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The Best Music of 2011 – The Year of the Sax

Sunday, November 27, 2011

 

2011 was an OK year for music unless you happened to be a sax player. Those guys had a great year, even the “Big Man” Clarence Clemons, who got to play on a hit single from Lady Gaga which was pretty cool for him but then died, which was less cool. The sax was wielded on albums from such indie stalwarts as Iron & Wine, Destroyer, P.J. Harvey and countless others. It may even be safe now to play the solo from Foreigner’s “Urgent” in public again.

Here are my100  favorite songs of 2011 on a Spotify playlist – dig it!

100 Best Tracks of 2011

And below are my 50  favorite albums of the year:

50. Clams Casino – Instrumentals

49. Fucked Up – David Comes To Life

48. Beastie Boys – Hot Sauce Committee Pt. 2

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Music: The 500 Best Albums of the Last 40 Years Part V 100- 1

Sunday, November 20, 2011

This is the end my friends, the final installment in my big birthday capping list. To see the previous entries click here for 101-200, here for 201-300, here for 301-400, and here for 401-500.

 

100. Minutemen – Double Nickels on The Dime (1984)

San Pedro’s finest was a;also one of the greatest bands to come out of the American hardcore punk scene, a three piece influenced as much by Captain Beefheart and Bob Dylan as by The Ramones. This is their magnum opus, 43 songs that show off their passion, heart, brains and humor. For them this is stretching out with several songs over their vaunted 1 minute mark and a few over two.

99. Camper Van Beethoven – Key Lime Pie (1989)

This was an atypical record for CVD, violinist Jonathan Segal had left and his pan-global approach to the instrument went with him as Morgan Fichter took over. David Lowery was more in contol than ever and the lyrics were the densest and most compelling he’d ever written. The band complied with a bigger widescreen sound that hewed more towards rock without becoming generic. It’s a song cycle about the hottest, sweatiest part of summer and the feeling of oppressive humidity is palpable. Bonus points for being available on a lime green cassette back when I first bought it.

98. Radiohead – The Bends (1995)

Radiohead seemed destined to be a one-hit wonder after their success with the song “Creep” a blatant if effective Pixies rip-off that was not matched by anything else on their uneven debut. Thus expectations were low for this slow burning follow up that began  to build a reputation through word of mouth and a string of clever videos. The songs were much more mature, musically varied but accessible. The tone is one they would perfect, ennui with depression lingering around the edges but the music and Thom Yorke’s incisive lyrics keep it from feeling like a pity party. Instead it’s moving, rousing stuff.

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Music: The 500 Best Albums of the Last 40 Years Part IV 200-101

Friday, November 4, 2011

 

Here it is, the latest installment in my countdown of the best albums made over the last 40 years. As we close in on my actual 40th birthday, so too do we close in on the end of the list. You can see 201 -300 here. Here is 301-400. And here is 401-500.

200. Bruce Springsteen – Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978)


Due to a lawsuit and perhaps overall freaked-outedness over the overwhelming reception to Born To Run, Broooooooce took a few years to put out this follow-up. Perhaps tinged by this experience it’s like the dark underbelly of that previous record with many of the same themes but explored from a more resigned and embittered angle. While this makes it less of a fun listen, it adds to the rewards the record unlocks over time.

 

199. Primal Scream – Screamadelica (1991)

Primal Scream may or may not have signaled a big watershed in British rock with this amalgam of house, Stonesy rock, and other dance music that was in the air at the time. Shuffle beats were already all the rage among Britain’s baggy-pants set (I’m looking at you, Chameleons UK and Happy Mondays) and Stone Roses made it safe to shake ones ass back in 1989 with “Fools Gold.” Still this was a triumph from start to finish and doubly so for being completely unexpected given the ordinariness of their previous two records.

198. Faces – Ohh La La (1973)

As Rod the Bod increasingly looked to his solo stardom to provide him with opportunities to deflower virgins, his tenure with The Faces began to draw to a close. On their last album he gets in some great moments but it’s Ronnie Laine who shines all over the second half on songs like the title track. Ron Wood of course would go on to join the Stones.  A raucous, appropriately boozy valedictory for a great band.

197. The New Pornographers – Twin Cinema (2005)
No longer the world’s most humble supergroup, Neko Case and Destroyer’s Dan Bejar were becoming better known in their own right by the time the New Porno’s third record came out, plus their second album had gained them a wider following as well. So, time to switch it up with bigger more detailed production and arrangements that are decidedly edgier from main songwriter Carl Newman. Tracks like “Falling Through Your Clothes” and “Three or Four” are much more intricate than before, but there are still power pop home runs like “Sing Me Spanish Techno.”


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Music: The 500 Best Albums of the Last 40 Years Part III – 300-201

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

 

Yes, it’s part three of my countdown and the gems keep coming! Are you getting mad yet? Seeing some old faves show up? Don’t forget you can see Part II here and Part I here.

300. Pavement – Brighten The Corners (1997)

This aptly named record also tightens the focus after the sprawl of Wowie Zowie while embracing instrumental coloration like mellotron on the wonderful “Transport is Arranged.” The songwriting is sharp and Malkmus is at his lyrical best on bon mots like “Starlings in the Slipstream” and “Stereo” which namechecks Rush’s Geddy Lee.

 

299. The Jayhawks – Tomorrow the Green Grass (1995)

Gary Louris and Mark Olsen were on the verge of splitting their partnership as The Jayhawks but they were able to release this, their best album before things took a turn for the worse. The songs are the best kind of classical, with the virtues of great craft married to stunning playing and soulful singing. It’s countrified but not country.

298. Danger Doom – The Mouse and the Mask (2005)
Commissioned by Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim programming block, this collaboration between MF Doom and Danger Mouse is way better than it’s commercial origins would suggest. Doom’s rapping is typically inventive and the production samples cleverly and liberally from such shows as Sealab 2021.

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Music: The 500 Best Albums of the Last 40 Years Part II – 400-301

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Jim Morrison wants you to try the barbecue sauce trapped in his beard...

 

Welcome to the latest installment counting down my 500 favorite albums of the last 40 years, in celebration of my 40th birthday. Here’s Part I if you missed it, 500-401.

 

400. David Bowie – Station to Station (1976)

Bowie here was not the same Bowie as on Ziggy Stardust or Let’s Dance. Fueled by coke and amphetamines he’s halfway between the ersatz soul of his previous record and halfway towards the sonic ingenuity of his Berlin years. In fact the title track and “TVC-15″ feel very much indebted to what German bands like Kraftwerk and Can were up to.

399. Randy Newman – Good Old Boys (1974)

A deeply twisted yet compassionate foray into the all-too recent American south. Newman imagines himself as his characters and his utter lack of detachment when in character as a racist for instance led to much confusion as well as Newman’s outspoken defense of Eminem. A corrective to those who know him only from family-friendly soundtracks and the (very funny) Family Guy parody.

398. Destroyer – Streethawk, A Seduction (2001)

Dan Bejar’s music making moniker has given him cover to explore a wide range of sounds, as well as to play the enigmatic member of a supergroup that already includes fascinating chanteuse Neko Case (New Pornograpers). Whike his voice may be a bit too reedy for some tastes and can veer into preciousness hen unchecked, here the songs and sounds are varied and energized enough to put every song over.

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