Tell Us About 2011 Albums

[bmack86]

Yeah, I had to check and make sure I put on Go4 and not a random late 90s post-grunge band.

[farglesnuff]

i got a couple.

love axe - phenomenomenoms
indie-popish, but its very diverse with a few folk and rock songs. theres even an electronica-ish song on there too. you can check out the whole album or even downlaod it for free (or give them as much money as you want) at loveaxe.com

wake up lucid
not really new, but i just found out about them the other day. they have a new album comin out in feb ("sugar") and im pretty pumped for it. its real garage rocky blues. like old black keys but a bit faster paced. after i checked out their myspace page i bought their lone ep ("look alive people" from 2009) and am quite pleased/excited for the next one.

[bmack86]

You guys weren't lying, this Yuck album is fucking ace. It's like if Cymbals Eat Guitars were better songwriters and had better guitar playing.

[GeezrRckr]

really...you don't think the first two tracks are total Pavement rip-offs? i'm going to give it another listen, but it really sounded quite derivative on first listen...esp those first two tracks.

(and i think i agree with you about GoF. there are 3 songs i really like, but the rest has really disappointed me. but, i am resisting panning it....yet)

[wmgaretjax]

I agree on Yuck. Nothing special on first listen for me. Solid. Good for what it is... but I don't see it holding up for repeat listens.

[bmack86]

It came out in 2010 apparently, but the William Tyler album that Pitchfork has up currently as the second review is phenomenal. It's a grab bag of instrumental, guitar-based tracks veering from impressive fingerpicking exercises a la John Fahey to spare, shifting guitar drones with found sounds that remind me of a drumless Dirty Three. I'm absolutely in love after the first listen, and it's definitely going to bear repeated spins.

[bballarl]

What Bryan said.

[bmack86]

Seriously, I loved Jack Rose, but with one album on his own William Tyler already has usurped his throne. This album is massive sounding. The overtones on the 3rd song alone are worth the price of admission.

Seriously, check this song out

[BlackSwan]

I'm not a huge fan of the singer-songwriter direction James Blake is going, but I must admit, I do really like "Wilhelms Scream" for some reason.

[wmgaretjax]

I definitely hope that Blake continues to put out more electronically focused EPs... but I haven't been able to stop listening to his album... I need to be careful, because I'm gonna burn it out really soon here.

[bballarl]

He's so good at texture. The places he goes with it are fascinating.

[bmack86]

The new Ducktails album is good, much more song-oriented than the last stuff I've listened to with him, which is nice but at the same time I miss the more expansive structures. Art Vandelay is a cool track, sounds quite a bit like something he'd do with Real Estate, as does much of the material here. That's a good thing, btw.

[wmgaretjax]

It's solid. Way more Real Estate-ish. I fucking loved his split with Dracula Lewis and was hoping for something more in that vein.... the only track like that on the album is The Razor's Edge... Wish there had been more.

[Still-ill]

Yeah, I had to check and make sure I put on Go4 and not a random late 90s post-grunge band.

Yeah the production is terrible.

[bballarl]

The new R. Kelly album is pretty good. He tries to go more Motown with things, which he succeeds at reasonably well. There are 3-4 great songs. There is also the lyric "I wanna make love in Braille, while I'm feelin' on you", which further cements his poetic genius.

[bballarl]

That album actually came out in December. My bad.

[wmgaretjax]

Yeah. There are some really bad tracks there as well though. But dude's voice has never been in finer form.

[bballarl]

Yeah. But every album has a few awful tracks. He doesn't really have a filter. Part of the charm, I guess.

[BlackSwan]

After I couple listens the new Cut Copy is really growing on me. While I still think it was silly for them to release the two best tracks on the album ("Take Me Over" and "Where I'm Going") before the album even came out, those tracks are the start of string of 6 great songs. "Strange Nostalgia For The Future" is a dreamy intermission that I find myself restarting after it ends. "Hanging Onto Every Heartbeat" is a smooth track that I could see being their "softer" single sometime down the line.

The only problems I still have with it are the opening and closing tracks. "Need You Now" sounds like it's going to build up to some fantastic release, but when it it doesn't, it just makes it obvious that the chorus is a bit too much cheese and not enough cool. "Sun God" doesn't go anywhere special enough to warrant the 15 minutes it takes to listen to it.

I doubt Zonoscope will ever end up being a favorite over their first two albums, but as a huge Cut Copy fan, I'm sure as hell glad they made it.

[wmgaretjax]

Yeah. But every album has a few awful tracks. He doesn't really have a filter. Part of the charm, I guess.

Normally though, the shitty tracks have some appealing and interesting bits... because this album is much more straight r&b with less of his personality, the bad tracks are just uninteresting.

[bmack86]

Where I'm going might be the best thing I've heard since Desire Lines.

[jeffp1717]

Cut Copy held the top spot of 2011 for me for approximately 3 days...until I heard the Akron/Family. The album covers all of their talents so well, in such a balanced way. The noisy passages are dismantling and intense, and the calm sections are as beautiful as ever.

[Drinkey McDrinkerstein]

I listened to Zonoscope for the first time last night and it is indeed very good. It's not nearly as good as the first album, but that's okay. It's very different, but I totally like it.

[wmgaretjax]

what the fuck? I just picked up the new Eric Copeland (Black Dice) 7" on PPM.... serious departure... i have all of Eric Copeland's stuff, and I'm a huge fan... the B-side is actually a song song. weird. i don't even know how to take this. it's good, but it's radically different than anything he or black dice have ever done. the underlying music definitely shares some stuff in common (although much more tangible) with his other solo stuff, but the singing over it is really throwing me off.

[Drinkey McDrinkerstein]

Jared, have you listened to Barn Owl & The Infinite Strings Ensemble - The Headlands? I guess it was a 2010 release but I just saw it a couple days ago. I haven't had time to listen to it yet though.

[wmgaretjax]

Yeah. It's fantastic, much more droney than Ancestral Star (not surprising given it's Ellen Fullman and crew supporting). As is the rest of that Important Records batch (the Eleh and the Eleh/Ellen Fullman split).

[TallGuyCM]

It's not nearly as good as the first album, but that's okay.

In Ghost Colours was their 2nd album, just fyi.

[Drinkey McDrinkerstein]

In Ghost Colours was their 2nd album, just fyi.

OH. Is their first album any good then?

[TallGuyCM]

I've never listened to it. Will definitely do before Coachella.

[BlackSwan]

It is quite good: