Etta James (1938 - 2012)

It's About That Time!

As always, cataloguing 2011’s best albums was no easy task, particularly because I haven’t listened to most of the essential records that have been receiving rave reviews (St. Vincent‘s Strange Mercy, Bombay Bicycle Club's A Different Kind Of Fix, Fleet Foxes' Helplessness Blues, Florence & The Machine’s Ceremonials, Noah and the Whale’s Last Night on Earth… the “unlistened list” goes on and on).

Still, keeping up with traditions, here are my Top 20 Albums of 2011, in no particular order.

(Quick note: I have to thank my BF for giving me most of these records. He’s pretty much my music dealer and deserves due recognition, as he’s provided for most of my 2011 soundtrack. Thank you! Love you!)


1. PJ Harvey, Let England Shake

As most girls my age, I grew up adoring PJ Harvey: she was – and still is – the coolest thing ever. Edgy and oddly beautiful, she’s truly groundbreaking and genuine. She doesn’t write or sound like anyone but herself.

I was deeply intrigued by To Bring You My Love, my first PJ Harvey album, and found it difficult yet brilliant. Is This Desire was for a long time my favourite and I remember the thrill of buying the same t-shirt Polly Jean’s wearing on the album’s cover: I wore that top so many times the picture of the lips eventually washed out. Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea was pretty much the confirmation that this woman was nothing short of a genius (that duet with Thom Yorke? Heavenly!) and White Chalk, although under-appreciated, was the perfect set-up for what most critics have considered the best album of 2011: Let England Shake.

Summing up PJ Harvey’s 8th album as a cross between an homage to her homeland (with oh-so-British songtitles such as The Last Living Rose, England and The Glorious Land) and a war-record may seem odd and nonsensical but that’s pretty much what Let England Shake is: a concept album with references to all sorts of battles (from Anzac’s siege of Gallipoli in the Ottoman Empire to World War I, without forgetting Iraq). The songs are vivid portraits of struggle and conflict, with a strong political and historical undertone which made Polly Jean worthy of sharing the floor with David Cameron on Andrew Marr’s political talk show.

An album like you’ve never heard. And that’s why you’ll love it.




2. Feist, Metals

I love Leslie Feist, I really do: I’ve been a loyal fan since her early Broken Social Scene days and her Monarch debut, so you can imagine how much I was looking forward to hearing Metals.

Recorded in California's Big Sur with minimal post-production, Metals has a genuine, gritty almost acoustic feel to it, filled with rattles and thumps, breaths and handclaps. It’s raw, in a beautiful way.

Although I won’t say I was disappointed with Metals, Feist’s prior record The Reminder seems impossible to top and, admittedly, I had impossibly high expectations which weren’t, unfortunately, met.




3. Metronomy, The English Riviera

I mentioned these British beaus a few weeks ago and already hinted to their high ranking in this year’s Best Albums list.

A cross between an anthem to the British Summer (the record opens to the sound of cawing seagulls) and a soundtrack to a John Hughes film, The English Riviera is an incredibly clever album, with witty lyrics, sweet synths, sexy basslines and, overall, just really good vibes.




4. Alex Turner, Submarine EP

My favourite Artic Monkey songs are the folky, soppy love ballads, so when Alex Turner made a record solely composed of these sweet tunes, I was over the moon. Listening to this on a rainy Sunday, curled on the couch under a merino wool blanket, flipping through a book: pure bliss. And, as mentioned here before, the movie ain’t bad either.

 

5. James Blake, James Blake

Not since Burial’s Untrue back in 2007 have I been this keen on dubstep. James Blake is one talented boy who can write and compose eerily beautiful songs, set an out-of-this-world atmosphere and deliver stunning vocals. Although it has this ghostly, chilling undertone, Blake’s homonymous debut is warm and soothing. Plus, he shot to fame covering a Feist song so that alone deserves some serious brownie points!




6. Bon Iver, Bon Iver

I adore Justin Vernon. I mean, he could take a dump in MP3 format and I'd probably still buy, listen and love it. But, just as with Feist’s Metals, expectations were sky high for Bon Iver’s homonymous record and, when compared to For Emma, Forever Ago, possibly the most perfect album ever made when Justin disappeared into the snowy woods to nurse a broken heart, Bon Iver falls a bit short.
Still, the record stays true to Vernon’s soulful lyrics, gloomy melodies and eerie arrangements. As soothing as honey tea and a sweet ointment, the album unfolds as a sort of dreamlike journey (each song title is a place, real or imagined) on winding roads over snowing forests and shiny lakes. National Geographic gone hipster, if you will.




7. White Denim, D

I shamefully only discovered this Austin-quartet earlier this year but this record was such a pleasant surprise I had to include it in my best of 2011.

Somewhere between country and folk, with a touch of tropicalia and high-pitches, D was a real cheer-upper and overall really fun record.




8. The Strokes, Angles

After a not-so-great solo album, Julian Casablanca has thankfully joined the rest of the gang and created a fun, catchy album that reminds me so much of this summer I can almost smell sunscreen when I listen to Under Cover of Darkness. Although Angles lacks the hard-core head-banging rock songs that characterize the early Stroke, I think the pop influence is, paradoxically, what makes this record so special.




9. Lykke Li, Wounded Rhymes

This sombre Swede has hit a home run with her sophomore record Wounded Rhymes, charged with heart-broken and –breaking lyrics and melancholic melodies that make you want to sway your arms around and drop your body whilst you mumble the song with your eyes closed. Or maybe that’s just me…




10. Jamie Woon, Mirrorwriting

Jamie Woon’s haunting rendition of the old American spiritual Wayfaring Stranger, remixed by the one and only king of dubstep Burial, really sets the tone for this dark, earthy debut album. The hit single Night Air samples wicker chairs and Cornish pebbles: it doesn’t get much more organic than this.

 

11. Foster The People, Torches

Poor reviews let this L.A. trio fall under the radar but I have to admit really enjoy this album. It’s a no-brainer, straight up catchy pop. It was the perfect summer soundtrack with its clappy rhythms and sing-along lyrics: it may not be as nerdy or obscure as Tom Waits, at least it won’t make you want to pull a shotgun to your temple. Dance away your blues, my children!, and surrender to easy, breezy commercial pop: it will do you good!

12. Beyoncé, 4

Quite a surprising follow up to I Am… Sasha Fierce, 4 is a much calmer record, heavy on R&B and ballads. Although I don’t like most of Beyoncé’s pre-baby album, the few songs I do like, I really, really like – the irresistible dancehall anthem Countdown, the über-soppy ballad 1+1 and the incredible Love on Top – make 4 worthy of a high spot in our best of 2011.

13. Arctic Monkeys, Suck It and See

I think many die-hard Arctic Monkeys were disappointed with this album which abandoned their rocker darkness for wistful pop. Although Brick by Brick and other singles off Suck It And See are undeniably rock, this album values melodies over riffs and Alex Turner's clever wordplay and brilliant lyrics.




14. Wolf Gang, Suego Faults

LSE drop out Max McElligott has been dubbed both the new Byrne and Bowie. He’s great, no doubt, but I wouldn’t set the stakes that high… yet. But Suego Faults is a brilliant debut record. MGMT-producer Dave Fridmann’s touch is undeniable: catchy melodies, dancing tunes and strong choruses, it’s all there.




15. Other Lives, Tamer Animals

Described as a cross between Fleet Foxes and Radiohead, this Oklahoma quintet is one of my favourite discoveries this year: dreamy melodies, majestic orchestration, ethereal harmonies and haunting, sighing falsettos, their songs are epic without being over the top. It’s simply a beautiful record.




16. Cults, Cults

 

 

 

There’s a whole bunch of Phil Spector-inspired boy/girl duos this year: Jenny and Johnny, She & Him, below mentioned Summer Camp… and Cults. This adorable NYU couple, Madeline Follin and Brian Oblivion, hit it big with their sensation Go Outside: it’s a great introduction to their homonymous debut, loaded with sweet, catchy tunes that transport you to an innocent 1960s prom-night. What’s not to love?

 

17. Summer Camp, Welcome To Condale

I guess if Instagram were a song, it would definitely sound like this London duo. Inexhaustibly compared to above mention Cults, Elizabeth Sankey and Jeremy Warmsley’s debut can also be described as retro pop, heavy on nostalgic synths and catchy lyrics. Their homage to the eighties goes as far as sampling Kelly LeBrock in John Hughes' Weird Science.

18. The Tree Of Life, OST

This is cheating a bit because the actual soundtrack of The Tree of Life only has Alexandre Desplat’s score which is shot-yourself-in-between-the-eyes boring. The tracks and songs, however, borrowed for The Tree of Life are a selection of the most beautiful masterpieces ever composed. Far from being a connoisseur, I do have a nerdy obsession with opera and French classical composers (I blame ballet) so The Tree of Life was all the more a treat.

 

 

 

19. Washed Out, Within and Without

Ernest Greene picked his band’s name very wisely, as it accurately describes its sun-bleached, hazy and nostalgic sounds.

With a distinctive, repetitive keyboard-based tunes – much like Memory Tapes, Neon Indian or Toro Y Moi – Within and Without is sort of really good background music: it won’t exactly stop you in your motions but you’ll find yourself happily swaying to the soft, soporific, summery synths. Not everyone’s cup of tea, I’ll agree, but I certainly enjoyed it enough for the 2011 honour role.

 

 

 

20. Adele, 21

This album has been so over-hyped, I feel like punching a baby at the first notes of Someone Like You, that’s how much it gets so much on my nerves.

Still, rationally, I have to admit it is a pretty damn good album, with clever lyrics, beautiful arrangements and, most of all, incredible vocals. Just go hide somewhere for a long while, Adele, so we can miss and appreciate you.

Which were your picks?

Class Actress

Brooklyn’s singer-songwriter Elizabeth Harper’s new act, Class Actress, is quite a change from a capella web-only cover-band Girl Crisis, where she sings along side the sweet and soft vocals of several other leading ladies, such as Caroline Polachek from Chairlift and Erika Spring-Forster of Au Revoir Simone.

When you listen to Class Actress’ debut album, Rapprocher, released in October on Car Park (home to Memory Tapes, Toro Y Moi and Beach House), it’s pretty much like setting a time machine to London in 1981: with a sound that could be described as lo-fi New Wave, the oh-so-80s heartbreaking, melodramatic lyrics walking hand in hand with catchy electronic tunes will crimp your hair right, broaden your shoulder pads and have you campaigning for Reagan.



Metronomy

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Good morning Girls and Boys!

The Evil Twin is off to an unusually early start but nothing kicks off the day, and the weekend for that matter, like a good set of songs and I was anxious to share these with you today.

I first found out about Metronomy when I heard Heartbreaker a few years ago, which is the kind of track that is so good it made me buy their sophomore record without any pre-listen or research, it was that awesome.

Following Nights Out is their third album, The English Riviera which keeps this British quartet’s characteristics: 80s synths, Joe Mount sexy falsetto, the I-can’t-help-but-dance beat and somewhat sarcastic lyrics.

Definite contender to this year's Best Albums.

I won't be posting the next couple of weeks as I'll be away on holidays visiting friends and family back in London. Don't miss me too much!

Happy weekend!

Austra

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Despite sharing their name with a Norwegian island and the Latvian Goddess of Light, Austra actually come from Toronto. A sort of cross between goth-pop and new-wave, this three-piece has inevitably been compared to the likes of Ladytron and Zola Jesus.

I have to admit I wasn’t too taken by the rest of their debut album Feel It Break but their single “Lose It” is perfect for TGIF!

Sábado

First Aid Kit

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I first discovered these sweet, singing, Swedish siblings through their haunting rendition of Fleet Foxes’ “Tiger Mountain Peasant Song”. Their woodsy, weather-beaten vocals received much praise in the folk circuit and got them to play along side big names such as Bright Eyes and Jack White, who produced their track “Universal Soldier”.

Their sophomore record “The Lion’s Roar” will be released early next year, but the homonymous single has already been put up on Youtube.

It’s the perfect winter soundtrack. It just makes you want to put on a chunky knit and wander round a campfire in a leafy, snowy Nordic forest whilst eating cinnamon and ginger biscuits. Bliss.

Enjoy.

Haters Gonna Hate.

Isn’t it sad when your life’s high points are being accused of child pornography or writinga karoke-hit song, soundtrack to the worst film ever made, and that its all down hill from there?
Well, no. It’s not sad. In R. Kelly’s case it’s funny. Laugh-out-loud, piss-my-pant, smack-my-thighs funny.
Check out his vent song after his tonsil surgery (only Robert could make tonsils surgery sound this sexy) and reminisce over THE BEST SONG ever made, hands down. The woman’s accent is heaven sent, gets me every time.

Happy Halloween!

It's All About Me

Finalmente uma música com o meu nome e sem a palavra "chupa".

Awww, The Artic Monkeys Wrote A Song About Me, Ain't That Sweet?

Holy sh*t, Alex Turner's been reading my blog!Or perhaps it’s just a coincidence and really it only is the B-side to the Suck It and See single to be released on Halloween and not everything is about me, yadda, yadda…

I still think it’s too eerie to be just a fluke. Move over, Chung! (But do leave your entire wardrobe behind, thank-you very much.)

TGIF!

Dance Your Way Into The Weekend!

We started the week off with a gyrating Beyoncé but we’ll end it on a softer tone, with a few of my recent musical discoveries that will be freshening up my somewhat stale i-tunes this weekend. TGIF!

High Highs
I’m absolutely in love with this Australian-come-Brooklyn trio. They kind of remind me of Other Lives – another of my favourites for this year – with their wistful tunes and sorrowful lyrics which are right up my I-love-wrist-slittingly-depressing-music alley.





Milagres, Kill Rock Stars
These Brooklyn boys initially caught my attention because of their Portuguese band name but they’re obviously much more than that. Although they’ve been (unfairly) compared to Coldplay, don’t be fooled: Kyle Wilson's falsettos are more Wild Beasts-ish and their debut single, Glowing Mouth, is a beautiful gateway to the homonymous brilliant album.





Frankie and The Heartstrings, Hunger

But don't be fooled by the apparently chirpy, eighties influenced melodies: this five-piece from north England know how to write some wicked lyrics that will get you hooked in no time.





Oh Land, Oh Land
This delicate Dane – a former ballerina and Missioni model – is all the rage right now. Classical dance is an obvious influence in her lyrics and composition, which is both good and bad: I do enjoy the sweet fairy like touch but feel it isn’t powerful or memorable enough. A good listen, all the same.





Smith Westerns, Dye It Blonde
This Chicago trio has already featured in The EvilTwin's best list and this year they've yet again produced a very promising record, "Dye It Blonde". Although it sometimes throws you back to the 70s rock vibe, you can really feel Chris Coady's touch (who's produced and mixed for Beach House, TV on the Radio and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs). Currently enjoying it, for sure, but I’m not sure I'm loving it quite yet.





Gang Gang Dance, Eye Contact
Still trying to figure out whether I love or loathe these New-Yorkers. This is their 5th album but I shamefully admit I've only just heard of them. A sort of crossover between vintage synths and world music on drugs, it certainly makes for interesting listening.

Dance Off Those Monday Blues

If this doesn't get you in a good mood, I don't know what will.

I need to learn this choreography ASAP... and find out how Beyoncé manages to keep everything inside the cleavage of that last outfit (they get deeper and deeper!): there isn't enough double tape in the world!

Submarine

Set in 1980s Swansea, Wales, “Submarine” is a coming of age comedy with both genuinely funny and bitterly sad moments but, most of all, with the ultimate soundtrack, composed exclusively of Alex Turner’s melancholic ballads.

The main character, Oliver Tate, coincidentally played by an Alex Turner uncanny lookalike, Craig Roberts, is struggling between discovering love and sexuality with his dark, pyromaniac love interest Jordana, and trying to save the marriage of his parents, beautifully played by Happy Go Lucky’s Sally Hawkins and Noah Taylor, which is jeopardized with the arrival of his mum’s first love, an obnoxious new-age self-help guru.

The IT Crowd and The Mighty Boosh’s Richard Ayoade’s directorial debut has been unavoidably compared to Wes Anderson or Michel Gondry and I believe it’s a good thing: although it may not be deeply original nor flawless, it’s a great, entertaining film. And who doesn’t love a bit of welsh accent once in a while?

 

Eargasm

Reminds me of early PJ Harvey.

Good stuff.

Your Time Is Limited, So Don't Waste It Living Someone Else's Life

Who isn't writing about Steve Jobs today? It would be sinful not to mention his passing but, then again, the utter lack of originality of sharing his Stanford's commencement speech is another sin in itself. Well… let he who is without sin cast the first stone, so I’m going to join the web-crowd in celebrating Steve Job’s genius.

I don’t know anyone who doesn’t own – and love – an Apple item: be it an ipod, ipad, iphone, macbook, mac-pro… and, in many cases, all of the above. Apple – mostly through and because of Steve Jobs – has become part of our lives, with its innovative and audacious inventions. People who would have abhorred anything slightly techy or gadgety were suddenly hooked on Jobs’ zen, calculated and almost theatrical product-launch presentations.

As a die-hard music fan, finding it virtually impossible to endure life without a permanent soundtrack, I was more than delighted to replace my deadbeat walkman and discman for an ipod my parents got me for Xmas almost 10 yrs ago. It was THE best present ever and, to this date, I am yet to find a (supposedly) futile gadget that serves so much purpose and joy.

I’m certain Apple will remain a key market-player and tech leader: When Steve Jobs stepped down as CEO a few months ago, this was already largely discussed and, despite a one-day stock-loss, Apple is still the greatest valued company in the world. I have no idea if Tim Cook will match – or even outdo – Steve Jobs as head of Apple but it will certainly be very difficult to match his charisma: although many of those who worked with Jobs slated his autocratic, temperamental and egotistical persona, it’s impossible not to admire him and be engulfed by his magnetism.

As I mentioned, Steve Jobs’ Stanford commencement speech in 1995 (with over a staggering 6 million views on youtube – and I’m pretty sure this number will increase wildly over the next couple of days) is being shared and shown worldwide – and I myself posted it here a couple of years ago. It is, without a doubt, one of the best speeches ever made and, regardless of how many times I’ve heard it, I get emotional each time because it (still) hits a cord. The speech was first sent to me by a dear friend from college who, like me, was in a pivotally difficult professional situation. We were both lawyers, each at very high profile law firms, yet we both loathed our jobs. I can easily say that, to this date, I’m yet to engender as much revulsion as I did for my former job and bosses. We were deeply unhappy at how our lives turned out professionally but felt we were in a dead-end and lacked the audacity to quit and move on. Well, at least for a while. My friend quit her job a month later and went on to work on a completely different project and I left my own (now former) job, albeit in the worst circumstances ever, and also moved on to different shores. I vowed that never again would I let myself plummet in that life-sucking, depressing spiral.

Steve Jobs emphasized that “[y]ou've got to find what you love”. Thing is, I still haven’t found what I love. I’m turning 30 next year and am still clueless about what I want to do in my life. Being academically successful, I always assumed that being a straight-A student would automatically bring me professional bliss. Sadly, this is not the case. But I haven’t lost hope and refuse to surrender to it being too late.

Steve Jobs said: “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle”. I won’t settle. I too will find what I love and succeed, make a difference and be happy with my job. I doubt I’ll accomplish 1/100th of what Jobs did but, still, I want to achieve something.

My life is, has always been and, I suspect, will probably always be, highly improvised, unpredictable and varied. Most of the times I struggle to find logic or reason to the events in my life but I take comfort in Jobs’ words: “you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future”.

This was yet another sad battle unfairly won by the shittiest thing around: cancer. As remarkable as it was that Jobs fought quite literally for his life for almost a decade, cancer has claimed yet another victim and Mankind is definitely poorer today.

RIP, Steve Jobs.

This Week's Other Musical Crush

Jenny Lewis' Got The Midas Touch

Kinda sorta obsessing over this sweet couple right now...

Aaaawwwww!

This might actually be this.