10 Great 2011 Albums Hitherto

Wow…first post this year, busy-busy, so thought I’d play catch-up. Here are some of the albums that made it into heavy rotation the last six months. Hopefully a surprise or two there for you.

Phosgene Nightmare from The Black Angels - The Boat Song

Alexander from Alexander Ebert - Remember Our Heart

Wit's End from Cass McCombs - The Lonely Doll

Cornershop & The Double-O Groove Of from Cornershop - Topknot

Hot Sauce Committee Part Two from Beastie Boys - Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament

Burst Apart from The Antlers - Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out

Arabia Mountain from Black Lips - Raw Meat

Build A Rocket Boys! From Elbow - With Love

Fading Parade from Papercuts - I'll See You Later I Guess

Let England Shake from PJ Harvey - The Words That Maketh Murder

Butch Slap's Best Albums of 2010

1. LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening

All I Want

2. Clinic - Bubblegum

Milk And Honey

3. Damien Jurado - Saint Bartlet

Cloudy Shoes

4. The Black Keys - Brother

Sinister Kid

5. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

Half Light II (No Celebration)

6. Tindersticks - Falling Down A Mountain

No Place So Alone

7. Peter Wolf - Midnight Souvenirs

Tragedy (With Shelby Lynne)

8. Wild Nothing - Gemini

O, Lilac

9. Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest

Revival

10. Grinderman - Grinderman 2

Mickey Mouse And The Goodbye Man

11. Harlem - Hippies

Friendly Ghost

12. The Divine Comedy - Bang Goes The Knighthood

Assume The Perpendicular

13. Menomena - Mines

TAOS

14. Lightspeed Champion - Life Is Sweet! Nice To Meet You

Sweetheart

15. The Walkmen - Lisbon

Woe Is Me

16. The National - High Violet

Anyone's Ghost

17. No Age - Everything In Between

Chem Trails

18. Black Mountain - Wilderness Heart

The Way To Gone

19. Phosphorescent - Here's To Taking It Easy

Heaven, Sittin' Down

20. Girls - Broken Dreams Club

Heartbreaker

Clinic – Bubblegum

Clinic are back! And I mean that in every way. The new album stands solidly with the brilliance of their first two releases. They’ve tinkered with their instrumentation and songwriting—strings, acoustic guitar, and general poppy-ness—and I think it’s provided a new energy that the band has sorely needed. It’s one on my favorites of the year so far. So take a listen, and just try and get the bubblegum unstuck from your mind.

Bubblegum

Baby

Lion Tamer

Milk and Honey

The Vaselines - Sex with an X

To my ears, not a lot has changed in the 23 years since The Vaselines put out their only proper album. The new one seems to pick up right where they left off—quirky, marshmellow pop tunes with sunny harmonies. Sounds good to me.

Sex With An X

Poison Pen

It Wasn't All Duran Duran

Mouth To Mouth

Arcade Fire – The Suburbs

Not unlike 2007’s Neon Bible, a dark tension permeates this unapologetically conceptual album. The Suburbs is probably not as immediately likeable as the last, but I think that's ultimately a good thing in this case. I can tell from just a few listens that most all these songs have that subtle kind of hook that will work itself ever deeper once it takes hold. I’m looking forward to more extended listening as this becomes the soundtrack of the moment to my own suburban life.

City With No Children

Half Life II (No Celebration)

We Used To Wait

Damien Jurado – Saint Bartlett

There is always a degree of melancholy on any Damien Jurado album, and on Saint Bartlett it’s turned up to about 8.5 (assuming the scale starts at 6). I continue to be amazed at the beauty and brilliance of his particular brand of songwriting. This release is a strong one with nearly every track pulling its weight, and should help to widen his small but adoring audience, of which I am a part.

Cloudy Shoes

Throwing Your Voice

Kalama

LCD Soundsystem – This Is Happening

The word is so out, that it almost doesn’t need to be uttered yet again. The new album is good – a masterpiece some say. And I can’t argue. Every track is a winner (with the exception of the dopey Drunk Girls.) James Murphy lays down chunky synth-beats, krautrock grooves, gurgles, chirps, and pays homage to his heros with wit, originality, and a touch of earnestness. We may not hear a finer album this year.

Recommended Tracks (sorry links were pulled):

Dance Yrself Clean

One Touch

All I Want

The Black Keys - Brothers

Man, this is a good album. Glad the more straight-ahead blues-rock sound is up front and the Danger Mouse influence has taken a backseat. It’s why I really went for band to begin with. Here, their sound continues to evolve – and Dan Auerbach's vocals have never been more varied, reaching for the upper registers and even capturing a 60’s girl group vibe at times. Needless to say, I am completely down with my Brothers.

Recommended Tracks (sorry links were pulled):

Everlasting Light

Sinister Kid

Never Give You Up

Harlem - Hippies

Austin, Texas based Harlem have put out a garage-pop gem of an album. It’s stripped down sound and catchy-as-hell songwriting is an effortless pleasure that will have you singing along in two minutes flat.

Recommended Tracks (sorry links were pulled):

Be Your Baby

Gay Human Bones

Torture Me

Faces

Tindersticks - Falling Down a Mountain

I don’t know why it took me so long to dig into the new Tindersticks album. I’ve adored the band since their first release in 1993—although they did lose me for a brief time near the tumultuous end of their first incarnation. After a five-year absence, the band reformed with a more stripped down lineup and recorded The Hungry Saw, which I did indeed like very much. So maybe it’s just an over-familiarity with what they do that found me procrastinating with Falling Down a Mountain. In any event, I was missing out on a terrific album that features the strongest first three album tracks of any they’ve put out. The sound is looser and more confident—and I’m back 100%.

Falling Down a Mountain

Keep You Beautiful

Harmony Around My Table

No Place So Alone