By Lit Fest Magazine
Lists are a bummer. It’s too slippery a slope to rank, file and pick winners. I love music and thankfully, without a hitch, every year it births a batch of great releases that occupy my undivided attention. In lieu of a BEST OF LIST I resort to compiling a mixtape at the end of each year. 2011 could’ve been a double disc considering the many fine gems I left off, but narrowing it down to a single disc is a tremendous challenge and an accurate representation of the shit I’d make you listen to if you were stuck with me and my turntable this past year.
1. AA BONDY: THE TWIST (Believers) Scott Bondy, formerly of Verbena, has carved out an interesting solo career. A sound seeped deeper into folk, roots and mood than his Verbena days. Believers, boasts a fuller set of gold that should make it easier for you non-believers to digest. It’s clean, soft and killer.
2. ATLAS SOUND: AMPLIFIERS (Parallax) Parallax is another trippy odyssey by this hot freak, Bradford Cox.
3. DANGERMOUSE & DANIELE LUPPI (Featuring Jack White): TWO AGAINST ONE (Rome) What would my year-end mix be without some representation from Dangermouse or Jack White. Dangermouse & Luppi create the atmosphere and Jack mixes it up with his cool ramblins’.
4. REIGNING SOUND: EVERYTHING I DO IS WRONG (Abdication…For Your Love) Greg Cartwright is the man. Oblivions, Compulsive Gamblers and now Reigning Sound. This guy can write and his garage rock is tops.
5. CHARLES BRADLEY & MENAHAN STREET BAND: STAY AWAY (No Time For Dreaming). There’s a good reason why this release is on many Year End lists.
6. ALLAH-LAS: CATAMARAN (Single) There’s a wealth of Nuggets style rock going around and this tasty nug fits right in with all the good stuff from way back.
7. KURT VILE: IN MY TIME (SMOKE RINGS FOR MY HALO) Another stellar offering by KV and his band; The Violators are badass.
8. WILCO: I MIGHT (The Whole Love) One of the greatest American bands out there. The end.
9. RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS: FACTORY OF FAITH (I’M WITH YOU) A resilient band that tends to get overlooked due to their massive success and disdain for wearing shirts. Flea and Chad Smith are as strong a rhythm section as you can find and Josh Klinghoffer brings the creativity they’ll need in the post Frusciante era. These Hollywood kids should age with grace, against all the odds.
10. THE DIRTBOMBS: GOOD LIFE (Party Store) Mick Collins pulls off a D-Block dance record with punk chops. A total left hook from this Gorie.
11. SCOTT H. BIRAM: WIND UP BLIND (Bad Ingredients) I don’t know much (or anything) about this cat, but I’m willing to learn.
12. DEX ROMWEBER DUO: WISH YOU WOULD (Is That You In The Blue) Quite the resurgence Dex is having. Flat Duo Jets were good and this Duo featuring his big sis Sarah is right up there, if not better.
13. FIDLAR: OH (Diydui EP) Another new garage rock classic. I had a hard time not riding this EP raw.
14. THEE OH SEES: CRUSHED GRASS (Carrion Crawler/The Dream) I’ve always liked Thee Oh Sees, but this release…OH MY GAWD!
15. BLACK LIPS: RAW MEAT (Arabia Mountain) Some may have been turned off by the brand new shine, but I was turned on.
16. MARK SULTAN: LIVIN’ MY LIFE (Whatever I Want) Sultan, BBQ, or whatever he goes by these days, this dude should not be overlooked for one more second.
17. DEER TICK: SOMETHING TO BRAG ABOUT (Divine Providence) Sounds like the Replacements? Is that a bad thing? Fuck No! Now if they went out and tried to sound like the Goo Goo Dolls I’d have a gripe.
18. TY SEGALL: WHERE YOUR HEAD GOES (Goodbye Bread) By God, I think Boy Wonder is just gonna keep getting better and better.
19. WILD FLAG: ELECTRIC BAND (Wild Flag) My main man Holleran called this shit early and hit the nail on the head. Definitely a super group and they delivered a doozy.
20. FOO FIGHTERS: DEAR ROSEMARY (WASTING LIGHT) I’d rather have Foo Fighters as the biggest band in the world instead of those pussies Coldplay.
21. RYAN ADAMS: ASHES & FIRE (Ashes & Fire) …finally willing to admit that he’s great? What’s the wait? Does he need to whip out 10 more rock solid 12 inchers?
22. SEAN WHEELER & ZANDER SCHLOSS: 2nd & HILL (Walk Thee Invisible) One of the great surprises this year.
23. ALEXANDER: GLIMPSES (Alexander) It was nice of him to take the time to go and record a solo LP that was as good as anything he’s done. What’s he going to morph into next?
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