McQ's Best Of 2011 Vol 1 Album Summary

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McQ’s Best Of 2011 - Volume 1: Best Of The Best

There’s no getting around it - 2011 was a down year compared to the previous four, and while maybequalitatively better than the last genuinely weak year in memory (2006), not nearly as interesting.

At the heart of the issue was songs. There were a number of conceptually clear, solid front-to-back albums

in 2011, but the year desperately lacked A-plus songs. Outside of Tune-Yards, PJ Harvey, and maybe F---ed Up, it didn’t feel like any artist was deliberately swinging for the fences in 2011 the way Kanye, The

National, LCD Soundsystem, Cee Lo Green, Janelle Monae and others were in 2010.

Still, with so many dedicated, excellent bands out there today, a wealth of quality material remains.

The albums represented on this mix were either one of my favorite releases of 2011, or contained one of my favorite songs, with two caveats. One, I intentionally strove not to overlap with any artists Nancy

selected for here mix ,Volume 2 - Nancy’s Favorites…had I, Black Joe Lewis, Yuck, and Lykke Li would

have definitely claimed a spot here. Two, I excluded my favorite experimental albums and tracks, records

like Tim Hecker’s Ravedeath 1972, EMA’s Past Lifes Martyred Saints, and Nicolas Jaar’s Space Is Only

Noise, and tracks like Battles’s Ice Cream and Gang Gang Dance’s Glass Jar , to keep the accessibility

factor of this first mix high. All these gems can be discovered on Volume 7 - Moody Judys & Arty Loonies.

So, without further ado, here are the album’s represented on Volume 1.

HIGHEST RECOMMENDS

Kaputt - Destroyer: Embracing the cheesiest

new-wave sounds of the early 1980s and making

them sound like the coolest thing ever, this

Avalon-ish talk-sing song cycle from New

Pornographer Dan Bejar was easily the year’s

sexiest and most likeable release. The title track,my favorite, is included here, but two other selects can be found on Volume 4 - Grammy Sap

Nostalgiathon.

Let England Shake - PJ Harvey: It’s easier toadmire than it is to love, but there is no doubt

that from a holistic standpoint Let England

Shake was the best album of 2011. An

unflinching, folksy rumination on war’s toll

through the ages on the citizenry of England, it’s

one of the most unusual…not to mention

flawlessly conceived…albums I’ve heard in

many a while. The album’s hardest hitting song,The Glorious Land , is included here, but three

more can be found on Volume 3 - Women On

Top.

Whokill - Tune-Yards: While not nearly as

consistent as Kaputt or Let England Shake, myfinal Highest Recommend of 2011goes to the

freshest album of the year, courtesy of a one-of-

a-kind madcap indie songstress who writes

protest songs worthy of Woody Guthrie,

arranges like Captain Beefheart, and sings like a

black male Rastafarian. Whether you like her or

not, I promise, you’ve never heard an artist like

Merrill Garbus before. Bizness, her anti-oligarchy protest song, and my vote for the #1

song of 2011, is included here, but again, three

more can be found on Volume 3 - Women On

Top.

STRONG RECOMMENDS

Build A Rocket, Boys! - Elbow: Has another

band better balanced heart and experimentation,

accessibility and innovation over the last half-

decade than these underappreciated, humanistic,

Garbrielesque art-rockers? The thematic focus

shifts here from 08’s The Seldom Seen Kid ’s

deep romanticism to a profound love for one’s

community, but the song quality, emotionalism,

and invention is just as potent this time around.

Neat Little Rows, the album’s hardest rocker,



represents the record here, and two of the

album’s most heart-stirring songs can be found

on Volume 10 - From My Warm Heart To Yours.

Burst Apart - The Antlers: A genuine surprise.

Following ‘09’s lyrically stunning but oh-so-

monolithic and depressing Hospice, The Antlers

do Radiohead one better, returning with one of

the year’s most eclectic art-rock albums, a

brooding, always interesting treatise on the

explosive, all consuming nature of lust. Thecrescendo-ing Every Night My Teeth Are Falling

Out is included here. Two more tracks from the

album can be found on Volume 9 - Hopeless

Synth-Washed Romantics.

Father, Son, Holy Ghost - Girls: Quickly

morphing into one of the most reliable and

stylistically unpredictable indie acts around,

Girls’s sophomore release isn’t quite as

charming as their ’09 debut Album, but

compensates with improved production andsome newfound rock ‘n’ roll muscle. Playful

opener Honey Bunny is included here, but two of

the album’s more in-your-face tracks can be

found on Volume 8 - Garage-o-Punk-o-Funk-o-

Rama.

Helplessness Blues - Fleet Foxes: Lacking the

rustic mystery and intrigue of the band’s ’08

debut, the more confessional Helplessness Blues

is nonetheless an at times awe-inspiring listen,

due in no small part to the finest production

effort of the year. Albums just don’t come more

immaculately mixed and arranged. The sweet, Blonde On Blonde referencing track Lorelai

represents the album on this mix, but the

stunning title track, easily one of the year’s best

songs, can be found opening Volume 10 - From

My Warm Heart To Yours!

Smother - Wild Beasts: It won’t hit you hard at

first, but this smooth, operatic, slightly jazzy

exploration of how much we willingly dominate

others and/or subjugate ourselves when caught in

the throes of lust is probably the biggest

“grower” of the year, every bit as good as ‘09’s

excellent Two Dancers. Bed of Nails stands inhere, but three more seriously brooding tracks

can be found on Volume 9 - Hopeless Synth-Washed Romantics.

Zonoscope - Cut//Copy: Just another extremely

likeable dance-rock record from my favoritedance-rock act now that LCD Soundsystem has

called it a day. No monster tracks, but very

consistent, with wonderfully sly backing vocals

throughout. The joyous, Beach Boy-ish Where I’m Going graces this mix, and two other songs

can be found on Volume 9 - Hopeless Synth-

Washed Romantics.

SOLID RECOMMENDS

Blood Pressures - The Kills: Bluesier and more

varied than predecessor Midnight Boom, Blood

Pressures is the richest and best -sequenced

Kills’ album to date, anchored by gritty, nasty,song of the year contender DNA, included here.

Two other tracks can be found on Volume 3 -

Women On Top.

David Comes To Life - F---ed Up: An epic,

expansive narrative tale of love found and lost, David Comes To Life proves the old adage that

every great punk band has two knock-out albums

in them: an early release where the perfect their

signature punk sound, and, as is the case here, a

later career release where they break free from

punk’s extreme limitations. Mammoth singer

Pink Eye’s screamo vocals will be too much for some listener’s to overcome, but the band is

positively dialed in, serving up best tracks that

stand with the best released by any act this year. Running On Nothing serves as representative

here, but two more tracks, including the album’s

best song Queen Of Hearts, can be found on

Volume 8 - Garage-o-Punk-o-Funk-o-Rama.



King Of Limbs - Radiohead: It’s hard to

imagine a Radiohead release as a distant also ran

in the album of the year sweepstakes, particularly a year as weak overall as 2011, but

that is all this interesting but uneven exercise in

minimalism is. That said, its better tunes are

fantastic, especially the vocal loop minor miracle

Give Up The Ghost , included here. Bloom, my

other favorite from the record, can be found

kicking off Volume 7 - Moody Judys & Arty

Loonies.

Nine Types Of Light - TV On The Radio:

Though not quite of the caliber of previous

releases Return To Cookie Mountain or Dear

Science, Nine Types Of Light is nonethelessanother solid effort from this highly

original Brooklyn outfit, and

a stirring declaration of their love for recently

deceased band member Gerard Smith. No Future, the album’s best up-tempo number, is

included here, but the record’s two strongest

ballads can be found on Volume 10 - From My

Warm Heart To Yours.

Smoke Ring For My Halo - Kurt Vile:

Sounding like it was recorded on some small

town Midwestern screened-in back porch late on

a Friday night when a group of kids had nothing

else to do, this hazy collection of acoustic ballads was one of the most celebrated albums of

the year. I’m not in love with all its songs, but

it’s definitely got one of the most distinct feels of

anything released in 2011. Jesus Fever stands in

here, and two more tracks can be caught on

Volume 5 - Right On Cue (Here Comes The 90s).

Wild Flag : The debut for this all female, 90s alt-

rock supergroup fronted by drummer Janet

Weiss and singer/guitarist Carrie Brownstein of

Sleater-Kinney plays very much like a breezier,

poppier version of Sleater-Kinney’s ’05

masterpiece The Woods. Simultaneously one of

the hardest rocking and most buoyant releases of

the year, it landed as number one on several

year-end lists. After lead track Romance,included on this mix, I found the first half of the

record a touch lacking, but its back half isdynamite, and two songs from that stretch are

included on Volume 3 - Women On Top!

The Whole Love - Wilco: After two decent but

fairly schmaltzy releases, Wilco rediscovers their

inner cool…ten winning, playful pop numbers

bracketed by two of the most impressiveextended tracks of the year, the elegant,

Desolation Row-ish One Sunday Morning , andthe amazing, shifting opener Art Of Almost . Art

Of Almost kicks off this mix, and my favorite of

the pop numbers, Dawned On Me, sports a spot

on Volume 10 - From My Warm Heart To Yours.

The Year Of Hibernation - Youth Lagoon: Amisfit kid, alone in his Idaho bedroom with his

keyboard and some primitive recording gear,

pouring every ounce of his twee soul into song.

Volume 1 concludes with a sense of where it all

began for many of these acts with Afternoon.

Another tracking from this charming low-fi

album can be found on Volume 9 - Hopeless

Synth-Washed Romantics.

MILD RECOMMENDS

Angles - The Strokes: After a very strong three

song opening that included Under Cover Of

Darkness, one of my very favorite tracks of the

year, Angles saw the Strokes experimentingradically with their patented sound to mixed,

often poor results. Machu Picu, the album’sother great track, can be found on Volume 8 -

Garage-o-Punk-o-Funk-o-Rama.

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McQ's Best Of 2011 Vol 1 Album Summary