Top 10 Albums of 2011

So it's that time of year again when everybody posts their Top albums of the year lists and you read every one of them just to disagree, so here is mine:

Last year my top 10 was basically dominated by American and Canadian bands such as the National and Arcade fire, so this time around we've gone a full 180 degrees with 5 of my top 10 being home-grown, British acts.

We kick things off with Elbow

10- Elbow- Build a Rocket Boys

Guy Garvey and his bandmates returned this year with more anthems and disarming stories that made us fall in love with them in the first place. "We've got open arms for broken hearts/ like yours my boy, come home again" they comforted us, while 'Dear Friends' is Garvey's heartfelt love letter to "angels and drunks". Lippy Kids is a tender song about the golden days of youth. "Walking on walls/ stealing booze and hour long hungry kisses/
and nobody knew me at home anymore". Elbow are the band who are like your best friends, they have a shoulder for you to cry on, to reminisce over favourite memories and share a giggle with, they radiate warmth when we need it the most, in our coldest of moments.


9- The Vaccines- What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?








I’m pretty sure it has been impossible to go through this year without at least hearing of The Vaccines. Pretty early on they were chosen as the years ‘buzz band’ thanks to their cool, guitar rock similar to The Ramones before them. The album’s lead single, Wreckin’ Bar (Ra Ra Ra) lasts merely 84 seconds- a main reason as to why they have been getting a lot of air-play on the radio.  Their songs, just like the live shows are energetic events, leaving you barely enough time to catch your breath.


8- War on Drugs- Slave Ambient

War on Drugs are constantly compared to the same circle of artists, be it Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Sonic Youth etc. All great songwriters and influential artists at their peak, this is why, in my opinion, the comparisons are not unjustified. The War on Drugs have managed to successfully create an album of Americana rock and hazy psychedelic pop sounds that blend together to make an exciting concoction. Slave Ambient is only the bands second album and proves that despite the exit of guitarist Kurt Vile, the band have more than survived, they have prospered.

7- Noah and the Whale- Last Night on Earth

Last Night on Earth is the album where Charlie Fink truly proves himself to be a lyrical genius, and genius is not a word I just throw about. Take ‘Wild Thing’ for example, “Nine days out alone/ sleeping in the dirt/ she walks back into town/ with blood stains on her shirt/ everyone has questions/ but no one wants to know/ how far the anger in someone/ can really make them go” Despite the example just given, this album is for the most part, bright and up-beat. There are radio friendly tunes such as ‘L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N’ and ‘Tonight’s the Kinda Night’ as well as beautiful, understated tracks such as ‘Old Joy’ and ‘The Line’. A true joy to behold.


6- Fleet Foxes- Helplessness Blues

After the success of their eponymous debut, I was greatly anticipating their follow up. There is something very uncool about the Fleet Foxes, which makes them all the more appealing. Fleet Foxes don’t try to be anything they aren’t. Their work sounds intricate and delicate but not complicated and stressed despite it being more complex than their triumphant debut. Robin Pecknold has produced some of the best harmonies since Simon and Garfunkel not to mention the lyrics at the root of their songs.

“If to borrow is to take and not return
I have borrowed all my lonesome life
And I can't, no I can't get through
the borrower's debt is the only regret of my youth”

The first verse from track Bedouin Dress is affirmation to this.

This time around the Fleet Foxes seem more assured and composed, they are sure of themselves, which makes the listening experience even more pleasurable.

5- The Black Keys- El Camino

 

A month ago I thought I had my Top 10 albums figured out. Then The Black Keys released El Camino, their 7^th studio album, and it shook the whole thing up. Fuck. Compared to their 2010 Brothers, El Camino is flashier and fuzzier. Producer Danger Mouse adds a rougher texture and more depth to they’re breezy rock ‘n’ roll. El Camino is an easier listen to Brothers, the songs are a more immediate than most tracks from Brothers, there is no ‘These Days’, so don’t go looking for one but if you want rock 'n' roll tunes with a blues twang and hefty hook, you're looking in the right place.

4- The Antlers- Burst Apart

Burst Apart was my introduction to The Antlers, the bands notoriously difficult follow-up album to their tense breakthrough album, Hospice. Like the falsetto of Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, sometimes it can be difficult to work out what front man Pete Silberman is singing, you just have to work out the emotions from the ghostly atmosphere the smooth beats and guitar lines produce inside of you. What is better though than music that makes you feel? What is music worth if not feeling emotion and attachment? I think this is something that people these days are forgetting, the Antlers try to remind us.

3- Bon Iver- Bon Iver

According to frontman and founding member, Justin Vernon, if Bon Iver’s debut For Emma, Forever Ago was a “winter” album, then their self-titled release is “spring, much more colourful”. Guess what? He’s right. This album isn’t as immediate as For Emma, it needs a time to breathe, soak through your skin, only then do you get the full impact. Vernon’s time with Kanye West may have influenced the experimental edge heard on each track, a different dynamic and mood to anything he has released before. His falsetto is far from perfect which is what makes it so inviting, Emma was the wound that scarred him and Bon Iver is him moving on with his life. The themes featured this time aren’t heartbreak or mourning, they’re much more. Holocene contains the most haunting line throughout the 10 songs, “and at once I knew I was not magnificent,” but instead of about disappointment, the song is more a celebration- you don’t have to be “special” to be special, you can be worth something no matter your circumstances.

 2- The Horrors- Skying

As far as looks go, they’re my grandmothers worst nightmare, the truth is though; The Horrors have never cared about what people thought of them, they’ve never shied away from showing their true colours even when in the beginning, it did seem rather tongue in cheek. Despite all this though, despite failure and being written off, The Horrors bounced back, first with Primary Colours and now Skying. This time around however there was nothing to prove and everyone was all ears. Gauzy basslines by Rhys Webb and Tom Cowan’s synth slyly usher you in, similar to those of Simple Minds, especially on lead single, Still Life a trance inducing song that doesn’t seem anything like the 5:21 minutes it is. The art of using brass, synths, bass, percussion and guitar without sounding suffocating is a difficult feat that the group has also mastered, meaning each song is as captivating as the last. A flawless record full of depth, range and a deceivingly large expanse of influences.

1- Wild Beasts- Smother

 

Now we’ve come to my number one, the ‘marmite’ record of the year if there was one. I guess the first thing that everyone starts off talking about Wild Beasts is that they sing about sex. A lot. As a teenager (aww I’m just a baby I know) this is something that I’m yet to experience so there could be some argument as to whether my opinion of this album is actually really worth anything. Well yes it is, as a teenager I’m constantly surrounded by sex, I’ve learnt more about sex from the media than my parents, this isn’t because they’re unwilling to talk about it, we have no problem talking about sex or relationships, just that the media is bombarding us with sex all the time; tv, cinema and even music. Instead of the perfect, slow-motion, romantic, everything-in-life-is-perfect-and-everyone-looks-like-a-greek-god- sex that we witness on the tv, the Wild Beasts talk about a different sort of sex, ugly and awkward relationships that leave you truly ‘naked’. Hayden Thorpe’s haunting falsetto is still as sensual as ever, his lyrics remain risqué, “I take you in my mouth like a lion takes his game” is an example of the sexuality represented in the lyrics. This time around though, the relationships seem much more than just sex, they are broader than that, “I would lie anywhere with you, any old bed of nails for me, just so you’re there when I fall asleep…” He cares this person, has sympathy for them while still being wrought with lust. ‘End Come Too Soon’ the stunning album closer is almost too tense to bear. The climax of the song is a metaphor for his own climax, there are no words spoken during the bridge, the strings and guitar speak instead- an escalation from composure to height of pleasure. Ultimately the name of the song becomes true of your feelings once it has ended.