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Music: Basically-halfway 2011 best/favorite albums Thread

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  1.  (9911.1)
    We usually do one of these, so here is one of these. I've been getting the most play out of:


    Weeknd - House of Balloons

    Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears - Scandalous

    Bill Callahan - Apocalypse.

    tUnE-yArDs - w h o k i l l

    The Globes - Future Self

    Dengue Fever - Cannibal Courtship

    Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues

    what I missed?
    •  
      CommentAuthorjoe.distort
    • CommentTimeJun 2nd 2011 edited
     (9911.2)
    only three full lengths have impressed me

    ELDERS-blind rage (best fast punk of the year so far, love the recordings but the 'oooh we are assholes!' schtick from half this band makes it hard to like them live. sadly thats exactly what they want? i dont understand. whatever, the record RAGES)

    MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD-do not resuscitate (the long awaited return from east coast XKINGSXOFXMOSHX. hard as fuck. fashioncore bands with eyeliner/allover print shirts and booty shorts at the merch table: run for your fucking lives)

    PANIC AT THE DISCO-virtue and vice (pop fantastico. i think its funny that a bunch of indie rock snobs turn their nose up at this band even though they are doing great stuff in a similar vein as other hipster internet darlings)

    and the long-in-the-horizon weeding out of the weaklings and fakes in DIY hardcore and punk has forced a much-needed reduction in the glut of garbage 7"s coming out...the sad part is that im also kind of out of the loop so i think ive missed a few gems this year.
  3.  (9911.3)
    The Gateway District - Perfect's Gonna Fail - Jawbreaker meets the Soviettes. Wrote a much longer review here.
    Fucked Up - David Comes to Life - Might be a tad too long but it's amazingly strong. 80 minutes of soaring punk rock.
    Fucked Up - David's Town - The concept of a fake compilation really works. More here.
    The Reaganomics - Lower the Bar - Fast snotty pop-punk. More here.
    Underground Railroad to Candyland - Know Your Sins - Like the previous album completely indulges the poppier 60s pop and garage rock tendencies of Toys That Kill and works great.
    The Credentials - Goocher - Fast snotty punk rock.
    World/Inferno Friendship Society - The Anarchy and the Ecstasy - Good ol' stomping cabaret punk. Not as majestic as Addicted to Bad Ideas but a really solid collection of songs.
    Night Birds - Fresh Kills Vol. 1 - Maybe this shouldn't count as it's a 7" collection. Really 80s sounding punk rock with a clear surfy DK influence.
    The Dwarves - The Dwarves are Born Again - As the opener has it, The Dwarves Are Still the Best Band Ever. Perfectly combines the more genre bending experiments of The Dwarves Must Die with the great punk rock songwriting of The Dwarves Are Young and Good Looking.

    Best 7"s and EPs:
    Chixdiggit - Safeways, Here We Come - Amazingly catchy power-pop
    Vacation - Dream Dad - Low-fi sloppy punk rock
    Empire Builder - s/t - Low-fi scratchy punk rock
    Stymie/Unfun split - Two of the best bands in punk rock right now.
    The Tigermilks - Four punk rock Belle and Sebastian covers. It really works.

    Best show of the year so far: Iron Chic

    Pretty good but haven't listened to enough yet to really compute: Dude Jams, Face to Face, Something Fierce

    Still looking forward to: Turkish Techno (promises to be the Dear Landlord of this year), Stymie, Cobra Skulls, Bomb the Music Industry!, Future Virgins, Night Birds, Direct Hit! (though I think it's just rerecordings of older songs)

    Dumbest thing in music of the year: Tie between Ben Weasel's fisticuffs and Tegan and Sara's gloriously stupid article about OFWGKTA.
  4.  (9911.4)
    that FUCKED UP fake comp is a really great idea, but my buddy grabbed on on record store day, and i only liked 3 or 4 of the songs...

    there will be a new ANDREW JACKSON JIHAD this september as well, so at least i can look forward to that!
  5.  (9911.5)
    PANIC AT THE DISCO-virtue and vice

    Either Joe has turned into my daughter or my daughter has turned into Joe AND I DON'T KNOW WHICH IS SCARIER

    (She saw them live the other week, fell in the door at 1am and said "THAT WAS MINDFUCKINGLY GOOD.")

    (I love my daughter.)
  6.  (9911.6)
    I am finding time is going a bit loose and saggy at the edges lately. What DID happen this year?

    The new Parts & Labor has the near-supreme "Hurricane" on it, but not much else.

    Leyland Kirby's INTRIGUE AND STUFF Vol 1 has the amazing drag/drone version of "Annie's Song"... but that's heading out of hauntology and into general "retromania".

    Johann Johannson's THE MINERS' HYMNS was okay in some places.

    There must've been SOMETHING I loved...
    • CommentAuthorMathias B
    • CommentTimeJun 2nd 2011
     (9911.7)
    So far I've really liked:

    Earth - Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light I
    Anna Järvinen - Anna själv tredje
    James Blake - s/t
    PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
    Red Fang - Murder the Mountains
  8.  (9911.8)
    @joe.distort: Surely that means that's it's really accurate in its imitation of those sorts of compilation albums?
  9.  (9911.9)
    Either Joe has turned into my daughter or my daughter has turned into Joe AND I DON'T KNOW WHICH IS SCARIER


    thank you..my day needed some hilarity of that nature!
    •  
      CommentAuthorJehrot
    • CommentTimeJun 2nd 2011
     (9911.10)
    My boat is being overwhelmingly floated by:

    Battles - Gloss Drop
    Earth - Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light
    John McLaughlin - Extrapolation
    Efrim Manuel Menuck - Plays "High Gospel"
    Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee - Best of
    Washboard Chaz Blues Trio - Mix it up!
    Metric - Fantasies
  11.  (9911.11)
    PAST LIFE MARTYRED SAINTS, by EMA.
    •  
      CommentAuthorm.e.walsh
    • CommentTimeJun 2nd 2011
     (9911.12)
    The Dodos - No Color
    By far the best album so far!
  13.  (9911.13)
    Albums (in order of preference):
    tUnE-yArDs - w h o k i l l
    Julianna Barwick - The Magic Place
    Dom - Sun Bronzed Greek Gods (UK release this year)

    Singles (loosely grouped by genre):
    Purity Ring - Ungirthed / Lofticries
    Jessie Ware & Sampha - Valentine
    Jacques Greene - Another Girl
    Blawan - Getting Me Down
    Addison Groove - This Is It
    xxxy - You Always Start It / Ordinary Things
    FaltyDL - Hip Love
    Hyetal - Diamond Islands
    Sepalcure - Your Love
    Burial - NYC
    Rockwell - Aria
    ASC - Silkworm
    Peverelist - Dance Til The Police Come / Fundamentals / Sun Dance
    Shackleton - Deadman
    Tyler, the Creator - Yonkers
    Nicki Minaj - Super Bass
    Britney Spears, Nicki Minaj, Ke$ha - Till the World Ends (The Femme Fatale Remix)
    Toddla T & Shola Ama - Take It Back
    Chase & Status feat. Delilah - Time
    Yasmin - Finish Line (The MIKE DELINQUENT PROJECT Remix) / On My Own (Stenchman Remix)
    P Money & Blacks feat. Slickman - Boo You
    • CommentAuthoricelandbob
    • CommentTimeJun 2nd 2011 edited
     (9911.14)
    @warrenellis
    Johann Johannson's THE MINERS' HYMNS was okay in some places.

    Track 2 is brilliant. almost makes me forget that he can't really do music that has real bottom to it. please look at his stuff with apparat organ quartet.

    other stuff... and this will be in vids...





    •  
      CommentAuthordorkmuffin
    • CommentTimeJun 2nd 2011
     (9911.15)
    REM's new album? Surprisingly good.

    Decemberists album was solid, albeit not as awesome as a new Decemberists album should have been.

    Also, Boris released three really shitty albums and one sort of okay album with Merzbow.

    I dunno, folks, I'd love some suggestions. I've felt that indie rock/"alternative" has been pretty sadly lacking for the past few years. I'm dying for something interesting that isn't an 80s throwback.
    •  
      CommentAuthorinfomancer
    • CommentTimeJun 2nd 2011
     (9911.16)
    I was just gonna start one of these threads, so I'm glad to see it up here. So far this year, I've really liked:

    Social Distortion - Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes
    Motorhead - The World is Yours
    REM - Collapse Into Now
    Twilight Singers - Dynamite Steps
    Dropkick Murphys - Going Out In Style
    O'Death - Outside
    Amon Amarth - Surtur Rising
    Tim Barry - 28th and Stonewall

    Looking forward to the new Frank Turner next week. That'll almost certainly be on my year-end list.
  17.  (9911.17)
    Foo Fighters - Wasting Light

    I'd never listened to them before, but this album just rocks the hell out better and with more variety than any modern-styled rock I've heard in a long time. The production is especially good, very full and punchy and ringing.

    Amon Amarth - Surtur Rising

    Seconded, infomancer! They deliver more of their trademark norse tales, staying true to their well-loved style while still innovating in bits and pieces. Songwriting is as strong as ever. I was lucky enough to see them live on their current tour, in which they play the whole thing, front to back, then play a whole 'nother set afterwards. This is metal to storm a citadel to.

    Havok - Time is Up

    These guys play mid-80's thrash metal better than most actual first- and second-generation thrash bands. Yes, it is absolutely throwback music, but it's the best throwback you'll find around, and for those of us too young to enjoy the emergence of thrash in person, it's fun to have young bands who are playing the same stuff.
  18.  (9911.18)
    Some more favourites...




    • CommentAuthorepalicki
    • CommentTimeJun 3rd 2011
     (9911.19)
    This year, I've liked

    Cage the Elephant - Thank You, Happy Birthday

    Social Distortion - Hard Times & Nursery Rhymes

    Rise Against - Endgame

    Foo Fighters - Wasting Light

    Although, in each of those instances, I liked the last offering from the band better.

    I'm sure of two things: 1) Elvis Costello will release an album this year, and 2) in spite of the fact that he's put out thirty-some other albums, something about the next one will surprise me enough to land it on my best of the year list.
    •  
      CommentAuthorBeamish
    • CommentTimeJun 3rd 2011
     (9911.20)
    Holy crap, where have I been, I really haven't been paying too much attention. I have enjoyed.
    Cake - Showroom of Compassion
    Talib Kweli - Gutter Rainbows
    Trust Company - Dreaming in Black and White

    I need more.

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