Araabmuzik, Electronic Dream
The album I never expected from Araab... MPC wizard and young hood producer delivers transcendent reinterpretations of trance songs and turns them into stargazing twilit bangers. I admired this producer from his work with Dipset, but he really took it to another place with this surprise debut full-length. My favorite headphone album of 2011 by far.
Sea Oleena, Sleeplessness
My favorite music to drive to this summer. VEILS collaborator Charlotte Oleena put out a beautiful album this Spring. Airy and ethereal folk, supported by the occasional skittering breakbeat. If you don't own it yet, I suggest you pick it up from Bridgetown Records where you can get it on cassette backed by her self-titled release from last year.
Gil Scott-Heron / Jamie xx, We're New Here
The first time I've ever heard a remix album that doesn't feel like a remix album. Dubby, moody, rhythmic, and invigorating "dance" music.
Grouper, A I A: Alien Observer
My favorite musician Liz Harris put out an epic double album this year. The Alien Observer disc in particular was an important album for me in 2011. After countless spins, I still listen with awe, reflection and admiration. Hushed remote observations and responses to the great void within ourselves and the great beyond.
Clams Casino, Instrumentals / Rainforest
Beside's Araab, I can't think of a producer I was more eager to hear new music from in 2011. My introduction to the great Mike Volpe was Lil B's triumphant "I'm God", perhaps like most other fans, I instantly connected with his production style: Beat music that is drifty and abstract but still manages to be "autre" without losing any of the qualities that make it hip-hop. What he does with samples, I can only aspire to do with a guitar: Draw the utmost emotional impact from a flipped loop that knocks hard and feels spectral at the same time.
Cloudkicker Let Yourself Be Huge / Loop
The post-hardcore doppleganger to Mark McGuire, Ben Sharp just recently dropped two digital releases. Let Yourself Be Huge has within it shades of pastoral folk guitar, math-y rock guitar and the reach and ambition of an Explosions in the Sky album. Like an amalgamation of a Root Strata artist and Relapse records artist... Loop is made up of 16 brief but beautiful tracks of stacked guitar melodies. Although very different in scope and execution, I believe their identities are inextricably linked in terms of their emotional capacity, bound by a kind of creativity that is unique to Ben as a songwriter and guitar player. I implore you to make playlist of both records, put it on shuffle to see what I mean...
JAY-Z / Kanye West Watch The Throne
Luxury rap, sophisticated ignorance, and Livejournal-esque reflections on the wealth and ambitions of 2 incredibly successful black entertainers, ruminating on their tastes, their distastes, and their legacies. Kanye West builds an arena for him and big brother Shawn Carter to explore Eros, Thanatos, and gaze at the labyrinth from within and from without.
Kendrick Lamar Section.80
Compton's prodigal son Kendrick Lamar delivered a genre-hopping concept album with thoughtful commentary on subjects ranging from drugs, street violence, vanity and ambition. Section.80 is a phenomenal rap album that merges the sobered reflections of Boyz n the Hood with a musicality that is somewhere between the hip hop of 2011 (Drake) and the hip hop of yesteryear (Dr. Dre).
Graphic designer and musician Scott Hansen's album Dive plays like a sunny, upbeat Boards of Canada album. This is great instrumental electronic music. I find it incredibly easy to appreciate the beauty he illuminates in his songs. Driving basslines, Learning Channel-esque synth tapestries, crisp breakbeats and the occasional Durutti Column-inspired guitar riff.
