(We recommend that you read this magazine on the toilet)
Dear Toilet Reader,
rainydawg.org rainyblawg.asuw.org facebook.com/rainydawgradio twitter.com/rainydawgradio
College radio is a tradition that over the years has changed the shape of the music industry, and here in Seattle, Rainy Dawg Radio is the online station that keeps college radio alive. Rainy Dawg is entirely studentrun, owned and supported by the Associated Students of the University of Washington. Our station went online in 2003 as an educational outlet for students at the UW interested in the broadcast and music industries, as well as to provide entertainment for students, staff, and faculty. Since then, Rainy Dawg has grown to become an important part of the Seattle music scene, hosting in-studio performances, organizing concerts with local and touring artists, and providing a source for student-designed media. Although the station’s priority is to provide quality and diverse programming for the University community, its reach is global, and anyone, worldwide, can tune in to our live stream at www.rainydawg.org. Here are a few examples of the kind on air programs we have offered over the past year, in addition to our blocks of indie/variety, electronic, hip hop, local, and loud rock.
• • •
Milk and Cookies, an in-studio performance show where local bands (Tomten, Cumulus, The Horde and the Harem, and more) play new music and share milk and cookies with their host. An electronic music show co-hosted by an English Department graduate student and his talking robot VLAD. A funk and jazz show hosted by our tech guy featuring a weekly guest spot by Condon Hall’s favorite janitor and gospel-aficionado, Gospel Bear.
This year-end magazine, inspired by the Amoeba Records’ Music We Like, features a series of lists compiled by our staff, DJs, and volunteers. You’ll also find a list of the albums that we’re looking forward to in 2012, along with drawings from our talented friends Jake Muilenburg and Henry Seeley. Special thanks to Erin Halligan for the cover art and to Daphne Hsu for the layout design. These are the albums from 2011 that we liked enough to spend our nonexistent printing budget to tell you about... although I noticed that most of our DJs forgot to include the Bieb’s Under the Mistletoe, which was my favorite album of the year by far. Sincerely, The Rainy Dawg
as well, because it will sound like a Spits album.
Freddie Gibbs Cold Day in Hell
staff lists Sam Mouser General manager
8. M onogomy
Pus City
Party
Basement Resonance
Git bizzzy, Seattle.
1. Wild
9. Xander
The King’s smut.
American horror story on FX was my favorite television show this year, but Toddlers and Tiaras was almost as scary.
Beasts Smother
2. P eaking
936
Lights
Dub steez, ‘Sconsin cheese. 3. S habazz
Black Up
Palaces
These guys keep Seattle music relevant, otherwise the rest of the world would’ve thought the Head and the Heart were the realest thing this city had to offer in 2011.
Harris Urban Gothic
10. C lams
Casino Instrumentals
GETTIN HEAD IN THE CLOUDS.
Matt Kolhede
Assistant Manager
4. Iceage
Zone’s Own ’Zone Zone
Rock & roll ungdomsuddannelse.
OBN III’s The One and Only
New Brigade
5. Rustie
Glass Swords
Rump-shunky dance splooge from the farthest reaches of the Internet. 6. Bill
Callahan Apocalypse
American gothic, astral doom. 7. Destroyer
Kaputt
Powder your nose.
Do you like rock n roll? Of course you do. OBN III’s are perhaps the most rock n roll rock n roll band going right. Songwriter and vocalist Orville Neely (of Bad Sports fame) knows how to write the hits and he’s got Iggy swagger for days. Iggy swagger.
Synthetic ID Demo
I think this band has only existed for half a year or so, but I probably listened to this three song demo in its entirety more than any other album this year. Yell-y, monotone vocals mixed with excellent angular guitar riffs and a solid rhythm section. The perfect combination. Word on the street is someone, somewhere is releasing this on vinyl at some point, but until then you’re just gonna have to consult your personal internet machine to acquire this. Thank you internet machine.
Mikal Cronin S/T
You may know Mikal Cronin as
best of 2011
Straight Gibbs fire.
the bass player and vocalist for Moonhearts, and if you do, then you know this John Cusack looking motherfucker knows how to write a song. Great garagey pop songs with Ty Segall’s signature fuzzy production. This album is easily the best debut of the year.
Iceage New Brigade
I bet if you were an angry youth, you had a punk band. But I guarantee your band was not nearly as good as these young Danish whippersnappers. This album’s got the riffs. This album’s got the hooks. This album’s got the energy. This album’s got it all.
Night Beats S/T
This album sounds like listening to rock n roll on acid in Hell, which, needless to say, sounds awesome. Night Beats are Seattle’s newly crowned garage rocks kings. So regal. So groovy.
Shannon and the Clams Sleep Talk
I’ve always had a soft spot in my cold, cold heart for 60s girl groups. They make me feel all warm and fuzzy. For this reason, I loved Shannon and the Clams’ first album, I Wanna Go Home, but I had my doubts about whether or not they could keep it interesting. Well shut my mouth. This album is great and Shannon Shaw is a babe.
Impediments Broken Hits
Think of Johnny Thunders-esque punk rock n roll on crack with much more shredding. That’s exactly what The Impediments sound like. This album straight up rocks. This band is the next Exploding Hearts, and most them are still teenagers. Woah.
The Spits V
The Spits are the best band in the world. This album sounds like a Spits album, just like all the other Spits albums sound like Spits albums. I assume the next Spits album is gonna sound like a Spits album too. That means that the next Spits album is gonna be great
Hans Anderson Music Director
The Jams
1. Destroyer
Kapputt
Dan Bejar was aptly using the saxophone much better (and before) M83 and Canyons to create a hilarious mix of lounge music and lyrics like “Step out of your toga and look to the folk / You are a prince in the ocean.” 2. Cass
McCombs Wit’s End
If I could lump Humor Risk in here as Wit’s End’s happy/poppy counterpart, I would. But I can’t, so I chose the album where McCombs creates eight of the most wistful songs of the year and writes tender folk melodies and lyrics. It’s been a Wit’s End sort of year. 3. St.
Vincent Strange Mercy
Annie Clark’s third release is a dance party gone terribly awry and it gets so overblown that it constantly feels as if it will fall apart under the weight. It never does and her guitar playing and voice together create a more manageable Dirty Projector’s aesthetic. 4. P J
Harvey Let England Shake
This is just a great album if you want to listen to it all the way through. Harvey takes the traditional way to
sing about a country—ballads—and instead strums through a series of pop songs about her home. 5. T he
War on Drugs Slave Ambient
The best straightforward rock albums of the year, The War on Drugs combined ‘60s psychedelia and Bruce Springsteen style rock to create a continuous 47-minute boner. 6. Razika
Program 91
The Norwegian all girl outfit had one of the most endearing albums I’ve heard in a long time. It has a lot of energy, being recorded by a group of 18 year olds during their weekends off from school. The broken English, yearning lyrics, it was wunderbar. 7. Nurses
Dracula
This was a great pop album from Portland’s Nurses. It was a lot bigger than Apples Acre and was only a few Therymine lines away from being a good pop-monster movie soundtrack. 8. T y
Segall Goodbye Bread
I’ve always liked Ty Segall, his San Fransisco garage rock being a mainstay on my stereo. This release saw him slow down his sound and break his traditional song writing style of short, choppy, and brash. There were slow jams and oh how I jammed. 9. Kurt
Vile Smoke Rings For My Halo
Philedalphia’s ambling, rambling singer song writer Kurt Vile finger plucks his way through most of this album, strumming some expansive and weary roots rock tracks. 10. Jullianna
Barwick The Magic Place
I don’t think there is any other album this year that was able to build an atmosphere the way that Barwick’s The Magic Place did. The instrumentation is perfect, very little percussion, lots of haunting vocals, ethereal guitars, and a little bit of straightforward piano.
RAINYDAWG.ORG
Bennett Schatz Technical Director
The Chronosynclastic Soul Symposium Shigeto Full Circle Remixes (Ghostly International)
Full Circle was probably my favorite album of 2010, so when Ghostly released the remix album in early 2011 I was STOKED. We’re talking STOKED on being AMPED on being PUMPED type stoked here. One look at the track list (featuring remixes by Samiyam, Mux Mool, Om Unit, and Mike Slott among others) and I became even more STOKED. I was practically POOPING MY PANTS. One listen through the album justified the internal hype I created within myself. Not only does the album include fantastic remixes of the best tracks on the album (Relentless Drag, Children At Midnight, and And We Gonna being my personal faves) but also includes a previously unreleased track by Shigeto that was left off of Full Circle. A great album by a fantastic group of producers that let me revisit one of my top albums of the entire 2000s (not counting the Limp Bizkit discography from said period).
AEED Titles (Jumble)
Jumble is undoubtedly one of the coolest labels around right now. An imprint of Fuselab, Jumble released self-described ‘PhutureBass’ music. While some of the tunes they release can be a bit esoteric for primitive human ears, AEED’s debut album ‘Titles’ is a release that is both accessible and waythe-fuck out there. Bleeps and bloops and baselines so deep they make your bowels tremble. Using a wide variety of sound sources and an impeccable ear, AEED creates a flowing, gurgling journey through outer and inner space and explores a sonic palette that is at the forefront of electronic music today. Imagine if you will, J Dilla as the
Shabazz Palaces Black Up
Borg Queen. That is kind of like this album.
Sepalcure Sepalcure (Hotflush)
Sepalcure’s eponymous debut album was one of the best releases at the end of 2011, incorporating elements from a wide variety of genres and production styles. Easily one of the sultriest albums of the year, the duo (Travis Stewart and Praveen Sharma) use their seasoned ears and fingers to pump out jam after jam. Imagine if Burial had a threesome with Mark Farina and Flying Lotus. The album flows like water from a cold, clean, rocky mountain tap, each song throbbing (yeah that’s right) along at a perfect pace and moving smoothly through a variety of moods and sonic territories, all orbiting around a solid stylistic base. Bring out the red wine and candles and invite some sexy people over for a ‘listening party.’ Or you could just play apples to apples. You would be surprised at the number of times that game has led to intercourse. Thoroughly surprised.
Isaac Pasternack Promotions Coordinator
Hip Hop For Pretentious Gangsters Death Grips Exmilitary
Death Grips is HELLA drummer Zach Hill’s newest project. They sound like an 80’s hardcore band that makes rap beats. The group is fronted by MC ride, who sounds like an assaultive in your face version of the RZA. With groups like OFWGKTA dominating the hip-hop world, it is refreshing to see a group so divergent from that style make great music.
The Physics Love is a Business
Seattle hip-hop gurus The Physics return with their second proper album Love is a Business. The album weaves through jazzy, soulful hip-hop with songs like “Coronas on Madrona” and “Seward Park”, as well as high energy moments
like “Clubhouse” and “The Red Eye.” The album marks a huge progression from previous Physics records; we can expect a big future for these three Seattle natives.
Mellowhype Blackened White
I dislike Tyler, the Creater; he is overrated. Hodgy Beats on the other hand, isn’t. Blackened White is the second album from Mellowhype, and their debut on Fat Possum records. Partnered with producer Left Brain the album is a fresh take on modern hip-hop, with some really great guest singing from Frank Ocean. Hodgy provides an aggressive but introspective style of rapping over Left Brain’s ambient, “syrupy” beats.
Hail Mary Mallon Are You Gonna Eat That?
Seattle native Ishmael Butler makes his Sub Pop debut as Shabazz Palaces. The former Digable Planets frontman still has all his chops, Black Up is by far one of the most innovative Seattle hip-hop albums of all time. With producer and multi instrumentalist Tendai Maraire producing, the album is genuinely amazing. Shabazz Palaces are also first hip-hop act ever to be signed to Sub Pop records, a true indication of the progression of the Seattle music scene.
Dessa Castor, the Twin
Minneapolis native and Doomtree member Dessa returns with her second album Castor, the Twin. The album is comprised of songs from her debut A Badly Broken Code, only played by a full orchestra. There are also a few new songs, played in the same style.
Danny Brown XXX
Former G-Unit affiliate Danny Brown showed the rap industry how thug you can be while still wearing acid washed skinny jeans. His age dedicated mixtape XXX is an ode to his favorite substances, adderall and weed; all while he stays conscious of the fact he just turned 30.
Hail Mary Mallon is the latest project from Aesop Rock, Rob Sonic and DJ Big Whiz. Named MURS for the notorious soup kitchen worker who was responsible for the Love and Rockets Vol. 1 Los Angeles underground king Typhoid Epidemic, Are You Gonna MURS’ latest release is very differEat That? touches on the vulgar at times with many songs about illness, ent from his previous project. For this album MURS relocated to but it is still with Aesop Rock’s New York, and worked exclusively impeccable delivery and cadence. with Top 40 producer Ski Beatz. The album also marks Aesop and The unusual pairing works surprisRob Sonic’s Rhymesayer’s debut; ingly well; the album is one of definitely a keeper. MURS’ best projects to date.
Frank Ocean Nostalgia Ultra
This mixtape has been on every single Top Music of 2011 list, for good reasons. Frank Ocean’s soft, melodic voice is one of the more enjoyable voices of the year. The beats provide a retro take on modern electronic music, making for instant classics.
best of 2011
Evidence Cats & Dogs
Former Dilated Peoples’ producer Evidence made his Rhymesayers debut as a solo rapper this year. The album features production from powerhouse producers like DJ Premier; overall its a fantastic debut from a new-ish rapper.
9. C ut
Copy Zonoscope
dj lists Carlos Madrid
The Carlos Show 1.
T oro y Moi Underneath the Pine
When I first thought about this list, this was already up there on the Top 10. I had real hard time deciding whether the EP he released later (Freaking Out) should be here instead. Overall through the year, though, I played this album more than anything else and its positive energy definitely made the my year much brighter. I saw the cat ROCKING IT at the Crocodile touring the full length and that was one of the finest nights of 2011. The entire album is an immersion of feel-goodness and I could not stop playing it for months. Because this album is so beautiful, energetic, relaxing and fun to listen to and because of its major importance through this year for me, it deserves the number one spot of my list. 2.
Mogwai Hardcore Will Never Die But You Will
I remember when the name got first announced—if this was a list of the most bad ass album names of 2011, this would be number one. Listening to this album is the perfect audio voyage and the almost-lyricless-ness of it got me through a period of necessary thinking about life and the end of college. Seeing them live was the final say-so in bringing the album up top on the list—these humans can craft a classic audible experience like no one else. 3. T V
on the Radio Nine Types of Light
By far the most accessible album TV on the Radio has ever released, this album was my summer fuel. Probably the strongest and most
diverse collection of active musicians this year, the band had a very complex year with the tragic death of Gerard Smith. However, they did a beautiful thing and honored his life by playing amazing shows through the year (shows which included a much commented version of Fugazi’s “Waiting Room” as part of the set list). Tunde, Kyp, and David are by far the most elegant musicians of 2011, both for what they have recorded and for their attitudes in general. If you skipped through Nine Types of Light for whatever reason (and I know there could have been plenty) I strongly suggest you to go back and listen to it again— you won’t regret it. 4. S BTRKT
SBTRKT
My girlfriend gave me this album for my birthday. She told me she did not know if I would like it or not. She also wanted the download code that accompanied the vinyl for her. This album quickly climbed my ladder of favoritism first through the single “Wildfire” and then the many other equally awesome tracks. It came to a point that I could not get inside my apartment without turning my turntable on and listening to it. This album shaped my fall and made it a much nicer time—it delivered good attitude on a time of feeling done with being an undergraduate. Plus, it made me dance while making sandwiches. That makes all the difference. 5. N urses
Dracula
Nurses are a band out of Portland who came to my attention very recently. They deliver a feeling I hadn’t experienced since first finding out about Animal Collective and Nurses embrace my favorite
best of 2011
traits out of them. Dracula is very concise and extremely well crafted— recorded over the winter months in a cabin out in the Oregon coast made this definitely an album with an overall haunting feel. 6. Jamie
XX & Gil Scott-Heron I’m New Here
Unfortunately Gil Scott-Heron does not walk among the living anymore but his legacy is sure out there to make sure he is never forgotten. This collaborative/remix album is nothing short of amazing and it combines somehow elements of spoken word recordings and dubstep (or post-dubstep? Postpost-dubstep?) with other amazing electronic elements. It is perhaps the most unsettling albums of this list and every listen will deliver a new interpretation or a newly found mind blowing element of the tune. 7. F ujiya
& Miyagi Ventriloquizing
This album really got me going in the earlier months of the year. It was ill regarded by some media commentators (like by the worst music reviewer of all time, Ian Cohen of Spin and Pitchfork) exactly for the points I love about this album: it is a simplistic, almost kitsch musical experience, exploring the stronger and most recognizable characteristics of the band. 8. S t.
Vincent Strange Mercy
I was not familiar with St. Vincent’s previous work until I came across the track “Surgeon” off this album. Seriously, it is probably the best song released this year. I haven’t spent as much time with this album as I should have— mostly because of school—but every time I do listen to it I find something new to love.
Again, I’ve never heard anything from Cut Copy before this album. Zonoscope is an absurdly good dance album and every track gets you motivated. It is a completely full pop album, satisfying in every sense of the word and then it finishes with a 12+ minute club banger that makes you want more. 10. R adiohead
The King of Limbs
Ok, fine, everybody has their opinion on the King of Limbs. And you know what? Radiohead doesn’t really care too much about these opinions. They can afford NOT to care and do whatever pleases them. This is what King of Limbs is—a super short album of Radiohead experimenting even further. I took me a while to get into it, but frankly, even if I hadn’t gotten into the album, it would still be up here in this list. Radiohead is a band that dares to challenge themselves— they have already done all the selling out and the garbage people complain about bands doing later in their careers. They STARTED with that. The biggest merit of this album is that it is the trophy of a band that figured IT out and now they can do anything they want (as opposed to the traditional other way around). And THAT. That is a good thing.
The Brianna
Chaotic NTRL: Ideologies 11/28/11: Master + Slave 1. CSS
La Liberacion
2. T he
Men Talk About Body
6. B uilt Like Alaska
Antique Love
7. F lorence
+ The Machine Ceremonials
8. P hantogram
Nightlife
9. R ush
Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland
10. B jork
Biophilia
Landon Whitbread
Toast & Jam
1. Destroyer
Kaputt
This is the album I’ve been telling everyone to listen to this year. A friend of mine told me it sounded too much like elevator music, and I agreed with him. This is the sexiest elevator music ever created. Dan Bejar is a lyrical beast who seems to be saying absolutely nothing and everything at the same time. Also, there is a saxophone or trumpet solo in every song. Enough said. 2. S t.
Vincent Strange Mercy
Getting out of The Polyphonic Spree was the best career move Annie Clark ever made. This album easily has some of the best guitar work of any album this year. Annie Clark puts her guitar upfront this time, and the album shines because of it. A phenomenal album, and one of the best live shows you could see this year. 3. T om
Waits Bad As Me
3. M 83
Put this album on and go break some glass bottles against an alley wall.
4. P J
4. Man
5. D eath
Put this album on, and stomp on all that glass you just broke in that alley. Every Man Man album is an
Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming Harvey Let England Shake
Cab for Cutie Codes and Keys
Man Life Fantastic
RAINYDAWG.ORG
A+ in my book, because it means they are back on tour, and these guys put on some of the most chaotic sets around. Put this album on while driving with your family, and you might get some free therapy lessons courtesy of a worrisome mom! 5. t UnE-yArDs
whokill
Easily the most difficult album to type out on a computer. Featuring some incredible bass and brass sections, this is how sophomore albums should be done. No longer a one-woman band, Merrill Garbus put together one of the best pseudo-rap/rock/tribal album of the year. In fact, it was probably the only pseudo-rap/ rock/tribal album this year. 6. B lackout
Beach Fuck Death
Carrie Mercer put down his guitar and picked up a synth. And then after he was done with the synth, he picked up his guitar again. This album has some incredibly crunchy synth work. Next to Kaputt, Fuck Death one of my favorite synth albums of the year. Did I mention how good the synths are in this album? Because it’s great. 7. Fleet
Foxes Helplessness Blues
Do I really have to say much about this album? We all live in Seattle, right? A beautiful album, with hands down the best bass clarinet solo I’ve ever heard. 8. M oonface
Organ Music Not Vibraphone Like I’d Hoped
Most of these tracks don’t get any radio play, because most of these tracks are 7 minutes long. Spencer Krug branches off with yet another band, and this time it’s just him, some drum loops, and organ riffs that sound like a runaway train. Probably one of the most self indulgent musical projects this year, but when someone as talented as Spencer Krug indulges himself, you better listen.
9. P anda
Bear Tomboy
Noah Lennox tries to distance himself from the Bryan Wilson comparisons by making a song titled “Surfer’s Hymn.” Tomboy is the kind of album that reminds you that some people are just better at making music, and it’s best that you just stop trying, sit down and listen. 10. D eath
Grips ExMilitary
Tyler, the Creator likes to make up problems and rap about them. Whoever is at the helm of Death Grips has some serious problems. This album is downright frightening, and is a must buy for the holiday season!
John Phillip Eklof
Sounds From The Underground Season III
Jose Rizal J to tha E
Rapper out of Lakewood Washington. Goes Hard Son.
J to tha Mixtape J to tha E Big KRIT Return of 4Eva The Weeknd House Of Balloons Mack E Pardon The Interruption
Rapper out of Seattle, Washington. Spits Conscious rap music.
Nathan Anderson
Scandinavian Love Asobi Skesu Fluorescent
Why is this album not on any other lists? Must be ignorance.
tUnE-yArDs whokill
Once again, Merril Garbus makes it difficult for us to write about her (stop auto-correcting me and capitalizing the “i” Microsoft Word!).
Lykke Li Wounded Rhymes
It’s from Scandinavia, so who cares if it’s actually good? But really, Lykke Li delivers once more.
Wye Oak Civilian
Did you know that there are only two people in this band???
St. Vincent Strange Mercy
In which Annie Clark truly becomes a pop star.
Bjork Biophilia
Quite possibly the worst Bjork album to date. That being said, the worst Bjork album is still loads better than most everything else from 2011.
Mastodon The Hunter
What, metal?! It’s okay, they like Mr. Rogers (watch the video for “Deathbound”).
J Mascis Several Shades of Why
Who knew Dinosaur Jr could be sensitive?
Ponytail Do Whatever You Want All The Time
Ever wonder what would happened if a toddler sang for a band? It might sound like this, and this is phenomenal. Why have you left us Ponytail?
Jens Lekman An Argument With Myself EP
Yes, this is not an album, but it’s still better than any potential addition to this list. When Jens argues with himself, we win.
Matt McTernan
Arcs From The Mnemonic Tongue 10. L eprous
Bilateral (Progressive metal)
The Norwegian band’s latest album blends their usual progressive metal sound with more traditional
best of 2011
progressive rock influences, as well as some weird funky elements that slip in here and there.
well as an electric violin player that often lends an almost psychedelic feel.
9. W obbler
3. S teven
Rites at Dawn (Progressive rock)
8. H aken
2. B eardfish Mammoth (Progressive rock)
This band constantly straddles the line between progressive rock and progressive metal, and they also frequently wallow in the genres’ clichés, but their latest album is a strong release that manages to cover a lot of musical ground.
Beardfish play a very “classic” vein of progressive rock. This album is no different, but it showcases their ability to write engaging songs with excellent composition, topnotch instrumental ability, and passionate vocals.
7. Z echs
1. P hideaux
This instrumental group’s sophomore album is light years ahead of their debut. It’s an energetic, engaging piece of work with a funky rhythm section that allows their guitarist and keyboardist to lay down some great leads.
I’ve been gushing about this album ever since it was released in March. It’s a 44-minute album, and 36 of those minutes are occupied by the massive, two-parted title track. The music is full of piano, organ, and synth, with male and female vocals often trading off. The whole album maintains a sense of urgency throughout, making this easily my number one.
6. G iraffes?
Giraffes! Pink Magick (Math rock)
The latest album from this math rock duo is more-or-less what I’ve come to expect from them: complex, high-energy riffs, frenetic drumming, the occasional lull, and an ability to rise above sheer technicality and maintain some melody. 5. M oonsorrow
Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa (Black/Folk metal)
This album is just epic. Everything on it has a sense of intensity, and the music itself is top-notch symphonic black/folk metal. 4. S ubrosa
No Help for the Mighty Ones (Doom metal)
Sobrosa are a pretty unique band. They consist of three female members, all of whom at least occasionally contribute vocals, as
moncrief watered lawn
raleigh moncrief is best known at this point for producing the dirty projector’s great 2009 album bitte orca, and his debut shares a few stylistic similarities with his work for that band. using familiar guitar and vocal techniques, moncrief brings an array of electronics to create a bright, poppy sound that is very much his own.
(Progressive rock)
This is the second solo album from the Porcupine Tree frontman. Overall, the tone of the album is rather dark, and I can best describe the overall sound as Porcupine Tree playing King Crimson.
Marquise Getting Paid (Progressive rock)
6. r aleigh
Wilson Grace for Drowning
This Norwegian band’s latest release sounds a lot like it could be an album that Yes released between Fragile and Close to the Edge. Naturally, it’s not the most original album this year, but it’s still a solid piece
Visions (Progressive rock/metal)
record is both a startling debut and bright beacon of more to come.
Snowtorch (Progressive rock)
Victoria Rodriguez
Just Enough Education to Do Justice Raphael Saadiq Stone Rollin’ Wye Oak Civilian The Kills Blood Pressures Teams vs. Star Slinger S/T Blitzen Trapper American Goldwing Wilco The Whole Love
Cameron McCreery Untitled Roadside
10. a $ap
rocky livelovea$ap
trill shit. rocky has one of the best ears for production in the game, and it shows on this killer mixtape. solid beats, solid guest verses, and solid lyrics from rocky make this the best of a slew of great releases from new artists to come up in the 2011 rap scene 9. t he
caretaker an empty bliss beyond this world
one of the most hauntingly beautiful records i’ve ever heard. heavily influenced by the ballroom scenes in the shining, james kirby’s latest album under his caretaker moniker summons the ghosts of nights long since passed, left to dance away eternity. 8. s habazz
black up
palaces
similarly to much of the 2011 rap world, seattle’s shabazz palaces have built a style that tends toward the stranger, darker side of hip hop. however, shabazz show a maturity and sense of direction unmatched by their peers, which shows in their brilliant debut lp. 7. u nknown mortal orchestra
unknown mortal orchestra
this record dominated much of my summer listening, as the portland band’s psychedelic pop stylings are perfect for the summer sun. fun, weird, and catchy as hell—this
RAINYDAWG.ORG
5. balam
acab wander/wonder
building on the sounds he introduced in last year’s great see birds ep, alec koone creates beautifully murky songs that sound as though they’re being played from the bottom of the ocean. simultaneously cold and intimate, this record is the highlight of a year of wonderful releases from tri angle records. 4. c lams
casino instrumental mixtape
this mixtape proved to the rest of the world a fact that lil b has known all along: clams casino is a force to be reckoned with. his beats have provided the backbone of many of the year’s greatest songs, yet this record shows how well they stand alone as well. raw, dark, and mysterious, clams’ lo-fi aesthetic has brought a new face to the world of hip hop, and promises to bring even more. 3. o neohtrix
replica
point never
last year’s returnal was one of the best ambient records in a long time, and daniel lopatin’s followup is easily an improvement. while this album shows an appreciation for the 1980’s matched in lopatin’s other 2011 output, ford and lopatin’s channel pressure, it comes from a completely different place than that record’s synth-pop stylings. here, lopatin uses the sounds of 80’s advertisements to create a nostalgia for some bizarre past, as well as one of the year’s most beautiful and entrancing albums.
2. r eal
days
estate
real estate’s debut lp showed a band who completely understood the sound they were attempting to create, and days, the follow-up, proves this bad to be one of the best around. the record features masterful songwriting from all three members, and could easily fit alongside the classic guitar pop albums of history. these songs are fun and relatable, and show a band who know exactly what they are doing and how to do it. truly impeccable.
8. C obra
Starship Night Shades
history and myth also provide many layers for contemplation.
9. G ym
7. Jar
Class Heroes The Papercut Chronicles II
10. E nrique
Euphoria
Iglesias
Monkeys Liquid Zoo
One of the best bands you’ve probably never heard of, 100 Monkeys is full of talent, alternating lead singers and switching instruments is part of the job description for these guys. With a sound that combines elements of rock, country, jazz, and funk and shows the influence of bands like The Doors, The Beach Boys, and The Rolling Stones, 100 Monkeys are truly unique. The band takes great strides to further develop in their sophomore album exploring topics from the silly to the somber.
bear tomboy
Katie Madonna
staff photographer 10. Cage
the Elephant Thank You Happy Birthday
Evan Schmitt Purple Rain
1. LMFAO
Sorry for Party Rocking
2. D avid
Guetta Nothing But the Beat
3. B ritney
Spears Femme Fatale
4. K ylie
Minogue Aphrodite
5. Ab ove
& Beyond Group Therapy
6. D rake
Take Care
7. N icki
Minaj Pink Friday
Jar is a local band who I’ve only recently become acquainted with, but almost instantly I fell in love with their quintessential Seattle sound. Simultaneously grungy and melodic, Skin is guaranteed to make you sing along. 6. 1 00
1. p anda
this album is incredible. having disliked noah lennox’s last album, person pitch, i avoided this release on the basis of over-hype for as long as i could. however, once i heard it i couldn’t stop listening. here lennox embraces the reverb-y surf aesthetic that so many other acts have attempted to in recent years, yet manages to create a sound that is both familiar and bizarre. waves of echo and harmony crash together with elements of pop and drone, and in doing so create songs that beg to be played again and again.
of Rain Skin
I feel in their sophomore album, Cage the Elephant got to explore a somewhat softer side. The combination of touching ballads and catchy anthems together create a very notable album. 9. F oo
Fighters Wasting Light
I can’t say I’ve always been a huge Foo Fighters fan, but I had the opportunity to see them perform this summer and fell in love with Wasting Light. I find the lyrics of “These Days” to be particularly poignant. 8. T he
Decemberists The King Is Dead
I love The Decemberists’ folk-rock sound, and this album is no exception. The lyrical references to
best of 2011
2. The
Civil Wars Barton Hollow
I discovered this album entirely by chance, but it was certainly a happy accident. I dare you to find fault in the raw emotion, dueling vocals, and heartfelt lyrics of The Civil Wars. 1. F leet
Foxes Helplessness Blues
I love, love, love this album. While it’s definitely a slightly more somber and contemplative direction than the band’s previous music, it is certainly no less enjoyable. It just feels like the Pacific Northwest, it feels right, it feels like home.
Jacob Pipkin
Jacob’s Show
M83 Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
Radiohead The King of Limbs
5. D eath
WU LYF Go Tell Fire To The Mountain
I’m a huge Death Cab fan. For me this album is probably my favorite as a whole. Great hooks and catchy lyrics, this is Death Cab doing what they do best, managing to simply express the little truths which make life extraordinary.
Zola Jesus Conatus
Cab for Cutie Codes and Keys
4. B on
Iver Bon Iver
I’ve been a Bon Iver fan ever since discovering For Emma, Forever Ago and while their self-titled album lacks some of the raw emotion found in the previous EP, I still find Bon Iver’s sound to be memorable and hauntingly beautiful. 3. Foster
Torches
Washed Out Within and Without James Blake James Blake Sallie Ford & The Sound Outsider Dirty Radio Onra Chinoiseries Part 2 Fleet Foxes Helplessness Blues
the People
It wasn’t until the second time I saw Foster the People live that I learned to fully appreciate their sound. This became the soundtrack to the end of my summer and each subsequent play brings me back to sunny carefree days.
Andrew Gospe
All of the Above with Andrew
1. S habazz
Black Up
Palaces
The year’s best album might also be its most concise. Black Up takes
the archetypical 80-plus-minute hip-hop record and condenses it into a 36-minute tour de force where not a second feels wasted. The album frequently takes off on unexpected tangents (the songs never end where they started), anchored by Ishmael Butler’s futuristic beats and oblique lyrics. It’s rare that a full-length debut sounds so fully realized. 2. J ames
Blake James Blake
Blake more than delivered on the promise of two 2010 EPs with his first full-length album. Call it dubstep, call it minimalist, call it IDM—whatever label you attach to it, Blake’s immaculately produced music feels personal and organic, a rare feat in electronic music. 3. R eal
Days
Estate
Ernest Hemingway once compared good writing to an iceberg: What appears simple has a lot going on beneath the surface. The same could be said for New Jersey band Real Estate’s sophomore record Days, a album whose deceptively simple guitar-pop arrangements belie its true sophistication. The melodies and songwriting are sharp, and “It’s Real” and “All The Same” are the best songs the band has ever written. 4. K urt
Vile Smoke Ring For My Halo
Vile’s fourth solo album (as well as his similarly excellent So Outta Reach EP) offers a novel, atmospheric take on Americana, incorporating layers upon layers of reverb-heavy guitar underneath his world-weary sneer of a singing voice. It doesn’t hurt that Vile might be one of the most underrated guitarists in today’s indie circuit—the intricate fingerpicking on many of these songs sounds effortless.
the album is standard Wilco folkrock, but it’s bookended by two fantastic tracks that aren’t afraid to experiment: YHF-recalling opener “Art of Almost” and gorgeous 12-minute closer “One Sunday Morning.” 6. t UnE-yArDs
whokill
Merrill Garbus’ tUnE-yArDs project gets a lot of attention for its rejection of convention, and rightfully so; it’s impressive that she can make an amalgamation of funk, singer-songwriter folk, electronic, and pseudo-African dance music sound both coherent and palpable. w h o k i l l does just that, and if you ever get the chance, catch Garbus’ live show, where her frenetic multi-tasking and live looping makes tUnEyArDs’ recorded output seem all the more impressive. 7. Destroyer
Kaputt
It’s easy to dismiss Kaputt as pure schtick—I mean, it does kind of sound like a Steely Dan album. However, Dan Bejar’s lite-jazz eccentricities hardly detract from the strength of these songs, and it’s also one of the best-produced rock albums you’ll hear all year. 8. M 83
Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
Anthony Gonzalez’s double-album magnum opus is bloated, melodramatic, and even a little goofy at times (see: “Raconte–Moi Histoire”). It also isn’t as good as 2008’s Saturdays=Youth. However, when it works—which it often does—it’s one of the year’s best albums, mining the sounds of early ‘80s new wave to great effect. 9. W ild
Beasts Smother
Smother doesn’t quite reach the heights of 2009’s Two Dancers, but The Whole Love it doesn’t aspire to. Instead of anYeah, I know: I wasn’t expecting to thems like “All the King’s Men” or like a Wilco album this much, ei- “This Is Our Lot,” the songs here are ther, but The Whole Love might subtle and subdued, the work of a just be their strongest release since supremely confident young band Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. The meat of with a sound that’s all its own. 5. W ilco
RAINYDAWG.ORG
10. A tlas
Sound Parallax
Another year, another great album from Bradford Cox. Parallax is his first as Atlas Sound that measures up to his work from Deerhunter, possibly because it sounds more than Cox’s other project than any prior Atlas Sound release, an expertly paced album that incorporates lots of full-band arrangements without entirely abandoning Atlas Sound’s bedroom-pop aesthetic.
Erin Halligan
Songs Regarding _____ 1. T otal
Control Henge Beat
Australian garage/synth/punk featuring members of the garage-y Uv Race, who released another one of my fave albums of this year, Homo. 2. S ic
Alps Napa Asylum
10/10! Two thumbs up! 3. G anglians
Still Living
Reverb-y and melodic and really nice! These guys are da bomb live, and they just toured with Still Corners, who put out my #1 slow jam album of 2K11, Creatures of an Hour. 4. R oyal
S/T
Headache
Just some solid Australian garage pop, and the catchiest tunes I have heard all year!!! 5. W ounded
IVXLCDM
Lion
A+++
6. T hee
Oh Sees Carrion Crawler/The Dream
Rumor has it Thee Oh Sees have been performing with two drummers lately!! 7. M ikal
S/T
Cronin
Garage-y/psych-ey/fuzzy/heavy/ rock-n-roll-y/GOOD/features John Dwyer on flute!!! I was
pumped to hear this solo album from a guy who is involved with both Moonhearts and Ty Segall. And speaking of Ty Segall, his releases Goodbye Bread and Ty Rex (T Rex covers!) were also some of my choice albums this year. 8. U nknown Mortal Orchestra
S/T
This summer I lived with this guy who really liked electronic music and the opening of “Nerve Damage” is the closest thing to electronic I had, so we wound up listening to this album a lot and now it has tons of *good summer vibes.* Plus, it has some of the tightest percussion I’ve heard in a while. Another 2K11 album that has tons of *good summer vibes* is glam/grunge (glunge) artist Gross Magic’s Teen Jamz EP. 9. N ight
S/T
Beats
Fun psych/garage rock from SEATTLE!!! I only recently found out about these guys, but this album quickly became a fave. 10. K itchen’s
Floor Look Forward to Nothing
Good and noisy!!! Thank u Australia for a good year in music.
Riabelle Vivas
staff blogger
Touché Amoré Parting the Sea Between Brightness and Me
There’s nothing quite like listening to fast paced songs with gutwrenching words yelled, it’s a bit unsettling which makes it even more breathtaking.
Hundredth Let Go
Let Go is an impressive melodic hardcore album that shines when it comes to the lyrics, each song portrays an optimistic outlook with inspiring messages of hope.
Abandon Kansas Ad Astra Per Aspera
I’m a sucker for indie bands that
best of 2011
have incredibly danceable jams, if you dig groovable indie music check out these guys.
Junius Reports From The Threshold of Death
It’s brilliantly melodramatic and eerie album and makes a great listening choice on long drives home in the middle of the night.
Moving Mountains Waves
Waves offers a certain ambience about it with its perfect combination of serene and aggressive tracks.
This Will Destroy You Tunnel Blanket
Tunnel Blanket is beautifully crafted post rock album, the atmosphere each track brings about is indescribable.
Fireworks Gospel
Unlike other pop punk albums, Gospel isn’t overly cheesy; it has heartfelt lyrics with wonderful melodies.
letlive Fake History
Each song differs musically making an extremely sporadic album. Check them out live; they will blow your mind with their crazy set!
Transit Listen & Forgive
Transit took a step in a different direction with Listen & Forgive, it’s a break-up album that brings nostalgia for 90’s emo bands.
A Hope For Home In Abstraction
I’m biased when it comes to A Hope For Home because I’ve loved everything they’ve created, but seriously though, this album shows just how much they have grown musically and lyrically.
Jocilyn Sayler
Floating Vibes with Jocilyn XIV
1. wU
LYF Go Tell Fire To The Mountain
2. A dele
21
3. T he
Horrors Skying
4. T he
Antlers Burst Apart
5. L ykke
Li Wounded Rhymes
6. M 83
Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
7. R adiohead
King of Limbs
8. J oy
Formidable The Big Roar
9. W ashed
Out Within and Without
10. T oro
Y Moi Underneath the Pine
Ben Shipley Brother Weldon
Freddie Gibbs and Madlib Thuggin’
I first fell in love with Madlib when I heard Quasimoto back in 8th grade. I had started experimenting with certain things and Midrib’s the further adventures of lord quas seemed to be the perfect complement to my new found hobby. I started listening to him more and bought his album Shades of Blue where he sampled old jazz and fusion artists that recorded with Blue Note. It was after hearing this album that I decided Madlib was one of my favorite artists, and he still is today. Whether it’s making beats or playing in his fusion band, or rapping, Madlib brings a truly original sound to the table. Thuggin’ is no exception. Madlib here teamed up with upcoming Detroit rapper Freddie
Cyrill Aimee and friends (ROY HARGROVE!)
Gibbs to come up with beautiful instrumentals accompanied by some tougher lyrics. When I say tougher I don’t mean like three six mafia or something over-the-top like that, but, growing up in one of the poorest places in America right now, Gibbs’ subject reflects some of the seedier sides of life. Freddie Gibbs did an interview here at RainyDawg this year and so you all should support him and my main man Madlib by checking out Thuggin’.
I don’t usually go for jazz vocalists, but Cyrill Aimee’s bubbly French voice is downright sexy. Roy Hargrove is downright bad*** , and the whole album as a whole is perfect for people who like jazz but don’t like it when it gets too far “out there” (think Miles Davis in Bitches Brew). It’s getting a bit nippy here in Seattle, snuggle up with a book and some tea (with or without whisky) and put this on.
Breakestra Sexy Popcorn Pot 12" release
Lettuce Live At Blue Note Tokyo
Breakestra hasn’t come out with a new full length album since 2009, but Stones Throw (the same label that put out thuggin’) recently issued a 12 inch mix featuring a few Breakestra jams. Breakestra puts out the freshest (in my opinion) funk music now a days. They are so in the pocket they’re almost touching the knee. With a funky lead man, guitarist, bassist, brass section, drummer, and rhythm section, you can’t help but dance from the start to finish. If you don’t like dancing, then, you probably shouldn’t try to buy this album (or be my friend).
tUnE-yArDs whokill
I did a show review of tUnEyArDs this year, why? Because I have to fulfill my blog credits, but even if I didn’t have this requirement I would still have seen them when they came to the Neptune because T.Y.’s are great! w h o k i l l is their second album and it is crazy cool. If you’re a girl you’ll especially like this one. The lead singer, Merrill is a very strong female icon. If you don’t care about that then you’ll just like her because her voice is one of the most unique things I’ve ever heard. The album is a little more accessible (aka poppy) than their first, but who cares about that? It just means you can dance to it more easily. I would definitely check this album out. Ps. Check out some of the bass lines, cuz that guy doesn’t get enough credit!
RAINYDAWG.ORG
Lettuce and Breakestra are very similar so if you liked the Sexy Popcorn 12 inch you’ll love this. I’d have to say Lettuce makes, for the most part, fast/hard driving funk. It’s a bit more intense than Breakestra, but not any less funky. Lettuce features a full band of every instrument a modern musician could ask for. I would look out for their organist in a lot of the songs; he’s my favorite in the band. Check this out if you’re into rock with a barbecue thrown on top.
Brigade Last Laugh
I’m going to take it a bit in the psychedelic rock direction now because I feel this band is supremely overlooked. Brigade was a Portland (WHERE I’m FROM WOOOOO!) band that consisted of a bunch of high school guys who won the Portland battle of the bands competition senior year and got to record an album as their prize. Afterwards, they all went off to different colleges (or jobs) and the band broke up. This gem, although not from 2011, is a must hear this winter. I got the CD back when I was in high school, but forgot about it until just a week ago when I found it with some of my old cd’s. The sound is sort of like the doors and the animals blended together with a northwest twist on it.
Pears Sterling Postures
This is the ultimate happy fun
times cd. You can put it on at a party, people will love it. You can put it on while doing homework, you’ll love it. You can play it in a church, the pastor will smile. My 63 year old mother was tapping her feet when I played it over thanksgiving (although she does have a killer taste in music). Check out Barnacle Jive first, it is the catchiest song on the album, and my personal favorite. After that, just close your eyes, get a somebody to start rubbing your back, and feel the bliss wash over you.
Dam-Funk Hood Pass
I’m not sure how many of you out there have candy colored caddies, or low drop Chevy’s with the top chopped. BUT, for those of you that do, or those of you that are just really high, check out DamFunk’s Hood Pass. With a bunch of early 90’s west coast synth sounds and slow repeating beats, DamFunk brings a sound that defines the expression “chill out.” His melodies aren’t all that complicated, but they are catchy, and extremely relaxing. I’d check out Hood Pass on a Sunday morning after you drank too much the night before but aren’t hung over—otherwise the drum loop’s will hurt your head—and feel tired but happy.
Tennis Origins
Tennis is not like any of the music I play on my show, but something about them really makes my ears happy. I think it’s the lead vocalist’s soft melancholy voice. It seems to take simple poppy progressions and add a deepness to them. If you haven’t hear of them before first check out their song “South Carolina,” then move on to their new 7" that came out in November “Origins.” Peaceful, sad, catchy, “Origins” evokes all kinds of emotions that aren’t boredom, and that’s all I can really ask for.
Bibio Mind Bokeh
From the musically inspirational brain of singer, guitarist,
keyboardist, and composer, music; Teac Life continues that Stephen Wilkinson, comes a new tradition. Sure, his style will realbum full of electronic and acous- mind some of electronica’s heyday, tic sounds alike. This blend is very but it’s not the nostalgia that nice on the ears. Most of the time keeps you with The Teac Life, that’s it is very catchy, sometimes it’s a the 8-bit, scraggly tones, the offlittle downbeat, but…. so is beat melodies, the digital and Radiohead….COMEON! I would analog storytelling, and the skill have to say the sound of this alby which Wolfers holds the album bum is a tiny bit more abstract together that keeps you coming than the last one. But I feel like it’s back for more. The Teac Life was a sign of Stephen’s talent as an art- created, according to its author, on ist to grow and take his music in “digital & analog crap synthesizers different directions (unlike Chris recorded in a ragtag bedroom stuBrown…namedrop!). When I say dio on a TEAC VHX cassettedeck abstract though you shouldn’t take in DOLBY C with an uninteligiit all that seriously because most of ble yet soulful vivacity.” In our the tracks on Mind Bokeh are very opinion, this is minimal at its best. agreeable and I’d have to say as a 2. C om Truise whole the album is a great addiGalactic Melt (Ghostly International) tion to the catalog of Bibio’s Synth-obsessed Seth Haley, aka musical endeavors. Com Truise, might have chosen one of the most obnoxious pseudonyms for a producer to date (just behind Mord Fustang), but man Victoria Rodriguez can he make some beautiful music. Just Enough Education to Do Justice His second album is aptly titled, for it begins with a floating synthRaphael Saadiq sation, “Terminal,” begetting Stone Rollin’ images of entire star-systems starting their cold, laborious fade into Wye Oak space dust, climaxing with the Civilian synth explosion “Brokendate,” and The Kills culminating in a fantastic voyage Blood Pressures into the mental with “Futureworld.” Haley’s particular Teams vs. Star Slinger brand of electronica is so distinct, S/T with its deep anti-aliased basslines and the trademark 80s toms, that Blitzen Trapper once you hear a Com Truise track, American Goldwing you’ll never forget that sound.
Wilco The Whole Love
3. S epalcure Fleur EP (Hotflush Recordings)
Robot Love Sounds
Sepalcure makes my list twice, but it’s the darker, dirtier, and less upbeat Fleur EP that makes it to my number 3 spot. This is my favorite UK Garage EP of the year.
1. L egowelt
4. John
The best thing about The Teac Life (other than that it’s free to download from Danny Wolfers’ own website) is that it is multi-layered, polyphonous, and uncompromising. Wolfers has long been hailed as an innovator in electronic
While it might be more experimental than his usual singer/ songwriter affair, Vanderslice and Minna Choi’s Magic*Magic Orchestra have crafted a fine album (in just three days, no less!) that keeps getting better the more
Chris Martin
The Teac Life (www.legowelt.com)
best of 2011
Vanderslice White Wilderness (Dead Oceans)
times you listen to it. Best track on the album? Tough call, but check out “The Piano Lesson,” “Overcoat,” and the titular “White Wildreness” for starters. 5. Sepalcure Sepalcure (Hotflush Recordings)
Compared to Fleur or 2010’s Love Pressure, the self-titled might seem a little upbeat; still, the heart of Sepalcure is in the right place. Deep rhythmic UK Garage beats, soft-tones, and an uncanny knack for when to change-it-up. If “Yuh Nuh See” doesn’t get your adrenaline flowing, nothing will. 6. T he
Beastie Boys Hot Sauce Committee, Pt. 2 (Capitol Records)
upbeat, and insistent places than before, but for those who pleased with 2009’s Ambivalence Avenue and wanted more, Mind Bokeh will satisfy and then some. 9. S BTRKT
SBTRKT (Young Turks)
tructures 10. S
Two Mixed by John Digweed (Bedrock Records)
Erik Jaccard In the Annexe
1. G old
Panda Marriage EP
2. SBTRKT
SBTRKT
A return to form is not usually so good as this.
3. Sepulcre
7. V eitengruber Junk EP (8 Bit Records)
4. T he
The title song, “Junk” from the EP, samples Will.I.AM from the Black Eyed Peas’ hit My Humps, but don’t let that fool you, the treatment of the sample played against the deep neutral bassline is almost ironic. The sampling in “Awesome” is the tech house equivalent of sex. The EP’s mixing and levels are simply perfect; this is beautiful music that will be played in clubs and on decks for a long time to come. 8. B ibio
Mind Bokeh (Warp)
UK based Bibio, aka Steven James Wilkinson, has something that most electronic purists would probably despise: mainstream appeal—having been selected for several commercials recently including for L. L. Bean and Toyota. His rhythms, often in contrast to other IDM (Intelligent Dance Music, Google it, kids), often verge on the softer, bittersweet side of electronic music, fusing a potent and melodic trip-hop sensibility with some deep droning low-tech bass, familiar to the IDM genre. A proper follow-up to his critically acclaimed Ambivalence Avenue, Mind Bokeh takes Wilkinson’s work into more jazzier,
Sepulcre
Field Looping State of Mind
5. T he
Boxer Rebellion The Cold Still
6. Falty
DL You Stand Uncertain
7. R adiohead
The King of Limbs
8. Burial
Street Halo EP
9. Nicolas
Jaar Space is Only Noise if You Can See
10. Thievery
Corporation Culture of Fear
Henry Seeley
K-RAK: The OFFFICIAL Radio Show of the Ave. 1. T he
Men Leave Home
This album is really good because it is loud but still incredibly intricate and musically pleasing. Its fast paced songs blow through pretty quickly but they leave the listener with a “holy shizz” feeling that can only be felt after listening to the two minutes of feedback on the opening song ‘If You Leave’. New hardcore music without screaming or breakdowns or windmill dancing. 2. Tomboy
Panda Bear
Panda Bear came out of the forests of china to create an album that is very Animal Collective and yet completely Panda Bear. Building rhythms and crescendo-ing makes it fun to listen to even if it’s not bone jarringly fast paced. Electronic music without ecstasy and glow stick tongue rings. 3. T imbo
King
From Babylon to Timbuktu Timbo is hard as diamonds, which are the hardest material on the planet earth. He is lyrically talented, has ‘mad’ flows and can bring his style together to create a rap album that is listenable the entire way through. Waka Flocka Flame with a brain, less lean, and no Lex Luger. 4. B lack
Lips Modern Art
Black Lips come back at you with some raw meat music, blowin up speakers and creating unwanted pregnancies. Actually though, this album is much more contained than their previous releases, but still manages to keep the fun and wildness that makes Black Lips Black Lips. Black Lips with Mark Ronson and a hazmat suit. 5. Iceage
New Brigade
These dudes are from Denmark or
RAINYDAWG.ORG
Norway or Sweden or something. It’s in Europe and its really dark and dreary there, kind of like Seattle. This dark and dreary locale shows through in the sound of Iceage’s debut alblum. It is at times really fast punk and at others almost grindcore, which is kind of cool when used well without gurgling. This makes it pretty hard to relate, I’ll call it Black Flag with a dirndl and a case of SADS.
those things. Classics like ‘Puke Song’ and ‘Sk8 all day’ make the album super cool to listen to. Theyre pretty basic in terms of structure but I’m putting them in here because I saw them with Black Lips and it was the best concert on earth. You should probably go see them. Minor Threat but drunker, younger, and with skateboards.
6. M ilk
Shannon and her clams are pretty awesome, mostly because they remind me of the 50’s but 0% serious. They just like to have fun and make songs about being the ‘king of the tuna’ and part of a cult. It is fun to listen to and very melodic. Melodic is about the only word I know to describe music. It sounds good, listen to it. Rockabilly but with a large woman with a great sense of humor singing.
Music Beyond Living
Milk Music makes just really really good approachable hard rock without any nickelback ‘woo ahhh yeeahhh’s. Their singer is loud enough to give the music some force but he sings well and doesn’t overdo it. The melodies are just complex enough to keep attention but not to distract from the beautiful simplicity of the music. Creed without anything like creed except for drums, guitar, bass, and a singer.
This Town
8. Human Eye They Came From the Sky
Human Eye reminds me of Ozzy Osbourne/Black Sabbath mixed with wolfmother. It has loud, driving beats and wild melodies, but is centered around creepy, alien-y lyrics. This makes it really fun to listen to because you can pretend that there are things “coming from the sky” or creatures called “peopleoids” roaming the earth. Wolf Mother mixed with creatures from mars.
Ballzy Cerebral Ballzy
Kills Blood Pressures
When I saw The Kills kill it at the Showbox back in May, I was wearing all black and drinking Magic Potion (a potent homemade medley of at least ten mystery liquors, including cinnamon schnapps) out of a well-concealed flask. I felt like a BAMF but knew I was more like a scenester. It felt fitting as Alison Mosshart pranced around the stage wearing a leopard print cardigan and groaning verses about sour cherries and being FUBAR.
10. S hannon
And The Clams Sleep Talk
5. Memoryhouse
The Years EP (Re-Issue)
Jared Moore
Broken Disco Scene
7. Medication
Medication is a project of some depressed guy who records his music through a shower curtain. Not actually, but it sounds kind of like that. Its really good though, it somehow combines the awesomeness of lo-fi recording and the eeriness of folk like Bon Iver. Bon Iver in a grungy city instead of the middle of the woods.
4. T he
Nick Willmer-Shiles
The Cure for OCD 1. T he
Dodos No Color
2. W u-Tang
Clan Legendary Weapons
3. T alib
Kweli Gutter Rainbows
4. R adiohead
The King of Limbs
5. M ayer
Hawthorne How Do You Do
6. T om
Waits Bad As Me
7. D eerhoof
Deerhoof Vs. Evil
8. G orillaz
The Fall
9. C erebral
9. Fleet
Cerebral Ballzy likes ‘drink, skate and eat pizza’. That and play really fast punk songs that are about
10. T he
Foxes Helplessness Blues Roots Undun
best of 2011
1. H oly
Ghost! Holy Ghost!
Nick and Alex—heirs to the LCD Soundsystem throne at DFA Records—throw down a funky-ashell gauntlet with this long-awaited debut. Phenomenal production, catchy hooks, and a decent bit of emotion make this LP one for the dance ages. 2. T hievery
Corporation Culture of Fear
The Babylon-slamming world/ lounge/dub masters are back with a vengeance. There’s soul and righteous antidisestablishmentarianism in abundance, and the boys manage to showcase to their classic sound and while birthing some epicly fresh melodies. Bravo. 3. Azari
& III Azari & III
A delightfully melancholy debut from this Toronto based hipsterdisco foursome. Check out their music videos, which showcase both their eccentricity and gayblack-man chic. Minor chords have never sounded so sexy.
I’ve been shamelessly amorous of this Toronto-based neo-classical shoegaze duo since late 2009. They’re finally hitting the big-time: this re-issue of their self-released digital-only 2008 EP appeared courtesy of Sub Pop. I’m definitely sad they’re losing their indie appeal, but their technical reworkings on this re-issue are a whole new kind of sublime. 6. Y elle
Safari Disco Club
Music can’t get much more playful. Yelle puts on a sassily eccentric show and almost gives Lady Gaga a run for her money in the costume department. I speak French, so maybe I enjoy her more than some Americans, but if her sugarhigh energy is lost in translation, you better check your pulse. 7. F riendly
Pala
Fires
I briefly hated these guys. They were the new Vampire Weekend back in 2009, and boy do I hate Vampire Weekend. Then they dropped this piece of psychoactive gold last spring. It’s got clever lyrics (“I can’t see straight, I’m trippin’!”) and even a touch of the “epic.” Touché, Fire men. 8. M 83
Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
An intensely long-awaited release from the thoroughly talented Anthony Gonzalez. The album is an orchestral dream-pop delight,
but I have to say I was disappointed by the live performance at Neumo’s in November. Sorta soured the exceptional LP for me. Oh well. 9. T he
Whip Wired Together
Daphne Hsu Bedrock City
1. J eff
the Brotherhood We Are the Champions
The second album from this Manchester electro-grunge outfit blew me away! The easy flow of the first four tracks is downright sexy, and I salivate thinking about the live performance. My only complaint: forgettable lyrics with the complexity of a Twilight novel.
JEFF is two brothers from Nashville, Tennessee. They perform with a three-stringed guitar, three drums, and three cymbals, which basically means they’re PERFECT!
10. Kasabian
These guys are also from Nashville and they are also the best. Sometimes (all the time) I wish that more shows in Seattle were beer-induced sing-alongs topped off with pizza, which is what this album feels like. They also have a great band name!
Velociraptor!
In the realm of psych-electronic Brit-rock, the buck stops here. Kasabian has been raging for the better part of a decade, and each release adds a new facet to their energy. Velociraptor! veers wildly from gong-accented lost-youth anthem to coke-binge monlogue/ polka with entertaining abandon.
Arista Burwell-Chen Gettin Funky in the Morning
1. W U
LYF Go Tell Fire To The Mountain
2. B lood
Orange Coastal Grooves
3. CANT
Dreams Come True
4. Y outh
Lagoon The Year of Hibernation
5. T he
Drums Portamento
6. M 83
Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
7. G em
Club Breakers
8. N eon
Indian Extra Extrana
2. D iarrhea
Planet Loose Jewels
3. H ooking
Up Can’t Lose
This album (free on their bandcamp!) is seven songs of sloppy punk, one of which features these Harrisonburg, Virginia boys screaming over a sample from “Gold and a Pager.” 4. T he
Strange Boys Live Music
The lead singer of Austin-based The Strange Boys has the dreamiest nasally voice and the piano on this album is real catchy. Definitely cleaner and more laid-back than their previous releases, but also good if you are feeling down. 5. T yler,
the Creator “Yonkers”
Remember when you watched the video of Odd Future performing “Sandwiches” on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon on some blog and then you thought, “Who are these jokers?” and then you found the music video for “Yonkers” and then you were like “Whoa”? That was great.
9. Sleep
6. F amily
10. T he
Apparently New Jersey-based Family Portrait formed when Real Estate needed an opener a party.
Over Forever Knife Deep Cuts
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Portrait Family Portrait
8. Gil
Scott-Heron & Jamie xx We’re New Here
This self-titled album does have Real Estate-esque moments in its instrumental songs, but the rest of the album is catchy and fun and very underrated.
Favorite track: “Running”
7. R eal
Favorite track: “Is It Done”
Days
Estate
This is what dream summer/dream life sounds like. Also their music video for “It’s Real” features a bunch of dogs AWW.
9. J
Mascis Several Shades of Why
10. Bass
Drum of Death GB City
Favorite track: “Nerve Jamming”
record on. You won’t be sorry. Key Tracks: Soft & Far Away
Radiohead King of Limbs
6. Craft
Between the Buried and Me The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialouges
Spells Idle Labor
Give it up to these youngsters. This is seriously one of the most compelling albums I’ve heard in a long time. Key Tracks: The Fog Rose High & After the Moment 7. Y uck
Yuck
8. P ure
X Pleasure
Chill chill chill chill chill. One reviewer calls the bass guitar on this album “peanut-butter sticky.” 9. M ikal
Cronin Mikal Cronin
Michael Beswetherick
Dank && Foreboding 1. F leet
Foxes Helplessness Blues
The world needs more bands like Yuck. Listen, and you will understand. Key Tracks: Get Away & Suicide Policeman
This is an important album. Helplessness Blues is not only a sonic and lyrical masterpiece, it cemented Fleet Foxes as one of the great, if not legendary bands, of our generation. Key Tracks: Grown Ocean & The Plains/Bitter Dancer
Although the entire record sounds like a pre-teen screech, it is one of the few records that will leave every song stuck in your head. Key Tracks: Never Heal Myself & Oh My God
2. T he
9. R eal
It’s unfortunate that this album came out late this summer. Had it have been an early June release, this easily would have been the subtle background music to nearly everyone’s basement hangout.
Favorite track: “Surgeon”
One of the most intricately beautiful records I have ever heard: This is a must have. Hey, they’ve even played house shows in the U District, so be sure to keep your ears peeled. Key Tracks: Pidgeon, Pretty Birds Above our Heads, & Japan
2. Fleet
3. T oro
Favorite track: “Montezuma”
Toro y Moi captures a usually pretentious concept and presents it in an accessible and irresistibly danceable manner. Key Tracks: New Beat, Divina, & How I Know
Mikal Cronin kind of looks like a young John Cusack (which is probably a comparison he gets a lot and totally hates!), but cooler. 10. s habazz
Black Up
palaces
Duh!
Globes Future Self
Meerea Kang
Fool’s Paradise 1. St.
Vincent Strange Mercy
Foxes Helplessness Blues
3. Girls
Father, Son, Holy Ghost
Favorite track: “Honey Bunny” 4. Ty
Segall Singles 2007-2010
Favorite track: “Hey Big Mouth”
y Moi Underneath the Pine
8. C ults
Cults
Days
Eric Sanders
Vincent Strange Mercy
1000 Light-years
Primus Naugahyde
Blake James Blake
Within and Without
best of 2011
Drive Ost Drive
A little bit underwhelming at times, but true genius shines through at certain moments. One of the more sincere records to come out in a long time. Key Tracks: Holocene, Wash., & Calgary
Lie down, do whatever you need Favorite track: “The Wilhelm Scream” to completely relax, and put this
7. James
David Lynch Crazy Clown Time
Iver Bon Iver
4. S t.
Palaces
Various ArtistsDrum and Bass Essentials Vol. 10- LW recordings
10. B on
Wu Tang Clan Legendary Weapons
Black Up
L33 Step Ahead
Estate
One of the few great guitar records I’ve heard in a long time. Seriously, Favorite track: “Free Press and Curl” Annie Clark not only has beautiful green eyes, she has chops. Key Tracks: Chloe in the 6. Strong Killings Afternoon, Cruel, & Surgeon Strong Killings Favorite track: “Stegosaurus” 5. W ashed Out 5. Shabazz
Various Artists The Flavours Ep vol 2-Playaz Recordings
Robert Chase Hoyt
The Right Choice
Original Sin Move Ep
1. J ames
Blake James Blake
James Blake practically defaults to number one. In looking through favorite releases of the year, this record assumed the top spot behind my back for its confounding amalgamation of milestones typically spread among the length of what proves to be even a talented
musician’s entire career slowly revealing themselves over time. Realizing their breadth and multitude has taken ‘til now, almost 10 months since its release and after the bazillion other records that’ve dropped this year (like any year). There’s an idea that musicians with classical training in a instrument can oft grasp its genre in such a way as to rebel from it and the conventions of music as a whole more thoroughly than their selftaught peers. Blake combines a patient, understated compositional method and raw innovation that feels birthed from its creator’s background in classical piano. The marriage yields. Its arrangements, originality of synth and piano based ideas, texture, rhythm, and unassuming minimalism (his between-the-lines technique that imbues tracks with unspoken tension) unite to form rich pop music still connected to the danger of super-modern electronica. But Blake’s advances as an artist should also be mentioned here in relation to the record. Since his first single on Hemlock in only July of ‘09, the dude has tore through stages of growth with a rapidity like My Bloody Valentine’s run on Creation until their hiatus after Loveless. But by last fall, after appropriating initial dubstep and having unwillingly assumed the role of leader to its second wave, and through an immense hype accruing for his eponymous debut, the brilliant plot points of CMYK and Klavierwerke couldn’t even project the steepness of Blake’s trajectory reaching up to the post-dubstep future r’n’b of James Blake. Like it wasn’t enough balancing the aforementioned progressions of his sound at once, he sings for the first time here too, conjuring Motown bedrock in the process with a pained cadence twice his age. The maturity to corral all of this into Blake is maybe its most stunning achievement. It’s a preternatural and elegant first album that still seems halftapped even 3 seasons later. It’s also great for making-out to.
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2. D rake
Take Care
Like sudden moments of clarity, great art can realign one’s outlook. Take Care makes the glut of mediocrity that’s choked 2011 quickly redundant (“Soap opera rappers / all these niggas sound like ‘All My Children”); a badly mutated version of his sensitive/ swag croon raps have flooded Top 40 for a minute now. And though they’re both a different breed from Drake—just for example’s sake—even Big Sean and Wale’s decent 2011 efforts sound suddenly 2-D when compared with Care. This record is grand, beautiful, hip hop royalty. Its a massive, self indulgent love letter from Drake to himself and surrounding crew that still finds the musical balance to be this year’s best hip hop record. The pressure of Drake’s overnight success since So Far Gone has actually fueled him. And like dousing a fire in gas, he’s grown with provocation to make a similar advance with Take Care to Kanye’s Late Registration. Hip hop is still a scene centralized enough to change through single releases. With that, this album and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy widen the sonic scope of what will be expected of premier commercial rap in the future. Yeah, I said it. 3. T he
Weeknd House of Balloons
The Weeknd’s out-of-nowhere emergence charged the impact of House of Balloons, but with some breathing room since its release, this record has proven itself beyond the trend status once tracing its contrails. Producers Doc McKinley and Illangelo’s expert, muscular myriad-pop backing uniquely compliments Abel Tesfaye’s slick-as-fuck, androgynous and soaring voice; through the combination, Balloons tastefully evokes gothic sexual decadence and self-indulgence to overwhelming extremes that sound unlike anything this year.
4. S habazz
Black Up
Palaces
Visionary as fuck. Beyond rap, for any artist to create in such individual, narrow envelopes as the 10 fully realized songs on Black Up is amazing. The disparate, seemingly incongruous wealth of originality of this record demands that you stare back at it, head bobbing.
and steps into something even 9. D anny Brown more settled and mature (it’s their XXX ninth record!). The tension at the 27 of the album’s last 69 seconds: core of Drums and Guns could’ve “I never learned to rap / always knew how made a diamond, but there’s an In / Ever since a nigga 8 / knew what I’d now Rainbows kind of calm to these / When I turned 28 / they like,” what you songs. The band sounds happy, set- gon’ do now?” / And now a nigga 30 / so I tled, and like what they are: gentle, don’t think you heard me that the last ten wise, mid-western parents that years, I been so fucking stressed / Tears in make fucking great rock records. my eyes let me get this off my chest / The 7. St.
Vincent Strange Mercy
5. A mon
ISAM
Tobin
Amon Tobin’s career plays back at a caliber beyond most music, and like Sigur Ros, GY!BE, or Bjork, his albums are dense enough to digest for weeks at a time. With that, his work’s few faults come in the form of excess: songs that never struggle for ideas, but rather, risk drowning in them. 2007’s Foley Room worked for its content/concept balance, whereas ISAM pushes its main muse too hard (a piece of modern electronic equipment called a Continuum). And while negative criticism may seem out of place on this list, it’s to distinguish the opus that could’ve been. Parts of the album astound. Tracks like “Goto 10”, “Wooden Toy”, and “Bedtime Stories,” prove another new height of Tobin’s uncompromising catalogue, but its the rest of ISAM’s immense technological focus that ultimately draws most listener attention. It’s an unrelenting, cacophonous achievement of sound design, and while that’s no dig against it (there’s little to pick apart here; it’s a great record), I just wish he’d sing me a lullaby before smothering me to death with that spike-covered pillow. 6. L ow
C’mon
C’mon feels like a victory lap. Its a suite of Low’s previous strengths
Alright. What to say that hasn’t been said? For real, there’s a singularity to Strange Mercy that’s evolved over the two records before it. The more obvious juxtapositions of Annie Clark’s previous songs have come together to push up the bar of her songwriting to reach some seriously weird, enthralling pop that still sounds preeminently polite, composed, and itching to rip your face off. 8. Machinedrum
Room(s)
Even with various jungle, house, and hip hop experiments reaching back over a decade, Machinedrum was still sporadically known among the electronic press by this year’s start. I was among those in the dark. Halfway through my first listen to Room(s), I had somehow manifested a memory of reading that it was his first album and kept thinking, “Shit, this is a great debut”. Machinedrum is a fan of music as much as a creator of it. His albums switch scenes with the wind, constantly shifting focus and widening their aim to mix as much onto as any certain rhythm as possible. His ever-evolving, free-association creativity is more commonly seen in with young musicians, implies a certain kind of process that cares for one thing above everything: making vibrant new art. The spritely, bouncing meld of genres on Room(s) is a music nerd’s easter-egg wonderland, but ultimately, the kind of deft finished product that’s more fun to let wash over you.
best of 2011
thought of no success got a nigga chasing death / Doing all these drugs, hope I OD’ing next / Triple X”
The onslaught of XXX’s final track and verse is so impacting, your stomach will jump to your throat and swell, and with goosebumps racing up your arms, you’ll glimpse the beast chasing Danny Brown. With his teeth almost audibly chattering, he conjures some un-penned character in a Hunter Thompson story: all manic flail against an unforgiving setting of poverty and drugs and debauchery and violence. It’s a nightmare side-show act that— while hard to look away from its ugliness—never lets go of reality in favor of escape. It’s one of the bravest records I’ve ever heard.
upcoming releases of 2012 Air—Le Voyage Dans La Lune
Dirty Projectors—TBA
The Mars Volta—TBA
Dr. Dog—Be the Void
The Men—Open Your Heart
Bear In Heaven—I Love You, It’s Cool
The-Dream—Love IV: Diary Of A Madman
Metal Chocolates—TBA
Best Coast—TBA
DMX—Undisputed
February 7
Animal Collective—TBA
April
Big K.r.i.t.—Live From the Underground
February 7
March 20 March 27
Field Music—Plumb
mount eerie—Distorted Cymbals 7" February 7
Janelle Monáe—TBA
February 14
Morrissey—TBA
January 16
Fleetwood Mac—TBA
Oberhofer—TBA
Andrew Bird—Break It Yourself
Frank Ocean—TBA
of Montreal—Paralytic Stalks
March 6
March
February 7
Blondes—Blondes
Garbage—TBA
Porcelain Raft—Strange Weekend
The Big Pink—Future This
February 7
Grimes—Visions
Bruce Springsteen—TBA
January 31
Cat Power—TBA
Grizzly Bear—TBA
10. B raids
Ceremony—TBA
Heartless Bastards—Arrow
With a middle-bill set at Chop Suey one night this March, Braids blew a hole through the anticipation for Baths’ headline spot (even more impressive after having to follow the Carnival-gimmick of Gobble Gobble), and stole the show. It was a brilliant set of deceptively technical and shimmering baroque pop that left me warmly heart-sore for days. I bought Native Speaker from their drummer on the spot (pretty rare) and we talked about recording the album. “We rehearse constantly,” he admitted, speaking to the delicate precision of their songs. It’s a distinctive characteristic separating them from less disciplined young bands and marks an underlying commitment to their unique sound. Native Speaker gracefully merges shoegaze, chamber rock, and elements of freak-folk, before launching the combination upward with an ecstatic revel.
Chairlift—Something
Native Speaker
March 6
February 14
January 24
R. Kelly—Black Panties Santigold—Master Of My Make Believe School Of Seven Bells— Ghoststory
January 24
Hausu—TBA
Cloud Nothings—Attack On Memory
Islands—A Sleep & A Forgetting
January 31
Leonard Cohen—Old Ideas
Iran & the Contras— Mourning in America/Shit in Reagan’s Mouth
Sigur Rós—TBA
Craft Spells—TBA
Ja Rule—Pain Is Love 2
February 14
January 24
March
Cursive—I Am Gemini February 21
Matthew Dear—Headcage January 17
Lana Del Rey—Born To Die
February 14
March 6
Light Asylum—TBA Lindstrøm—Six Cups Of Rebel February 6
Lower Dens—TBA
January 31
Madlib & Freddie Gibbs—TBA
D’Angelo—James River
Madonna—TBA
DH—Snooches & Smooches Die Antwoord—Tension February 7
February 28
The Shins—Port Of Morrow March
Sleigh Bells—Reign Of Terror Spiritualized—Sweet Heart Sweet Light March 19
Sol—Yours Truly
January 20
Soundgarden—TBA Stephanie—TBA
March
The Walkmen—TBA
The Magnetic Fields—Love At The Bottom Of The Sea
Wu-Tang Clan—TBA
March 6
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The xx—TBA
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