What I Listened To In 2011
2011 was an odd year for music. I think some good albums came out, but (as has been the case the past two years) my access to them was limited to nonexistent. Some of what I did obtain really stuck with me, like PJ Harvey’s Let England Shake, while others took all year to really bloom (Radiohead’s The King of Limbs). There were some albums that I was excited about but which fell short of magnificent status, and I will mention these honorables at the end of this post. Without further ado, here’s what I listened to in 2011:
PJ Harvey * Let England Shake
Key Track: “The Glorious Land”
Leave it to PJ Harvey to make a much-welcome anti-war album eight years too little, too late. But we’ll forgive her because this album was worth the wait, as it demonstrates lyrically and musically what the world needs more of: heart and gusto. Then again, with a few countries revolutionized (Tunisia, Egypt, Libya), several countries “shaking” (Syria, Yemen, Jordan, Bahrain, Russia, the Eurozone, and, naturally, Japan) and one country doing a whole lot of Internet bitching (USA) in 2011, maybe Harvey was spot-on after all. Let England shake, too.
Radiohead * The King of Limbs
Key Track: “Separator”
This may be blasphemous, but I like this album more than “In Rainbows.” It just feels fresher, more courageous, more daring, or a break from “the Radiohead sound” while still paying tribute to it. I am in the camp of Radiohead fans who prefer “Weird Fishes/Arpeggio” to their over-worked maximalist tendencies (“Bodysnatchers”). Radiohead thankfully filled The King of Limbs with an album of Weird Fishes and Arpeggios. It’s short, punchy, and cerebral, filling my head with ideas for music videos: the mark of any great Radiohead album, in my book.
Lykke Li * Wounded Rhymes
Key Track: “Love Out of Lust”
With Wounded Rhymes, Lykke Li has become the princess of broken hearts and mid-20s relational frustrations. No longer in the eternally hopeful phase of the early 20s, Li has suffered her setbacks and begins to question Love’s place in her life. But aside from that, she has crafted a pop album as bittersweet as anything by The Shirelles, and as dark as anything put out by her fellow Swedes from The Knife. The key track, “Love Out of Lust,” follows a train of thought that would’ve sounded misplaced on her previous album, Youth Novels, which dwelled on tiny, everlasting love. On “Lust,” Li sings, “I’m running out of time / so let’s dance while we’re waiting,” as if resigning herself to the wonderful fate of finding ecstasy and fulfillment in partnership rather than the misguided elations felt during teen couplings. As if!
Panda Bear * Person Pitch/Tomboy
Key Track: “Bros”/“You Can Count On Me” (respectively)
This year Panda Bear really crystallized for me. I’d like to mention Tomboy in this spot, but found myself listening to Person Pitch more often, particularly drawn to “Bros” time and time again. More than anything in 2011, I needed music that calmed my nerves, brought about deeper introspection, and made me serene in the face of change/upheaval. “Bros” hit the spot again, and again, and again. A full 12 and a half minute barn-burner of a song, it’s currently my Most Played track on my mp3 player. I particularly like to play it on long bus rides while zipping through the Ethiopian countryside, as it gives the fields and soil a special glow, gives the bizarre actions of blurry Ethiopians a deeper meaning. “You Can Count On Me” is a by far shorter song than “Bros,” but it packs a similar emotional weight. It’s the sound of going away for a long period of time, but reassuring your loved ones that you’ll be back, better than ever.
Spoon * Transference
Key Track: “The Mystery Zone”
OK, this album may have been released in 2010, but I don’t think I mentioned it last year, probably because I had yet to hear it. Well, Spoon can do no wrong, it seems. And, like a fine leather satchel, only gets better with age.
Tune-Yards * w h o k i l l
Key Track: “Bizness”
I was given two mix CDs this year; a Tune-Yards track appeared on both. Then my brother sent me a collection of music burned to CD, including the entirety of w h o k i l l. It seemed that many people were telling me, “Listen to this!” Even though I already had the album, I probably would not have given it such a close listen had it not followed me everywhere I went. It seems like such a provincial album to have made such waves this year…it sounds like an album a Bennington College music major would make as a masters thesis. But here it is, and when I listen to this music it just grows on me, like a benign cancer. Similar to, come to think of it, The King of Limbs.
Kanye West * My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Key Track: “Runaway” and “All of the Lights” (tie)
Forget why you hate Kanye West, let’s focus here on why you love him: For using raw piano as a backbeat. For “toasting the douchebags.” For using Justin Vernon (aka Bon Iver) to deep, un-ironic effect. For the lyric, “Have you ever had sex with a pharaoh? / I put the pussy in a sarcophagus.” For finally making fun of his ego rather than protecting it. For not using (or using very little) Auto-Tune on this album. For making it this far without blowing his brains out with a shotgun. Yeah, it’s no smooth ride with this freak, but where would we be without him?
Tracks of the Year; Or What I Got Down To in 2011
“Bad Girls” – M.I.A.
“Bombay” – El Guincho
“Only Girl in the World” – Rihanna
“Dancing On My Own” – Robyn
“Astoria (Demo)” – Starfucker
“Not In Love (feat. Robert Smith)” – Crystal Castles
“Gasoline” – Britney Spears
Honorable Mentions for Bands Putting Out Decent Albums That Broke No New Ground
Cut Copy – Zonoscope
The Decemberists – The King is Dead
YACHT – Shangri-La
Thao & Mirah – Self-Titled
Dishonorably Discharged
Bright Eyes – The People’s Key
The New Pornographer’s – Together
Albums That I Obtained (Literally) Only Yesterday, And Will Have To Be Remarked Upon at a Later Date
Blind Pilot – We Are the Tide
Beirut – The Rip Tide
Bon Iver – Self-Titled
Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – Mirror Traffic
TV on the Radio – Nine Types of Light
