Here are some of my favorite songs of the year. I decided to just pick ten and put them in alphabetical order. There was far too much great music this year to try and pick one song for the entire year. However, with that having been said, here are ten of my favorites (plus an honorable mention not in alphabetical order):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(By the way, if I had to pick a favorite song of the year, which I don’t), this would probably be it. Definitely a band to watch in 2012:

Shabazz Palaces – Swerve… by subpop

Who am I to say what’s the “best” of anything in any particular year? And yet, at the same time, the inner urges of music nerd-dom compel me each year to reflect on my media intake and even rank them. Lists are handy when there are people whose taste you trust. They help us discover not only new media but people with similar tastes. Lists help you remember the mood of a particular year. The music we listen to tells a lot about us.

The reality is that our year-end lists say more about us than they do about the artists we highlight. They are a window into the list-maker’s taste, and by extension, personality. So what does my list of favorite 2011 music say about me? You decide.

I was actually a little disappointed this year that my list looks like so many others. Is that arrogant? Probably. Or it could just mean that there were some really good albums this year that a lot of people agreed were good. That’s a good thing, right?

 

 

30) Cass McCombs: Wit’s End

29) Explosions In the Sky: Take Care, Take Care, Take Care

28) Ramsay Midwood: Larry Buys A Lighter

27) Hauschka: Salon des Amateurs

26) Reigns: Widow Blades

25) Colin Stetson: History of Warfare Volume 2: Judges

24) Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy: Wolfroy Goes To Town

23) Centro-Matic: Candidate Waltz

22) Miracles of Modern Science: Dog Year

22) The Necks: Mindset

21) Alabama Shakes: Self-Titled EP

20) Wilco: The Whole Love

19) Josh T. Pearson: Last of the Country Gentlemen

18) Tom Waits: Bad As Me

17) Dawes: Nothing Is Wrong

16) Over the Rhine: The Long Surrender

15) Joe Henry: Reverie

14) Youth Lagoon: Year of Hibernation

13) The Cave Singers: No Witch

12) Kurt Vile: Smoke Ring For My Halo

11) Balam Acab: Wander / Wonder

10) Arrange: Plantation

A devastatingly beautiful record that is almost overwhelming at times. Malcolm Lacey lets the listener in as he deals with the wreckage his abusive father left behind. Get it for free here.

09) tUnE-YaRdS – W H O K I L L

An incredible mish-mash of styles that is invariably held together by Merrill Garbus’ strong and confident voice. A fun record dealing with all sorts of serious issues while moving you to tap your feet.

08) Panda Bear: Tomboy

Noah Lennox continues channeling The Beach boys through lots of reverb to find beauty. Making the avant garde accessible, one melody at a time.

07) Fleet Foxes: Helplessness Blues

I didn’t give this record a chance until quite late in the year. But, oh my goodness, when I did, it grabbed me quickly. Soaring harmonies.

06) M83: Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming

Tickles my never-ending love for New Order. Hooks galore. “Epic” is going to be over-used when it comes to this (double) album, but it just might be appropriate.

05) Shabazz Palaces: Black Up

I don’t listen to much hip hop and I don’t like having to be forced to explain the “n word” to my oldest son because he hears a rapper use it. However, This album, featuring an ex Digable Planet is just off-kilter enough that I found myself returning to it over and over again. It’s rare to describe much new music as truly “creative,” but this stuff is just that.

04) The Field: A Looping State of Mind

Just like hip hop, I don’t listen to a lot of electronic music. But this album kept finding its way back to my ears. Yes, it’s minimalistic at times and explores Reich-ian repetition but it works. This, more than any other album this year, accompanied me while studying.

03) Bon Iver: Bon Iver

I love this album. It’s Bon Iver with “more.” The only reason it didn’t make the #01 spot on my list is because I didn’t have quite the same emotional bond with this album that I did with my #02 and #01 albums. It is the perfect follow-up to Forever For Emma Ago.

02) Chris Bathgate: Salt Year

Another emotional wreck of an album. You’d think from all the mellow and heavy albums in my list that I had a melancholy year but that’s just not true. Bathgate sings with understated power and plays with subdued beauty, bringing the listener in to reflect on past hurts and future hope with him. In all fairness, once I saw Bathgate live, I knew the album would be near the top of my list, if not my favorite of the year.

01) Seryn: This Is Where We Are

An album that really came out of nowhere for me and defined much of the year. Sweeping harmonies, intricate instrumentation, and sincerity up the ying yang (yes, that’s a good thing). All of that was simply magnified being able to meet the band and see them live (once in my living room!). Great people making great music. What’s better than that?

I’m sure you know, I listen to a lot of music. I also listen to a lot of different kinds of music. The two kinds of music I listen to least would probably be “contemporary Country” or whatever you want to call it (I love country music, I just don’t think that much of what is currently billed as country is anything like Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, or even early Wilco) and current hip hop.

When it comes to hip hop, it’s mostly subject matter and presentation. I love sampling, I love beats, etc. But, I have a hard time with someone telling me how much better they are than others. I’m not one of those people who cringes uncontrollably at every curse word in music, but quite often, hip hop has more than its fair share of expletives. To be honest, for the most part, I see it as a wasted art-form. So much potential and all these guys can do with it is talk about how great they are; how hard-core they are, and objectifying women and glorifying drug use. I’m also particularly put 0ff by so many rappers using the “N-word.” Perhaps it’s because I’m white, I just don’t understand, but to try and use that word as a term of endearment, or to call another rapper by that term just doesn’t make sense to me. Plus, if you have to spend an entire song telling me how great you are, chances are; I’m just going to think you’re insecure.

But every once in a while, I come across an artist who intrigues me even while having some of the same elements that keep me away from most hip hop. I am intrigued by the idea of Odd Future, though I am repulsed by their actual lyrics. One of my favorite hip hop acts was Digable Planets. Their two albums were creative and at the forefront of “jazz rap,” or whatever you want to call it. When I heard that Ishmael from Digable Planets had formed a new act called Shabazz Palaces, I wanted to check them out.

Though many of the elements that keep me away from hip hop are present, I am smitten by this group right now. Yes, they cuss, use the “N-Word” and even use derogatory terms for women, but they are one of the most original acts I’ve come across in a long time. Elements that made Digable Planets so good are present, yet taken farther. Most of the songs are non-linear; they don’t include 12-16 bars followed by a chorus. Instead, they morph and explore. Music often captures me best when an artist succeeds at creating a mood and Shabazz Palaces have emerged with a fully-formed musical world. Yes, there is black pride throughout (Shabazz, according to Nation of Islam doctrine, Shabazz was a scientist who led his tribe into Africa).

After two EPs in 2009, Shabazz Palaces put out their first full-length album Black Up on Sub Pop Records. Based out of Seattle, WA, not known as the mecca for hip hop, the group succeeds in creating a murky environment over which Ishmael seems to ramble in stream-of-consciousness raps. The beats are thick and always intriguing. This is not music that I would normally listen to, but it’s so rare that a band captures such a fully-formed ethos that I’m intrigued, not by the lyrics, but by the mood they create. The closest they come to “traditional” song structure is “Swerve… The Reeping of All That is Worthwhile (Noir Not Withstanding)” has become one of my favorite tracks of the year so far.

Is there music you typically steer clear of? What? Why? What draws you to certain music? Do you regularly engage in “intentional listening” (making yourself listen to music that at first seems difficult)?

Here is the band performing a four-song set for KEXP (video is about 18 minutes long):

Here’s the band performing “The King’s New Clothes Were Made By His Own Hands:”

YTGVB: Shabazz Palaces “The King’s New Clothes Were Made By His Own Hands” from Yours Truly on Vimeo.

Here is “Swerve” – I couldn’t find a good video of this track, so here is the audio:

Shabazz Palaces – Swerve…The Reeping of All That Is Worthwhile (Noir Not Withstanding) by Hypetrak