Favorite music of 2011

I can’t even pretend to offer a comprehensive list anymore. When I was a newspaper music critic, I tried to keep up with most everything. But life gets in the way, and these days I find myself much less willing to give things a chance. Hook me immediately or be consigned to the dustbin. So this is a list of favorites, not a best of.

I spent as much time listening to old favorites as I did new music this year. As such, there is only one artist on this list (King Creosote) that I hadn’t heard and/or didn’t already own something by before this year.

The nice development was the elevation of many a game. William Elliott Whitmore, Wye Oak, Tim Finn… all were artists I liked, certainly admired. But they hadn’t done anything that would earn them a spot on a list like this. But this year, all three and others really connected, taking their music to new, more exciting places.

1. William Elliott Whitmore – Field Songs
The best album of the year is also the simplest. With little more than a guitar or banjo and his deep, resonant voice, Whitmore has crafted the best album of his career. To date, his music has felt out of time, a recreation of something that came before. With Field Songs, Whitmore sings about today, but the context of his sound, which still harks back to the dustbowl days, shows how little progress we’ve made. It is a powerful socio-political statement that packs just as much of a punch musically.
“Field Song”

2. Boston Spaceships – Let it Beard
While Robert Pollard was busy leading the reunited “classic lineup” of Guided by Voices around the country, his fellow Spaceships Chris Slusarenko and John Moen were putting the finishing touches on that band’s (for now) swansong, a sprawling two-album (1 CD) set that makes good on Pollard’s quest to capture the 4 Ps: prog, pop, psych and punk. Not since his post-GBV solo bow, From a Compound Eye, has a Pollard package been so complete. Despite its length, there is hardly a weak song in the bunch (and those that are are so short you’d hardly notice). Includes Colin Newman, J Mascis, Steve Wynn and more.
“Blind 20-20″

3. Wye Oak – Civilian
Jenn Wasner is a guitar god(dess). And she has a great rock voice. And her songs have the right blend of murk and light, joy and sinister. Then there’s Andy Stack, a jack-of-all-instruments who plays drums and keyboards (usually at the same time). This band started good, got better and is now just flat out excellent. Catch them live and marvel at how this much sound can come from two people. Plus, they kill every time they visit the AV Club’s Undercover studio. As much as any act on this list, I truly can’t wait to hear what they cook up next.
“Holy Holy”

4. Feelies – Here Before
Yes, the title sounds like a commentary on the contents, and to an extent it is spot on. This does sound like the album the Feelies would have made 20 years ago to follow Time for a Witness. But it feels contemporary, too, as Glenn Mercer and Co. meet aging head on. Mercer always said he was waiting for Bill Million to return before the Feelies could be reborn, and it seems the wait was worth it (and justified). Those guitars, that beat… it’s all here. Don’t stay away so long this time, folks.
“Nobody Knows”

5. Matthew Ryan – I Remember Standing as if Nothing Could Fall
Ryan started out rocking, then took things down several notches on subsequent releases. He’d rock from time to time, but low-key melancholy was his typical speed, wrenching the emotion out of every track without the cover of loud guitars. On his latest, he finds a middle ground that allows him to harness all of his talents, all of his sounds, and the result is an album that sounds – at least on some days – like his best yet. I had a lengthy correspondence with Ryan about the album that helps to illuminate his motivations and goals for the projects.
“All Hail the Kings of Trash”

6. Tim Finn – The View is Worth the Climb
I picked this up on a lark. I’m a big, big fan of Tim’s little brother, Neil, and have come to appreciate the work of Tim as an extension of that fandom. Something clicked with this album, though, as Tim offers a mature, organic collection of songs that focus on the sweet center of these songs – the vocal melodies and the rich strums of an acoustic guitar. Tim solo always has been less manic/crazy than Tim as leader of Split Enz, but this strips things down even more. The view, or in this case, the sound, is worth the climb.
“Going Going Gone”

7. Tommy Keene – Behind the Parade
Keene has been quietly adding to his catalog over the past decade, crafting the same kind of densely layered power pop that earned him a modicum of fame in the late 1980s. Behind the Parade offers nothing new (unless you count the odd synth interlude of “La Castana”), which is exactly why it is so good. The hooks are plentiful and strong, the guitars muscular and chiming and the beat insistent. It’s as if the past 20 years never happened. Unfortunately, Keene’s profile is no higher than it was then. Thankfully, that doesn’t stop him.
“Deep Six Saturday”

8. Wilco – The Whole Love
After two albums that were perfectly fine, Wilco again experiments… a little. The experimental nature of the album has been overstated thanks to its presence at the beginning of the album. The real draw of the album is the fact that the band seems to be willing to push again, to take Jeff Tweedy’s songs as the base for improvisation rather than the be all end all. That was the case with the pleasant but unchallenging two albums that precede this one. Here, the band, by now well seasoned, pushes and pulls at these songs, taking them to unexpected places.
“I Might”

9. St. Vincent – Strange Mercy
The other female guitar shredder in the top 10, Annie Clark is the complete package. A great guitarist, a captivating singer and a top-notch songwriter, she creates music that is catchy yet quirky enough to be identifiable as her creations and hers alone. Strange Mercy is her third stunner in a row, the third collection of songs that play to her many strengths. Her music would seem to be constrained only by her imagination, which thus far seems limitless. Check her work with Beck on a deconstruction of INXS’s Kick for further evidence of her talent.
“Cruel”

10. King Creosote and John Hopkins – Diamond Mine
This was a blog discovery that hooked me immediately, and saw its profile raised throughout the year. King Creosote is an artist who reminds me of Appendix Out/Alasdair Roberts or the Harvest Ministers: quiet folk with high, warbling vocals that just work. The assistance of John Hopkins, who adds subtle touches that flesh out that skeletal sound, makes this the perfect package. To get a sense of the delicate beauty of the music made by these two, check out their Tiny Desk Concert at NPR.org.
“Bubble”

And the next 10, which includes a stunning comeback,  reliable master, two indie-supergroups, another welcome return, a poppy change of pace, a rechristened (yet unheralded talent), a bubblegummy delight, an improbably second inning and an album that succeeds despite it’s vocals being shouted at you.

11. Gillian Welch – Harrow and the Harvest
12. Nick Lowe – The Old Magic
13.  Middle Brother – Middle Brother
14. Wild Flag – Wild Flag
15. Sea and Cake – Moonlight Butterfly
16. Richard Buckner – Our Blood
17. Release the Sunbird – Come Back to Us
18. Jonny – Jonny
19. Baseball Project – High and Inside
20. Fucked Up – David Comes to Life