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 | Album: 1 of 50 Artist: PJ Harvey Title: Let England Shake Released: 2011-02-14 Tracks: 12 Duration: 40:14 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Let England Shake (03:09) 2 The Last Living Rose (02:21) 3 The Glorious Land (03:34) 4 The Words That Maketh Murder (03:45) 5 All and Everyone (05:39) 6 On Battleship Hill (04:07) 7 England (03:11) 8 In the Dark Places (02:59) 9 Bitter Branches (02:29) 10 Hanging in the Wire (02:42) 11 Written on the Forehead (03:39) 12 The Colour of the Earth (02:33) |
| Let England Shake : Allmusic album Review : PJ Harvey followed her ghostly collection of ballads, White Chalk, with Let England Shake, a set of songs strikingly different from what came before it except in its Englishness. White Chalks haunted piano ballads seemed to emanate from an isolated manse on a moor, but here Harvey chronicles her relationship with her homeland through songs revolving around war. Throughout the album, she subverts the concept of the anthem -- a love song to one’s country -- exploring the forces that shape nations and people. This isn’t the first time Harvey has been inspired by a place, or even by England: she sang the praises of New York City and her home county of Dorset on Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea. Harvey recorded this album in Dorset, so the setting couldn’t be more personal, or more English. Yet she and her longtime collaborators John Parish, Mick Harvey, and Flood travel to the Turkish battleground of Gallipoli for several of Let England Shakes songs, touching on the disastrous World War I naval strike that left more than 30,000 English soldiers dead. Her musical allusions are just as fascinating and pointed: the title track sets seemingly cavalier lyrics like “Let’s head out to the fountain of death and splash about” to a xylophone melody borrowed from the Four Lads’ “Istanbul (Not Constantinople),” a mischievous echo of the questions of national identity Harvey sets forth in the rest of the album (that she debuted the song by performing it on the BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show for then-Prime Minster Gordon Brown just adds to its mischief). “The Words That Maketh Murder” culminates its grisly playground/battleground chant with a nod to Eddie Cochrans anthem for disenfranchised ‘50s teens “Summertime Blues,” while “Written on the Forehead” samples Nineys “Blood and Fire” to equally sorrowful and joyful effect. As conceptually and contextually bold as Let England Shake is, it features some of Harveys softest-sounding music. She continues to sing in the upper register that made White Chalk so divisive for her fans, but it’s tempered by airy production and eclectic arrangements -- fittingly for such a martial album, brass is a major motif -- that sometimes disguise how angry and mournful many of these songs are. “The Last Living Rose” recalls Harveys Dry-era sound in its simplicity and finds weary beauty even in her homeland’s “grey, damp filthiness of ages,” but on “England,” she wails, “You leave a taste/A bitter one.” In its own way, Let England Shake may be even more singular and unsettling than White Chalk was, and its complexities make it one of Harvey’s most cleverly crafted works. | ||
 | Album: 2 of 50 Artist: Gillian Welch Title: The Harrow & The Harvest Released: 2011-06-27 Tracks: 10 Duration: 45:59 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Scarlet Town (03:38) 2 Dark Turn of Mind (04:07) 3 The Way It Will Be (04:47) 4 The Way It Goes (04:01) 5 Tennessee (06:35) 6 Down Along the Dixie Line (04:49) 7 Six White Horses (03:38) 8 Hard Times (04:52) 9 Silver Dagger (03:21) 10 The Way the Whole Thing Ends (06:11) |
| The Harrow & The Harvest : Allmusic album Review : The title -- The Harrow & the Harvest, Gillian Welchs first album of new material in eight years -- reflects a creative drought: she and David Rawlings simply werent writing songs they liked. The music is steeped in the early country, bluegrass, and Appalachian mountain traditions that are her trademark --though it engages rock and roll and blues motifs albeit acoustically--while the melodies and lyrics reflect the darkness and melancholy of Gothic Americana. Produced by Rawlings, this set returns to the sparse instrumentation of her earliest recordings: guitars, banjos, harmonica, and hand-and-knee slaps. The album illustrates a near-symbiotic guitar interplay; rhythms, melodies, and even countermelodies are exchanged organically, interlocked in the moment. The protagonists in these ten songs are desperate, broken, and hurt individuals; some stubbornly cling to shreds of hope while others resign themselves to tragedy even as they go on; still others, like the one in the opener "Scarlet Town," reflect anger and the wish for vengeance. What they hold in common is their need to tell their stories through Welchs plaintive contralto. "Dark Turn of Mind," a painful love song, embodies the truth in confessing the past as a warning even as its subject wills a new future. "The Way It Will Be," a fatalistic folk ballad, is the first of three songs with the words "The Way..." in their titles; its line "Youve got me walking backwards/Into my home town..." sum up each of their sentiments, albeit in different ways. "Tennessee" is among the finest songs Welch has ever written. A sultry, darkly sexual ballad that has more in common with rock than country in its musical framework, its subject is conflicted between learned morality and an instinctive desire that expresses no need for redemption: "I kissed you cause Ive never been an angel/I learned to say hosannas on my knees...I always try to be a good girl/Its only what I want that makes me weak....Of all the ways Ive found to hurt myself, you may be my favorite one of all...." The knee slaps, banjo, vocal harmony, and harmonica in "Six White Horses" is startlingly, and paradoxically, mournful and defiant; its melody rooted in the Appalachian tradition, she transcends it with a particularly poignant lyric. Despite its gentle presentation, "Hard Times" is steely and determined, even as its languid presentation displays evidence to challenge the protagonists spirit. "Silver Dagger" is not the Joan Baez song of the same name, but a midtempo murder ballad that proclaims "I cant remember when I felt so free"; so much so that the subject welcomes her killer. The set closes on "The Way the Whole Thing Ends," a shimmering blues, with Welchs protagonist leaning wryly into the lyric with an ironic shrugged-shoulders acceptance at the inevitable return of a faithless lover. The Harrow & the Harvest is stunning for its intimacy, its lack of studio artifice, its warmth and its timeless, if hard won, songcraft. Its only equal in her catalog is Time (The Revelator), making it well worth the long wait. (Note: the provocative cover art by Baroness guitarist and vocalist John Dyer Baizley is peerlessly brilliant.) | ||
 | Album: 3 of 50 Artist: Metronomy Title: The English Riviera Released: 2011-04-11 Tracks: 11 Duration: 45:06 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 The English Riviera (00:37) 2 We Broke Free (04:06) 3 Everything Goes My Way (03:30) 4 The Look (04:38) 5 She Wants (03:51) 6 Trouble (04:46) 7 The Bay (04:50) 8 Loving Arm (03:31) 9 Corinne (03:16) 10 Some Written (06:03) 11 Love Underlined (05:58) |
| The English Riviera : Allmusic album Review : Previously a nu-rave trio in the mould of Klaxons, Metronomy, the brainchild of Joseph Mount, have changed tack for their third studio album, The English Riviera, following the departure of original member Gabriel Stebbing three years earlier. Having permanently recruited the talents of bassist Gbenga Adelekan and former Lightspeed Champion drummer Anna Prior, the follow-up to 2008s Nights Out, abandons their indie-disco sensibilities in favor of a more laid-back but equally idiosyncratic, sun-kissed sound which positions them as avant-garde purveyors in the vein of Saint Etienne rather than debauched glowstick wavers. But while its opening number, a 37-second snatch of cowing seagulls and distant waves lapping against the shore, may evoke the glamorous beaches of California, its remaining self-produced ten tracks are very much a love letter to both Mounts hometown of Totnes in Devon, and a romantic fantasy of the titles seaside resort he used to drive around in, blasting Ace of Base as a youth. While thankfully there arent any attempts at European faux-reggae, there are nods to the rich and warm West Coast sounds of 70s Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles on the swaying, country-tinged "Trouble" and the ominous, fretless, bass-led "She Wants." But ultimately, as the title implies, the bands third album is unmistakably an English affair, and none more so than "Some Written," which kicks off with a shuffling end-of-the-pier waltz rhythm and the kind of old-fashioned Wurlitzer last heard in wartime ballrooms, before ending in a cavalcade of stylophones, cymbals, and even kazoos that sounds like a particularly clumsy one-man-band falling down the stairs. Its utterly bonkers, but fits right in when placed among the likes of "The Look," which borrows the hook from Perez Prados "Guaglione" and fuses it with summery Beach Boys harmonies and archaic video game style synths, the lolloping Serge Gainsbourg-esque jazz-rock, and psychedelic guitar solos of "We Broke Free" and "Everything Goes My Way," a gorgeous 60s-inspired slice of cooing lounge-funk featuring the deadpan vocals of Veronica Falls Roxanne Clifford. The band occasionally revert back to their more familiar electronic roots, such as on the ambient, Orbital-esque "Loving Arm," and the woozy synth wizardry of closing number "Love Underlined," but as sonically interesting as they are, they feel like slightly jarring interruptions to the albums underlying vaudeville nature. Relentless in its pursuit to soundtrack the uniqueness of the British summer, The English Riviera is a challenging but ultimately rewarding effort which cements Mounts reputation as one of Britains most intriguing pop mavericks. | ||
 | Album: 4 of 50 Artist: White Denim Title: D Released: 2011-05-24 Tracks: 10 Duration: 37:04 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Its Him! (03:22) 2 Burnished (02:36) 3 At The Farm (03:58) 4 Street Joy (03:36) 5 Anvil Everything (03:59) 6 River To Consider (05:00) 7 Drug (03:03) 8 Bess St. (03:39) 9 Is and Is and Is (03:45) 10 Keys (04:02) |
 | Album: 5 of 50 Artist: Josh T. Pearson Title: Last of the Country Gentlemen Released: 2011-02-21 Tracks: 7 Duration: 58:36 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Thou Art Loosed (03:14) 2 Sweetheart I Aint Your Christ (11:45) 3 Woman, When Ive Raised Hell (06:59) 4 Honeymoons Great! Wish You Were Her (13:00) 5 Sorry With a Song (10:50) 6 Country Dumb (10:13) 7 Drive Her Out (02:32) |
 | Album: 6 of 50 Artist: The Horrors Title: Skying Released: 2011-07-11 Tracks: 10 Duration: 53:56 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Changing the Rain (04:31) 2 You Said (04:46) 3 I Can See Through You (04:17) 4 Endless Blue (05:10) 5 Dive In (04:51) 6 Still Life (05:21) 7 Wild Eyed (04:04) 8 Moving Further Away (08:34) 9 Monica Gems (04:28) 10 Oceans Burning (07:50) |
| Skying : Allmusic album Review : Skying boasts a song called “Moving Further Away,” and that’s exactly what the Horrors do on their third album. Neither a return to Strange Houses goth-punk nor a simple continuation of Primary Colours acclaimed Krautrock/shoegaze fusion, this time the band sets the dials of its way-back machine for the mid- and late ‘80s, sampling post-punk luminaries such as Echo & the Bunnymen, the Psychedelic Furs, and Simple Minds as well as the era’s baggy trend. Yet somehow the Horrors chameleon act seems more cohesive and convincing -- or perhaps it’s just less shocking to hear them give their music another complete makeover. The main remnant of Primary Colours is that album’s atmospheric yet detailed production, which the Horrors embellish further with dense layers of synth, guitars, and vocals. Skyings centerpiece and lead single, “Still Life,” defines its approach, with sparkly mid-‘80s keyboards and brass that only strengthen the feeling that Jim Kerr sang this song over the credits of some long-lost John Hughes movie. Though “Still Life” isn’t as striking a salvo as Primary Colours “Sea Within a Sea,” it’s just as striking in its own way, and even if nothing here quite matches their previous flashes of brilliance, Skying reflects the Horrors growing abilities. Not only do the bandmembers stretch the muscles they developed on Primary Colours with workouts like the aforementioned “Moving Further Away” and “Oceans Burning,” both of which expand on “Sea Within a Sea”’s motorik rhythms and suite-like movements, they also turn in some downright poppy moments like the towering “I Can See Through You” and “Endless Blue.” While the Horrors main skill still seems to be embodying whatever styles catch their fancies as completely as they can, they put more of their own stamp on these sounds, as “Dive In”’s melodramatic take on baggy’s usually fun-loving grooves and the dub influence hovering around “Wild Eyed” attest. Interestingly, Skyings most overtly rock song, “Monica Gems,” is far tamer than anything on Strange House and even a good chunk of Primary Colours, underscoring just how far they’ve ventured with each album. Regardless of where they end up next, the Horrors have already traveled much further than most listeners would have imagined. | ||
 | Album: 7 of 50 Artist: Radiohead Title: The King of Limbs Released: 2011-02-18 Tracks: 16 Duration: 1:15:08 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Bloom (05:15) 2 Morning Mr Magpie (04:41) 3 Little by Little (04:27) 4 Feral (03:13) 5 Lotus Flower (05:01) 6 Codex (04:47) 7 Give Up the Ghost (04:50) 8 Separator (05:20) 1 Bloom (05:15) 2 Morning Mr Magpie (04:41) 3 Little by Little (04:27) 4 Feral (03:13) 1 Lotus Flower (05:01) 2 Codex (04:47) 3 Give Up the Ghost (04:50) 4 Separator (05:20) |
| The King of Limbs : Allmusic album Review : After a brief return to earth to deliver the tart, focused In Rainbows, Radiohead drift back into the ether with The King of Limbs. Like In Rainbows before it, the actuality of The King of Limbs is purposefully somewhat obscured by the hullabaloo surrounding the albums surprise release -- announced for a Saturday release on a Monday, shifted to a Friday -- and in the case of KOL, such clamor is needed. Wispy and ephemeral, shimmering skin draped over the barest of bones, The King of Limbs doesn’t deliberately lack a solid foundation, songwriting traded for sound construction. Masters of mood that they are, Radiohead digitally weave stuttering, glitchy loops of drums and guitars with real instruments, Thom Yorke’s mournful moan and keening falsetto acting as a binding agent, creating an alluringly dour atmosphere. Despite a pair of intellectually funky moments -- “Morning Mr. Magpie” and “Little by Little,” grouped together at the beginning, giving the album a slight hint of momentum that quickly fades -- this is rather monochromatic and not too far removed from the territory Radiohead began etching out with Kid A. Where that icy 2000 effort had the bracing chill of the new, The King of Limbs is familiar -- not commonplace, but carrying a certain inevitability as its eight songs slowly unspool. There are no surprises in the floating textures, no delight in the details, no astonishment in how the band navigates intricate turns: this is the sound of Radiohead doing what they do, doing it very well, doing it without flash or pretension, gently easing from the role of pioneers to craftsmen. | ||
 | Album: 8 of 50 Artist: Wild Beasts Title: Smother Released: 2011-05-09 Tracks: 10 Duration: 42:08 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Lion’s Share (04:14) 2 Bed of Nails (04:18) 3 Deeper (03:01) 4 Loop the Loop (04:06) 5 Plaything (04:21) 6 Invisible (02:58) 7 Albatross (03:12) 8 Reach a Bit Further (03:36) 9 Burning (04:44) 10 End Come Too Soon (07:33) |
 | Album: 9 of 50 Artist: Bon Iver Title: Bon Iver, Bon Iver Released: 2011-06-20 Tracks: 10 Duration: 39:25 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Perth (04:22) 2 Minnesota, WI (03:52) 3 Holocene (05:37) 4 Towers (03:08) 5 Michicant (03:42) 6 Hinnom, TX (02:45) 7 Wash. (04:59) 8 Calgary (04:10) 9 Lisbon, OH (01:33) 10 Beth/Rest (05:17) |
| Bon Iver, Bon Iver : Allmusic album Review : Part of the beauty of Bon Iver’s debut album, For Emma, Forever Ago, was the intimate, backwoods feel of the recording and the simplicity of Justin Vernon’s soaring, open wound of a voice with only minimal musical backing to distract from its impact. Even though Vernon had a few other people playing on the album, it was easy to imagine a solitary broken soul spilling his guts onto tape for hours at a time while the world went on without him. It was a truly aching, somewhat claustrophobic sound that was beautiful and unique. After a couple years in which his life was basically turned upside down thanks to the success of For Emma, Vernon’s second album is quite different. Where For Emma was stripped down and intimate, Bon Iver is packed with guest musicians, horn sections, strings, and extra vocalists. Every inch of sonic space is filled with sound, each one fighting for space and distracting from Bon Iver’s strength, namely Vernon’s vocals. It’s probably unfair to expect Vernon to replicate the sound of For Emma, but he could have found a middle ground between tender restraint and totally overdoing it. Instead, he’s working like mad to distance himself from the sound he established so well in a desperate attempt to make a “masterpiece” instead of For Emma, Pt. 2. Perhaps if he were a more skilled producer and arranger, things would have been better. Unfortunately, his style comes off more like sub-Enya with a beard than a true studio wizard. The muted, over-washed sound of the record is murky when it should be mysterious, flat when it should be 3-D, and his reliance on clichéd synth sounds is somewhat perplexing. While most of the record is underwhelming sonically, the last track, "Beth/Rest," is laughable. Sounding like it was recorded using a five-dollar Casio and featuring some of the worst dueling sax/guitar solos you’d ever imagine, it shoots for a majestic, album-ending feel but instead sounds like the theme song to a horrible 80s movie about unicorns (only not that good). Despite disasters like that, there are still enough moments of tender beauty and restraint to remind you why Bon Iver is worth caring about. The relatively restrained "Wash," which pits Vernon’s aching vocal orchestra against a jagged, repeating piano line (and only minimal strings and pedal steel), the first two-thirds of "Holocene" (before the mix bursts with saxes and unnecessary effects), the simple and affecting "Michicant" (if you can ignore the distractions) -- these have hints of the grace and understated emotion that made For Emma what it was. Hints aren’t enough to make the record a success, though, and by reaching too far, Vernon and Bon Iver fall flat with a huge thud. It’s a shame Vernon felt he had to take Bon Iver outside the cabin and into the world. He was doing just fine on his own and didn’t need all those people and instruments cluttering up the air. “Woods” proved that all Vernon needed to break a heart was his voice and some Auto-Tune. Though he can be praised for not just copying himself and trying to progress, to be honest, For Emma, Pt. 2 would have been far more satisfying than this overblown debacle. | ||
 | Album: 10 of 50 Artist: The War on Drugs Title: Slave Ambient Released: 2011-08-15 Tracks: 12 Duration: 46:53 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Best Night (05:30) 2 Brothers (04:29) 3 I Was There (03:49) 4 Your Love Is Calling My Name (06:01) 5 The Animator (02:16) 6 Come to the City (04:30) 7 Come for It (00:28) 8 It’s Your Destiny (04:49) 9 City Reprise #12 (03:05) 10 Baby Missiles (03:33) 11 Original Slave (03:11) 12 Black Water Falls (05:10) |
 | Album: 11 of 50 Artist: Laura Marling Title: A Creature I Don’t Know Released: 2011-09-12 Tracks: 10 Duration: 41:21 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 The Muse (03:40) 2 I Was Just a Card (03:30) 3 Don’t Ask Me Why (03:58) 4 Salinas (04:37) 5 The Beast (05:44) 6 Night After Night (05:08) 7 My Friends (03:58) 8 Rest in the Bed (03:08) 9 Sophia (04:51) 10 All My Rage (02:47) |
| A Creature I Don’t Know : Allmusic album Review : Laura Marling, fresh off of a Mercury Prize nomination at the age of 20 for 2010’s I Speak Because I Can, knows that with critical acclaim comes great expectation. Her third studio album, the loose and languid A Creature I Don’t Know, both edifies her old-soul persona and diffuses it, offering up 11 slabs of retro Anglophile folk that manages to both push the envelope and seal it shut. Marlings vocal affectations, which are ultimately charming despite their frequent Joni Mitchell-isms, are far more apparent this time around, especially on the album’s first three tracks, all of which showcase a fervent singer/songwriter with a fiercely independent spirit who’s tempered by a strong familiarity with her parents’ record collection. That said, it’s a syllabus that’s been ingested and honed rather than spit out and glossed over, and most of the time, Marling makes a great case for all of those Sandy Denny and Linda Thompson comparisons. Brimming with life and lush with spanish guitar, rolling banjos, summer of love chord changes, and moor-bound tales of love gone bad, A Creature I Don’t Know is ultimately triumphant, due in great part to Marlings magnificent codeine voice, which sounds like it’s been pouring out of the radio for five decades, especially on stand-out cuts like “Sophia,” “The Beast,” “My Friends,” and “All My Rage.” Three albums in, the young singer/songwriter sounds brave and confident yet breakable and guarded, and while A Creature I Don’t Know may not be the bolt from the blue fans and critics were hoping for, it’s most certainly storm born. | ||
 | Album: 12 of 50 Artist: Fleet Foxes Title: Helplessness Blues Released: 2011-04-29 Tracks: 12 Duration: 49:55 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Montezuma (03:37) 2 Bedouin Dress (04:29) 3 Sim Sala Bim (03:14) 4 Battery Kinzie (02:49) 5 The Plains / Bitter Dancer (05:53) 6 Helplessness Blues (05:03) 7 The Cascades (02:07) 8 Lorelai (04:24) 9 Someone You’d Admire (02:29) 10 The Shrine / An Argument (08:07) 11 Blue Spotted Tail (03:05) 12 Grown Ocean (04:36) |
| Helplessness Blues : Allmusic album Review : Props to Helplessness Blues for making the fretless zither cool again. On their second album, Fleet Foxes continue to take their music in unusual directions, creating a baroque folk-pop sound that hints at a number of influences -- Simon & Garfunkel, Fairport Convention, the Beach Boys -- but is too unique, too esoteric, too damn weird to warrant any direct links between the Seattle boys and their predecessors. Its still a downright gorgeous record, though, filled to the brim with glee club harmonies and the sort of stringed instruments that are virtually unknown to anyone who didnt go to music school (and even if you did, whens the last time you rocked out on the Marxophone?). Relying on obscure instrumentation can be a dangerous game, and Fleet Foxes occasionally run the risk of sounding too clever for their own good, as if the need to "out-folk" groups like Mumford & Sons and Midlake is more important than writing memorable, articulate folk tunes. But Helplessness Blues has the necessary songs to back it up, from the slow crescendos of the album-opening "Montezuma" to the sweeping orchestral arrangement of the encore number, "Grown Ocean." Robin Pecknold remains the ringleader of this Celtic circus. His is the only voice to cut through the thick, lush harmonies that Fleet Foxes splash across every refrain like paint, and his lyrics -- rife with allusions to the Bible, Dante the Magician, and the poetry of W.B. Yeats -- reach beyond the territory he occupied on the band’s first record, which painted simple geographical portraits with songs like "Sun It Rises," "Ragged Wood," "Quiet Houses," and "Blue Ridge Mountains." On Helplessness Blues, hes just as interested in the landscape of the human heart. Still, its the music that stands out, and the bands acoustic folk/chamber pop combo makes every song sound like a grand tribute to back-to-the-land living. | ||
 | Album: 13 of 50 Artist: Tom Waits Title: Bad as Me Released: 2011-10-21 Tracks: 16 Duration: 54:03 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Chicago (02:15) 2 Raised Right Men (03:24) 3 Talking at the Same Time (04:14) 4 Get Lost (02:42) 5 Face to the Highway (03:43) 6 Pay Me (03:14) 7 Back in the Crowd (02:49) 8 Bad as Me (03:10) 9 Kiss Me (03:41) 10 Satisfied (04:05) 11 Last Leaf (02:56) 12 Hell Broke Luce (03:57) 13 New Years Eve (04:32) 14 She Stole the Blush (02:51) 15 Tell Me (03:43) 16 After You Die (02:47) |
 | Album: 14 of 50 Artist: Kurt Vile Title: Smoke Ring for My Halo Released: 2011-03-07 Tracks: 12 Duration: 48:10 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Babys Arms (03:56) 2 Jesus Fever (03:46) 3 Puppet to the Man (03:52) 4 On Tour (05:26) 5 Society Is My Friend (05:39) 6 Runner Ups (04:00) 7 In My Time (03:47) 8 Peeping Tomboy (04:24) 9 Smoke Ring for My Halo (04:35) 10 Ghost Town (06:23) 11 (Shell Blues) (01:01) 12 Wanna See God (01:16) |
 | Album: 15 of 50 Artist: Wilco Title: The Whole Love Released: 2011-09-23 Tracks: 12 Duration: 56:23 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Art of Almost (07:16) 2 I Might (04:01) 3 Sunloathe (03:19) 4 Dawned on Me (03:43) 5 Black Moon (03:56) 6 Born Alone (03:55) 7 Open Mind (03:40) 8 Capitol City (04:03) 9 Standing O (03:29) 10 Rising Red Lung (03:09) 11 Whole Love (03:49) 12 One Sunday Morning (Song for Jane Smiley’s Boyfriend) (12:03) |
| The Whole Love : Allmusic album Review : With 2002s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Wilco finally shed the "that guy from Uncle Tupelo" baggage that had kept them from gaining the respect they clearly deserved, and Jeff Tweedy gained the confidence to follow his muse in previously unfamiliar directions with increasingly rewarding results. But with so much space now open to Tweedy and his collaborators, Wilcos post-YHF studio work, while often brilliant, didnt seem quite as cohesive as Being There or Summerteeth, albums that were eclectic but revealed a unified core the newer albums somehow lacked. Part of this can be chalked up to frequent lineup changes, and the group seemed to be shaking this dilemma on Wilco (The Album), the second studio set from the bands strongest lineup to date, and with The Whole Love, theyve finally made another album that pays off with the strength, consistency, and coherence of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Like YHF, The Whole Love is the work of a band thats stylistically up for anything, from the edgy dissonance of "The Art of Almost" and the moody contemplation of "Black Moon," to the ragged but spirited pop of "I Might" and the cocky rock & roll strut of "Standing O," but more so than anything the band has done since Being There, The Whole Love sounds like Wilco are having fun with their musical shape shifting. Even somber numbers like "Rising Red Lung" have a heart and soul thats warm and compelling, and these musicians consistently hit their targets both as individuals and as an ensemble; Mikael Jorgensens keyboards bring a playful whimsy to songs that could sometimes use it, the guitar interplay between Tweedy, Nels Cline, and Pat Sansone never stops bubbling with great ideas, and bassist John Stirratt and drummer Glenn Kotche hold down the rhythm with equal parts of imagination and precision. With The Whole Love, Wilco have made an album where the whole is as strong as the individual parts: the musicians play off one another with the intuition and understanding that separates a real band rather than folks who simply work together, and the songs cohere into a whole thats rich, intelligent, and often genuinely moving. Quite simply, this is the work of a great band at the peak of their powers, and The Whole Love is a joy to hear, revealing more with each listen and confirming once again that Wilco is as good a band as America can claim in the 21st century. | ||
 | Album: 16 of 50 Artist: Jonathan Wilson Title: Gentle Spirit Released: 2011-08-08 Tracks: 13 Duration: 1:18:09 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Gentle Spirit (Find Our Hearts) (06:27) 2 Can We Really Party Today (06:40) 3 Desert Raven (07:56) 4 Canyon in the Rain (06:22) 5 Natural Rhapsody (08:17) 6 Ballad of the Pines (04:01) 7 The Way I Feel (04:07) 8 Dont Give Your Heart to a Rambler (03:47) 9 Woe Is Me (06:23) 10 Waters Down (03:46) 11 Rolling Universe (03:26) 12 Magic Everywhere (06:26) 13 Valley of the Silver Moon (10:31) |
 | Album: 17 of 50 Artist: Feist Title: Metals Released: 2011-09-30 Tracks: 13 Duration: 54:59 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 The Bad in Each Other (04:45) 2 Graveyard (04:18) 3 Caught a Long Wind (04:55) 4 How Come You Never Go There (03:25) 5 A Commotion (03:53) 6 The Circle Married the Line (03:23) 7 Bittersweet Melodies (03:57) 8 Anti‐Pioneer (05:33) 9 Undiscovered First (04:59) 10 Cicadas and Gulls (03:16) 11 Comfort Me (04:04) 12 Get It Wrong Get It Right (03:39) 13 Pine Moon (04:52) |
| Metals : Allmusic album Review : With Metals, Feist responds to the surprise success of 2007’s The Reminder with a whisper, not a bang. She treads lightly through a series of disjointed torch songs and smoky pop/rock numbers, singing most of the songs in a soft, gauzy alto, as though she’s afraid of waking some sort of slumbering beast. Whenever the tempo picks up, so does Feist’s desire to keep things weird, with songs like “A Commotion” pitting pizzicato strings against a half-chanted, half-shouted refrain performed by an army of male singers. But Metals does its best work at a slower speed, where Feist can stretch her vocals across fingerplucked guitar arpeggios and piano chords like cotton. “Cicadas and Gulls,” with its simple melodies and pastoral ambience, rides the same summer breeze as Iron & Wine, and “Anti-Pioneer” breaks down the blues into its sparsest parts, retaining little more than a sparse drumbeat and guitar until the second half, where strings briefly swoon into the picture like an Ennio Morricone movie soundtrack. They’re gone after 30 seconds, though, leaving things as quiet as they began. Like the rest of the subdued track list, “Anti-Pioneer” is unlikely to find itself featured in an iPod commercial, meaning Feist’s days as a provider of hip, trendy TV jingles may be over. Still, there’s a soft-spoken power to Metals, even if its songs are more liquid and atmospheric than the title suggests. | ||
 | Album: 18 of 50 Artist: Tinariwen Title: Tassili Released: 2011-08-29 Tracks: 16 Duration: 1:08:06 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Imidiwan Ma Tenam (04:41) 2 Assuf D Alwa (04:14) 3 Tenere Taqhim Tossam (04:14) 4 Ya Messinagh (05:30) 5 Walla Illa (04:54) 6 Tameyawt (04:39) 7 Imidiwan Win Sahara (03:45) 8 Tamiditin Tan Ufrawan (03:04) 9 Tilliaden Osamnat (03:26) 10 Djeredjere (04:38) 11 Iswegh Attay (05:50) 12 Takest Tamidaret (04:56) 1 Djegh Ishilan (03:48) 2 El Huria Telitwar (04:31) 3 Kud Edazamin (03:24) 4 Nak Ezzaragh Tinariwen (02:31) |
 | Album: 19 of 50 Artist: Drive-By Truckers Title: Go-Go Boots Released: 2011-02-14 Tracks: 14 Duration: 1:06:32 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 I Do Believe (03:31) 2 Go-Go Boots (05:36) 3 Dancin Ricky (03:26) 4 Cartoon Gold (03:13) 5 Rays Automatic Weapon (04:25) 6 Everybody Needs Love (04:35) 7 Assholes (04:39) 8 The Weakest Man (03:19) 9 Used to Be a Cop (07:03) 10 The Fireplace Poker (08:14) 11 Wheres Eddie (03:01) 12 The Thanksgiving Filter (05:34) 13 Pulaski (04:24) 14 Mercy Buckets (05:24) |
 | Album: 20 of 50 Artist: Ry Cooder Title: Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down Released: 2011-08-29 Tracks: 28 Duration: 2:02:46 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples AlbumCover | 1 No Banker Left Behind (03:36) 2 El Corrido de Jesse James (04:17) 3 Quick Sand (03:17) 4 Dirty Chateau (05:29) 5 Humpty Dumpty World (04:18) 6 Christmas Time This Year (02:49) 7 Baby Joined the Army (06:35) 1 Lord Tell Me Why (03:01) 2 I Want My Crown (02:37) 3 John Lee Hooker for President (06:08) 4 Dreamer (05:06) 5 Simple Tools (05:07) 6 If Theres a God (03:06) 7 No Hard Feelings (05:52) 1 No Banker Left Behind (03:36) 2 El Corrido de Jesse James (04:17) 3 Quick Sand (03:17) 4 Dirty Chateau (05:29) 5 Humpty Dumpty World (04:18) 6 Christmas Time This Year (02:49) 7 Baby Joined the Army (06:35) 8 Lord Tell Me Why (03:01) 9 I Want My Crown (02:37) 10 John Lee Hooker for President (06:08) 11 Dreamer (05:06) 12 Simple Tools (05:07) 13 If Theres a God (03:06) 14 No Hard Feelings (05:52) |
 | Album: 21 of 50 Artist: James Blake Title: James Blake Released: 2011-02-04 Tracks: 11 Duration: 38:05 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Unluck (03:00) 2 The Wilhelm Scream (04:37) 3 I Never Learnt to Share (04:51) 4 Lindisfarne I (02:42) 5 Lindisfarne II (03:01) 6 Limit to Your Love (04:36) 7 Give Me My Month (01:56) 8 To Care (Like You) (03:52) 9 Why Dont You Call Me (01:35) 10 I Mind (03:31) 11 Measurements (04:19) |
 | Album: 22 of 50 Artist: Gang Gang Dance Title: Eye Contact Released: 2011-05-09 Tracks: 10 Duration: 47:49 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Glass Jar (11:21) 2 ∞ (01:03) 3 Adult Goth (06:15) 4 Chinese High (05:12) 5 MindKilla (05:16) 6 ∞∞ (01:33) 7 Romance Layers (04:25) 8 Sacer (05:39) 9 ∞∞∞ (01:25) 10 Thru and Thru (05:40) |
 | Album: 23 of 50 Artist: Thurston Moore Title: Demolished Thoughts Released: 2011-05-16 Tracks: 9 Duration: 46:47 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Benediction (05:16) 2 Illuminine (04:02) 3 Circulation (04:10) 4 Blood Never Lies (05:07) 5 Orchard Street (06:56) 6 In Silver Rain With a Paper Key (05:43) 7 Mina Loy (04:02) 8 Space (06:39) 9 January (04:52) |
 | Album: 24 of 50 Artist: Real Estate Title: Days Released: 2011-10-17 Tracks: 16 Duration: 1:04:56 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Easy (03:51) 2 Green Aisles (05:01) 3 Its Real (02:48) 4 Kinder Blumen (03:55) 5 Out of Tune (04:51) 6 Municipality (03:36) 7 Wonder Years (02:34) 8 Three Blocks (03:18) 9 Younger Than Yesterday (04:08) 10 All the Same (07:21) 1 Suburban Dogs (04:35) 2 Killin the Vibe (04:17) 3 Never Going Back (02:19) 4 Beach Comber (04:26) 5 Sit Around With Ya (03:04) 6 Part 2 (04:52) |
| Days : Allmusic album Review : Real Estate crystallize their entire attitude and approach in a single phrase off of Days: “I’m not OK, but I guess I’m doin’ fine.” This feeling of pleasant entrapment permeates the band’s second album from its sound down to its lyrical subjects. Working with producer Kevin McMahon, Real Estate give their music a coat of polish that makes their jangly guitars, sighing melodies, and complex harmonies glisten, but also smoothes off the edges and quirks that made their self-titled debut so appealing. Granted, the band’s charm was low-key in the first place, but this newfound sheen makes it easier for songs to drift into one ear and out the other without leaving much behind. Similarly, the playing here is much tighter than on Real Estate, making for a more cohesive sound that leaves less opportunity for accidental magic, such as the way “Suburban Beverage” sped up ever so slightly as it faded (however, “All the Same” provides a mirror image to “Beverage” as it coasts to a stop). Days manicured ennui presents one partly cloudy song after another, all with the nagging feeling that things aren’t quite right lingering in the background. When Real Estate bring some urgency to these sentiments, they connect: “It’s Real” looks for a way out of this lower-case sadness with extra poignancy; “Green Aisles” envisions suburban tracts as a giant supermarket; “Out of Tune” could be a theme song for perennial misfits; and the previously mentioned “All the Same” expresses its feigned indifference with riffs and rhythms worn at a jaunty angle. However, too much of Days just goes by in a pretty, but not especially memorable, blur; an affable shrug of an album, it’s fine, but that’s not necessarily OK. | ||
 | Album: 25 of 50 Artist: Bill Callahan Title: Apocalypse Released: 2011-04-05 Tracks: 7 Duration: 40:26 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Drover (05:24) 2 Babys Breath (05:30) 3 America! (05:33) 4 Universal Applicant (05:53) 5 Riding for the Feeling (06:05) 6 Frees (03:13) 7 One Fine Morning (08:45) |
 | Album: 26 of 50 Artist: The Decemberists Title: The King Is Dead Released: 2011-01-14 Tracks: 10 Duration: 40:40 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples AlbumCover | 1 Don’t Carry It All (04:17) 2 Calamity Song (03:49) 3 Rise to Me (04:59) 4 Rox in the Box (03:09) 5 January Hymn (03:13) 6 Down by the Water (03:41) 7 All Arise! (03:09) 8 June Hymn (03:57) 9 This Is Why We Fight (05:30) 10 Dear Avery (04:51) |
 | Album: 27 of 50 Artist: Björk Title: Biophilia Released: 2011-10-05 Tracks: 10 Duration: 49:36 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Moon (05:45) 2 Thunderbolt (05:15) 3 Crystalline (05:08) 4 Cosmogony (05:01) 5 Dark Matter (03:22) 1 Hollow (05:50) 2 Virus (05:26) 3 Sacrifice (04:02) 4 Mutual Core (05:06) 5 Solstice (04:41) |
| Biophilia : Allmusic album Review : Over the years, the packaging of Björks albums grew famously, and increasingly, elaborate, but Biophilia is the first Björk project where the set of songs isn’t the complete package. Designed as a suite of interactive iPad and iPhone apps that explore humanity’s relationships with sound and the universe, the album’s concept was so grand that it began as a musical house and ended up including scientists, engineers, video game designers, and film directors among Björks collaborators. Biophilias boldest innovations are in its presentation rather than in the actual music, which is surprisingly subtle and intimate given the concept’s immense scope, but the perfect size to be cradled in a lap or palm. Björk recorded parts of the album on an iPad, and these songs retain that intimacy. They also recall Vespertine, which was made primarily on a laptop and also kept the closeness of its creation, as well as Homogenics percussive onslaughts, particularly on the literally volcanic “Mutual Core.” Minus the project’s other layers, Biophilia sometimes feels like a soundtrack; songs such as the album-opening “Moon” are so soft and delicate that they take a while to reveal themselves without their corresponding visuals. But just because the music is only one part of the Biophilia experience doesn’t mean it’s unsatisfying. Björk embodies each song’s musical, scientific, and emotional concepts fully and cleverly: “Crystalline”’s insistent repetition captures mineral formations shooting out of the ground, especially when drum’n’bass beats explode halfway through the song. Biophilias educational side is never boring, in part because Björk relates bigger phenomena to easily understood, and often tangible, occurrences; the earth is tilted on its axis like a human heart, and DNA is an “everlasting necklace.” The gorgeous “Virus” expresses its multiplying phrases in a love song with facts and emotions in perfect harmony: “Like a virus needs a body/As soft tissue feeds on blood/Someday I’ll find you/The urge is here.” However, the most exciting thing about Biophilia is how it expresses the cycle of discovery and wonder. Knowledge and mystery don’t have to be enemies: on “Cosmogony,” science and spirituality hold hands and creation myths sit next to facts. Björk holds the sheer magnitude of the album together with repeated motifs -- moons, stars, pearls, hearts, hands, and above all generosity -- that reflect Biophilias layered meanings of love, life, and love of life. The album even completes an orbit with “Solstice" -- which features gravity harps built especially for this project (the CD version of the album also features three bonus tracks, including the hurtling, previously unreleased “Nattura”). Expectations run high whenever Björk announces a new album: how will she top herself? Biophilia is easily her most ambitious project as a whole, but its music is more about completion than competition, even against herself. Educational and emotional in a uniquely approachable way, these songs are a lovely part of a bigger picture. | ||
 | Album: 28 of 50 Artist: King Creosote & Jon Hopkins Title: Diamond Mine Released: 2011-03-28 Tracks: 7 Duration: 32:08 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 First Watch (02:36) 2 John Taylors Month Away (06:31) 3 Bats in the Attic (03:43) 4 Running on Fumes (06:36) 5 Bubble (05:34) 6 Your Own Spell (03:51) 7 Your Young Voice (03:17) |
 | Album: 29 of 50 Artist: Paul Simon Title: So Beautiful or So What Released: 2011-04-11 Tracks: 10 Duration: 38:14 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Getting Ready for Christmas Day (04:07) 2 The Afterlife (03:40) 3 Dazzling Blue (04:32) 4 Rewrite (03:50) 5 Love and Hard Times (04:09) 6 Love Is Eternal Sacred Light (04:02) 7 Amulet (01:37) 8 Questions for the Angels (03:50) 9 Love & Blessings (04:18) 10 So Beautiful or So What (04:09) |
| So Beautiful or So What : Allmusic album Review : Touted as Paul Simon’s return to traditional songwriting -- Simon writing alone with a guitar and a pen instead of constructing songs around rhythmic loops the way he’s done since Graceland -- So Beautiful or So What doesn’t feel like a return to the ‘70s. From the moment the record kicks in with the heavy blues stomp and samples of “Getting Ready for Christmas Day,” it’s evident that while Simon may have changed his style of composing, he’s not abandoning his method of record-making, which is distinctly engaged with the present. When Bob Dylan sings about Alicia Keys he does so with an old-fashioned swing, but when Simon writes a verse about Jay-Z he does it within the context of an album anchored in polyrhythms, chattering guitars, and digital loops, where the handful of delicate acoustic numbers function as a counterpoint to the clean bustle of the rest of the record. Certainly, So Beautiful or So What isn’t as reliant on soundscapes as its Brian Eno-produced predecessor, but it is no rejection of texture, just as it is in no way a repudiation of the musical sensibility of Graceland, whose rhythms are as firmly felt here as on any record he’s made since. Rather, So Beautiful elegantly touches upon each of Simon’s solo signatures within a compact 38 minutes, its brevity indicating the precision of Simon’s focus. There are no wasted sounds or words here, and if he offers some of his simplest, prettiest tunes in years (“Love & Hard Times,” “Amulet”) and spends a considerable chunk of the record dwelling on spiritual matters, the album is neither steeped in nostalgia nor haunted by death. Paul Simon is remarkably clear-eyed in assessing the modern world and his place in it, not shying away from contemporary sounds -- if anything, the production is occasionally a tad too brittle, like so many digital-age recordings -- but not chasing after youth either. He’s merely living in his time and reporting, returning with an album that’s vivid, vibrant, and current in a way none of his peers have managed to achieve. | ||
 | Album: 30 of 50 Artist: Tim Hecker Title: Harmony in Ultraviolet Released: 2006-10-16 Tracks: 15 Duration: 50:00 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Rainbow Blood (01:52) 2 Stags, Aircraft, Kings and Secretaries (04:30) 3 Palimpsest I (00:35) 4 Chimeras (03:13) 5 Dungeoneering (05:24) 6 Palimpsest II (00:38) 7 Spring Heeled Jack Flies Tonight (03:11) 8 Harmony in Blue I (01:31) 9 Harmony in Blue II (01:52) 10 Harmony in Blue III (02:41) 11 Harmony in Blue IV (02:02) 12 Radio Spiricom (04:52) 13 Whitecaps of White Noise I (07:29) 14 Whitecaps of White Noise II (05:57) 15 Blood Rainbow (04:06) |
 | Album: 31 of 50 Artist: Destroyer Title: Kaputt Released: 2011-01-25 Tracks: 9 Duration: 50:07 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Chinatown (03:49) 2 Blue Eyes (04:07) 3 Savage Night at the Opera (04:23) 4 Suicide Demo for Kara Walker (08:25) 5 Poor in Love (03:26) 6 Kaputt (06:17) 7 Downtown (03:51) 8 Song for America (04:28) 9 Bay of Pigs (detail) (11:17) |
 | Album: 32 of 50 Artist: Gil Scott‐Heron and Jamie xx Title: We’re New Here Released: 2011-02-21 Tracks: 27 Duration: 1:13:14 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Im New Here (03:27) 2 Home (03:11) 3 Ive Been Me (interlude) (00:28) 4 Running (03:32) 5 My Cloud (04:27) 6 Certain Things (interlude) (00:10) 7 The Crutch (03:10) 8 Ur Soul and Mine (04:18) 9 Parents (interlude) (00:29) 10 Piano Player (01:16) 11 NY Is Killing Me (05:44) 12 Jazz (interlude) (00:50) 13 Ill Take Care of U (04:43) 14 Uncredited Track (01:38) 1 Im New Here (instrumental) (02:57) 2 Home (instrumental) (03:27) 3 Ive Been Me (interlude) (instrumental) (00:30) 4 Running (instrumental) (03:32) 5 My Cloud (instrumental) (04:28) 6 Certain Things (interlude) (instrumental) (00:16) 7 The Crutch (instrumental) (03:12) 8 Ur Soul and Mine (instrumental) (04:24) 9 Parents (interlude) (instrumental) (00:28) 10 Piano Player (instrumental) (01:19) 11 NY Is Killing Me (instrumental) (05:43) 12 Jazz (interlude) (instrumental) (00:51) 13 Ill Take Care of U (instrumental) (04:44) |
| We’re New Here : Allmusic album Review : Gil Scott-Heron proved he still had it on 2010s Im New Here, his first album in 16 years. Simultaneously, Jamie Smith (aka Jamie xx) established himself as a sonic architect on his bands moody, minimal debut, then as a producer remixing other artists and DJing in clubs across the U.K. This pair comes together on Were New Here, the remix of Scott-Herons album. It is structured in similar fashion to its predecessor: 13 tracks with songs broken by four brief interludes; the set is rhythm-heavy and suffocatingly close, but not a track-for-track take. Richard Russells production on Im New Here kept Scott-Herons voice front and center; Smith displaces it often, all but covering it with effects, beats, and pitched vocals in styles that cross the electronic music gamut from house to electro to dubstep. "Im New Here" begins skeletally; Scott-Heron recites solo before a keyboard shimmers in. Gloria Gaynors "Casanova Brown" in chipmunk pitch is sampled in just under a dread dub bassline and a skittering rhythm track with squiggly keyboard sounds before Scott-Heron counters -- its delightfully unsettling. The strange, outer space sound library effects on "Home" accompany Scott-Heron singing "home is where the hatred is..." amid a clipped, heavily reverbed, and euphoric keyboard sample that repeats just over a drum loop; it adds gloss without altering the darkness. "Running" has his spoken poetry coming from just around the corner and through a tunnel. Its juxtaposed against a full-blown post-Dilla hip-hop rhythm. On "Ur Soul and Mine," a house rhythm leads the charge and Scott-Herons vocal moves right into a blanket of synths. "The Crutch," with its layers of high-pitched, blissed-out female backing vocals atop frenetic drumnbass, is a rhythm collision. In "My Cloud," with its lilting tempo and slippery bass drum, a shimmering bassline and watery Rhodes piano provide the backing for the sweetest soul vocal Scott-Heron has ever cut. Smith even evokes the sound of his own band in the closer, "Ill Take Care of U," with his sparse guitar line, as pianos and basslines pulse under sets of squelchy synth chords. Were New Here is a mercurial collaboration; its full of nods to other club styles and eras, but Smiths expansive direction is his own. He accomplishes a difficult task in successfully (re)presenting Scott-Herons music -- integrity intact -- in the present tense to a fickle yet discerning groove-centric culture without kitsch or excess. | ||
 | Album: 33 of 50 Artist: Bronski Beat Title: Cmon! Cmon! Released: 1986 Tracks: 3 Duration: 12:31 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 C’mon! C’mon! (12” version) (06:15) 2 Something Special (04:00) 3 Drum Major (02:16) |
 | Album: 34 of 50 Artist: Fatoumata Diawara Title: Fatou Released: 2011-09-19 Tracks: 12 Duration: 43:57 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Kanou (03:53) 2 Sowa (03:08) 3 Bakonoba (03:15) 4 Kèlè (03:08) 5 Makoun Oumou (04:36) 6 Sonkolon (03:31) 7 Alama (03:35) 8 Bissa (03:04) 9 Mousso (03:18) 10 Wililé (04:50) 11 Boloko (03:34) 12 Clandestin (03:59) |
 | Album: 35 of 50 Artist: My Morning Jacket Title: Circuital Released: 2011-05-31 Tracks: 10 Duration: 45:04 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Victory Dance (05:40) 2 Circuital (07:19) 3 The Day Is Coming (03:17) 4 Wonderful (The Way I Feel) (04:17) 5 Outta My System (03:22) 6 Holdin on to Black Metal (04:19) 7 First Light (03:46) 8 You Wanna Freak Out (03:20) 9 Slow Slow Tune (04:31) 10 Movin Away (05:13) |
 | Album: 36 of 50 Artist: Jonny Title: Jonny Released: 2011-01-28 Tracks: 17 Duration: 40:54 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Wich Is Wich (01:42) 2 Candyfloss (03:00) 3 Waiting Around for You (02:19) 4 Goldmine (02:30) 5 You Was Me (03:13) 6 Circling the Sun (03:03) 7 English Lady (03:35) 8 The Goodnight (02:41) 9 Bread (02:19) 10 Cave Dance (10:45) 11 I Want to Be Around You (02:17) 12 Ill Make Her My Best Friend (01:40) 13 Never Alone (01:50) 14 Gloria (?) 15 Beach Party (?) 16 Continental (?) 17 Michael Angelo (By 23rd Turnoff) (?) |
 | Album: 37 of 50 Artist: Little Dragon Title: Ritual Union Released: 2011-05-13 Tracks: 1 Duration: 03:30 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Ritual Union (03:30) |
 | Album: 38 of 50 Artist: Hiss Golden Messenger Title: From Country Hai East Cotton Released: 2011-04-11 Tracks: 7 Duration: 32:41 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Isobel (04:24) 2 Watch Out for the Cannonball (03:28) 3 John Has Gone to the Light (04:59) 4 O Nathaniel (04:50) 5 Row (04:35) 6 Lion (05:46) 7 Resurrection Blues (04:39) |
 | Album: 39 of 50 Artist: Dawes Title: Nothing Is Wrong Released: 2011-06-07 Tracks: 11 Duration: 51:49 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Time Spent in Los Angeles (04:28) 2 If I Wanted Someone (04:39) 3 My Way Back Home (06:25) 4 Coming Back to a Man (03:51) 5 So Well (05:31) 6 How Far We’ve Come (02:59) 7 Fire Away (06:23) 8 Moon in the Water (03:54) 9 Million Dollar Bill (04:12) 10 The Way You Laugh (03:48) 11 A Little Bit of Everything (05:39) |
 | Album: 40 of 50 Artist: Kate Bush Title: 50 Words for Snow Released: 2011-11-21 Tracks: 7 Duration: 1:05:09 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Snowflake (09:47) 2 Lake Tahoe (11:08) 3 Misty (13:32) 4 Wild Man (07:16) 5 Snowed In at Wheeler Street (08:05) 6 50 Words for Snow (08:30) 7 Among Angels (06:48) |
| 50 Words for Snow : Allmusic album Review : Kate Bushs 50 Words for Snow follows Directors Cut, a dramatically reworked collection of catalog material, by six months. This set is all new, her first such venture since 2005s Aerial. The are only seven songs here, but the album clocks in at an hour. Despite the length of the songs, and perhaps because of them, it is easily the most spacious, sparsely recorded offering in her catalog. Its most prominent sounds are Bushs voice, her acoustic piano, and Steve Gadds gorgeous drumming -- though other instruments appear (as do some minimal classical orchestrations). With songs centered on winter, 50 Words for Snow engages the natural world and myth -- both Eastern and Western -- and fantasy. It is abstract, without being the least bit difficult to embrace. It commences with "Snowflake," with lead vocals handled by her son Bertie. Bushs piano, crystalline and shimmering in the lower middle register, establishes a harmonic pattern to carry the narrative: the journey of a snowflake from the heavens to a single human beings hand, and in its refrain (sung by Bush), the equal anticipation of the receiver. "Lake Tahoe" features choir singers Luke Roberts and Michael Wood in a Michael Nyman-esque arrangement, introducing Bushs slippery vocal as it relates the tale of a female who drowned in the icy lake and whose spirit now haunts it. Bushs piano and Gadds kit are the only instruments. "Misty," the sets longest -- and strangest -- cut, is about a womans very physical amorous tryst with, bizarrely, a snowman. Despite its unlikely premise, the grain of longing expressed in Bushs voice -- with bassist Danny Thompson underscoring it -- is convincing. Her jazz piano touches on Vince Guaraldi in its vamp. The subject is so possessed by the object of her desire, the mornings soaked but empty sheets propel her to a window ledge to seek her melted lover in the winter landscape. "Wild Man," introduced by the sounds of whipping winds, is one of two uptempo tracks here, an electronically pulse-driven, synth-swept paean to the Tibetan Kangchenjunga Demon, or "Yeti." Assisted by the voice of Andy Fairweather Low, its protagonist relates fragments of expedition legends and alleged encounters with the elusive creature. Her subject possesses the gift of wildness itself; she seeks to protect it from the death wish of a world which, through its ignorance, fears it. On "Snowed in at Wheeler Street," Bush is joined in duet by Elton John. Together they deliver a compelling tale of would-be lovers encountering one other in various (re)incarnations through time, only to miss connection at the moment of, or just previous to, contact. Tasteful, elastic electronics and Gadds tom-toms add texture and drama to the frustration in the singers voices, creating twinned senses: of urgency and frustration. The title track -- the other uptempo number -- is orchestrated by loops, guitars, basses, and organic rhythms that push the irrepressible Stephen Fry to narrate 50 words associated with snow in various languages, urgently prodded by Bush. Whether it works as a "song" is an open question. The album closes with "Among Angels," a skeletal ballad populated only by Bushs syncopated piano and voice. 50 Words for Snow is such a strange pop record, its all but impossible to find peers. While it shares sheer ambition with Scott Walkers The Drift and PJ Harveys Let England Shake, it sounds like neither; Bushs album is equally startling because its will toward the mysterious and elliptical is balanced by its beguiling accessibility. | ||
 | Album: 41 of 50 Artist: Raphael Saadiq Title: Stone Rollin Released: 2011-04-04 Tracks: 10 Duration: 43:16 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples AlbumCover | 1 Heart Attack (03:03) 2 Go to Hell (04:20) 3 Radio (03:22) 4 Over You (02:31) 5 Stone Rollin (03:37) 6 Day Dreams (03:20) 7 Movin Down the Line (04:25) 8 Just Dont (05:17) 9 Good Man (03:46) 10 The Answer (09:30) |
 | Album: 42 of 50 Artist: Jenny Hval Title: Viscera Released: 2011-02-18 Tracks: 9 Duration: 54:30 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Engines in the City (03:38) 2 Blood Flight (06:45) 3 Portrait of the Young Girl as an Artist (06:40) 4 How Gentle (07:26) 5 A Silver Fox (01:43) 6 Golden Locks (06:18) 7 This Is a Thirst (08:02) 8 Milk of Marrow (07:54) 9 Black Morning / Viscera (06:00) |
 | Album: 43 of 50 Artist: St. Vincent Title: Strange Mercy Released: 2011-09-09 Tracks: 11 Duration: 40:56 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Chloe in the Afternoon (02:55) 2 Cruel (03:34) 3 Cheerleader (03:28) 4 Surgeon (04:25) 5 Northern Lights (03:33) 6 Strange Mercy (04:28) 7 Neutered Fruit (04:13) 8 Champagne Year (03:28) 9 Dilettante (04:03) 10 Hysterical Strength (03:16) 11 Year of the Tiger (03:28) |
| Strange Mercy : Allmusic album Review : As clever and insightful as Annie Clarks first two St. Vincent albums were, she sometimes seemed slightly removed, and perhaps somewhat above, her songs’ subjects. However, she’s down and dirty with them on Strange Mercy, a collection of cracked veneers, eye-level confessions, and portraits of breaking points. It’s tempting to call this her most genuine album, but it’s probably more accurate to say it’s Clarks least academic-feeling set of songs. Contrast has always been a major part of her music, and Strange Mercys juxtapositions of harshness, softness, truth, lies, cruelty, and kindness feel especially pointed and potent. Most apparent is her use of opposing sounds; working with producer John Congleton, she focuses on luxurious strings and woodwinds that float above wobbly keyboards and ugly, distorted guitars that emphasize that these songs are under pressure. Clark finds plenty of range within this palette, though, busting out the talkbox on “Neutered Fruit”’s confrontational jazz-rock and a dance-pop beat on the subtly frantic “Hysterical Strength.” Less obvious are the emotional shifts many of these songs undergo, and how they blur the album’s contrasts. On the title track, Clark goes from vulnerable to protective to violent as she sings “I’ll tell you good news that I don’t believe/If it will help you sleep,” and on “Champagne Year,” she confesses and deceives at the same time. “Cruel” is Strange Mercys definitive track, putting inspired lyrics like “They could take or leave you/So they took you then they left you” atop strings and woodwinds straight from a vintage musical and a messed-up, fuzzed-out guitar solo. The song gets increasingly anxious as it closes, a pattern Clark repeats throughout the album; indeed, while these songs are some of her most fragmented, each song on Strange Mercy is tied to another. “Surgeon” shares a stuttering beat with opening track “Chloe in the Afternoon” and a similar melody to the declaration of independence that is “Cheerleader.” There’s so much going on musically on Strange Mercy that it could be easy to overlook Clarks growth as a songwriter, but “Year of the Tiger” boasts fully realized storytelling as well as a melody that would do Joni Mitchell or Carole King proud. Full of great lyrics and great playing, Strange Mercy is St. Vincents most reflective and most audacious album to date, and Clark remains as delicately uncompromising an artist as ever. | ||
 | Album: 44 of 50 Artist: tUnE-yArDs Title: w h o k i l l Released: 2011-04-18 Tracks: 10 Duration: 42:12 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples AlbumCover | 1 My Country (03:42) 2 Es-So (03:31) 3 Gangsta (04:00) 4 Powa (05:05) 5 Riotriot (04:15) 6 Bizness (04:25) 7 Doorstep (04:18) 8 You Yes You (03:35) 9 Wooly Wolly Gong (06:09) 10 Killa (03:12) |
 | Album: 45 of 50 Artist: Mikal Cronin Title: Mikal Cronin Released: 2011-09-20 Tracks: 10 Duration: 33:57 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Is It Alright (03:28) 2 Apathy (02:38) 3 Green & Blue (03:36) 4 Get Along (03:52) 5 Slow Down (01:59) 6 Gone (03:54) 7 Situation (01:55) 8 Again & Again (04:15) 9 Hold on Me (03:05) 10 The Way Things Go (05:15) |
 | Album: 46 of 50 Artist: Iceage Title: New Brigade Released: 2011-01-07 Tracks: 12 Duration: 24:15 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Intro (00:47) 2 White Rune (02:41) 3 New Brigade (02:15) 4 Remember (02:13) 5 Rotting Heights (01:39) 6 Total Drench (01:39) 7 Broken Bone (02:30) 8 Collapse (02:11) 9 Eyes (02:03) 10 Count Me In (01:16) 11 Never Return (03:08) 12 Youre Blessed (01:53) |
 | Album: 47 of 50 Artist: The Caretaker Title: An Empty Bliss Beyond This World Released: 2011-05-19 Tracks: 15 Duration: 45:29 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 All You Are Going to Want to Do Is Get Back There (03:46) 2 Moments of Sufficient Lucidity (03:48) 3 The Great Hidden Sea of the Unconscious (03:02) 4 Libet’s Delay (03:27) 5 I Feel as If I Might Be Vanishing (01:56) 6 An Empty Bliss Beyond This World (04:20) 7 Bedded Deep in Long Term Memory (01:49) 8 A Relationship With the Sublime (03:36) 9 Mental Caverns Without Sunshine (03:13) 10 Pared Back to the Minimal (01:46) 11 Mental Caverns Without Sunshine (01:35) 12 An Empty Bliss Beyond This World (03:48) 13 Tiny Gradiations of Loss (02:53) 14 Camaraderie at Arms Length (04:46) 15 The Sublime Is Disappointingly Elusive (01:44) |
 | Album: 48 of 50 Artist: Cornershop feat. Bubbley Kaur Title: Cornershop and the Double-O Groove Of Released: 2011-03-14 Tracks: 10 Duration: 38:10 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 United Provinces of India (03:26) 2 Topknot (03:39) 3 The 911 Curry (03:32) 4 Natch (02:34) 5 Double Decker Eyelashes (04:13) 6 The Biro Pen (04:28) 7 Supercomputed (03:44) 8 Once There Was a Wintertime (03:14) 9 Double Digit (03:38) 10 Dont Shake It (05:42) |
 | Album: 49 of 50 Artist: Arbouretum Title: The Gathering Released: 2011-02-15 Tracks: 7 Duration: 43:52 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 The White Bird (07:09) 2 When Delivery Comes (04:22) 3 Destroying to Save (05:07) 4 The Highwayman (04:13) 5 Waxing Crescents (07:48) 6 The Empty Shell (04:33) 7 Song of the Nile (10:37) |
 | Album: 50 of 50 Artist: Unknown Mortal Orchestra Title: Unknown Mortal Orchestra Released: 2011-06-17 Tracks: 10 Duration: 32:35 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 FFunny FFrends (04:17) 2 Bicycle (04:45) 3 Thought Ballune (04:10) 4 Jello And Juggernauts (03:24) 5 How Can U Luv Me (03:28) 6 Nerve Damage! (02:15) 7 Little Blue House (03:01) 8 Strangers Are Strange (02:24) 9 Boy Witch (02:25) 10 Rebuild the Theatres (02:26) |