This past year was really up and down musically. The biggest selling song of the year happened to be one of the best; chillwave came roaring back with releases from all the major bands; September saw major prog metal releases; and the indie scene continued to amaze. I had high hopes for 2011 releases from Death Cab for Cutie, Radiohead, Fleet Foxes, and Björk (especially Björk), only to be let down. I also spent a lot of 2011 listening to older music that I missed along the way. One of the best was Trapeze’s Medusa, a 1972 hard rock album by the Glenn Hughes-fronted band that I heard about on That Metal Show. I can’t believe it slipped below my radar all these years. I also caught up on some older downtempo, indie, metal, and dubstep.
On my favorite songs of 2011, there’s a pretty good mix of heavier music, lots of indie, and even a hip hop song. What’s interesting is that most of these songs came out in the second half of the year:
Numbers 16-25:
...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead – ‘Weight of the Sun”
Lykke Li – "Love Out of Lust"
Friendly Fires – “Blue Cassette”
Toro Y Moi – “New Beat”
Neon Indian – “Polish Girl”
Cults - “Abducted”
Arch/Matheos – “Incense and Myrh”
Washed Out – “Amor Fati”
Ben Folds Five – “Tell Me What I Did”
Ben Folds - “Rocky” (unreleased 1992 track)
15. Memory Tapes - “Wait in the Dark” While was not as impressed with Player Piano as I was with the Tapes’ previous effort, 2009’s exceptional Seek Magic, “Wait in the Dark” delivers a shot of straight ahead indie pop, accented by studio effects, with a hint of chillwave. The sound definitely makes you think of Dayve Hawk’s previous band, the now-defunct and underrated Hail Social.
14. Anthrax - “Fight 'Em 'Til You Can't” If you told me that I’d be listening to Anthrax in 2011, I would have called you nuts. I hadn’t listened to anything the band put out since the early '90s. Back with singer Joey Belladona, the band's “Fight 'Em” is a great thrash throwback song. Makes you want to mosh … if it was 1987 again, and you were 15 years old.
Article comments
1 - Charlie Doherty
I haven't heard all these songs but knowing of a lot of the artists you picked out, I have to say it's an outstanding and very diverse list. I may do a favorite songs article soon myself, but there's no way I can't nail it down to 25. There weren't that many great albums, but there was a ton of great individual tracks in 2011, for sure.
2 - Scott Deitche
Thanks Charlie. I appreciate the feedback. The year started slow, but yeah, there ended up being a lot of good songs.
3 - Mike Schlossberg
Nice work Scott. I will admit, a lot of songs I don't know, but that just gives me the opportunity to download some new music over the holidays. Big fan of Calgary (which we just saw live) and Go Outside. The only thing this list is missing is a song from Phish. You must have just forgot :) Cheers
4 - Brandon
personally i vote that he "forgot" Kittie's Time Never Heals... but thats just me... great article...