2011 Favorites: Non-Metal

A recurring joke between a friend and myself concerns "muggle music." Basically, the idea is that it's music you keep around or happen to like that isn't so overtly aggressive or abrasive so as to confuse or intimidate squares. There are plenty of people who aren't "squares" at all who don't "get" aggressive music, too, of course. They are often my friends. Not everything on this list is muggle-friendly but here are some of my favorite releases of the year that I'd be more likely to throw on at a party attended by meek, hipsterish 20-somethings.


My introduction to Title Fight came sometime late in high school. My friend's Lifetime/early Saves the Day-esque pop-punk band had played with or was in contact with(?) the aforementioned group, and they, too, were very Lifetime-like. The timing was perfect, I loved Lifetime, so I thought Title Fight was the shit.

With that out of the way, while I've changed this past few years, so has Title Fight. Shed, in addition to being my undisputed MVP Summer Album, is probably the single release from this year, of any type, that I've listened to most. I guess they decided they couldn't play sped-up pop punk forever -- Title Fight circa 2011 has some slower songs, a tiny bit of alt-rock, more overt emo influence (real emo, goddamn you), but still keeps their hooks and creative, nuanced songwriting. I wish I could write any type of song as well as "You Can't Say Kingston Doesn't Love You," was written. Fuck. For a band that attracts the attention of bazillions of tweensters, you'd think they wouldn't be anywhere as good. There it is.
"Where Am I?"

I would never have heard of Cities Aviv were it not for a good friend. Digital Lows is a brisk, hypnotic journey throw a skeezy party on codeine. Prime example of an album that transports you somewhere else, only to leave to suddenly, in a state of withdrawal. Chill hip-hop. Drug music. Slick lyrical flow.
Bandcamp


Rapper Big Pooh, best known as one third of the dissolved Little Brother, brings a Biggie flow and a keen sense of world-wise story telling reminiscent of Ghostface Killah over huge samples, barn-burner beats and huge hooks in Dirty Pretty Things. Listen to "5.13.11" and wait for your expectations of the power-dynamics of a relationship to be subverted. This was my introduction to Pooh as a solo artist.

Andrew Jackson Jihad, one of my favorite bands, mercifully, pumps out music pretty regularly. This year they released a full length, Knife Man. Similar to Can't Maintain, they're pursing more of a "full band" sound, which in this case means more electric guitars, drums, different types of instrumentation and studio doodling. This, I'm alright with. I kind of wish they would revert to just acoustic instruments again for a minute. There are some songs I hate, which isn't a first for me and this band. What's more important is the songs that I love still break my heart and speak to the saddest, smallest parts of my soul.

First Aid Kit joined the list of bands from Stockholm I listen to this year and they definitely are the first of whom that don't play death metal as they are in fact two doe-eyed folk musicians with completely arresting voices and an unbelievable sense of harmony. They didn't really release anything this year to my knowledge (Uhhhh, maybe they shouldn't be on here) but they did do a Hear Ya session in March. In my mind, the live-in-the-studio songs of these are the definitive versions. Especially on "Ghost Town," with the extraneous instrumentation on the album out of the picture and with just their voices carrying the weight of the emotion in that song, I get goosebumps. Oh baby...
First Aid Kit, Hear Ya 2011 (oh my god Vimeo suuuuuuuuuckkkkks don't fucking use Vimeo, you idiots)


I finally caught Watch the Throne during its descent. Having Kanye West and Jay-Z collaborate on an album created an insane level of hype in anticipation. When it finally dropped a lot of people were disappointed and they let it be known. When I got around to listening to it, I had lowered expectations and was blown away. While it may not be as good as it could have been and it's definitely not as good as My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Watch the Throne is a fucking monster with unbelievable production, which sometimes honestly overshadows Yeezy and Hov's own lyrical contributions. While Disma probably has the "heaviest" album of the year in a traditional sense, Watch the Throne is the soundtrack to getting crushed.
"Why I love you (ft. Mr. Hudson)"
"That's My Bitch"


Bon Iver released a self-titled album this year and, well, the proof is in the pudding. There are plenty of "in" artists and bands right now that I think are over-exposed, puddle-deep garbage but this album proved to me that Bon Iver is the real fucking deal. With a few exceptions, he never really clicked with me but I'll be damned if there aren't some amazing songs on here. Choruses of Justin Vernons, synths, melanges of strings, and crackly, overdriven guitars meet in compositions that leave thousands of neck-bearded urbanites scratching their heads as to how exactly they're going to cover these songs at the next open-mic at their local coffee shop. One caveat: the last few songs bore me to tears. That one soft-rock song is a fucking snoozefest. Just thinking about it is making me yawn. Let that not detract you! All that boring shit happens at the end of the album, the first 4/5ths are solid gold. This also goes into the category of albums with songs that are so good they make me angry.
"Towers"
"Perth [Live]"

Grouper, is a one-person drone project I love. She released a double album, comprising of the two pieces Alien Observer and Dream Loss. One music journalist from NBC described this as "post-rock," which completely misses the mark: there is nothing "rock" here, just soothing, minimalistic, sleep-like drone with hauntingly beautiful vocals. Grouper, aka, the soundtrack to your dreams. To be enjoyed alone and as removed from the rest of humanity as possible. If you like either of these, do yourself a favor and listen to 2008's Dragging a Dead Dear Up a Hill, which is your new favorite album.
Dream Loss - "I Saw a Ray"
Alien Observer - "She Loves Me That Way"


Honorable Mentions

David's Town is a "compilation" of numerous "bands" from "Byrdesdale Spa," that runs a gamut of musical styles from post-punk, to oi!, to early Alt-Rock. I never actually got around to listening to the new Fucked Up album that came out this year...not that those things are related in any way. This rules. I recommend it. To you.
Redstockings -- "Unrequited Love"
Hateful Coil -- "Bull Thunder"

Punch dropped the Nothing Lasts EP this year and they count among the few hardcore bands active today I can think of worth giving a shit about. (Side note: I don't know anything about current hardcore bands right now. I could be missing out.) Impossibly heavy, outrageously fast, with POLITICALLY/SOCIALLY-CONSCIOUS LYRICS for all you apathetic dipshits who are dangerously out of touch with reality. I resist labeling bands based on the gender of their lead vocalists, but if it does interest you to know, Punch is fronted by a female person with amazingly vicious pipes.
"The Chase"


Other stuff came out this year that I've not yet listened to enough or haven't even heard of. You know how it goes. You'll spend your entire life catching up. I'm leaving for Providence for a few days on Monday. I don't think I'll finish my metal list before then. I'll do it when I get back, or, whenever I feel like it.

Ugh

Well, I meant to write about that Wolves in the Throne Room show from about eleven days ago but I didn't get around to that before I left for North Carolina. That's good, though. Right now that idea seems neither personally enriching to write about nor interesting. Here's a bullet point list regarding shows in from the tenth onwards...

PTL

Thou is (/art) heavy as fuck in person. Also, I experienced that thing first hand where the front-person is completely normal looking guy until the music starts and he gets this feral look in his eyes. Awesome.

Falls of Rauros is great. I wasn't aware of them before I went to college in the South but they're actually directly from my hometown. They're, to me, distinctly "American" sounding, sort of like Agalloch --especially their use of real riffs, huge, triumphant leads and folk influence. Sweet. I wish they didn't play first.

I came up with this analogy. Maybe this will resonate with you, if you like beer. The band that ended up playing before Thou is a Coors Light Band. For a second they are refreshing but once you stop to dissect their qualities, you find a band (or beer) totally devoid of character, and you're loath to drink more beer at all.

Wolves In the Throne Room has super nice gear. Oh shit, also this show was outside, behind a building, in case I failed to mention. They played a really amazing set. It would have been perfect if there weren't these two idiots who evidently payed $12 to come to the show to piss me off and try to talk over the quieter song parts right near me. I got out of the show and talked major shit.

GSO

Thou played "Smoke Pigs" and I caught them in a basement, with Bay of Pigs, who were fucking KILLER. (Hmm, recurring pig motif.) I greatly prefer that to when I saw them days earlier, to the tune of the backs of dozens of heads.

Wolves in the Throne Room played the same setlist. Crap, oh well. They sounded enormous in a club.

The openers (Megaton Leviathan) were totally tedious even before they lit herbs, which outraged my allergies and banished me outside to blow my nose.

I'd never listened to Mount Eerie, but they were really excellent.

Anywho...

Back to reality, back to Portland. Here's what I've been listening to lately. Try to deny the power of the chorus here.





Listen to this older Falls of Rauros album, if you know what's good for you.

"Ahhhhhh Ahhhh Ahhhh Ahhh Ahhhhhhhhh....AHHHHHHH AHHHHH AHHHH, AHHHHH AHHHH AHHHHH! OHHHHHHHHHHH"

Also, cough up some dough for some starving artists and buy a shiny new copy of their newest full-length. It will grout your tiles, if you know what I mean.

Fall of Big Cartel

Suck it, world!

-W.F.

Not Bloodbath

It's beyond moot at this point: the best album of 2011 will most likely be Watch the Throne. In light of that, I'll try to divvy what genuine enthusiasm I have left for things that don't feature Jay-Z AND Kanye West rapping together for a whole album and direct that towards Sweden's best national export, Death Metal.



Torture Division is Jorgen Sandstrom, the best vocalist ever to grave Grace; I mean "grace Grave" and two other guys (the "other" bald guy with a goatee and long-hair good-drummer, aka "That guy from Vomitory") best known(?) from The Project Hate whatever-the-fuck, who I've never cared to check out but could very well be great, only instead of playing maybe-good Industrial+Death, they kick out raw, punkish Death Metal, which kicks ass.

"Great," you might be thinking, but there is more. Torture Division, as an enterprise is largely free. Not "free" as in "I've got a few minutes to spare, I'm going to hit the blogs and see what sounds worth downloading" but "free" as in "take our music, please." Yes. Torture Division pumps out songs, plays select shows and prints small runs of merch and, utilizing the revenue generated therein, records more demos. Voila! And while "demo" has the connotation of poorer quality to some (unless if you're weened on black metal), all the demos are mixed by none other than the super-producer and ultra-prolific Dan Swano (ex-everything), so they sound great.

I will say that, some of the lyrical content is insanely misogynistic. And while that comes with the territory and I don't make any excuses. This is something I feel conflicted about often. If you take my stance on it and view as objectively as art representing all aspects of life, good or bad, as art does not and should not always depict only things we agree with (because where's the conflict in that? Where's the drama?), then you will be alright. Sorry, that last sentence has a lot of clauses. Or, you can pass on it.

I'm dead serious about Patriarchy and if you feel the same way, you may skip this altogether or not even listen to Death Metal at all, who knows?

Download their music directly from their site. Read around, too. It's entertaining. Link below.

Rrrrock