Best of 2011 - A Preface

I've been mulling my EoY list for awhile, and I feel a bit out of sorts.

Most of the music people who professionally listen to music said you should like I didn't like.

And listening to this past year in music made me not want to rate any of them. I have favorites above others for sure, but I honestly felt like ranking them would just be a kind of waste.

So here's my idea. I'm just going to group them together in odd categories of my liking. They will all be albums I think you should own (though some more than others).

Anyway, that'll be over the next few days... so stay tuned or something.

Plans for the Night - The Postelles at The 9:30 Club

The Postelles are returning to DC, bringing their surf/sock hop rock by way of Brooklyn sound to 9:30 Club on Friday, 21 OCTOBER where they're opening for the Wombats. We really liked their s/t debut this summer, and for $15, it's a show that has a pretty low risk/high reward thing going on.

The group put out a four song cover EP that takes on some tracks by The Ramones and the Smiths. You can pick it up for free at the site. Below is a cover that's a perfect fit, Joe Jones' California Sun. They stripped it down and cut the tempo a half sec. It's a bit more R&B infused too, which is nice.

Buy tickets to The Postelles show at the 9:30 club 21 OCTOBER

Download The Postelles cover of Joe Jones' California Sun

What We're Listening To - Frank Ocean's nostalgia, ULTRA.

I had put off listening to Frank Ocean for some time. I don't really dig much of modern R&B, and his association with shock rap collective Odd Future just kind of turned me cold. We have plenty of hypersexed crooners rocking the airwaves right now.

But his crooning on Watch The Throne piqued my interest, especially his notes on Made In America (maybe they can book him for the MLK Memorial dedication later this month in DC). It was tender and pure, and at the very least deserved a longer look.

nostalgia, ULTRA. is a near flawless debut album with pitch perfect singing, brand name production, smart lyrics and a groove that won't quit. it is challenging in the most desirable way possible.

Frank Ocean (nee Christopher Breaux) released it for free on his tumblr in February after Def Jam signed and ignored him. Since then, critics have heaped huge amounts of praise on it and Def Jam is scrambling to figure out how to give it a formal release. The album, while not only great, is a perfect picture of everything that's wrong with major labels.

Ocean has a keen ear towards what makes good pop music. He's penned a song for The Beebs (which doesn't disqualify him... people's gotta eat). But there're no R&B throwback covers here. He adds new lyrics and soul to Coldplay's Strawberry Swing, adds more sex to MGMT's Electric Feel, and ups the despair and indulgence of Hotel California. Even Radiohead's Optimistic makes a cameo (if only to serve as his foil that "bitches" would rather listen to Jodeci)

But on the original tracks, the boards are turned over to super producers Tricky Stewart and Midi Mafia (behind hits like Umbrella, Single Ladies, 21 Questions). But that only serves to make them radio friendly for your ear. Ocean is an artist with much on his mind and his lyrics go beyond just being sexy. They're thoughtful, humble and incredibly self aware. Songs For Women is a peek inside his head on his music and why he does it. Lovecrimes is backed by Nicole Kidman's tirade from Eyes Wide Shut

Novacane could be your newest sexytime jam (put it on random with Washed Out and you've got an all night party), a compelling story of girl he met at Coachella and the incredible high she gives him. And if there's any doubt his voice isn't the real deal, We All try is magnificent.

Ocean isn't as corny as Drake and not as earnest as Bruno Mars. He's more nimble and intelligent than Trey Songz, and not as overt or agressive as Chris Brown. Hopefully nostalgia, ULTRA and Frank Ocean mark the turning point for sensual, thoughtful contemporary R&B.

What We're Listening To - JAY Z and Kanye West's Watch The Throne

The long awaited collab of hip-hop's two reigning titans arrived this week, after fits and starts and a lock down so tight no one heard it until they said so.

And it's good. Not great by any stretch, but it shows Jay-Z back in good form and Kanye finding the sweet spot he hit on MBDTF and keeping it going.

When H.A.M. dropped, I was admittedly not impressed. That gaudy single art, the lackluster lazy rhyming, the trash heap beats. Then came the threat of a full collab album, something Jay has quite frankly never been able to pull off. Need I remind you of Best of Both Worlds AND Unfinished Business? Not to mention Collision Course and The Dynasty.

And Kanye, notoriously a weak rapper, has been growing lyrically and eating Jay for lunch. Where Jay killed it on Diamonds from Sierra Leone, Ye destroyed it on Run This Town and Haters.

But here we are, and in a weird bit of alchemy, all these elements that together should make a miserable album instead create a solid experience.

They've invited a ton of friends to come lamp: Beyonce, Frank Ocean, Bon Iver. It is an album that is singularly Kanye's vision in its scope, size and production. Prime example: they paid nothing short of a trillion dollars to clear Otis Redding's Try a Little Tenderness. It was 100 percent worth it and shows the two at their most comfortable. No hooks, horns and an Otis Redding that go nowehere, it feels simultaneously fresh and a throwback to early Kanye. Gotta Have It samples a skittish James Brown, with some assist from the Neptunes, you can tell this is going to be a party.

Jay-Z over his entire career has never dreamed this big (his masterpiece The Blueprint is remarkable for its restraint and smoothness). And at times he gets swallowed in. You would think New Life, a RZA coproduced track sampling Nina SImone would be perfect. And the idea is great: two guys rapping to their unborn children. But Jay doesn't do sentimentality (exception: Song Cry), and Kanye never sounds sincere (I find it hard to breathe in when the next track is That's My Bitch).

But when it shines, it burns bright. Niggas in Paris is possibly my favorite track on the album, built off of frantic rapping, a tapping high hat and synth, and some nonsense half bits from Ye and Jigga.

What is the end to this collaboration? These two have been appearing on each other's records for a solid decade now, so this is nothing new. I'm glad to see whatever falling out they had has been resolved. Ye still is looking up to his Big Brother, and in some ways, Jay-Z still needs Kanye to stoke that fire and hunger. But where this album leaves us I'm not quite sure.

Buy JAY Z and Kanye West's Watch the Throne from Amazon's MP3 Store

What We're Watching - Yuna's Come As You Are

It is no doubt ballsy to cover a Nirvana song. It's fairly iconic, and you want to make it your own, but you really can't improve too much on the original.

So to cover something as haunting and lyrically loaded as "Come As You Are", seems like an idea that might be better to walk away from.

Yuna, with her debut EP Decorate out on the FADER label, brought her minimalist approach to the track. But instead of the guitar singer songerwriter vibe she gives off, the cover is backed with a drum machine, some tinkling keyboard, skitter skatter electric noises, and her haunting ethereal voice.

There's no way you believe her when she croon "No I don't have a gun."



You can stream Yuna's Decorate EP at Soundcloud

Buy Yuna's Decorate EP at the Amazon MP3 Store

What We're Listening To - Dawes' Nothing is Wrong

I'm always amazed at the different sounds that come from LA. Maybe because of my East Cost leanings, but it seems like every lost dreamer and wandering soul who picks up a guitar out there coaxes a completely different sound out of it. When I read about the revival of LA rock, I'm continually baffled, not by the bands (because they are good) but by the fact anyone would try and lump that into one box.

Case in point: dusty American rockers Dawes, who are remains of previous post punkers that fell in love with some vinyl from CSNY, Graham Parsons, The Band and Jackson Browne at some point. Their sophomore album Nothing is Wrong is a marvelous slow build of harmonies, gentle folk guitars and wandering lyrical tales.

"You got that special kind of sadness. You got that tragic sense of charms that only comes from time spent in Los Angeles" Taylor Goldsmith sings on the album opener, and you know he's talking about a girl, but maybe himself a little bit. It's mostly hazy tales of love, growth and fishing for understanding on the album, redefining Americana a little bit. I tend to lose them when they slow down too much, and songs like Moon in the Water or So Well tend to fade too much into the background. But When Dawes shines on tracks like If I Wanted Someone, The Way You Laugh and Coming Back to a Man, it holds my focus intently.

It makes me want to drive, though not necessarily to LA. Dawes is evoking a picture of America far from LaLaland. But maybe that is America.

Listen to Dawes' If I Wanted Someone on Hard of Hearing Ep  013

Buy Dawes' Nothing is Wrong from Amazon mp3

What We're Listening To - The Postelles s/t

And here comes summer, skipping over spring with a fiery sustained furnace blast for the past two weeks.

A break from the heat would be entirely all to welcome. But if we didn't have summer heat, we'd have no reason for cookouts, pool parties and all night hangouts.

So I'm thankful for the summer heat like I'm thankful for the self titled debut album from The Postelles, a fun dancey rock album. It keys up on tail end of the surf rock from last year, but crossed with the pop rock catchiness of The Strokes, Weezer or Arctic Monkeys. This makes sense since Strokes' guitarist Albert Hammond Jr produced it. It's clean and not a note out of place throughout. Think a slightly older Surfer Blood.

Sing along choruses start bright and big from the album opener and keep going til the end. White Night, Sleep on the Dance Floor, and 123 Stop are party starters for sure. The lyrics don't run too deep (Boys Best Friend is a jokey little tale about falling in love with a lesbian). It does get mildly repetitive, but that's okay cos as soon as it starts it's over. No one's gonna blame you for hitting repeat.

I'd recommend going to catch them on tour this summer, and if you're in DC see them 11 JUNE at Red Palace.

Buy The Postelles's self titled debut album

Buy from Amazon