2011 isn’t quite over just yet, but I’m already set on what I feel are the best albums of the year – at least as far as my top picks go. Rather than attempt to rank albums 1-50 or 1-100 or even 1-25 like you’ll find most everyone else doing, I thought I’d just share some thoughts on my top five.
Album of the Year
Artist: Bon Iver
Album: Bon Iver
In May 2011, a month before its scheduled release, a mishap over at iTunes caused Bon Iver’s second album to leak early. I happened to find the album in my possession soon thereafter, and even upon first listen, I was certain the album would finish the year at #1 on my list.
Having been a fan of Bon Iver pretty much since the beginning, I already knew that this was a band that truly had something special going on. The band’s front man, Justin Vernon (pictured above), is simply a genius in my eyes and does wonders for the ears with his signature falsetto voice. The sound alone will bring you to your knees as you suffer from heartache and rejoice with joy both at the same time, even though you can’t really make out exactly what he is saying or singing about.
Vernon enlisted a stellar cast for the band’s sophomore self-titled effort. In addition to full-time members Mike Noyce, Sean Carey and Matt McCaughan, other contributors to the album are probably unfamiliar to most. Colin Stetson is a world renouned saxphonist that has toured as a member of both Arcade Fire and Bell Orchestre, while pedal steel guitarist Greg Leisz has recorded with numerous musicians from Dave Alvin and Bill Frisell to Bad Religion and the Smashing Pumpkins. And then there’s Jim Schoenecker of Vernon’s side project Volcano Choir, synth player Tom Wincek, arranger Rob Moore, saxophonist Michael Lewis and trumpeteer Carmen Caerieri.
Unlike the band’s 2008 breakthrough debut album For Emma, Forever Ago, which was more or less a collection of melancholic, wintery campfire-inspired acoustic songs, the new album is so intricate and heavily textured that Bon Iver might be the last band you thought you were listening to had these songs been completely instrumental.
Not a single Bon Iver fan could have predicted what was to come after For Emma and even the Blood Bank EP, and now that Vernon and company have gone to extreme new heights, we can only bask in the glory that is this album. The bar has been set so high this time around, one can only wonder just how they will continue to top themselves.
Unlike Vernon who sings in “Holocene” that he is “not magnificent”, I have to say that this album certainly is.
Don’t be surprised at all when you see this album landing near or at the top of pretty much every list for 2011′s Best Albums. Afterall, it did peak in the Top 10 of 14 seperate charts from around the world, as well as having earned the band several Grammy nominations for “Record of the Year”, “Song of the Year”, “Best New Artist” and “Best Alternative Album”, in which they were placed alongside My Morning Jacket.
Check out this breathtaking live performance of the album’s closing track, “Beth/Rest”, which also happens to be one of my favorite songs of the year.
Number Two – Best Albums of 2011
Artist: Dawes
Album: Nothing Is Wrong
Two years ago Los Angeles roots rock band Dawes made their mark in the world with their stunning debut North Hills, an album with a sound somewhere between The Band and Jackson Browne. This year they have continued to impress even themselves with Nothing Is Wrong, which I believe is one of the strongest releases of the year both musically and lyrically.
Front man Taylor Goldsmith (who sounds an awfully lot like Browne) is just as much a poet as major Romantic Age players William Blake and Lord Byron. If there’s a general theme to be found on Nothing Is Wrong it would be Goldsmith’s bouts with love and spending much of his time on the road. I know, I know. Typical subject matter for yet another rock band. Hear me out.
Over the course of the album you can see Goldsmith battling the loneliness being on the road brings while coming to terms with and accepting or understanding what matters the most in love.
In the opening song “Time Spent in Los Angeles”, Goldsmith sings “These days my friends don’t seem to know me without my suitcase in my hand, I used to think someone would love me for the places I have been”, while younger brother Griffin sings about how far the band has come in a different song, ironically called “How Far We’ve Come.”
Though the subject matter may be overplayed, the guitar licks and multi-part harmonies (which include Browne on “Fire Away”) make the lyrics all the more better, such as “The only time I am lonely is when others are around” and ”I learned that love is not as simple as I thought.”
While Nothing Is Wrong is basically an extension of the sound on North Hills, the difference here is time and experience. Goldsmith and his counterparts – his brother and drummer Griffin, bassist Wylie Gelber and keyboardist Tay Straithairn – have been seasoned to perfection as a unit.
Like the title “Nothing is Wrong”, there is nothing wrong with Dawes. Everything is oh so right on this album
Number Three – Best Albums of 2011
Artist: My Morning Jacket
Album: Circuital
Despite the fact that this is probably My Morning Jacket’s most inconsistent album to date, it is actually their most commercially successful, as is every single album that has landed on my Top 5 list. But’s that not to say that I’m basing my choices off of only what is selling well.
The Jacket, as they’re known, have never really stayed the same band for too long, which can be a pretty good thing if you can pull it off, can continue to be successful and if you’re fans are willing to stick by your side. Luckily for this Louisville fearsome fivesome they have become one of America’s biggest rock and roll bands of the 21st century.
On Circuital they dive further into the weird and unknown while staying connected to their roots, which is reflected in front man Jim James’ lyrics. A song like “Outta My System” is said to be about a man’s reflection on his reckless youth, while “Holdin On To Black Metal” is about holding onto something that you loved as a child to cope with aging.
Some of the songs will remind you of a lost era between the makings of 2003′s It Still Moves and 2005′s Z, while others are just the next step for this ever-changing band. Then there’s a song like “Wonderful (The Way I Feel)”, a somber-yet-hopeful acoustic ballad that sends chills down your spine when your hear James’ voice accompanied with orchestral strings and pedal steel guitar peppered throughout.
While “circuital” may come from its root word “circuit”, a movement taking you back to the same place from which you started, My Morning Jacket doesn’t seem to be running around in circles because they’re not doing the same thing over and over again. Perhaps the true meaning in all this imagery deals more with the band members as human beings as opposed to artists.
Number Four – Best Albums of 2011
Artist: The Low Anthem
Album: Smart Flesh
I have yet to see or hear another band on the planet quite like the Low Anthem.
For Smart Flesh, they recorded about 30 songs during the colder season while living in an abandoned pasta factory in Rhode Island for three months. Front man Ben Knox Miller will tell you that their main instrument is whichever room they are recording or playing in at the time, and that the band is more concerned with the craft of music making rather than the perception of it.
Whereas a multitude of over 30 instruments were experimented with on their last effort Oh My God, Charlie Darwin, the band cut back a bit this time around, mastering fewer instruments and learning how noises faded between the metal and wooden walls in the factory, which by the way, never got above 50 degrees even when the heating was on.
The album opens with the slow-burning, Tom Waits-like “Ghost Woman Blues”, before going into the crooning of “Apothecary Love.” All around the album continues with this mellow spookiness but songs like “Hey, All You Hippies!” and the 9/11 retrospective “Boeing 737″ will jump start your heart with blasting horns and pounding drums.
Smart Flesh is a powerful delicacy full of haunting tales about redemption and death, and if you listen close enough, you can almost feel yourself freezing alone at night in this factory while spirits play these songs through an old time radio when you least expect it. Kinda like that scene in the John Cusack movie 1408.
The Low Anthem are a band that requires attentive listening and they are an absolute must-see in concert because after hearing a band or album like this, you have to witness the beauty and magic unfolding in front of your eyes.
I was fortunate to see them two times in 2011 – the Bonnaroo Music Festival and Cincinnati’s MidPoint Music Festival – and it is because of those two shows that the Low Anthem have surprised me with a spot so high on this list.
Number Five – Best Albums of 2011
Artist: The Decemberists
Album: The King Is Dead
For most of their career, the Decemberists have been making concept albums centered around the poetic tales written by front man Colin Meloy. 2009′s The Hazards of Love was a love story with an experimental, progressive rock edge, while 2006′s The Crane Wife, which was centered around Japanese folklore, was at times folkie and other times dancey.
On their latest, The King Is Dead, Meloy chose modern American country and folk music as his inspiration. A lot of these songs recall Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen, though Meloy has stated that R.E.M. remains the major influence. Ironically, R.E.M.’s Peter Buck appears on the album, as does David Rawlings and Gillian Welch.
You’ll find some of the songs just don’t feel to go along with the others, however, they find a way to make them work. The most noticeably of these are the final two closing tracks. “This Is Why We Fight” is an upbeat rocker, while “Dear Avery” could have found a place on their previous recording. Even “Rox in the Box” could have found a home in the band’s back catalogue with the accordion playing of Jenny Conlee, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in May. In October, Conlee went into remission.
Nevertheless, the Decemberists decision to explore unchartered waters was a wise one at that. Just twelve days after its release, the album landed at #1 on the Billboard 200. More recently the band was nominated for a Grammy for “Best Rock Song” for “Down By The Water”, the Neil Young-esque single from the album.
Honorable Mentions
Ben Sollee – Inclusions
Booker T. Jones – The Road From Memphis
Brian Olive – Two of Everything
Chamberlin – Bitter Blood
Daniel Martin Moore – In the Cool of the Day
Deer Tick – Divine Providence
Explosions in the Sky – Take Care, Take Care, Take Care
The Felice Brothers – Celebration, Florida
Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
The Guitars – High Action
The Head and the Heart – The Head and the Heart
Iron & Wine – Kiss Each Other Clean
Jessica Lea Mayfield – Tell Me
Josh Eagle & the Harvest City – A Good One Is Hard To Find
The Joy Formidable – The Big Roar
Kelly Thomas & the Fabulous Pickups – Fly
Middle Brother – Middle Brother
Robert Ellis – Photographs
Ryan Adams – Ashes & Fire
The Seedy Seeds – Verb Noun
Shiny and the Spoon – Ferris Wheel
Shoot Out the Lights – Shoot Out the Lights
The Tammy WhyNots – Meet the Tammy WhyNots
Those Darlins – Screws Get Loose
Tom Waits – Bad As Me
U.S. Royalty – Mirrors
Walk the Moon – I Want! I Want!
Warren Haynes – Man In Motion
Washed Out – Within and Without
Wilco – The Whole Love
Will Hoge – Number Seven
Recommendations
The Airborne Toxic Event – All At Once
Alexander – Alexander
Alexi Murdoch – Towards the Sun
Amos Lee – Mission Bell
An Horse – Walls
The Antlers – Burst Apart
Asobi Seksu – Fluorescence
Aunt Martha – Bloodshot EP
Beirut – The Rip Tide
Bela Fleck & the Flecktones – Rocket Science
Belle Histoire – Spirits EP
Ben Harper – Give Till It’s Gone
Ben Lee – Deeper Into Dream
Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears – Scandalous
Bootsy Collins – The Funk Capitol of the World
Braids – Native Speaker
Brett Dennen – Loverboy
Bright Eyes – The People’s Key
Bruce Hornsby – Bride of the Noisemakers
Buffalo Killers – 3
Caitlin Rose – Own Side Now
Caspian – The Four Trees
Cass McCombs – Humor Risk
The Chain Gang of 1974 – Wayward Fire
The Chocolate Horse – Beasts
City and Colour – Little Hell
Cloud Nothings – Cloud Nothings
Cold Cave – Cherish the Light Years
Coldplay – Mylo Xyloto
Colin Stetson – New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges
Cults – Cults
Cut Copy – Zonoscope
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. – It’s A Corporate World
Daniel Knox – Evryman For Himself
Deas Vail – Birds & Cages
The Del McCoury Band with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band – American Legacies
DeVotchKa – 100 Lovers
The Dodos – No Color
Drive-By Truckers – Go-Go Boots
The Drums – Portamento
The Dukes Are Dead – The Shot Heard Round the World
Ezra Furman & the Harpoons – Mysterious Power
Face to Face – Laugh Now, Laugh Later
Feist – Metals
Florence + the Machine – Ceremonials
For Algernon – Starling EP
Fort Frances – The Atlas
Foster the People – Torches
Futurebirds – EP
Gardens & Villa – Gardens & Villa
Gillian Welch – The Harrow & the Harvest
Girls – Father, Son, Holy Ghost
Graveyard – Hisingen Blues
Handsome Furs – Sound Kapital
The Harlequins – Midwest Coast EP
Here We Go Magic – The January EP
James Blake – James Blake
Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit – Here We Rest
Jason White – The Longing
The Jayhawks – Hollywood Town Hall
Jeff Bridges – Jeff Bridges
Joseph Arthur – The Graduation Ceremony
Kaki King – …Until We Felt Red
Kevin Devine – Between the Concrete and Clouds
The Kickaways – America! America!
Lia Ices – Grown Unknown
Lisa Hannigan – Passenger
Low – C’mon
Mala In Se – Mala In Se
Man Man – Life Fantastic
Maren Parusel – Artificial Gardens
Mates of State – Mountaintops
Mike Doughty – Yes and Also Yes
Mogwai – Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will
Neon Indian – Era Extraria
The Newport Secret Six – Licking River Rock Steady
Nicole Atkins – Mondo Amore
The Nightwatchman – World Wide Rebel Songs
Noah & the Whale – Last Night On Earth
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds
Okkervil River – I Am Very Far
Old 97′s – The Grand Theatre Volume 2
The Parson Red Heads – Yearling
Paul Simon – So Beautiful or So What
Pokey LaFarge & the South City Three – Middle of Everywhere
Pomegranates – In Your Face Thieves/Chestnut Attic
Pop Empire – The Devil’s Party
Portugal. the Man – Church Mouth
Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band – Peyton on Patton
Rich Robinson – Through A Crooked Sun
The Ridges – The Ridges
The Rosebuds – Loud Planes Fly Low
Sacred Spirits – Some Stay
Shadowraptr – It’s Always Winter on the Moon
She & Him – A Very She & Him Christmass
Sister Crayon – Bellow
Skeetones – Retrospektive
Smith Westerns – Dye It Blonde
St. Vincent – Strange Mercy
Steve Earle – I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive
Steve Martin & the Steep Canyon Rangers – Rare Bird Alert
Sweet Ray Laurel – Sweet Ray Laurel
They Might Be Giants – Join Us
Toro y Moi – Underneath the Pine
Tristen – Charlatans at the Garden Gate
Trombone Shorty – For True
Tune-Yards – Whokill
TV on the Radio – Nine Types of Light
Tyler Ramsey – The Valley Wind
Umphrey’s McGee – Death By Stereo
Vacation – Vacation
Vetiver – The Errant Charm
Wanda Jackson – The Party Ain’t Over
The Wood Brothers – Smoke Ring Halo
Yo La Tengo – They Shoot, We Score
Yuck – Yuck
Zee Avi – Ghostbird
