Once every three months I list the best of what I heard in albums/songs/remixes for the quarter. I do this to personally keep up with all the awesome music I hear, as it ultimately helps me at the end of the year when I do my overall listing for the previous twelve months. I also do it to introduce you cool cats to tunes you may have missed independently.
Every Saturday, I post a 15-20 minute podcast featuring some tracks I’ve been jamming the previous week, as well as some commentary and random musings from yours truly. Enjoy!
Tracklist:
Buraka Som Sistema – We Stay Up All Night (Star Slinger Remix)
Azealia Banks – Liquorice
Django Django – Default
Big K.R.I.T. – Moon and Stars (Clams Casino Remix)
Rihanna – We Found Love (Star Slinger Refix)
We’ve discussed the overrated and the disappointing, but there were also a ton of albums in 2011 that were absolutely great. Since I only make a Top 50, there were several I felt deserved recognition, but had strong superior competition. Here, in alphabetical order, are 25 of the best albums of this year that just missed the final cut. Spotify/Download/Buy links provided below.
Battles – Gloss Drop
Beastie Boys – Hot Sauce Committee Part Two
The Cars – Move Like This
Cheeseburger – Another Big Night Down the Drain
The Civil Wars – Barton Hollow
Clams Casino – Rainforest EP
Cults – S/T
Cymbals Eat Guitars – Lenses Alien
Dawes – Nothing Is Wrong
DJ Quik – The Book of David
Dom – Family of Love EP
Fucked Up – David Comes to Life
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx – We’re New Here
Lykke Li – Wounded Rhymes
J Mascis – Several Shades of Why
Cass McCombs – Humor Risk
Panda Bear – Tomboy
Pictureplane – Thee Physical
R.E.M. – Collapse Into Now
Paul Simon – So Beautiful Or So What
Martin Solveig – Smash
Thee Oh Sees – Carrion Crawler/The Dream
Shugo Tokumaru – Port Entropy
White Denim – D
Wiz Khalifa – Rolling Papers
Compared to the past couple of years, I was underwhelmed with the number of awesome remixes I heard in 2011. Not that they weren’t out there, I just didn’t mosey upon them. So if by chance you don’t see one of your favorites listed here, send it my way or comment, by all means.
Regular readers will not be surprised to find a plethora of Star Slinger on here; he’s one of my favorite current producers. There are others here as well, and he doesn’t get the top spot. Also it should be noted, for those uninitiated, that I’m a big club and house fan, so other styles are likely under-represented here. I enjoy dance music, but I’m not going to pretend I know a lot about it. Like most of my year-end lists, this is basically just a ranked list of remixes I heard that I enjoyed. YouTube links are provided, and listening to these tracks loudly is highly encouraged.
20. Star Slinger – Dumbin’ (Diplo Remix)
19. The Rapture – How Deep Is Your Love (A-Trak Dub aka Dub For Mehdi)
18. Escort – Cameleon Chameleon (Club Remix)
17. Trombone Shorty – Do To You (Star Slinger Remix)
16. Jamie Woon – Lady Luck (Hudson Mohawke’s Schmink-Wolf Refix)
15. XV – Swervin’ (Clams Casino Remix)
14. Tyson – Out of My Mind (Star Slinger Remix)
13. Star Slinger – How Will I Copulate (Moranis Mashup feat. Whitney Houston)
12. Aaliyah – Are You That Somebody (Hudson Mohawke Remix)
11. James Vincent McMorrow – If I Had a Boat (Star Slinger’s R ‘n’ B Thug Mix)
10. Gold Panda – Marriage (Star Slinger Remix)
9. Ra Ra Riot – Too Dramatic (The Kids Are Radioactive Remix)
8. Pony Pony Run Run – Hey You (Star Slinger Remix)
7. Alex Winston – Sister Wife (Star Slinger Remix)
6. The Go! Team – Apollo Throwdown (Star Slinger Remix)
5. Rizzle Kicks – Down With the Trumpets (Star Slinger Remix)
4. Coldplay – Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall (Swedish House Mafia Remix)
3. Childish Gambino – Freaks and Geeks (Star Slinger Remix)
2. Bingo Players – Cry (Just a Little) (Kids at the Bar Bootleg Remix)
150. Drake feat. The Weeknd – Crew Love
This is the first of many times for both these artists on the list. Here the Weeknd provides his eerie tortured-party R&B before the beat drops and Drake laments.
149. Cass McCombs – County Line
McCombs brings another signature somber note in his trademark melancholy falsetto. One of my favorites from Wit’s End.
148. Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
The first verse of this track more or less describes my life right now – realizing we are not unique snowflakes but small cogs in a machine we don’t know about yet. Simple, yet poignant.
147. The Joy Formidable – Magnifying Glass
From the maniacal laughter to the thumping stomp of that chorus to those wailing guitars, Joy Formidable claim the throne as the loudest new band of 2011.
146. YACHT – Dystopia
A play on an old R-rated cheerleader chant becomes a boogie-worthy ode to the end of the world. In typical Yacht fashion, it makes you wanna dance around the flames.
Brooklyn freelance beatmaker Clams Casino has stated he is tired of the rat race of trying to collaborate with MCs to rap on top of his slick, ethereal productions. Â He says the beats just lay around for months, waiting for someone to write a rhyme for the finished track. Â It’s understandable – rappers have busy schedules, and one could argue these sounds are best heard as instrumentals.
Those in favor of the latter, myself included, have a strong EP as evidence – the newly self-released Rainforest EP. Â Taking cues from West Coast hip-hop and sonic dance producers like Burial, Clams Casino unleashes his spaced-out, boogie-worthy, nature-themed creations to the masses as purely instrumental tracks, and the result is quick five ones, with a lot of awesome going on in each.
Once every three months I list the best of what I heard in albums/songs/remixes for the quarter. I do this to personally keep up with all the awesome music I hear, as it ultimately helps me at the end of the year when I do my overall listing for the previous twelve months. I also do it to introduce you cool cats to tunes you may have missed independently.
Every Saturday, I post a 15-20 minute podcast featuring some tracks I’ve been jamming the previous week, as well as some commentary and random musings from yours truly. Enjoy!
Tracklist:
Purity Ring – Loftcries
XV – Swervin (Clams Casino Remix)
Pony Pony Run Run – Hey You (Star Slinger Remix)
DJ Quik – Flow For Sale (feat. Kurupt)
