FERGUSON OF A LIFETIME

Favorite Albums of 2011: #15-11

No. 15
Class Actress: Rapprocher

 

There are plenty of artists that don’t hit me right away upon first listen. In fact, it’s usually not until the second or third time around that I find that I like a new group. This was not the case with Class Actress, at all. I don’t even think it took me a first listen to realize that I love the sound of this band, because this is the type of sound that I shamelessly adore most of all. If you are already familiar with the sound of Class Actress (or if you know me well) then you have an idea as to why I instantly fell in love with them. For starters, they sound like they are a re-incarnation of all the best lineups of 80’s glam-pop. I’m talking about the kind that will make your toes tap whether you like it or not. I first heard them very early on in 2011 when I came across their debut EP, Journal of Ardency, and I became a slave. Toward the end of the summer/beginning of the fall they were set to release their debut long player, lushly titled Rapprocher (a French word that translates into “close in” or “draw near”). There is a more expansive, courageous leap than heard from the group’s earlier efforts immediately as the LP opens, with “Keep You” busting in like it is bound and determined to be the electro-pop track of the year…which it damn-near manages to accomplish. The record is filled with bold moments that make it what I have to believe is certainly 2011’s most vibrant record. Elizabeth Harper is one of my new favorite front-women in music.

Key tracks to possibly appear on My 100 favorites: “Keep You”, “Let Me in”

No. 14
Cass McCombs: “WIT’S END”/”Humor Risk” 

Here comes the part of the countdown where I am technically cheating. It’s really Cass McCombs’s fault for being so brilliant/prolific, and because he released two equally terrific LP’s in 2011, I naturally could not choose between the two for my 14th favorite of the year. So here they are, standing as a tie in this spot and being counted as one epic addition. He began the year with the dark and haunting Wit’s End, which has his most powerful single track to date: “County Line”. That song opens up the album in showstopping fashion, and it is the one song that has endured the best throughout all he has released this year. There is a mesmerizing starkness bleeding all throughout Wit’s End, and the tone is appropriately set with the opener. There are other moments of genius on the album also, and between numbers like “The Lonely Doll” and “A Knock Upon the Door” he has moved ever so closer to the forefront of American singer/songwriters.

Like all truly brilliant artists, McCombs is constantly pushing himself to be better, and just as Wit’s End lived up to the promise built from previous album Catacombs,he has managed to create a second record in 2011 to count as a brighter twin to the bleak Wit’s End. The name of the autumn-released album is Humor Risk, and for the third straight time McCombs opens up an album with the most potent track of the lot. “Love Thine Enemy” blazes in with a nifty electric riff that assures us we will be getting a polar opposite in sound when compared to his output earlier in the year, but none of the brilliance is omitted. The seven songs that follow “Enemy” are balanced and round out both a complete set of songs and a triumphant year for McCombs. He made a big imprint in 2011.

Key tracks to possibly appear on my 100 favorites: “County Line”, “The Lonely Doll”, “Love Thine Enemy”, “The Same Thing” 

No. 13
Atlas Sound: Parallax

Moving on from one prolific musician to another, this time Bradford Cox, who is arguably the most relentless artist in the entire indie world. When he is not steadily drilling out releases under his regular Deerhunter moniker, he registers solo under the name Atlas Sound. When some artists take the time to produce a solo effort between their regular gig’s releases it can seem like they are just phoning in it, or creating an obligatory stop-gap to feed hungry fans while they wait. But then there are the songwriters who just cannot stop even if they tried, and Cox definitely belongs to this group of people. He first introduced Atlas Sound with 2008’s Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See but Cannot Feel, which can essentially be called a solo debut, and it was an album that quickly proved that Atlas was to be taken just as seriously as Deerhunter. 2009 saw the release of Logos, which sadly kind of came and went without much discussion and is what I consider to be Cox’s most under-appreciated effort. 2010 was the biggest breakout year for his Deerhunter project, with Halcyon Digest ending the year on just about everyone’s Best-Of Lists, and rightly so. What is appealing about the Atlas Sound material, though, is that it is all recorded in a completely spontaneous manner and is gloriously unpredictable. There’s no map. The canvas is wide open. Parallax is the third and most refined AS album so far, and Cox’s stream-of-consciousness methods remain some of the most intriguing anywhere in music today. He has recently been quoted as having “no personal life” because he is constantly creating. This is his life. We are benefiting from the relentless work ethic, each and every year.

Key tracks to possibly show up on my 100 favorites: “Parallax”, “Angel is Broken” 

No. 12
Toro Y Moi: Underneath the Pine

 

It’s only taken Chaz Bundick two complete years to be identified as one of the masters of the chillwave genre. It was very early in 2010 when he unveiled “Blessa”, a punch-packing single that introduced the world to Toro Y Moi, a name that should become a household chillwave name from here on out. After he released the debut LP, Causers of This, in January of 2010 he quickly became labeled as one of the “founding fathers” of the genre. That put a lot of pressure on the inevitable sophomore album, for that’s where he would make, break, or simply maintain his status among a genre of music that has become heavily populated and competitive in just two years. Underneath the Pine is the follow-up, and ever since its release in February of 2011, Bundick has elevated in the ranks in every way. I had a chance to see them live over the summer and it only enhanced my respect for both the band and the album itself. It has more of a complete album feel than Causers did, something more realized and whole as opposed to having significant highs and lows. Seeing Bundick live is witnessing a master at work on the craft he was born to take hold of, and stunners like “New Beat” and “Still Sound” became two of the main live performance highlights of 2011 for me. The man has been consistent with his output so far, too, and after the recent release of the Freaking Out EP, Toro Y Moi can chalk up last year as the official breakout. Looking forward to whatever you may bring us next, Mr. Bundick.

Key tracks to possibly appear on my 100 favorites: “New Beat”, “Divina”, “Still Sound”  

No. 11
Handsome Furs: Sound Kapital

 

It’s always good when a truly awesome “side project” finally gets to shed that very term off its back. For a very long time it seemed like Handsome Furs were always being labeled as the “side project” of Wolf Parade’s Dan Boeckner, but I can bet he has never considered it as anything less that a major focus. It’s a husband and wife duo group a little unlike any other out there. He and Alexei Perry like to make it known that they will push the provocative boundaries past the point of any actual boundaries, and then some. Make no mistake: This is a sexy band with a sexy sound. That kind of sounds ridiculous, I know, but there’s really no better way to describe the music that these two create. They released their debut, Plague Park, back in 2007 when Wolf Parade’s light was shining very brightly and so HF were immediately written off nothing more than “side project” for Boeckner when he had breaks. I’ll have to admit that even I thought they were just a one album group at the time and that was it. I enjoyed bits and pieces of Plague Park, but I wasn’t absolutely taken by them until their criminally underrated second album, Face Control, was released. Any thought of them being a side project should have at that point been thrown in the trash and forgotten, but there were still plenty of those who wouldn’t stop mentioning it. 2011 would finally be the year that the Handsome Furs would be taken as a legitimate group that is here to stay for a good while, and all it took as Wolf Parade announcing an indefinite hiatus AND the release of a killer third album, Sound Kapital. I didn’t think they could top Face Control, but Sound Kapital is so powerful from beginning to end that I think it actually blows anything else they’ve done out of the water. I’d actually go so far to say that Boeckner has not been a part of anything this terrific to this point in his career. Sound Kapital wasn’t really discussed much in 2011 (apart from the content of the racy album cover) but it deserves to be remembered in the years to come.

Key tracks to possibly appear on my 100 favorites: “Memories of the Future”, “Repatriated”, “No Feelings”