastic.

I see that one of Derek's HM will be appearing much later on my official list, and I've already discovered that I will be checking out at least one new album - The Necks. I didn't even know they put out an album in 2011.

I don't have any honorable mentions, so I'll just dive right into my list.

#30 - @Peace - Self Titled
(available via Bandcamp - name your price)

http://f0.bcbits.com/z/13/05/130599534-1.jpg (http://at-peace.bandcamp.com/)

I didn’t listen to much new hip hop this year, and as a result this is the only hip hop album on the list. In many ways, @Peace’s s/t album is a throwback to the Native Tongue movement of the early ‘90s; probably the reason why I love it so much. It’s up-beat, positive, melodic, and infectious. It’s the most pop-hip hop album I’ve been into in some time.

Check out:

Home (http://at-peace.bandcamp.com/track/home)
Time Travelling (http://at-peace.bandcamp.com/track/time-travelling)

[dreamdead]

No Blut Aus Nord for you, Derek. For shame. :lol:

In all seriousness, I'm looking forward to a year of new discoveries from the two of you. Fleet Foxes' title track off Helplessness Blues might be my favorite single of the year, so it's mildly surprising to not see it make the actual "list".

[ledfloyd]

good stuff. so far the fleet foxes album is the only one i've listened to (i'd heard a track or two from slave ambient) so i'm looking forward to being exposed to some new things. i particularly like that snowman song.

[Derek]

30

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j94/DSmith724/30_Cunninlynguists.jpg

Cunninlynguists - Oneirology

Oneirology, the study of dreams, is a perfect match to Cunninlynguists laid-back, atmospheric sound, where synths and slow, heavy beats create an expansive sense of time for each rappers rhymes to flow through. Lyrically and sonically, this is as tight a hip-hop album as any released this year and while they occasionally bludgeon with overly literal lyrics and the production veers into a poppy clean territory that veers towards the cheesy, a majority of Oneirology is remarkably ambitious. Kno's production is incredibly varied, with nearly every track offering clear progression rather than relying on heavy repetition of beats and rhythms. Like the dreams the album focuses on, be it within the suppressed subconscious or waking life, Oneirology takes the listener on a journey, covering an array of tones, from dark to humorous, philosophical to crude, in conveying not only the ways our dream life reflect our deepest fears and desires, but how existence itself can be twisted into its own dreamworld.

Favorite Tracks:


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zGdK_luHGh4

[D_Davis]

#29 Opeth - Heritage

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/ae/Opeth-Heritage.jpg/220px-Opeth-Heritage.jpg

One thing I’ve observed about metal fans is that they are extremely opposed to change. Sometimes that’s good because they are die-hard, loyal fans, and sometimes that’s bad because bands tend to get punished and shunned for evolving, changing, and experimenting (another example of this will come much later on the list). Opeth’s Heritage is a pretty big departure for the kings of new metal, and I've heard some rumblings of complaint from the trenches; it has more in common with Damnation than any of their other albums, but it also has more in common with ‘70s prog-rock than it does with Damnation. Just one listen to the opening track is evident of this, and the use of organ throughout the album reinforces the notion, not to mention the complete lack of Cookie Monster vocals.

This could be seen as Opeth's Larks' Tongues in Aspic.

Damnation is still my favorite Opeth album; I love their music but I’m just not into the growling found in most of their songs and albums. I’m also a huge fan of ‘70s prog-rock, and so it makes sense that I would love Heritage so much. But the album is not simply a throwback or an homage the music of a bygone era. It is still very much an Opeth album and contains all of things that I like about the band - complex arrangements, great instrumentation, and oodles of skillfully played licks and riffs. I’ve picked some good tracks to check out, but as is the case with most Opeth albums it is best to listen to the album as a whole from start to finish, and as loud as possible.

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[D_Davis]

"Get Ignorant" is a killer track. Really liked that one.

[D_Davis]

So I didn't have any honorable mentions, but I do have a couple major disappointments:

Harold Budd - In the Mist

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41tmd2XeC5L._SL500_AA300_.jpg

Budd is my favorite composer, and among my favorite ambient artists, but when you are prolific as he is, you're bound to release a dud every once in awhile; In the Mist is such a dud. It just feels entirely phoned in. But rest assured, Budd is still on my list, and will be mentioned at least twice. He's made more albums since he has retired than some artists do their entire careers.



Steven Wilson - Grace for Drowning

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/dc/Steven_Wilson_-_Grace_for_Drowning.jpg/220px-Steven_Wilson_-_Grace_for_Drowning.jpg

Mr. Wilson has had kind of a slow year. No new Porcupine Tree, and he didn't even work with Opeth in any major capacity on their latest album. And while his name will be mentioned later on the real list, it will only be in passing. His second solo album, Grace for Drowning, just isn't very good. It takes forever to get going, and once it does it never offers up enough hooks to hold my interest. I still haven't listened to the whole thing in a single sitting, and I doubt I ever will.

[Derek]

29

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j94/DSmith724/29_Radiohead.jpg

Radiohead - The King of Limbs

No band has been more important to me as a music fan or influential in shaping my music taste than Radiohead. The same, I'm sure, can be said by tens of millions of others who came of age in the 90s when the band offered a strange breath of fresh air that somehow worked its way into the mainstream. I still have vivid memories of how that alien gust of wind breaking into shimmering guitar at the beginning of "Planet Telex" made me feel at 16, the thrill of experiencing OK Computer in my room at night the day it came out, wondering what the fuck was going on with Kid A until a month of near-constant spinning was more than enough to make it one of my all-time favorites and even being bowled over with anticipation during the 10 days between In Rainbows announced release and its actual availability...and not being disappointed. These experiences are hardly unique to me; Radiohead, love 'em or not, are the band of our generation and when you release several of the most amazing albums ever and offer nothing short of unequivocal greatness in a 15 year span, it opens you up to an unfair amount of criticism and doubt when failing to make yet another landmark album.

Since The Bends, the bar for Radiohead has been themselves, each new album compared only to those the band previously released since it was a given that it'd be better than almost anything else released around the same time. Until now. But rather than piling on the pity party or mourning the passing of a band that many people conveniently forget are still more than capable of making another masterpiece - Yorke's work with Flying Lotus and Burial certainly show his willingness and desire to stay ahead of the curve musically - I'll simply continue enjoying The King of Limbs as a second tier work by a band who hasn't even had a second tier in 16 years. Limbs quaintness can make it underwhelming at times and clocking in under 40 minutes, kinda leaves you wondering where the rest is. I've heard the album called lazy and underdeveloped and within days of its release, conspiracy theories came out that a secret follow-up would soon be out - a rumor that proved to be false, but speaks to the astronomical expectations on a band that had just released a pretty great album...at least when judged on its own merits rather than stacked up against "the canon".

The King of Limbs finds Radiohead further tightening their sound, perhaps simplifying more than refining, though still moody, atmospheric and, at times, makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Even a song like "Codex", certainly one of their most pared down songs, uses sparseness in a way only Radiohead can, because only Radiohead have Thom fucking Yorke singing for them. The reliance more on subtle ambiance and unique drum rhythms rather than the killer guitar riffs we've come to expect from Jonny does leave the album with an unfinished feel, but also is evidence of a band in transition, a band who's accomplished more than perhaps any other in the past 20 years trying not to repeat themselves, to create something new even if it means subtracting things that made fans love you in the first place. But instead of focusing on all that's lost, let's celebrate the fact that what's left is still damn good.

Favorite Tracks:


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[D_Davis]

The second half of KoL is fantastic. I'd say that the last 4 songs would have made a perfect EP, and are some of the finest tunes Radiohead has crafted in ages - since OKC.

[D_Davis]

#28 Evan Abeele - Lineage
(Available via Bandcamp for $5)

http://f0.bcbits.com/z/20/24/2024312274-1.jpg (http://evanabeelemusic.bandcamp.com/album/lineage-e-p)

Beyond this album I know next to nothing about Evan Abeele. This seems to be his only solo album; he has an artist profile on Pitchfork, consisting of a single photograph; and he also records as part of a duo called Memoryhouse (haven’t heard them). What I do know is that Lineage is wonderful little EP consisting of six neo-nostalgic compositions. I don’t really know what else to call this kind of ambient music, except for neo-nostalgia. I don’t even really know what that means, but I know the music when I hear it. It reminds me of anime-piano music, and utilizes more “real” piano and string sounds than it does electronic pads and sweeps, although the music also incorporates subtle elements of glitch and minimalism. Basically, it’s music that makes me want to create memories with, so that one day I can listen to the music and be nostalgic about said memories. So maybe it’s pre-nostalgia, or future-nostalgia. I don’t know - but there will be more entries in this made-up sub-genre.

[transmogrifier]

I would never call The King of Limbs lazy - in fact it is the opposite, completely overworked, too much emphasis on the texture of the song and not enough concern for the underlying meat of the thing. Very disappointing album, and one I rarely listen to these days.

[Derek]

I would never call The King of Limbs lazy - in fact it is the opposite, completely overworked, too much emphasis on the texture of the song and not enough concern for the underlying meat of the thing. Very disappointing album, and one I rarely listen to these days.

Yeah, it makes sense that someone less interested sonic textures would find it even more disappointing. I hear ya, but I think there's still plenty to like about it.

Agree with Davis that the second half is much stronger than the first.

Evan Abeele will be one of many I imagine I'll be adding to the "to listen" pile. Sounds awesome.

[EyesWideOpen]

I had never heard any Cunninlynguists music but that cover and those samples sold me. I just purchased it!

[D_Davis]

I'm going to jump a bit ahead of Derek because I'll be traveling over the next couple of days.

#27 Hammock w/ Steve Kilbey and timEbandit Powles - Asleep in the Downlights
(available via Bandcamp for $5)


http://f0.bcbits.com/z/48/63/486334485-1.jpg (http://hammock.bandcamp.com/album/asleep-in-the-downlights)


Last January, If you would have told me that Steve Kilbey would be appearing once on my end of the year best albums list, I might have believed it. If you would have told me that he'd be appearing twice on my list, there is no way I would have believed it. But that's exactly what happened. And it's not that I have anything against Mr. Kilbey. For many years I loved The Church, and I've always thought that he and Marty Wilson Piper were super talented. But I haven't thought of those two guys in a long time....

Anyhow, onto the EP at hand. Asleep in the Downlights is short EP, a collaboration between new-gazers Hammock, and Steve Kilbey and timEbandit Powles of The Church. And it is really, really good. Hammock creates some of the most lush and spaced-out guitar tones this side of old Slowdive, and their style perfectly melds with that of Kilbey's and Powles'. While it's only about 20 minutes in length, the feel of Asleep in the Downlights is thoroughly epic. I'd love to see Hammock continue this experiment of teaming up with vocalists and other musicians. Simply put, if you like shoegazer stuff, just buy this. You won't regret it.

[D_Davis]

#26 Moby - Destroyed


http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0glafWqDKhg/TcmOvmVgp7I/AAAAAAAABGI/k-T_Mg5iPmg/s1600/moby_destroyed.jpg


Sometimes I feel like I'm the last person on earth who still likes Moby and U2.

I really don't understand all the guff that Moby gets. The dude is super talented, conscientious, and thoughtful, and he makes really good music. Animal Rights is one of my all-time favorite albums, and I think Destroyed is, perhaps, his second best album. I love it when Moby sings - he's got an earnest quality to his vocals - and Destroyed contains a couple of my favorite Moby vocal tracks, "Be the One," "The Day," and "After." These three songs are definitely the highlights of the album. But that's not to say that the rest of the album isn't worth listening to. In typical Moby-fashion, Destroyed is comprised of a mix of down-tempo jams perfect for when the night turns to dawn, and chilled-out ambient tunes perfect when dawn turns to day. Destroyed is an album to listen to very, very late, or very, very early.


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[Derek]

28

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j94/DSmith724/28_WingedVictoryForTheSullen.j pg

A Winged Victory for the Sullen - A Winged Victory for the Sullen

Half of A Winged Victory for the Sullen is Adam Wiltzie, himself a half of Stars of the Lid, so the fact that this debut is as assured as it is beautiful and moving is not surprising. What is surprising is that this is every bit as good as the Stars material I've heard and while not quite as expansive, Sullen's debut is remarkably economical - spacious and patient, yet using silence in a way that lends more meaning and power to the notes, particularly the piano, when they do land. The melancholy piano compositions are beautifully accompanied by gently rising strings and while the album has a few crescendos, it avoids the simplistic, though often pleasing, soft-loud/slow-fast progressions that many ambient and modern classical musicians lean towards, instead allowing their songs to unfold methodically like peaceful waves. Of course, restraint alone would not make this such an insanely gorgeous album to listen to were the pieces themselves not uniformly excellent, but I assure you they are. This was one of my few go to albums this year when looking for something completely serene.

Favorite Tracks:


FoqBKYR312A

P775tb6j9Es

uNkWfiFWKuE

[Derek]

27

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j94/DSmith724/27_RealEstate.jpg

Real Estate - Days

Days was a latecomer to the list. I enjoyed Real Estate's self-titled debut even if most of it didn't stick and the first couple times I listened to Days, I admittedly thought it was more of the same well-crafted, summery dream pop with surfy guitar riffs. I kept hearing how their music was perfect for a laid back summer day and how people wished it was released in June rather than October, yet the more I listened to this album, the less any of that made sense. The chill, jangly guitars certainly have a summery quality about them, but this album is, for the most part, pretty damn melancholy. The overcast sky on the cover is more indicative of the tone and lyrically, the songs often focus on a profound sense of loss, particularly in the innocent joys of youth and the anxiety, doubt and entrapment that comes with having to live with the major decisions we make as adults, whether it's our job, loved ones or where we live. But despite its dealing with these emotions, Days remains light on its feet, quick and full of great riffs that keep your head bobbing rather than resting in your hands as you start thinking of what your own decisions may have cost you. Fortunately, the band takes that burden on themselves, leaving the music itself dreamy enough to zone out or dive into.

Favorite Tracks:


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2p1KEAGWX1Q

"Younger Than Yesterday (http://www.myspace.com/realestate/music/songs/younger-than-yesterday-84346280)"

[Derek]

26

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j94/DSmith724/26_TotalControl.jpg

Total Control - Henge Beat

The appropriation of everything 80s, particularly music, may have reached its peak in the past year or two, so hearing about yet another young band blending post-punk and new wave into their own sound isn't quite as exciting as it used to be. Don't get me wrong, it's a sound I love, but it takes something extra-special to really make it stand out from the crowd anymore. Well, Henge Beat is the kind of album that does, not only because it's a tight album of 11 mostly great tracks, but because it takes these ordinary ingredients - brooding post-punk rhythms occasionally tinged with dark synth wave touches all delivered with a furious, rough-edged punk attitude - and shoots off in every imaginable direction, from the building doom-and-gloom of "Meds II" and shoegaziness of "See More Glass" to the sheer speed and intensity of "Retiree" and the Krautrock interlude, "Sunday Baker", while somehow maintaining a cohesion and clarity of vision. With another album or two under their belts, these guys could really develop into a force to reckoned with.

Also, props to Boner for turning me on to these dudes. Saw 'em live as well and they were even better than I expected.

Favorite Tracks:


jSplEYOqI7w

"Meds II (http://ironlungpv.bandcamp.com/track/meds-ii)"

"See More Glass (http://hypem.com/item/1dvef/Total+Control+-+See+More+Glass)"

[D_Davis]

I like that A Winged Victory...very pretty.

[Derek]

25

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j94/DSmith724/25_DannyBrown.jpg

Danny Brown - XXX

XXX is, in every sense of the word, an album of excess, but unlike most other hip-hop albums of excess, Danny Brown doesn't rap over squeaky clean, over-produced beats about how awesome it is too have shitloads of money and women at his disposal. On XXX, excess morphs into self-loathing addictions becoming not a source of power or happiness, but an empty end in and of itself and with fame, dark, dangerous fantasies become a frighteningly sustainable reality. Their is a certain off-putting puerility to the album - after all, there is a 3-minute ode to pussy-eating and a line about Sara Palin that would make Lil Wayne blush - but it is also surprisingly self-aware, the all-consuming addiction to sex and drugs peaking in disgusting yet tragic existential crisis, excesses signifying the death drive, yet the insatiable desire to engage cannot be sated. XXX's trajectory is also quite brilliant - Brown's voice starting out on the first half as artificial, borderline annoying, yet containing a hyper-stylized and vibrant intensity that mirrors his absolute need to do bad shit, then shifting through the second half into something calmer, more collected, almost shamed in the midst of his helplessness in the face of addiction. Yet, through all this, XXX is really funny and a lot of fun even through its sobering second act where Danny gets reflective, the beats consistently topping most other 2011 hip-hop albums best and a sonic palette that is as wild and unpredictable as the personality rapping. There's a lot on and underneath the surface with this one.

Favorite Tracks:


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XE-BZCrcU-w&feature=related

[Derek]

I like that A Winged Victory...very pretty.

Yeah, that sums it up. Just a very pretty album that never tries to wow you.

Like the Moby album. It was much better than his last album, though I expected it to show up a little higher on your list!

[Raiders]

Real Estate is so awesome.

[Derek]

24

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j94/DSmith724/24_TomWaits.jpg

Tom Waits - Bad As Me

7 years is a long time for a musician to take off, but few musicians have proven as timeless as Tom Waits, less because his music is almost always great than that it exists outside time. Bad As Me is no more a 21st Century album than Rain Dogs is 80s, but herein lies Waits charm; he's able to bring to life something completely unique from the smoke-filled jazz clubs and burlesque shows that seemingly gave birth to him by filtering them through his rough-edged, world-weary personality. Anyone worried that Waits, now in his 60s, may have settled down, ditching his nomadic, outsider ways for the stability of domesticity, needn't wait past the album's opening few lines to recognize the same loveable curmudgeon of years past, feet set only long enough to take off for the next city or adventure or love, often disappointed, broke or bitter, but never without the appetite for more life. Bad As Me plays beautifully within this dichotomy - the excitement of always moving and exploring ("Chicago", "Get Lost") and the inevitable melancholy and displacement that comes with it ("Talking at the Same Time", "Pay Me", "Face to the Highway"); the two become inextricably linked, the album constantly vacillating, shifting from upbeat jazzy foot-stompers to depressing ballads, though the latter are so brilliantly crafted that, moody as they are, they offer catharsis rather than sadness. As unlikely as it sounds, Tom Waits has rarely been this good.

Favorite Tracks:


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uquHa5O7MVk

QAjtkyGVDxc

[Derek]

Real Estate is so awesome.

Yup. I liked their first album, but Days is a definite step forward. I can only see them getting better now that they have a couple under their belt.

[Derek]

23

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j94/DSmith724/23_Roommate.jpg

Roommate - Guilty Rainbow

Roommate's problem is that they don't have a hook. They don't really fit comfortably into any of the micro-genres that music critics love spouting off on and the darker synth pop sounds that creep in and out of their music aren't quite retro enough, their Tindersticks-esque baroqueness leaving them a bit too out of step with the scene to fully catch on. But this sense of being lost amidst the modern music landscape, outsiders left peering through the window of the cool kids party, suits Roommate just find. Their lyrics and music are heartfelt and completely sincere, tackling regret, depression and social anxieties with equal aplomb, never sulking yet leaving themselves open to ridicule. I don't mean to make Roommate out to be the victim here - they do have a small, but somewhat rabid fanbase after all - but merely want to comment on why their un-coolness and direct approach gets them ignored and why those very same qualities make them a band worth embracing. But sincere and uncool as they may be, their songs are not so straightforward, featuring beautiful arrangements and often offbeat structures that take songs in unexpected yet interesting directions. Even more than 2008's We Were Enchanted, Guilty Rainbow takes the form of a familiar sonic palette and twists it into something unsettling, emotionally raw and completely their own.

Favorite Tracks:


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FGaDOaSx0dM

[Derek]

22

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j94/DSmith724/22_AndyStott.jpg

Andy Stott - We Stay Together

Andy Stott's drugged out brand of dub techno is smeared sound, with beats and ambience stretched or buried deep in the mix, creating a remarkable sense of depth and distance. His production creates a murky, muffled sound that creates the perception of music heard from underwater, walking by a club or when plugging your ears because it's just too damn loud. But Stott doesn't merely take crisp dub music (which personally, I'm rarely a fan of) and add filters. His techniques transform the familiar into something terrifying - a dance club on a bad trip, a nightmare where everything's in a half-speed, a few seconds of terror prolonged to a few dozen minutes. We Stay Together's 36 minutes are fluid yet incredibly viscous, thick with atmospheric ambience and layers of sound that create a sheer intensity that ultimately leaves you frozen. You won't be dancing to this album, but it can be the soundtrack to your dreams.

Favorite Tracks:


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[dreamdead]

Had never heard of A Winged Victory for the Sullen or Real Estate, but those two are prime suspects for early purchases next year. Thanks for bringing them to my attention. The former is especially wonderfully relaxing.

Have you heard 40 Watt Sun (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgJcsDbj-qI)? They're on the gentler side of doom, but they come across as a Jesu-style project... they apparently come from an earlier band, Warning, and they could be something you'd dig.

[Derek]

Had never heard of A Winged Victory for the Sullen or Real Estate, but those two are prime suspects for early purchases next year. Thanks for bringing them to my attention. The former is especially wonderfully relaxing.

Cool, glad you like them! Winged Victory are great for relaxing or background music.


Have you heard 40 Watt Sun (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgJcsDbj-qI)? They're on the gentler side of doom, but they come across as a Jesu-style project... they apparently come from an earlier band, Warning, and they could be something you'd dig.

Thanks! I hadn't heard of them, but I really like this track, especially the guitars. Very Jesu, which is a shoegazy metal sound I often like. I'll be sure to check out the whole album.

[D_Davis]

So yeah - got to Fresno, CA, and realized that I had forgotten the power cord for my laptop, and the battery on the thing was totally dry. Then I got bronchitis, and have basically been in bed for the last 4 days.

Yay vacation!

Anyhow, sorry to keep the thread waiting.

****

#25 Vishnu - Space Folk
(Dec 2010 release, released after last year’s list was compiled)
(available via the Archive.org)

http://ia600305.us.archive.org/12/items/2circles015Vishnu-SpaceFolkEp/vishnu.jpg?cnt=0 (http://www.archive.org/details/2circles015Vishnu-SpaceFolkEp)


Although this is a 2010 release, it came out after I had compiled that year’s best-of list. Vishnu’s Space Folk is an epic, psychedelic trip into the heart of ambient-electronica. Imagine if The Orb was still making relevant, sample-based ambient-dub, mixed together with more modern production techniques. It is, in a word, adventurous, and, what’s more, utterly delightful. It is playful without being silly, experimental without being difficult; a dense sonic lanscape that delivers at every turn.

[MadMan]

Sometimes I feel like I'm the last person on earth who still likes Moby and U2.Heh I feel like that all of the time :pritch:

I'll be reading through this entire thread since I'm eager for recs. I'm afraid I can't comment on much except that Moby's latest was really good, and that I loved King of Limbs. Sometimes I wonder if people think Radiohead is going to keep making Ok Computer or Kid A everytime. Its really hard to be consistently amazing-imo there only a handful of bands that ever truly achieved that, and even they have their misfires.

[D_Davis]

#24 Saffron Slumber - Somnogen
(available via Resting Bell)

http://www.restingbell.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/rb092_Somnogen-276x276.jpg (http://www.restingbell.net/releases/rb092-somnogen)

If dense, atmospheric drones with hints of melody created by manipulating a treated, acoustic piano are your thing, then it doesn't get any better than Saffron Slumber's Somnogen. Saffron Slumber is more than just a friend of mine, and more than just a fellow ambient artist - he is an inspiration. His album The White Tower is one of the very best ambient albums ever recorded, and while I don't like Somnogen quite as much as that album, it is still amazing.

"Mobius Thought" kickstarts the album with a wall of sound so dense it'd take a dozen bulldozers and wrecking balls hacking away full-bore just to penetrate the barrier. And then things quiet down a bit with "Oak Horn" and "Torsion," my favorite track on the album; "Torsion" is some kind of ambient masterpiece.

And what's more, the album is available for free - so you have no excuse to not partake. Somnogen is challenging and rewarding, and totally worthy of your time.

Mobius Thought (http://www.archive.org/download/rb092/01-Moebius_Thought.mp3)
Torsion (http://www.archive.org/download/rb092/03-Torsion.mp3)

[ledfloyd]

i guess i should listen to that danny brown record.

[D_Davis]

#23 Jason Sloan - (s)END

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51iIN4lz6RL._SL500_AA280_.jpg (http://www.amazon.com/s-END/dp/B005GYXO6C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325624173&sr=8-1)

Jason Sloan's (s)END is a throwback of sorts to the ambient-techno sounds of the mid 1990s, which in turn were largely inspired by the sounds and visual aesthetics of Blade Runner and other examples of dystopian science fiction. (s)END sounds thoroughly cyberpunk, an element made all the more apparent by the use of underscores and other odd punctuation in the song titles.

Unfortunately, the album doesn't make the best first impression. The opening track "Warm AND Fading_Light" is probably the weakest on the album, and it clocks in at over 13-minutes. However, the rest of the album (especially the title track and "As Fragile.As") is excellent, especially if you love that mid-90s stuff on the FAX label and Ambient Excursion compilations.

Jason Sloan is one of the few ambient artists still carrying the torch that was once carried by the likes of Peter Namlook and Spacetime Continuum, and I greatly appreciate him for it.

[D_Davis]

#22 Scale the Summit - The Collective

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51PagIokGxL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

Hey, another instrumental metal band! And if you listen to just the first few seconds of the opening track, you might think that Scale the Summit is just another Isis/Mono/Envy wannabe. "Colossal" kicks the album off with a big wall-of-sound created by a super distorted, atmospheric guitar playing HUGE chords. Ho hum, really.

But then at 1:15, something magical happens. The lead bass part takes over. And then the rest of the song continues to open up into something much more complex and challenging than Isis or Mono or Envy create with their instrumental gaze-metal. And then the rest of the album continues to melt your face off with some of the most complex arrangements and expertly played instrumental-metal parts I've ever heard.

"The Levitated" moves into a more jazz-orientated zone, complete with King Crimson-like syncopated rhythms and melodies, and "Black Hills" presents a shredding, head-banging, melodic symphony of metal perfection.

Scale the Summit is a band to watch for. These dudes are super young, and if they continue to improve they will be absolutely unstoppable. If you want to hear a group of musicians being the absolute best at what they do, check these guys out.

aLKuCDKL9TU

9sDrCXtioHE

[Derek]

21

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j94/DSmith724/21_RobagWruhme.jpg

Robag Wruhme - Thora Vukk

Unlike Andy Stott's sonic whirlwind, Robag Wruhme's minimal techno is almost completely serene, patiently building complex beats from found sounds and percussive instruments alike and carefully wrapping delicate piano and violin melodies through them. Wruhme's style is remarkably loose, never unstructured, but beats enter and disappear from songs or change entirely so that, unlike a lot of other ambient techno, his music feels more open to surprises. While Thora Vukk is full of loops and central beats, the success of the songs never rests on them, but rather within the intricate details that surround them. The sheer variety of sounds, minute or otherwise, make it a joy to behold.

Favorite Tracks:


mkIQjeTWOW0&feature=related

xxSnjebOlh0

ZRR36c1Duuo

[D_Davis]

#21 Robin Guthrie and Harold Budd - Bordeaux

http://www.israbox.com/uploads/posts/2011-04/1301997186_robin-guthrie-harold-budd-bordeaux.jpg

If you've heard either of these two maestros before, then you know exactly what to expect. Some might fault Guthrie and Budd for making what is essentially the same album every few years, but I happen to believe that they are simply consistently adding to one of the most singular and beautiful ambient songbooks there is. Since their collaboration on the Cocteau Twins' The Moon and the Melodies and through their work on the soundtrack for Greg Araki's The Mysterious Skin, Budd and Guthrie have honed their signature style to perfection. So while it's not adventurous or groundbreaking, it is nonetheless comforting and beautiful, and sometimes there is nothing wrong with a sure thing.

rOCuHgojWnc

[D_Davis]

xxSnjebOlh0




Great track right here.

[Acapelli]

you know, robin guthrie & harold budd's mysterious skin soundtrack is one of the best things i've ever heard, but i've never listened to any of their other work (besides robin guthrie's work with the cocteau twins)

[D_Davis]

you know, robin guthrie & harold budd's mysterious skin soundtrack is one of the best things i've ever heard, but i've never listened to any of their other work (besides robin guthrie's work with the cocteau twins)


It is a great soundtrack. Budd is probably my favorite musician/composer. There will be one more album on this list from him, ranked very high. While he has a signature sound, he also mixes things up a bit.

I also suggest:

Pavilion of Dreams
Ambient 2 and The Pearl (both with Brian Eno)
Avalon Sutra

Robin Guthrie's solo stuff is all very similar. Basically, you can buy one album and then you've pretty much heard them all. They aren't bad, but you don't need them all. I'd basically just suggest the 4 albums he's done with Harold Budd.

[D_Davis]

#20 Leprous - Bilateral

http://www.backgroundmagazine.nl/albums/LeprousBilateral.jpg

Progressive metal from Norway. I haven't heard a band sound like they were having this much fun since Oingo Boingo and Faith No More. A lot of progressive music tends to take itself very seriously, but Leprous injects a sense of fun and joy into their extreme, head-banging sounds. Above and beyond the incredible music and creative arrangements is Einar Solberg's vocals - now this dude can sing. Just check out the range of styles in the following track:

GxAIsZldltA

Leprous mixes a ton of genres together as well, including extreme metal, funk, industrial and even some jazz-like parts complete with horns. Every part is played to absolute perfection. One of my favorite things about music is listening to musicians who can play the fuck out of their instruments. I don't have time for slop; I want to hear quality, talent, and skill stemming from the heart and head, and Leprous covers all of these bases.

ieyi3NNKonA

[Derek]

20

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j94/DSmith724/20_DeafCenter.jpg

Deaf Center - Owl Splinters

Deaf Center specialize in the type of dark ambient that lulls you into submission before taking you somewhere increasingly disturbing and fearful. Their droney violins and cello and antique piano sounds often take on a spectral quality, the slow progressions allowing for disparate sounds to ultimately congeal, only briefly, as if smoke and dust intermingle to form a whole phantom shape before breaking apart. The strength of Owl Splinters isn't just the depth of feeling and emotion it inspires or the unique sense of space and atmosphere it creates, but also the delicate simplicity it uses to do those things. As dense as this album is, there is not so much a layering of multiple sounds as there is a lingering of singular ones and it is through this addition-by-subtraction method of song-writing that Deaf Center made one of the most unsettling yet indelible albums of the year.

Favorite Tracks:


ZLoiI0PSv6k

nb807hpn854

2BXascBCATA

[D_Davis]

That Deaf Center stuff sounds a lot like the soundcapes that Lynch makes. Pretty cool.

[D_Davis]

#19 adamned.age - Fragile
(available via Camomille Music)

http://www.camomillemusic.com/CML007%20-%20Fragile%20by%20A%20damned%2 0age_thumb.jpg (http://www.camomillemusic.com/cml007.html)

In general, ambient music seems to be a male's game; there just aren't a lot of females creating ambient music, and for the most part it seems to be enjoyed more by males for some reason. Go to an ambient/electronica show, and you will see a ton of dudes. And so in this regard, adamned.age is unique; ambient music created by a solo female artist.

Fragile also happens to be one of the most consistently unique and interesting ambient releases of the year. It was release last January, and it has stayed on my iPod ever since. Hanne Adam does an amazing job of utilizing techniques from neo-classical to modern electronica, creating a signature sound that stands above many ambient releases.

HB3ZoPMy0fE

[Derek]

That Deaf Center stuff sounds a lot like the soundcapes that Lynch makes. Pretty cool.

Never thought of as Lynchian before, but it definitely has a dark, surreal vibe to it.


[URL="http://www.camomillemusic.com/cml007.html"]#19 adamned.age - Fragile
(available via Camomille Music)

I really liked this album (listened to b/c of your rec of course), but didn't realize it was by a female artist. It is strange how male-driven ambient is...

[D_Davis]

I really liked this album (listened to b/c of your rec of course), but didn't realize it was by a female artist. It is strange how male-driven ambient is...

My friend Travis always jokes around saying that unless it has a beat and lyrics, chick probably won't dig it. While he is making a joking generalization, there is some truth to it. And also, ambient and electronica tend to be more tech-orientated, so I'm sure that's another reason why the genres attract more males than females. Dudes love looking at and fiddling with knobs, know what I'm sayin?

[Derek]

19

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j94/DSmith724/19_PandaBear.jpg

Panda Bear - Tomboy

Given the massive influence that Person Pitch has had on music in the past 4 1/2 years, it's hard to remember just how fresh the it originally sounded. It was released a few months before Animal Collective's also-great Strawberry Jam so the electronic edge and sample and loop-based melodies were a far cry from the Sung Tongs/Feels-era AC tunes, making it even more unexpected. Love it or hate it, it was certainly a landmark album in the 00s for indie music, so Tomboy, more than almost any other album this year, was under the microscope. At first, it's languorous pacing and lack of cohesion made it a bit of a disappointment. There's no "Bros" or "Good Girls/Carrots" to really get the blood rushing, but that's because Tomboy is a headphones record almost diametrically opposed to Person Pitch's sunny, summery sonic palette. Produced by Spacemen 3's Peter Kember (aka Sonic Boom), Tomboy unsurprisingly bears his drugged-out, fluid imprint - less rocking than most of his songs, but the elongation of time and otherworldy sound of the record are as much his as Lennox's. It's an album dripping with atmosphere, laden with reverb and sonic textures that create a remarkable ebb and flow. And while it doesn't quite take you into the skies like Person Pitch, it's still a deceptively complex, emotionally layered album full of conflict wavering from dark undertones to joyous melodies, yet more often landing in between. This makes it tough to peg and, for many, fully embrace, but its almost scattershot nature is not the mark of an artist not sure where to go, as I originally thought, but rather one of an artist pushing through towards new ground. And if we have to sit through a "Scheherazade" or "Friendship Bracelet" to get an "Afterburner" or "Alsatian Darn", then that's a pretty small price to pay.

Favorite Tracks:


reOjWhEhbmA

opNf23OE-Bs

5yvOYoNrzWM&ob=av2e

[D_Davis]

I still don't get the AC crew. I try and try, but my ears just don't hear it.

[Derek]

I still don't get the AC crew. I try and try, but my ears just don't hear it.

Ha, yeah. It does seem to be an all-or-nothing deal with them. Oh well, I'm positive you'll like my next pick a lot more.

[Melville]

Great thread thus far. Love those Panda Bear songs. Like a wall of sonic bliss.

[D_Davis]

Ha, yeah. It does seem to be an all-or-nothing deal with them. Oh well, I'm positive you'll like my next pick a lot more.

It's just so strange, because I love psychedelia, noise, electronics, old Mercury Rev, pop and experimental music, which is pretty much exactly what the AC crew is. Except their music does absolutely nothing for me. Oh well... :)

[D_Davis]

#18 Brian Eno - The Drums Between the Bells

http://www.undertheradarmag.com/uploads/review_images/Brian-Eno-Drums-Between-The-Bells.jpg

Eno has been very hit or miss these days. While 2008's collaboration with David Byrne, Everything the Happens Will Happen Today, was one of the best things Eno or Byrne have ever done, Eno's 2010 album, Small Craft on a Milk Sea, is the very definition of lazy, taking the phrase "phoned-in" to a whole new level. And so I had no idea what to expect from 2011's Drum Between the Bells.

Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised, and you might say I was blown away. Eno tapped into some new vein of creativity here; the album sounds new and futuristic, while simultaneously utilizing sounds and techniques the artist has used before. We have a mix of acoustic and electronic instruments, glitch, abrasive guitars, bubbling synths, samples, vocoded vocals, spoken word, and all manner of bleeps and blips.

What's more, the album is consistently surprising and engaging. It also has great flow as it moves from one track to another, creating the kind of sonic journey I expect from artists like Eno. This album proves that, while there have been many imitators, there is still nothing like the original.

mOOwHZxxCZU

x9w8mh78vHw

-vCrxNJwey8

[Acapelli]

Ha, yeah. It does seem to be an all-or-nothing deal with them. Oh well, I'm positive you'll like my next pick a lot more.
i don't know if that's true. i think their different periods can appeal to different people

i myself prefer their freak folk stuff (sung tongs and feels) and have slowly started to become indifferent. did not care for tomboy in the least. the less said about avey's solo efforts the better

[Derek]

i don't know if that's true. i think their different periods can appeal to different people

i myself prefer their freak folk stuff (sung tongs and feels) and have slowly started to become indifferent. did not care for tomboy in the least. the less said about avey's solo efforts the better

I'd say your an exception. At least in my experience, people either like them or they don't. Obviously different albums inspire different degrees of support/loathing, but almost everyone I've come across is either on one side of the fence or the other.

[endingcredits]

Awesome thread! I'll be looking forward to both your updates. I have lots much to catch up on already, especially Daniel's posts.

Derek, nice honorable mention list. Glad to see War on Drugs make it. I think I like them better after Vile left. Have you seen them play? I saw them with the sax player from Destroyer a couple weeks ago following a cluster of shows from Bon Iver and The National the days before. Good performance, but the sound was crappy and excruciatingly loud. Surprisingly, Bon Iver was the best of the three by far. The lead singer from The National put on quite the spectacle by going into the crowd and bringing people down to the general seating area despite protests from the security, which made up for his awkward drunkenness that persisted most of the show.

Getting back to the list. The Necks are good stuff. They remind me of a darker, more brooding version of Medeski, Martin, and Wood. Fleet Foxes would also be on my list. Helplessness blues definitely rates on my list for top 10 singles. I had a hard time with Opeth's Heritage. Their whole prog direction has this sortof pretentious veneer which fails to work for me. I'd rather listen to them play riffy Black Metal instrumentally than anything else. Owl Splinters really shows Deaf Center's great knack for economy of notes. Good pick that one. I think it's my favorite ambient release of the year with Hecker a close second. Strangely, most people I know either can't stand AC, or just dig Merriweather Post Pavilion. I am firmly in the Panda/AC love camp. Slow Motion is one best singles of the year for me.

[Derek]

For those growing impatient, the list veers more towards rock, pop, etc. after this.


18

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j94/DSmith724/18_Jacaszek.jpg

Jacaszek - Glimmer

Ambient music is often discussed in terms of its unique ability to evoke memories and take the listener to a distinct time and place, be it real or imaginary. No other album released this year may have nailed those particular qualities quite as well as Jacaszek's Glimmer, a blistering, nostalgic album whose success rides on taking instruments of the past (harpsicords, chimes, mandolins, oboes) and reshaping them for his own modern compositions. The arrangements and instrumentation are impressive enough, and certainly this could just as easily be classified as modern classical as ambient if genre classification's your game, but the ways Jacaszek uses them to create a genuine longing for the past, replete with melancholy, and the seeming inability of our memories to capture it takes Glimmer from a very good to a truly great album. The intermittent interruptions, glitches and decay that inhabit nearly every song hint at their incompletion (see particularly the second half of the astounding "Evening Strains to be Time's Vast"), the musician's own failure to recapture that which is lost. The result is an album that is both haunting and invigorating, complex yet accessible and emotionally raw yet brilliantly composed and realized. If I'd had more time than the last 5 or 6 weeks to soak it in, there's no doubt Glimmer would've landed higher on my list.

Favorite Tracks:


VSiz1bJumHM

-yjYV-CTd9A

GAW0w6DStpY

[D_Davis]

-yjYV-CTd9A




Love this track. Need to check out the whole album.

[D_Davis]

#17 Two Bicycles - The Ocean
(available via bandcamp)

http://f0.bcbits.com/z/75/22/752281251-1.jpg (http://twobicyclesband.bandcamp.com/album/the-ocean)

From the first few seconds of Two Bicycle's The Ocean I am instantly whisked away to a realm of nostalgia and memory. As Derek said in his last entry, the ability of ambient music to evoke memories and places is an important one, and one of the main reasons why I am so drawn to the genre.

Two Bicycles does not dwell in the deep end of the drone pool, instead the artist fully embraces to use of melody and structure, and creates pieces that are warm and childlike, whimsical and happy. It is an easy album to love, and it fully embraces the listener with open arms.

uQLKFwmGMcQ

4iPcPBAJh0c

[Derek]

Like that second track there, D. Also good to see Eno on your list. I wasn't as disappointed with Small Craft as you, but I agree this new album was a marked improvement. I'm not usually a fan of spoken word albums (not that that's all this one was), but he really created the right atmosphere for it to work.

[Derek]

17

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j94/DSmith724/17_DavidKilgour.jpg

David Kilgour & the Heavy Eights - Left By Soft

David Kilgour is most celebrated, and deservedly so, for his work with the seminal New Zealand indie rock outfit, The Clean, and for co-founding the brilliant Flying Nun label with Chris Knox and friends. And while The Clean's music, especially from their beginnings in '81 through the early 90s is beyond reproach, Kilgour's solo efforts always took a back seat. Where The Clean were more raw and aggressive, though always playful, Kilgour's solo work is much more laidback, restrained and unassuming. It never quite wows you like The Clean's best singles, yet it is consistently rewarding, featuring subtle yet masterful guitarwork with a tinge of psychedelia that is blissful and tender with an ever-present hint of melancholy. Left By Soft, seemingly overlooked or maybe just forgotten by everyone, continues to build upon Kilgour's already rock-steady body of work with another group of songs that contain his trademark of barely off-kilter guitars and his heavenly voice that sounds just as good as 30 years ago. It doesn't fit into any scene, break any boundaries or define any new sub-sub-genre. What it is is the work of a finely tuned master who, after three decades, simply can't help but write a handful of absolutely fantastic pop tunes. It almost seems as if the breezy effortlessness with which Kilgour's songs come across have led people to take him for granted. But nearly every one of Left By Soft's 11 tracks withstands close, repeated listens that not only ensure one of their solid songwriting, but which also contain emotional undertones that get me a little choked up every time. I can only hope Kilgour keeps sticking with it because there are few musicians who've delivered more consistently throughout such a long career.

Favorite Tracks:


GqRpYS3i9pQ

QVdIRn0rb08

qdh_erOrnnA&feature=related

[D_Davis]

I'm not usually a fan of spoken word albums

Me neither. But that's usually because of the music, which tends to be boring jazz or something without an edge. Also, on the Eno album the voice is strongly incorporated into the music; Eno uses the cadence and and rhythm of each strengthen each other. It might be one of the finest spoken word albums around.

[D_Davis]

I dig The Clean, but haven't heard this solo album. Sounds like something I need to check out.

[D_Davis]

#16 Animals as Leaders - Weightless

Animals as Leaders = two 8-string guitarists + a drummer

But are they pretentious and self-indulgent?

As fuck.

Fact: Tosin Abasi is a sonic executioner: a demon-slaying, dragon-destroying god of wrath of fury. His weapon of choice?

http://www.metalsucks.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Animals+as+Leaders+Tosin+Abasi .jpg

Weightless is an extreme, instrumental metal album that mixes in small elements of glitch and electronica to create something that is wholly original and unique. It’s like getting smashed in the face and kicked in the gut with the essence of PURE sound.

I’ve said it before, but when I listen to music I want to hear musicians and artists who are the best at what they do, people who can play the crap out of their instruments, people who can construct the most interesting things I’ve ever heard.

Animals as Leaders is such a band, and Weightless is such an album.

i6Nw7bfC1iY

1FX60NNuvbE

UnxhKBpmqtE

[Derek]

Me neither. But that's usually because of the music, which tends to be boring jazz or something without an edge. Also, on the Eno album the voice is strongly incorporated into the music; Eno uses the cadence and and rhythm of each strengthen each other. It might be one of the finest spoken word albums around.

Well put. It's not simply spoken word over background music. The two are closely intertwined, one informing the other, which makes it much more listenable.


I dig The Clean, but haven't heard this solo album. Sounds like something I need to check out.

The great thing about him is if you like the songs I posted, you'll most likely dig all of his solo work. Here Come the Cars is his masterpiece (example (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTFNUopTqAs)...serious ly the progressions are just so friggin' beautiful!), but A Feather in the Engine is his more outright and consistently psychedelic album so I'd guess you'd like that one the most.

[Derek]

16

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j94/DSmith724/16_TheeOhSees.jpg

Thee Oh Sees - Carrion Crawler/The Dream

It wasn't until a couple months ago when I saw Thee Oh Sees headline a show on Halloween night that I really got what the band was all about. Not that their brand of psych rock so far-out that I needed to see it first hand to understand it, but there was always something in their earlier albums that seemed almost too reckless, either rushed or just too vocally weird for me to fully embrace. On stage, together, they just rocked-the-fuck-out, keeping up a remarkably frenzied pace for over an hour and playing off one another's energy as well as almost any of other band. But to speak to their bothersome inconsistency, their other 2011 release, Castlemania, is one of my least favorite albums of the year. That it was almost entirely a solo project of Dwyer's, with the band merely showing up in the studio to help, shows how collectively, they manage to gel and restrain the over-the-top indulgences that individually, at least Dwyer and lead guitarist Petey Dammit! (as if the name didn't give it away) can exhibit. With Carrion Crawler/The Dream, originally planned as two separate EPs hence the slash, the band make their first foray into more expansive songs, featuring more 5+ minute songs than all their previous albums combined. And yet, the feverish garage rock pacing is hardly lost, but rather is integrated into the twists and turns these songs take given a little more breathing room. Brigid Dawson is also more present as vocal accompaniment, her smooth, sexy voice curbing the oft-shrill voice of Dwyer and adding another layer of harmony and playfulness present throughout the album. Ultimately, I'm not sure what caused Carrion Crawler/The Dream to come off as a more cohesive, enjoyable and flat-out fun album than The Oh Sees previous efforts, so I'm content to simply turn up the volume and blast this baby from start to finish.

Favorite Tracks:


pIpOv0XJxDk

2_Vp1OoIdAc&feature=related

_mZqGxkYOFY&feature=related

[D_Davis]

#15 Dawes - Nothing is Wrong

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51sCh0q5uwL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

While I do tend to like music that is more experimental and technologically-focused, sometimes nothing beats the power of good song writing, and the latest album from this alt-country band contains eleven great songs. The music here isn't adventurous, nor is it unique or challenging. It's just a solid foundation upon which sit a set of amazing songs crafted with the kind of poetic nuance and eye for detail one might expect from the likes of Neil Young or Crosby Stills & Nash. Front man Taylor Goldsmith's vocals are relaxed and natural, and his brother's, Griffin, in-the-pocket drumming creates an exciting backbone upon which layers of guitar and organ are draped.

p3APC9PCjn8

KtxKFpJ39HM

[Derek]

15

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j94/DSmith724/15_TimHecker.jpg

Tim Hecker - Ravedeath, 1972

Perhaps even more than any of his previous albums, Tim Hecker's latest, Ravedeath, 1972, seems to focus on the disintegration of music and pushing notes and melodies to their breaking point, towards oblivion. Like all of his work, this album is haunting and unsettling yet nonetheless beautiful, but there is a constant tension present between the foreground and background as well as the song's progression and its destruction. It's fitting that the cover of the album depicts a piano teetering on a roof awaiting its own destruction (the picture itself is from the original 1972 event at MIT which has become a longstanding tradition whose significance I haven't a clue about) as Hecker uses the piano, the only non-digital sounds on the album to my ears, as a counterpoint to the digital drones and fuzz, the lone analog survival struggling to keep its identity amidst the otherwise digital arsenal. Hecker's subtle yet striking balance between the two, never veering too close to pure piano ambient not straying to deep into the fuzz/noise end of the spectrum, not only makes for fascinating listening experiences, but also shows that these two disparate sides of ambient can both inform and expand on the other.

Favorite Tracks:


QUpA8R01d50

p7io2JowWSc

_Ft2U8NJDns

[D_Davis]

Good write up. Although, I wish Hecker would learn about mid and low frequencies. I feel as though so much of the Hekcer-style of modern ambient forgets about two of three groups of frequencies of sound. I know that one of these days he'll make an album that I love; I'm just waiting for it, and I keep checking in.

[D_Davis]

#15 Big Spider's Back - Memory Man

http://www.tigerscanwait.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/big-spiders-back.png

When I first heard Big Spider's Back's Memory Man, it was with an overwhelming sense of jealousy; this, I thought, is an album that I want to have made. Once I got over that sentiment, I learned to appreciate the album for what it is: an expert example of electronica and pop-ambient (or, chillwave, or glow-fi, or whatever the kids are calling it these days). You can tell that BSB has a background in more traditional song writing, because the melody and hooks are never too deeply buried beneath the mountain of dense atmospherics and bubbling electronics. This is one of 2011's most consistently interesting releases.

4YwYmJTTmno

LhQvGXoWROM

[Derek]

14

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j94/DSmith724/14_PsychicParamount.jpg

The Psychic Paramount - II

To say that Psychic Paramount's II is for people who like guitars would be like saying that skydiving is for people who like wind. This is not merely full of masterful guitarwork, it's full pure, unadulterated guitar fury. There's not ounce of wasted time - album opener "Intro_sp" starts off instantly at 100 mph and it barely slows down from there. For sheer adrelanine rush, there's only one album from this year I'd put above it, but the speed of the album also never allows things to feel rushed or sloppy, yet the production is rough enough to always keep a raw edge in every song rather that spiff things up with squeaky clean production, probably my least favorite sound for heavy rock like this. But while this is first and foremost a guitar album where strings are figuratively smoking or on fire from start to finish, Jeff Conaway's frequently stunning drumming adds a much needed layer of constant change to play against the wall of guitar noise. The result is an album that can knock you off your chair or blow out your eardrums if you're not careful. If there's been a bit too ambient or mellow music on my list so far for you, this'll cure what ails ya.

Favorite Tracks:


yieC52bb-3Q

4s1ppHxvzIg

7ptLahNL8Bs

[Derek]

Gonna do one more while I have the time.


13

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j94/DSmith724/13_DirtyBeaches.jpg

Dirty Beaches - Badlands

Taking nothing away from David Lynch's own release from last year, Crazy Clown Time, but Dirty Beaches' Badlands is not only the better album, it's ironically the more Lynchian of the two. Alex Zhang Hungtai has stressed the influence of Lynches films on his music and I can only approximate his unique sound by saying it's kind of like Suicide doing a 50s rockabilly soundtrack for an imaginary Lynch silent film. Nostalgia is central to Badlands conceptual core, but in an almost entirely abstract, surreal way. One gets the sense of lost love in "True Blue", endless travels down dark highways in "A Hundred Highways" and the bustling sexuality of troubled youth in "Sweet 17", but the album's haunted echoes and scratched up surfers make it feel as if these songs come from a different dimension, containing genuine human emotion, yes, although somehow from a past that never existed in fictionalized hyperreal worlds where the naive longings for love, freedom and beauty cannot escape the darkness that lurks beneath the everyday. While my previous analogy may give you an idea of what the albums sounds like, here's one that hints at what it feels like: the eternal struggle between the Jeffrey Beaumont's and Frank Booth's of the world, alternating in some ineffable way between the sweet dreams of the former and the unthinkable nightmares of the latter.

Favorite Tracks:


zsqxlCvK8aI

NLEP2riNxxM

rTch7g_gkfU

[D_Davis]

#13 Lullatone - Soundtracks for Everyday Adventures
(http://lullatone.bandcamp.com/album/soundtracks-for-everyday-adventures)(Available via Bandcamp)

http://f0.bcbits.com/z/18/86/1886220009-1.jpg (http://lullatone.bandcamp.com/album/soundtracks-for-everyday-adventures)

Soundtracks for Everyday Adventures is probably the most pleasant album released all year. It's playful, whimsical, sweet, and happy. It tickles the nostalgia bone more joyously than any other album I know of. Listening to this album while doing almost anything makes doing that thing more fun.

[Russ]

I will always love you for introducing me to Lullatone.

:pritch:

[D_Davis]

I will always love you for introducing me to Lullatone.

:pritch:

I was so happy the day I discovered them on Bandcamp. I can't even remember how I stumbled upon them, but I'm glad I did.

[D_Davis]

#12 War on Drugs - Slave Ambient

http://pitchfork-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/albums/16860/cover-homepage_large.jpg

Out of the two pastiche/homage albums of the year (the other being The Horrors' Skying), the War on Drugs' Slave Ambient is the best, and mainly because it elevates itself past simply being a pastiche or homage. Slave Ambient contains elements of motorik, Spiritualized, Spacemen 3, Beachwood Sparks, Tom Petty, and Bob Dylan, each influence worn proudly upon the sleeve. However, it never sounds entirely derivative; the band is doing something new and exciting with their wall-of-guitar driven, SoCal-sounding alt-rock.

One of the album's strongest aspects is its cohesiveness; the tracks flow effortlessly from one to another, each strengthening the previous and subsequent tracks. Slave Ambient takes its listener on a journey, and thus it is an amazing album to listen to while on a road trip.

LpuxG9OZXpE

Q9JB5YLCwgk

[Derek]

However, it never sounds entirely derivative; the band is doing something new and exciting with their wall-of-guitar driven, SoCal-sounding alt-rock.

One of the album's strongest aspects is its cohesiveness; the tracks flow effortlessly from one to another, each strengthening the previous and subsequent tracks.

Great points. It's actually kind of hard for me to pick my favorite individual tracks since it works so well as a whole.

Also, I dig those Lullatone songs. I'll definitely check out that whole album soon.

[Derek]

12

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j94/DSmith724/12_Antlers.jpg

The Antlers - Burst Apart

Despite their popularity, both with music fans and critics, The Antlers have been a band I've found difficult to defend. Their music's not particularly complex, they borrow from Radiohead most mainstream sounds, their songs are often so mellow I kinda want close my eyes or turn off the lights half the time and, while I don't find them to be, how can I not understand anyone who finds them to be a bunch of sadsacks? How's that for an endorsement!? But I guess what I really love about The Antlers is that they're direct and completely unironically emotional yet never treacly precisely because they remain so mellow. Their restraint and subtlety, in songwriting and lyrically, keeps everything subdued, acknowledging the melancholy, but never wallowing in it or allowing it to force them into emotional outburst or fits of whiny rage. When I saw them live last June, a random drunk chick got up on stage with them and started dancing all awkwardly as if to some far more upbeat soundtrack only she could here. When security finally through here out, to a bracing round of golf clap applause, the keyboardist quipped, "Well, that's never happened before. Usually girls just cry at our shows, so we get more like cry-dancing." It was funny not because it's true (I saw no tears or weeping all night) but because the band is completely self-aware of the way they're perceived and how people have and will criticize their music. It mean, they know they make sad music, but they also know there's a right way and a wrong way to make it and again, with their sophomore album Burst Apart, they manage to avoid nearly all the pitfalls of their style of music by keeping things toned down and allowing songs to develop and flow organically. And when your singer is in castrato mode half the time, that's pretty damn important.

Favorite Tracks:


bL_9M65Ked4

utLtAU9uCNk

jqgDDxTr7ME

[Derek]

11

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j94/DSmith724/11_Girls.jpg

Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost

Aside from "Summertime", still a wonderfully fresh shoegazey tune, I did not get the appeal of or insanely overzealous praise for their debut album...Album. So my expectations for their follow-up, Father, Son, Holy Ghost, was that it'd be slightly less dull, but more than likely would less interesting and less diverse, leading to all the hipster outlets jumping ship like they do on so many young bands. Well shit, here is where I eat crow. This album is not a drastic improvement, but the kind of great I only expect from my favorite bands, let alone one I never cared for. It's full of boisterous creativity - gospel singers and choral backing, bluesy keyboards, bifurcated songs that drastically change their course ("Just a Song" doing so remarkably well 4 minutes into its 6 minute length) and a wild variety that goes from the jangliest of jangle pop to epic acoustic sprawls, yet still feels thematically and sonically connected. The stretch of "Myma", "Vomit" and "Just a Song" may be the best 3-song stretch of any album this year, displaying their skill at shifting paces and tones - "Myma" from loneliness to an almost joyous nostalgia, "Vomit" from pure anxiety to explosive release, "Just a Song" from traipsing naivety to mature acceptance. And Girls don't merely express this strong sense of human experience and emotions with lyrics; it's deeply embedded in their carefully structured songs and even the song order of the album itself. It's an album that may at first seem only pleasant and breezy, but repeated listens unearth the depth of complexity that lies within and the great amount of care that went into every detail, but it always remains an incredibly fun and gratifying album to spin.

Favorite Tracks:


Pu8jHRZymNs

qHXbHwoJZAc

LBYBNyMNySU

[D_Davis]

qHXbHwoJZAc




I like this. I've never heard these guys before. Looking forward to checking out the album.

[D_Davis]

#11. Monster Rally - Crystal Ball
(Available via Bandcamp)

http://f0.bcbits.com/z/31/22/3122268850-1.jpg (http://monsterrally.bandcamp.com/album/crystal-ball)

Monster Rally represents the new-exotica; just imagine what Brian Wilson, Van Dyke Parks, or Les Baxter would had had they been raised using a laptop and a pile of old records to sample. The invoke the same kind of atmosphere as the exotica of the 1950s and 60s, but they also incorporate more modern techniques and sounds. Monster Rallly's Crystal Ball is music for the new space-age bachelor pad.

[D_Davis]

OK, so it's time for the top 10.

#10 Tba (Natalie Berizde) - Forget'fulnes

http://image.betamonline.com/sdimages/upc11/880918022529.jpg

This is one of the year's most relentlessly creative albums. Natalie Beridze, aka Tba, push the boundaries of electronic music into the stratosphere and beyond. Everything from the sounds she uses to her dry vocal delivery, and from the arrangements to the atmosphere feels fresh and vital. It is an album teeming with creative life and energy.

hTXQD6K-EJM

6k5-VoOWuUc

[Derek]

10

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j94/DSmith724/10_ChadVanGaalen.jpg

Chad VanGaalen - Diaper Island

With the breakup of Women, I was left wondering from whom we could expect great smeared, echoey, reckless indie rock? Well, if you can't get Women, at least there's the guy hugely responsible for their sonic leap forward to the luminescent Public Strain, still one of last year's finest accomplishments. But VanGaalen is more than just a producer - he already had a solid debut album under his belt and is an accomplished cartoonist/animator who does all the artwork and animated videos to accompany his own music. His impulses tend to lean toward the extreme and while this leads to unfortunate happenings like this album's title, far more often, it leads to music that mines 60s psychedelia for influence yet outputs a fresh sonic palette that consistently locates the beauty, freewheeling fun and weirdness amidst the swirling guitars and cavernous reverb. Starting with the sound from Public Strain, VanGaalen doesn't replicate, but rather takes it and shoots off in various directions, incorporating everything from folk to garage rock into a seamless mishmash whose roughness and imperfections add character, not carelessness. It's a risky combination of sounds to piece together, but while the production has a purposefully rough edge, the songwriting shows not only a deep care for texture and sound, but structure, leading to an album whose disparate parts somehow form a cohesive whole.

Favorite Tracks:


o9nC4SsAKjY

hKHD6INztfA&ob=av2e

4PzUGp155I8

[D_Davis]

10



Chad VanGaalen - Diaper Island



Nice. From the songs you posted, I like this better then the Women stuff I've heard.

[D_Davis]

#9. SNOWMINE - Pet Laminate
(Available via Bandcamp)

http://f0.bcbits.com/z/22/74/2274374207-1.jpg (http://snowmine.bandcamp.com/album/laminate-pet-animal)

While I am not a fan of the Animal Collective crew, I do like the kind of music they've come to influence. I can hear traces of them in my favorite album from last year (Magic Man's Real Life Color), and I can hear them a bit in this album - Pet Laminate, by SNOWMINE - although SNOWMINE (and Magic Man) strip away all the annoyances and focus more on music that is more tightly focused and pop-focused, while still maintaining elements of psychedelia and sonic experimentation.

Pet Laminate was one of my most listened to albums this year. I've probably listened to it over 100 times, and the first two tracks are probably the year's best opening tracks; absolute perfection!

This band should be huge.

Beast in Air, Beast in Water (http://snowmine.bandcamp.com/track/beast-in-air-beast-in-water-2)
Penny (http://snowmine.bandcamp.com/track/penny)

[endingcredits]

The production on Father, Son, Holy Ghost is nearly flawless. Definitely one of the most gratifying headphone/LP listens of the year.

[endingcredits]

Badlands is like The Cramps and Suicide decided to do a Roy Orbison cover album.

[Derek]

The production on Father, Son, Holy Ghost is nearly flawless. Definitely one of the most gratifying headphone/LP listens of the year.

Yeah, it sounds great through headphones.


Badlands is like The Cramps and Suicide decided to do a Roy Orbison cover album.

Haha, pretty much.

[Derek]

9

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j94/DSmith724/9_Deerhoof.jpg

Deerhoof - Deerhoof vs. Evil

Deerhoof have to be one of the most consistently jubilant out there. For years, they’ve been stripping rock and pop structures down to their most basic elements and, like gleeful children playing with building blocks, taking out everything dull, rote and clichéd before putting them back together in endlessly creative ways. With their newest album, cheekily titled Deerhoof vs. Evil, the band goes yet another step further in, almost naively, making music with the full intention of being silly, upbeat and just plain fun. I mean, who else could make the apocalypse and atomic bombs dropping on your head sound like an absolute blast (pun not intended)? While their cleaner, more professional sound here – they obviously had more money to burn in the studio than most, if not all, of their other albums – the band sacrifices nothing and ultimately, creates what might be their most unique album in their entire catalogue. Like four kids with brand new toys, the crunch of every guitar, pop of the snare drum, synth backing and other background sounds all sound completely fresh, the band reenergized by having all these new gadgets and tools at their disposal. And rather than allowing them to smooth over and mainstream their sound, the amped up production actually makes all their wonderful quirks pop louder and as such, Deerhoof vs. Evil may actually be their most unrestrained and joyous album and contentious or not, I may even say it’s their best.

Favorite Tracks:


zSABSfnDmzA

MzhFKcoJ29I

rYK9rdkqL8c

[D_Davis]

#8. Bill Callahan - Apocalypse

http://www.dragcity.com/system/album_products/images/1821/large.jpg?1300823930

Bill Callahan's arrangements often times resemble skeletons more than they do fully fleshed out compositions. He is a master of space, and sparsely populates his songs with tidbits of instrumentation; his songwriting style is the antithesis of that used by the musician who will be appearing in my number one spot on this list. On Apocalypse, Callahan barely straddles the line between minimalism and anemic; the songs sound almost unfinished. And yet it is this very quality that makes his music so unique; well, that and his earnest, dry vocal style. His almost-apathetic crooning makes his subject matter even more ironic and scathing. I think he's a love it or leave kind of musician, and I happen to love it.

dMQ0CeXYd54

dro17meH8Z4

252eksMUdXs

[Acapelli]

#9. SNOWMINE - Pet Laminate
(Available via Bandcamp)

http://f0.bcbits.com/z/22/74/2274374207-1.jpg (http://snowmine.bandcamp.com/album/laminate-pet-animal)
heh, a good friend of mine did the album art

[D_Davis]

heh, a good friend of mine did the album art

Nice. It's a great album.

[Derek]

8

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j94/DSmith724/8_GangGangDance.jpg

Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact

Almost any follow-up to the brilliantly exotic genre-hopping masterpiece, Saint Dymphna, was bound to disappoint. With that album, Gang Gang Dance announced themselves as not just another group of Brooklyn hipsters hellbent on defining their own isolated micro-genre, but one who could effortlessly break down the arbitrary boundaries between styles, transforming them into an almost egalitarian blend of mystic dance punk and electronic psychedelia. While Eye Contact doesn't push the limits of what the band can take on, it streamlines their sound in such a way that allows for an airtight cohesion and subtle yet satisfying refinement of their sound. Where Saint Dymphna was all about 3-4 minute tracks that touched on a style or two before moving on, Eye Contact is more patient, with mostly 5+ minute songs, and of course the 11-minute lead single, "Glass Jar", linked by short, almost ambient interludes (or whatever you want to call the opening 5 minute build at the start of the aforementioned opening track). The result is a very spacious album with more left turns and offbeat stretches of distilled experimentation, with a fresh, almost improvised feel, yet one that is carefully and fully developed. The album's production is immaculate, the layers of sound always playfully bouncing off one another, never cluttered as each note seems purposefully placed, each interlude on a journey to somewhere new. And while it may not be as immediately jaw-dropping as their last album, Gang Gang Dance still bring their A-game and as long as they do that, they'll continue releasing some of the best music out there.

Favorite Tracks:


XPGXFZpBtlY

oaiVgeX2hdQ

2R7k1_kOqvk

[Acapelli]

Nice. It's a great album.
i think you've convinced me to check it out

[D_Davis]

#7. Cynic - Carbon-Based Anatomy

http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/soulflypremiere/cynic2011ep.jpg

This is the shortest release on the list; it is comprised of nearly 20-minutes of pure audio perfection. The album is made up of three proper songs, and three transitional pieces. The album also finds Cynic taking a drastically different direction from their previous release, Traced in Air, thus alienating many of its metal fans. Gone is the extreme, in-yer-face heavy style; gone are the auto-harmonized, epically affected vocals and screams. Carbon-Based Anatomy reminds me of what a Pale Saints might have sounded like had that band been more into alt-metal than shoegazing. I am torn between wishing it were longer, and being ultimately satisfied by its ability to leave me wanting more.

NEe08PITBtE

Cmrmals_Q3I

[Derek]

7

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j94/DSmith724/7_StVincent.jpg

St. Vincent - Strange Mercy

With each new St. Vincent album, Annie Clark just keeps upping the ante. She could easily have rested on style present on Marry Me, fresh and quirky as it was, and still had a successful career, perhaps with even more fans than she has now. But Clark is clearly interested in progression and her music continues to mine anxiety and inner turmoil in a way that is universally relatable yet musically complex, even difficult in the ways her vocal melodies often clash with the music. On Strange Mercy, her best album yet, this dialectic is in full force – her angelic voice as innocent as ever is played against rough guitar riffs, even the occasional burst of outright noise rock, and offbeat drums and electronic backing. As strong as Clark’s lyrics are, it is the way the album successfully uses pacing and instrumentation, particularly Clark’s own guitar playing (again her most impressive to date), to enhance the emotional struggles she explores. Where her previous album, Actor, occasionally felt forced, as if Clark knew the type of subtly unsettling, multi-toned sound she was going for but couldn’t quite find a way to do it without disrupting the songs, Strange Mercy is markedly more assured, feeling less like two sides clashing than a cohesive afterbirth of that clash. As a result, Strange Mercy is less quirky than genuinely distressed, yet Clark’s cleverly ironic song-writing and, oh my, that voice, somehow make it entertaining and palatable to sit through all her gut-wrenching drama.

Favorite Tracks:


sxOaJ-N1EeM

Itt0rALeHE8

jH0bm2eytfU

[ledfloyd]

that was (perhaps predictably) my favorite album of the year. the precise way she uses the music to tease out underlying meanings in her lyrics slays me. she seems to be operating on another level from the other rock bands she's grouped in with these days.

[D_Davis]

#6. John Foxx and Harold Budd - Nighthawks

https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS9DC-tPhk_cY2h12QrzKAyX26Eq7GOBC4Lt jUPd6HqDUzdUd2LEA

John Foxx and Harold Budd have collaborated before, but the effort has never been as breathtakingly-beautiful as it is here. Nighthawks rivals the work of Eno and Budd (The Pearl, Ambient 2), and from the very first note the music transports me away to a world of subtle beauty. Budd is my favorite composer and pianist, and never has his playing been more nuanced; what's more, his focus on melody and motifs has never been tighter. Foxx plays the role of sound-supervisor, adding treatment to Budd's piano along with a cloud-like foundation of tilting, ambling synths and cavernous echoes, lending the album a rich sonic texture.

As a bonus, this album also comes with the artists' previous collaboration, Translucence and Drift Music. In all, you'll get nearly 40 tracks of some of the best ambient music ever created.

(Unfortunately, I can't find any of the Nighthawks tunes on Youtube - lame.)

[Derek]

that was (perhaps predictably) my favorite album of the year. the precise way she uses the music to tease out underlying meanings in her lyrics slays me. she seems to be operating on another level from the other rock bands she's grouped in with these days.

It is a very precise album, but that precision feels even more organic here than it did on Actor. She keeps getting better and better.


#6. John Foxx and Harold Budd - Nighthawks

I've gotta get this ASAP. 3 discs worth of ambient is a lot, but looks like I'll have my reading music for the next week or two. :)

[Derek]

6

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j94/DSmith724/6_PJHarvey.jpg

Polly Jean Harvey - Let England Shake

Like Strange Mercy, PJ Harvey's Let England Shake is built around an underlying tension, a struggle between soul and surrounding, but rather than Clark's cleverly distancing irony, Harvey mines this tension throughout in this, her ode to the country she loves. This love however comes at a cost and as Harvey croons, we feel the burdens of her English identity, the horrors of centuries of war and oppression, of a lower class crushed by the weight of those above them, of bitter self-loathing that comes with the innate love of ones homeland when that home has consistently failed to live up to its own standards. It's an intensely personal and emotional album, not only lyrically and thematically, but vocally as well. As much attention as this album has received this year, and deservedly so, Harvey's haunting vocals always seem to get lost amidst the talk of the album's remarkable thematic resonance and its brilliant use of dissonance to mirror the personal and historical turmoil. As incredible as that is, it is her voice that left its most indelible mark on me. Listen to "England" and hear how her voice cracks with emotion, stripped of all pretense, here even from most musical backing aside from acoustic guitar and her autoharp (also used wonderfully on almost every track). It may not be the best song of the year, or hell, even the album, but I'll be damned if it doesn't get me teary-eyed every single time I've heard it. But as heavy and dark as Let England Shake gets, it provides its share of catharsis, even levity, rendering what may sound like a depressing album in prospect, an enrapturing, inspiring and enthralling one.

Favorite Tracks:


Ik9vqRDqyu0&ob=av2e

YyfLy8ZOruo

Va0w5pxFkAM

[jesse]

Dirty Beaches - Badlands I LOVE this album, also one of my favorites of the year. I was hooked after stumbling across "Lord Only Knows," but then how could I not when it's one long sample of one of my favorite Françoise Hardy tracks?


Alex Zhang Hungtai has stressed the influence of Lynches films on his music... I've been following his blog (http://dirtybeaches.blogspot.com/) for a while now, and he has an incredibly cinematic sensibility--he's posted a number of images from Wong Kar-Wai's films, which is what I visually associate more with his music than Lynch (probably because I vastly prefer the former to the latter! :lol: )

Something else I also unexpectedly stumbled across is his "Christmas song" "Merry Xmas Michael (http://flannelgraphrecords.bandcamp.c om/track/merry-xmas-michael)." I find it a rather beguiling little track.

Anyway, I hadn't recognize a thing on your list until this, and it's a great one!

[jesse]

Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost Another great pick, though you've reminded me I need to go back and listen to it more thoroughly. They're really popular here in San Francisco, their hometown, though I have quite a bit of affection for them because their music keeps popping up in unexpected places, most recently in a naked gay love scene in Christophe Honoré's "Homme au bain" but then also in a literal gay porn film.



St. Vincent - Strange Mercy YES. "Cruel" might be my favorite song of the year, period.

My boyfriend loves the Gang Gang Dance album and has been playing it quite a bit lately, but I've yet to warm to it.

[D_Davis]

I've gotta get this ASAP. 3 discs worth of ambient is a lot, but looks like I'll have my reading music for the next week or two. :)

Yes. It's pretty much been my go-to reading music for the last year.

[D_Davis]

#5. Tycho - Drive

http://blog.iso50.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Tycho-Dive-10b.jpg

Nobody does pop-electronica better than Tycho. His compositions are infectious, catchy, melodic and interesting, and his signature style is impossible to miss. It's like he's run all of his high-tech music through some kind of old film projector, lending an, warbled, worn-out sound to his pads and leads. However, it is not (thank God!) lo-fi; that sound, IMO, is played out. Tycho's music embraces the nostalgic factor inherent in the genre, but also looks forward to the future of sound and creative possibilities, and, what's more, he never forgets the importance of melody and a good hook.

tKZBrc4VCRQ

4RxrA4Kcpx0

[youtube]IuGO6WHcruU[youtube]

[Derek]

I LOVE this album, also one of my favorites of the year. I was hooked after stumbling across "Lord Only Knows," but then how could I not when it's one long sample of one of my favorite Françoise Hardy tracks?

I've been following his blog (http://dirtybeaches.blogspot.com/) for a while now, and he has an incredibly cinematic sensibility--he's posted a number of images from Wong Kar-Wai's films, which is what I visually associate more with his music than Lynch (probably because I vastly prefer the former to the latter! :lol: )

Something else I also unexpectedly stumbled across is his "Christmas song" "Merry Xmas Michael (http://flannelgraphrecords.bandcamp.c om/track/merry-xmas-michael)." I find it a rather beguiling little track.

Anyway, I hadn't recognize a thing on your list until this, and it's a great one!

A Jesse Atiade sighting...it's like a lunar eclipse! :) How've you been!? I agree about the WKW influence, particularly in "Lord Knows Best"...the fact that Alex looks like a character out of one of his films doesn't hurt either.

That Christmas song is really cool. I hadn't heard it before now, so thanks, I'll have to get that in my IPod ASAP. It actually would play well as a 9th track to Badlands.


Another great pick, though you've reminded me I need to go back and listen to it more thoroughly. They're really popular here in San Francisco, their hometown, though I have quite a bit of affection for them because their music keeps popping up in unexpected places, most recently in a naked gay love scene in Christophe Honoré's "Homme au bain" but then also in a literal gay porn film.

YES. "Cruel" might be my favorite song of the year, period.

My boyfriend loves the Gang Gang Dance album and has been playing it quite a bit lately, but I've yet to warm to it.

Interesting about Girls being embraced by the gay community, though I can't imagine which song could actually be fitting for porn.

I like "Cruel" and "Northern Lights" equally, but "Cruel" is definitely the more listenable of the two or the one I'd put on a mix. Long live Annie!

GGD might be a bit of an acquired taste. Hopefully your boyfriend obsession with it rubs off a bit. ;)

[Qrazy]

Nice list boys, definitely some stuff I'll be checking out now as well.

On an unrelated note here's a mash up I made of Justice/Chemical Brothers. Let me know what ya think. It's a bit heavier sounding than the stuff I usually put together.

Just Chemicals (http://www.mediafire.com/?iihtd49vkkvxxco)

[Derek]

5

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j94/DSmith724/5_TheField.jpg

The Field - Looping State of Mind

At this point, I'm going to have accept that I'm a fanboy of The Field's, but I'm okay with that. I agree with the consensus that From Here We Go Sublime still his most impressive work, but I also feel that Willner doesn't get quite enough credit for switching things. With Yesterday & Today, he veered away from the icy precision of his debut with longer, more languorous tracks and slowly developing krautrockish rhythms and some fine drumming from Battles' (and formerly Helmet) John Stanier and while stretches of the album were a bit stagnant, Willner's inability to rest on his former success and experiment with new styles also led to some impressive feats as well, including a surprisingly sunny tone to counterbalance the chill of his debut. With Looping State of Mind, Willner returns, in full confidence in what he does well, the album title playfully copping to his signature looping which has been used both to prop him up and knock him down. While still retaining some of the openness in structure of Yesterday & Today, Looping State of Mind also tightens things up a good deal as well. Tracks are still long, but the pacing is bit quicker, never rushed but also never lingering on a good thing too long before further developing it or adding a fresh new element into the mix. This gives the album a further sense of immediacy and propulsion and like From Here We Go Sublime, every track has a through-line, be it droning ambiance or a beat, at its core, surrounded by an ever-increasing amount of sonic ideas, newly introduced melodies and shifting beats that push them further and further towards pure bliss. The sense of stagnation that creeped into his last album at times is completely gone and although Willner doesn't exactly revolutionize his sound, it a sound that never needed much of a change to achieve perfection. What this album does do is further secure his status as the best ambient techno musician working today.

Favorite Tracks:


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[Boner M]

So I'm listening to those Dirty Beaches tracks... they're pretty nice cos of the samples he's using, but I dunno, isn't it kinda ridiculously lazy? The thing it mostly evokes in me is the desire to listen to Hardy, Rallizes et al than some reverbed mumbling over them.

(I realise I probably sound like a dad complaining about hiphop)

[Boner M]

On the other hand, Total Control, Danny Brown, Tim Hecker, Psychic Paramount, and (most surprisingly, to me) Real Estate all make my top ten, so good work.

[D_Davis]

#4. Marconi Union - Beautifully Falling Apart

http://www.ambientmusicblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Marconi-Union-300x300.jpg

To put it simply, Marconi Union are working on a completely different level than any of their peers. They make other ambient composers sound like amateurs. They're also one of the best-kept secrets in the field, and tend to mainly be listened to by other ambient musicians. When Brian Eno first heard them a few years ago, he basically hired them on retainer as consultants. If you want to listen to the best ambient music there is, listen to Marconi Union. If you haven't heard them before, go and get Distance, A Lost Connection, Tokyo, and this album, set aside a few hours, and be prepared for absolute sonic bliss. There just isn't any comparison.

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[Acapelli]

On the other hand, Total Control, Danny Brown, Tim Hecker, Psychic Paramount, and (most surprisingly, to me) Real Estate all make my top ten, so good work.
don't know why, but i wouldn't have pegged you as someone super into real estate

[Derek]

On the other hand, Total Control, Danny Brown, Tim Hecker, Psychic Paramount, and (most surprisingly, to me) Real Estate all make my top ten, so good work.

Total Control was all thanks to you. Great live show too, paired with Thee Oh Sees. That was a fun night.

I'll get to your Dirty Beach comment later. I do think it's interesting to discuss the re-appropriation of the past in art and its been more and more prevalent in music the last few years. What do you think of Oneohtrix Point Never/Caretaker?


#4. Marconi Union - Beautifully Falling Apart

Wow, high praise. I'll be picking up this and their earlier album you mentioned.

[Derek]

4

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j94/DSmith724/4_LWH.jpg

L.W.H. - The Tape Hiss Hooligan

Why Green Ova Underground is still stuck somewhat in the underground and Odd Future gets the bulk of the hype for young, up-and-comer hip-hop collectives is something I’ll never understand. Fortunately, the Green Ova kids, especially with Main Attrakionz's debut and this, producer LWH’s “solo” gig that’s essentially a second Main Attrakionz album of 2011, seem destined to blow up soon. Main Attrakionz’ 808 & Dark Grapes is also one of the year’s best hip-hop albums, featuring both brilliant production and endlessly creating rapping, but LWH’s perfect blend of high and low art – seriously, this album is full of Max von Sydow soundbytes from von Trier’s Zentropa and, no shitting you, samples Talk Talk, while still focusing on violence and drugs (although in a very conscious and positive way) – makes for one of the most original and fascinating hip-hop albums in the past decade. L.W. Hodge’s production is the star of this album, not only for the sheer variety of sources he draws from, but the ways he effectively shifts the album’s hazy tones in so many different directions, bringing some of the year’s most undeniably impressive beats with “Bitin and Shakin” and crazy good hooks with “Spinning 87” and “On My Shit”, yet a sincere emotional depth and somberness with “Just a Thought” and “All In Your Hands”. The sequencing on Tape Hiss Hooligan gives it the perfect ebb and flow, it’s thoughtfulness and social consciousness is always apparent, but it never lingers too long on the depressing or upbeat end of the spectrum, finding the perfect balance of fun, goofing around and reflective, self-examination. And with as much credit as I’m giving to LWH himself, the Main Attrakionz boys, at least one or two of which are on a majority of the tracks, bring a fantastic variety of rapping to the table, equally at home with upbeat word dropping as they are with low key, patient rapping. This perfect balance, in all respects, leads to album that has everything I love and want out of hip-hop – experimental, airtight production, creative sampling, lyrical depth and a great flow. Not since Edan’s Beauty and the Beat has there been a non-instrumental hip-hop album I’ve been this excited about and obsessed with.

Favorite Tracks:

The whole album is streaming on Bandcamp:

"Bitin and Shakin (http://lwhmusic.bandcamp.com/album/the-tape-hiss-hooligan)"

"Mondo Bizness (http://lwhmusic.bandcamp.com/album/the-tape-hiss-hooligan)"

"Spinning 87 (http://lwhmusic.bandcamp.com/album/the-tape-hiss-hooligan)"

[D_Davis]

Wow, high praise. I'll be picking up this and their earlier album you mentioned.

You'll love them.

[Derek]

You'll love them.

Wow, just listened to "Blue Collar Parade". It's almost like a mellower Angelo Badalamenti. Can't wait to dive into the whole album!

[D_Davis]

Wow, just listened to "Blue Collar Parade". It's almost like a mellower Angelo Badalamenti. Can't wait to dive into the whole album!

I have a feeling that tune was an homage to Badalamenti.

[D_Davis]

#3. Anathema - We're Here Because We're Here (U.S. Release date)

http://www.metal-archives.com/images/2/6/8/3/268391.jpg

We're Here Because We're Here is the very definition of epic, progressive alt-rock. Anathema's music is soaring, it is powerfully emotional, and it is amazing. It is also extremely polished, performed and arranged with absolute perfection; you won't find a hint of indie slack here, no lo-fi posturing, and no attitude, so if you're into that stay far, far away. And, yet again, it is another example of a band that was once much, much heavier becoming a little more mellow and pop-orientated; however, Anathema's progression to what they are now has been long coming and it's progress can be traced organically over their last few albums.

Also worth mentioning, the album was mixed and engineered by Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree.

I can't wait to hear what the band does next.

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[dreamdead]

Huzzah for Anathema placing so high. It's one of the strongest albums of just having 5 excellent tracks lead from one to next, to the next. Their use of the piano here is unparalleled when considered against their earlier work. "Dreaming Light" will stand as the premier song of 2010/1 for me. Wilson's mixing is good, but I wish their had been a bit more crunch at times in the guitars. "A Simple Mistake" begs for a fuller sound, to my ears at least.

I started listening to them with A Natural Disaster back in 2004, because of their Radiohead-infused Closer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQZF7cinKJ8), and have been tracing their contemporary sounds back through their earlier albums Alternative 4 and Judgement this past year. Somehow this album sounds more true, as the lamenting nature of their previous work seems somehow below them.

[D_Davis]

This was actually my introduction to the band, and since listening to this I've listened to everything back through Judgement.

I have to say that I like this the best.

The first five tracks are absolutely stunning. I was just floored when I first heard this album.

[Derek]

3

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j94/DSmith724/3_DemdikeStare.jpg

Demdike Stare - Tryptych

Demdike Stare, to put it simply, is absolutely terrifying. Their brand of dark ambient with hazy patches of dub techno is thick with an atmosphere that hypnotically lulls you into another world. Their songs are less interested in progression than creating an otherworldly sense of space and time - ambient drones, beats and electronic sprawl hang in the air, lingering clandestinely, slowly building a sense of unease and tension, waiting for the sweat to build on your palms and your lips to quiver in fear of what unknown terror lies around the corner. In this sense, Triptych (a 3-disk compilation that includes much material actually released in 2010, but enough from 2011 that I’m willing to count it…as did several respectable music sites) plays like the surreal horror-thriller films the band use in their music videos. No other music this year was as recklessly adventurous, as solely intent on exploring the unexpected, as willing to lay down breadcrumbs as we follow them into the dark woods, only to abandon us late at night amongst the wolves. At well over 2 hours, I’m aware that Triptych is a bit of a tough sell, as it doesn’t even have the relaxing, spaced out quality most ambient and electronic music possesses, but it leaves such an indelible mark every time I listen to it that I can’t help but urge people to take the plunge and give this access to your headspace. Its pure intensity and dense thicket of horror-filled imagery might not make it an album to spin all the time, but I assure you, it’s not an easy one to shake off whenever you do.

Favorite Tracks (First one is NSFW):

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[D_Davis]

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Nice. I dig this. Reminds me of Subliminal Sandwich era Meat Beat Manifesto. Really looking forward to checking this out.

[Qrazy]

Nice list boys, definitely some stuff I'll be checking out now as well.

On an unrelated note here's a mash up I made of Justice/Chemical Brothers. Let me know what ya think. It's a bit heavier sounding than the stuff I usually put together.

Just Chemicals (http://www.mediafire.com/?iihtd49vkkvxxco)

Was this considered too thread hi-jacky to warrant a response?

[Derek]

Was this considered too thread hi-jacky to warrant a response?

No. It was really good - a bit heavier than the electronic music I lean towards (though I like Justice's first album quite a bit) but very well done.

[Qrazy]

No. It was really good - a bit heavier than the electronic music I lean towards (though I like Justice's first album quite a bit) but very well done.

Thanks buddy. :) I'm using Traktor now so mash ups have just become infinitely more easy to accomplish. Expect a lot more and some lengthier recorded sets in the near future.

[Qrazy]

Speaking of which... new mash-up here (http://soundcloud.com/josh-hansen-1/if-this-shooting-star-were).

This style of electronic should be more to your liking Derek.

[D_Davis]

Was this considered too thread hi-jacky to warrant a response?

Sounds pretty good. Can't say I'm familiar with either of the tunes, or Justice at all, to really hear the mash-up, but it sounds clean and well-mixed.

[D_Davis]

#2. Steve Kilbey and Martin Kennedy - White Magic

http://mikea7.typepad.com/.a/6a0115706dbff1970b01538e91ea65 970b-320wi

Steve Kilbey, from the Church, and Martin Kennedy, from All India Radio, deliver the years' best mid-tempo alt-rock. What we have here is a perfect fusing of Kilbey's unique vocal style and whimsical, thought-provoking lyrics, with Kennedy's ability craft perfectly mixed music composed of subtle layers; this is music created by two musicians who have absolutely mastered their craft. This is what I look for in the music that I love. The focus is clearly on the traditional song structure, but these two artists are known for their love of sound, and thus the album is infused with a hint of psychedelia, ambient, and electronica, complete with oodles of odd little effects and nifty moments sprinkled throughout. This is one of my most listened to albums this year, and one that I'll be returning to for many years to come.

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[jesse]

A Jesse Atiade sighting...it's like a lunar eclipse! :) How've you been!? I agree about the WKW influence, particularly in "Lord Knows Best"...the fact that Alex looks like a character out of one of his films doesn't hurt either.

That Christmas song is really cool. I hadn't heard it before now, so thanks, I'll have to get that in my IPod ASAP. It actually would play well as a 9th track to Badlands. Lol, exactly--got to get my once-a-year quota in! I actually was looking for something else and saw this thread and couldn't resist responding. :) And I'm doing really well--been up in San Francisco for about 2.5 years now, finished my MA in Cinema Studies in May and am now working part time on a Lit MA, as well as working, interning, etc. What are you up to these days? Hope you're well too!


Interesting about Girls being embraced by the gay community, though I can't imagine which song could actually be fitting for porn. Well, I think their basis in SF and that Christopher Owens is queer made them a big hit up here. The video for "Lust for Life" (http://www.nme.com/nme-video/girls---lust-for-life-hardcore-version/67506162001) is super SF-hipster queer which helps too. And re: the porn (http://pitchfork.com/news/38596-girls-contribute-music-to-gay-porn-film/), they just provided ambient background music. It's actually a super good little film--if you're into that kind of thing, of course! :lol:


I like "Cruel" and "Northern Lights" equally, but "Cruel" is definitely the more listenable of the two or the one I'd put on a mix. Long live Annie! She just announced her tour (with tUnE-yArDs) and I'm definitely going to see her; a friend who saw her recently says her albums don't do justice to the range of her voice.


GGD might be a bit of an acquired taste. Hopefully your boyfriend obsession with it rubs off a bit. ;) I was really excited about this album when Pitchfork's review came out because they referenced Kate Bush, but then it turned out that they use a lot of my least favorite elements from 80's music. But I have to admit that they use them to great effect--there are some beautiful, textural moments of sound that have caught me by surprise. I'm still not at the point where I'd put it on myself, but I don't mind when he does!

[Qrazy]

Annnd another one (http://soundcloud.com/josh-hansen-1/rock-me-ms-jacksamatik).

[Derek]

2

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j94/DSmith724/2_Destroyer.jpg

Destroyer - Kaputt

To call Kaputt the most pleasant surprise of the year is more than an understatement. It completely blindsided me. Aside from Streethawk: A Seduction, I’ve never been much of a fan of Destroyer’s previous album nor those of the band he moonlights with, The New Pornographers, so when I read that his newest effort adopted the sounds of smooth jazz and AM radio, I expected it to be excruciatingly dull. Yet while Kaputt is certainly as relaxing as its influences make it sound, Destroyer takes these sounds – the sax, cheap drum beats, over-produced guitar riffs, synth orchestral loops – and, accepting them as the inevitably cheesy sounds as they are, uses them as the building blocks for 9 incredible songs. The resurgence of 80s new wave over the last few years has led to much ironic reappropriation of the decade’s now uber-hip sounds, most made by young musicians who couldn’t even walk when Reagan left office, so Destroyer who, as he mentions in the album was 20 in 1992, actually has a memory of the decade decides to flip the tables. Rather than following the trend of adapting new wave into chillwave, he uses the truly maligned sounds of the age and, without a hint of irony (a wink perhaps), brings a value, an undeniably grandiose beauty out of what most people, myself included, had always considered a joke. Of course, many people have and will dismiss this as just a lame throwback to easy listening, but although the root of the sonic palette is familiar, the totality of them within this context is possibly the most original musical experiment of the year. I find it a difficult album to defend, since it is admittedly cheesy so I understand where the haters are coming from, but there is an uncommon poetic beauty to the way Destroyer molds these much-maligned genres into a true work of art. That he can do so while also coming off as effortless and breezy as he sounds throughout the album only makes his feat that much more admirable. If no one else in the world thought a great album could come of this concept, it appears Destroyer knew he could from the start.

Favorite Tracks:

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[D_Davis]

I like that Destroyer album. Reminded me of what Air would sound like if they had remained interesting. Cool choice for number one.

[Derek]

I like that Destroyer album. Reminded me of what Air would sound like if they had remained interesting. Cool choice for number one.

#2! I still have one more, but 1-2 are close to interchangeable. :)

[D_Davis]

#2! I still have one more, but 1-2 are close to interchangeable. :)

Oh yeah! Well, still a cool pick. I need to listen to it more.

[D_Davis]

#1. Devin Townsend Project - Ghost

http://reigninart.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Devin-Townsend-Project-Ghost.jpg

This isn't just the best album I heard in 2011, it's one of the best albums I've ever heard. While known more for his brutal heavy metal and bizarre prog-metal (Strapping Young Lad, et al.), with Ghost, Devin Townsend has created one of the most sonically dense, lush, and beautiful sounding albums ever.

This is the album I want to listen to on my death bed, during the last hour of my life.

Just get the album, a good pair of headphones, and take an hour out of your day to listen to it uninterrupted. You might dislike it, or it might change your life. Who knows?

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[Derek]

1

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j94/DSmith724/1_TheMen.jpg

The Men - Leave Home

If the smooth, cool sounds of Destroyer's Kaputt were too emasculating or soporific, I give you The Men's Leave Home as the antidote. After the slow 3-minute build to album opener "If You Leave...", The Men grab you by collar and drag you full speed ahead into sonic mayhem, with abusive feedback and menacing, guttural singing/screaming as the norm. Their intense brand of post-hardcore has the energy and meticulousness of the genre’s landmarks, but while this album is all about the collision of precision and chaos, their general fondness for shoegazey guitars engulfs their raw vocals and heavy guitar riffs in a whirlwind of roughhewn, blistering noise. However, this is not noise simply as a filter to make the music more abrasive or aggressive while burying the melodies, but noise as an aesthetic, the feedback and guitar crunches as much a piece of the songwriting as the lyrics and notes themselves. As rough as the album may sound at first, The Men have a particularly brilliant ear for and are adept as using at using noise, not just as attitude or sonic enhancement, but, like My Bloody Valentine and Sonic Youth, almost as an instrument itself. The most obvious examples are the 2 Chris Hansell-sung songs, "Think" and "L.A.D.O.C.H." which may be the heaviest 1-2 combo on any album this year, exploding with frustration and anger, from the fast, heavy guitars to his deep, intense screaming voice, yet tightly controlled, always on the brink of chaos but constantly reigned in just enough to keep it all together. Albums of this type often have a rushed sense about them, as unrefined intensity and rawness have their advantages in bringing fresh and unique results, but Leave Home is meticulously produced - not smoothed over or clean by any means, but its roughness feels shaped and purposeful, the band as interested in sculpting with sound as bringing a feverish intensity to every song. The variety of guitar textures (from shimmering shoegaze to post-hardcore, almost metal at times) and drums (from the whiplash in "L.A.D.O.C.H." to hard rock and post-punk sounds) throughout the album is impressive; their sound always showing signs of surprising new influences while illuminating the talents of every member of the band. It's the rare album that's as fun as it is intense and as sonically varied and dense as it is consistently rewarding. Just an all-around impressive album and unquestionably my favorite of the year.

Favorite Tracks:

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[Boner M]

Good #1 choice. Album really grew on me, which is odd for something so bludgeoning and immediate.

I'll check out Devin Townsend cos I like SYL quite a bit, but that cover is a dolphin & a rainbow away from being the greatest prog-album-art parody ever.

[D_Davis]

The cover kept me away for months, but then I heard the music. It's NOTHING like SYT, or much of Townsend's other music (the first part of the DTP, Ki, is a little similar). It's basically Townsend's take on ambient music, using his unique wall-of-sound technique.

Ghost 2 comes out this year, and from what I've heard it sounds just as good.

[Qrazy]

Can you post a full list please?

[Derek]

Can you post a full list please?

Sure:

1) The Men – Leave Home
2) Destroyer – Kaputt
3) Demdike Stare – Triptych
4) L.W.H. – The Tape Hiss Hooligan
5) The Field – Looping State of Mind
6) PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
7) St. Vincent – Strange Mercy
8) Gang Gang Dance – Eye Contact
9) Deerhoof – Deerhoof vs. Evil
10) Chad VanGaalen – Diaper Island
11) Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost
12) The Antlers – Burst Apart
13) Dirty Beaches – Badlands
14) The Psychic Paramount – II
15) Tim Hecker – Ravedeath, 1972
16) Thee Oh Sees – Carrion Crawler/The Dream
17) David Kilgour & The Heavy Eights – Left by Soft
18) Jacaszek – Glimmer
19) Panda Bear – Tomboy
20) Deaf Center – Owl Splinters
21) Robag Wruhme – Thora Vukk
22) Andy Stott – We Stay Together
23) Roommate – Guilty Rainbow
24) Tom Waits – Bad As Me
25) Danny Brown – XXX
26) Total Control - Henge Beat
27) Real Estate – Days
28) A Winged Victory for the Sullen – A Winged Victory for the Sullen
29) Radiohead – King of Limbs
30) CunninLynguists – Oneirology

HMs:

Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
The Necks – Mindset
Snowman – Absence
Colin Stetson – New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges
The War on Drugs - Slave Ambient

[D_Davis]

30. @peace - s/t
29. Opeth - Heritage
28. Even Abeele - Lineage
27. Hammock w/ Steve Kilbey and timEbandit Powles - Asleep in the Downlights
26. Moby - Destroyed
25. Vishnu - Space Folk
24. Saffron Slumber - Somnogen
23. Jason Sloan - (s)END
22. Scale the Summit - The Collective
21. Robin Guthrie and Harold Budd - Bordeaux
20. Leprous - Bilateral
19. adamned.age - Fragile
18. Brian Eno - The Drums Between the Bells
17. Two Bicycles - The Ocean
16. Animals as Leaders - Weightless
15. Dawes - Nothing is Wrong
14. Big Spider's Back - Memory Man
13. Lullatone - Soundtracks for Everyday Adventures
12. War on Drugs - Slave Ambient
11. Monster Rally - Crystal Ball
10. Tba (Natalie Berizde) - Forget'fulnes
9. SNOWMINE - Pet Laminate
8. Bill Callahan - Apocalypse
7. Cynic - Carbon-Based Anatomy
6. John Foxx and Harold Budd - Nighthawks
5. Tycho - Drive
4. Marconi Union - Beautifully Falling Apart
3. Anathema - We're Here Because We're Here
2. Steve Kilbey and Martin Kennedy - White Magic
1. Devin Townsend Project - Ghost

[dreamdead]

Very excited to see the DTP place at the top of your list, Daniel. Of the four albums that DTP released in the past year or so, only the all-out metal album sucked and assumed technicality matters more than craftsmanship. Although Addicted is certainly hummable pop, I too thought that Ghost stands out as the clear highlight of those sessions. The repetition on Taxeda and Feather were totally soothing, and I played the hell out of the album this past year. Good stuff, and I too am excited about what direction of ambiance he goes with the second sessions of Ghost.

Derek's #1 will get a purchase from us soon, methinks. We liked a couple of the tracks, and have dug all of the #1s from the past few years.

Thanks for doing all the hard work of the list, guys!

[D_Davis]

Very excited to see the DTP place at the top of your list, Daniel. Of the four albums that DTP released in the past year or so, only the all-out metal album sucked and assumed technicality matters more than craftsmanship. Although Addicted is certainly hummable pop, I too thought that Ghost stands out as the clear highlight of those sessions. The repetition on Taxeda and Feather were totally soothing, and I played the hell out of the album this past year. Good stuff, and I too am excited about what direction of ambiance he goes with the second sessions of Ghost.


I'm glad you like Ghost. I'm actually a bit surprised that someone else on MC likes it. Of the other DTP albums, my favorite is Ki.

"Feather" is an amazing track.

[Russ]

I'm glad you like Ghost. I'm actually a bit surprised that someone else on MC likes it.
I loved the songs you posted and I plan to make that album my next purchase.

Actually, I listened to almost everything you and Derek posted and pretty much liked everything, to varying degrees.

A HUGE thanks to you both for the effort. I think I've already taken care of that pesky rep thing. :)

[D_Davis]

I loved the songs you posted and I plan to make that album my next purchase.


Very cool. I had a feeling you'd be one of the ones to dig it.

It's funny about these two lists. While during the year Derek and I like and talk about liking similar albums, when it comes to us picking our best we have wildly different choices. The only album to make it on both lists was Slave Ambient, and that only made Derek's HM list. We have a similar and common middle ground, but out absolutely favorites are wildly different. Makes for a fun compilation of 60 albums, though.

[D_Davis]

I'm really digging the Robag Wruhme album, Derek. Good stuff.

[D_Davis]

BTW, Derek, I'm loving this Robag Wruhme album more and more every day. It's really great.

[Qrazy]

Thanks for the lists guys. Also, new mash-up. I'm pretty proud of this one. The Kinks & Darkel. (http://soundcloud.com/djqrazy/my-own-well-respected-sun)

[dreamdead]

#5. Tycho - Drive


Really like the style featured here. I went to Itunes to find something new, and this is what I came away with. Thanks for introducing it to me.

[dreamdead]

And the A Winged Victory for the Sullen made its way into a purchase, too. Yay for ambient music to write to!

Always appreciative of this thread, Derek (and Daniel). Thanks for giving me samples to return to later in the year.