ILM's Top 77 ALBUMS of 2011

every WoD track reminds me of another band (and i don't mean that as a knock against them). that one is their Arcade Fire track.

(i meant the youtube link)

Ooh, whee, I missed this kicking off again. Voted for Ferraro and Perfume. Totally don't get the Ferraro hate - it's an interesting bit of textural electronica with good noises. Was completely o_O when it won the Wire poll, mind you. It's good, but it's not that good.

http://i.imgur.com/3u1tq.jpg

55. Mastodon — [/i]The Hunter[/i] (328 points, 10 votes)

P4K: DNP
P&J: 47

Spotify

also war on drugs was probably my favorite live band to see this year (2x!! shoudlve seen them that third time)
seeing 1/3 of the crowd leave during the amazing 10 minute harmonica/feedback/sax drone jam was pretty funny

Mastodon drums are huge, guitars are thin.

Nice to see the Mastodon place! Such a great album and a really wise move for them to slide away from the epic prog thing for awhile.

(thx dd85 btw)

far side virtual is a v gaudy outlier, an extreme mutation of certain threads in modern music mb, & of ferraro's archaeology of information age detritus. occupies a ridiculous position in the musical landscape of 2011, which makes it fun to back in the name of tastelessness & irony (rock out w/ "celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay"). i really love listening to it tho; despite employing all these trashy cheap sounds it's a p massive record & insanely rich considering how well it sticks together. it's not chip tunes; this stuff unfolds in a p epic even glorious fashion in this uncanny environment which is less familiar than it pretends to be. ive never known a record evoke so many peculiar & barely remembered things - everyone comes up w/ different references ive never heard of, which is significant - but those similarities are a pose & it doesn't actually function like Microsoft Musical Instruments demo songs, but instead pulls this weird set of things together in a way that seems so intuitive it feels like it was always grouped that way, but really this is some super sly taxonomy&world-building, built around garish, often v slight sounds. it has a clownish, circuslike quality to it & is wicked psychedelic imo

I thought Mastodon might place. Good album, I realised many years ago they weren't going to make another Remission. They for me fill the heavy rock void left by Qotsa while Josh took a break.

the war on drugs are really, really awesome. very unique sound... i generally prefer stuff that is more song oriented but that album is just really cool.

Nice write-up Ogmor! I agree with you on the psychedelic aspect of it. For all the cheap and nasty sounds, they're layered in a curious and sometimes surprisingly lush and lovely way.

I had a harder time connecting with the new Mastodon than with their previous albums. Definitely agree that the guitars were too thin or maybe just too low in the mix.

Still voted for it though...

Do metalheads have a word for people who don't listen to any metal except Mastodon? If so, I'm one of those people - my Soundgarden/QOTSA loving younger self would have approved.

i think i liked the idea of the mastodon album (return to shorter, unconnected songs) than the concept - maybe it was too long? there's some good stuff on there though.

First listen, but something about the busy metropolitan feel of the Ferraro record reminds me a bit of Different Trains. Maybe it's placement of the voices too. I quite like it I think, but I can quite understand the hate too.

― Derartu Cthulhu (NickB), Tuesday, January 31, 2012 9:21 AM (24 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yeah, but different trains is not interesting in the long run because it has a "busy metropolitan feel" (something you could say about thousands of albums/pieces of music). it's interesting because it's complex, rigorous, challenging, distinctive and hypnotically beautiful - in the minds of many listeners. don't see any equivalent value in the ferraro album.

the band i discovered on the metal poll that sounded like QOTSA (at least to me) were Red Fang. Loved that record.

On previous albums, it seemed like every song was one awesome riff after another. This one didn't quite do that for me.

whoops, i skipped 56 like an idiot, sorry

http://i.imgur.com/NBOaz.jpg

56. Danny Brown — XXX (323 points, 11 votes, one first place vote)

P4K: 19
P&J: 28

can anyone who voted for that james ferraro album explain why they love it so much?

― his hands are a dirty fountain through which lives spurt (contenderizer), Tuesday, 31 January 2012

I voted for Ferraro. Why? Its cheery without being twee and has a bright sound. I certainly prefer it to the Ford & Lapotin or oneohtrix whatever records. I'd call it bright rather than thin

keep meaning to listen to the danny brown album because i like his huzzah verse a lot, keep forgetting to actually listen

ogmor's defense of FSV is at least interesting and substantive. in my view it's an overelaborate description of clothes that aren't there, but i can at least understand that other people get something out of the experience.

Danny Brown. Cool. Must admit I find I have to listen to that pretty selectively ie I won't play it more than once through in a row which is something I tend to do with albums I like. It's pretty wearing. Good though.

What is Danny Brown? Feel like I'm typing that a lot today.

rap

so mastodon is actually ahead of danny brown?

my tastes in hip-hop in 2011 were just...not what got hype at all. almost every time i listened to a hyped hip-hop mixtape or album i was disappointed, apart from meek mill. but then i totally fell for albums/mixtapes by cousin fik, angel haze, young bleed which literally zero other people cared about.

could have done with rocking-the-fuck-out a bit more

Yeah, I had that feeling for many years after stuff like Jesus Lizard, Bitch Magnet, Rodan, etc. faded away from indie. Then I realized all I needed to do was listen to actual rock music.

The Mastodon album is actually longer than the epic prog odyssey of Crack The Skye, but it doesn't seem like it. I actually like Crack the Skye more, but The Hunter accomplishes exactly what it set out to do.

danny brown's been growing on me

i can't even remember why i didn't like danny brown. i didn't think it was that bad, it's just that neither his voice nor his words resonated with me and the beats weren't fun.

seandalai - re d brown here is the unrepresentative metronomy sampling closer
http://youtu.be/UmqU0dqZzAQ

Danny Brown is not meant to be fun I don't think.

young bleed is awesome lex, I voted for it and would hope that it would place.
xp

His delivery is a little un-nerving and weird, but he has loads of skill and he uses production that fits his tendencies.

also voted for Young Bleed. In with a chance

Voted Holla At Uh Dog in the songs poll, should have placed.

danny brown is really fun

young bleed is awesome lex, I voted for it and would hope that it would place.

i really wish the goon crew had gathered round "holla at uh dog" more re: the tracks poll, i think it could've blown a lot of non-goons' minds

thanks pandemic - I feel I like the idea of the track but I'm not taken by DB himself.

yay war on drugs
boo mastodon

Here is a fun Danny Brown song from last year that wasn't on the album
http://youtu.be/9UFtpSebfdg

i forgot the big boi album won this last year. i'm sure i was mad about that but can't remember now.

i was undecided btw 'holla at uh dog' and 'stamp on it' so ended up going for the album. My fault!
xp

Nasty Danny Brown anyone?

The Dylan/Petty type vocals are interesting in War On Drugs. I passed on their live show though, as I feared it would be boring. Anyone seen them live?

Stop listening to Mastodon on twee Smurfwick computer speakers and the guitars sound just fine ;)

i'm like so over 2011 now btw, can we just like live in the present i mean.

Voted for Ferraro and Perfume. Totally don't get the Ferraro hate - it's an interesting bit of textural electronica with good noises. Was completely o_O when it won the Wire poll, mind you. It's good, but it's not that good.

― emil.y, Tuesday, January 31, 2012 9:40 AM (16 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I voted for Ferraro. Why? Its cheery without being twee and has a bright sound. I certainly prefer it to the Ford & Lapotin or oneohtrix whatever records. I'd call it bright rather than thin

― Cashmere Combabe, Tuesday, January 31, 2012 9:56 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

these seem like such indifferent defenses. i get that it's texturally interesting, bright and cheery. i get that it's kind of psychedelic and provides some stimulating irony/not-irony dissonance. i get the sly, andy warhol blankness. but i just don't get how that kind of low stakes conceptual gamesmanship makes it one of the best albums of the year to more than a couple people. its rewards seem so ordinary and its risks so minimal. then again, i don't get perfume, either, so...

i'm sure there are some threads round here you can do that in, why not have a look elsewhere?

xp

I'm pretty sure that I was the one who voted it #1 (can't recall for sure). It's the only album I keep going back to this year. It's funny, raw, and messed up. His voice has great personality and the beats are great (I know that's contentious).

but then i totally fell for albums/mixtapes by cousin fik, angel haze, young bleed which literally zero other people cared about.

― first period don't give a fuck, second period gon get cut (lex pretend), Tuesday, January 31, 2012 9:59 AM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

angel haze was p high on my ballot