Favorite Albums of 2011

20. Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi-ROME: Remember that poster in your elementary school classroom that said something about shooting for the moon cos even if you miss you'll land among the stars? Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi made an album that, from what I've read, attempts to ape the music Ennio Morricone did for all of those great Clint Eastwood westerns. They sort of failed. They did succeed in making a pretty decent summertime album, however, especially when Norah Jones gets on the mic. Nothing beats "Roman Blue" though, a pristine instrumental cut that makes me think of beautiful people in 1960s style swimwear gracefully diving into pools. It sums up what's great about this album-laid back and spotless.

19. Peaking Lights-936: This husband and wife squad came through with a set of lo-fi tunes that could function as aural vicodin. The songs have long running times and may seem a bit repetitive, but it's a good kind of repetitive, sort of like watching laundry go round and round in the dryer.

18. Yuck-Yuck: Obviously heavily indebted to 90s alt rock, but when your songs are this good it doesn't matter. Just about every one on here is rad, and I hope they become the next Weezer or something.

17. Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie XX-We're New Here: Just started listening to this one, but it's blowing my mind so much that I had to include it on this list. I'll admit that I've never listened to the original, and I will eventually, but for now I'll enjoy being floored by the opening track "I'm New Here" and the closing track "I'll Take Care of U." Can't wait for more from Jamie XX-everything he touches seems to turn to gold.

16. The War on Drugs-Slave Ambient: This is music that sounds definitively American. In it you can hear the earnestness of Bruce Springsteen and the meandering poetry of Bob Dylan. Sounds alright, but what really makes this a standout album are, like the title says, the touches of ambient music.

15. TV Girl-Benny and the Jetts: At only four songs and under ten minutes, this is by far the shortest item on this list, but certainly worthy of being on here. This duo from San Diego has crafted four perfect pop songs, each of which I couldn't keep out of my head during the later part of this year. My favorite is probably "Lizzy Come Back to Life," an ode to the deceased No Wave artist Lizzy Mercier Descloux.

14. Coldplay-Mylo Xyloto: Alright alright, I know. Coldplay aren't exactly held in highest esteem by many serious music fans, but I still like 'em regardless. This album is probably their most cohesive, and is a quick listen for me because all of the interludes between tracks make it flow nicely. There's even a touch of Balearic between "Paradise" and "Charlie Brown," my two favorite songs on here. Say what you want about the Rihanna song, but Ian Cohen made an interesting point in his Pitchfork review that pop tarts are who Coldplay are up against, so it makes sense for them to make a full blown R&B pop song.

13. Alex Turner-Submarine: I loved this movie, and love the six-song EP that goes with it. It starts off with some really balmy, swaying in the breeze sorts of tunes, and then closes with "Stuck on the Puzzle" and "Piledriver Waltz," two songs that bring to mind Dion's classic album Born to Be With You. The former is one of my favorite tracks of the year, a wispy chronicle of a bewitching woman.

12. Drake-Take Care: I'll start this off by stating that I like Drake's previous album, Thank Me Later, a lot better. On Take Care he can often be heard whining about the perils of fame, (See: "Marvin's Room") and it can get pretty annoying. "I had sex four times this week I'll explain/having some trouble adjusting to fame," he croons. This didn't work when Rivers Cuomo did it on "Tired of Sex," and it doesn't work here either. As much as I try to feel sorry for him or view this as a sort of character study, I can't. What does work is when Drizzy gets back to basics on tracks like "Make Me Proud" and "Lord Knows." The latter has an insane beat from Just Blaze and a great guest verse from Rick Ross.

11. Kendrick Lamar-Section.80: This guy is a phenomenal rapper, and I think he could end up becoming the next Kanye. Unlike many of his 2011 counterparts, he raps about issues that are more substantial than sex and weed, although he does touch on both. He claims to have had a dream in which Tupac encouraged him to rap, and he really does sound like a man on some sort of mission on this album. He has many negative things to stay about the Reagan administration, and none of this comes out more on "Hiiiipower," Section.80's closing track. "So get up off that slave ship/build your own pyramids write your own hieroglyphs," he spits. I should've shown this to my students when I was teaching them how to make a call to action at the end of a persuasive essay.

10. Arches-Wide Awake: This Philly foursome mine the sounds of Grizzly Bear and Real Estate on this, their first album, and the results are glorious. Opener "This Isn't a Good Night for Walking" is a definite highlight, and they manage to maintain this airy aesthetic for eight more tracks. Watch out for them in 2012: I saw them live a few weeks ago and they seem to be taking a turn towards Perfect From Now On era Built to Spill on their new material.

09. Future Islands-On the Water: I was pretty late to this band, so I've had this on repeat for the past few weeks to make up for lost time. The vocals are howling, the synths are more refreshing than an ocean mist, and that bass sound is sublime. The songs transition into one another brilliantly as well, especially into "Balance," my favorite track.

08. Julianna Barwick-The Magic Place: Legendary vibes on this thing. I've heard her referred to as the new Enya, but Enya never made me want to put on my headphones and listen to her album again and again. Julianna delivers the goods. I conjure up many images when I listen to The Magic Place, most of which include multiple characters from LOTR. I can just picture it now: "Frodo, where's that music comin' from? It's prettier than the curls danglin' from Rosie Cotton's head."

Yikes.

07. Cults-Cults: While this album was loaded with many songs that were already released, it still contained enough solid new material to keep my attention. I have a hard time describing exactly what makes this band great, but I think it boils down to the fact that they take music that sounds like it could be from the 1960s and refurbish it in a very tasteful way. There's also a sort of youthful exuberance here, especially on songs like "Bumper," which employs boy/girl vocals in a wonderfully playful way.

06. Destroyer-Kaputt: I hated this at first, and wondered why Dan Bejar would release a collection of coked-out 80s-sounding tunes. It wasn't until I was outside shoveling snow one morning that I really understood Kaputt, and this probably has everything to do with the fact that snow is clean and pure, just like the sounds on this album. The saxophone parts add a lot, and that moment on "Downtown" when he says "I was a four leaf clover/I was red rover on his way over to your place" is heavenly, although I'm not sure why. That's this whole album for me: Mysterious beauty that I don't think I'll ever fully comprehend, or really need to.

05. Florence & the Machine-Ceremonials: Like Coldplay, Flo is a unapologetic rafter shooter. I feel like I'm going to church whenever I listen to this thing, a church that is non-denominational and has lots of clapping and shouting. "Shake it Out" might be my favorite song of the year, and its inspirational message has been a vital part of my morning commute. She never comes down from the ceiling on Ceremonials' 12 tracks, and us average folks who need a little musical stimulation in the morning are thankful.

04. Tennis-Cape Dory: Part of my love for this record comes with my knowledge of the story behind it. A husband and wife sailed around the Atlantic and produced a bunch of catchy, sugary sweet pop songs. The whole idea sounds so romantic and delightful that I can't resist jumping on the Tennis bandwagon. On top of that, the guitar sound on here is very similar to that of the Walkmen, one of my favorite bands.

03. Smith Westerns-Dye It Blonde: Let's put aside the fact that Cullen Omori can't sing. Dye It Blonde has ten really great songs, all of which come complete with at least one sexy guitar lick. "Weekend" is great fun, and "Dance Away" is even greater fun. These guys are young and they make it look really easy to crank out ten hits in a row. Long-time fans will probably prefer their first, more lo-fi offering, but give me the full-bodied stuff any day.

02. Cut Copy-Zonoscope: I was really worried when I first heard that this was coming out. In Ghost Colours is one of my favorite albums EVER, and I thought that any future releases would pale in comparison. While Zonoscope didn't turn out to be as good, it's still worth listening to for tracks like "Need You Now" and "Pharaohs and Pyramids," songs that expand on the buildup and drop formula that made so many songs on their previous album great. And is there a song more ripe for singing along to than "Where I'm Going?" Yelling "YEAH YEAH YEAH WOOOO!" is a blast.

01. WU LYF-Go Tell Fire to the Mountain: These cats from Manchester sound like many good bands and no lousy ones. For 47 minutes they employ the powerful riffs of Explosions in the Sky, the barking vocals of Isaac Brock, and the light afrobeat of Vampire Weekend to create a sound all their own. Say what you will about frontman Ellery Roberts' posturing or possibly fabricated world weariness. These are fervent, cathartic anthems that demand to be enjoyed again and again.

One more from the notebook

Jotted down this quote from Graham Greene's The Heart of the Matter when I read it a few years ago:

"Point me out the happy man and I will point you out either extreme egotism, evil-or else an absolute ignorance."

Dayum. Part of me thinks he's right.

Summer 2011 Mix

1. Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi-"Roman Blue"
2. Fort Lean-"Beach Holiday"
3. Ducktails-"Hamilton Road"
4. Hotel Mexico-"Dear Les Friends"
5. DJ Quik-"Luv of My Life"
6. Unknown Mortal Orchestra-"How Can U Luv Me"
7. The Rapture-"How Deep Is Your Love"
8. Cults-"Bumper"
9. The People's Temple-"Sons of Stone"
10. WU LYF-"We Bros"
11. Hooray for Earth-"No Love"
12. CSLSX-"Keep on Shining"
13. Pure X-"Don't Wanna Live, Don't Wanna Die"
14. Seapony-"Go Away"
15. unouomedude-"Frequency"
16. Ty Segall-"Goodbye Bread"
17. Gang Gang Dance-"Romance Layers"
18. Washed Out-"Eyes Be Closed"
19. The War on Drugs-"Baby Missiles"
20 The Pains of Being Pure at Heart-"Heaven's Gonna Happen Now"
21. Dominique Young Unique-"Glamorous Touch"
22. StewRat-"Butt"
23. Tensnake-"Something About You"
24. Nicki Minaj-"Super Bass"
25. EMA-"Breakfast"

The Tough Alliance-"Holiday"

This is just brilliant. Like most of my favorite things, it's both funny and beautiful. Sure, the dancing is laughable and the singing is amateurish, but listen to the song. The lyrics are about going on a holiday with someone special, and the music sounds like pure bliss. I also feel a sort of bittersweet vibe, like the person might know that their holiday will come to an end soon. Reminds me of another track from Sweden:



It's called "Never Content" and has that same sort of sentimental joy that "Holiday" has. The fellas from Gothenburg really know how to make a listener swoon.

Julianna Barwick-The Magic Place

Simply put, The Magic Place is an incredibly enchanting album. It sounds like:
1. Heaven
2. Looking up at the sky when you're underwater
3. Birds
4. The feeling you get when you wake up on Saturday at 6 a.m. and realize it's the weekend and you don't have to go to work
5. Mermaids singing
6. Leaves blowing in the wind
7. Flowers blooming
8. Agony
9. Ecstasy
10. Life
11. Death
12. THE UNIVERSE

Vibe hard, dudes.

PJ Harvey-"Written On The Forehead"

Totally giving Pitchfork credit for this one, seeing that I had written PJ Harvey off as a sex-crazed wafer some time ago. In my defense, Rid of Me has a song called "Rub 'Til It Bleeds," which, um, yeah. Anywho, "Written On The Forehead" is a tremendous track, one that I haven't been able to keep my ears off of recently. It reminds me of a sunshower-sun's out, but dude, it's still raining. Rain comes here in form of the lyrics, which basically are about how we're all screwed and everything's going to hell. She cleverly uses a sample from the classic reggae tune "Blood and Fire" (Thanks again for the tip, Pfork) and spits lyrics like "Saw doves in the river who tried to swim away/Through tons of sewage fate written on their foreheads" to convey her grim message. I can't help but think of every one of my students when I hear that line.

Bestseller?

Now-deceased Swedish author Stieg Larsson's Millenium Trilogy has sold over 30 million copies worldwide, was adapted into award-winning Swedish films, and is about to be brought to the English-speaking world by waycool director David Fincher, fresh off of his smash hit about teh Facebook. I was drawn to these novels for several reasons: 1. They seemed to appeal to the masses in a new and edgy way. 2. There is much intrigue surrounding Larsson's death. 3. They're from Sweden, and nothing bad ever comes out of Sweden. I just finished the second book, The Girl Who Played With Fire, and I'm surprised at how un-amazing they are. It's not that they're bad books-I just can't see why I can find them in a cardboard display at CVS near the Blistex. These stories are brutally violent, excruciatingly detailed, and too long for their own good. They lack effective cliffhangers, and there have only been a handful of "Oh shit!" moments. A handful is not enough for 1200+ pages. Larsson's style isn't terribly engaging either. I realize that these are crime novels, but c'mon man. Dude made what could have been a rad fistfight seem like a shuffleboard match. And the fight scenes aren't the only things that are boring. How about the stance he takes? It pretty much boils down to this: Guys who rape gals are bad. Duuuuuh. We're aware, m'man. That's like making an argument in favor of organ donation or that Kim Jong-Il is an idiot. It's a safe statement to make, one that millions of readers would agree with.

Hmmmm.....maybe this is why 30 million copies have been sold.....

3:10 to Yuma

Playing Red Dead Redemption has made me appreciate Westerns in a new way. Seems like it shouldn't have taken a video game to make me warm up to the genre, but whatever. I've been watching lots of 'em recently, and 3:10 to Yuma is without a doubt the raddest one I've seen so far. Heck, it's one of the best movies I've ever seen, period. It had me on the edge of my couch from its fast beginning to its shocking conclusion, a rare feat for a movie to accomplish. It sort of had an "I'm gonna stand up and fight when everyone else is a coward" vibe to it, similar to High Noon. Russell Crowe and Ben Foster killed it as outlaws, and Christian Bale was, uh, well he was better than he usually is and didn't talk in the silly Batman voice. The score sounded like it was composed by a more modern Morricone, and the scenery was breathtaking. I've already put Bisbee, AZ on my list of places to visit.

Definitely add this to your Netflix queue if you've never seen it.

Red Dead Redemption

Red Dead Redemption is one of the raddest video games I've ever played. There's so much to do, and the world in which the game takes place is pretty astounding. Seriously, look at this:

Undoubtedly the best graphics I've ever seen in a game. The story is stellar as well, and it's no surprise that a movie is in the works. John Marston is a Clint Eastwood-esque hero, and characters like Nigel West Dickens add some humor to the proceedings.

"Fraud! This man is a f*****g charlatan!" Some other great vocab words appear in the game as well.

I've only completed about 1/3 of the game, but so far my favorite weapon is the lasso. Not only do you use it to break horses, you also can whip it out to catch criminals:

Chasing down someone and hogtying them is like the most fun thing ever. Almost as fun as this:

Throwing 'shoes for dollars. That's making a living. Speaking of making a living, I wish I could get paid to play this game all day. *Sigh* Back to work tomorrow...