Top Ten Albums of 2011: 5-1

5. Real Estate Days

Exhibit “A” in the power of craftsmanship over originality. Days doesn't push pop into new directions. It's not the spokesperson for some new scene. There is nothing inherently unique about Days. As a sophomore album, it’s not even a huge step forward from their 2009 self-titled debut. It simply stands proudly in the tradition of more recent musicians and albums like The Shins Oh Inverted World and the Pernice Brothers. It has nods to classics like the Smiths. It's certainly influenced by the 60's guitar records. Even by 2011 standards, there’s not much separating Days from Seapony’s debut.

But what Real Estate does they do well. Every note is there for a reason. Every hook matters. The vocals are perfectly arranged. They took the three minute and 30 second pop-song and broke it down to its core components. They then took ten of these songs and arranged them together in a 40 minute masterpiece that holds up both as trees and the forest. Any song fits snuggly in a mix, but demands to be listened to as a whole. Perfect for the lazy Sunday mornings or casual drives in the sun. Real Estate show why the pop album is alive and well.

4. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart Belong

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart made a minor name for themselves by releasing a string of ace 7”’s, EP’s and one LP. They were becoming a big fish in the small pond that is noise-pop and twee. They were catchy as hell, sugary as candy, and had just enough swagger and sharp edges to make it interesting.

The first 15 seconds of Belong makes it seem like we were being played. Opening track “Belong” opens with a nice jangle-pop strum setting up the listener for more of the past. But then it drops off and we’re slammed with big distorted guitars, shiny hooks, and a sound coming straight from the mid-90’s.

Wouldn’t you know it? The Pains of Being Pure at Heart went and made their first Smashing Pumpkins record. And it’s awesome. This shouldn’t surprise. Go back and listen to the high points of Smashing Pumpkins. Listen to “1979”. Listen to “Today”. Listen to “Tonight.” This is great stuff. Here, on Belong, the Pains of Being Pure at Heart took the best of that and made it their own. Sure, they are still a noise-pop/twee band. But now they’re a noise-pop/twee band and more. They showed they’re going to take what they’re good at and push into new directions.

3. Gillian Welch The Harrow & the Harvest

She’s back. And it only took eight years.

Because of the huge gap between 2003’s Soul Journey and The Harrow & the Harvest, expectation was … well … high. High is probably an understatement. Mass hysteria is more appropriate. People love their Gillian.

Slavish love of fanboys and girls can bite you though. And from my perspective, David Rawlings and Gillian Welch were basically screwed. Either the expectations of long-suffering listeners were set so unrealistically high, they would fail miserably. Or, fans were so delighted to hear anything, Rawlings and Welch would be given a free pass. People would be so thrilled to hear anything; it would be devoured only to leave a bad impression six months down the road.

Amazingly, they delivered a classic. As with any Rawlings/Welch album, the devil is in the details. It doesn’t vary stylistically from much in their catalogue. If anything it’s a return to some of their earliest efforts when it was truly just Rawlings’ strings and Welch’s voice. And because the sound is so minimalist, it’s the particulars that make the album a treasure. We all know Rawlings can play the guitar. We all know Welch can sing. What impresses is Welch’s ability to create these dark little vignettes that matches perfectly the tone of the song. Every note matters. The feeling it creates is very purposeful. You’re in the hands of a man and a woman taking you on a journey of shunned lovers, addicts, revivalists, and neighbors sharing stories.

2. The Decemberists The King is Dead

In June, good friends of ours got married. It was a reprieve from the worst month of our life. Thankfully there are certain celebrations—weddings, births, and anniversaries for starters—that puts things in perspective. They’re events that allow you to see the possible beyond the present. Note also that the wedding couple was facing their own bad news. For us and for them, the evening was preceded by death and uncertainty.

During the ceremony, The King is Dead track “June Hymn” was played. The song is simple. It is Colin Meloy’s lilting voice and an acoustic guitar. As a song, it is an ode to rebirth. It is psalm to the awakening of the earth. It’s a Eucharistic-type prayer. For me, the Christian, it is a song about resurrection. It is a song of hope. It is a song of life out of darkness. It is a song that moves me to glad tears nearly every damn time I hear it. For “June Hymn” alone, The King is Dead will forever be etched in my heart.

The album itself is brilliant. I won’t rehash the details, but over the last few albums the Decemberists moved away from their English folk and In the Aeroplane over the Sea style into a more prog-rock direction. They still kept their epic tales of ghosts, stevedores, soldiers, and spies but were bigger, glammier, and jammier. Some liked this lot. Some didn’t. Consider me in the later camp.

For those in the later camp, The King is Dead is a welcome return to form. They took what they were good at and added an alt-country/Americana flavor (Gillian Welch guests on a handful of tracks). This is all well and good, but it matters little if the songs don’t deliver. As it so happens, this is one of their best collections in years. From the stomach punch of “Calamity Song” to the gentleness of “January Hymn” to the march of “Down by the Water”, Meloy and company proved that not only do they still have it, they never lost it.

1. M83 Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming.

Double albums are the apex of artist megalomania. They’re the work of a human being(s) so infatuated with his own abilities and this batch of songs that he can’t see that A) some of the songs aren’t that good and B) perhaps most of us don’t want to listen to you for almost two hours.

But credit where credit is due: Anthony Gonzalez did the impossible. He made an honest to goodness double LP with no bad tracks. Seriously, think about that for a moment. 22 songs. No bad tracks. More so, the average listener actually wants to listen to the whole thing straight through. Not just one disc. Both discs. Straight through. Sometimes I would simply start over when it ended. For that alone, he deserves some sort of trophy.

Hell, he deserves more than a trophy. Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming. is a masterpiece. It is the sound of the youth. It captures all the ambiguity, confusion, heartbreak, dreaming, wonder, hope, despair, awkwardness, and bad poetry of adolescence and puts into one big beautiful package. This is a dance album that is meant to be played loudly in a crowded room full of friends and strangers. But at the same time it’s meant to be played alone. It speaks to your alienation, loneliness, and despair. And brings hope. Hope for the daydreamers. Hope you’re not alone. Hope there is a life out there where you belong. Gonzalez has chronicled the sound of looking backward at youth gone and pushes the still young forward with romantic idealism.

Truthfully, it’s hard to imagine M83 being the kind of band they are to today. They (he) began as a mostly instrumental post-My Bloody Valentine neo-shoegaze act. The sound was loud. The guitars were layered. The keyboards were prominent. The low-end was dominated the foreground. But with their previous effort, 2009’s Saturdays=Youth, you could sense that there was something else at play. Beneath the noise, there was the sound of an artist enamored with the synthesized sounds of the 80’s. Beneath the navel gazing there was the man who loved John Hughes films. And wouldn't you know it, he captured everything great about Hughes into two discs.

See also: Albums 10-6