Our top 10 favorite albums of 2011 thus far – Nr. 2

This is our favorite albums of 2011 so far countdown! So just us saying which albums have been doing it for us in the first half year of 2011. I love scouring lists like these as there is so much music coming out I find it impossible to keep track of everything. And these lists indicate what people really have been enjoying, and sometimes you agree, sometimes disagree, and sometimes it tips you on a future favourite. So hence this list, and hope you find some stuff to enjoy in there! 

Favorite albums of the year 2011 at the halfway point: 10 - 9 - 8 - 7 - 6 - 5- 4 - 3

Ilse: Nr. 2. Bon Iver - Bon Iver (Jagjaguwar)
The beautifully bearded Justin Vernon, or in particular this Bon Iver project of his, has stolen my heart ever since his first album ‘For Emma, Forever Ago’, so I was thrilled to hear he was releasing a sequel. Yet, sequel is definitely not the right word for it, because though the music and vocals are still recognisable as Justin Vernon’s, this is a whole new side to Bon Iver. Hence the decision to make it a self-titled album, something normally indicating it is an artist’s first album. It sounds precisely like he intended: a cyclical statement that possibly redefines what Bon Iver means to a crowd. Vernon has gained more confidence, resulting into an expanded instrumentation and musical backup, and he is also far less fragile than on his debut, without losing the emotion and intimacy I (and I think I speak for not just myself here) fell in love with back in 2008. Beginning with birth (the song ‘Perth) we follow Bon Iver on a journey through moments in his life, the songs almost acting like personal journal entries, until the cycle is completed with death (‘Beth/Rest’). That last song is quite remarkable, as it is rather camp and sounds like something that would be played at an eighties high school prom. The cold and heartbroken loneliness that fuelled ‘For Emma, Forever Ago’ has clearly made place for a warm, rich and lush sound: Vernon seems to have left his cabin in the woods and joined life outside of the forest again.

Random track to listen to: ‘Wash.’

Linda: Nr. 2. Tom Vek – Leisure Seizure (Island Records)

Oh, the curse of liking albums better than someone else does and thus having your piece appear after Ilse has already written about it and the urge to then rewrite my bit so it won’t look as if I just copied her (we seem to be of very similar opinions with regards to this particular album)! Maybe it’s thus a good thing that we seem to have completely different ideas about which albums were worthwhile this year, as I’ve now only had to rewrite one entry. But hey, let’s get back to Tom Vek and pretend I didn’t just delete an entire blurb about ‘We Have Sound’ and missing his gig last month because I was too busy.

Tom Vek is the kind of artist who gets people falling over themselves trying to announce their bliss at his return to the active music when announcing a new album. At that point most artists would only be able to disappoint. But not Tom Vek. He’s got something up his sleeve, or in his swagger, that manages to live up to those expectations and come up with one of the best albums of the year. ‘Aroused’, ‘We Do Nothing’, ‘A Chore’, almost every track on the album could easily stand out in the crowd of indie / electro singles that have been released this year, but as an album he’s in a class of his own.

Random track to listen to: ‘A.P.O.L.O.G.Y.’

Stef: Nr. 2. Reverso 68 – Well Heeled Volume 1 (Special Interest)

I’ve been touting the horn of Pete Herbert and his disco edits a bit for a while now, and this is a collaboration of his with Phil Mison. And goodness gracious, what an edit these are. There are no weaklings in there, but there are some highlights in there that just blow me away every single time. How about ‘Earthy Powers’, a deliciously rolling track with, nearing the end, Eartha Kitt coming along yearning for her man. “I don’t want to be alone / where is my baby? / I don’t want to be alone / Where is my man!”. It may set the feminist movement back a few years, but it is a great dancefloor tune with those longing vocals coming in at the end to put that song over the top. The first sounds of ‘All Things in a Dream’ always get me as well, so fresh. ‘Fruit Bowl’, when that new sound sets in at around the 1:20 mark, that’s genius. It are changes like these on those songs that, even in a public space, just make me react visibly. That kind of feeling which makes you go, Tssk, unbelievable. Friggin’ amazing. You can’t really go wrong with any of these to drop on the dancefloor. Great compilation of edits by these guys.

Random track to listen to: ‘Earthly Powers’