Top 11 Albums of 2011
Now that everyone should be tired of reading these lists, here are 11 good records/tapes/cds that came out in the last 365 days or so (in no particular order)
1. Matthewdavid - Outmind (Brainfeeder): a great collection of experimental beaty/sound collage stuff from the LA brainfeeder label. This album is half cruising LA in a mustang 2.0 convertible, half warped/inspired beats, making a really enjoyable listen. I must have run to Montrose harbor and back while listening to this one at least 10 times.
2. Panda Bear - Tomboy (Paw Tracks): This record initially pissed me off. Panda Bear released these tracks in a series of singles in 2010, I loved the songs, and then in 2011 he released the full record, featuring mostly the previously released singles remixed with various sound effects/atmospheric samples on top. On top of the fact that I was now forced to re-orient my interpretation of the music with a layer of random noises on top, I guess it seemed fitting to me that if Panda Bear wanted to simplify the writing process and even make music with a slightly more pop sentimentality, he didn’t need the additional sonic dimension that is such an integral component of his more psychedelic stuff. Let the songs speak for themselves ya know? Really a pretty stupid thing to get all worked up about, the songs are great and the sonic shit is done well. I got to see him live when he came through town, and it was enjoyable to watch Sonic Boom, who I assume did most of the remixing, dancing and smoking joints on stage, passionately turning knobs in his setup to get these sounds. I also appreciate Panda Bear’s usage of concepts from chants/church music.
3. Eric Copeland - Waco Taco Combo (Escho): I listened to a lot of Eric Copeland/Black Dice stuff this year, and ummm, yeah, ate a lot of cheetos. I actually didn’t eat cheetos though, I’m trying to eat more vegetables and save my indulgences for the breakfast pastries. Eric Copeland’s record is a really enjoyable listen if you like like Biz Markie, and believe that electronic music is best when it’s barely syncopated, and if you don’t believe that, then fuck you, go to a club.
4. Ford & Lopatin - Channel Pressure (Software): Ford & Lopatin could be thought of as the offspring resulting from an orgy that occurred in the back of Club 57 on the one magical night when the Grateful Dead jammed with Quincy Jones. Expertly crafted 80’s synth pop at its core, there’s a number of other special goodies, references to new age, chopped & screwed R&B, the sound of a symphony tuning transposed to synthesizers, greatful-dead style interludes. As someone who believes that the human race progresses only through small steps, continually building on our predecessors toils, I’m totally supportive of the idea of wearing your influences on your sleeve. Further sweetening the pie is Mr Prefuse 73, who I’ve always greatly appreciated, who produced and arranged the record based on pieces of semi-improvised jams by ford and lopatin.
5. Polymer Slug - Cloud Types (Overland Shark): Of all the ‘synthesizer tapes’ I got this year, this stands out to me as the most pleasant listen. It could also be inspired by the great Polymer Slug live set I saw earlier this year.
6. l’Eternebre’ - l’Eternebre (PlusTapes): another enjoyable tape from a local chicago ambient/noise band, which from the live show I expected to be mostly based mostly on loops synthesizers and guitars & effects, but I was surprised to hear circuit bent instruments, violin, vocals, and other instruments played in a fun and intimate way.
7. Oneohtrix Point Never - Replica (Software): the one thing i’d say about this record that hasn’t been noted in the extensive coverage it has received in the blogosphere is that aside from being an interesting concept (cleverly arranging short samples from old advertisements to establish the backdrop for each song), Replica was very engaging from a compositional perspective. Tension is built and released in elegant and powerful ways. Each song seems to have a different structural element that is unique in it’s own right and the sounds are often associated with fun visual scenes (a futuristic human toying around with synthesizers, accompanied by reassembled samples from advertisements, a child soldier fighting and running, etc…). All of these types of things have been done before, but as a friend said this year - there’s something special about OPN’s music that explains why all the blog nerds have spent so much time discussing it this year.
Oneohtrix Point Never - Power Of Persuasion by Mexican Summer
8. Thundercat - The Golden Age of Apocalypse (Brainfeeder): I had initially written off this one after being super freaked about it, I mean anybody who’s heard this dude’s work knows that he’s got a really unique sensibility and some serious skills to back it. But I guess the over-use of a few themes (see “MMMM” on Flying Lotus’s Cosmogramma and Duke George’s “Love”) kinda annoyed me. Probably because when I first listened I had copied both the mp3’s and wav’s to my iphone, so i heard every song twice while I was doing the dishes, which made it seem REALLY repetitive, so I put it away. Record producers should be thinking of situations such as this. But a little riff-regurgatation shouldn’t hide the fact that there’s some really great, funky, fun, and original tracks on here.
9. Grouper - A I A : Alien Observer (Yellowelectric): I recently picked checked this after it showed up on multiple year-end lists, and found myself thinking how perfect it was a nice winter walk. Simple melodies on an rhodes with heavy tremolo, beautiful female vocal harmonies. It’s recorded in a pretty lofi fashion, adding to the atmosphere, and this is one of those recordings that reminds me of what a lot great recording engineers have said - great music that was recorded cheaply beats shitty music that was recorded in a multi-million dollar studio anyday.
10. Quicksails - Bywater Colours (Digitalis LTD): This is the solo-synth project of jazz drummer/percussionist Ben Billington, and his percussive bravado helps to create an atmosphere that is both static in mood but continually moving from the various layers of fried synthesizers, great sounding drums, and various weird noises and samples put through delays and phasers set at different tempos. Great head music for sure. You know that feeling you get when you discover something new that changes the way you perceive the world, and you feel content with it, yet you also have the slight sensation that something is incredibly wrong? It’s kinda like that.
Quicksails “In Prytania” by foxydigitalis
11. Rene Hell - The Terminal Symphony (Type): I saw Rene Hell twice this year - once at Neon Marshmallow Fest at the empty bottle, and his powerful set of crisp modular synthesis/arpeggiation was definitely a highlight. I saw him again recently at the Burlington, and this time he sat in the back corner of the stage with what seemed to be just a laptop (which I suppose was running some of his Max/MSP concoctions), and made 30 minutes of R2D2 noises. At least that’s what I could hear, the sound was by far not loud enough, a shame in any circumstance, but especially in cases of such intricate music. This album is a pure delight. The concept, as described by the label, is “Jeff Witscher’s attempt to write tighter, more composed pieces of music – something of a reaction against the glut of long, often-flabby drone compositions that have become a mainstay in the scene.” A bunch of random R2D2 sounds is boring, but a symphony composed by R2D2 is pretty wonderful as it turns out.
Rene Hell - The Terminal Symphony by _type
