Compiling a list like our recent Best Albums of 2011 (So Far) typically leaves one with two thoughts.  The first is: which records that have yet to come out will appear on the year-end list?  With one of our favorite artists seemingly announcing a new album every day (Jay-Z & Kanye West, Girls, Active Child, M83, Feist, Pusha T, Dum Dum Girls, St. Vincent …), the answer is likely: lots of them.

The second, more troubling question, is: which albums did we miss?  In the 21st century the constant deluge of new music can be overwhelming, and here at the FP offices we have too few temporal lobes to catch them all.  Additionally, any “best of” list is dependent on the mood of the rater at the time:  records that were in my top 5 in March fell out of my top 20 by June, only to leave me guilty about not including them in July.

Below is an alphabetical list of 15 records about which we have not written word one this year, but all of which could legitimately find their way onto year-end lists.  The list is far from comprehensive: it does not include records we’ve covered only briefly (Grouper, Colin Stetson, Young Galaxy) that I’m flaying myself for not including, and it does not include records that everyone else is flaying me for not including (P.J. Harvey, WU LYF).  At the conclusion of the list, you’ll find our Top 20 Songs of 2011 (So Far); please go to Grooveshark for the full mixtape.  We hope you find some music you’ll like.

E-40 - Revenue Retrievin’: Overtime Shift/Graveyard Shift

E-40 is not is not exactly new to the music industry; the Bay-Area rapper has been churning out his own raw brand of drug-deal rap since the 90s.  Over the last two years, however, he has attempted to create nothing short of an encyclopedic record of the streets with his four-album mammoth Revenue Retrievin’.  The final two records in the series hit shelves this year; Overtime Shift is high-quality if familiar fare, while Graveyard Shift is an account of the zombie apocalypse, only if the zombies were selling crack.  Be afraid.

E-40 – “Drugs”

EMA – Past Life, Martyred Saints

Erika M. Anderson made two records fronting the psychedelic band Gowns in the late part of the last decade before striking out on her own as “EMA” with this year’s Past Lives, Martyred Saints.  A record both powerful and delicate, haunting and familiar, it was in my top 5 for the year for sometime before I senselessly abandoned it.  The 9 songs of the record are all dark and foreboding tales of female vulnerability, drawing inspiration from many of the towering women in rock, from Nico to Patti Smith to Courtney Love.

EMA – “The Grey Ship”

Ford and Lopatin – Channel Pressure

Joel Ford and Dan Lopatin are something of an odd couple; Ford is a member of NYC soft-rock/new-wave band Tigercity, while Lopatin is the mastermind behind noise terrorists Oneohtrix Point Never.  As a duo, their music does something like splitting the difference, with complex and oddly structured electronics forming the foundation for familiar, hook-laden melodies.  The group’s first record as Games landed them on several best-of lists in 2010; now, with a less catchy but more googleable name, they may find themselves on the same lists in 2011.

Ford and Lopatin – “Emergency Room”

Givers – In Light

Lafayette, Louisiana’s Givers describe their music as “Afro-beat, dancey pants, indie pop love music.”  I know; I probably shouldn’t have told you that.  You’re going to read a lot of comparisons to Vampire Weekend and Dirty Projectors, but there is a sprawling ambition to the music of Givers that is unlike anything produced by those accomplished collectives. Full of energy and full of joy, In Light has kept me coming back throughout this sweltering summer.

Givers – “Saw You First”

Holy Ghost! – Holy Ghost!

A pair of Upper West Side club-heads as indebted to New Order as they are to LCD Soundsystem, Holy Ghost! produced one of the year’s most danceable albums with their eponymous debut.  I for one was surprised that this record wasn’t more warmly received, but the 80s club music revival played itself out in the music press in 2010, and several artists responsible for the revival (Hercules & Love Affair, Junior Boys) found 2011 efforts largely dismissed.   Such trends continue to affect the way music is consumed and distributed in the internet age, but don’t allow yourself to be a slave to fashion: just but on this record and dance.

Oh yeah, and there’s a track with Michael McDonald.

Holy Ghost! (feat. Michael McDonald) – “Some Children”

Hooray for Earth – True Loves

This one will make you dance too.  A testament to how difficult it is to get noticed as an indie rock band in Brooklyn.

Hooray for Earth – “True Loves”

 

Man Man – Life Fantastic

You can’t get past the first paragraph of a Man Man review without reading about how their records don’t compare to their live show, which is probably why no one buys their records.  They also happen to be a fun-loving, pop-worshiping group of creative young men with ideas who have been tagged with the dreaded “experimental” moniker, and so after sever years their records continue to orbit the periphery of the indie rock universe.  Labels aside, however, Life Fantastic is full of arresting melodies and wide-eyed energy, and you’ll thank us while your spinning it on a pleasant summer’s day.

Man Man – “Shameless”

John Maus – We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves

There’s nothing summery about this one.  This record is filled with darkness and dread,  but there is an undeniable beauty in the music’s melancholy.  For fans of Joy Division or Low-era David Bowie.

John Maus – “Hey Moon”

Minks – By The Hedge

When you start paying attention to what label a band is signed, you know you’ve gone from “music enthusiast” to “creepy nerd.”  If you are comfortable with such a role, you get to the point where you can identify a band’s label by its sound alone, and no label’s sound is more consistent than that of Brooklyn upstart Captured Tracks.  With artists like Wild Nothing and Beach Fossils, Captured Tracks has cornered the market on the hazy, languid heart of the 21st century slacker.  Minks’ debut album By The Hedge infuses the label’s sound with a welcome streak of darkness; if Minks don’t remind you of The Cure, you were never a lonely, awkward boy.

OK this is getting too personal.  Let’s move on.

Minks – “Cemetery Rain”

Other Lives – Tamer Animals

Given this website’s clearly professed love for baroque pop and folk (see: Iver, Bon; Stevens, Sufjan), it’s surprising that we have yet to mention this record.  Then again, no one else has mentioned it either.  Filled with lilting acoustic guitars, horns, and pianos, Tamer Animals is flush with symphonic harmonies and McCartney-esque melodies.  Hopefully someone will take notice.

Other Lives – “As I Lay My Head Down”

Parts & Labor – Constant Future

Another band that has been branded with the dreaded “experimental” label, most likely because one of their members sits in front of a knob-filled machine producing various bloops and bleeps.  Hard to believe that such a band could produce unabashed anthemic rock music, but that’s what’s happening here.  You’re unlikely to find another band so often described as “noisy” or “difficult” produce such immediate hooks and bouncy choruses.  Take a chance and dive in. 

Parts & Labor – “Constant Future”

Peaking Lights - 936

This record is trippy.  There’s really not much more to be said.  It’s background music that muscles its way into the foreground before lifting you off the ground.

Peaking Lights – “Birds of Paradise [Dub Version]“

Sic Alps – Napa Asylum

San Francisco has been making a desperate push to cast itself as culturally relevant again, and its indie rock scene has gained a good deal of momentum over the past 2 years.  One of the foremost practitioners of the new Bay-Area noise is Sic Alps, a garage-rock trio that sound like they’ve actually played in a garage at some point.  Napa Asylum is a collection of 22 fuzzed-out hooklets many lasting less than two minutes) that passes you by in an instant and leaves you wanting more.  The record’s January release date likely hampered its reception: it is pure unadulterated summer fun.

Sic Alps – “Cement Surfboard”

White Denim – D

Austin’s White Denim is the best band you’ve never heard of, unless you’ve never heard of Nirvana.  D is a 37-minute psychedelic freak-outgasm loaded with meandering guitar lines, joyous vocals, and even the occasional courageous flute-solo.  In an era in which wearing one’s influence on one’s sleeve is a sign of authenticity, White Denim may have gone too far, killing their idols with sheer musical mastery.  Had I discovered this record prior to our mid-year rankings, I would have ranked it third behind only James Blake and Bon Iver.  No shit.

White Denim – “Burnished”

Jamie Woon – Mirrorwriting

In an alternate universe where James Blake was never born, Jamie Woon is a star.  Actually, he’s kind of already a star; his debut Mirrorwriting peaked at number 15 on the UK charts.  Still, it’s un-American to discuss the tastes of other nations, so let’s just call him overlooked.  Then again, it may just be that Woon’s soulful croon is too affecting for American ears.  Or maybe we’re afraid he’ll steal all our women.  

Jamie Woon – “Night Air”

And now…..

Frontier Psychiatrist’s Best Songs of 2011 (So Far) Mixtape: