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Red's Best of 2011: The YECA
Member Since: 12/11/2008
Posts: 9,543
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Member Since: 6/30/2007
Posts: 18,079
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21
oh and dear, Adele dont want to be called as Adele Adkins
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ATRL Administrator
Member Since: 5/2/2000
Posts: 2,844
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Now this is an update. Holy moly. FOOS. MASTODON. TVOTR. Great writeup on TVOTR, especially. Very sad about Gerard Smith. Oh and you can bet you'll be seeing Foos somewhere in my top 40.
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ATRL Senior Member
Member Since: 5/9/2003
Posts: 3,779
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I forgot to mention it in my write up as well, but I love "The Creature Lives" from Mastodon. It sounds like something from The Wall.
Oh and Foos + Radio make this possibly the best update ever, even topping my own.
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Member Since: 6/25/2008
Posts: 15,884
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I really don't like TV ON THE RADIO. Wasting Light is amazing
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ATRL Senior Member
Member Since: 9/24/2009
Posts: 70,975
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TV on the Radio
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Member Since: 10/13/2003
Posts: 48,022
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Foo Fighters
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 12/7/2008
Posts: 87,284
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21 and Torches
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Member Since: 5/23/2007
Posts: 65,087
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Foo Fighters and the best from this set, the epic "Nine Types of Light" by TV on the Radio amazing set!
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Member Since: 6/24/2008
Posts: 21,950
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tv on the radio
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ATRL Senior Member
Member Since: 3/19/2008
Posts: 37,076
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I missed the Torches update. BUT YAY! It's part of the list!
Wasting Nine Types of Light Good albums.
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Member Since: 8/9/2010
Posts: 17,189
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Foo Fighters
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ATRL Senior Member
Member Since: 10/1/2002
Posts: 14,726
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So, so awesome for Foos. And ****, I completely agree. This is the first album for me where it's the non-singles that do it big (although 'Walk' is pretty phenomenal). Love it man.
Also, TVOTR hit me big with a couple of songs from that album, one of which is gonna kill it on my year-end.
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Member Since: 5/2/2009
Posts: 8,661
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Foo Fighters
Not their best, but definitely better than their last!
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Member Since: 11/17/2008
Posts: 28,694
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Wasting Light was my fave
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ATRL Senior Member
Member Since: 9/26/2001
Posts: 22,475
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YECA Countdown #7: Top Fifteen Albums of 2011 (Top Two)
Okay, for this final albums update, I'm gonna break away from the normal layout and return to a more classic YECA look. This is primarily because, as I've mentioned, the blurbs for these last two albums are pretty damn long, particularly the blurb for #1.
A quick reminder: If you wish for me to comment on a year-ender update of yours (or updates), make sure to link me to the earliest update that I have not commented on via my wall. I know that I am EXTREMELY behind on some year-enders, so this is a great way to remind me to comment on some of your year-enders that I've been missing out on.
Quote:
First off, not only must I commend your inclusion of Kurt Vile, one of the best people doing anything currently (seriously. I'd put him up against that Rondo guy in the NBA, and Vile would beat him in an instant! Sorry, I watched that opening day NBA game, and ever since, I just want to say Rondo, even though i'm not entirely sure who he is. STUPID)
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This killed me, primarily because Rajon Rondo is one of my favorite basketball players (dating back to his days as a Kentucky Wildcat), and also because of the fact that you love just saying his name.
The List So Far
15) Kasabian - Velociraptor!
14) Florence + the Machine - Ceremonials
13) Evanescence - Evanescence
12) SONOIO - Red
11) Chevelle - Hats Off to the Bull
10) tUnE-yArDs - w h o k i l l
9) Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring For My Halo
8) Adele - 21
7) Foster the People - Torches
6) Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost
5) Foo Fighters - Wasting Light
4) Mastodon - The Hunter
3) TV on the Radio - Nine Types of Light
Korn
The Path of Totality
Okay, before all of you start running around aimlessly and screaming to the heavens wondering why the end of the world is occurring, stop yourselves and listen to what I'm about to say. The fact is that The Path of Totality is my #2 album in a year full of GREAT albums. Ceremonials, for example, is my #14 album of 2011...and likely would have been top ten or perhaps even top five in most other years. Watch the Throne was one of the most critically acclaimed albums of the year and a pretty good album, in my own opinion, and it didn't even make the top 15. And it's not even like Korn was a shoo-in for even the top two. Hell, there were many times when I considered placing TV on the Radio's Nine Types of Light AHEAD of Path, because that album really hit me so hard. But the fact is that Korn is my favorite band for a reason, and that reason is that they rarely rest on their laurels. They are constantly finding new ways to innovate and to evolve. Their 2007 Untitled album is a great example of that evolving. Poorly-received even by many Korn fans, it nevertheless was a band understanding that they could not perform the same music forever. While their 2010 album was a return to their roots, it was a return to those roots while also incorporating everything that they had learned up to that point to create a new experience altogether. Then, a year later, the band decided to change it up yet again, throwing the rock genre on its ass by making a full album dedicated to the band's experimentation with the dubstep genre.
I shouldn't have been surprised by this turn of events. After all, Korn has become one of rock's biggest chameleons. But, even after I began listening to "Get Up!", my mind could not process what was happening. Korn and...Skrillex? Really? And then, the album...hoo boy. Korn and Noisia? Korn and Feed Me? Korn and ****ing 12th Planet?! What the hell is going on here? But then, I sat down to listen to the album...and, wouldn't you know it, I fell in love with the album! Granted, this was certainly helped by my growing love of dubstep (and, particularly, Skrillex), but it's clear that Korn has respect for the genre and treats it with the respect that it deserves with The Path of Totality. Pulse-pounding beats and catchy moments abound throughout this fantastic album: The growling of "BURN THE OBEDIENT!" in the song of the same name, the opening piano in "Bleeding Out", the incredible beats of songs such as "Let's Go", "Get Up!" and bonus track "Fuels the Comedy", the breakdown of "Narcissistic Cannibal"...I can go on and on and on. But back to the point being made at the beginning of the blurb for this album: The Path of Totality is my #2 album of the year and an album that would have competed for the top spot every year that I've done an albums list for the YECA. It's a memorable album that you won't be able to get out of your head, no matter how hard you try. Despite this, though...there is one album that just impacted me more.
Favorite Songs: Fuels the Comedy, Get Up!, Burn the Obedient, Bleeding Out, Way Too Far
Well, if Korn is not actually #1, then that can only mean one thing...
Lights
Siberia
This is going to be surprising no matter how I try to point out that I made MANY hints to this album possibly topping The Path of Totality throughout the past month. I mean, Korn just lost out on #1 on an ALBUMS list to A TINY GIRL PERFORMING POP SONGS. Of course, I can't just not place Korn at #1 on an albums list, especially in a situation such as this one, without giving you a few reasons as to why they're not #1 and this Canadian songstress is, and there are a few reasons that go beyond Lights being my biggest musical crush at the moment. The first reason is that Lights, above all others, was the biggest example of how my taste in music evolved in 2011. This was not a normal year for yours truly. This will become more apparent when you look through my top 100 singles, especially when you see that there is more than one pop song in the top 10. No, really. Despite the impact that artists such as Adele, Ellie Goulding, Robyn and Lady Gaga had on my taste, though, Lights wound up making the biggest imprint of all. Listening to "Toes" for the first time gave me a feeling of bliss that I haven't felt when listening to a pop song in YEARS. Hell, it gave me a feeling of bliss that I haven't experienced since listening to Muse's The Resistance for the first time. Think about THAT one for a minute.
Another reason to point out is an unfair advantage for Lights, admittedly, but it is an advantage: The fact that Korn released an album last year did not help their chances. I was still trying to recover from the brilliance and power that was Korn III, and I was getting a new album from the band all of a sudden? It was an incredibly surprising (and amazing) gift, but it was all so sudden, and it almost got lost in the shadow of an album that may be one of my favorites of all time. Siberia, on the other hand, was something new, something fresh, something that wasn't around for me to experience last year, and that freshness hit me incredibly hard in 2011. This brings us to the last reason, and the most important reason of all. 2011 was a year with albums that hit me hard on both a musical and emotional level. The previous four albums all impacted me in various levels on a musical level, and Nine Types of Light would prove to be an emotional experience unlike any other in 2011. All of this being said, though, Siberia has both of these qualities and also something that those albums do not have: the vocals and musicianship (moreso the musicianship) of Lights Valerie Poxleitner. She does not have the most technically proficient voice (see: Adele). She does not have the Hollywood-like looks of some of the more popular musicians of our era (see: Katy Perry), though she is certainly a beautiful young woman. But she doesn't necessarily need the most powerful vocals or the greatest looks, not when the music is as fantastic as it is here.
And that's not to say that her vocals are not great, as they do a great job of complementing the music and provide a nice sense of swagger and confidence. But really, though, the star of this album is not Lights' vocals. The star of this album is the music that Lights performs. The music throughout the album can be incredibly overwhelming on first listen. Hell, it can be incredibly overwhelming on subsequent listens! The breakdown of "Everybody Breaks A Glass" is INCREDIBLE stuff, a breakdown that makes you pay attention by sheer force. The main "Toes" beat is perhaps my favorite of 2011 (and there is some pretty stiff competition in that regard, so that's saying something), a pulse-pounding piece of music that soars and goes above and beyond your average pop music and becomes something more. "Flux and Flow" has perhaps the most powerful beat of 2011, as drums and a dense electronic sound come together to produce a sound that could move mountains. But there are also moments here where both vocals and music are similarly awesome. "Fourth Dimension" features one of the best vocal performances on the album and yet another fantastic beat, while "Cactus in the Valley", as mentioned earlier, is a refreshingly slow change of pace on an album full of incredible beats. Hell, up until I began writing this blurb, even I was a little surprised that Korn was not #1 on this list. After writing this blurb, though, it has become apparent to me that Siberia just hit me harder on every important level than The Path of Totality. Sorry, Korn, but a tiny female pop singer from Canada has found a way to slay the giant Goliath.
(And, thankfully, this giant slaying girl is not named David. /obvious)
Favorite Songs: Toes, Siberia, Cactus in the Valley, Flux and Flow, Timing Is Everything
And, with that last update, the albums list, traditionally the last warmup list before we get to the big one, has officially been Redded.™ Of course, this also means that THE big countdown of the YECA is about to arrive. Starting tomorrow (I hope), we'll begin our journey through my 100 favorite singles of 2011. Oh, and just to point out how insanely awesome 2011 was in the world of music (and also how difficult it has been to rank all of these songs), #100 on that very singles list would have been at least a top 60 single last year. Yeah. See you then.
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Member Since: 1/9/2011
Posts: 2,528
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Good choice of #1 for albums. I also approve Torches, 21, Ceremonials and Velociraptor!
Nice, Top Singles is going to start
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ATRL Senior Member
Member Since: 12/29/2003
Posts: 6,311
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Foster the People areeee catchy! So catchy, you don't realize how weird some lyrics are, haha.
Totally agree with Adele
For some odd reason, I thought Arlandria was a single *_* Yeah, it's definitely begging to be a single, haha
I'm going to take your comment about how one of my write-ups made you think of your write-ups as a compliment, because I truly truly love how heartfelt yours seem, and yet somehow are always so much more easier to understand
Aw, I love how you go into appreciating Lights... though, the use of "swagger" always amuses me.
Dude, Lights! <3
Totally not surprised after 1) not seeing her previously and 2) you listing so many of her songs, hehe
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Member Since: 2/6/2010
Posts: 4,899
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Wow I was not expecting Lights to be that high and I'm glad she did. Gotta Lights, not only by her cute face but her music really makes me trip on another dimension. Love it.
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Member Since: 1/26/2006
Posts: 17,384
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haven't heard any song from your top 2, and I really dislike Korn music, so I think I'm gonna check some songs from your #1
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