2011 has also been a heavy year for my record collection. If you follow my tumblr, you’ve seen a lot of new records come in and get a spin. For reasons of state, I can’t say precisely how many I acquired this year but I’m happy with the results. Lots of new and classic music at my fingertips. In fact, I own nine of this year’s top ten albums on vinyl and the tenth is simply not available on lp (yet!?)

Let’s jump in with a quick and dirty chunk of the list (#22-#11) then we’ll spend a little more time on the top ten. Why 22? Why not? If you don’t like it, you can start your own damned blog (which you probably have done in the time it’s taken me to update mine this year.)

22. Jovontaes – Things Are Different Here (Hello Sunshine)
Psychedelic, guitar-driven, kraut-flavored, space rock

21. Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues (Sub Pop)
A strong follow-up record that distills the best of folk rock seasoned with stunning vocals.

20. Danger Mouse & Daniel Luppi – Rome (Parlophone/EMI)
Danger Mouse goes to Italy and captures Ennio Morriconi in a bottle.

19. Eternal Tapestry & Sun Araw – Night Gallery (Thrill Jockey)
Live, improvised, psychedelic dreaminess.

18. Woodsman – Rare Forms (101 Distribution)
Trippy “songs” in short, inspired bursts. See also: their Mystic Places EP from this Nov.

17. Bright Eyes – The People’s Key (Saddle Creek)
Great collection of songs that over burdened with bizarre narration…

16. White Denim – D (Downtown Records)
This is the kind of record that guitar-driven jam bands wish they could make.

15. Tinariwen – Tassili (Anti)
North African guitar trances… Another awesome record from these guys.

14. Bon Iver – Bon Iver (Jagjaguwar)
An expanded band and enriched sound. Beautiful, honest, and dreamy.

13. Radiohead – King Of Limbs (Ticker Tape Ltd.)
Not the best Radiohead effort yet still a great album.

12. Moon Duo – Mazes (Sacred Bones)
A side project from Ripley Johnson (Wooden Shjips) geared to blow minds.

11. Real Estate – Days (Domino)
Dreamy pop songs with a wistful nostalgic sadness.

10. The War On Drugs – Slave Ambient (Secretly Canadian)

These guys fall into a fairly slim niche that blends Americana and shoegaze. Somewhere between Dylan or The Byrds and Spiritualized is where these guys can be found on Slave Ambient. Creative lyrics, hooks, and electrified ambient passages blend smoothly for a mesmerizing and compelling listen.

Click here to view the embedded video.

09. White Fence – Is Growing Faith (Woodsist)

A side-project of Tim Presley (Darker My Love) that oozes with sixties, psychedelic, garage pop ala The Kinks and Barrett’s Pink Floyd. These is a lot to love here.

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08. Ducktails – III: Arcade Dynamics (Woodsist)

Real Estate guitarist, Matthew Mondanile, is a one-man psych-pop machine. Catchy melodic hooks bubble away underneath one of the more nonchalant vocal performances I’ve heard in a while. I have spent a lot of quality time with this record in 2011…

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07. The Roots – Undun (Def Jam)

This late entry (released Dec. 6, after I started compiling this list) shot immediately to my attention and hasn’t let go. Just because The Roots are in a narrow category of live bands playing hip hop doesn’t lessen the fact that they are the best at what they do. Undun is a concept record following, in reverse, the rise and undoing of a young man whose life ends too soon on the street.

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06. The Decemberists – The King Is Dead (Capitol)

I’ll admit it, I am a sucker for this band. What’s not to like? Great musicianship + great songwriting = great band. With this album, the prog leanings are swept aside and the British folk & sailor’s ballads are swept aside in favor of a more American tasting folk music. Not just because of the Peter Buck guest appearance, this record may well be the missing key to revealing R.E.M.’s oft unnoticed Americana/folk music tendencies. There’s an infectious nature to these songs about gardening, summer days, war, and cataclysm that is undeniable.

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05. Kurt Vile – Smoke Ring For My Halo (Matador)

This one blew me away. Bitterly wry, honest, songwriting with guitars washing over the listener. It makes perfect sense that Vile was co-founder of The War On Drugs but he’s writing from a darker space. A space worth visiting from time to time.

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04. Woods – Sun And Shade (Woodsist)

For five years now, Woods has put out an album a year. Sadly, I just caught on to these guys this year and man, I’m glad I did. Sun And Shade builds on the psychedelic folk tunes of the earlier records, mixes in a little kraut-rock, and stretches out a bit for good measure. This, while preserving their knack for memorable hooks makes for a terrific album that has pulled me back time and again.

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03. Megafaun – Megafaun (Hometapes)

The day this was made available for pre-order, I was giddy and ordered it immediately. Am I a silly fan-boy? Maybe. But it’s worth it. These three guys have crafted a beautiful album of amazing songs that hang together beautifully. Listen to the Beatles-esque, joyous beauty that is “Second Friend” (what harmonies!) and compare to the delicate sorrow of “Kill The Horns”. On previous records, Megafaun might break into passages of off-kilter freak-out but now, that sort of thing is fully integrated into their sound and ready when they need it. A wild, creative, spirit permeates the songs. The mixes are a bit more complex while the playing is as artful as ever. And the songs, themselves… gorgeous and memorable.

Click here to view the embedded video.

02. Wilco – The Whole Love (dBpm)

I think some people wrote Wilco off after their last album. It, for some didn’t hold up to the standards of some fans who might be waiting for another Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. This might be the record to win them back but, honestly, I don’t think Wilco cares. The Whole Love captures a band in its prime. While the songs are all Jeff Tweedy’s in name the entire band is bringing its vast and many strengths to the table and here have produced one of the strongest efforts to bear the Wilco name. The opening cut, alone, is better than most of the rest of this list. Seriously. If you can listen to “The Art of Almost” and remain unaffected, then you might have serious hearing loss or perhaps lack a pulse. Check this clip and see if your heart races:

Click here to view the embedded video.

I know, right? That’s fewer than ninety seconds of a seven-plus minute monster. The record continues with ten terrific songs (see below for “Born Alone”) before slipping into the sublime epic “One Sunday Morning (Song For Jane Smiley’s Boyfriend)”. Often compared to Dylan’s “Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands” this song floats along for twelve minutes without seeming to pass any time at all.

Click here to view the embedded video.

01. Akron/Family – ST II: The Cosmic Birth And Journey of Shinju TNT (Dead Oceans)

Wow. After touring behind their last album and then hiding out to write, Akron/Family came back huge with this record. Elements of noise combine with chants and soaring melodies. Graceful lyrics break into anthemic choruses. Pounding drumbeats support screaming guitar riffs. Gentle visionscapes are crafted with acoustic guitars and silence. This band, has really begun to find more than itself. They have begun to define a sound that is their own and connect deeply with their audience. They deliver meditation music (“Island” and the fourth side of the LP edition which features drones appropriate for play at either 33 or 45 rpm) and philosophical musings (“So It Goes”), and they deliver one of the best songs of the year with the celebratory nostalgia of “Light Emerges”.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Hopefully you found something of value in this maddeningly lengthy post. There is so much great music that came out in 2011 that I probably missed one or more (all?) of your favorites. Hell, I could easily have made this list twice as long but none of us has that sort of time.

Here’s to another fine year passed and another in the wings.

-rj

*These are my favorite albums of 2011. I neither carry nor desire the authority to crown something “the best”.

The Decemberists – The King Is Dead

With a splash of harmonica, The Decemberists open their latest effort, The King is Dead, and leave behind the prog tinged epics of recent years. I was worried about this group. After their explorations of heavy prog and album-spanning epic tales it seemed possible that they had painted themselves into a corner. Where does a group go from there? Do they dare to write an even better concept album? Expectations can be the ruination of a band.

Not to be daunted, The Decemberists took their time and, this time out, they’ve delivered American folk-rock at its finest.  The King Is Dead is a collection of four-minute songs that tell of our lives and the world around with jangling guitars, infectious beats and, yes, Colin Meloy’s penchant for English-Major vocabulary words.  While there is no single story or evident concept holding these songs together, they cohere beautifully in what make for a delightful listen.  Songs of love, songs of war, and even songs about gardening (sounds lame when I say it that way but it’s cool), weave together with steel guitar, harmony vocals, and just enough rock and roll to make me want to leap from my seat.

If you’ve ever liked The Decemberists, seek out this record.

http://decemberists.com/

Akron/Family – ST II: The Cosmic Birth And Journey of Shinju TNT

When I saw these guys last year, it was clear that they were well past the “freak-folk” genre that I and others had saddled them with back in the Love Is Simple days. Extended explorations of noise ripped through the room and demolished preconceptions.  Yes, they can do quiet meditations (and still do) but this band had a direction that it felt compelled to follow. After that tour, the group set to recording what would become Shinju TNT and struck a balance between noise and melody. Like a wrangler breaking a wild mustang, they have tempered the wild abandon, corralled it, and given it purpose and direction.

Each of these songs detail movement and/or destination with lyrics evoking the both metaphysical and the concrete taking the listener along on an amazing journey that spans four sides of vinyl.  And so, we find ourselves moving from the dreamscapes of “Island” to the raw, rock riffs of “So It Goes” (a nod to Vonnegut) to the rapid fire, noisy, guitar licks of “Another Sky” to the soaring beauty of “Canopy”.  The heavily layered progression of “Light Emerges” reminds me a bit of Animal Collective in a sort of intangible way but it’s followed by the pastoral harmonies of “Cast A Net” that could only be Akron/Family.  It’s this many-headed-beast nature that defines Akron/Family as a leading voice in modern, psychedelic, music and this voice that makes Shinju TNT one of my favorite albums in some time.

http://akronfamily.com/

Radiohead – The King Of Limbs

“Bloom” opens the album with a synth space and off-kilter drum beat that take me right back (in my twisted mind) to where In Rainbows left off. The track builds, layering elements until Thom Yorke’s languid vocal oozes from the speakers. With that, Radiohead is back.

Out of nowhere, we got word that Radiohead would be releasing a new album. Pre-order now, get digital on the weekend and vinyl in a month or two… Sounds good to me. How could I not bite on that offer? I jumped a day later and a couple days after that we all had our digital copies and last.fm seemed to think there was only one band in the digital world for a day or two. It was nearly true. As with any Radiohead release, The King Of Limbs will probably take months to fully digest and longer to grok if such a thing is even possible but I felt compelled to include it here because I can’t stop going back to it.

Don’t mistake my opening sentence; this is no continuation of In Rainbows. It inhabits a darker, almost creepy space. When you hear the hand claps in “Lotus Flower” it’s striking to hear such an terrestrial noise within this realm. This space that they create feels familiar, though. It is undeniably Radiohead music and some will mark that down as a negative, saying that they’re not moving forward, but I find myself compelled to listen as they explore their own sound- pushing out new corners in that vast world of theirs.

http://kingoflimbs.com/

Additional Listening:

Ducktails – Arcade Dynamics : Lo-fi, experimental, pop & psych from Real Estate guitarist Matthew Mondanile. Check this song, “Hamilton Road”

Moon Duo – Escape : A side project of Wooden Shjips, this gets darker and deeper into the psyche grooves. I like that.

Delicate Steve – Wondervisions : A wide ranging instrumental debut that laces psych onto pop, African rhythms, fuzzy guitars and more.
Delicate Steve – Butterfly by popgunbooking

It’s that time of year again and I’m finally ready with my favorite records of 2010. These have been selected by an utterly subjective process of constant listening to almost exclusively 2010 releases for the past couple weeks. This has allowed me to rediscover a couple records that perhaps came out early and have since fallen off my radar (none of those made the cut) and also to catch up with some that I missed altogether and, of course, the more recent releases. Here you’ll find all kinds of music (Country AND Western!) but really only a sampling of the stuff that I really like to listen to and hope to listen to for years to come.

Here we go:

10 – Tame Impala – InnerSpeaker
Hows about of Australian psych-pop to kick things off. Seriously., a record like this is a good place to start anything. This record (and band) really captured my imagination in 2010 and it all started with the terrific single, “Solitude Is Bliss”. There are weirder bands out there (Stardeath And White Dwarfs, anyone?) but these guys perfectly blend rough edged psyche with the polish of brit-pop.

9 – Aloe Blacc – Good Things
Proper soul music that nails it in every category: vocals, lyrics, performance, and arrangements. Elements of Heron and Mayfield are recognizable in this rapper-turned soul singer latest record. Oh, and how about that riveting take on VU’s “Femme Fatale”? A good friend hipped me to this and I’ve enjoyed it from the first note.

8 – Admiral Radley – I Heart California
Jason Lytle (who topped this list last year) teamed up with two members from Earlimart and made their first appearances at this year’s SXSW under the guise, Admiral Radley. The record soon followed and complements Lytle’s catalogue with his humour and slacker psych rock. The songs are great, and the hooks are strong, making this a fun listen.

7 – Junip – Fields
This record came out-of-the-blue for me. a few friends were raving about it and I figured it would be just another indie record that I’d play once and move on but I quickly fell for its charms. Krautrock trances, indie-pop melodies and dizzying production that includes vocals nestled tightly in the mix make this my favorite driving record of the year- as long as the sun is up or I’ve had my coffee. Sleepy isn’t the word but it can induce a meditative state if you are susceptible to such a thing. Myself? I might be; but I dig it, too.

6 – Broken Bells – Broken Bells
Danger Mouse has led a semi-charmed life on this site of late. This project, a collaboration with The Shins’ James Mercer, continues the win streak with a collection of entrancing songs. The hooks are stellar and the whole record pays off with repeat listens. This is another one which did take a few listens to fall for the entire record (although the opening cut, “The High Road” is one of the more infectious pieces of the year) but it begged additional listens and the reward is rich.

Click through to see the top five and more!

5 – LCD Sound System – This Is Happening

I totally missed this release at first. Maybe it was the initial turn-off by the single, “Drunk Girls”. But, even after I came around to that track, I didn’t allow myself to delve too deeply into the rest of the record. This Fall, however, it clicked over for me as I rode home on the evening train. James Murphy and Co. may not be breaking much new ground here but they are strongly defending the territory carved out on their earlier releases. Honest lyrics and driving grooves conspire to move your feet and tickle your intellect. For those keeping score, I’d put this at number two tied with the s/t album and behind Sounds Of Silver.

4 – Gayngs – Relayted

The rock-writer buzzword for a band like this is “collective”. Although masterminded, produced and fronted by the Minneapolis-based Ryan Olsen, this group and features more than a dozen artists based or in some way connected to the Upper Midwest. Notably, Justin Vernon of Bon Iver is appears on vocals and his former band mates and now Raleigh, NC band, Megafaun show up prominently on the album as well. The music is a seamless collection of psychedelic soul slow jams for the stoner and his lady and it’s infectious as hell.

3 – Arcade Fire – Suburbs

This one didn’t make muster for me when I first heard it. But, having had a similar initial reaction to Neon Bible, I went back and sure enough, I fell for the swirling strings, marching drums, photographic lyrics that delivered me to a setting that is stunningly familiar. Even if you didn’t grow up in the suburbs, the stirring pictures speak volumes and the music is strong enough to support it.

2 – The Tallest Man On Earth – Wild Hunt

I came in to this album fairly uninformed after seeing him in a youtube video with Megafaun and receiving a recommendation of a friend. The writing in folk music this quickly captured me and the melodies and terrific performance held me. The artist’s name is Kristian Matsson and hails from Sweden but his music is steeped in Americana. I think I played this three times in a row when I first got a hold of this album and since, it’s been an easy choice to go back.

1 – Megafaun – Heretofore

I’ve talked about this band and this record at length on this site (here and here, for example) so it really shouldn’t come as a shock that I’m putting this release on the top for 2010. Their blend of folk, psych, and Americana is just what I look for in a record. Yes, they did dub this a “mini-album” as its run time is rather slim but the songs and the stunning instrumental on this thing are quick to draw you in and leave you wanting more. Good news, though, the band spent a fair bit of last month in the studio tracking their next release so the wait shouldn’t be terribly long.

Megafaun Live in Arlington, VA. Picture by rowjimmy

Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse – Dark Night Of The Soul
Did you see last year’s list? Although leaked last year, due to disputes with EMI, this didn’t see an official release until 2010. So, that makes it pretty notable and, I considered putting it into the running for the top ten a second time (it wouldn’t have been fair.)

Wilco – Kicking Television: Live In Chicago (4xLP)
This already great live album got a lot greater when they release the extended 4-lp edition of this on Record Store Day. There’s 1.5 sides of extra material on this thing and it’s straight up rockin’.

That, of course, didn’t make the list because it’s a re-issue. There’s been a ton of great stuff coming back out on vinyl these days and I couldn’t possibly write about it all. Off the top of my head, I’m eyeing the Dylan mono reissues and the early Neil Young albums. Feel free to chime in (kindly) on the comments with a favorite that I may have missed.

Until next time…

-rj

Carolina folk/psych troubadors, Megafaun have released a new EP. Heretofore, out today, September 14th, is being released as a means to hold us all over while they finish their full-length follow up to 2009′s Gather, Form & Fly. After a few listens, I can tell you that it most certainly will keep me on the hook for whatever they have in store.

The record opens with the title track, a trippy invocation to the band’s overall sound. The vocals come almost as a chant while swirls of effects and found sounds ride above a muted kickdrum. Next comes a straight ahead country-fied rocker entitled, “Carolina Days”. Phil Cook (guitar, banjo, etc) has called this a “love song to Durham, North Carolina.” Durham should be flattered.

“Eagle”, a slower shuffling song, follows with a bluesy acoustic guitar and a manic breakdown in the middle that I absolutely love. Here’s where that psych thing kicks in. This one is sung by the drummer, Joe Westerlund, and does not fail to deliver. Check out this live version from Cleveland, Ohio in April 2010:

Click here to view the embedded video.

“Volunteers” is a gorgeous song from Brad Cook that positively melts me. Check out this snippet from the first verse:

love won’t compensate
for all the things we never say
and all the things we should

Lyrics like those and an infectious, sorrowful melody put one in a mind of a sunset singalong and make this- possibly- my favorite on this album. But I don’t like to name favorites. Besides, I wouldn’t want to slight “Comprovisation For Connor Pass”, a nine-minute part-composed, part-improvised (thus the name) opus. This piece showcases their strong ensemble instrumentation of the group and makes me look forward to seeing them on stage again (although they are done touring for the year!)

“Comprovisation” leaves us with the old timey sounds of “Bonnie’s Song”, and it is a lovely coda to the EP. This cut features a prime example of the group’s stellar vocal harmonies as well as their willingness to add a little something extra to what might otherwise pass as straight ahead folk music.

Like any good EP, Heretofore leaves you wanting more. Fortunately, more has been promised in the form of an album to be recorded during the remainder of the year. Of course they’ll have to fit it in between the upcoming Gayngs tour (which will feature Brad & Joe) as well as the Duke Performances commision to recreate songs from Alan Lomax’s field recordings (a project that includes Justin Vernon and Sharon Van Etten) at a series of concerts later this week.

So I’ll leave you now with the urging to check out this great record right after you enjoy this excellent performance of “Volunteers”:

Click here to view the embedded video.

www.megafaun.com
www.home-tapes.com

An additional note: You can get the album directly from their label, Home Tapes and I’d encourage you to do so. Last time I dealt with them, their customer service was excellent and, honestly, I’ve been finding more and more great stuff on their site making Home Tapes on of my favorite independent record labels (and yeah, I mean RECORDS.)

Great records are like old friends. As we move through life, we often drift apart due to geography, time limitations, other relationships that might have taken precedence, whatever. But, being friends, we reconnect periodically. Some you only see at a party; others for a quiet evening at home. Sometimes you get together and it’s a flurry of intense catching up- reliving details of the past and intervening years- other times history and time passed need not be rehashed and the present can simply be as if there were no time apart. All of this can be true with great albums and even ordinary albums that you love. With “Shame Shame”, Dr. Dog has blended the new with the familiar and crafted a new old friend for all of us.

Warm harmonies, plantive lead vocals, and savant-simple melodies infect this record. Opening with a ringing fanfare, the classic styling of “Station” sounds as if it could have come from Richard Manuel’s notebook but there’s a dose of something more there too.

On “Mirror Mirror”, the bridge is wildly up-tempo with a pounding rhythm and “Unbearable Why” shakes with a funky drum groove while an atmospheric synth waxes and wanes beneath the verses and chorus. “Later” opens with an eerie assorment of sounds as if from a prepared piano but quickly kicks in with a driving beat.  Perhaps I’m way too attached to this band but “Where’d All The Time Go?” strikes me as a nearly perfect song. (Check it out below.) Similarly, “I Only Wear Blue” absorbs me on each listen.

Click here to view the embedded video.

One thing I’m taken with, when I hear Dr. Dog, is that they are each terrific players. The bass lines are rarely straight-ahead throughout any song. Although they are always tastefully creative, they effortlessly revert to basics when the song asks it. “Someday” is the perfect example of this. Great guitar playing is prevalent throughout but this isn’t a guitar god record. While there are solos, they all serve the song and the greater good of the excellent arrangements.

So, like an old friend, I can’t set this down with anything but love. Fans of honest rock & roll with songs driving the record should seek this out. To miss it, would be a shame.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Dr. Dog (Official Website)