2011 Album Capsules (with Twitter Restricted Length)
Allah-Las - Catamaran / Long Journey (2011): 78. Two terrific surf/garage nuggets from one of the best local bands going right now. Can't wait for more.
Alvarius B - Baroque Primitiva (2011): 77. Lo-fi, spare arrangements of Ennio Morricone & Brian Wilson. Lovely stuff. Best cover art of 2011
Atlas Sound - Parallax (2011): 73. Not quite up to the freakishly high standards of Bradford Cox's recent output. I guess he's human.
The Babies - S/T (2011): 80. This doesn't flow together as well as I wish it would but there isn't a loser in the bunch and it's crazy addictive.
The Babies - Here Comes Trouble / My Tears (2011): 72. "My Tears" is kind of a throwaway but "Here Comes Trouble" is a great pop nugget.
Baby Teeth - Boss (2011): 42. The promise of their 2007 LP THE SIMP continues to be unrealized by this empty, tossed-off writing exercise.
Beach Fossils - What a Pleasure EP (2011): 73. An improvement over their good but forgettable debut LP, with stronger sequencing & control of tone.
The Beets - Stay Home (2011): 67. "Just a Whim" is highlight on this very lo-fi collection of fragments that recalls early Guided by Voices.
Black Lips - Arabia Mountain (2011): 70. Not as glossy as Ronson's name would suggest; pretty sure the money went to coke & random horns.
James Blake - S/T (2011): 68. Blue-eyed soul dressed up as twitchy dubstep which creates some odd tension that's equally irritating & compelling.
Blouse - Into Black / Firestarter (2011): 71. A side is especially strong. Another notable dream pop artist in rich Captured Tracks stable.
Bon Iver - Bon Iver, Bon Iver (2011): 79. Side A is masterful with an expansive, dynamic sound similar to late Talk Talk. B flirts with lesser 80s.
Charles Bradley - No Time for Dreaming (2011): 74. Very solid retro-soul LP with great gritty vocals & strong groves by Menehan Street Band.
Braids - Native Speaker (2011): 74. Very nice atmospheric textures with hypnotic blips and bleeps that somehow feel warm & non-mechanical.
Mikal Cronin - S/T (2011): 80. A great solo debut for Cronin but you can feel Ty Segall's looming large like Bowie did on 70s Reed & Pop.
Mikal Cronin - Tide / You Gotta Have Someone (2011): 78. One of the most exciting emerging artists in 2011. B-side is a delicious pop nugget
Cults - S/T (2011): 74. A girl pop party attended by the Manson family; darkness seeping into music via lyrics, ambient noise & cult voice samples.
Cut Copy - Zonoscope (2011): 58. A serviceable dance/synth pop LP with plenty of hooks but the beats are not compelling and neither are the lyrics.
The Decemberists - The King is Dead (2011): 45. This reactionary follow-up to ambitious failure is a much less ambitious failure. No signs of life.
Deerhoof - Deerhoof vs. Evil (2011): 55. Never been a fan. Feels like there are about 200 ideas per song, I wish they'd stick with the good ones.
Destroyer - Kaputt (2011): 87. Bejar's best work in years. Spaced-out sophistipop arrangements shouldn't be this sexy. Melodies develop and evolve.
Dick Diver - New Start Again (2011): 78. Warm & soft guitar rock in the vein of Television's ADVENTURE & countless great 90s Matador bands.
Dirty Beaches - Badlands (2011): 73. Psychobilly meets No Wave makes for a very stark, dangerous vision. Lo-fi recording brings out lovely textures
Dodos - No Color (2011): 74. Not a return to VISITER levels of invention but I'm glad they returned to that original recipe with minor evolution.
Dum Dum Girls - He Gets Me High EP (2011): 65. Four obsessive love songs performed at a relaxed pace. Hopefully not a permanent departure.
EMA - Past Life Martyred Saints (2011): 68. Very noisy folk music with heart on sleeve emotionalism; lyrics not quite up to snuff.
Feist - Metals (2011): 57. The occasional eccentric flourish or unexpected arrangement help keep this from being completely underwhelming.
FIDLAR - DIYDUI EP (2011): 75. A brash, raucous 8 minutes of punk with killer pop hooks. WAKE. BAKE. SKATE. Indeed.
Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues (2011): 56. This generation's CSN. Innocuous, pretty harmonies in service of mostly pedestrian lyrics. Yawn.
Eleanor Friedberger - Last Summer (2011): 80. An open & completely engaging pop album works with a variety of sounds without feeling shifty.
Matthew Friedberger - Napoléonette (2011): 71. MF obstructed down to just piano & vocal is actually very revealing look into his manic processes.
Matthew Friedberger - Meet Me in Miramas (2011): 73. Some of MF's longest compositions with innovative guitar use to provide percussive spine.
Future Islands - Before the Bridge / Find Love (2011): 73. Both songs are very strong and add to my strong anticipation for the upcoming LP.
Future Islands - On the Water (2011): 74. High point is "Give Us the Wind" which is also the least thematically reminiscent of previous LP.
Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost (2011): 64. I really like the first side and the second side is not bad, I never want to listen past that.
PJ Harvey - Let England Shake (2011): 75. Harvey's best work in over a decade but I still miss the fiery passion of her 90s work.
Gary Higgins - A Dream A While Back EP (2011): 76. Most of these intimate & intense songs would sound at home on Higgins' wonderful RED HASH.
Human Eye - They Came from the Sky (2011): 66. Proggy sci-fi concept with thick garage acid delivery & incredibly heavy guitar fuzz.
Hunx and His Punx - Too Young to Be in Love (2011): 70. The girl group back-up singers sell the joke but it's not as funny as it was on GAY SINGLES
Iceage - New Brigade (2011): 78. Brash & exciting post-punk album with great flow & lean running time. "Broken Bone" is quite the punk anthem.
Jeremy Jay - Dream Diary (2011): 69. Return to SLOW DANCE aesthetic but with better integrated synths evoking cool, nighttime atmosphere.
Jeff the Brotherhood - We Are the Champions (2011): 84. Refreshingly straight-forward rock LP with crunchy riffs & plentiful hooks. Essential.
La Sera - S/T (2011): 68. A sugary ode to Sarah Records that could use a savory element like edgy lyrics or sardonic humor to really set this off.
Les Demoniaques - Teenage Lust (2011): 73. Please let this develops into a full project of sexy & menacing covers from Dee Dee & Tamaryn.
Man Man - Life Fantastic (2011): 74. Grotesque violent imagery coupled with sexual impotence makes for a twisted, nightmarish carnival ride.
J Mascis - Several Shades of Why (2011): 79. A very full sounding acoustic LP with songs every bit as good as they were on FARM, just a lot quieter
John Maus - We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves (2011): 81. Possibly the best synth pop album since POWER, CORRUPTION & LIES.
Mister Heavenly - Out of Love (2011): 75. More cohesive than the typical supergroup project with each player balancing out others.
Thurston Moore - Demolished Thoughts (2011): 74. A lovely acoustic album that's not really a huge departure from recent Sonic Youth.
The Mountain Goats - All Eternals Deck (2011): 63. Not previously a fan. "Damn These Vampires" is making me reconsider my distaste for delivery.
Marissa Nadler - Marissa Nadler (2011): 69. A confident step in a new direction but I miss the haunted, spooky quality of previous LP.
Thee Oh Sees - Castlemania (2011): 71. A departure into lighter, sunshine pop territory is slightly unfocused but sporadically brilliant.
Thee Oh Sees / Total Control - Tour Split EP (2011): 80. Essential for fans of either band and heavenly if you're a fan of both (as I am).
Thee Oh Sees - Carrion Crawler/The Dream EP (2011): 82. Captures the jammy, intense energy of their live performances. Their best LP to date
Panda Bear - Tomboy (2011): 78. A slight disappointment given how much I love PERSON PITCH but still hypnotic, ethereal & occasionally brilliant.
Pangea - Living Dummy (2011): 79. Garage punk with Gordon Gano-esque vocals & tremendously catchy pop hooks. It's difficult not to scream along.
Peaking Lights - 936 (2011): 83. Drugs aren't required to trip out to this unique blend of psychedelic guitars, dub effects & ingenious lo-fi.
Ponytail - Do Whatever You Want All the Time (2011): 64. Clearly a band that's still evolving but this LP just isn't as fun as ICE CREAM SPIRITUAL.
Puro Instinct - Headbangers in Ecstasy (2011): 76. Like KAPUTT, this LP is primarily interested in making cheesy shit from the 80s sound awesome.
Radiohead - The King of Limbs (2011): 72. The first signs of fatigue. Yorke's work feels unchallenged by his bandmates. Greenwood curiously absent.
Royal Headache - S/T (2011): 82. Great Aussie debut blends garage, soul & power pop into something fresh and utterly addictive. Essential.
The Rural Alberta Advantage - Departing (2011): 63. The rough edges of the debut have been sanded down & the result is a much less interesting LP.
Ty Segall - Goodbye Bread (2011): 85. Very cohesive considering how many genres it touches. Less showy than MELTED but much better overall.
Ty Segall - Spiders 7" (2011) 77. A well deserved victory lap with distorted, heavy guitar & a roaring cover of Groundhogs' "Cherry Red."
Smith Westerns - Dye it Blonde (2011): 78. Evokes glam mostly in Chris Coady's production while the songwriting is unadulterated power pop syrup.
The Soft Moon - Total Decay EP (2011): 76. Very strong follow-up to last year's terrific debut LP with more dark, atmospheric post punk.
Tapes 'n Tapes - Outside (2011): 60. This unremarkable third LP is the slump that sophomore album WALK IT OFF was wrongly accused of being.
Tennis - Cape Dory (2011): 62. Another lo-fi, sun-drenched girl pop group with sweet melodies. Doesn't seem to have much to offer besides sugar.
Timber Timbre - Creep On Creepin' On (2011): 77. A 50s pop sensibility underscores all the dark atmosphere & odd arrangements. A grower.
Total Control - Henge Beat (2011): 83. Hits nearly every mutation of the post-punk genre but still a tonally coherent & compelling LP.
Thee Oh Sees / Total Control - Tour Split EP (2011): 80. Essential for fans of either band and heavenly if you're a fan of both (as I am).
tUnE-yArDs - W H O K I L L (2011): 61. A hyperactive child with idiot-savant tendencies; I want to sit her down and take half her crayons away.
Various Artists - Under the Covers Vol. 2: 72. Very well curated collection of The Nerves covers from mostly terrific up-and-coming bands.
Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring for My Halo (2011): 77. Very direct and unwavering style initially threw me off but I've warmed to the delicate simplicity.
Kurt Vile - So Outta Reach EP (2011): 69. These seem like SMOKE RINGS sessions rejects; all of them solid but none of them worthy of that LP
Vivian Girls - Share the Joy (2011): 67. Totally solid and nicely varied but seems a little lacking when compared to the Vivian Girls side projects
Nick Waterhouse - Is That Clear / I Can Only Give You Everything 7" (2011): 75. Delicious R&B revival. Waterhouse should record everyone.
White Fence - Is Growing Faith (2011): 70. More lo-fi tape distortions but this time they start to detract a little from the strong melody & energy.
Wild Flag - Glass Tambourine / Future Crimes (2011): 69. Both tracks are strong enough to make me forget how much I miss Sleater-Kinney.
Jamie Woon - Mirrorwriting (2011): 69. So smooth it occasionally flirts with boring but preferable to James Blake's glitchier take on soul.
Wye Oak - Civilian (2011): 71. Production (by the band) is too clean for my liking but the drums are appropriately muscular & songs are strong.
Youth Lagoon - The Year of Hibernation (2011): 70. Fragile & earnest as a emo youtube confessional but it's effective & uniquely contemporary.
Yuck - S/T (2011): 72. Probably would have seemed generic in the early 90s Alt Rock scene but now seems like a refreshing nostalgia trip.