5 months ago
CHRSWLKRVS’ TEN FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2011
10. JUSTICE | AUDIO VIDEO DISCO 
The key to enjoying this album: Stop comparing it to †. It isn’t †. If anything it’s the anti-† and if you expected another †, well, why? That no one found this album as game-changing or as fun or as listenable as I did baffles me. Audio Video Disco is not like a MGMT-esque Congratulations what-the-fuck moment, it’s a perfect progression for a couple of guys who aspired for more (or maybe less) than bleeding synth and Daft Punk comparisons.
Favorite Tracks: “Horsepower”, “Canon”, “Audio, Video, Disco”
Watch “Audio, Video, Disco”
09. ARCTIC MONKEYS | SUCK IT + SEE 
I didn’t like this album until I met a girl I could associate lyrics like “Makes me want to blow the candles out just to see if you glow in the dark,” and “That’s not a skirt, girl, that’s a sawn-off shotgun / and I can only hope you’ve got it aimed at me,” with. Our tryst may not’ve lasted long but my enjoyment of the songs remained.
Favorite Tracks: “The Hellcat Spangled Shalala”, “All My Own Stunts”, “Suck It + See”.
Watch “The Hellcat Spangled Shalala”
08. SBTRKT | SBTRKT 
People went ape over “Wildfire”, Drake dropped a verse on the remix, but did you hear “Pharaohs”? That was the jam. Or how about “Ready Set Loop”? It sounded good with the BPM slowed down on a Rinse.FM set by SBTRKT, but at it’s proper 143 BPM it’s absolutely massive. I’ve always had a soft spot for UK Garage / 2-Step / Whatever you want to call it, and SBTRKT’s self-titled debut perfectly filled the niche.
Favorite Tracks: “Pharaohs”, “Ready Set Loop”, “Hold On”.
Watch “Wildfire”
07. WASHED OUT | WITHIN + WITHOUT 
Evidently, Ernest Green legitimized or took “chillwave” to the next level with this album. Sure, why not? All I know is front-to-back Within + Without is great make out music, great breakup music, great morning drive music. There’s a reason the album cover is two people getting it on.
Favorite Tracks: “Soft”, “Far Away”, “You + I (Feat. Caroline Polachek)”.
Watch “Amor Fati”
06. HOLY GHOST! | HOLY GHOST! 
This album took forever. “Hold On” dates back to 2007. “Say My Name” and “Static On The Wire” were on an EP almost a year-old when the self-titled debut finally hit shelves. And it’s not as if this album was highly anticipated but boy was it fun. Holy Ghost! just bopped and rolled throughout, nothing too serious (even when it got serious like on “Jam For Jerry”), just a good time. Tracks like “Wait + See”, “Hold My Breath”, and “Slow Motion” all got better with time. And how great is that Michael McDonald guest appearance? It’ll still be played at parties in the coming new year and, as demonstrated by “Hold On”, some of these tracks will stand the test of time.
Favorite Tracks: “Wait + See” “Hold On”, “It’s Not Over”.
Watch “Wait + See”
05. JAMES BLAKE | JAMES BLAKE 
Often after an album leaks the artist says something like, “It’s a shame because you’re not hearing the full experience.” In the past, I’ve thought, “Bullshit.” I’ve never heard a ripped copy of a Red Hot Chili Peppers album (post By The Way), compared it to the official release, and been like, “Whoa, I really was missing out.” Blake’s self-titled debut was an exception. The moment the sub-bass of “Unluck” shook my rental car on a trip through the rural farmlands of Idaho, I knew I was in for an experience I would’ve missed had I just listened to a low-bitrate rip on my laptop speakers. There’s so much going on under the surface. The sparsity, while perhaps initially boring, becomes necessary, kind of like it was on the xx’s debut. The breathing room takes on it’s own life and the magic comes from the carefully constructed sounds in-between. Not to mention, Blake did something Feist was unable to this year: make one of her songs exciting and listenable with his room-shaking rendition of “Limit To Your Love”.
Favorite Tracks: “Unluck”, “Lindisfarne I + II”, “Limit To Your Love”.
Watch “Limit To Your Love”
04. THE BLACK KEYS | EL CAMINO 
The Black Keys and Dangermouse do it again. No one makes rock and roll anymore except for these guys.
Favorite Tracks: “Gold On The Ceiling”, “Little Black Submarines”, “Run Right Back”.
Watch “Lonely Boy”
03. REAL ESTATE | DAYS 
“All those wasted miles / All those aimless drives through green aisles / Our careless life style / It was not so unwise / No.” That pretty much sums it up. Days wasn’t dynamic or a leap forward by any means but in similar fashion to Beach House, Real Estate took a solid formula and refined it. Real Estate, in their element, are flawless. Sometimes that’s enough.
Favorite Tracks: “Green Aisles”, “Out Of Tune”, “All The Same”.
Watch “It’s Real”
02. DRAKE | TAKE CARE
At seventeen tracks (not including bonus ones) and a play time of one-hour, nineteen-minutes, and forty-seconds, Take Care is way too long. But looking through the songs there’s not much to remove (“Practice” is a dud). Everything from “Over My Dead Body” to “The Ride” is remarkably solid. Sure, you could lose the terrible Birdman cameo but that’s about it. Unless you’re a “gangsta rap purist” (do those still exist?) you have to appreciate Drake’s multitude of influences and willingness to experiment. Aside from usual collaborator Noah “40” Shebib he worked with Jamie from the xx, The Weeknd, and someone I haven’t heard anyone mention: Chilly Gonzales (most often associated with Feist), who plays piano at the end of “Marvin’s Room”. I could get into Drake’s heart-on-his-diamond-encrusted-sleeve persona but that’s been covered a million times. Matter of fact is there’s no denying Take Care was one of the very best albums of the year. Not to mention, it boasts my favorite lyrics of all time: “I’m not conscious of making monsters out of the women I sponsor ‘til it all goes bad / But shit it’s all good.”
Favorite Tracks: “Take Care”, “Underground Kings”, “Marvin’s Room”.
Watch “Headlines”
01. NERO | WELCOME REALITY 
These guys took a Hall + Oats’ sample and turned it into a post-dubstep torch song. They took The Jets’ “Crush On You” and turned into a dubstep anthem. Nearly all of the album’s fourteen tracks have been or could be hit singles. Girls in my office listen to “Promises” on their iPhones. Best Buy used “Me + You” in their multi-colored Beats By Dre commercial. Nero were able to crossover into pop territory and transcend genres while retaining a dark, menacing aesthetic that never sounded kitschy. Electronic music or otherwise, there was no better album this year.
Favorite Tracks: “My Eyes”, “Reaching Out”, “Promises”.
Watch “Reaching Out”
RECAP:
10. Justice | Audio Video Disco
09. Arctic Monkeys | Suck It + See
08. SBTRKT | SBTRKT
07. Washed Out | Within + Without
06. Holy Ghost! | Holy Ghost!
05. James Blake | James Blake
04. The Black Keys | El Camino
03. Real Estate | Days
02. Drake | Take Care
01. Nero | Welcome Reality
ADDITIONAL LISTS:
Ten Favorite Mixes of 2011
Ten Favorite EPs of 2011
Twenty Favorite Singles of 2011
5 months ago
A PRELUDE TO CHRSWLKRVS’ END OF YEAR LISTS
I’ve listened to electronic music all my life but 2011 was the first year it superseded all other genres and made (most) everything else sound muted and dull. At Coachella, fed up with the hours it took lackluster indie bands to set up and tear down, friends and I spent most of our time in the Sahara Tent dancing to sets by Chuckie, Laidback Luke, and the Twelves. Instead of traveling to San Francisco to hear up-and-coming bands like in years past, I went to Las Vegas nightclubs to experience artists like Calvin Harris, Kaskade, and Skrillex. By Electronic Daisy Carnival my desire to engage in the “have you heard of” antics of indie culture was gone. Perhaps the final nail in the coffin came when I couldn’t make it through five tracks of Feist’s new album, Metals, without feeling bored, agitated, and eventually turning it off. In contrast, Feist’s The Reminder was my number one favorite album of 2007. I felt like Stan in the “Tween Wave” episode of South Park. Suddenly, everything sounded like shit.
That’s not to say my love of all other genres completely diminished. New Jersey quaint-rockers Real Estate made a gorgeous sophomore pass with Days. Drake’s had a dedicated spot on my stereo ever since “Best I Ever Had” and Take Care, the game-changing follow up to Thank Me Later, only solidified that further. It took a while before Alex Turner’s slow-burn, witty wordplay on Arctic Monkey’s Suck It + See won me over, but it did. The frost-like beauty of Washed Out’s Within + Without was immediately apparent.
With those exceptions, most of year’s listening was dedicated to electronic music, which made picking my top ten favorite albums of 2011 difficult. Electronic music is more single-oriented; a lot of my favorite artists didn’t put out LPs. That’s why this year I’ve expanded my list-making to cover my top twenty singles, top ten EPs, top ten DJ mixes, and finally, my top ten albums.
I’ll be putting the lists up over the next two days. Hopefully you enjoy them. Maybe I’ll turn you onto something new in the process.
