Drafting the Year So Far (2)
BY You Can't Hear it on the Radio, Kim & Reagen
July 14, 2011
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Well speaking of Coldplay inspirations, my third pick finds me living the dream -- I'll have the three best albums on my board. I select Radiohead's The King of Limbs. Speaking of bands that are constantly trying new things and pushing their sounds, Radiohead's newest album is claustrophobic and unsettling, but still ridiculously good.
Andrew
DAMMIT. That was my next pick. You're absolutely right.
Steve
NERDS!
Reagen
I think I would have gotten around to picking this one eventually, but it's a weird year indeed where there's a new Radiohead album and it doesn't jump to near the top of my list. I found it a bit of a letdown after In Rainbows, which is right behind OK Computer in my hierarchy of their albums.
Noah
Look, just because it doesn't feature a lady warbling over cute music doesn't mean you can't like it, Steve. I really don't know why it's not getting more credit, it's a great album.
Kim
Radiohead just does not do it for me, and never has (except for The Bends, which was a long, long, long time ago).
Andrew
It's hard for people to give credit to Radiohead for making more introverted records after so many game-changers I suppose.
Reagen
If there's a song on that album that's going to make me love it in the same way as In Rainbows, it's Codex, which feels like the 15 Step of it - the song that you keep coming back to as an emotional core.
Noah
I'm just glad we'll have an excuse to post the video of Thom Yorke dancing.
Reagen
~all the single ladies/all the single ladies~
Reagen
For my third pick, I'm going with Blood Pressures by The Kills. Maybe the stripped down rock duo is becoming a bit of a cliche, but this feels like this year's Black Keys album to me, plus Alison Mosshart's voice is just incredibly evocative and perfect to carry such a raw sound.
Andrew
Kinda underrated, methinks.
Noah
That's a band I've never connected with.
Andrew
They're not really a connecting kind of band. They're a "let's smoke cigarettes, smear lipstick and wear sunglasses" kind of band.
Noah
I should clarify, by "connected with" I mean to say "listened to".
Reagen
Yeah, they make me want to drive around in a '72 Thunderbird.
Andrew
Ha, withdrawn.
Steve
I'm probably going to get this album, I love the song "DNA" - it reminds me of Pink Floyd's "Young Lust".
Andrew
For pick number three, it's the mixtape House of Balloons by R&B one-man-band, The Weeknd. This … wait for it… CANADIAN has a lot of talent for crafting those lover-boy-sex-laden pop songs you might find on the radio. Only much darker, and much more scuzzy sounding. It's music for the morning after a drunken party in the city, and all the hangovers and apologies that follow.
Noah
Now you're just making these up.
Steve
Uninvite.
Reagen
Even I think you're kind of going overboard.
Kim
Heh, on my list, but I've only heard one song of theirs.
Andrew
Kim and I are friends. The rest of you can shove off.
Noah
Yeah, they're no Foo Fighters. AMIRITE, REAGEN?
Reagen
They can only dream!
Steve
I'm taking Death Cab for Cutie next, just so I can take my "sleeper" in round 4, but I actually prefer the Peter Bjorn and John record at this point. So, Codes and Keys by Death Cab for Cutie - another great Death Cab album. These guys just keep getting it done. I found this album refreshing in its sonic approach - less guitar, more piano. And I really can't find anything wrong with Ben Gibbard's lyrical sensibility, so this is an easy choice for me.
Steve
I was surprised how strong Gimme Some by Peter, Bjorn, and John was; I was a casual fan of their first two albums, and certainly "Young Folks" is a great song, but they almost had a novelty feel to them. Gimme Some has a slight menacing edge to it, and the whole album is cohesive and an interesting listen. Highly recommended if you thought PB&J was kind of over and skipped this.
Now, flame on!
Andrew
DUH DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE IS FOR EMO KIDS!
Noah
Codes & Keys is a great album. I'm not a huge fan of early Death Cab, but Codes & Keys and Narrow Stairs are huge winners for me. Codes & Keys is currently sixth on my list and probably moving up by the end of the year.
Andrew
... I kid. Ain't nothing wrong with Ben Gibbard songs.
Noah
For his last pick, Andrew is currently flipping through a dictionary to make up another band name.
Reagen
I like the PB&J album better than your other pick, but both are solid. I too heard that edge you're talking about, with what sounds like some bitterness over the whole way the band was treated after Young Folks. They're firmly on the post-Lovefool Cardigans rehabilatory path.
Kim
Ah, Death Cab. It takes me back to The O.C., when Seth and Summer were a couple. No, really. I think Codes and Keys is a fine album, and I like PB&J, too. Who doesn't?
Steve
Oh cool, agreement.
Andrew
Just wait... Funny you should say that Noah, because yes, I did pick something willfully obscure, to get more exposure to an artist I think is under the radar... Because that's what music blogs do.
I didn't know who Anna Calvi was before I picked up her self-titled debut album at my public library on a whim. What a good whim. Taking cues from PJ Harvey, Bowie, Brian Eno, Roy Orbison, and other great singers who might wear sunglasses, this English lady has a lot of ambition, a powerful voice, and songwriting chops to match.
Noah
I too don't know who Anna Calvi is!
Reagen
Throws index cards into the air**
Andrew
I like that I'm apparently the obscure guy. I really do. Check these folks out readers.
Kim
The draft clip people are struggling to find footage to string together for this one.
Noah
I'm pretty sure Anna Calvi looked amazing in workouts versus a chair.
Steve
The Anna Calvi album was only produced on 20 pound stone cylinders, and you can't actually listen to it without special audio equipment and a bulldozer, but it's great.
Kim
Her Wonderlic score is questionable, though.
Reagen
That performance she put up against Grambling State can't be overlooked.
Noah
To be fair, that test is totally culturally-biased.
Reagen
It's possible I'll live to regret this last pick, but I'm going to go with Danger Mouse and Danielle Luppi's Rome. If you'd told me that in 2011 I'd be praising an album with a significant amount of contribution from Norah Jones, I might have shot you in the face, but here we are. Danger Mouse can pretty much do no wrong in my eyes and I'm with him where ever he goes. An album of songs inspired by Sergio Leone films? Why the hell not?
Andrew
Never underestimate the great equalizing power of Jack White.
Noah
My last pick is an album that actually just came out this week -- Sound Kapital by Handsome Furs. I've been listening to it a lot as it streamed in various places pre-release and it's terrific. Talk about a band that takes what could be a very limited sound and maximizes it, stretches it and makes it new. I loved Face Control, and I love Sound Kapital.
Reagen
The members of Wolf Parade make Prince look like a slacker with writer's block.
Noah
Well, clearly they don't object to piracy like a petulant child.
Steve
I fully expect to love this album, but I haven't gotten it yet, seeing as I'm a law abiding citizen.
Noah
I'll have you know that I purchased it this morning. Okay, Kim -- bring us home. I think she finally fell asleep.
Kim
Before I make the final pick, I have to say that I'm surprised to say that...a lot of the albums on my draft board are still available. I think that speaks to the diversity of this group. My last pick is Alina Simone's Make Your Own Danger. It's a raw, genre-bending, evocative album that is even a little surprising, using chamber instruments to layer on top of rock. Simone's haunting vocals leave indelible images dancing through my head. I can't get enough.
Steve
I too am surprised at the diversity represented here. I got to pick my top four albums.
Noah
As did I.
Andrew
Almost.
Kim
Me too. I had a general list, but those were the four I had singled out at the top.
Reagen
Steve grabbed one of mine plus a couple of my honourable mentions.
Reagen
I'm sure Andrew had to be just crossing his fingers that some of his would still be there.
Andrew
Haha. Well, Noah did get Radiohead.
Noah
Did I ever! Well, thanks everybody. This was fun and will produce a truly headscratching array of albums.
Andrew
That's the fun part right?
Noah
For sure.
Andrew
Hey, who's Alina Simone?
Steve
Thanks alot for making this happen guys.
Kim
Thanks for inviting us, YCHIOTR! Good night!
Noah
Let's do this again at the end of the year.
Steve
For the record, here's YCHIOTR's top-20 albums of the year so far. It's not a list I could have put together on my own, and that was the entire point. One of the good things about this kind of discussion at the halfway point of the year is that it identifies albums you might have missed - I know this exercise did that for me. If you're intrigued by what you've read here check these titles out at your local purveyor of fine music.
1) Cults - Cults
2) Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
3) The Rural Alberta Advantage - Departing
4) James Blake - James Blake
5) Iron and Wine - Kiss Each Other Clean
6) Adele - 21
7) Fucked Up - David Comes to Life
8) Foo Fighters - Wasting Light
9) The Decemberists - The King is Dead
10) The Mountain Goats - All Eternals Deck
11) The Antlers - Burst Apart
12) Radiohead - The King of Limbs
13) The Kills - Blood Pressures
14) The Weeknd - House of Balloons
15) Death Cab for Cutie - Codes and Keys
16) Peter, Bjorn, and John - Gimme Some
17) Anna Calvi - Anna Calvi
18) Danger Mouse and Danielle Luppi - Rome
19) The Handsome Furs - Sound Kapital
20) Alina Simone - Make Your Own Danger
What are some of your favorite albums from the first half of 2011?
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