John Maus- We Must Become The Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves We Must Become The Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves by John Maus is a synthpop tour de force, and it sounds like a 2011 album recorded in 1984. Maus' deep vocals guide the great variety of synths seen here, creating a wonderful dark electronic sound. Hey Moon is the highlight of the album, with its hypnotic synth riff almost lulling one to sleep.
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Belong Many people accuse The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart of being unoriginal, ripping off the generic shoegazy sound. However, this album throws off this accusation, with the Pains bringing great variety to their sound, with what sounds like a subtle Smashing Pumpkins influence, especially on title track "Belong." If you're a fan of shoegaze, dream pop, etc. check out this album!
Radiohead - The King Of Limbs Let me start out by saying that this is no In Rainbows, by any means. If TKOL was anywhere close to In Rainbows it would top my list every time, but that's not to say it's bad. In all honesty I did not expect Radiohead to come close to their previous album to begin with. Here is a much more subdued effort by the British band, with almost trip-hoppy beats guiding the minimalist instrumentation, very reminiscent of Thom Yorke's solo album The Eraser. It may not be the best of what Radiohead has to offer, but it's still very very good. The highlight of the album is "Separator," a mix of their guitar driven In Rainbows sound and their new minimalist electronic sound.
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Starf**er - Reptilians If you were to judge a band by its name, you might think Starf**er are an over the top, obscene band bent on offending people. However, their masterful sound is quite refined, at times moving between synthpop and electronica. I highly recommend this or any of their other records, unfortunately their name might prevent them from receiving the recognition they deserve from more mainstream sources. Highlights include "Julius" and "Slow Dance" (a bonus track featured on the deluxe edition).
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WU LYF - Go Tell Fire To The Mountain For a band so shrouded in enigma (they rarely give interviews and release their albums on their own label), WU LYF's music has a pretty simple formula: post rock instrumentation over near shrieking vocals, with barely decipherable lyrics. However, for a reason I can't quite put my finger on, this works amazingly, and you'll find some of the most powerful and innovative songs that I've ever heard on this record. The album opener "LYF" and the closer "Heavy Pop" are the highlights of the record, the alpha and omega so to speak, with great music in between. WU LYF is definitely not for everybody, but what music is?
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I’m a high school student with a great interest and wide taste in music, although my list this year is mostly focused on indie I listen to many different genres, and I enjoy any music with depth. Some other great albums that didn’t make this list include The Morning After Girls – Alone, Bon Iver – Bon Iver, Florence + The Machine – Ceremonials and Washed Out – Within And Without. To be totally honest, however, I wasn’t overly impressed with 2011 as a musical year, hopefully 2012 will be better, and with time I’ll be able to discover the many releases I probably missed.
