Best Albums of 2011
These are my picks for 2011. I loved this year in music. My “flow” of listening became smoother — Rdio is still my preferred discovery platform and buying vinyl still satisfies the collector and the desire to support. Spotify is there to fill in the gaps, but I can’t stand the user interface. It’s a wonderful time to have first world problems like deciding which albums should make up my top 10.
I found that Ienjoyed the podcast All Songs Considered more often this year than I enjoyed Sound Opinions, another great rock and roll show. I likde the easy going, free-form playlist format of All Songs more often than the “serious” format of Sound Opinions. But that was this year. Oh, and my preferred listening platform? The iPhone app Stitcher.
And finally on a personal note I *enjoyed* making music more in 2011 than I have in any year since maybe 2007. 2011 of course saw the beginning of Hotels & Highways, a band I am so proud to be a part of, and that exists thanks to the support of fans we have made over th years in our solo careers. H&H has opened up a whole new circle of friends and professional connections that I feel so blessed to have found.
So we’ll start here. Unlike years past I’m not making a playlist with one song from each record. Instead I’m going to save my playlistin’ for a more broad 2011 mix that I’ll post in the coming week that will include songs from all of these albums plus more choices from the year. Just kidding, I couldn’t help myself, here’s an iTunes playlist with a song from each album and an 8tracks mix you can listen to in full with a song from each album.
I’ve linked to youtube videos for a single from the album in question if there is an “official” video as well as a Rdio stream, amazon CD and iTunes mp3 links. If you’re like me and you want to enjoy these albums on vinyl, this year I’ve added links to vinyl. I sent you to Amoeba Records when they had it in stock— they are my preferred desitination for buying LPs online as they provide free shipping and they almost always have the best prices I am able to find. Of course, if you’ve got a great local record store that carries reasonably-priced vinyl, by all means.
Breaking the mold, this year we are travelling down the list rather than up it.
1. Bon Iver - “Bon Iver”
YouTube - “Holocene” | Rdio full album stream | iTunes | Amazon | Vinyl
Undeniably my favorite of the year. I can’t say much about this that hasn’t been said already except that as much as it took a stroke of genius to pick the right players to transform the solitary arch-lonely and quintessential heartbroke sounds of his debut into a full band, it took genius decisions by those individual musicians to coalesce into something that feels very much like a group effort. The video for “Holocene” just intensifies the mysterious, lovely vibe these guys create.
2. Middle Brother - “Middle Brother”
Rdio full album stream | iTunes | Amazon | Vinyl
Dawes, Delta Spirt and Deer Tick’s frontmen come together for a completely great jangly folksy drunken heartbreaker of a record that I never got sick of and never stopped listening to.
3. The Decemberists - “The King Is Dead”
Rdio full album stream | iTunes | Amazon | Vinyl
It is never a bad idea for a band to go into the woods, stop taking things so seriously and just make a record of foot-stomping, hand-clapping intellectual organic rock and roll.
4. Fleet Foxes - “Helplessness Blues”
YouTube - “Helplessness Blues” | Rdio full album stream | iTunes | Amazon | Vinyl
What was once an obtuse, ethereal band of harmony machines saying…something has transformed into a group that’s really saying something in obtuse, ethereal ways. This is an album about growing up, about dreams and the generation that handed those dream to us.
5. Iron & Wine - “Kiss Each Other Clean”
Rdio full album stream | iTunes | Amazon | Vinyl
The mysterious beared sage that emerged from the Florida swamp all those years ago to score our rainy days is gone, long live the mysterious bearded sage to score our summer days. Sam Beam continues to take chances on this album while his earliest supporters scratch their beards and sing along.
6. Paul Simon - “So Beautiful or So What”
YouTube - “Album Teaser/Interview” | Rdio full album stream | iTunes | Amazon | Vinyl
Elvis Costello so eloquently writes in the liner notes to this, one of the best Paul Simon albums in years, that Simon isn’t just a transscendental songwriter, he’s also an unbeliveable guitar player who is unafraid to tackles life’s larger themes. Simon stopped trying to prove anything ages ago, and now we benefit from the wisdom of his age and his mastery of his craft while he takes a stab at defending the honor of the album as an artform.
7. k.d lang & The Siss Boom Bang - “Sing It Loud”
YouTube - “I Confess” | Rdio full album stream | iTunes | Amazon
Joe Pisapia produced this record. He’s a man I am so proud to know and call a friend. He’s the kind of guy that can smell like patchouli and wear a Varvatos suit. Which is exactly what this record sounds like to me. “I Confess” is probably my favorite song of the year.
8. Mates of State - “Mountaintops”
Rdio full album stream | iTunes | Amazon | Vinyl
I haven’t spent enough time with this group of songs, I just know that every time they come up on shuffle I am reminded that the Mates are one of my favorite bands and each record gets more focused and beautiful.
9. Feist - “Metals”
Rdio full album stream | iTunes | Amazon | Vinyl
There’s a certain kind of day that’s right for this album, which is basically a trip to the dark side of Feist’s psyche. I would say rainy, but maybe one of those grey midwestern winter days — no snow on the ground, no reason to go outside. This one was produced in that same funky French-castle kind of vibe that “The Reminder” had, so the two feel very much of a piece.
10. Youth Lagoon - “The Year of Hibernation”
YouTube - “Montana” | Rdio full album stream | iTunes | Amazon | Vinyl
A discovery from All Songs Considered, I know nothing about this band, I just like the record a lot. Dari and I turned it up when this came on the show and immediately went out and grabbed this album that lives somewhere in the same world with M83, Postal Service, Air and Sigur Ros.
11.Hotels & Highways - “Lost River” // ATW - “Night Song (Remix)”
hotelsandhighways.com // ATW on bandcamp
In 2010 I got to go into the woods with two of my best friends and make a record. That record came out in 2011 and we toured the country after our fans made it possible. It is an album that has simply changed my life and I am so proud to call it my musical home.
Later in the year my childhood friend Aaron Taylor-Waldman agreed to remix “Night Song” — bringing everything full circle.
