The Top 30 Albums of 2011
We realize that everyone and at least two of their cousins has done a year-end “Best Of” list, but we wanted to make the unique voice that is Weeping Elvis heard anyway.
It was a bit like herding cats to get our votes in as we laboriously and tenderly burned up iTunes and Spotify until the very last second. We, the six editors of Weeping Elvis, along with fourteen other music industry pros and listeners of discriminating taste, picked our favorites to come up with what we feel is a great representation of a good year in music. We tabulated votes on up to thirty of each individual’s favorite albums of the year, with their favorite album receiving the highest possible number of points. We certainly had difficulty with the math, but with the help of the Schoolhouse Rocks multiplication table songs and that new math they are teaching these days, we got it done.
Love us for reaffirming your choices…curse us for leaving off your favorite…revile us for what you say is “such an obvious choice.” But use this list to expand your musical taste a bit and dig something new. And by all means let us hear from you with comments “yay” or “nay.”
30) Dum Dum Girls – Only In Dreams
Do you like retro-chic goth chicas who combine the girliness of The Ronettes, vocals reminiscent of Throwing Muses, and the dreamy mysteriousness of Hope Sandoval? Do you like it with an occasional nostalgic dollop of surfrider guitar? Of course you do…especially in your dreams. –BEHRNSIE
29) The Joy Formidable – The Big Roar
In sheer decibel output over pounds per square inch, The Joy Formidable is the equivalent of strapping a rocket engine to a Go-Kart. Who knew a girl who looks like a Final Fantasy character could make that much awesome noise? The Big Roar is the most-aptly titled album since Sugar Ray’s 14:59. – JEEVES
28) Cults – Cults
From their 2010 inception to their delivery of one of 2011’s best debut albums, Cults didn’t just hit the ground running, they took flight like a Harrier Jet. Lilting, melodic, and catchy as all get out. If you’re absentmindedly humming a song while going about your day, and you own a fixed-speed bicycle and donate to NPR, chances are it’s a song by these Manhattanites.- JEEVES
27) The Strokes – Angles
In 2001, The Strokes and The White Stripes roared onto the scene and helped to save Rock-n-Roll from Diet Grunge bands like Silverchair, restoring swagger, sexiness, and sass to a faux-flannel rock genre in dire need of it. A decade later, they came back after an extended absence (and rumors of their demise) with Angles, their best record since their debut Is This It—signaling to the New York hipster scene that they spawned that they are back to reclaim the indie rock crown from cute, cuddly, twee Brooklyn scenesters who have done their best to bleed the genre of any semblance of urgency and danger. On infectious 80s-inspired pop gems like “Under Cover of Darkness,” “Machu Piccu,” and “Taken for a Fool,” they resurrect the attitude and angular dual guitar attack that put them on the map. But don’t let the cheesy 80s Rubix Cube cover art fool you—this is no mere retro record. It is a path to the future for indie rock. – HUEY
26) Fucked Up – David Comes To Life
The “rock opera” format rides again in this unconventional version of what Tommy and American Idiot begot. Some might say Fucked Up is just a solid rock band but after hearing this opus, I check myself by it anytime I say that something is “punk” as this band TRULY is. – CLEM
25) Beirut – The Rip Tide
Some music puts people in “the mood”. Some music conjures up visions of gypsy girl fights waged in the presence of Commander Bond. Beirut somehow pulls off both while serving up songs that would contend for the honor of being the last song played at Indie Rock Prom. – BEHRNSIE
24) The Weeknd – House Of Balloons
One of my darker memories is being repetitively subjected to a smooth jazz station when I would head out with a photog to cover stories for the local NBC affiliate in high school. Suffice to say, it has to be a pretty remarkable piece of music for me to warmly embrace anything related to R&B. Somehow, Abel Tesfaye’s crooning has managed to conquer those unhappy memories and a strong aversion to songs that drop the word “niggaz.” So, yeah, this isn’t my usual ball of yarn. I’m just not an R&B guy. (Of course, according to Wikipedia The Weeknd’s music is “Unclassifiable”.) However, I do love the ethereal nature of Massive Attack, Portishead, and related artists. Somehow, this album takes that trip-hop sensibility, creates an atmosphere of suspense and forboding, and fuses it with soulful songs of longing in the loins. – BEHRNSIE
23) TV On The Radio – Nine Types Of Light
Sophisticated, lush, driving are all words that coming to mind to describe the fourth, and probably most accessible album from Brooklyn’s TVOR. – FERRISE
CLICK HERE TO READ #22 THROUGH #6 AS WE SKIP AHEAD TO SOME GOODIES IN THE TOP 5…
5) Adele – 21
Nicely deserved success for such a young artist and bonus points for her songwriting partner, Dan Wilson for “Someone Like You”. He’s formerly of Semisonic, and at 50 is at the high point of his career with Adele. – FERRISE
4) My Morning Jacket – Circuital
Yeah, “you gotta hear ‘em live!” but this album is awfully damn good. If you must attach a genre moniker “alternative” would be the closest but it is ultimately undefinable. There are somewhat odd “proggy” and southern rock parts in the mix but it all works together for a completely unique and somewhat mystical whole. Maybe a bit simplistic sounding on first listen but further “spins” on the iPod reveal a subtle yet definite harmonic stretching of what the ear wants to hear but without making it inaccessible. We know lead singer/writer Jim James is slightly left of center but that just adds another completely unique facet. Having maybe one of the best drummers in rock doesn’t hurt either.– CLEM
3) Wilco – The Whole Love
After its first couple of albums, Wilco could’ve easily settled into a comfortable alt-country groove as indie rock’s twangy Americana darlings. Instead, they embraced a course of continual experimentation and evolution, and they became the embodiment of indie rock street cred, the American equivalent of Radiohead. Not unlike Radiohead or Sonic Youth, not all of their musical frolics and detours were all that, shall we say, melodic.
On The Whole Love, Wilco emerges through the looking glass with a re-calibrated “signal to noise ratio” on its most melodic, earnest, and best album since 2001’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Or, as my wife puts it, “more music, less feedback wank.” Despite opening with a 7-minute opus (“Art of Almost”), Jeff Tweedy and his band-mates ease back into their stripped-down, introspective, alt-country roots on songs like the downright sunny “It Dawned on Me,” the quirky but catchy “I Might” and the ragtime ditty “Capitol City.” Tweedy’s voice and lyrics are at their most vulnerable and forlorn on twangy torch songs like “Message from Mid-Bar” (a song title worthy of golden era Merle Haggard or Faron Young!) and the richly harmonic “Open Mind.” The Whole Love is like an old friend who’s come back from a long trip to someplace strange: after a few beers and a few minutes, you’re reminded how warmly you remember them. Welcome back Wilco, we’ve missed you! – HUEY
2) The Black Keys – El Camino
These Nashville transplants by way of Ohio give us circa 60s Soul a la Wilson Picket mixed with Muscle Shoals era Stones. – SIR DUKE
Hand claps, fuzz boxes and catchy melodies galore made this the turn-it-up-loud album of the year. – FERRISE
The textbook definition of aural sex. – JEEVES
AND FOR THE NUMBER 1 ALBUM FROM A GREAT YEAR IN MUSIC, CLICK ON OVER TO WEEPING ELVIS…
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