Top 33 Albums Of 2011: 33 - 31

I don't have a lot to say about the past twelve months' worth of music as a whole. It was overwhelming in capacity, underwhelming in quality. Still, there was a substantial amount of music I did (and continue to) thoroughly enjoy. What follows for the next several days is a large slab of that music.

It will appear as though I'm omitting a lot of good stuff, and I am, but only because I never got around to listening to it all. There was that Social Distortion album released in January, Cold War Kids, Get Up Kids (!!), another self-released Radiohead album (forgive me, Thom Yorke), Lykke Li (who I've grown quite fond of, but not fond enough apparently), Foo Fighters, Death Cab For Cutie, Britney Spears, etc. Goodness, it seems like I didn't listen to anything this year.

Anyway, here are my top thirty-three albums of 2011 fed to you in bite-sized chunks. Why thirty-three? No reason, honestly. I could say it was chosen as an homage to the 33⅓ rpm full-length record, but then I would be lying to your face.

33: The Sun Will Rise and Lead Me Home by Gates

I recently decided that 2001 was my favorite musical year. This was a decision based mostly on nostalgia, but the soundtrack to my life that year was exquisite. The Sun Will Rise, in all of its six-song'd glory, reminds me of those tracks. Maybe we would have called this "emo" back then (only after a six-hour argument over what does and does not constitute emoness). And maybe this is proof that rock music, in the stagnant state it is in, has not come so far in ten years. But Gates connects, and they hit all the right notes, and sometimes that's all I really ask for. The Sun Will Rise is for fans of Appleseed Cast, which should be everybody.

OH BY THE WAY, you can freely stream/download a digital copy of The Sun Will Rise over at their bandcamp site.
http://gates.bandcamp.com/album/the-sun-will-rise-and-lead-me-home


32: Fluorescence by Asobi Seksu

Speaking of sub-genres popular a semi-long while ago... shoegaze! There is something comforting about all of that chaotic fuzz and distortion, especially if the barely audible wispy vocals are sung by a female. And Asobi Seksu, once again, churns out the smaze. Fluorescence is reminiscent of late-80s/early-90s dreampop, and some songs are triumphant while others are seductive. Some are just genre-huggingly dreampoppy. But there is just enough pop and just enough rock (and maybe just a touch of weirdness) in each tune to keep things interesting.




31: Deerhoof Vs. Evil by Deerhoof

Hey, guys, Deerhoof is back! And they're glitchier than ever! D vs. E is the band's first full-length release since 2008 and, like everything they've recorded, the album is full of short, punchy, calculatedly insane music. Deerhoof is an acquired taste, and if you're checking them out for the first time this album may not be the way to go. But for longtime fans and/or those with an open mind, D vs. E is a whimsical adventure that will bend the way you approach music.

OH BY THE WAY, Polyvinyl Records is letting you download the entire album as a .zip file.
So get on that.

Christmas Music Is Just Awful

But here are a handful of Christmas songs I find less awful than others. Some may even be quite good.

Yes, a couple of these are really very depressing. That is just my own musical preference and not a reflection of my attitude towards the holiday season in general.

Enjoy while I continue putting together my list of best 2011 albums.

Low - "Just Like Christmas"
The Evaluation - "Full Beards, Angel Wings, Car Doors and Department Stores"
Starflyer 59 - "A Holiday Song (Happy Holidays)"
Grandaddy - "Alan Parsons In A Winter Wonderland"
Sufjan Stevens - "Sister Winter"
The Civil Wars - "O Come O Come Emmanuel"
Over the Rhine - "All I Ever Get For Christmas is Blue"
Rosie Thomas - "Christmas Don't Be Late"
Saint Etienne - "No Cure For the Common Christmas"
Blitzen Trapper - "Christmas is Coming Soon"

Other People's Forthcoming Music

Damien Jurado has a new song out, and it is surprisingly groovacious.
"Nothing is the News" by Damien Jurado

(Click that down-arrow on the far right to download the song.)

The new album, Maraqopa, will be released in February.
It's Jurado, so it's going to be automatically awesome. Since it's Jurado and Richard Swift, it's going to be doubly awesome. And if all the tracks are as good as this one, it's going to be my 2012 album of the year.

More info:
http://secretlycanadian.com/blog/2011/11/new-damien-jurado-album-maraqopa-february-21st-download-nothing-is-the-news-mp3/


Speaking of new albums I'm tremendously looking forward to, Chris Staples is working on a new full-length project. But he needs YOUR help. Check out his Kickstarter page and see what goodies you can pick up by funding his new album.

And download Faces, his mellow five-track EP released on Bandcamp back in June.
http://chrisstaples.bandcamp.com/album/faces

Punk Never Dies, It Just Gets Compilated

IndieVision.com released a fatty punk sampler way back at the beginning of the month called Punk Never Dies, but it has taken me this long to sift through the songs to determine if this compilation is in fact worth your bandwidth. It is, at least for my own ears.

As subjective as punk rock (RAWK) is, tolerances will vary. But there are so many songs (75!) everybody should be able to pick out something they like. There is a lot of new stuff, some stuff from ten years ago, and a couple songs from Lord knows when.

This is a Christian-themed comp, and unfortunately Christian-themed comps of any genre tend to feature low-grade watered-down music. There are a couple songs here I can't bring myself to listen to more than once (and have since deleted), but for the most part the tunes are of good-to-great quality and, generally speaking, good-to-great songs.

The old old-schoolers will appreciate the tracks by Ballydowse, Headnoise, The Altar Billies (featuring that guy from the Altar Boys), and a forgotten but awesome band called Empty Tomb (featuring members from Crux).

The old new-schoolers will appreciate the tracks by MxPx, Dogwood, Craig's Brother, Value Pac (!!), and Watashi Wa.

And the tots will appreciate all those new bands I've never heard of.

Other highlights include Hanover Saints, Man Alive (your favorite Israeli punk band), and a Twotimer demo. PLUS somebody covered "Bombs Over Broadway" just for fun. PLUS somebody covered a Saviour Machine track, possibly also for fun.

You will find a lot of good screamy stuff and some skate and some post and some pop and some things that are not punk in the slightest... and so on. Like I said, something for everybody.

So if you've got a speedy connection and four hours of your life to kill, download Punk Never Dies. You will, at the very least, discover a sweet new band you've never heard of. I'm currently taking mental notes on A Hope For Tomorrow (despite their terrifically generic name) and From The Eyes Of Servants (who are screaming the book of Psalms at me).

http://www.indievisionmusic.com/2011/10/31/punk-never-dies-vol-1/

That's Just Great

Most common Google search that leads to this particular blog:

"old milwaukee pin up girls"

And I'm sure mentioning this will just perpetuate things.




What Made Milwaukee Famous

"Sweet Lady"

Scant Thoughts On MWY's Weird Nirvana Cover

Mewithoutyou recently covered "In Bloom" for a Nirvana tribute album.

You can stream that dandy at MWY's website:
http://mewithoutyou.com/?p=213

A lot of tribute albums are ultimately unsatisfying. Bands either try to sound too much like the original artist (and fail because they are not) or they try to do their own thing and butcher everything to crap. And also Nirvana, for whatever reason, is a very finicky band to cover.

Mewithoutyou's take on "In Bloom" is... different. It's like listening to a MWY song but with Cobain lyrics. I didn't like the tune at first but warmed up to it before the song ended. I'm still not crazy about Aaron's post-Brother, Sister ball-less vocal style, but whatever. He can do what he wants.

The band reduces the lyrics to their poetic essence by removing all that distracting guitar-riffic fuzz. Filtering "In Bloom" through a MWY-shaped prism may not yield rainbows, but the results are still interesting.

I will probably never listen to the rest of this particular tribute album (titled Come As You Are, if you're interested), but I'm happy at least one of the songs is listenable.

That's Super

I woke up today with a sharp headache. I never wake up with sharp headaches. I've woken up with plenty of dull ones, but never one that felt like a tiny black hole was tearing apart the very center of my brain. It turned out rain was a-comin', and as my body adjusted to the relatively rapid drop in air pressure the headache eased.

So that's great. My skull is a painful barometer.


Do you know what's super? Bands that have the word "super" in their name. That's super. Here are the super bands I came up with.

Supertramp
Did you know Supertramp was formed when a Dutch millionaire told Rich Davies to start a band and do whatever he wanted with it? And it would all be funded? So Davies gathered some instrumentalists, formed the band, and produced a crappy prog album. Mr. Dutch Millionaire pulled his funding. Band members left. Nobody liked Supertramp. So Davies re-gathered some other musicians and wrote bouncier poppier music. Eventually Supertramp became world famous. This just goes to show that prog music is an awful thing.


Superchunk
Superchunk has been around for over twenty years, which is kind of awesome. What's more awesome is the fact that their music continues to be quite excellent. Also, every music video needs David Cross in it.


Superdrag
You won't recognize this band until you see the video for "Sucked Out," and then it will all instantly come back to you in a heaping tide of 90s radio rock. Singer John Davis, who is not the lead singer of Korn, decided he would rather be a Christian than an alcoholic and turned to Jesus-inspired rock and roll. I've seen him live before. He's good. Apparently Superdrag reunited in 2007 and released an album in 2009. But I have no idea what they're up to right now.


Supergrass
I have a Supergrass CD. I never listen to it. I really should.


Supertones
First the O.C. Supertones were cool, at least with the youth group kiddies. Then, as people realized ska was lame, they became not cool. They even dropped the Orange County from their name. But now, as the twenty-to-thirty-somethings reconnect with their 90s childhood, the Supertones are becoming cool again, but in an ironic kind of way. I still have at least three Supertones CDs. No, I will never sell them.


Superchick
You may have heard a Superchick song and not even realized it as they have a way of sneaking themselves onto TV and movie soundtracks. I may verbally deny ever rocking out to Superchick, but the gigantic Superchick sticker on my old stereo says otherwise. How embarrassing.


Superfamily
I've only discovered this Norwegian band within the past couple years. I like 'em.



EDIT:
I totally forgot about Super Furry Animals. This is probably because I don't listen to Super Furry Animals.