2011 End-of-Year Celebrations: TOP 20 ALBUMS OF 2011 (Part 2)

10. TV On The Radio - Nine Types of Light

For all the art-rock gusto surrounding discussions of TV on the Radio, they seem to obfuscate that they can be a powerfully direct band and their fourth LP is perhaps their most approachable. Its message is simple: in the face of a fucked-up world at the end of its frayed tether, it’s important to take stock in what matters. Chiefly: love. That artsy title might not get to the heart of the matter, but the likes of You, Will Do and, most explicitly, Your Heart make it clear “With the world all falling apart/I’m gonna keep your heart.”

Where the Brooklynites’ honed their brand of horn-abetted art-funk on predecessor Dear, Science, they’ve slowed down for a contemplative set that sounds more comforting without damaging their rich scenery. The twin falsettos of Tunde Adibempe and Kyp Malone voice both alliterated poetry (Second Song) and inner-city mistrust (No Future Shock), with Dave Sitek’s adept production continuing to colour their rich sound with painterly detail. Most impressively on the record’s refined centrepiece, Killer Crane, where glowing piano chords meet slowly inked orchestral washes and metronomic banjo plucking.

It’s not all grace and tenderness, the wiry dance paranoia of Repetition and stomping crunch of Caffeinated Consciousness find the dancefloor beneath the emotional debris, but the lingering sentiment is of a band that cares. A feeling made all the more poignant when bassist Gerard Smith lost his fight with lung cancer. In retrospect, it hasn’t defined Nine Types of Light, and those who caught their recent visit to our shores can confirm their live show remains a relatively undiminished unit of funkified exorcism; but his contribution to another innovative, beautifully realised record is a fitting epitaph.

TV On The Radio - "Will Do" by Interscope Records

2011 End-of-Year Celebrations: TOP 20 ALBUMS OF 2011 (Part 1)

20. Jenny Hval - Viscera

The minimalistic guitar notes and sparse machine noises open 'Engine In The City', then the sexually charged couplet: “I arrived in town/with an electric toothbrush/pressed against my clitoris.”

This is the beginning of Viscera, and it sets the stark tone for a darkly surreal yet equally beautiful trip. Dropping her Rocket To The Sky moniker, the Norwegian native’s first set under her own name channels the spirit of folk reverence; her voice gently plaintive in in abstract poetics or ringing with crystalline beauty in bright harmonies.

Her music is warped with arch experimentalism, her songs as sensual as they are provocative, as likely to unspool into a sea of noise as they are ascend into a delicate ether. The majority of them unwind slowly over six to eight minutes, like a strange new flower blossoming, but always with a charged sense of character, narrative or emotional effect. Truly a singer-songwriter for (and of) the modern age.

blood flight by jennyhval

2011 End-of-Year Celebrations: 2011 In Memorandum

Yes, it's the new year and yes, AMR has yet to unveil the annual Top 20 Albums of the year, but just to tease out the anticipation just that little bit longer, it's best to provide some context. Though all those terrific artists did a perfectly good job, think of this as a more personalised preamble that paints a broader picture before we hone in on the finer details. 

That, and it's worth reflecting on just what a strange, extreme year for music it was. Maybe it’s the seachange that is the ceaseless turning of time through yet another decade, maybe it’s the further fragmentation and cross-pollination of popular music through media and live mediums, more likely it was a combination of all of the above, but there’s no denying it – 2011 was a funny year. 

2011 just got 100% more awesome

We'll get into that hyperbolic title, but firstly the headlines...

I Heard The News Today, Oh Boy

• You know Daft Punk - hopefully from their work pre-Tron: Legacy - and while they haven't reached irredeemable levels of KISS' merchandise whoring just yet, they're trying their damndest. March will see the Gallic duo teaming up with Coke to release limited edition bottles, in an enterprise called daftcoke. The signature coke recepticle will be available NOT in cool mini robot helmet containers, but simply feature the signature recepticle in gold and silver (like their helmets *yawn*). Can you feel how uncomfortable I am with this? (via Pitchfork)
• Mogwai's Barry Burns has delivered a self-effacing feature for UK blog Drowned In Sound, entitled Five Myths About Being In A Band. It's well worth a read, mainly because it nails "so funny it's true" for both people in and outside the rock n' roll lifestyle. (via Drowned In Sound)
• The fine folk at Stereogum brought my attention to this exhaustive soundcloud project that attempts to cover every #1 song up to 1992 at five seconds a piece. Be warned: it's long, but equally awesome. Like a really lazy Girl Talk mix. (via Stereogum)
• So Red Hot Chili Peppers have a working title for their new album, and it's *deep breath* Dr. Johnny Skinz's Disproportionately Rambunctious Polar Express Machine-Head... yep... d'you get all o' that? Looks like the love affair with George Clinton's kerr-azy funk is back on and the collective anticipation for a John Frusciante-less Chilis is off (via FasterLouder)
• So you've had a gutful of all the Radiohead coverage yet? Well you might wanna skip this bit. Firstly, Beat magazine's online site published my 'proper' review of The King of Limbs, but American group Robotanists did several better. In fact, they covered the entire damn album in 24 hours. That's right, and it's available for free at the group's bandcamp page. It's a pretty solid effort, going some lengths to quantifying an answer to those hypotheticals 'would you still dig this album if it was the debut from some unknown band?' - well have a listen and see for yourself (via AtEase)

So, to the title of our post. Well, aside from a small love affair with Akron/Family, Bright Eyes and Trail Of Dead (and of course, the R word), we haven't covered much of 2011's big album releases round here lately. Well here's a little list of the exciting releases due in the coming months. In no particular order:

TV On The Radio - Nine Types of Light  

Due: May 11

As previously reported, the New York art-rockers are readying to follow-up their excellent 2008 record Dear, Science.