The most wonderful time of the year is here yet again! I am very excited to not only post my own year-end, but to see everyone else’s. For the new members who have no idea who I am and think i’m some crazy old hobo who has gotten in control of a computer: I’m Ben, and I have been on ATRL (on-and-off) since 2002. I have been doing this Top 40 Albums of the year thing since 2004. Hopefully you will find something that you like in this year’s list, and if you hate everything on it, hopefully my write-ups at least make it interesting?
The rundown (directed by Peter Berg):
- The top 10 singles of 2011. This list will be posted incredibly shortly after this intro post is done. In fact, maybe even a minute after? Time me!
- Following that will be the Top 12 Music Videos of 2011 list. There were tons of great videos this year, with quite a lot of my list taken up by one director. Who??? You’ll have to wait to find out.
- There will be a quick list (not really a “list,” more of a post) of two new TV shows premiering in 2012 that you should look forward to. Hint: Premium cable!
- Top 40 movies to look forward to in 2012.
- The Top 35 TV Shows of 2011. This will be posted the week of December 19th.
- Sometime in January 2012: Top ______ movies of 2011. As I have in previous years, this will be posted very late, probably as I am posting the top 5 albums.
And of course, the main event: THE TOP 40 ALBUMS OF 2011! This was the hardest albums list I have done in some time, as it very easily could have been 50 or 60. But I decided to keep the top 40 albums tradition alive, and leave it at that. Just know that there were numerous very worthy candidates that missed the cut (i’ll be posting some of those albums that just missed the 40 throughout) that are still very much worth your time.
Runners-Up:
Beyonce – 1 + 1
Sloan – Unkind
Ty Segall – Goodbye Bread
The Ettes – Excuse
10. Ximena Sariñana – Different
Listen to this song (embed is above), and tell me who you think co-wrote and produced it. Would you have guessed this guy? Probably not.
Of course, “this guy” is the legendary Tim Armstrong (Rancid/Operation Ivy), one of my all-time favourite music people. This is far from the first time Armstrong has ventured into pop songwriting, as he co-wrote/produced much of Pink’s underrated Try This album, as well as working on songs on Skye Sweetnam’s second album Sound Solider. It’s odd, since he’s such a bay-area punk figure, but he truly is a heck of a pop songwriter for females. This latest song “Different,” is a song by Mexican singer Ximena Sariñana, whom I don’t know much about, and it’s this real joyful and uplifting little thing. I must give a shout-out to TC for recommending her latest album to me, as it is quite fun.
09. J. Mascis – Not Enough
J. Mascis may seem like an odd choice for this, but I could listen to him sing anything. Yes, there are more seasoned and professional singers out there, but that adds to Mascis’ charm. His voice is so singular, that anything he sings in his stoner-drawl gives it the proper weight. So it’s a real pleasure to listen to “Not Enough,” where Mascis is stripped away from his signature ear- crushingly loud electric guitar, and instead has him playing an acoustic guitar. Joining him on backing vocals are members of the band Band of Horses, who add a lot to the proceedings. I played this song a ton in the early months of 2011, and I continue to enjoy a lot to this day.
08. Pistol Annies - Hell on Heels
While Miranda Lambert’s albums have consecutively gotten more polished, Pistol Annies (a group consisting of Lambert, Ashley Monroe, Angaleena Presley) is Lambert’s new avenue for her fun and rambunctious side. No song on the album better exemplifies that spirit than the title track and single “Hell on Heels.” You get some great laughs, some nice snarling vocals from the trio, and it’s just a real pleasure to listen to. The trios chemistry on the song makes it seem effortless, and that you are in the presence of some of the best that country music has to offer today.
07. Glen Campbell – Hold on Hope
While technically not a single, I wanted to honor this song in some way. So for you sticklers out there, sorry?
Glen Campbell and Robert Pollard are two of America’s greatest, from different eras. You would never expect them to collaborate, as their stylesare so wildly different. Yet, on Glen Campbell’s final studio album (final, because he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s) he tackles one of Pollard’s more poppy compositions “Hold on Hope,” and owns it in a way similar to how Johnny Cash owned “Hurt” by nine inch nails. The difference between “Hurt” and “Hold on Hope,” however is that “Hurt” remains one of NIN’s finest songs, while “Hold on Hope” is an outlier in the Guided by Voices catalogue, as it is more conventional, and not indicative to what makes GBV great.
The key to “Hold on Hope,” and why Glen Campbell officially owns the song forever now, is the line “There rides the cowboy!” When Robert Pollard sings it, it’s moving, but not in a way that stays with you. When the “Rhinestone Cowboy” himself sings it, however, it feels like Pollard wrote that line specifically for Campbell to sing one day. It’s a total punch in the gut. That the song also has the chorus “Everybody’s got to Hold on Hope, it’s the last thing that’s holding me,” in light of his Alzheimer’s, brings so much poignancy to a song that was not there in the original recording. It’s everything a great cover version should be, and it’s one of the finest examples of a singer resurrecting a song and making it his own that I can remember.
06. The National with Sharon Van Etten – Think You Can Wait
This song was made specifically for the film Win Win, and played over the end-credits. Whether you have seen the movie or not (though you should), the song strikes a hard chord. What sends the song over the top, though, is the lovely backing vocals by the great Sharon Van Etten (who has an album out early next year that I am quite looking forward to). While it may be unrealistic, i’d love it if The National made an album entirely with Sharon Van Etten. Judging by their collaboration here, it would be some very terrific music.
05. ****ed Up – Queen of Hearts
I love ****ed Up so much. However, instead of doing a write-up now, I will let you know that their album David Comes to Life makes a very high showing on my Top 40 albums list. So just sit tight, as you’ll read my thoughts on the miraculous thing ****ed Up did this year then.
04. Frank Ocean – Novacane
First, let’s get this out of the way: I’m not a Tyler, The Creator fan. His homophobia aside (the brilliant Tom Scharpling dubbed him “Andrew Dice Clay with a skateboard”), the music he’s making is not the least bit original. If you want a better example of the type of rap that Tyler does, listen to Gravediggaz’ 1994 debut album 6 Feet Deep, instead. It’s infinitely more creative, and better musically. You’ll thank me later.
I bring this up, because Frank Ocean is a part of the Odd Future collective, which is odd, as he feels like a bit of an outlier in the group. Instead of tired sub-Eminem horror-raps, Ocean provides some of the most innovative and fascinating R&B around. “Novacane,” his big first single, has to be one of the weirdest songs to get national (or semi-national, at least) attention in some time. It’s an ear-worm that gets stuck in your head instantly. The song (and leaked album Nostalgia Ultra) lead Ocean to getting work on both Beyonce’s latest album (where he co-wrote “I Miss You”), and singing the hooks on two songs on Jay-Z/Kanye’s Watch the Throne album. 2012 should be even bigger, as he will very likely release his first official album, and whatever other writing/hook work he can score. All he needs to do now is to dump those Odd Future goons to the curb.
03. The Black Keys - Lonely Boy
HERE COMES A NEW CHALLENGER!
This song just squeaked into the list, as it was recently released only a month or so ago. While the album won’t be on the top 40 list, sadly, due to the December release date (even though it is an absolutely wonderful album), I couldn’t let my year-end list pass by without mentioning the monsters of Nashville (nee Akron) rock. What’s there to say about “Lonely Boy”? It’s the big sequel to “Tighten Up,” as the band reunites with producer Danger Mouse (who produced the entirety of El Camino, as opposed to only producing “Tighten Up” on Brothers*). They have a great working relationship, as Danger Mouse pushes the band into bold and exciting soundscapes, while they retain their raw garage rock edge.
I remain very happy that the Black Keys get bigger with each year, as it’s a great thing for mainstream rock. While most of their contemporaries delve into more dance-like elements, The Black Keys prove you can still be a vital force by just having a guitar and drums.
*I know that Danger Mouse also produced the entirety of 2008’s Attack & Release, but with “Tighten Up’s” huge success, that’s why I went with the sequel thing, as opposed to a trilogy.
02. Jay-Z/Kanye West – Otis
When Watch The Throne was first announced, many hip-hop fans were likely expecting the album to be like “Otis” the whole way through. Many were disappointed when it wasn’t like that, and while I love the album that they made, there’s a part of me that wishes we got a wall-to-wall hip-hop bangers album instead. Regardless, “Otis” is one of the best songs of the year, and its release was also one of the major music events of the year. I mean, you know you have a great song when you have Funkmaster Flex playing a 3 minute song over a 30 minute span of rewinding and ****-talking (which included him demanding listeners to “go into a convenience store, and put your hand in the cash register for no reason! Their money is your money as of right now!”).
As a song, it’s probably the song that Jay-Z sounds the most comfortable on over the entire album. It shows, as he gets some really amazing lines in there. The rapping back-and-forth that he does with Kanye (who is every bit of Jay’s equal on the song, which would have been a very unlikely statement 8 years ago) is spectacular, and it’s just such a dynamic song. I know a lot of people would probably prefer “N----- in Paris” to be on the list instead, and while I agree that it is an amazing song (with Jay and Kanye over a great southern rap beat by Hit-Boy), I guess the big single release of “Otis” made it more memorable, to me personally.
01. Wild Flag – Romance
I am a new convert to the church of Carrie Brownstein, as I was first introduced to her talents earlier this year on the wonderful sketch-comedy series Portlandia. Seeing as I missed out on her long-running beloved band Sleater-Kinney, who had broken up some years ago, I was very interested in whatever upcoming music projects she had. Enter WILD FLAG.
I heard this song make its world premiere, as it premiered on WFMU’s great music program Cherry Blossom Clinic with Terre T, and it knocked me out right away. This was as immediate and amazing a rock song I had heard in some time. Here’s a song, about the love of music and how it makes you feel better in times of good and bad, and this song by WILD FLAG is doing the exact same thing that it is describing! It’s like they are music magicians!
While 2011 had plenty of wonderful songs that I listened to multiple times, “Romance” was the one I went back to the most, and it never grew old or let me down. It was my Linus Blanket of 2011.
Never has this reaction been more appropriate: YEEEEEEEEESSSSSS!
I was actually saying to Watson that I wasn't even sure if you were even going to do your year-ender this year. I'm so glad to have been proven wrong. Otis, Novacane and Glen Campbell all make me so incredibly happy, and it's clear that I totally need to seek out that Wild Flag song.
Of course, this is just the beginning. TV SHOWS! ALBUMS! MUSIC VIDEOS! MOVIES TO LOOK FORWARD TO! MOVIES! I CAN'T STOP YELLING!
"Not Enough" , "Otis" and "Different" are my favorite songs of this set. Thanks for giving me more about Different's information. I really love that song, as well as Ximena Sariñana.
Hey, first off: I'm a liar. The music videos list isn't up next, not because I don't have the videos ranked and chosen (I do), it's just that I have a case of writers block in terms of writing the write-ups. Hopefully sometime later today I will get the full music videos list up. But until then.....
This is a special side-list of two shows that are newly premiering in 2012 that I am looking forward to. Some guidelines, up front:
- This does not mean RETURNING SERIES. It means brand-new series that have yet to debut, prior to 2012.
- This also excludes network pilots, for reasons being that many pilots that look great on paper may not make it to air at all. Even though there are a few network pilots that I am crossing my fingers on getting series orders (such as Sarah Silverman’s NBC comedy pilot, FOX’s Harve Karbo, produced by The Coen Brothers), it seems like a waste of time to include them, without knowing if they will make it on the air.
- HBO’s LUCK, while a brand-new series premiering in 2012, is excluded due to the pilot getting a sneak preview last Sunday, ahead of its official January 29th debut. It is not at all because i'm not looking forward to it, because I definitely am. The pilot screened on Sunday was SO AMAZING that I watched it twice in the span of 24 hours. It's pretty much all I can think about, and it was probably one of the best pilots I have ever seen. So yeah.
GIRLS
Network: HBO
Airdate: April 2010
Logline: The assorted humiliations and rare triumphs of a group of three women in their early twenties, who live in New York.
Created by Lena Dunham
Executive Produced by Judd Apatow, Lena Dunham, Jennifer Konner
Starring Lena Dunham, Jemima Kirke, Allison Williams (with guest appearances by Chris O’Dowd, Andrew Rannells, Kathryn Hahn, Jorma Taccone, Horatio Sanz, Mike Birbiglia)
There are many exciting things about Girls. For one thing, it’s the first TV project Judd Apatow has been involved in since creating Undeclared in 2001. Since then, obviously, he has become the king of Hollywood comedies, so it’s very exciting to see him get back to his roots, back on the channel that gave him his first break (he was a writer/producer for many seasons on one of the greatest comedies of all-time [if not THE best] The Larry Sanders Show).
The other thing that is exciting about Girls? That it’s set to be a realistic take on twenty-something women living their life in New York, in a comedic (meaning, hard laughs, not a Showtime dramedy) way. Lena Dunham is a great talent, and while I have yet to see her acclaimed directorial debut Tiny Furniture, i’ve seen her in other outlets be really quite sharp and hilarious. She’s got a great take on things, and with Judd Apatow mentoring her and helping out on the series, Girls should be something very special.
VEEP
Network: HBO
Airdate: April 2010 (Girls and Veep are very likely going to be airing in a block together at 10 PM, airing after season 2 of Game of Thrones)
Logline: Former senator Selina Meyer becomes Vice President of the United States, only to discover the job is nothing like she expected, but everything she was warned about.
Created by Armando Iannucci
Executive Produced by Armando Iannucci, Frank Rich, Christopher Godsick, Simon Blackwell
Starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Sufe Bradshaw, Anna Chlumsky, Tony Hale, Reid Scott, Tim Simons, Matt Walsh
For the comedy nerds (such as myself), this is the new show that is most hotly anticipated for next year.
Armando Iannucci became known in the U.S. for directing/co-writing the brilliant movie In the Loop (which he got an Academy Award nomination for Original Screenplay), which was a loose continuation of his beloved British series The Thick of It. Far beyond that, he has also co-created I’m Alan Partridge, a show that is not well-known in the U.S., but is a sensation in the UK (that is also one of the funniest things you will ever see). Other beloved shows he has created in the UK include the biting news satire The Day Today (which he co-created with equally-beloved UK comedy figure Chris Morris, who went on to create the earth-shattering Brass Eye, as well as numerous other great comedy shows/films), a fictitious I Love the ‘80s-style retrospective set in the year 2031 called Time Trumpet, and too many others to list. Needless to say, he’s one of the funniest minds on the planet, and has 20 years of content to prove it.
*adjusts my glasses* That may have been a bit nerdy, but I feel the need to give proper context to someone as masterful and wonderful as he is. ANYWAY, VEEP! Veep is a landmark, if only because it’s the very first series that he has created in the U.S. Many of those shows I have listed you can’t get on DVD in North America, so it’s such a great joy that the next work by Iannucci will be something we will be able to see first, ahead of the Brits.
Veep seems like a natural continuation of the political satire he has done on both The Thick of It and In the Loop, but this time taking on the U.S. political system, directly the office of VP. Helping him out in that regard is Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who will be playing Selina Meyer. Dreyfus is one of the great comic actresses that we have, so I absolutely can’t wait to see her in this role.
Look, I could go on about this show. I could tell you that the aforementioned Chris Morris is directing multiple episodes of the series. I could tell you that all of the same writers that Iannucci worked with on both In the Loop and The Thick of It will be writing on Veep. But, I feel the need to say that there is truly no way this series could fail. It’s going to be on everyone’s top 10 (or higher) best TV shows of 2012 list. I’m just letting you know this ahead of time.
As excited as I am for Girls, Veep is just on another level of anticipation for me. It could be a dud out of the gate or it could be one of the funniest TV shows in quite some time. I'm really hoping for the latter.
Runners-Up:
Beastie Boys – Make Some Noise (Dir. Nathaniel Hornblower)
Beastie Boys ft. Santigold – Don’t Play No Game That I Can’t Win (Dir. Spike Jonze)
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12. The Ettes – Excuse
Director: Tom Scharpling
The first video by Tom Scharpling to make the list is similar to the other videos he directed this year: A clever concept that keeps your interest until the end of the song. Really, that’s the goal of any music video, but yeah. A great cameo by Patton Oswalt sends this video over the top. James Cameron eat your heart out.
Jackass camera-operator (as in, he was a camera-operator on the TV show Jackass) Whitey McConnaughy goes back to his roots for this great video for Superchunk. It’s a great riff on the cute cat videos on YouTube, but taken in a dark, and funny place. Watch out, Jon Wurster! The cat’s got a knife!
10. The National – Conversation 16
Director: Scott Jacobson
The first of two videos by comedy writer Scott Jacobson (former The Daily Show writer/current Bob’s Burgers writer) is this dark and bizarre one for The National. The video is a star-studded affair (Kristen Schaal, John Slattery, James Urbaniak), and it has some great laughs. For the people missing Mad Men this year, this is your Roger Sterling fix for the year.
09. Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – Senator
Director: Scott Jacobson
The second video by Scott Jacobson has even more stars! Jack Black! Gary Cole! Maria Thayer! Brian Stack! Like Jacobson’s video for The National, it’s dark, but has some really funny moments. And man! That campaign room has 2/3 of my favourite people on Twitter (Todd Levin, DC Pierson)! How cool is that? Super-specific reference, I apologize. Who am I apologizing to? Shut it down.
08. ****ed Up – Queen of Hearts
Director: Scott Cudmore
What a well-staged video. Not because there’s an action sequence or something, but the way that the kids in the classroom yell the song in unison. I love it when videos make the song itself a character in the thing, and the characters interact with it, and this is a very fine example of that. If only school were like this.... I would totally get an A+ in ****ed Up 101. 101? Try 301! ADVANCED ****ED UP. TRY ME.
07. Wild Flag – Electric Band
Director: Andrew Ellmaker + Lara Gallagher (Hollerings)
This video combines two of my favourite things: Wild Flag and bears. Some people on ATRL know my stance on bears, and that I am a friend to them. So, you may ask, who were you rooting for in the match of WILD FLAG vs. THE BEARS???? It was a very tough call, but I feel the match ended the right way.
06. Alex Metric & Steve Angello featuring Ian Brown – Open Your Eyes
Director: Peter Serafinowicz
Peter Serafinowicz returns to making music videos! His last video, for Hot Chip’s “I Feel Better,” was my favourite of 2010. This one is really just as great, as it puts Peter in front of the camera, to showcase his amazing comic acting skills. This whole video is clearly a riff on the ROCKY series, in that it has a robot, similar to the weird robot from ROCKY IV, and makes it the challenger to the Rocky-like hero. It’s absurd, it’s hilarious, and it’s just wonderful.
05. Wild Flag – Romance
Director: Tom Scharpling
The second Wild Flag video! This one is to my favourite single of 2011! The second video by Tom Scharpling on the list! Too many exclamation marks!
What I love about every video Tom has done so far is they really hearken back to the ‘90s concept video era, where you are watching a video reach its end, because it’s so fascinating/hilarious. He really pays tribute to directors like Phil Morrison (director of the movie JUNEBUG, the Hodgman vs. Justin Long Mac TV ad campaign,) whose videos like the one for Yo La Tengo’s “Sugarcube” (featuring Bob Odenkirk and David Cross and other cast members from Mr. Show) are so unlike anything else being made. In terms of his video for “Romance,” he makes Wild Flag the stars of the video, as they blaze through the town of Portland on a lunch break, causing havoc and having fun (as they wear really funny/creepy masks). Beyond Carrie Brownstein, who obviously has experience with comic acting with her sketch-show PORTLANDIA, the other members of the band also get their time to shine, as they also do really funny things.
04. The Stepkids – Legend in my Own Mind
Director: Tom Scharpling
This next Tom Scharpling video is also quite incredible. It stars Kurt Braunohler (he does a sketch show with Kristen Schaal called Hot Tub in NYC) and Wyatt Cenac, and... it’s very tough to explain. But the way Tom shoots New York is really quite incredible. It all builds-up to this oddly moving scene, where Kurt’s character is at a back-yard costume party in Brooklyn. It’s really quite a sequence, as you see such an odd collection of characters (Buckethead!) all dancing and having such a fun time. This is a video that is very hard to put into words. You should just watch it.
03. Titus Andronicus – No Future Pt. III (Escape from No Future)
Director: Tom Scharpling
While most of Tom Scharpling’s videos have been comedic, this video for Titus Andronicus breaks that streak, in an amazing and wonderful way. Patrick Stickles, at the beginning of the video, is angry that people badmouth New Jersey, so he wants to go on one-day tour of the state playing shows, to showcase the parts of NJ that often aren’t showcased. It’s really quite a great piece of filmmaking, as whether you have been in NJ or not, the feeling of being stereotyped/mistreated by bigger cities/states/whatever is something that could be related to in any part of North America (let alone the world). While I live in a pretty big city, very often Calgary is looked down upon by other parts of Canada, and stereotyped as an oil town and everything else that comes with that. So I can completely relate to Patrick Stickles at the beginning of the video, and I was very moved by it. As Tom Scharpling is also a resident of New Jersey, it’s probably the most proud display of the state I have ever seen, and it makes me want to visit some of the spots showcased in the video.
02. The New ****ographers - Moves
Director: Tom Scharpling
The final video by Tom Scharpling on the list is the cameo video to end all cameo videos. If you haven’t seen it yet, I don’t want to give some of them away (just know that the beginning “ad” is part of a video, and not an actual movie,) but it’s such a funny video. It takes the conventions of the rock biopic, and really has fun with them. I could list the amazing moments from this video all day, so I won’t. But, all I’ll say is that, if there was such a thing as the Music Video Oscars, I would nominate Ted Leo in a heartbeat. This is also assuming I am in the jury to vote for things. Mighty presumptuous of you, Spaceman!
However, the hip-hop video of his that I love the most is former Pharcyde member Fatlip's "What's Up Fatlip." It's an amazing inversion of hip-hop video cliches, as it showcases an amazing rapper, who was once very successful, at his lowest point. While, obviously Jay/Kanye are VERY FAR from their lowest point (their album cover is a ****ing gold thing!) I think "Otis" has a lot of the same goofiness and sense of fun that "What's Up Fatlip" had.
What I love about the "Otis" video is that here are two untouchable stars, at the peak of their powers, and they are just goofing off and smiling. It's basically Jay/Kanye pretending to be the Beastie Boys for a video (as well as a mix of the Jonze-produced Jackass). The video also has a lot of the "Thank God That’s on Camera" moments that Jonze's videos often have (from the dog chasing Fatlip in "What's Up Fatlip," to Jay's Yankee hat blowing off his head in "Otis"). From the Aziz Ansari cameo, to the sense of joy that is in every frame, it's just such a fun video to watch. While there may be videos, such as Romanek's "99 Problems," that are "better,” I think "Otis" is my favorite video from either Jay or Kanye. It’s a nice reminder that, beneath the billions of dollars combined net income by both artists, they are just excited hip-hop dorks like the rest of us.
I...I completely forgot about that "Senator" video. And that makes me so incredibly sad. It's top ten of the year, at LEAST. And the "Otis" video, while not on the list, almost made it due to the Aziz cameo alone.
Most of the rest are vids I haven't seen yet, but, as always, your recommendations alone are convincing me to seek them out. THIS IS THE BENNNNNNNJAMMIN' SHOW~!
Can't wait for the music videos 
