Top 11 of '11

Lists. Lists. Lists. I like lists. Here are my brief thoughts on some of the music from this past year. Long live Thom’s very Lazy Eye!

11. Panda Bear Tomboy

More Panda Bear deliciousness. I don’t own a great pair of headphones, but I listened to this album on my decent pair of headphones this past week and it was like a whole new album to me… if you own a good pair of headphones, do yourself a favor and experience this album anew with a good listen. There’s so much going on in every song.

10. Wilco The Whole Love

“Art of Almost” is awesome… I kind of wish that the rest of the album had as much to offer as this song (though, that may be asking a lot). I’m still really enjoying the remainder of the album (I really am… I think “Black Moon” is very moving, I think “Born Alone” is straight-ahead Wilco fun, I think “Whole Love” is great… and, this album was excellent live… as expected) but I feel like “Art of Almost” was a peek into the type of creativity that so many songs on Being There, Summerteeth and YHF had, which got me excited when I heard it as the opening track but it also left me with a wee bit of longing for something more.

9. Fleet Foxes Helplessness Blues

I felt like this album was a really good sophomore effort. I don’t mean that as an insult, it wasn’t a “Sophomore Slump” but it also wasn’t quite as good as their debut… nonetheless, I enjoyed it a lot. I will say that when I saw them at The Ryman this year I was surprised at how good they were live… for some reason I went in with pretty mediocre expectations and they were much better than I expected. Also, this is random, but they were actually really funny… the drummer made a handful of legitimately funny comments… not like, “Oh, you’re on stage, so we’re laughing because we want to be nice and we think you’re cooler than us”, but actually funny. I remember one time some Indie kid yelled, “We’re not worthy!” during the silence in between a couple of the songs (no comment on this kid yelling that). But the drummer just said, “Uhh, security, if you could please exit from the premises the young gentleman sitting in that section over there… he’s not worthy.” I enjoy some level of people not taking themselves too seriously (especially in the whole current Indie scene). I do wonder if Fleet Foxes are going to be able to change their sound up enough to still sound creative a handful of albums from now, I think they have an amazing sound but if they keep making the same type of album over and over again I don’t how long that will work, but I guess we’ll see.

8. My Morning Jacket Circuital

This was certainly a step up from Evil Urges. I’m still not sure about what Jim James (or, Yim Yames) is doing with his voice now… the Kermit the Frog delivery seems to be taking over more and more with each successive album. “Victory Dance” is absurd, and yet it works. “Circuital” is as strong as anything they’ve done (other than, of course, “Golden” which is in an entirely different category). “Outta My System” has that good early-60’s (cars and surfboards) Beach Boys tempo and feel. Good stuff.

7. Dreamers of the Ghetto Enemy/Lovers

People just aren’t making a whole lot of large, arena-ready rock and roll anymore. This album is ready for a 40,000-seat venue and could easily fill up the sound of every seat in the house.

6. Kurt Vile Smoke Ring for My Halo

I was asking Will Farley if he had this album and he said, “Yeah… he’s totally rad. I love the modern, indie Tom Petty thing that’s going on”… well said, Farley.

5. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart Belong

This album is straight out of the 90’s (I mean that in the good sense of the term), but it’s more of a sound from the 90’s that I was never into during the 90’s. But, I’m loving this whole sound now and definitely digging this album.

4. Real Estate Days

The first three songs of this album are so solid. “Easy” is a great opener… that sweet, smooth guitar is so inviting alongside those vocals. And, “Green Aisles” is so open… not “open” in the sense of vulnerable lyrics or something like that, but the sound of it is so open, there’s room to spare in the song… there’s some air and some space to it where they weren’t overly concerned with jamming every corner of the song with some sound or noise or whatever… they just let the song breathe… it’s open. The chorus to “It’s Real” feels so good. The rest of the album doesn’t exactly fall off after these first three songs (“Municipality” is a very tasty treat), though I do feel that these first few songs are gold and on their own make for this being a really solid album.

3. The War On Drugs Slave Ambient

This is music made for driving across Middle America while there’s snow on the ground… it’s cold right outside the windows but it’s still warm inside the car. I keep loving this album more and more this year. It obviously fits very hand-in-hand with Kirk Vile’s album this year and yet I felt like it had even more to offer then Vile’s really strong album.

2. Smith Westerns Dye it Blonde

This album is sunshine, happy goodness. This was some of the best, sing-able melodies on an album this year. “All Die Young” is so, so good. That’s the happiest way to sing the depressing phrase “All die young”… it sounds like a hook from a 1970’s television sitcom, you just can’t help but sing along.

1. Girls Father, Son, Holy Ghost

So many albums the past handful of years (and, even albums that I have enjoyed a lot… like some albums on this list) kind of have one basic sound that carries throughout the whole album, where every song has a similar feel and approach and style to it. This album is not at all like that, this thing is all over the place (bouncy pop songs, rock your face off songs, darker whatever type of songs… just all over the place) and yet it all fits together as a single work (which is the kind of stuff that takes and album from “good” to “great” in my opinion). “Vomit” just washes over you. (Uhh… I should probably reword that last sentence.) But, the song “Vomit” is massive… it goes from this quiet, intimate delivery to this Pink Floyd explosion of sound and gravity and it truly is just pouring over you like a waterfall by the end of the song. At the end, when the lines “Come into my heart / Come into my heart / Come into my heart…” keep repeating it just keeps getting better and better. I’ve still got more layers to peel back on this album as I continue to enjoy it more, but this is the one true standout of the year for me.

And, here are my favorite songs by season from this past year (certain songs stick out during certain times of the year, and these are the songs that I was enjoying the most in each of these seasons)…

Winter: “Nothing Was Stolen (Love Me Foolishly)” by Phosphorescent

Spring: “Oh My Heart / It Happened Today” by R.E.M.

Summer: “Go Outside” by Cults

Fall: “Vomit” by Girls