It's been a brilliant year for music as already outlined in the Top 10 Albums of 2011 feature. There were some artists who really impressed this year without making it on to that list, there were also ovbiously some amazing tracks featured on the albums of that list. So this short feature is to pay homage to some of the tracks that have racked up the most plays on my iTunes, iPhone and in my DJ sets during the year. Though it is ranked, not a great deal of significance should be taken from the position all tunes are in here on merit and they are all incredibly high quality.
Note: Tracks that were included in the recent 'Dancefloor Tracks of 2011' feature haven't been considered for this for the sake of avoiding repetition.
10. Metronomy - The Bay
9. SBTRKT ft. Little Dragon - Wildfire (Drake remix)
2011 has been an incredibly strong year musically. It has also saw a major shift in the way I consume music having spent the majority of my adult life preferring to visit clubs and allow DJs to shape my night. I grew disillusioned to an extent with club nights and DJs in favour of catching live acts and this has reflected on the albums I have listened to. The majority of albums I have heard this year I have actually managed to catch the artist live.
There have been some good albums that could quite feasible made the list Rustie's Glass Swords and Sepalcure's self titled album both suffered from being released late in the year the same applies to Drake's Take Care which for what it's worth was probably the best hip hop album released this year especially after the disappointment of Watch The Throne by Jay-Z and Kanye West. There were other highlights Battles and Wu Lyf both released albums that were more destined for live performance than home listening and both delivered scintillating live performances at the Kazimier. The list of albums I enjoyed is vast Metronomy delivered a great indie pop record, Nicolas Jaar a lovely LP of electronica, Aloe Blacc's LP oozed soul and Balam Acab some haunting future bass music. However, none of the aforementioned albums moved me as much as the below list.
I first heard Jamie Woon on a TruThoughts covers compilation album a couple of years back doing a cover of Olive’s You’re Not Alone, it took a while to get from then to the release of a full album but boy was it worth the wait.
The album has easily been the most played album of my year hence the award of album of the year. Lady Luck has also found its way into 90% of my DJ sets this year, also having a crossover appeal with house DJ and king of DC10 Luciano making an edit of it and dropping it in his sets too.
The ethereal feel of Mirrorwriting encapsulates the feeling of being in a big city surrounded by people, yet feeling alone in a subtle and beautiful manner. Night Air begins the journey and sets the tone, with a little help of the genius that is Burial, with his trademark beats and haunting melodies coupled with Woon’s emotive voice. There aren’t enough superlatives to express how good this album is, it glides effortlessly from track to track losing you in the moment and before you know it you are at your final destination (assuming you have it on while travelling). Anyone who has watched the Youtube version of Spirits can bear witness to the talent of Jamie Woon where he plays as a one man band with the use of a sampler and he played a part in the production, writing and obviously vocals of Mirrorwriting, a multi talented exceptional artist.
The only criticism I can offer is that Jamie Woon’s live show left me disappointed on two occasions this year, while the sound of his voice is as good live as it is on the album I found the live performances a little wooden and lacking in personality. However this is an album of the year feature not a live performance of the year feature so Mirrorwriting wins hands down.
It's another mixtape at number 2, I'm not the only person to rate it so highly too with House of Balloons being made FACT magazine's album of 2011 not quite there for me but I'm sure The Weeknd will get over it!
2. The Weeknd - House of Balloons
A recommendation from a friend was how I discovered The Weeknd (Cheers Gary!) and what a discovery it was too. House of Balloons is the first in a trilogy of mixtapes, the second was recently released and is of outstanding quality. However it is House of Balloons what we are here to talk about primarily, some of the production makes me thing that this is what Burial would sound like if he was a vocalist and making R&B. Unlike the earlier mentioned Frank Ocean, this is a record that probably is R&B but it is much less radio friendly than Frank’s offering.
The Weeknd started off with a bit of a Burial vibe enigmatic approach, a secrecy to identity, recent collaborations with fellow Canadian Drake have entered him more into the eyes of the mainstream and deservedly so. My favourite DJ of the year Oneman has been championing tracks from the album all year, the sumptuous ‘What You Need’ in particular. The mixtape has the usual samples of well known records, but they are expertly chosen and used in such a complimentary fashion none more so than the Juan Maclean version of Happy House by Siouxsie and the Banshees. All in all this body of work is something that is extremely easy to listen to over and over again, I haven’t met a single person who could disagree with that either.
Both mixtapes mentioned in this piece are available for FREE DOWNLOAD on The Weeknd's official website. A third is due to drop in 2012, which I for one am eagerly anticipating.
James Blake’s self titled LP was much anticipated and did not fail to deliver. Rightly included in the BBC Sound of 2011 feature he has had a brilliant year touring the album with an incredibly charming live show which I was fortunate enough to witness in a 300 capacity dark room in Liverpool as well as on the main stage of The Big Chill festival with about 20,000 other revellers.
James’ voice is brilliant and in ‘Give Me My Month’ he showcases it with only a piano for company resulting in an effortlessly beautiful two minutes. The album contains what has to be credited as the most emotive track of the year the mesmerising Wilhelms Scream. It’s not just raw emotion and ballads on this body of work though Limit To Your Love has a quivering bass and I Never Learnt to Share a synth laden breakdown that would certainly wake you up if listened to on the morning commute to work. All in all what James Blake offered with this album was something I had never heard before and it will continue to be played for many years to come.
It’s an American artist who hasn’t strictly released an album up next in the countdown. This mixtape was released in February and blew up soon after, landing Frank Ocean some big time guest appearances including on two tracks of the Jay-Z/Kanye West collab Watch the Throne.
4. Frank Ocean - Nostalgia Ultra
I can remember hearing Novacane for the first time on a DJ Oneman Boiler Room set and straight away typed in the lyrics to Google to find out what it was. This album, sorry mixtape was released to vent frustrations that Frank’s record label Def Jam had neglected him proclaiming on Twitter that "i. did. this. not ISLAND DEF JAM”. The album uses the ultra soulful voice of Frank together with well used samples to create what is essentially a pretty poppy R&B record. But it’s a bloody good R&B record!
The tracks are linked together with nostalgic interludes named after 90’s video games with the sounds of a cassette player rewinding, fast-forwarding, and clicking. Giving the mixtape an old school vibe, the content matter of the lyrics are more meaningful and dare I say slightly higher brow than you would come to expect from a 21st century R&B record. Swim Good deals with suicide, We All Try is an uplifting look into faith in humanity and Songs for Women has humour to it as Frank tells of the toils and troubles of getting the girl.
The mixtape is available for FREE DOWNLOAD over on Frank's TUMBLR page.
The final five begins with two masked dance producers, but it’s not Daft Punk...
5. SBTRKT - SBTRKT
SBTRKT (and Sampha) put together quite possibly the best dance album I have heard for a good few years, with a stellar cast of guest vocalists the masked man glides effortlessly through a myriad of future garage, dubstep and house to produce not only a dance floor friendly LP but also one that is pleasantly listenable. Sampha provides vocals on a lot of the tracks with his trademark soulful tones and is joined by a harem of excellent female vocalists in Jessie Ware, Roses Gabor and Yukimi Nagano (Little Dragon). US rapper Drake was equally as impressed with SBTRKT as I was and used the Yukimi Nagano vocalled track Wildfire for a remix.
The live show is also well worth seeing, with a tour on the horizon next year. I was fortunate enough to see them on the banks of the lake at Melt! Festival with a couple of thousand incredibly nice German people, the Drake remix of Wildfire was met with great joy! My only critique of the live show was that it failed to include my favourite track from the album Pharaohs.
A Mercury Music Prize nominee and yet another Londoner comes in at number 6. Though while a Londoner Ghostpoet is actually a fan of Liverpool FC, something he demonstrated at the Liverpool Music Week closing party by entering the stage with an LFC scarf, the poor chap didn’t count on the partisan nature of the LFC/Everton divide and a chorus of boo’s comically rained down upon him. Yet, he did produce a standout album hence his inclusion here.
6. Ghostpoet - Peanut Butter Blues & Melancholy Jam
If ever there was an aptly named artist then it’s Ghostpoet. The quirkily named Peanut Butter Blue and Melancholy Jam brings together urban poetry and haunting electronic production not to dissimilar to that of Burial at times. Spoken rather than rapped the London voice of Ghostpoet narrates through a story of struggles in a 21st century city, much like Joshua Idehen does on the earlier mentioned Routes. Despite the chapters which deal with struggles with alcohol and heartbreak the album has a resistant element of embracing the struggles, as depicted in the uplifting Survive It. The live show is well worth a look, having caught Ghostpoet twice this year I was not left disappointed especially at The Big Chill where to quote the man himself “I must admit it got quite wild”.
Number 7 brought together a rising star (Jamie XX) and what sadly became a fading legend as Gil Scott Heron departed this life for the next in 2011. It was quite fitting that his music was remixed before his passing to create a new fan base to carry on his legacy.
7. Gil Scott Heron & Jamie XX – We’re New Here
Jamie XX had a massive 2011 (as was predicted by this here blog in January) with this remix album, a critically acclaimed single, probably the remix of the year with his Adele rework and now Drake and Rhianna are using his beats for their respective new albums. This album uses Jamie’s trademark production skills, there is “space between the beats” and it is also used to showcase some of his influences with the old school piano riff on I’ll Take Care of You and the Rui Da Silva ‘Touch Me’ sample in Ur Soul and Mine.
The album ranks in my top 10 for the amount of plays it got during the early part of the year, it has fallen by the way side somewhat which is why it ranks lower than a couple of albums which were released around the same time, however I will go back to it and I’ll Take Care of You has been a staple tune at my Lovely Job gigs.
“What do ya know about Moorgate?” *stifled laughter* “I don’t know anything about Moorgate!”
8. LV and Joshua Idehen - Routes
When I first heard Northern Line I couldn’t help but smile; the comic vocal over a quality electronic beat perhaps offered up this year’s novelty track. However when listened to in the context of the album on which it resides it all begins to make sense. My deciphering of Routes is that it is a musical portrait of London life, using the deep voice of vocalist Joshua Idehen to lay down what I would class as urban poetry over the high quality electronic beats that have became the trademark of LV. From the comedy that comes from Northern Line, there is also a darker side with Murkish Delights describing a very 21st century struggle.
The album works extremely well live, Joshua Idehen has a good presence on stage and the euphoria of album track Primary Colours is designed to be heard loud in a club full of people. Had I got onto this album earlier in the year and not just after witnessing the live show then it could actually have ranked higher and it continues to grow in stature with each listen.
Next up on the list is a German duo who were responsible for creating a phenomenal line up in such an idyllic setting with their beach stage at Melt! festival.
9. Modeselektor - Monkeytown
Monkeytown crafts together techno, dubstep, electronia, hip hop and more within its eleven tracks, a true example of how to construct a ‘dance music’ album in that it never leaves you bored and is not predictable. Well not unless you have listened to their first offering Happy Birthday which was equally as impressive, more so in fact; as upon its release it seemed ahead of its time. Monkeytown has definitely been one of my favourite albums hence its place in this here list, however I do somewhat feel the German duo may have rested upon their laurels a tad, this coupled with the fact it was released late in the year has ultimately led to it being one or two rungs further down the ladder than perhaps it should have been. On the whole though a really solid album with two tracks in particular standing out for me and neither Berlin or Pretentious Friends are the tracks that feature their good friend Thom Yorke.
In a change to how the 'results' are presented from last year I have decided to announce an album every couple of days with a summary of all to recap once all have been announced. First up is number 10.
10. VA - Fabriclive 57 (Mixed by Jackmaster)
Thanks to the Boiler Room’s ever growing success it is now cool to be a DJ again, along with Oneman and Ben UFO the Glaswegian Jackmaster has forged a reputation at the cutting edge of the UK Bass music scene over recent years and as such was asked to mix the 57th instalment of the Fabriclive CD series. The mix is fantastic; it encapsulates a Jackmaster set perfectly never fearing to blur the boundaries between musical genres. Including anthems from Inner City, Larry Heard and Sia the mix has a strong party vibe to it while also managing to remain current as these classic cuts are intertwined with fresh beats from UK Bass stalwarts such as Addison Groove, SBTRKT and Hudson Mohawke. Thoroughly enjoyable throughout, a definite way to ease someone in to the musical realms that have made more waves than any other in 2011.
