Top Albums of 2011 unofficial side-discussion thread

Yeah like we only have a month now to nail down our top albums. I really want to get my list proper this year. Some early contenders for me right now are albums by the Field, Patten, M83, presumably Dave Monolith (haven't heard it yet, but heard enough material to know I'll love it), SPACE FUCKING DIMENSION FUCKING CONTROLLER, TV on the Radio, DRC Music, Sandwell District, umm, umm... loads others. I know there's loads more I need to listen to so hopefully this thread will give me a chance to hear some more and really get it nailed down because all of my IRL friends will need to look at my list and go WTF?!?

i been listening to ford and lopatin tonight and i think its really 1 of the all time favorite albums of the year in my opinion. at first i didnt like it that much but i listened to it a whole bunch and tonight it just make me freak out crazily

my other choices are ravedeath 1972 because of course thats pretty obvious its the best album in the whole universe pretty much

also, panda bear tomboy was not as good as person pitch but of course still really really good (its panda bear lets be honest here), six organs of admittance asleep on a floodplain was a top album this year as well on a count of ben chasneys awesome guitar playing and singing voice which is totally awesome in my opinion, i love this album a whole ton i recommend it. also eric copelands new album WACO TACO COMBO 1 of the best albums of ALL TIME in my opinion thats not a joke either. this album has some serious attitude and if u like stuff that doesnt give a heck what anyone thinks and then this is the album of 2011 easy.

so there you have it my official favorite music of 2011 list i went through my whole itunes to pick my very favorites and i hope u get some really good recommendations from my list thanks for reading bye :)

terror train - terror train

coppice halifax - high hawaiian fog

radiohead - king of limbs

The Seefeel Album at the beginning of the Year was amazing! I also really like Julianna Barwicks album 'The Magic Place' which came out in April; it's insanely beautiful...

wasnt seefeel at 2010?

  On 12/1/2011 at 10:55 AM, MAXIMUS MISCHIEF said:

wasnt seefeel at 2010?

The 'Faults' EP came out in September of 2010, but the eponymous album came out in February 2011. It sucks having such an early release date since publications forget about you by year's end.

huh weird i was gona put that on my list but itunes said it was 2010 so what the heck

i looked on discogs now and ur right WELL IM GONNA HAVE to revise my list then.

i add seefeel

Here are Bob's Bestest™, copied directly from the "Memorable Releases for 2010" thread:

Andy Stott - Passed Me By / We Stay Together

Machinedrum - Room(s)

Oneohtrix Point Never - Replica

2562 - Fever

Madlib - Madlib Medicine Show No. 12 - Raw Medicine: Madlib Remixes

Siriusmo - Mosaik

The Advisory Circle - As The Crow Flies

Wagon Christ - Toomorrow

Moritz Von Oswald Trio - Horizontal Structures

Thundercat - The Golden Age of Apocalypse

Dimlite - Grimm Reality

Also, others that I liked and would consider adding to the above:

Martyn - Ghost People

Wolfgang Voigt - Kafkatrax

Back & 4th (Hotflush Comp.)

Tim Hecker - Ravedeath 1972

Four Tet - Fabriclive

Modeselektor - Monkeytown

Deepchord - Hash Bar Loops

And lastly, those the in me readily enjoyed:

Icasea Japan Comp (though 5+ hours is a little heady)

Ovuca - Short Attention Span

Xhin - Sword

VHS Head - Midnight Section

DJ Rob Hall - Appendix A. New Shirt.

  On 12/1/2011 at 11:42 AM, Goiter Sanchez said:

  On 12/1/2011 at 10:55 AM, MAXIMUS MISCHIEF said:

wasnt seefeel at 2010?

 

The 'Faults' EP came out in September of 2010, but the eponymous album came out in February 2011. It sucks having such an early release date since publications forget about you by year's end.

i love this thread if only because you used the word eponymous!

My top 10 of 2011 (as of this moment)

1. NHKyx - yx aka 1ch aka Solo
   
2. Seefeel - Seefeel
   
3. Martyn - Ghost People
   
4. Instra:Mental - Resolution653
   
5. Rustie - Glass Swords
   
6. wAgAwAgA - Hyper Typewriter
   
7. Kangding Ray - OR
   
8. Young Montana? - Limerence
   
9. Walls - Coracle
   
10. Little Dragon - Ritual Union
    

This may change, pending getting my hands on Pinch & Shackleton, Dave Monolith, and the Andy Stott albums (ordered the double deluxe CDs today).

  On 12/1/2011 at 7:02 PM, MAXIMUS MISCHIEF said:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BClFe2U8p7E

Hahahah the vocal at 0:10 gets me every time! I loved the vocal samples in Nintendo games from this era; they don't quite sound like any others I've heard.

I'll make a proper list here of my favs from 2011 (now that I'm thinking more about it). The Youtube links are just examples of why I love them so much...

1 Seefeel - Seefeel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCndh1iaYTI

2 Machinedrum - Room(s)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8KvO-dtYHM

3 Radiohead - The King Of Limbs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41Yz5JtnNwM

4 Julianna Barwick - The Magic Place

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZ9mdJ1WsfQ

5 Zephyr Nova - Shatterscapes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8wf-af8EaE

6 Belong - Common Era

The new Chris Watson record, El Tren Fantasma, is the best thing this released this year. It's the perfect culmination of everything he's ever done. It really is incredible. I am in awe of it, literally. It's like everything I love about drone and field recording and ambient but it somehow seems to tie in with bass culture and the whole night bus scene through the way he uses reverb and the percussive sounds of the train and the low-frequency rumble. It takes you to another world using what are ostensibly very prosaic, everyday sounds. It's a work of alchemy.

Everything else this year is just a footnote.

  On 12/1/2011 at 7:56 PM, Lucy Faringold said:

The new Chris Watson record, El Tren Fantasma, is the best thing this released this year. It's the perfect culmination of everything he's ever done. It really is incredible. I am in awe of it, literally. It's like everything I love about drone and field recording and ambient but it somehow seems to tie in with bass culture and the whole night bus scene through the way he uses reverb and the percussive sounds of the train and the low-frequency rumble. It takes you to another world using what are ostensibly very prosaic, everyday sounds. It's a work of alchemy.

 

Everything else this year is just a footnote.

Could you post a track from it? I am curious...

Here's a ten minute album sampler:

http://soundcloud.com/experimedia/chris-watson-el-tren-fantasma

I would advise listening on a good pair of chunky headphones, there's tons of detail in there.

One album thats definitely making my top 10 list this year is Roll The Dice - In Dust. You can stream the entire thing on their soundcloud page. They play an absolutely killer live show as well.

  On 12/1/2011 at 9:09 PM, Lucy Faringold said:

Here's a ten minute album sampler:

 

http://soundcloud.com/experimedia/chris-watson-el-tren-fantasma

 

I would advise listening on a good pair of chunky headphones, there's tons of detail in there.

I listened on some very nice headphones indeed... Some great sounds in there! I like the stretched and reverbed train horns a lot!

Chris Watson is one of my heroes, im kind of late to the party as far ash is material goes but i was pretty shocked when i heard some of his 90s material in how similar it was to some of my field recordings from 2011.

Now for my five favorite albums from this year, in rough order.

1. Shabazz Palaces, Black Up

[media='']

I have mentioned this album in several other threads, but my love for it has been faithful. Very few records exists which are this sonically rich and also laden with meaning and emotion. It is the best hip-hop (if you can call it that) album of the last decade, and the first I would consider to be utterly perfect in years. There were several other hip hop records this year with rather experimental leanings, such as Death Grips, which were engaging but far less successful, IMO. None felt as genuinely "from-the-future" as this one. Their EPs from 2009 are also stellar, but even they grow strangely dim in the light of Black Up's glory and grace. Every beat, rhyme, and sample feels utterly perfect and intentional.

2. Phoenecia, Demissions

[media='']

I mean, it's Phoenecia! This album came out of nowhere just when I wanted it most. For me it was as exciting as a new record from Autechre. And it delivered in spades. I love the integration of live percussion (bodhran, tabla etc.) into the tracks. It's just so sick. Where Brownout was funky, Demissions is ill as fuck.

3. Dalglish, Benacah Drann Deachd

[media='']

This one caught me off guard a bit. I wasn't expecting something so subtle and gripping. What I find most striking about it is how it uses "pointy" sounds, rhythmic elements, to non-rhythmic ends. The atmospheres and sounds are just plain weird and alien. He makes no concessions. And unlike 99% of "IDM" productions on the market this album actually has a soul - it's just hard to find at first. The last track, in the video, is sublime.

4. wAgAwAgA, Hyper Typewriter

[media='']

It's just so fucking groovy. wAgAwAgA has a rhythmic sensibility that resonates with me in a strong way. I have to look hard to find music that has this effect (which is why I completely spazzed out when I first discovered Autechre, for example.) This was my introduction to wAgAwAgA, so once I have digested it completely I will be looking for more from him. Any suggestions would be welcome.

5. Surgeon, Breaking the Frame

[media='']

To be completely honest, I think most techno these days, even the "forward-thinking" variety such as Sandwell District, Stroboscopic Artifacts, etc., is shit. But this is very different. This album is so dry, in a good way.

Its probably Machinedrum.

Does Legofeet count?

  On 12/2/2011 at 12:47 AM, Joseph said:

 

It's just so fucking groovy. wAgAwAgA has a rhythmic sensibility that resonates with me in a strong way. I have to look hard to find music that has this effect (which is why I completely spazzed out when I first discovered Autechre, for example.) This was my introduction to wAgAwAgA, so once I have digested it completely I will be looking for more from him. Any suggestions would be welcome.

 

Gotta get ph-3.5.6. That's where the funk's at.

I don't know about album of the year but single of the year had got to go to Freescha - Babies In Your Body.

Machinedrum - Room(s)

Vhs Head - Midnight Section

Burial - Street Halo

Deepchord - Hash-Bar Loops

Tim Hecker - Ravedeath 1972

Tim Hecker- Dropped Pianos

Zomby - Dedicated

Byetone - Symeta

Martyn - Ghost People

Instra:Mental - Resolution653

Kangding Ray - OR

Andy Stott - We Stay Together

2562 - Fever

Wagon Christ - Toomorrow

The Advisory Circle - As The Crow Flies

definitely been giving that seefeel eponymouse album some listens as well as the zomby album this week.