Dr. Cherry's Best of 2011

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"Bitches ain't shit"

-Snoop Dogg-

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-TVOTR-Nine Types of Light-

            When your favorite band in the world not named Sigur Ros releases an album it’s not always a given that it will your favorite album of the year. There’s a weight of expectation that comes with that kind of love and when that same band loses a member to cancer things get even tougher, but TVOTR is not a band to disappoint. Exemplifying their amazing range between howling haunting dance songs that are just that little bit too weird for radio but perfect for top of your lungs singing and heartfelt love ballads that make other heartfelt love ballad cringe in fear that has always been their style, this album is a sonic smorgasbord, the infectious kind that wins listeners from every corners of life that you never though possible.

-Cold War Kids-Mine is Yours-

            Break up with your girlfriend and it will undoubtedly rain for the next several weeks. Thankfully headphones work well inside of hoods and thankfully Mine is Yours came floating down at the right time to be the soundtrack to mid-semester power walking. The trip to Nashville did these California boys nothing but good. They came out a bit more polished and perhaps less grungy than previous efforts, but the gloss of the music city studios did not diminish the soul of CWK’s grooves or the emotion of front man Nathan Willet’s vocals. On all fronts this album hits the heart as hard as trudging feet hit the pavement.

 -Bon Iver-Bon Iver-

            As much as we might all love it, the headphones can’t always push dance music or funk soul. Sometimes the mood calls for something with a little more sound, some quiet Minnesota backwoods sounds perhaps. Enter Bon Iver’s latest effort. This is the album you write books to, the one that gets tattooed on bodies, and that leaves the eerie echo in between your ears hours after you’ve tried to sleep. But it’s all in the best way, the most powerfully subdued way that makes you play Holocene 25 times in a matter of weeks because it’s just too damn beautiful.

-My Morning Jacket-Circuital-

            I mean what could be better than the power of southern rock from the soul of good ole Kentuck? MMJ is huge. There are literally no other words that can fit their scope of sound or on-stage persona. From the very first notes of the album you become fully aware that you are in for a roller coaster ride of fuzzy boot wearing, guitar shredding, rock star led musical fusion. Who else has the testicular fortitude to follow a song celebrating the poor decision making of youth with a loud ass ode to Norwegian black metal? Every track is a winner, every track is rock and roll, huge and loud and powerful—just the way we like it.

-Theophilous London-Timez Are Weird These Days-

            If you were to get eternally trapped in summer with only a beautiful girl, a basketball goal and a large body of water to swim in, this record would be your theme music. Paradise aside, this first record from the renaissance man of Brooklyn, Mr. London, is the dance record for people who make dance music. As much as I’d love to grab the mic and rap every word right along with this one, I’d much rather just grab the nearest pretty lady and groove the night away. The timez are indeed getting weird, but if this is what those timez sound like, count me in.

-The Strokes-Angles-

            Speaking of summer, what could be more summer than the kings of New York returned from their hiatus with more looping guitar riffs and lanky vocals to get the boat shoed toes tapping? Angles is just happy people music and if the breath of fresh air that is synth free guitar rock danceable music with some spunk doesn’t get you going then you may beyond saving. This record has been a long time coming but in the season of smiles and short shorts these boys are welcome anytime.

-Jay Z & Kanye West- Watch Da Throne

Jay Z and Kanye West. This really only needs that sentence and I’m straining myself to find any more words to describe what happened when the hype dust finally settled and the record actually surfaced to blow our collective standards out of the water. Now, if we were counting off for egos or lack of musical originality this one wouldn’t sniff a top ten list, but since we embrace that in our rap music these days the kings make it in with ease. Mr. West is a hell of a producer and the music on this is unreal, not to mention Mr. Carter sure knows his way around those rap lines. The game may be changed.

-Florence & the Machine- Ceremonials-
Good Lord, Florence Welsh has a set of pipes. Dark and brooding, backed by church choirs and massive sounding two hundred-piece orchestration, this record will make you hairs stand up. Partly because it’s filled with talk of ghosts and suicide by drowning but mostly the power comes in the sheer amount of sound for Florence. The sound is big, I’m talking Aretha singing at a down south church big, and damn can she belt it. This music will cover battle sequences and sweeping film shots of epic proportions for years to come. Plug it in for a midnight bike ride and I assure you your legs will be screaming for mercy in the morning.

-M83-Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming-

No one else sounds like this. Talk about cohesion in a record or bigness of sound, this one has both of those in ample supply. While there’s a rarity of words here compared to some of the other greats of the year, it makes up for it in sheer waves of sound. This is the kind of record that can morph itself to any activity. Whether you’re writing a long over due love letter or training for your fight club’s battle royal, you’ve got something that will keep you pumping. M83 is a motivator from beginning to end, especially because it’s hard not to take the journey top to bottom with this record.

 -Fleet Foxes-Helplessness Blues-

            It’d be hard to leave out the pure folk harmonies and cleanness of sound that we’ve come to expect from the fleetest of foxes. Helplessness Blues is on the beauty scale right next to Bon Iver when it’s time to slow things down and cleanse the sonic pallet with some soothing harmonies. The perfect compliment to this musical therapy is the wonder of song writing that has emerged on this newest collection. There’s stories to be followed here, movements within tracks and an ebb and flow that makes the experience of listening anything but a passive flowing over the eardrums.

-Portugal. The Man-In the Mountain In the Cloud-

 So American is right. Groovy and loud, folk meets soul & creates a sound which puts this record on constant repeat. Outside influences be damned, Portugal may take their name from outside the friendly confines of the red, white and blue but the music stays right at home. In the Mountain is nothing if not a good happy time spent listening to music. It doesn’t demand good dancing skills or a depressed state of mind. There’s no need for a lyrics sheet or urban dictionary and you most certainly don’t have to check pitchfork to see if you’re allowed to like this one. Just throw it in the cd player and put the car in drive, this record is for the open road and the wind that rushes in open windows; or at least those of us wishing we could find a little more time for putting those things together.