The Best Music of 2011 [#50-#31]

December 20, 2011 1 Comment

Our official countdown begins with albums 50 through 31. Although I was inclined to present these in groups of 10 with no particular order, that isn’t much fun. What’s the good of a Top 50 List if you can’t be totally outraged that a record ranked 47th instead of 34th?

So let the outrage begin!

As always, you can check out lots of music from this list on our Spotify playlist.

50.  Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx, We’re New Here

I thought Izzie B put it well in nom’ing this remix record of Gil Scott-Heron’s last album, and singling out “I’ll Take Care of U” for special appreciation. “Drake took that remix for Take Care, and while I really, really appreciate Rihanna’s vocals, I have to credit the original because the first time I heard that instrumental, I had chills up and down my spine.”

49. Night Birds, Fresh Kills #1

A great find by DBuu. He explains: “A collection of the first three 7″ releases about B-movies and freaks from this surf-ish punk band. There’s something about the songs and the style that remind me of music I got into when I was 15, sort of in that ‘touched for the very first time’ kind of way.”

48. Shabazz Palaces, Black Up

This is an incredible record that Noish brought to my attention. Did you know that Butterfly from Digable Planets is not only still in the game — he’s dropping records as fresh as anything out there? Black Up is a pretty raw, rhyme-focused record that is way out on the experimental tip. It’s kind of tough to explain what’s going on with this one, so check out ”Swerve… the Reeping of All That is Worthwhile (Noir Not Withstanding)” on Spotify.

47. Iceage, New Brigade

Wha-bamm! Punk rock Danes on a mission to slay. DBuu pointed out that Iceage’s hype exceeds their greatness at this juncture, but dubbed this a “solid listen.” Twelve tightly-packed, rapid and intense tracks make this album well worth checking out for fans of noisy rock.

46. Van Hunt, What Were You Hoping For?

Fresh off having his last album buried by the record label — apparently Blue Note dislikes F bombs? — this protege of American Idol’s Randy Jackson (it’s not as bad as it sounds) returned with a fury. This self-released collection of songs dwells on recession-era blues and the misery of modern life — but the tracks are tinged with an upbeat funk that’s tough to deny. Tracks like “A Time Machine is My New Girlfriend” bust out in all directions, making you work your mind and your head-nod all at once.

45. Cass McCombs, Humor Risk

Cass McCombs released two full-lengths this year, and while WIT’S END has gotten more praise, I think Humor Risk is a more enjoyable record. This journeyman troubadour has been touring for a solid decade and his road-weariness translates straight into the music in a great way. Cuts like “The Same Thing” combine a propulsive groove with haunting harmonies. It’s a very impressive outing.

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The Best Music of 2011 [Introduction]

December 19, 2011 Leave a comment

Another year of music is in the books. Close enough, anyway.

The so-called authorities have weighed in — now it’s our turn. Rumors on the Internets has gathered a panel of experts, listened to hundreds of albums and mixtapes, and carefully whittled this year’s releases down to identify the best of the best.

All this week, we’ll be counting down the best albums of the year. 

We’ll wind up our rankings just in time for Christmas — so get those iTunes and Amazon gift cards ready! But first, let’s shout out to a ton of great records that sadly didn’t make the cut, talk about our favorite pop and rap singles of the year, and explain the methodology that went into the creation of this list.

A NOTE ON METHODOLOGY

Artistic appreciation is inherently a bit subjective and varies a lot from person to person, which is why I threw my Time magazine across the room after reading their top-10 list. Asking just one critic to identify the best music of the year is a mistake because you’ll just end up with that critic’s favorite records (or in Time’s case, seemingly a list of the best-selling and most buzzed-about records of the year without much regard to quality). Equally foolish is the route taken by the usually-brilliant AV Club, which took a strictly mathematical approach, assigning points to top-10 lists submitted by a panel; as a consequence, their list whiffed on many of the best albums of the year but included a record by Britney Spears.

ROTI took a hybrid approach. We gathered a group of music experts based around the great USA. From our headquarters in Boston, we crunched top-10 lists from Brooklyn, Manhattan, DC, LA, Portland, and more, including a missive from a US Navy vessel. Then, exercising my best editorial judgment, I shaped these rankings into a final Top 50 Albums of 2011 list that reflects not only the will of our expert panel but also a general view on the most thought-provoking, rewarding and exciting album releases this year.

You will probably disagree with the particular order I wound up with, which is pretty expected since I know for a fact that most of the expert panel will disagree as well. But hopefully, you’ll enjoy and discover a lot of great music along the way. Feel free to vent your outrage and vitriol in our comments, or to print out the posts and do horrible things to the hard copies.

I’d like to take this moment to thank the expert panel, which includes many ROTI stalwarts and some new abductees: C. Dave, Nils Coq au Vin, Noish, Serious Nihilism, Business Casual, Mikey Jones, DJ Walls of Sound, CVD, JJ Behoy, Izzie B, DBuu, Secret M, GoGoMrPoPo, @drewkolar and many more who might not have even known they were influencing this list when they rocked a new record on Spotify and brought it to our attention via Facebook.

Want to be part of next year’s panel? Just drop me a line on Twitter.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

These albums may have failed to attract enough support among our voting panel to make the Top 50, but each has been vetted and approved by at least one member of our panel.

If you haven’t heard these albums and enjoy things that are awesome, I highly recommend that you give them a try.

Selected tracks from these records are waiting for you in our Spotify playlist, which will continue to grow as the week proceeds!

Avon Ladies, Quality Programming
Beirut, Rip Tide
Big K.R.I.T., R4 The Prequel
The Bewitched Hands, Birds & Drums
Booker T. Jones, The Road from Memphis
Das Racist, Relax
Decemberists, The King is Dead
DJ 2-Tone Jones, Shaolin Jazz: The 37th Chamber
Dum Dum Girls, Only In Dreams
Elbow, build a rocket boys!
Ferrari Boys, Ferrari Boys
Florence and the Machine, Ceremonials
Foo Fighters, Wasting Light
Frank Ocean, Nostalgia/Ultra
The Go! Team, Rolling Blackouts
Gotye, Making Mirrors
Hoax, Down
Hoodie Allen, Leap Year
John Maus, We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves
Kate Bush, 50 Words for Snow
Kate Harnevik, You
Lil’ Wayne, The Carter IV
The Lonely Island, Turtleneck and Chain
Mastodon, The Hunter
Megafaun, Megafaun
My Morning Jacket, Circuital
Nuclear Santa Claust, Nuclear Santa Claust
Okkervil River, I Am Very Far
One AM Radio, Heaven is Attached by a Slender Thread
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Belong
Peter Bjorn and John, Gimme Some
Raphael Saadiq, Stone Rollin’
The Roots, undun
Telekinesis, 12 Desperate Straight Lines
Tom Waits, Bad as Me
TV on the Radio, Nine Types of Light
Tyler the Creator, Goblin
Weeknd, House of Balloons
WU LYF, Go Tell Fire To The Mountain
Wugazi, 13 Chambers
Yuck, Yuck

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The 10 Best ROTI Deep Cuts Week Articles

November 16, 2011 Leave a comment

Why are these the 10 best? Because they are the only 10 that exist.

Thank you for supporting Deep Cuts Week. In appreciation for all the suggestions and feedback our readers have graced us with, ROTI hereby presents the official Deep Cuts index. All song embeds have been refreshed and are presently working. Enjoy!

DEEP CUTS INDEX

Al Green
The Beatles
Blur
Crosby, Stills & Nash
Danger Mouse
Fleetwood Mac
R.E.M.
Talking Heads
Ween
Wu-Tang Clan

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The 10 Best Talking Heads Deep Cuts [Deep Cuts Week]

November 13, 2011 Leave a comment

I’m wrapping up this Deep Cuts Week with an incredible band, Talking Heads. They have been one of my favorites since forever, and the more time I spend listening to them, the more I respect, appreciate and enjoy their awesome music.

Dissecting this band’s impressive catalogue is no easy task, so I once again called in artillery support from the highly knowledgeable DJ Walls of Sound.

Let’s start with the story of Talking Heads, and quickly move on to the outstanding music.

David Byrne, Chris Frantz, and Tina Weymouth attended the Rhode Island School of Design together, and after graduation and the breakup of a band that Byrne and Frantz were in called The Artistics, they all moved to New York to seek their fortune. Byrne and Frantz tried to find a good bassist but came up empty, so they persuaded Weymouth — Frantz’ girlfriend, now wife — to pick up the instrument. It wasn’t long before she ruled at it.

Their first gig was opening for the Ramones at CBGB. Their unique style, clever name and Byrne’s amazing songs quickly became popular, and they were battle-tested by regularly playing bills that included such great bands as Television and Blondie. The band got even better when David Byrne ran into Jonathan Richman and found out that the original lineup of the Modern Lovers had split up; Byrne & co. quickly tracked down keyboardist & guitarist Jerry Harrison and signed him up to be the band’s fourth member.

After recording the post-punk classic 77, Talking Heads took a huge leap forward when they began working with producer Brian Eno, who challenged Byrne to step outside himself and create otherworldly compositions, while encouraging and augmenting the musicians in the creation of incredible grooves and rhythmic masterpieces. Two increasingly massive albums followed: More Songs About Buildings and Food and Fear of Music.

At that point, the band teetered a bit — the other band members, Weymouth in particular, chafed under Byrne’s controlling leadership. Frantz held the band together, though, and eventually summoned everyone to the Bahamas to record the next album. Eno came along begrudgingly, thinking the band might have stalled out, but soon found that they had expanded on the ideas in the song “I Zimbra,” the last recording done for Fear of Music, and crossed over into a new terrain of sonic ideas. A crew that included everyone from guitar wizard Adrian Belew to camp-follower Robert “Addicted to Love” Palmer (they let him play some percussion) created Remain in Light, the band’s best album. Quite possibly, the human race’s best album.

Talking Heads went on to make many great songs and videos, the best concert film ever (Stop Making Sense), a passel of other hits like “Burning Down the House” and “And She Was,” and establish themselves as first-ballot rock Hall of Famers (I mean that literally, they were inducted in the first year they were eligible). Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth played a key role in the early stages of hip-hop; he drummed on “The Breaks” and her “Genius of Love” groove was one of the most-sampled songs ever. Jerry Harrison is one of the few people who can say that he changed music as part of two different bands, playing on both the Modern Lovers’ hugely influential debut and all the Talking Heads classics.

And David Byrne? Just one of the preeminent geniuses of modern times.

For their many great songs, their classic albums, their outstanding album covers and videos, and the astonishingly good live bands they put together — Talking Heads are the best ever. Read more of this post

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The 10 Best Fleetwood Mac Deep Cuts [Deep Cuts Week]

November 11, 2011 3 Comments

It’s not cool to admit you like Fleetwood Mac. But goddamn it, I DO like Fleetwood Mac.

I know that for some of our most loyal readers, Mac appreciation is a bridge too far. Fleetwood Mac are a super mainstream 70s band known as much for their incestuous boning as for their many hit songs. Their classic lineup features a woman who styles herself a witch/gypsy, a white dude with a fro, two drunken Englishmen and a balladeer whose pop sensibility has zero room for irony….

For those of you who simply cannot accept that Fleetwood Mac could ever rule, I guess I understand. A closed mind is a tough nut to crack. But for those of you willing to join me on a journey with some truly great pop music and one amazing, historically underappreciated album, I think you will find this a rewarding post.

In order to do this right, I sought the consultation of the biggest Mac fan I know, a man known by his friends as Vicious Rumors. He recommended many deep cuts and other tracks, told an amazing tale or two, and even put some songs on the Internet to complete the apex of our list. You’ll be hearing from him soon, but first, some historical background.

Fleetwood Mac began as a British blues band, fronted by guitarist Peter Green. Their best-known song was the original version of “Black Magic Woman.” Eventually, Green and then a succession of guitarists joined and departed, leaving the lineup in a constant state of flux; the one constant was the band’s all-world rhythm section and namesakes, drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie.

Keyboardist and singer Christine Perfect joined up, bringing a new pop element to the band, and eventually married John McVie. Then Fleetwood got Californian songwriter Lindsey Buckingham to join on guitar and vocals, and he brought with him his girlfriend and musical partner, Stevie Nicks. Together, they made the successful album Fleetwood Mac. Then all the couples broke up, everyone was screwing everyone else, feuding, and doing tons of drugs, and they made Rumours, which for you children of the 80s was basically the Thriller of its time.

Easily the best thing about Fleetwood Mac is what the band did next; turn over all power to Lindsey Buckingham, who went a bit mad while directing the recording of the incredibly expensive ($1m in production costs), hugely anticipated, and totally genius follow-up, Tusk.

Of course, Tusk was way ahead of its time and bombed epically (if you can call an album that sold 4 million copies a bomb). Everyone blamed Buckingham and the band soldiered on to do less interesting stuff, break up, get back together, tour, break up again, etc etc. In truth, though they had some good songs after that, both as individuals and as a group, they never made an album as great as Tusk again, and their best record was regarded as a failure for decades.

But today, more and more people are realizing what a masterpiece Tusk is. A recent article in Gothamist noted that “it’s really interesting how pervasive that album is with musicians, more so than Rumours was—a lot of contemporary artists like Animal Collective, Kaki King, and The New Pornographers cite that album, and [Lindsey Buckingham's] songs in particular, as a huge influence on them.”

So, friends. Join me as we explore the greatest deep cuts from Tusk and some other forgotten Fleetwood Mac gems. Are you willing to subject yourself to a full-blown Mac attack? If so, I salute you.  Read more of this post

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