Best Albums Of 2011: 15-11

30-26 | 25-21 | 20-16 | 15-11 | 10-6 | 5-1

#15: Toro Y Moi - Underneath The Pine

The soulful and space-age bachelor pad grooves found on Underneath The Pine make for an assured good time this holiday season. However, the real story is progression of Chaz Bundick, the man behind the sounds, from holding the title as the Godfather of Chillwave to new funk upstart. Those buried, gauzy effects are restrained or altogether left behind like training wheels. No longer recording in the bedroom or basement, this self-made indie star bounces between genre and influences and finds out what he can do from the Prince flavor on "New Beat", the delicate Franco-tinged "Before I'm Done" and the Stereolab homage "How I Know". Just when you have forgotten this is a Toro Y Moi album, he throws in a chillwave stunner on "Light Black", just to keep you guessing.

Download Track | Purchase Album

Toro Y Moi - New Beat

#14 Smith Westerns - Dye It Blonde

This one took a while to grow on me. Everything from the obvious derivatives on Dye It Blonde to the stories and rumors of bad behavior in concert and interviews had tempered my view. Once I had the right frame of mind, Smith Westerns finally won me over with this flowering garden of glam rock and retro-pop in full bloom. The guitar chorus on "Still New", the tongue-in-cheek Beatles reference on "Imagine, Pt. 3" and the T.Rex sleaze on "End Of The Night" are all places to before you even need to hear the Tommy Hilfiger sales pitch on "Weekend" one more time.

Stream the full album here.

Download Track | Purchase Album

Smith Westerns - Still New

#13 Bon Iver - Bon Iver

This people's champion of 2011 is the self-titled sophomore effort for Justin Vernon aka Bon Iver. Who wouldn't love this story going from obscurity and isolation for the recording of an album to guest starring in Kanye West's cirque de grandeur. For the follow up, Vernon aims high by adding strings, percussion and woodwind and reaches those perfectly fragile moments when expressions of emotion meets tempered subtlety. Bon Iver is such a beautifully captured work until it reaches the horrendously ill-advised finale "Beth/Rest" that reminds of the worst ballads found in the annals of music history. Either the listening public is tremendously forgiving or frighteningly irresponsible.

Download Holocene | Download Calgary

Purchase Album

Bon Iver - Two Tracks

#12 Low - C'mon

Being known for making the saddest music in the world is a heavy moniker to carry. With a new band member on board for their ninth effort, the Duluth MN trio chose to travel an unfamiliar, yet sanguine, road. The result is an album full of hushed moments, leaving behind the emotive clatter on the past two Low LPs. C'mon has an earnest nature on "You See Everything" and "Witches" that sets up for the eventual weight "Especially Me" and "Nothing But Heart". Despite being ready to try a more positive approach, Low never seems to lose that element of beauty in their music.

Download Track | Purchase Album

Low - Try To Sleep

#11 Washed Out - Within and Without


Chillwave took some interesting turns this year with some artists' latest efforts fumbling in quality or even abandoning the genre altogether. A couple of these soldiers stayed the course and in the case of Earnest Greene, made a lovingly brisk and freeing album of smooth and coolly effortless synth grooves. Most of the tracks on Within And Without are distant yet enticing with a glacial beat creating an atmosphere with all of the striking beauty of a early evening snowfall.


Download Track | Purchase Album

Washed Out - Amor Fati

Album Review: Low - C'mon

Tweet

It seems suitable that the champions of the slowcore movement to be from a region where the winter months can be longer that the other three seasons combined and where its bitter cold and quiet isolation is simply part of life. Duluth Minnesota outfit Low has been crafting their unique brand of achingly mesmerizing music for almost 20 years. In the beginning, Low albums were an exercise in caustic and somber restraint. Each plaintive guitar strum or strike of the snare drum was like a knife to the heart as their verses were exhaled as withering final breaths. Around the turn of the millennium, the band began to peel away the sobering, furrowed nature of their music in remix EP's and exploring a more emphatic sound on their later albums. Their latest effort out on Sub Pop explores another new frontier as some of the ten songs on C'mon make a cautious move toward positivity.

The lullaby opening of "Try To Sleep" stands in contrast to their previous stark and deliberate expressions. Still delicate, Low chooses tenderness over melancholy here with lovely percussion and a resonating sweetness. This edict continues as the first half of C'mon adopts an elevated and uplifting musical dialogue. The instruments and words of drummer/vocalist Mimi Parker synchronize on "You See Everything" making a compelling and uplifting hymn. Her good work continues on "Especially Me" as her potent thumps and somnambulistic chant glow with hypnotic beauty. They even rock out on "Witches" as Alan Sparhawk works through track like a sermon, preaching his lyrics and sending a guitar laden message drenched in reverberation.

C'mon's latter half travels through the more familiar territory of Low's nineties output. "Majesty/Magic" is sparse and wounded, building into a tempest from a simple raincloud. The angry lyrics on "$20" are spit out as the subtle movements fill the empty space then end with abrupt chagrin. The epic "Nothing But Heart" finally rolls out vitriol, repeating the chorus as an affirmation that swells to assertion as the slide guitar hums out the clamoring feedback until the bitter end.

Until the four year wait for C'mon, Low was incredibly prolific, releasing LP's, EP's, singles and a 3 disc compilation of non-album tracks at the rate of once every nine months since 1994. It seems unusual that their longest hiatus brought such comparatively lively music to their repertoire. Perhaps it was actually difficult for them to find inspiration somewhere other than pain. It is a comfort that Low is never complacent, always challenging themselves to explore new boundaries for their unparalleled sound.

Bonus: Check out the new video for "Try To Sleep" below.

Purchase C'mon here. CD | Vinyl | mp3

Try To Sleep (Download)


You See Everything


Especially Me (Download)

New Low Track Available For Free Download, Album Out April 12

Tweet

A couple of weeks ago, I typed up the details on the new album due out from Low. The Duluth, MN trio's ninth studio LP (by my count) C'mon will be here April 12 on Sub Pop. Sadly I had no new music at the time to share... Until now.

"Try To Sleep" is the opening track for C'mon and a interesting departure from their previous efforts. The deliberate build opens into a sweetness and, dare I say, positivity that gleams through the band's trademark elegy. It plays like a lullaby with a tenderness that has not been seen from Low for some time. The restless lyrics could center on a person with a heavy heart who can find no rest or someone patiently waiting to take their last breath. In any case, the story is in the capable hands of Low, who flush the austere subject with warmth and humanity. "Try To Sleep" can be heard in its entirety by clicking the middle of the widget below. The download will cost you an email address, which is a definite bargain.

Preorder C'mon here.

Low Readies New Album, Live EP Available For Download

Tweet

The reigning champions of slo-core, Duluth MN trio Low, have been shattering hearts with their sonic bloodletting for almost two decades. There is nothing more delicate, yet seething with pain than this band at their most focused. After 4 years of quiet, the band has released some information on the new album. Entitled C'mon, the LP will set sail on April 12 via Sub Pop. A brief synopsis of the recording with a track list is given here.

Although there is no teaser track available from the upcoming album yet, the band is giving away a 4 song live EP from a 2009 concert at a church in The Netherlands. Listen to the entire EP by hovering your mouse over the picture and clicking for some Internet magic. Also, for your listening enjoyment are two tracks from their two most recent albums. Hopefully, this can tide you over until the winter thaws.

Purchase Drums & Guns here.

Purchase The Great Destroyer here.

Low - When I Go Deaf (from The Great Destroyer)


Low - Murderer (from Drums & Guns)