Best (?) of 2011

Best of 2011? I can't totally say. In 2011, I didn't hear a lot of albums that I thought were great. I heard a lot of interesting albums and a lot of pretty good albums, but it wasn't the flood of 2010 (for me). I also wasn't up on it. I was on tour for big chunks, listening to mixtapes and audio books, hearing interesting local music around the country. I was obsessing over's Prince's catalog and collecting soul songs from bygone eras. I was working on albums, arranging compilations, and putting my friends' songs on repeat for days on end. I was going through every New Yorker Fiction Podcast, listening to Mudd Up every week. I could honestly just come up with three albums that I listened to front to back enough to know their greatness.
1. Barren Nieces- Lascivious Occupations- never would have come across this had we not been sharing a bill together in Phoenix this summer. I am baffled at why Barren Nieces isn't an indie sensation and am set on trying to help change that (so far, not much luck, but these things take time). Since I've already posted the single a time or two, here's the opening instrumental that is up for free on their Bandcamp.
Barren Nieces- Wicked Wicked Whisper
2. Jordan O' Jordan- Drawn Onward- such a good album. It's so nice to have an album that finally shows this man's genius to others without them needing to see him play live to understand. This is an earlier version of a song from the album. It's fun.
Jordan O' Jordan- Introducing the Scientific Method
3. EMA- Past Life Martyred Saint- to my dismay, Gowns called it quits a year or so ago. One night I saw that Erika from Gowns was playing in downtown Olympia in a new project called EMA, I got excited, but decided I was too tired to go out. Turns out this was a huge mistake. This album is so amazing and EMA will probably never come back Olympia. But at least I have the album.
EMA- The Grey Ship
There were a lot of albums that I came to late, or just can't totally say how much I like them because I didn't give them that test of obsessive listens. PJ Harvey- Let England Shake, Shabazz Palaces- Black Up, Bjork- Biophilia, Ducktails- III, Twilight Singers- Dynamite Steps, French Quarter- Desert Wasn't Welcome, Tom Waits- Bad as Me, and Mega Bog- Freaky Dawn come to mind.