As you all I know, I still buy music, some of which is new a lot of which is old. This list focusses on my favourite purchases that were not released during 2011.
The absolute number one item is the non-stop collection of garage-punk should-be- classics by M.O.T.O., Battle of the Band, which both I and CallPastorJerkface special ordered all the way from Australia at out local political-metal workers' collective, War On Music. This purchase was exclusively the result of THIS POST over at One Base on an Overthrow.
Sure I love doing year-end lists (best non-albums releases HERE, best under-appreciated albums HERE and my want list is HERE) but making one for songs-of-the-year list is sheer folly in light of thousands of songs released over any given twelve moth period. So let us
suspend our disbelief in the comprehensiveness of this blogger's
listening and enjoy some ripping tunes. And ripping it must be, since we here at MMRL crave music that, regardless of genre, > moves>
Unlike my unappreciated albums list, neither acclaim nor sales (or the lack thereof) are a factor here -
and crossover betwixt the two lists is discouraged - this time it's
strictly about the songs!
Here, in no particular order, order are the songs, each of which contains a hyperlink to allow you to hear and/or see the song.
1. Greg MacPherson: "Party at Greg's House" (from Disintegration Blues)
Winnipeg singer/song-writer/community activist/label head MacPherspon (more HERE), has his own way to rock but goes anthemic here to intoxicating effect.
2. The Spazzys: "Divorce" (from Dumb is Forever)
Comeback of the year for these Australian queens of pop-punk (more HERE), after they survived a tortuous legal battle to release their second album, with kick-off/kiss-off single.
3. Ben Jones: "I Wish I Was the Person I'm Pretending To Be" (from Echobox)
Self-loathing never sounded so hummable, as it does on this track from the excellent solo debut from the leader of British power-pop band, The Lovedays.
4. Paul Simon: "Rewrite" (from So Beautiful, So What)
Of course every writer of lists got pulled into Simon's narrative about a damaged Vietnam vet who works at the car wash while endlessly revising his screenplay, because we all sympathized a bit too much, it didn't hurt that the song is just beautiful.
5. The Generators: "You Against You" (from Last of the Pariahs)
These long-running former Schleprock-ers (more HERE), never get the respect they deserves for their Social Distortion-meets-Bad Religions punk sound but they perservere.
6. The Front Bottoms: "Flashlight" [or "Maps"] (from Self-Titled)
To get this New Jersey indie-punk band, sort of a mixture of The Weakerthans and mewithoutYou, it helps if you love songs that put the heart-breaking narratives up high in the mix.
7. Houseboat "Quivering" (from Thorns of Life)
I already regret leaving this off the "Best Albums of the Year" list what with Grath unloading one of his best batch of "pityscapes" with catchy tunes and endlessly clever lyrics on us.
8. Buffalo Tom: "Guilty Girls" (from Skins)
It's funny how I've always admired the commitment and intelligence of nineties alt-rocker Bill Janovitz but never fell in love with one of his songs till this infectious number.
9. Mates of State "Palomino" (from Mountaintops)
Sure, maybe it's just a 21st century kind of pop but if you love soaring hooks and alternating male/female vocals you can find some unguilty pleasure herein.
10. Night Birds: "Bad Biology" (from Fresh Kills)
This ultra-ultra-ultra catchy ripper by NJ surf-core band featuring at least one ex-Erg is originaly from 2009 but finally saw wide release on this 2011 singles collection.
11. Tommy Stinson "All This Way for Nothing" (from One Man Mutiny)
Replacements advocates, like yours truly, are often left grasping at straws when trying to explain how, if the band was such a crucial part of the eighties, why so little great things have come from the band's members in the twenty years since their break-up. Well this Stones-y album from bass player Tommy Stinso ain't gonna settle a thing but at least it gives us a replacement Replacements track in, "All this Way For Nothing".
Somewhere between Bad Religion and The Band (well no one but me would read them that way, exactly) lie this widely-praised beloved Portland indie-folk-rock band, who I've always found pleasant but never so much as on this album packed with finely-written acoustic pop songs!
13. Will Hogue: Goddam California (Hogue discusses the song HERE)
Glad to have a country song make the list, this wouldn't have got any mainstream radio play but that's just because of the cursing and not because Hogue couldn't lay waste to a lot of today's' country elite in song-to-song combat
14. Teenage Bottlerocket: "Mutilate Me" (from Mutilate Me 7")
Wyoming's finest rock n' roll band spit out another trashy but catchy punk tune from their sole release of the year.
15. Wild Flag: "Romance" (from Self-Titled)
This song is catchier and more fleshed-out then any I remember from Sleater-Kinney
16. The Smoking Popes: "Still in a Punk Band" (from This is Only a Test)
An improbable nineties come-back tale by this band who sound a little like a Morrissey-fronted Weezer, which now that I think of it might be a goad career move for all concerned.
17. The Copyrights "Crutches" (from North Sentinel Island)
Y'know some bands get praised for their consistency and other bands, like the Copyrights get damned for it, as if the band making a prog-metal concept album based on Bartleby the Scrivener or having Kenny G play with them on national television would be more worthwhile then another slab of jackhammer pop songs.
While it's no Achtung, Bono, the new 1/2 Man 1/2 Biscuit (whom BBC DJ Andy Kershaw called "the most authentic British folk band since The Clash") album still offers even more proof that Nigel Blackwell is, like Roy Harper or Robyn Hitchcock, one of those Englishmen so particular in their eccentricities, that their appeal becomes (sort of) universal.
19. Canon Bros. "Out of Here" (from Firecracker/Cloudglow)
This track puts this Winnipeg duo's guitarist, Allanah Walker, on lead vocals, where
she excels, and lets her winningly chant “Hey Let’s get out of here, I
hate it here!” until you want to reach through the speakers and help
her escape.
20. The Valkyryans (ft. TV Smith): "Gary Gilmore's Eyes" (from Punk Rocksteady)
These Finns have by no means made a perfect album but this collection of punk covers, Jamaican style, does overcome its novelty appeals by proving just how the malleable the punk rock canon is.
21. Cold Warps: "Stupid Tattoos" (from Self-Titled cassette)
This lo-fi punk-indie band's cassette was a strong contender for non-album release of the year list but Brushback only told me about it last week!
22. Okkervill River: "Wake and Be Fine" (from I Am Very Far)
Yup, they are one-time indie darling (though ones who recorded an album with Roky Erickson) and yup, they have bearded members but this songs is strong and the band perform it with a real jump in their step.
oh...
22.1 I Am Chimp! "Old Men in Coloured Trousers" (from "I Am Chimp EP) The best :21 second song of the year, bar none! Y'know our last two lists generated less COMMENTS than usual...
So, please leave a COMMENT: A) TELL US IF WE GOT YOU TO TRY SOMETHING NEW! B) TELL US WHICH GREAT SONGS WE MISSED!!
AND, OF COURSE, IF YOU LIKE THE MUSIC - SUPPORT THE DAMN BANDS!!!
While there wasn't a bombardment of killer activity in 2011, there were some modest, hard-fought advancements and a few artist fearlessly raised there head above the parapets of mediocrity and fired with all they had.
Of
course, I'm still down here in the trenches slogging it out. Here amidst the rats, the vermin and the stench of corpses, I will seek music that which lives and fights, rather then that which seems to just meekly blend into its surroundings. Let the dullness be prepared for hand-to-hand combat!
So,
in that warrior spirit, here is my list of fifteen albums by artists that didn't get to live in peace and luxury but rather marched into battle as possible canon fodder:
(All band name links go directly to MySpace - or some such place - for your listening pleasure.)
1) TV Smith: Coming in to Land
TV Smith's body of work, as good or better then any of his fellow London punks of '76, is drastically under-appreciated (outside of Germany), which is cruel as every one of his albums, and Coming in to Land is a great example, is loaded with incisive, incendiary songs that you'll want to sing along to. (Video HERE)
2) The Carmines: Wider, Fatter, Louder
Surf's-up, punks!
3) Dirty Wings: 30th Avenue Heartache
Great debut albums by a Brooklyn band who "...Sound like they love the Stones, The Clash,
Bruce Springsteen, Social Distortion and a whole buncha other, less
obvious kinds of stuff that they'll only tell you about once you buy
them beer. (more HERE)
4) Van Buren Boys: Up All Night
Attitude-fulled power-pop-punk straight outta Chicago! (Video HERE)
5) Peter, Bjorn and John: Gimme Some
Of course, this list always features our "token indie-rock' album on the list, not any misguided sense of fair play, but just because under the amorphous heading of 'indie-rock' there's always something that brings the songs and brings the noise like this 3rd albums by a Swedish band I was never sold on previously. (More HERE)
5) Frank Turner: England Keep My Bones
One of our tradition's here at MRML is to have a "Dylan Was a Punk" album of the year, and this is the second time Englishman Turner has snagged it for his latest (and near-best) set of sturdy folk-punk tunes. (More HERE)
6) John Wesley Harding: The Sound Of His Own Voice
Y'know the pleasure of a good singer/song-writer album is underrated and quintessentially-English JWH and his American backing band, The Decemberists, have pulled together a diverse but always witty and hummable brace of tunes here that more people need to hear. (more HERE)
7) Breakdowns: The Kids Don't Want To Bop Anymore
This lack of bopping by the youth of today must be stopped and The Breakdowns know just what to do - rock! (More HERE)
8) Zebrassieres: Gooey Zoo
So my country's capital, Ottawa, is in the grips of a sweater-vested, dictator-in-training and yet that modest-sized city is producing a shipload of great loud, rocking, tuneful bands like Steve Adamyk Band, The White Wires, and Mother's Children and the slightly artier, fuzzier, new-wave-ier Zebrassieres! (
9) Will Varley: Advert Soundtracks
Frank Turner, Last Man on Earth and the Freewheelin' Bob Dylan might make good points of comparison but English folkie Varley is determined to make his own caustic soundtrack to the age. (Video HERE)
10) Steve Adamyk Band: Forever Won't Wait
Eff-er-fuckin-vescent pop songs played with punk bottle. Ottawa strikes again!
11) Junior BattlesIdle Ages
A pop-punk pot-luck from this Toronto [!] group who snitch for the more underground and more over-ground styles of that oft-misunderstood genre. (Video HERE)
12) Dropkick Murphys: Going Out in Style
Boston's Celtic-punks don't get a lot of respect due to their consistency of sound (and accusations of meatheadedness) but the fact is that the band have grown as writers and performers enough to make Going Out in Style "a
flinty, hard-nosed affair with eleven new songs (plus two from back in
the mists of time) that have a vintage freshness about them, steeped in
history but fully in the moment." (More HERE)
Growly, catchy, angry, painfully self-aware, Rick-Springfield-quotin', high-lonesome heartland-punk which somehow manages to contain a former Erg. (Video HERE)
15) Geoff Useless: Don't Stop
The last MRML tradition that must be served is
our token "Anachronism of the Year" by which a late-released album that whipped past us at hi-speed is formally acknowledged, such as this December 2010 record by Geoff Useless which imagines an accord between Buck Owens and The Queers.
So, despite my ready-aye-ready talk, I'm not proposing declaring war on all those big name lists. I'm willing to admit that I haven't even heard the majority of albums within my allied genres, never mind my supposed enemy styles. It's time to admit that those in the other trench are just people with different taste and perhaps it's time for a Christmas truce.
Good grief people, the last list (see HERE) went without the support of (almost) any missives from those of you on the home front. What do you think of these albums Did you hear anything you dug? Did we miss something that might've fit? Let us know in the COMMENTS section!
Best Songs of the year list will be coming after Christmas!
So there's lots to talk about in 2011 but I've got to break it down to avoid overwhelming anyone, including yours truly. The usual warning I offer is that this is a stylistically-narrow list chosen by a biased (and rapidly-aging) amateur musical historian who only listens to a very humble fraction of what's released in a year. Take it as a set of recommendations, rather then as a pronouncements heavy with the stench of omniscient authority (Pitchfuck, I'm looking at you!)
Our first entry in the best-of-the-year derby, is a list of all those things whose brevity disqualifies them from our forthcoming "Best Underappreciated Albums That Rocked 2011". This list is a bit pop-punk heavy, partly because the best pop-punk of the year seemed to come in small packages
1. Jimmy Cliff: Sacred Fire EP A reggae pioneer enters a potential late-career Renaissance courtesy of producer Tim Armstrong, who sets up Mr.Cliff with one of his Rancid tunes, as well as a Clash song and a Bob Dylan one.
2. Kurt Baker: Rockin For a Livin' EP With every album Baker did with The Leftovers, he brought the band closer to a classic late seventies power-pop sound but now that he's gone solo he's fully embraced the skinny tie!
3. The New Rochelles: It's New EP The best new pop-punk band I've heard in years, one that loves love the Ramones, Screeching Weasel, Teenage Bottlerocket but also Green Day (and even Blink 182!)
5. Adjusters: Wrong Plae, Wrong Time 7" To quote myself, "Another shot of backwards-looking, striped-shirt rock n' roll from a set of young lads from the North West of England. (Listen HERE)
6. OFF!: Compared to What/Rotten Apples 7"
SoCal punk vet Keith Morris is cranky, stuck in the past and burning like a motherfucker! (Listen HERE)
7. Chixdiggit: Safeways Here We Come EP
Calgary's kings of pop-punk aren't kids anymore (kids don't write songs about friendships ruined by dogs!) but they still sound as irrepressible as ever!
MRML is a blog about the devestating effects of culture: music, politics, comics plus etc. blah blah blah. At times MRML will post fine, unpurchasable three-chord obscurica (punk, pop-punk, new wave, mod, power-pop, gospel, reggae, hardcore, rockabilly, folk, country...whatever.) - - - - - - "The otherwise unavailable files in this blog are posted for a limited time and are intended for educational, non-commercial use. These files were transcribed from what are believed to be out-of-print sources. If you are aware of any of these items being readily available from commercial sources, or if any of these files infringe upon rights that you hold, please notify us so that we can quickly remove the referenced items immediately." - - - SUPPORT THE ARTISTS - BUY MUSIC!
If you have any questions or music to donate you can contact me at musicruinedmylife (at) gmail (dot) com
Re: Re-Ups
MRML does not plan to restore all of the content lost in The Great Mediafire Gutting of 2012. Polite requests may be made in the appropriate section, regular commenters will get priority.
