Saturday, December 31, 2011

Best Albums of 2011 - Four Albums That are Cold Rocking It Without Prior Prejudice



Blessed are the noise makers, the chord crunchers, those that take it to 11; for they shall inherit the earth.

Well, Jesus might have said it had he been into crunchy guitars and big noise.

Despite dupstep, chillwave and whatever else, several bands churned out remarkable guitar driven, fuzz laden, noise pumping rock albums worthy of your time, money and future investments in hearing aids. They must all be played loud.

Times New Viking's brought a shambly, disorderly vibe to their album Dancer Equired , propelled by the profane and quick paced "Fuck Her Tears." But tracks like "Try Harder" and "Don't Go To Liverpool" aren't as tight but just as enjoyable.

It's clear that Yuck mined their Dinosaur Jr and Sonic Youth records for their self titled debut , but you beneath all the fuzz you get some beautiful love songs like "Georgia," "Shook Down," and "Sunday." But they still go hard, with a seven minute album closer built off ever increasing buzz.

The master class in cold rocking it can be taught by Wild Flag, with the singular text being this year's smashing debut . Though not really a debut, since the members are veterans of seminal 90s bands (Sleater-Kinney and Helium). But the opening song sets the tone and it keeps going and going. Try not dancing to "Romance" or bopping to "Future Crimes." Break out your air guitar... it's encouraged.

But for pure sex and rock n roll, there's Hanni El Khatib's Will the Guns Come Out. .A mix of blues, Stax soul, and garage rock, it's potent. Often just stripped down, vocals distorted, it's refreshing and fierce. But the stand out is You Rascal You, as Khatib sounds like he's struggling to to hold his guitar from taking over, and each bridge break he let's go a bit. It caterwauls and wails.. You haven't heard it this lustful in awhile.

1 comment:

McCleary said...

Excellent choices. Thx for turning me onto Hanni El Khatib earlier this year. We are in for the night, so we'll see you some time in the new year.