My Top 50 Albums of 2011

50. Telekinesis - 12 Desperate Straight Lines

49. Tom Waits - Bad As Me

48. Manchester Orchestra - Simple Math

47. MUTEMATH - Odd Soul

46. Sims - Bad Time Zoo

45. The War on Drugs - Slave Ambient

44. Laura Stevenson and the Cans - Sit Resist

43. Okkervil River - I Am Very Far

42. Los Campesinos! - Hello Sadness

41. Panda Bear - Tomboy

40. Atlas Sound - Parallax

39. The Decemberists - The King is Dead

38. Radiohead - The King of Limbs

37. Memory Tapes - Player Piano

36. Thurston Moore - Demolished Thoughts

35. Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - Mirror Traffic

34. Cymbals Eat Guitars - Lenses Alien

33. Bill Callahan - Apocalypse 

32. Iron & Wine - Kiss Each Other Clean

31. Washed Out - Within and Without

30. Mogwai - Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will

29. Yuck - Self Titled

28. Real Estate - Days

27. Starfucker - Reptilians

26. Wilco - The Whole Love

25. Joan of Arc - Life Like

24. Algernon Cadwallader - Parrot Flies

23. WU LYF - Go Tell Fire to the Mountain

22. Lotus - Self Titled

21. Bright Eyes - The People's Key

20. Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring For My Halo

19. Owen - Ghost Town

18. Kate Bush - 50 Words for Snow

17. St. Vincent - Strange Mercy

16. Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues

15. Wild Beasts - Smother

14. The Antlers - Burst Apart

13. TV on the Radio - Nine Types of Light

12. The Mountain Goats - All Eternals Deck

11. Black Lips - Arabia Mountain

10. Wild Flag - Self Titled

9. British Sea Power - Valhalla Dancehall

8. Battles - Gloss Drop

7. Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost

6. Fucked Up - David Comes to Life

5. Bon Iver - Bon Iver, Bon Iver

4. Destroyer - Kaputt

3. PJ Harvey - Let England Shake

2. Doomtree - No Kings

1. M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

New Year, New Realization

As I am thoroughly working on my Top 50 Albums of 2011 list, I've reflected on the list I made for last year (Top 25 albums) and am very disappointed in some of the choices I picked. There are so many albums from last year I would have added that I now love dearly. Dessa's A Badly Broken Code, for example. I just wanted y'all to know that I would make some drastic changes to my list from last year and even some of the olders ones are a bit outdated now. 

Hope you enjoy my upcoming Top 50 list! 

:)

Review: TV on the Radio - Nine Types of Light (2011)

As soon as I heard the first track, Second Song, I knew I was in for a tasty treat. In fact, I was so blown away by the funky beat of the opening song that I kept it on repeat for quite some time, which is unusual for me since I prefer to listen to an album straight through. 


These awesome rockers from Brooklyn, New York know how to create the most diverse music while keeping it soulful and sweet. Nine Types of Light captures the softer side of their songwriting by focusing on themes of love. The lyrics: "I'm gonna keep your heart" and "you're the only one I've ever loved" are some examples of this obvious theme. 

What stood out to me immediately was the variety of instruments used in this album. I was surprised to hear steel drums toward the middle of No Future Shock and the melancholic banjo in Killer Crane was so gorgeous and unexpected that it added a nice change in tempo. Of course, the electronic single, Will Do, was another outstanding track. You can almost hear Talking Heads in their final track, Caffeinated Consciousness.


Overall, I found this album to be one hell of an experience. These guys know how to blend together instruments that make catchy tunes, but they have such a unique style, from post-punk and free jazz to soul music, practically giving them a sound to claim as their own. Nine Types of Light is superb. In my humble opinion, there isn't a bad track on it. Tragically, Gerard Smith (keyboards and bass) died from cancer on April 20, 2011 --shortly after the album was released. This makes the album extra special to me because the funky bass lines will always cause me to remember this man and his talent that I know will never go unrecognized.


                                                       9.5/10