Many of you may feel like this was the most overplayed record of the year. All I can tell you is stop listening to pop radio. It will kill your love for good music, they play the same stuff over and over until you hate it. If you just load up you iPod and only listen to what you love, when you love it, you can look at a record like this and still love it months after you first heard of it. My only concern is where do we go from here. Two bad breakups have lead to two great records. I would like to think that Adele could be happy and make a good record.
From one extreme to the other. The most overplayed record of the year to one you may not have heard of. Admiral Fallow are a Scottish band that fuse beautiful vocals with eerie, electronic pop music. They easily move from the soulfully sweet song, with disturbing vocals, "Dead Against Smoking", to jamming, dare I say dance songs like "Squealing Pigs." The thing I love most is the thick Scottish accent of lead singer Louis Abbott, that they are not afraid to put front and center. Back to Love by Anthony Hamilton
If you love old school R&B, think Marvin Gaye, Al Green, you will love Anthony Hamilton. This guy has been around for a while, releasing several records in the 90's and early 00's without getting much love. He has finally broken through and was on most of the top 20 lists for 2011. This is the kind of record you need to buy on vinyl, put on the record player, pour a glass of cognac, and cosy up to the person you love.
I can't imagine a Decemberists record being released and it not making my favorites list. This band would probably have to take a serious crap before I stopped listening to them. The record was recorded in a beautiful farm just outside of Portland, and it is much more stripped down and simple than anything we have heard from them so far. Lead singer Colin Meloy points out that creating straightforward, unadorned songs can be at least as hard as building complicated musical epics. "For all my talk about how complex those records were, this one may have been harder to do," he says. "It's a real challenge to make simple music."
This is my vote for record of the year. It is hard to talk about this record without sounding overly emotional, which in a strange way is exactly what this record could have been in lesser hands. King Creosote is Kenny Anderson from the East Nuek of Fife, in Scotland. He is an amazingly prolific artist, who plays in several bands and musical collectives. This is his best selling solo effort to date. He describes the record as a "soundtrack to a romanticized version of a life lived in a Scottish coastal village." It is a beautiful record.
Troy 'Trombone Shorty' Andrews' is proof that New Orleans is not dead. I am not talking about the damage inflicted by Hurricane Katrina here, I am talking about New Orleans Jazz being a dead language. Like Latin, you can speak it and read it, but there has been no new words for way too long. On For True, Shorty continues to move the genre forward. He calls his amazing mix of rock, funk, jazz, hip-hop and soul: Supafunkrock. The energy on this record is intoxifying, there is no way you can listen to this without getting up and wanting to dance.
This might be another record that is a little obscure, considering you can't buy it on iTunes or Amazon. Abel Tesfaye is the Weeknd, and despite a significant web presence there is not a lot known about him. I can tell you he is from Canada and he is a Drake protege, although I think his music blows Drake away. He is an amazingly soulful, dirty mouthed rapper who quietly seduces you instead of shouting at you. If you want to check him out go to The Weeknd's site and you can download this record for free.
Justin Vernon is Bon Iver and on this self titled record, we get more of what we love. Beautiful, soulful music, that is so quite a lot of people don't get it. It is easy to make fun of as being overly gentle, as they did on Saturday Night Live, but not everything has to be an overpowering audition for American Idol. If you loved his last record For Emma (and you should) you will love this one too.
This is another eagerly awaited follow up record. Marry Me by St. Vincent was one of my faves from 2007. On Strange Mercy, Annie Clark has put out a more aggressive, raw record that highlights her playful vocals and killer guitar playing. If you get the chance, this is a young lady you should see live, and if you are a guitar geek, you should find her interview on All Songs Considered, she is not only talented, she is a wonk.
I don't really know what to say about this record. It's just not quite right. As soon as you get in a grove it kind of pushes you back out. As soon as you feel comfortable it takes a turn that assaults the ear. This may sound like a bad thing, but I assure you it's not. Blake may be challenging to listen to, but it's worth it. It's like how you didn't like single malt whiskey the first time you tried it, but now you have developed your palate and you are ready for big boy stuff. At it's heart it is an amazing example of where electronica can go in the hands of a big thinker.
Honorable mentions: El Camino by The Black Keys; The People's Key by Bright Eyes; Codes And Keys by Death Cab For Cutie; W H O K I L L by Tune-Yards; The Whole Love by Wilco; The Magic Place by Julianna Barwick; and The Unfazed by Deolorian
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