Tender Rain Comes Falling Down

(image via Brooklyn Vegan)

Several months have passed since my last update and it isn't for lack of consideration. I could spiral off into a tangent about the importance of focusing on and absorbing real-world experiences, but I think that most everyone gets the concept of just tapering off every now and again from digital means. Most of all, my priorities changed and keeping up with this blog just hasn't been one of them. Between my father's heart-attack, spending a month in a hospital, losing my job, my sister getting married, my girlfriend moving in for a month, gaining a new a job, packing everything I own and relocating to Portland, my sister getting pregnant, and settling into my new house, it's safe to say I've been a little all over the place mentally and physically. However, one thing that always manages to keep things tied together is music. It's also the one thing I always feel is important enough to discuss and share via these sorts of means. So here we go, my annual year-end list of the top tunes and related music miscellany.

In comparison to 2010, this year has more than made up for the quantity of quality releases that were lacking last time around. There's been so much new music as of late, I feel like I can barely keep up. From brilliant debuts to dazzling follow-ups, it's been a non-stop barrage of aural treasures. Now, if you've been a follower of this blog or know me much at all, you won't be surprised who I've crowned with the top prize - Grouper (Liz Harris). However, to be completely honest it was a really close call. HTRK delivered a stunning sophmore effort in the wake of their late bassist, Sean Stewart, that was an amalgamation of melancholy, depravity and sexual compulsion. I think it'll be looked back on as true milestone in the noir-minded independent music genre. Similarly dark and eerie was the proper debut of Weyes Blood, who'd only been kicking around lo-fi limited cassette releases prior. On their The Outside Room LP, they tapped into a descriptive I'd already tagged fellow 2011 champions Tropic of Cancer with (“heroin-induced Nico”), while sounding quite dissimilar stylistically. Where Tropic of Cancer hit the nail on the head of the emerging goth-gaze genre, Weyes Blood stands to lead a new sect of the freak-folk scene by filtering their sound through a Carnival of Souls aesthetic. If there's a happy medium between the two, London's Still Corners may just be it. Their SubPop-backed LP Creatures Of An Hour has steadily been pricking up the ears of those who've stumbled upon it. The British four-piece have crafted a record that captures the shimmering aspirations of the much-missed Broadcast, while carefully infusing enough of their own identity to ensure it won't be mistaken as pure idol worship.

I'm going on far too long, so I will sum it up as I always generally tend do about these things: give 'em all a-go! Though I may have singled out the darker tones of the year in this summary, there's been plenty of lighter pop-shades too (see this year's releases by: Bleached, The Drums, Girls Names, Veronica Falls, etc). I'd highly recommend giving all of these releases a spin if they're unfamiliar to you. So, without further ado, here is the list of my favorites of the year...


Top 50 Favorite Albums of 2011

1. Grouper “A | A: Alien Observer & Dream Loss” 2 x LP
2. HTRK “Work (Work, Work)” LP
3. Weyes Blood & The Dark Juices “The Outside Room” LP
4. The Drums “Portamento” LP
5. Dirty Beaches “Badlands” LP
6. Blouse "s/t" LP
7. I Break Horses “Hearts” LP
8. Minks “By The Hedge” LP
9. Pink Playground “Destination Ecstasy” LP
10. Still Corners “Creatures of an Hour” LP
11. S.C.U.M. “Again Into Eyes” LP
12. Papercuts “Fading Parade” LP
13. Pains of Being Pure at Heart “Belong” LP
14. Veronica Falls “s/t” LP
15. Puro Instinct ”Headbangers in Ectsasy” LP
16. Iceage “New Brigade” LP
17. Young Prisms "Friends for Now" LP
18. Belong “Common Era” LP
19. Chapel Club “Palace” LP
20. Widowspeak "s/t" LP
21. Craft Spells “Idle Labor” LP
22. Crystal Stilts “In Love With Oblivion” LP
23. David Lynch "Crazy Clown Time" LP
24. Elite Gymnastics “Ruin” LP
25. Atlas Sound “Parallax” LP
26. Chelsea Wolfe “Apokalypsis“ LP
27. John Maus "We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves" LP
28. Tim Hecker ”Ravedeath, 1972” LP
29. Leyland Kirby “Eager To Tear Apart The Stars” LP
30. Ringo Deathstarr “Color Trip” LP
31. Tomorrows Tulips “Eternally Teenage” LP
32. Selebrities “Delusions” LP
33. Sandwell District "Feed Forward" LP
34. The Horrors ”Skying” LP
35. Dum Dum Girls “Only in Dreams” LP
36. Girls Names “Dead to Me” LP
37. The Raveonettes “Raven in the Grave” LP
38. Vum "Nightsun" LP
39. The War On Drugs "Slave Ambient" LP
40. Brain Idea "Cosmos Factory" LP
41. Comet Gain "Howl of the Lonely Crowd" LP
42. Cut Copy "Zonoscope" LP
43. Cats Eyes “Cats Eyes” LP
44. Oneohtrix Point Never “Replica” LP
45. Real Estate “Days” LP
46. Sleep Over "Forever" LP
47. Phantom Payn Days “Phantom Payn Daze” LP
48. Slug Guts “Howlin’ Gang” LP
49. King Blood "Eyewash Silver" LP
50. TV Ghost "Mass Dream" LP

Top 30 Favorite EPs (12"/ 10"/ 7"/ splits) of 2011

1. Tropic of Cancer “Sorrow of Two Blooms” EP
2. Rites Wild ”s/t” EP
3. Grouper “Water People” 7"
4. Pink Playground “Sunny Skies” 7"
5. Pink Playground “Come Find Me/Ten” 10"
6. Dum Dum Girls “He Gets Me High” EP
7. Bleached ”Think of You” 7"
8. Bleached "Searching Through The Past" 7"
9. Mood Rings “Sweater Weather Forever” EP
10. Die Jungen “$” EP
11. Catwalk “One By Words” 7"
12. Blouse “Into Black” 7"
13. Colours “s/t” EP
14. The KVB ”Subjection/Subordination” CS
15. The KVB “Into The Night” 10"
16. Tropic of Cancer “Be Brave” 10"
17. Tropic of Cancer “The End of All Things” EP
18. Crystal Stilts “Radiant Door” EP
19. Dirty Beaches "Lone Runner" 7"
20. DVA Damas / Le Face split 7"
21. Les Demoniaques “Teenage Lust” 7"
22. Minks "Araby" EP
23. Petra Schelm/Warm Hands split CS
24. Visitor “s/t” EP
25. Zodiacs “Faraway Friend” 7"
26. Dirty Beaches / Ela Orleans split 12"'
27. Psychic Ills "Hazed Dream" EP
28. The Soft Moon "Total Decay" EP
29. Psychic Dancehall “A Love That Kills” 7"
30. Der Ventilator “s/t” 7"
    

Top 10 Favorite Shows of 2011

1. Dum Dum Girls / Minks / Dirty Beaches at The Casbah
2. Iceage at The Echo
3. HTRK / Tropic of Cancer at The Echo
4. Still Corners at Mississippi Studios
5. The Radio Dept / Young Prisms at The El Rey Theater
6. Veronica Falls at The Echo
7. Crystal Stilts at The Natural History Museum
8. Bleached at The Smell
9. DVA Damas at The Prospector
10. Crocodiles / Tamaryn at The Smell
    

Top 10 Favorite Record Labels of 2011

1. Captured Tracks
2. Mexican Summer
3. SubPop
4. Downwards
5. Slumberland
6. Blackest Ever Black
7. Sacred Bones
8. Clan Destine Records
   
9. FLA
10. Art Fag

Note: I've still yet to really listen to the new Tom Waits and PJ Harvey releases this year. Having admired both for quite a while, I'd imagine this list may get revised in the future. Oh, and Happy New Year friends!