19.
Student at USyd (Arts/Law)
Sydney, Australia.
Curly hair. Glasses. Uses self depreciation as defence mechanism.
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
Top Albums of 2011! || #1: James Blake - James Blake
As M83 created this glorious, epic soundscape, James Blake created a creeping intimacy in his music. Like Gonzales, he used a lot of experimental sounds and production techniques in this album and it ensures that Blake’s debut album is a whooly unique piece of work. I can’t think of another artist who was able to transcend ballads and dubstep. Blake’s album is a distant cousin of Bon Iver’s, with the manipulation of vocals at the center of the song. Contextually, another reason James Blake has taken the number one spot is because it was my personal soundtrack to reading Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go and the two seemed, at least to me, a perfect match. The cold, harsh realities of Ishiguro’s novel and the idea of fleeting existence seemed to be captured in every click and key change in Blake’s music. The idea of perfect imperfections.
[Song: “Unluck”]
Top Albums of 2011! || #2: Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming - M83
It was extremely hard choosing between this and my other choice for the number one spot. Evidently the other album got it and when I get to that I’ll quantify it. In regards to Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, it seems to do everything right. It’s a sprawling double album that’s fully immersive, nostalgic yet with a clear sense of the modern and just plain epic. Songs like “Steve McQueen” and “Echoes of Mine” are insanely epic and just lift you up. And of course, my favourite song of 2011, “Midnight City” also happens to be on the album as well. As a whole, it is hard to find much fault in the album. It’s a conceptual album that doesn’t fall flat even when straying from the tonal concept of the album (see the ever-playful “Raconte-Moi Une Histoire”). It’s a fantastically executed album that is virtually flawless. I fear for Anthony Gonzales because I cannot see how he’ll top this.
[Song: “Echoes of Mine”]
Top Albums of 2011! || #3: Synchronized Sleeping - Hidden Pictures
The last Bandcamp entry on this list, Synchronized Sleeping appeared to me in a post on design blog The Fox Is Black, concerning the amazing cover art for the album. Now that I recall that, maybe I’ll say the artwork for this and American Craze are a dead-heat so I don;t have to go back and edit that post. But yeah, I clicked through and loved the artwork so I started listening to a few songs and they were really straightforward and simple and poppy and catchy and suddenly I’d bought it and was listening to it everytime I needed to study at uni. Which is a lot of the time. I used one of the songs, “Working on a Way Out” as the promo song in all of the ads for the play I wrote and directed in 2011. It became my go-to album anytime I needed something to sing along to and that’s why it’s hard for me to place it anywhere but in the top 3.
[Song: “Anne Apparently”]
Top Albums of 2011! || #4: American Craze - The Deloreans
Another Bandcamp discovery, the Deloreans’ second album brims with confidence and charm. Fantastic lyrically and the music itself is in its own little world, alternating between the classic crooning of “Gatsby” and the ridiculous over-the-top rock of “Landslide, Bitch”. It’s such a joy to diappear into that world, even for only 40 minutes. Also, it has the best album cover of this lot.
[Song: “Gatsby”]
Top Albums of 2011! || #6: Nine Types of Light - TV on the Radio
I only quite liked this album when I first heard it but after seeing them live at the Harvest Festival, my perspective on Nine Types of Light changed. At first, I thought the vocals sounded a bit lazy but then upon more listens you start to see how fantastic the layering and work of every member of the band is in order to create a pretty distinct and unique sound.
[Song: “New Cannonball Run”]
Top Albums of 2011! || #5: Cults - Cults
I loved “Go Outside” when it was first put up on bandcamp and then when I heard an album was being made I got worried. The whole charm of “Go Outside” was in it’s lack of professional touches, the lo-fi charm that in fact aided the song in achieving a sound of nostalgia. The album, however, does not in any way disappoint. In fact, it sucessfully builds upon the idea of harnessing nostalgia in music, bringing something fresh to seemingly familiar melodies.
[Song: “You Know What I Mean”]
Top Albums of 2011! || #7: Welcome to Condale - Summer Camp
I’m a sucker for retro music. If a band can come out and craft an 80s inspired album that manages not to step on the toes of M83’s Saturdays = Youth and also is more than just a laughable parody, more likely than not I will listen to it and love it. Also, since it’s now summer here in Australia, this is my summer album. So that gives it bonus points.
[Song: “1988”]
Top Albums of 2011! || #8: Sleeping Bag - Sleeping Bag
The first of three albums in this list to have been found on Bandcamp, Sleeping Bag is a step above many more well exposed albums because of its fantastic sense of consistency. With this album, you know what you’re getting from it, some fun, sometimes silly garage style surfer rock and it just works.
[Song: “Slime”]
Top Albums of 2011! || #9: Bon Iver - Bon Iver
The year after Justin Vernon provides an exceptionally ambitious soundtrack to Kanye West’s dialogue in My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy he returns to his solo efforts and ends up with a beautiful record. I think that’s going to be a trend in my descriptions, “beautiful”. It’s hard to describe it in another way. Atmospheric, maybe? What this album and a few others on this list have achieved is the reinforcement of the importance of an album as a whole, as Bon Iver is such an immersive listening experience that transports you not only to a small log cabin but more importantly the view of celestial lights from the window.
[Song: “Towers”]
Top Albums of 2011! || #10: Strange Mercy - St. Vincent
It’s always strange when an artist whose last album you adored and had near the very top of your best-of list for that year releases a new album and you really enjoy it and hold it so a somewhat similar standard as the last album, only to have it end up at no. 10 here. I don’t really know why that is. But hey, it’s still a great album!
[Song: “Dilettante”]
