Since it’s now June and we are officially about half-way through 2011, I’d thought I’d take a look at some of the albums that have been released so far. For me, so far the best album is a tie between Fleet Foxes’ Helplessness Blues and My Morning Jacket’s Circuital. What do you think? Any good ones I missed? (And I’m not counting Gaga just for the record.)
Leading Us Absurd 
Foster & Lloyd’s “It’s Already Tomorrow”
Anna Calvi
Cowboy Junkies “Demons”
Motorhead “The World is Yours”
I would suggest Mary Gauthier’s The Foundling was pretty good, Avalanche City’s Our New Life Above Ground was rocking, and Anna Calvi (Anna Calvi) I liked (it grows on you).
Thanks for the suggestions! I’m always looking for new music.
the king is dead is still holding fast at #1 in my book. collapse into now and helplessness blues are in my top five, as is all eternals deck by the mountain goats. kathryn calder’s are you my mother? came out last year, but i didn’t get it til last month, and it’s one of my fave discoveries of the year as well.
Isn’t kathryn calder AC Newman’s niece? I know she’s in the NPs, but I didn’t know she had solo stuff.
yep, that’s her. i think are you my mother? is her first cd, tho i could be wrong. it reminds me a lot of judee sill and other lost folkie girls of the ’70s, which means it’s awesome.
yep, that’s her. i think this is her first solo cd, tho i could be wrong. it reminds me a lot of judee sill and other lost folkie girls of the ’60s/’70s, which means it’s awesome.
She has a great voice, Ill have to check her out. Also she get bonus points for dressing like a flapper girl when I saw the NP’s live.
EMA’s PastLifeMartyredSaints is real good. As if she took all the good parts of Gowns’ Red State and made it more consistent. Other than that, it’s been a pretty dull year. Though Spank Rock’s supposed to release their follow up later this year.
I’ve never heard of any of those groups. Suppose I should check them out.
Spank Rock’s from Baltimore! Their first (and only) album “Yoyoyoyoyoyo…” is amazing, but more for the beats and less for the rapping. Though the rapping is turned so far down in the mix it sounds as if they were embarrassed by it too.
Ericka (a/k/a EMA) was in Gowns, you released Red State, which was the greatest album of a couple years ago. Same time period as Dan Deacon breaking big. Check out “White Like Heaven” on Youtube. It’s great.
Yeah I know Baltimore has a big music scene. Unfortunately, I’m not really privy to it. I don’t mean that in a bad way…I just don’t know where to start. Thanks for the recommendations again.
Decemberists. All day any day!
If pressed, I’d pick Tomboy by Panda Bear (Noah Lennox from Animal Collective), but I’ve yet to really be blown away by anything this year. I did kind of like the Decemberists record (and I say that as the opposite of whatever a Decemberists fan is), and I thought that R.E.M.’s record was a nice return to form, but I haven’t gotten really excited over many records.
I’ve heard the Panda Bear record is supposed to be good. Animal Collective is from around my area…so it’s always pretty cool to see a local band achieve some national recognition. I listened to REM’s new one when it came out constantly, but now months later there are only a few songs I go back and listen to.
sorry I am more a hiphop fan but Eminem and Royce the 5 9 new Hell the Sequel is lyrical awesome and my fav album thus far.
I’ve heard good things about that. I’ll have to check it out.