Drafting the Year So Far Part I
By You Can't Hear it on the Radio, Kim & Reagen
July 13, 2011
BoxOfficeProphets.com
One small programming note: To give this post its full due at the top of the blog and to enjoy the long weekend, YCHIOTR will take a small break until July 5th. We've had daily content since the beginning of the year, and we're looking forward to continuing that in the 2nd half of the year.
Steve
Welcome to a grand experiment; well, an experiment. Thanks a lot for joining us to select the best music of the year so far. We decided to try this as a draft format so as not to spoil our year-end lists. So, it's a little bit fantasy football and a little bit desert island jukebox. As far as ground rules and frame of mind for this draft-style determination of the best music released so far this year, imagine if you will a pile of records on the ground, every LP released in 2011 (EPs excluded). On your turn you get to choose an album from the pile that you will be able to listen to for the rest of time, and no one else will. Conversely, any record that gets selected by someone else no longer exists for you.
So, which album can't you live without?
We'll do a typical snake format draft for those of you familiar with such things (1 to 5, 5 to 1, 1 to 5, etc).
A special welcome to our guests. Noah and I have joining us tonight our good friends Kim and Reagen from Box Office Prophets, one of the best entertainment sites on the web. Also joining us is Andrew, a music fan and journalist from Dekalb, Illinois. Welcome everyone.
The draft order will go:
1) Kim
2) Noah
3) Reagen
4) Andrew
5) Steve
So without further ado, the floor is Kim's.
Noah
Kim's checking to see if Albert Pujols released an album in 2011.
Kim
It's called The Miraculously Healed Broken Wrists.
Noah
It costs $250 million over 8 years.
Kim
With the first pick of the draft, I'm going to go with the album that's been infecting my summer - Cults, by Cults. I resisted loving this album. I really did. Initially, I felt like it embraced the '60s girl group sound a bit too easily, but Cults is really much deeper than that on repeated listens. Its upbeat sound camouflages the fact that the lyrics have some darker meaning. It's perfect summer music, but I'm pretty sure it's going to stick with me a lot longer than that.
Steve
I just got that but haven't listened to it yet. I should correct that.
Andrew
That was on my list too Kim. Nicely put. But darn you for picking before me. ...This is competitive right?
Steve
It is competitive, but we haven't figured out a scoring system yet.
Kim
I figure everyone is going to pick everything I want by the time it gets back to me, so yes.
Reagen
I'm just trying to figure out how to trade up for rights to a future U2 album or something.
Steve
I think you trade down for U2 these days.
Noah
Cults wasn't on my list, so I have to decide between my three favorite albums so far. For my first pick, I'm going to take Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes.
Not exactly a daring choice, but from my perspective there is no sophomore slump for Fleet Foxes. They've made an album that stays true to their sound while also exploring new ground and doing so incredibly effectively.
It's an album I have yet to tire of and has shown me something different nearly every time I listen to it. I find myself lost, daydreaming in the middle of a listen.
Steve
Yes, but is it an onion? Our readers want to know.
Noah
I'm still peeling.
Kim
I want to like Helplessness Blues more than I do. I think it has a couple of gems, but it also kind of wears me out.
Reagen
That's an album I wanted to like, after the brilliance of their first album, but aside from a couple of moments, I never felt it take off. It all kind of blends into one troubadourish mush to me.
Andrew
I'm waiting to see them live at Pitchfork fest. I didn't fall in love with the last album until I saw them live. I have faith they'll deliver though.
Noah
I hate you all.
Steve
I'm with you Noah.
Andrew
There's the competitive stuff right there!
Noah
*Except Steve.
Kim
I do think Grown Ocean is a brilliant song, though.
Steve
It's impressively good; I can see how the album would fall flat for some though. I'm on record as really liking it despite it being a little too folky for me.
Reagen
For my first round pick, I have to go with the album I've been going back to again and again more than any other this year, Departing by The Rural Alberta Advantage. Muscle Relaxants and Tornado '87 have both bored a hole into my brain and can't be ejected. It's maybe a little more obvious lyrically than Hometowns, but the musicianship has increased to a scary degree.
Noah
Typical Canadian choice.
Reagen
The odds of me picking an artist that have gotten zero American airplay is about 50/50.
Andrew
I've not heard this record. But if it's Canadian...
Noah
Muscle Relaxants is one of my favorite songs of the year and Departing was high on my list of potential picks. RAA is great. Mel Kiper Jr. loves this pick.
Kim
Todd McShay hates it, though.
Steve
Departing also has the distinction of being the best Neutral Milk Hotel album since In the Aeroplane Over the Sea.
Andrew
Dang. Strong praise. Now I have to hear it. Anyhow, my first pick of this inaugural music draft is the self-titled album from electronic minimalist James Blake. After showing a lot of growth over the course of three EPs last year, Blake has opened himself more on an album that relies more on his quivering, but still strong singing voice. It kind of put me off at first, being such a spare record, but songs like "The Wilhelm Scream" really worm their way into your head and into your heart. And who can say that when it comes to dubstep music?
Andrew
Did no one else hear this album?
Noah
It's an album I've heard a lot about, but the few samples I've heard turned me off. I'll give it another try.
Kim
I've heard selected songs, Andrew...but haven't listened enough to feel comfortable making a judgment call.
Reagen
I think this is what they call "going off the board".
Steve
I've heard good things about James Blake but I've also heard it wouldn't be for me, and I've trusted that endorsement so far.
Anyway, my first pick is luckily enough my favorite record of the year so far, Kiss Each Other Clean by Iron and Wine. I've already fawned over this album on the blog, but here I go again. Sam Beam's maturation as a songwriter and a bandleader is pretty amazing, and the full sound he achieves on this record astounds me.
Noah
I know you defended my Helplessness Blues pick, but...gross. Aside from the Iron & Wine/Calexico EP, I&W has just never done it for me.
Andrew
I can't trash it – I've not heard it. But my girlfriend hated it. And she loved The Shepard's Dog. And I should say, since this is being published on the internet, my girlfriend is rarely wrong...
Kim
I liked Kiss Each Other Clean more than I expected to. Also, my sister is friends with a member of the tour band, so I'll endorse the pick.
Reagen
This is one I haven't gotten to yet but I've never been steered wrong by Iron & Wine yet. However, while I've like Beam's work, they've never really stuck with me as albums.
Steve
Fair enough all. For the wraparound pick I have to go with Adele - 21. I didn't expect to love this album as much as I do, but there you have it. In a world where Amy Winehouse might never make another record, I think I'll cast my lot with her sober doppelganger instead. The ballads and the ravers alike are demonstrations of excellent songwriting.
Andrew
The fact that "Rolling in the Deep" is such a popular song this summer feels so very right.
Noah
My wife loves this album and I have it on my iPhone ready to listen but haven't gotten to it yet.
Steve
Get on it.
Reagen
This is one I'm sorry to see go. While I've found significant flaws in most of the neo blue-eyed soul singers from this recent revival, Adele feels like the real thing. Aside from the obvious vocal chops, there's a depth to the songwriting that is missing in your Joss Stones, your Duffys.
Noah
I do love that she was playing small rooms and mysteriously fell ill and had to cancel the tour, only to reschedule for the fall in arenas...seems legit.
Andrew
I mean really... do you know how long Ke$ha had a No. 1 song?! Thank you America. Every now and then, you get something right.
Andrew
My second pick for the draft goes the complete opposite direction as James Blake. Instead of minimal, how about really loud and epically ambitious? How about the concept album Canadian hardcore band Fucked Up, David Comes to Life? Few bands with such screaming/shouting vocals can rile up my blood quite like these guys. It's an adrenaline shot. But a really artfully made one too.
Kim
This was on my list, Andrew. It's an amazing album.
Reagen
This is another one I have to get to at some point, though I definitely liked what they were doing on The Chemistry of Common Life.
Noah
I have no idea what you're talking about.
Steve
You lost me at Canadian hardcore.
Reagen
They, like, won a Polaris Prize and everything.
It's totally prestigious. No really.
Kim
It's crazy good. Very musically challenging.
Steve
"And the winner is, Fricked Up ... oh, that's just rude, eh?"
Reagen
I'm going perhaps way too conventional with my second pick, for Foo Fighters and Wasting Light, aka, the saviors of Rock. Dave Grohl rediscovered his balls after playing with Josh Homme again and wrote one of the strongest rock records in ages. It's probably not enough to destroy the hydra of Gaga, Perry and Ke$ha, but every swing counts, right?
Steve
Uh oh.
Noah
OH MY GOD. Now you're just baiting me.
Andrew
[Warning: Cliche] Get back behind the drums Dave...
Steve
Reagen, Noah wrote a whole post about how the Foo Fighters are the devil and everything. I think you just ruined his long weekend.
Reagen
I was as bored by Echoes, Silence, Snooze as everyone else, but I unabashedly love this album.
Kim
NOAH SMASH!
Steve
Hey, a lot of people do and there's nothing wrong with that. Noah's just an elitist.
Noah
Okay, I'm going to counter with music that isn't terrible. For my second pick, I'm thrilled to take The King is Dead by The Decemberists. I love the swerve Colin Meloy and company made after the brilliant lunacy of The Hazards of Love. Gillian Welch's voice fits fantastically as they channel Harvest Moon-era Neil Young. Speaking of, I hope everyone bought the new Gillian Welch album this week.
Andrew
Oh man, didn't we argue about this album when we met Steve?
Kim
I haven't gotten the new Gillian Welch and had hoped to have a listen before tonight, but life got in the way. I think The King Is Dead is great, too.
Andrew
I love the Decemberists as a proggy, brit-folk band with stories of getting eaten by a whale and such. I just don't buy them as Americana. Not as much anyway.
Reagen
I'm still sort of frightened that Noah's going to start driving in the general direction of Canada. I think I should alert the border guards to be on the lookout for a wild-eyed ginger.
Noah
It's not a long drive.
Steve
We did discuss this album Andrew, and I'm on board with its place on this list. Proggy only goes so far, and this was a necessary and welcome change of pace that shows The Decemberists have a different gear to go to. Not all bands can say that. Looks at Coldplay**
Andrew
Ha, you know I'm a Coldplay defender too right? You crafty ...
Kim
For my next pick, I'm going with All Eternals Deck by The Mountain Goats. I probably listed to "Damn These Vampires" seven times in a row the first time I heard it on the radio (hooray for the rewind button), but the whole album benefits from John Darnielle's ambitious lyrics.
Andrew
Haven't heard this album. But their Jawbreaker cover on the A.V. Club's video series "Undercover," is a must-watch.
Noah
I too defend Coldplay.
Reagen
Et tu, Noah!
Kim
I am also a Coldplay advocate.
Noah
I'll take Coldplay's overly earnest music over Foo Fighter's overly cynical commercial "rock" any day.
I'm standing at the podium ready to deliver my next pick if Kim doesn't ruin my dream of getting the three top albums on my board.
Steve
I didn't say Coldplay sucked, I just said all they know how to play are Coldplay songs.
Kim
And my swing pick is going to be The Antlers' Burst Apart. I think the album is a grower and needs a few listens to really settle in. I found myself drawn into the all-too-relatable dream analysis song "Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out" (I have this nightmare all the time), and the album is bleak, but that's partly because it strips you emotionally bare.
And back to you, Noah.
Andrew
Damn, I really need to hear that. Hospice was so good.
Noah
I have it, I've listened to it, and I don't dislike it. But it hasn't connected with me yet.
Steve
I've been getting to know this album lately and I think I'm going to love it.
Reagen
We are veering dangerously close to a derail but there's nothing about Coldplay that isn't cynical and calculated. You know that Chris Martin finishes every song mentally thinking "Take that, Bono!"