Top 30 Albums of 2011: Part Two (20-11)

by Jonathan Doyle, Neil Karassik and Ken Stuebing

20. Tom Waits - Bad as Me
Over a career spanning four decades, Tom Waits has long since earned his lifetime pass. This year's offering is an even split of brawlers and bawlers, straight no chaser. Waits's best known styles are on display across thirteen odd tunes, containing some of the year's most quotable lyrics. (Any album that declares "Heavens to Murgatroid" out the gates is an instant winner.) The players are a welcome gallery of familiar names: Waits plays a mean piano, Mark Ribot weaves his signature snaky guitar lines and Keith Richards kicks ass on the Stones-quoting "Satisfied." Timeless romanticism mixes well with rough-hewn cynicism, proving there's room enough for all of Waits's many moods. Though every song leaves an impact ("Last Leaf" dampens eyes like nobody's business), it's "Hell Broke Luce" -- the gritty sequel to Real Gone's antiwar ballad "The Day After Tomorrow" -- that hits hardest. It's a harrowing take on war veterans' PTSD, equal parts poignant and disturbing. He who suggests Waits was the least bit "Bad" has either missed this marvellous record or should forthwith dislodge his head from his nethers. -- KS

19. Man Man - Life Fantastic
Despite earning a cult following for their spastic soundscapes and nutty live shows -- where members don war paint, jam on toy instruments and lob fruit onstage -- Man Man remains a relatively unknown act. Like their previous three albums, Life Fantastic is an excellent party-starter that never loses steam as it unfolds. Record number four sees the quintet holding back on some of their more boisterous tendencies (there’s an evident lack of shrieking, grunting and kazoo-playing), but that also helps highlight some of Man Man's more subtle assets. While this album sounds decidedly softer than the band's previous releases, it’s still thoroughly rockin’. Waltzes have always been the band’s secret weapon, and here they’re as good as ever. Either way, more Man Man is always a good thing. -- NK
RELATED: Man Man at Lee's Palace (2010) | Man Man at Lee's Palace (2011)

18. St. Vincent - Strange Mercy
The breakthrough rock record of the year. Singer-guitarist Annie Clark (aka St. Vincent) writes songs just as literate and well-drawn as former tourmate Sufjan Stevens. In contrast to Stevens' brand of pop, Clark's music is refreshingly muscular rocknroll. The first two St. Vincent releases may have been meticulously constructed chamber pop LPs, but this record kicks hard with feisty guitar breaks turned up to 11. Rumbling low-end is present in the mix throughout -- whether through fuzz bass or abrasive guitar tone -- and some of the arrangements even recall the proggier side of Radiohead. However, Clark makes this her own unique affair with inviting vocals and superior lyrics. (Verse-of-the-year accolades are due to the first verse of "Dilettante.") Ultimately, it's the dark beauty of "Cruel" that will sell this record to anyone with ears. "I make a living telling people what they want to hear," she sings, and with albums like Strange Mercy, she should have no shortage of listeners. -- KS

17. Woods - Sun and Shade
Either Woods have an incredible work ethic or everyone else is just lazy. For the third year in a row, the psych-folk neo-hippies not only have a new album, but they have one worthy of high placement on this (or any other) year-end list. Sun and Shade may be their most impressive album yet, offering gentle folk (“Be All Be Easy,” “Wouldn’t Waste”), epic psych jams (“Out of the Eye,” “Sol y Sombra”) and inventive rock songs that evoke The Byrds (“Any Other Day”), The Monkees (“To Have in the Home”) and even The Association (“What Faces the Sheet,” “White Out”). The enduring appeal of Woods isn’t that mysterious: they write traditional, melodic rock songs and deliver them with enough strange flourishes (stylized vocals, peculiar guitar sounds) to maintain a healthy balance of nostalgia and innovation. Here's hoping they find time to do it again in 2012. -- JD
RELATED: Top 30 Albums of 2009 | Top 30 Albums of 2010 | Real Estate, Woods and... Real Woods (2010) | Woods and Kurt Vile at Lee's Palace (2011)

16. My Morning Jacket - Circuital
As a recording act, there’s no question that My Morning Jacket peaked somewhere during the one-two-three punch of At Dawn, It Still Moves and Z. But any analysis of the band’s albums requires some consideration of their unrivalled live shows. At this point in MMJ’s history, they seem to be using their albums primarily as a platform to introduce new flavors to their set lists. As a stand-alone listening experience, 2008’s Evil Urges was a bit of a mess, but several of its tracks (including the once-infuriating “Highly Suspicious”) play an important role in shaping the wild eclecticism of their live shows. Thankfully, Circuital both serves that purpose and improves upon its predecessor by a significant margin. This isn’t an album of great, noble integrity -- several tracks were originally written for the Muppets and their lyrics are suitably juvenile -- but it’s hard to complain about an album that yields so many memorable moments and at least one certifiable My Morning Jacket classic (“You Wanna Freak Out”). -- JD
RELATED: My Morning Jacket at Kool Haus (2011)

15. Panda Bear - Tomboy
Now that the stylistic innovations of Animal Collective and Panda Bear have become somewhat familiar, Noah Lennox finds himself in a difficult position. How do you keep breaking new ground? What’s the next new thing? On Tomboy, Lennox wisely avoids the kind of grand gestures that might suggest a preoccupation with those questions. Instead, he does something relatively old fashioned: he builds songs around strong vocal melodies. Of course, the sprawling soundscapes (shaped with the help of Spacemen 3’s Sonic Boom) that support those vocals are anything but old fashioned, expanding the emotional scope of the songs and infusing them with a very modern urgency. Like any album, the first two thirds of Tomboy have received the bulk of the attention, but in the album’s unforgettable three-song finale (“Friendship Bracelet,” “Afterburner,” “Benfica”), Lennox loosens the reigns on his vocals and leaves the listener with the kind bittersweet euphoria that distinguishes Panda Bear from his imitators. -- JD
RELATED: Top 30 Albums of 2009 | GATEFOLDING, Vol. 34

14. Thurston Moore - Demolished Thoughts
Thurston Moore's third solo LP is also the third recent production by wayward hipster savant Beck (see the top 10 for another example). Demolished Thoughts exhibits some of the hushed chamber-pop hallmarks of Beck's 2002 LP, Sea Change. Both albums contrast pretty acoustic guitar melodies and impressively thoughtful lyrics with eerie string arrangements. While certain record store clerks opined that Samara Lubelski's violin was overly prominent in some of these tunes, to my ear she adds a welcome Middle Eastern feel to Thurston's compositions. Certainly we can all agree that Mary Lattimore's harp is perfectly deployed (as on Smoke Ring For My Halo; again, see the top 10), particularly on standout track "Illuminine." As for the compositions themselves, whatever doubts recent developments cast on the future of Sonic Youth, Demolished Thoughts proves Thurston able to deliver the trademark SY sound on his own, thanks in large part to his dissonant acoustic riffing. Bonus points for the bright blue vinyl, gatefold and booklet of poetry, which rank among 2011's most worthwhile physical products. -- KS
RELATED: Top 30 Albums of 2009 | GATEFOLDING, Vol. 2: Sonic Youth

13. Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost
The fact that Girls’ sensational debut album, Album (that’s not a typo), ranked higher in our 2009 end-of-the-year music poll doesn’t take anything away from this equally satisfying sophomore release. Naturally, the stakes are higher the second time around, and in that respect, Father, Son, Holy Ghost is a more-than-welcome follow-up that rivals -- if not surpasses -- its predecessor. Girls still manage to crank out incredibly catchy tunes, paired with sensitive lyrics and a pleasing amount of quirk. They also sound a helluva lot more confident, without sacrificing any of the vulnerability that has always made them so convincing and compelling. I’d love to have seen this lower down on the list, but the competition was fierce. -- NK
RELATED: Top 30 Albums of 2009 | GATEFOLDING, Vol. 30 | Girls and Real Estate at El Mocambo (2009)

12. Smith Westerns - Dye It Blonde
Last January, Smith Westerns’ second album, Dye It Blonde, seemed like a shoe-in for our top 10. Perhaps it was the passage of time and countless other albums that killed some of the buzz, but I’m glad to see it standing strong at number 12. Considering these guys are only in their early twenties, it’s amazing how tight and controlled their sound is. Each track is surf-rock bliss, often going beyond genre borders to create incredibly rich, atmospheric instrumental jams and anthemic vocals that can get an entire crowd chanting along. While I’m somewhat mystified by the sheer talent and self-confidence that these kids display, I’m grateful for any album that can remain on heavy rotation for one straight year. -- NK
RELATED: Smith Westerns at The Horseshoe (2011)

11. Akron/Family - Akron/Family II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT
If you just couldn’t wait for the new Akron/Family album and downloaded it early, chances are you heard something a bit different from the official release. In keeping with the spirit of this album’s ridiculous title, the band leaked alternate mixes early, in order to confuse and perplex listeners. But truth be told, this album isn’t as crazy or experimental as those early leaks, the band’s improvisational live shows or other assorted indulgences might suggest. This isn’t the album where Akron/Family surrendered to chaos, even if they did their best to give fans that impression. Sure, Akron/Family II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT has moments of reckless weirdness, but even songs that start chaotic (“A AAA O A WAY”) tend to evolve into a more disciplined shape (or vice versa). In spite of signs to the contrary, Shinju TNT proves that Akron/Family are still capable of mature, accessible songwriting (“Island,” “Another Sky,” “Cast a Net”) and yet they’ve never sounded more confidently open to their wildly divergent impulses (exhibit A: the harrowing “Light Emerges”). -- JD
RELATED: Top 30 Albums of 2009 | GATEFOLDING, Vol. 4 | Akron/Merch

30-21 | 10-1 | Top 30 Albums of 2009 | Top 30 Albums of 2010