These are my five favorite albums of 2011. These are the songs that moved me and shook me more severely than anything else did all year.
Numbers 5 and 2 originated in Toronto, so maybe I've developed a Canadian bias.
Numbers 4, 2, and 1 are screamers, so maybe I've retained my heavy music bias.
Numbers 4, 3, 2, and 1 all rely on Christian imagery and metaphors, so maybe I should have prayed about this list longer.
At last... So long, 2011! You were kind of a weird one.
5: Feel It Break by Austra
I'm a sucker for synthpop. I can't really explain it. Perhaps I had a particularly impressionable experience with The Human League as a small child. I don't know. But when somebody gets it right, when they music is served without frills, when it SOUNDS like how the original Tron movie LOOKED, I'm all about it. And Austra absolutely gets it right.
The songs of Feel It Break are bleak but not depressingly so. Dark-ish without being, you know, dark dark. The bouncy synthesizers prevents any of these songs from becoming dirges. We've got song titles like "The Choke" and "Hate Crime" and "The Villain," but I can bop my head to each of them. And I do.
"Beat And The Pulse"
4: Aesthetica by Liturgy
Listening to Aesthetica is like watching a thousand tortured souls play with the spirograph set each one got for Christmas. It's hypnotizing, wholly consuming, slightly terrifying, and so, so good. And maybe there are mathematical principles involved, but who knows/cares? Even though Liturgy pours out the metal (the blackest kind of metal), Aesthetica is surprisingly accessible. Obviously this isn't for everybody, but despite the brutal exploration of auditory concepts and the nightmarish imagery each song conjures up, this album is quite listenable and, more than that, very enjoyable. The kids will love it.
3: Strange Negotiations by David Bazan
Bazan does it again! Which is what everybody says every time David Bazan does it again. But, dang it, Bazan does it again! More semi-autobiographical stories of clumsy sin. More soul-searching lyrics. More painted pictures of conflicted humanity. More truth the way Bazan sees truth, which may not be truth at all, but he's doing the best he can, okay?
He's back with a full band, collaborating with Pedro The Lion pal T.W. Walsh among others. Strange Negotiations is in fact very Pedro-esque in sound, but less so lyrically as his spiritual beliefs have altered over time. The songs are still sung with God as a context, but the context of God Himself has changed. And Bazan's lyrical straightforwardness, still searing as ever, is deceptive because it carries so much baggage. There's the spiritual weight (the kind that gets heavier the more you know what you don't know), and there's the weight inherent in this business of being human. And this is why I love the man. He provokes and challenges, and he won't judge you for whatever conclusions you draw from his music. He'll just release another album to mess with your personal philosophy.
"People"
"Strange Negotiations"
2: David Comes To Life by Fucked Up
For a myriad of reasons, none of which were very good, I avoided making any serious effort with these guys. So as I listened to David (more as a courtesy than anything else) I had one of those rare musical revelatory experiences, the kind that shifts your perception of music six inches to the left. It happens all the time when people finally decide to see what's so great about Johann Bach. I never expected it to happen with stupid old Fucked Up. And I guess that's the point of a revelation. You don't see these things coming.
David is anthemic, and it's melodic, and it's aggressive, and it's a booty-shaker. And somehow it is ambitious and epic without coming off as pretentious. Individually each of the 18 songs are fantastic, but all together they tell a serious 4-part story with characters and plot twists and warped narrative arcs. It's all very fun in a Vonnegut kind of way, and if that's your thing then you'll have a dumb smile on your face while rocking out.
"Queen of Hearts" .mp3 (via official website)
"A Little Death" .mp3 (via official website)
1: Kingdoms by Life In Your Way
There are about 100 amazing things about this band and album, few of which I'm capable of succinctly explaining. Kingdoms is divided into three parts, each with their own theme, but each a specific part of a bigger picture (that picture being the love God has for his sinful creation, which is a pretty dang big picture). The lyrics are honest and human, gritty real, and presented with brotherly love. This stuff changes lives. For your consideration, a snippet from the declarative track "Induction":
"The Kingdom of God is for the burnouts, the broken, and the broke, the drug addicts, the divorced, the HIV-positive, the herpes-ridden, the hopeless, for the outcasts that have been created by the church, and for the outcasts of our society that have been created by us."
I can think of a handful of high-profile purveyors of the Faith who would sooner shoot themselves in the face than honestly recite those words. Anyway, the music itself is passionate melodic post-hardcore gloriousness. It SOUNDS good, which is important because if it didn't then all that other stuff wouldn't matter.
For all of the time and effort the band put into this high-quality product, it is completely baffling that Kingdoms is legally free to download in its entirety. Do so at:
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