some songs i liked last year:
(my pick for best album 2011) Continue reading
Tag Archives: best of 2011
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Here’s to 2011 – the Best Albums of the Year
So 2011 wasn’t like 2010, when Titus Andronicus worked its way inside my head and wouldn’t leave and LCD Soundsystem continued to be, by a number of measurements, the best band in the world. And it wasn’t like 2009, when Japandroids and Pains of Being Pure at Heart and Telekinesis exploded into the world and Dan Boeckner and Spencer Krug released their finest moments (so far) respectively, as Handsome Furs and Sunset Rubdown. Instead, 2011 had a different kind of satisfaction – mostly steadily great bands releasing solid records, up and down the list. There are notable exceptions (Weekend, Big Troubles, Cloud Nothings), but for the most part, music in 2011 seemed to me a bit like comfort food – nothing to challenge you too much, but it never lets you down.
With that said – here’s Part 1 of Song-o-Matic’s end of year list:
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The Mountain Goats: All Eternals Deck (a record review)
It’s a special sort of gift that my favorite songwriter is still making good music, let alone some of the best of his career, into his second decade of songwriting. Have you heard a Prince album lately? Sure, I can go back and listen to Dirty Mind whenever I want to, but I have to be contented with one or two good songs an album nowadays… not so with the Mountain Goats, who have just released one of the best albums of his/their career with All Eternals Deck.The high water mark of John Darnielle’s songwriting is pretty damn high – it’s pretty hard to find a weak spot in his post-Coroner’s Gambit catalog. But where the past couple Mountain Goats records have had their flaws Continue reading
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Telekinesis: 12 Desperate Straight Lines
(A note: if you’d like to get updates when we post and/or have something to say about music, please follow us on Twitter @Songomatic or become a fan on Facebook)I wait all year for a moment like this – putting on a new album that’s been sitting on the release calendar for months, tantalizing me. Often, of course, these moments are anticlimactic – not disappointing, always, but it’s hard for a record to live up to whatever hype I’ve built up for it in my head. For most of the year, I’m listening to albums I thought would be great but are merely good, or great albums I didn’t even know were coming out, or albums I thought would be boring and are, or the occasional complete bomb.
So it’s moments like this – putting on the new Telekinesis record and having it kill from the first notes of acoustic guitar that grace album opener “You Turn Clear in the Sun,” then having every song barrel forward like front/onlyman Michael Benjamin Lerner is afraid if he slows up, you might stop listening. Continue reading
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Apex Manor: “Teenage Blood”
Apex Manor: The Year of Magical Drinking
January 25 = Apex Manor > Destroyer, although respect is due. Pretty sure that’s the equation.
Also, first big release date since Emusic forced out Merge, Matador, and Beggars. Boo Emusic.
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Say Hi: “Dots on Maps”
Since discovering Say Hi several years ago, I have listened to their songs 570 times, according to last.fm, which does not take into account the five or six times I’ve listened to their new record, um, uh oh, since I got it in the mail on Saturday, or how many times I’ve listened to various CDs in my car. The only bands I’ve listened to more are Prince (not a band, but still), the Hold Steady, and the Mountain Goats. And that seems about right.Which is to say that Eric Elbogen makes pretty much the exact type of beautiful pop music that I love – compact songs with memorable lyrics and little hooks around every corner. Not sure how the rest of the year will shake out, of course, but I have a feeling this record will end up near the top. Fantastic – and extra thanks to Barsuk for getting it to me four days early.
