Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Brandor's Late Ten

Put me in the anti-sax camp. Here are my picks for the albums that have been sticking in my brain this year.

Agesandages, Alright You Restless
Agesandages sticks out as one of the better family bands to come out of late. Sing-a-longs and hand-claps are a plenty. 



The Black Keys, El Camino
Black Keys frustrate me. I almost wish they would just get it over with and let me down. Instead I will suck it up and dance around my living room to this album.

Blessed Feathers, Songs from the Mouths of the Middle Class
Not just a pick for local release. I waited much of the year in anticipation of this first official release on Milwaukee’s own Listening Party label. They delivered a great album and left me excited to see what develops for this young band. Their music is Wisconsin youth and I’m not ashamed to say that I’m a total sucker for it.
  


Bon Iver, Bon Iver
Perhaps you’ve heard. It’s good. 

Megafaun, Megafaun
A new addition to my rotation but it’s grown on me fast. It looks like it is going to be my wintertime jam. The kind of album you wake up, brush your teeth to.

Peaking Lights, 936
Pleasantly surprised by the chill dub induced songs produced by this couple; but even more surprised that they hailed (up till recently) from Madison, WI. Once again leading me to wonder what other beautiful sounds floating around our backyard am I missing?



Tyler The Creator, Goblin
While I can’t say this album as a whole was great, I felt compelled to put it on my list. The online phenomenon that is Odd Future managed to grasp the attention of many people. Even more interesting to me than the guerrilla online war to get people’s attention was how quickly they lost that attention. To say that Tyler the Creator’s flash rise to infamy caused him to implode would seem to credit more bang than I feel existed. It was more of a subtle deflation. Curious to see what’s next… or maybe not.  


 
The War On Drugs, Slave Ambient
This album was a creeper for me. While there are a couple songs on it that were big stand outs, the album as a whole grew on me with every play. tWoD was also one of the best live shows I had a chance to see/hear this year which helped solidify the album as a top ten for me.


 
The Weeknd, House of Balloons & Thursday
Silky vocals and tight production. New and exciting r&b that easily wanders out of the genre. Oh, and the lyrics are kind of dirty. Play on your first date only with the purest of confidence and the most indecent of intentions.

 
Yuck, Yuck
By far the album to get the most play from me. While all the albums I’ve listed I like as a whole, this may be the only one I love song for song; beginning to end.   


No comments:

Post a Comment