Photo by DG-rad
Believe it or not, this is unprecedented territory for us. While we’ve previously focused our year-end efforts on recapping what shows we’ve seen and which local artists we’ve loved, this time-honored tradition has usually been relegated to our Facebook profiles or Twitter feeds. Still, music from outside of our own backyards informs the interviews we conduct and the concerts we attend, so why not put our thoughts out there? Plus, list-making is fun. That’s why the market is filled with lists throughout the year and flooded with them in December.
However, to make things easier for both you, the reader, and the eight of us who wracked our brains over the thousands and thousands of releases we heard this year, we’re only going to elaborate on the album that topped each of our respective lists, while leaving the rest of them unranked. It’s a modified version of Roger Ebert’s approach to recapping the year in film. Here are the Top Albums of 2011 according to the DCist Music Staff.
Francis Chung:
1) EMA :: Past Life Martyred Saints
Former Gowns singer-guitarist Erika M. Anderson made a tremendous solo debut with Past Life Martyred Saints, a stunning nine-song collection that delivered the year’s most compelling sounds and images. From the breathtaking slow-build of “The Grey Ship” to the anti-anthemic poem “California” to the jagged art-punk of “Butterfly Knife,” the album traverses an expansive range of sonic territories, pivoting around the emotive core of Anderson’s expressive vocals and visceral lyrics. The tone is often harrowing, even violent at times, but by the exhilarating final crescendo of “Red Star,” Anderson seems to get the better of whatever demons she’s fighting.
St. Vincent :: Strange Mercy
PJ Harvey :: Let England Shake
Girls :: Father, Son, Holy Ghost
Wild Flag :: Wild Flag
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks :: Mirror Traffic
Wye Oak :: Civilian
Atlas Sound :: Parallax
Radiohead :: The King of Limbs
Bill Callahan :: Apocalypse
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Benjamin R. Freed:
1) Fucked Up :: David Comes to Life
At nearly 80 minutes, you’d think there’d be some lulls, but not so on this 18-track punk opera. Its mise-en-scène—rebellion in Thatcherite Britain narrated by flaky characters—was a perfect match for this rough-and-tumble year. Egypt, Wisconsin, Libya, Greece, Wall Street: Take your pick. David Comes to Life could have been the soundtrack for them all.
Bon Iver :: Bon Iver
The Caribbean :: Discontinued Perfume
Destroyer :: Kaputt
Drake :: Take Care
Girls :: Father, Son, Holy Ghost
Real Estate :: Days
Kurt Vile :: Smoke Ring for My Halo
The Weeknd :: House of Balloons
Wild Flag :: Wild Flag
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Sriram Gopal:
1) Brian Settles and Central Union :: Secret Handshake
If I had to pick one artist from the District’s fertile jazz scene who is worthy of wider recognition, it would be saxophonist Brian Settles. For his debut release, he teamed up with Neil Podgurski (piano), Corcoran Holt (bass), Jeremy Carlstedt (drums) and Jean Marie Collatin-Faye (percussion). The result is a wholly satisfying album that shows Settles’ knowledge of jazz tradition, but willingness to explore new and challenging ground. A promising start to what we hope will be a long and prolific recording career.
Lena Seikaly :: Lovely Changes
Jolley Brothers :: Memoirs Between Brothers
Victor Provost :: Her Favorite Shade of Yellow
Reginal Cyntje :: Freedom’s Children
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Andy Hess:
1) EMA :: Past Life Martyred Saints
Erika M. Anderson takes you with her on the journey to the center of her self-loathing on her debut, Past Life Martyred Saints—an album that splits the difference between Horses and Courtney Love’s Pretty On The Inside. To hear her climb out of such a dark place and find those internal revelations is inspiring. The catharsis is at times overwhelming. But despite how bad it gets, I find myself wanting to spin it again just to try and figure out how she ended up there.
Future Islands :: On The Water
Kurt Vile :: Smoke Ring For My Halo
Colin Stetson :: New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges
Joyce Manor :: Joyce Manor
Shabazz Palaces :: Black Up
Destroyer :: Kaputt
Bill Callahan :: Apocalypse
Tune-Yards :: Whokill
Bomb the Music Industry! :: Vacation
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Catherine McCarthy:
1) Washed Out :: Within and Without
My “top ten” list is less a carefully curated selection and more a mix of long-awaited returns (AA Bondy, Gillian Welch, My Morning Jacket) and albums that spurred memorable live tours this year (The Felice Brothers, Ryan Adams, Wilco), with a couple of stylistic outliers. If you had described The Weeknd’s The House of Balloons to me, I would have written it off. Luckily, I heard it in full, by accident, and was hooked. Dark, brooding, futuristic, it’s the flip side of a sonic coin. On the obverse is Washed Out’s Within and Without. I don’t know that it will stand the test of time the way Bondy or Welch’s songwriting has for me, but by sheer number of times I’ve listened to it in full, it wins. It’s lush and escapist, the perfect antidote to the trials of this year.
Ryan Adams :: Ashes & Fire
The Weeknd :: The House of Balloons
Destroyer :: Kaputt
My Morning Jacket :: Circuital
AA Bondy :: Believers
Gillian Welch :: The Harrow & The Harvest
The Felice Brothers :: Celebration, Florida
St. Vincent :: Strange Mercy
Wilco :: The Whole Love
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W Jacarl Melton:
1) DTMD (Dunc & Toine Makin’ Dollas) :: Makin’ Dollars
As an admittedly aging hip-hop fan, finding an album I like from folks outside the usual suspects I listened to in college is a difficult task. The Prince George’s County-based duo DTMD offered a release that I instantly enjoyed due to Dunc’s adept use of sampling and drum machines along with Toine’s fantastic wordplay abilities. I hate to use a term like “throwback” to describe a group consisting of two guys who probably aren’t old enough to have ever bought a CD packaged in an oblong cardboard box because it makes them seem like a novelty or gimmick. But, in hearing tracks like “95 Live,” I can’t do anything but recall the head-nodding satisfaction Pete Rock and CL Smooth’s Main Ingredient album gave me almost 20 years ago and say to myself, “It’s good to have that feeling again.” Thank you, DTMD.
Alison Carney :: alisonWonderland
Zo! :: …just visiting three
Father’s Children :: Who’s Gonna Save the World
Oddisee :: Rock Creek Park
Gods’illa :: CPR: The Blend Tape
Muhsinah :: Gone EP
Kaimbr & Kev Brown :: The Alexander Green Project
Debórah Bond :: Madam Palindrome
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Valerie Paschall:
1) Tune-Yards :: Whokill
Usually there’s one or two albums every year that I not only feel safe recommending to everyone regardless of their taste, but enthusiastic. At the heart of this album is Merrill Garbus’ versatile and expressive voice which she loops and stretches to the limits of its range. She creates tribal chants and empassioned shouts while also indulging in a diva moment by hitting high notes toward the end of “Powa.” But more importantly, that voice is mixed with a well-arranged assortment of percussion loops and eclectic instrumentation such as saxophone and ukelele and driven by a fierce social conscience. Some of the softest tracks, “Doorstep” and “RiotRiot,” pack the angriest punch. But the music itself is so catchy and powerful that even those who don’t like to stir things up and raise a racket will be moved to shout.
EMA :: Past Life Martyred Saints
WIld Flag :: Wild Flag
The War on Drugs :: Slave Ambient
Wye Oak :: Civilian
Kurt Vile :: Smoke Ring For My Halo
Thee Oh Sees :: Carrion Crawler/The Dream
Fucked Up :: David Comes to Life
Liturgy :: Aesthethica
Real Estate :: Days
Honorable Mention:
PJ Harvey :: Let England Shake
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Matt Siblo:
1) Real Estate :: Days
As demonstrated earlier this year in Nicolas Winding Refn’s excellent film Drive, good music is made even better when blasted from a car with the windows down. I will always associate the loose, sun-stained songs on Days with hectic fall afternoon drives, when playing this album served as a brief reprieve from my challenging, often heartbreaking job. There are no revelations to be found here; just simple, clean melodies that are impossible to resist.
Fucked Up :: David Comes to Life
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks :: Mirror Traffic
Trash Talk :: Awake EP
James Blake :: James Blake
The Weeknd :: House of Balloons
Bon Iver :: Bon Iver
Man Man :: Life Fantastic
St. Vincent :: Strange Mercy
Jay-Z and Kanye West :: Watch the Throne
Holy Ghost! :: Holy Ghost!
