Honorable Mention: Music in 2011

I'm sure you're all well aware but a TON of music dropped in 2011.  So much so that I couldn't review it all, nor fit it all onto my customary Year In Review List.  However, I was listening with the best of them, and I thought you might like to listen as well.  Therefore, in keeping with last year's tradition I've assembled a collection of records that I personally endorse with a rating of 3/5 and above.  Some of these LPs were close calls for my main list, so I definitely encourage you to check them out!

Adele- 21 (***): A bitter breakup and Rick Rubin’s sparse production lead to a pop-soul crossover that’s sure to slay the Grammys; too bad none of the above granted it real personality.


A New Found Glory- Radiosurgery (***½): It’s a clash of the 90s as Neal Avron sends NFG back to 1995, just long enough for some of Rancid’s chunky rhythms to brush up against some Sticks & Stones-style love songs.

Angels & Airwaves- Love Pt. II (***): Tom DeLonge’s Peter Gabriel-meets-U2 vanity project reaches further towards spacely proportions (now with more synthesizers), but there are some great moments where he lets his crunchy, phaser soaked guitar do most of the ego tripping.

The Antlers- Burst Apart (****): Coming off their piano-laden debut, The Antlers push listeners into the swirling mists of their subconscious, complete with twisting guitar lines and earnest emotionalism.

Atmosphere- The Family Sign (***½): Slug isn’t swearing about hood rats anymore, but the laid back/jazz-flavored beats Ant provided forgives some of the cringe-worthy couplets present here.

Beruit- The Ripe Tide (***½): Zach Condon scales back his synth-heavy preoccupations and draws more on Beruit’s Euro-folk influences to add a few more sentimental ballads to everyone’s iTunes.

The Black Dahlia Murder- Ritual (****½): On their 5th proper album The Black Dahlia Murder continue to solidify their legacy as one of the most evil sounding metal groups of the 2000s by conjuring sludge covered buzz saw assaults and pairing them with demon-winged drum patterns.

The Black Keys- El Camino (***½): Less stripped-down booze soaked abrasion and more full-band 70’s R&B swagger gives El Camino some commercial traction at the expense of the Keys’ signature minimalism.

Boris- Klatter (***½)/New Album (***½): Two records than couldn’t be further apart: Klatter is a thick, heaving mastodon of droning crunch while New Album plays like a hyper-caffeinated twee pop soundtrack to FLCL, or some equivalent anime.

Bright Eyes- The People’s Key (****½): After a country road detour, Conor Oberst emerges Rastafarian with a driving new wave pulse, a spacious mix, and his signature warble to convey the weight of the world.

City & Colour- Little Hell (***½): Layers of hazy distortion, some expanded piano, and some full-band punch illustrates Dallas Green’s hunger to transcend his acoustic beginnings and be more than the poor man’s Jesse Lacey.

Coldplay- Mylo Xyloto (***½): Entering the Zooropa phase of their career, Coldplay continues to rip pages out of the U2 handbook with their most electronic, keyboard-heavy bid for pop acceptance yet.

Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi- Rome (****½): Turns out that Danger Mouse had been hiding that lost Ennio Morricone score all along, allowing Jack White and Norah Jones to sing over its twinkling, sun-soaked passages.

The Decemberists- The King Is Dead (****½)/Long Live The King (****): Colin Meloy should record albums in barns more often because the rootsy Americana sighs that populate this proper album, and E.P. of outtakes, instantly dash away the pomp and pretension of The Hazards Of Love.

Explosions In The Sky- Take Care, Take Care, Take Care (***½): A little less drone intensive than their past records, but Explosions are drifting towards a more twinkling and pristine sound that’s just as engaging.

Feist- Metals (****): Leslie Feist decided to scrub away all that poppy, iPod-plugging sheen with a batch of murky, foggy, and weighty folk tunes, resulting in an album that won’t pigeon-hole her as a flash in the pan indie darling.

Fleet Foxes- Helplessness Blues (***½): Some studio polish creeps over the Foxes, but bare moments like “Blue Spotted Tail” keep their gentleness intact.

Florence + The Machine- Ceremonials (***): Much colder and rigid then Lungs, Florence Welch opts for sophistication rather than rawness; the passion may be hiding, but it’s hard to deny songs like the sparking “Never Let Me Down.”

Foo Fighters- Wasting Light (***½): The brightest moment on Dave Grohl’s “not as thrashy as you’d expect” reunion with Butch Vig can be nailed down in two words: “WHIIIIIIIIIIIIITE LIIMMOOOOOOOOO.”

Goldmund- All Will Prosper (****): Keith Kenniff continues his streak as the most underrated pianist of all time with his soft, somber, and stripped-down take on classic Civil War era traditionals; indie/roots music for history nerds.

Hugh Laurie- Let Them Talk (****½): Dr. House writes a prescription for some full-bodied New Orleans-style blues, which should alleviate any symptoms of thinking actors can’t be musicians too.

In Flames- Sounds Of A Playground Fading (****): In Flames may have decided to ditch one of their founding guitarists and add more electronic flourishes, but that doesn’t stop from delivering some jack hammer-sized riffage.

Iron & Wine- Kiss Each Other Clean (****½): Nobody expected Sam Beam to go all Kraftwerk, but the pristine keyboard textures marry well with his gospel/folk overtones.

Jack’s Mannequin- People & Things (****): Shedding the skin of sickness that’s dogged him for the past half-decade, Andrew McMahon dives head first into the Tom Petty pool, resulting in the warmest sounding/forward thinking Jack’s album yet.

Jay-Z & Kanye West- Watch The Throne (***½): Drawing on the new millennium’s fascination with witch house, dubstep, and robot-style electronics, Jay and Ye still inject some old school flavor into this mechanized, uneven kingdom.

James Blake- James Blake (****): Robo-Soul never sounded so sweet and somber as it does from Blake’s digitized, stutter-stop heartdrive; Marvin Gaye for the Twitter generation.

Kevin Devine- Between The Concrete & The Clouds (***½): Devine rides that Pavement-meets-Elliot Smith shtick until the cows come home, but this latest offering seems a bit tame by his usually perfectionist standards.

The Kills- Blood Pressures (***½): Everything seems bolder on Blood Pressures: Jamie Hinne and Allison Mosshart add muscular crunch to their sexy blues stomp while their piano ballads incorporate more spaciousness and longing frailty.

Manchester Orchestra- Simple Math (****½): Andy Hull and the rest of the Manchester crew are finally starting to find their groove, whether it’s on the rough and tumble string-wrapped march of “Mighty,” or the spooky gang vocals on “Virgin.”

Max Bemis & The Painful Splits- Max Bemis & The Painful Splits 2 (***½): The Say Anything front man continues to make a bid to be the pop-punk version of Bob Dylan with his hyper-confessional anecdotes and 4-track acoustic chic.

Megadeth- TH1RT3EN (***½): Dave Mustaine continues to run Megadeth like the Michael Bay of the metal world, and it results in the group’s most infectious collection of flashy leads, over-caffeinated double bass, and dive bomb riffs in years.

Metallica- Beyond Magnetic E.P. (***½): 4 unmastered, menacing cuts from the 2008 Death Magnetic sessions illustrate that even mid-process, there’s something remarkable about James, Lars, Kirk and Robert that merits committing those sounds to tape.

Patrick Stump- Soul Punk (***½): Michael Jackson’s torch has officially been passed to Patrick Stump; Soul Punk's grimey, bombastic break beats give way to Stump’s energetic falsetto, creating some of the most propulsive pop numbers since Dangerous ruled the charts back in 1991.

Phantogram- Nightlife E.P. (***½): While opting not to take a giant leap forward sonically, Phantogram continues to refine their trip-hop, jazz-horn bursting style for everyone’s nighttime mix tapes.

The Raveonettes- Raven In The Grave (***½): While this LP borrows a little bit more from The Cure’s expansiveness than The Jesus & Mary Chain’s noise rock, The Ravenoettes continue to spin mournful pop valentines set to fuzzy rhythms.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers- I’m With You (***½): Josh Klinghoffer dashes away any concerns of John Frusciante’s recent defection with swirling, crawling, and textured lead work; too bad Anthony Kiedis seems to be phoning in his 1/4 of the record.

The Roots- undun (***): ?uestlove and Black Thought’s Memento-style concept album about the events leading up to Redford Stephens’ death should be Album Of The Year type stuff, but the disc never gets going until the mid-section where the beats start hammering and the strings wrap around neo-soul keyboards.

Sainthood Reps- Monoculture (****½): Angular buzz saw riffage, hazy grooves, and muscular 90s heft catapults Derrick Sherman’s new project towards serious legitimacy.

Taking Back Sunday- Taking Back Sunday (****): Balancing big time ballads with grinding arena punch, TBS’s reunion album seems crafted for maximum impact but ends up being a tad conservative given the group’s rocky past.

Tally Hall- Good & Evil (***½): Decidedly more Beatlesesque than their hyper-eclectic debut, Tally Hall opt for more ornate/subdued arrangements, sacrificing some of their humor and energy in the process.

TV On The Radio- Nine Types Of Light (****½): Drawing on expertly crafted beats, shimmering atmospheres, and soft synths, TV On The Radio put forth an incredibly poignant exploration of modern intimacy with their most accessible record yet.

Tom Waits- Bad As Me (***½): With a career that spans several decades, Waits continues to tinker with modern industrial sleaze and his own twisted, rusty take on American jazz.

Yellowcard- When You’re Through Thinking, Say Yes (***½): Revving up the sentimentality and throwing down some Saves The Day shout-outs, Yellowcard’s latest record is surprisingly consistent, even if there isn’t enough of their signature violin to go around.