I’m titling this “favorite” albums for a reason. Generally, as a rule, I hate “best of” lists because as any critic of critics will argue, the idea of what’s better and best is entirely subjective, no matter how pretty one’s words can paint an object. As someone that prides myself on knowing a healthy bit about music (without being a very proficient musician), I am also extremely aware that sometimes the music that I find myself listening to ad nauseam may not always come from the most technically brilliant or well-produced albums, but I like what I like and except for acknowledging that my tastes may not always be reflective of what is universally thought of as “best”, I have no apologies to make for this list because I’m simply sharing the music I’ve enjoyed and that’s all that has ever really mattered to me.

So, drumroll, please…(in no particular order):

1. The Dodos - No Color

I may be one of the few people that found the previous Dodo’s album (Time to Die) relatively great. Production-wise, it soured leaps and bounds over 2008’s Visiter (which is probably their most favorably reviewed album to date) and songs like “Fables” and “This Is a Business” would have ended up on my year end list of songs had I put one together (I didn’t.) If I had any complaint for Time to Die, I suppose I could say it wasn’t as exuberant as Visiter, but it seems a paltry complaint. I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this third album since the band’s lineup had shifted from a trio back to their original duo lineup during recording. They also went back to their previous producer from Visiter and enlisted Neko Case to supply backup vocals. When I did finally hear the album, I didn’t really think much of anything. It got shelved in my iTunes graveyard and I didn’t think about it again until “Don’t Try and Hide It” (featuring Neko Case) popped up during one of my shuffle sessions. That song alone convinced me to sit down with the album again and I am so thankful I did. At heart, The Dodos are a rock band, even if they spend most of their time jamming away unplugged and this album has been a favorite of mine all year for blasting out of car windows, singing along to while in the shower, all while air drumming to the dizzying array of percussive energy that flows through the first half of the LP (the last half slows down a bit, but is still just as enjoyable.) No Color may not be the best album 2011 had to offer, but it made me happy.

2. The War on Drugs - Slave Ambient

For long time reader’s of this blog, it should be no secret that I think the music scene in Philadelphia is one of the better big city scenes (and Baltimore’s scene is right at Philly’s heels) in the country. Perhaps I am a bit biased, having spent most of my twenties in the city of brotherly love, but I don’t think that’s the case, especially when the evidence is so hard to ignore. If you somehow missed out on the War on Drug’s sophomore effort, then you need to stop reading this and immediately queue Slave Ambient into your preferred audio listening device. Slave Ambient is all about ambling to a destination, perhaps unknown, but any place traveling away seems to be the over-riding theme and it get’s to these unknown places with an aching, but driven soul. If you needed an album for those days when you felt compelled to just jump into your car and drive away from it all into the sunset, Slave Ambient would get you there and it’d get you there drumming away at your steering wheel. 

3. Future Islands - On the Water

This was another sleeper album that crept up on me like a shadow being slowly cast by the setting sun. The last Future Islands album, In Evening Air, invoked a fresh take on 80’s synth-swallowed anthems. It was an album for dancing with abandon and Samuel T. Herring’s voice was like a knife, gritty and acerbic, slicing through the sound of dreamy keyboards, somehow cutting away to create a larger picture without cutting against the mood of the LP. On The Water succeeds on the same level, but it is not an album for jovial hip shaking. The band submerges themselves into darker territory with this release and while the LP could have easily ended up murky and plodding, the band ends up steering clear of such a folly. On The Water builds beautifully on the strength of these musicians. Herring’s voice is as polarizing as ever, you either love it or hate it, but he captures a soothing tone absent on earlier releases that melds naturally with the somber songs.  

(Will update with 3 more albums later this week.) 

-LL

Just wrapped up the holiday edition of my radio show on http://WTNRradio.com . If you missed it, the show can be downloaded in it’s entirety for a limited time via soundcloud. I use the word “holiday” pretty loosely as there are only about 4 festive songs peppered in throughout the hour, but that doesn’t mean the rest of the show is lacking. You can see for yourself since I’m also including the playlist. As always, I welcome your comments and thoughts, but mostly I hope you enjoy the tunes. 

-LL

Playlist:

1. Wire - Heartbeat from the album Chairs Missing

2. Magazine - I Love You, You Big Dummy (Peel Session)

3. The Only Ones - From Here to Eternity from the album Even Serpents Shine

4. Cornershop - Good to Be On the Road Back Home from the album When I Was Born For the 7th Time

5. The Wave Pictures - We Dress Up Like Snowmen from the compilation A Christmas Gift For You From Moshi Moshi

6. The Strange Boys - Me and You from the album Live Music

7. Jay Reatard - There Is No Sun from the album Watch Me Fall

8. The King Khan & BBQ Show - Love You So from the album The King Khan & BBQ Show

9. JD McPherson - Wolf Teeth from the album Signs and Signifiers

10. The Replacements - Bundle Up (Studio Demo) from the album Pleased to Meet Me

11. Compulsive Gamblers - Stop & Think It Over from the album Crystal Gazing, Luck Amazing

12. Holly Golightly - Sally Go Round the Roses from the album Laugh It Up

13. Fergus & Geronimo - Forced Aloha from the album Unlearn

14. Marvin Gaye - Purple Snowflakes from the compilation Motown Christmas Vol. 2

15. the Violent Femmes - Color Me Once from the EP Machine

16. Kurt Vile - Baby’s Arms from the album Smoke Ring For My Halo

17. Low - Taking Down the Tree from the EP Christmas

[fin]

Going through my last.fm stats, I’m kind of startled by just how LONG this year has been. Many songs and albums that I was floored by at the beginning of the year ended up collecting some cobwebs while being buried in my brain and I began to think of them as “so 2010” at some point, which doesn’t really bode well for me speaking positively about them at the end of the year. Still, there were a handful of great songs that came out this year and ended up ear-worming their way into my head to the point of my needing to include them on one of those cliche “end of the year” lists that all of us musically obsessive people like to make, regardless whether anyone else cares. Hey, I care! And here we go:

10. Squarehead - “Fake Blood”

This one is a pretty straight-forward pop song, but the exuberant way the chorus bobs along has made this song one of my mix-tape go-to’s all year.

9. Panda Bear - “Last Night at the Jetty”

I did not lose myself over Panda Bear’s latest LP, but when he released this song as a teaser for what might be awaiting us on Tomboy, I really, really was hopeful about the album and even though the album didn’t live up to this single’s promise, I’m still pretty infatuated with it.

8. Real Estate - “It’s Real”

Pair this with one of the best, feel-good videos that I’ve seen in a long time and it’s really perfect.

7. the War on Drugs - “Brothers”

This song was also on last year’s great Future Weather EP, but it’s inclusion on the full-length Slave Ambient gets it on this list because it’s just that good. Also, pretty sure this song was recorded in Dallas and features some Dallas natives on the track.

6. Kurt Vile - “Baby’s Arms”

Every year needs a new love song. This was it.

5. Future Islands - “The Great Fire”

Is it possible to call a song that clocks in under 4 minutes epic? The inclusion of Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner makes this slow-burner literally simmer through my head with every listen. Maybe I want to call it “epic” because part of me wishes it’d last just a little longer with each listen.

4. Shabazz Palaces -“Swerve..The reeping of all that is worthwhile (Noir not withstanding).”

I’m not going to lie. I’m pretty limited with my knowledge of rap/hip-hop these days, but this song transcends genres.

3. St. Vincent - “Surgeon”

That guitar is bleeding dirty.

2. Lower Dens - “I Get Nervous”

Jana Hunter’s dulcet tones and murmuring guitar makes this LD song my favorite from one of my favorite albums from this year.

1. Cass McCombs - “County Line”

I want to take this song and go on a road trip through the south with it and I want it to hold my hand the whole time while we sing along to the radio with the windows down.

Honorable mention: Carter Tanton - “Murderous Joy”

I only just heard this song a month ago when Tanton opened up for the War on Drugs and Purling Hiss in Dallas, but it made it’s mark. 

—

-LL

Sharing a video from Philly-based rockers Purling Hiss. They’re going to be in Dallas in October with the War on Drugs and I promise, if you don’t go to that show you’re going to have to start a lot of conversations by saying, “I’m an asshole for missing that show.”

Get your tickets here: http://paradeofflesh.com/

Read about their latest EP, Lounge Lizards, here: http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/15748-lounge-lizards-ep/

“Becca,

Tom from NST mentioned this book and I immediately thought of our little music curriculum. I envy the way the author describes their relationship, how much he loved her and how she put a hitch in his git-along. I am really enjoying the hitch you’ve put in my git-along recently.

Happy Birthday!

Dan 3/7/08”

I’ve been having some awful boughts with my agoraphobia as of late, which means I’ve settled into ordering books via the internet instead of leaving my house to spend hours in the bookstore. This has been depressing on it’s own because there are few places where I feel the most comfortable spending leisurely hours drifting amongst shelves of objects that are going to eventually lead to me being far poorer in the wallet than I was when I arrived. It’s been hard not being able to hold my panic attacks at bay, even for some quiet hours browsing books, but this is what it is and eventually it’ll all even out.

This letter was written on the title page of the Rob Sheffield memoir that I ordered a couple weeks ago (Love is a Mix Tape) and I have to admit it was a nice surprise on top of the excitement of receiving something in the mail that wasn’t a bill. For those of you that haven’t read Shefflied’s memoir, it’s about his wife and their courtship and marriage and then his grief over her untimely and sudden death. Sheffield wraps the narrative together with mixtapes he’s made and been given throughout the years. It’s a really lovely book, sweet without being terribly mawkish and sad albeit not hopeless.

When I finished the book, though, I didn’t go back to my favorite chapters or my favorite lines, I flipped back to the letter that had been inscribed to some Becca from Dan on the title page and I felt terribly sad. It didn’t seem to bode well for Dan and Becca that this book had found it’s way to my hands. He’d also gone through the novel and had underlined his favorite parts, even made a few scribbles of exclamation in the margins. I found it cute and also sadder. Did Becca even care about these things? Maybe Dan was just some creepy guy she didn’t actually like all that much and this birthday gift had been her dealbreaker.

But if not, did Dan and Becca stay together for awhile? Did he make her mixtapes? Did he even know much about the music that Sheffield wrote about? Did he feel elated, as I had, to read that Sheffield and his wife had met because he’d noticed her excitement over a Replacements song being played in a Charlottesville bar? Did Dan and Becca ever get far enough to have their own song? And who was this mysterious Tom from NST?

I wish I knew.

You can stream or download my internet radio show if you follow the above link. Here’s the playlist:

1. close lobsters - “sewer pipe dream” (from foxheads stalk this land)

2. iceage - “total drench” (from new brigade)

3. the fire engines - “discord” (from lubricate your living room)

4. arthur russell - “goodbye old paint” (from love is overtaking me)

5. magnetic fields - “I die, you die” (cover) (from ???)

6. shellac - “song against itself” (from 1000 Hurts)

7. DNA - “delivering the good” (from DNA on DNA)

8. elk - “sarah” (from let’s get married)

9. the feeling of love - “going back to the 90’s” (from ok judge revival)

10. grooms - “tiger trees” (from prom)

11. bedhead - “the unpredicatable landlord” (from whatfunlifewas)

12. the go-betweens - “long lonely days” (from the lost album)

13. comet gain - “music upstairs” (from casino classics)

14. little wings - “gold teeth” (from black grass)

15. the tah dahs - “the cute band” (from le fun)

16. the clean - “flowers” (from compilation)

mixtape = love (pt. 1)

I have been thinking about mixtapes. Two years ago, I had to leave my dual-tape deck AIWA stereo behind in Philadelphia and there’s been a gaping hole in my musical experiences, specifically sharing music with others, since I’ve lost the ability to put together a tape.  I miss them. I loved making the cute little covers, (so much that I still have tapes that were meant for other people just because I liked the artwork I did for them enough that I decided to keep them) and obsessively working on that tracklist that would clock in at 30-45 minutes (depending on the length of the tape I was using.)

A lot of my friends were very into themes. I’ve always been keenly sensitive to sound, so even though I would start out with a theme, I would end up throwing that out the window and just trying to make sure the songs flowed into one another. I became particularly obsessed with “flowage” after receiving a mix tape in the mail that was so jarring in it’s continuity that I could only listen to it once. I can recall spending a whole day locked in my Denton, TX apartment working on a tape for a boyfriend and feeling such a sense of accomplishment when I was finally able to make it flow. It’s amazing how a task so small sounding in scope could end up being a day long endeavor. It’s even more amazing to me how proud I was over a cassette tape, how artistic I felt simply by stitching a bunch of other people’s art together. As I laid each song next to the other, the endeavor became mine, my own personal letter written without needing a pen.

Anyway, I know a few of the people that read this blog still have old tapes lying around. I want you to find (or recall) your favorite and tell me about it. What kind of music was on it? Who made it for you? Did you actively search out the music on the tape after receiving it? Was the cover for your tape equally amazing? Just tell me whatever you remember about it. I’ll return in kind with some more words about my favorite mixes.

I was raised listening to light rock, pure FM radio for thirtysomethings that didn’t make it to Woodstock in the 60’s. Phil Collins was probably the King of the radio when I was a child. I can still remember all of the words to “I Can’t Dance” and “In the Air Tonight.” I have performed “Sussudio” at karaoke while tequila drunk.

When I turned 9 or 10, my father decided to clear out his vinyl collection. All of my life I was never allowed to go through my father’s records. To appease me, my parents bought me my own records (the soundtrack to The Land Before Time, Belinda Carlisle’s first solo album, The Jets album with that song “Crush” on it…), but I was never allowed to play with my father’s music and honestly the desire did not exist. What kind of a dork would listen to a band called The Beatles, anyway? Give me Madonna. Give me Cyndi Lauper, but please don’t even begin to kid yourself into thinking I would EVER want to listen to a band that named itself after some gross bugs.

Still, I couldn’t help but look over his shoulder as he started making piles out of the records. He had one pile of stuff he was planning on keeping, another that he was going to put in a garage sale and a final pile of albums he didn’t want anymore, but thought might be worth something. This pile he was going to take to a local record shop and this was the pile that I watched grow with keen interest.

The first album that struck me was The Zombie’s Odessey and Oracle. I knew nothing about The Zombies as a band, but I’d recently discovered how much I enjoyed watching zombie films. The name was speaking to me and also, the artwork was amazing. I wanted to hang it on my wall. I asked my dad if I could have it.

“Do you even know who this is?” He asked me, perhaps looking hopeful that I had, for once, listened to something he’d had to tell me about music.

I shook my head. “I want the picture for my wall.”

He shook his head. “You can’t have it if you’re going to just use it as decoration.”

I pouted and he began his sorting again. I began to get bored. He was keeping all of his Beatles stuff.

“Dad?”

He kept sorting, but finally after a few minutes he looked up at me. “Yeah?”

“I kinda would like to hear that Zombies record.”

He frowned, but it was in a teasing sort of way. I knew he was going to play it for me. I knew I’d probably hate it, but I could pretend to like it and then he’d give it to me. With an elaborate sigh, he retrieved the record from it’s pile and removed the vinyl from the sleeve. He walked across the room to the record player and I could hear the familiar hiss through the speakers as he layed the needle on the vinyl. I waited with a wrinkled nose, because all old music was old and not nearly as cool as what I could be listening to on the radio. Seriously, what WAS coming in the air tonight?

The first song, I bit my tongue throughout. My dad was bobbing his head along to it and giving me meaningful glances. I would smile in return and when he looked away I would make quick gagging faces for my own benefit. I was not going to become one of those geeks that liked old music. I was determined to hate it, even if…..even if, now the second song was playing and I liked it. Well, I would hate it. I would definitely hate it with a passion now, because I felt as though I’d been tricked. How dare this stupid old band, with half its members probably dead or ugly, make listenable music?

The album played on and I grew more and more agitated. The first side ended and my father took it off the spindle and then put the vinyl back into it’s casing. I watched him feeling anxious. I wanted to listen to the other side, but I definitely did NOT want to admit this to him or, mainly, to myself.

He held the album across his chest for a long time and finally he reached across to me and put it in my lap. “You still want it, right?”

I nodded, but I tried not to look very eager. “It was ok. Not nearly as good as The Jets, though, Dad.”

He laughed at me for a really, really long time. I could feel my skin turning red. Finally he stopped and said, “You know, if you tell me you liked it a lot, it’s not as if I’m going to tell all your school friends that you actually like your father’s old music.”

I frowned. “Old music is not cool at all, Dad.” I said this wistfully, half wishing that somehow it could be cool and that I’d be considered cool for actually liking it by my 10 year old peers.

He smiled. “It’s ok. I won’t tell anyone you like it.”

Nowadays I have to beg him to tell my friends that I didn’t just listen to Paula Abdul when I was growing up. Spaced in between all that crap, I had a love for The Zombies and eventually The Beatles and many other “old man bands.” Dad still likes to pretend he’s keeping his promise for me, but I think he’s proud that I’m finally out of the closet, music-wise and so am I.

Tracklist after the cut…

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The warmer weather has brought this Pere Ubu song to mind, and why not? It’s a perfect little mix of post-punk with an island vibe. “It feels like heaven,” indeed.