Tedeschi Trucks Band – Revelator
Take the power of Susan Tedeschi’s voice and the utter genius of Derek Trucks’ guitarwork and obviously any collaboration between them is brilliant. But this 11-piece ensemble that was carefully crafted for over a year is simply dynamite! Every track on this album is so solid…my favorites include “Come See About Me”, “Bound For Glory”, and “Learn How To Love”.
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Feist – Metals
If there was ONE album this year that I’d recommend to a music lover, it would be this one. And it’s not an album you can just appreciate with one listen. You’ve got to give it time, listen closely and quietly, and let it sink in. These songs have a feeling to them that comes with sitting and breathing, observing the world around you, and appreciating the beauty of life. It sounds like a massive undertaking, but I think it came easily to Leslie Feist, after she allowed herself an entire year without writing or creating music. I’m not sure exactly what she spent that year doing, but it’s clear that she plugged into something extremely special.
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The Decemberists – The King Is Dead
This band isn’t for everyone. They’ve got a very distinctive sound and singer Colin Meloy’s voice is understandably grating to certain ears. For one reason or another, I’m a huge fan of their music. This (their sixth) album is incredibly strong, partially because Gillian Welch’s vocals join seamlessly into 7 of the 10 tracks. Unlike their previous release, The Hazards Of Love, these songs are mostly simple and stripped down. Meloy says the album was “an exercise in restraint” and it certainly paid off. There’s space just where it needs to be, and it’s beautiful.
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Adele – 21
Yea, I know, this is a really obvious one. I’ve gotta say though, despite the insane amount of radio play and mainstream success this album saw, it cannot be denied that it’s REALLY GOOD. And you can’t say that about a lot of “popular” music these days. I love Adele and all the she stands for. I remember hearing this album for the first time and immediately being floored by “Rumor Has It”…these days I’m a big fan of “Set Fire To The Rain” and “I’ll Be Waiting”. Like you, I could probably do without hearing “Rolling In The Deep” or “Someone Like You” for a solid year…but it’s still great to hear a truly talented person’s songs getting overplayed.
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Wilco – The Whole Love
48 hours ago, I was planning to write this post and I knew just how I’d start – “I want to LOVE this new Wilco album…but I don’t.” But something happened over the course of the last few days as I listened again for the umpteenth time…and while this album still isn’t my favorite of the year, I like it a whole lot more than I did before. There are certain tracks that I’m not a fan of, but there are some seriously beautiful moments on here…I especially love track 6, “Born Alone” and the epic 12 minute album closer, “One Sunday Morning” which has such a great vibe to it.
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Dawes – Nothing Is Wrong
Sort of funny that this album is called Nothing Is Wrong…because there really isn’t a thing wrong with it. Each song is so solidly folk rock…and the album as a whole is very cohesive and complete. When I saw Dawes live at Newport Folk two summers ago, I flipped for them. While this album doesn’t make me flip, it IS a really great piece of work by a talented band. It’ll land somewhere on my best of list for the year.
Filed under Best Of '11
pH balanced 