All this week on Melting Pot we’ve been taking a look back at 2011′s year in music. This post covers the best new records that I heard last year. In 2010, I had a really hard time picking my favorite records of the year, and essentially ended up with a 5 way tie for #1…that wasn’t the case in 2011. Some of it might have been how much more significantly busy I was this year as opposed to the prior, perhaps the music just wasn’t as strong as 2010, but there were very clear favorites this year, and my list of the top 5 new releases I heard in 2011 is below…let me know what your favorites of 2011 were in the comments or on our facebook page!
***Honorable Mentions: Headnodic – Red Line Radio (Brick), Amon Tobin – Isam (Ninja Tune), The Sandwitches – Mrs. Jones’ Cookies (Empty Cellar), Chain & the Gang – Music’s Not For Everyone (K Records), Hunx & his Punx – Too Young To Fall In Love (Hardly Art), Algodon Egipcio – La Lucha Constante (Lefse)
5. M.E.D. – Classic – Stones Throw
M.E.D. feat. Talib Kweli – Classic
For much of 2011, I was thoroughly unimpressed by the slate of Hip-Hop releases, all the way up until the Fall. The last several months saw the release of a number of very good independent Hip-Hop releases, including this long-awaited LP from Oxnard’s M.E.D. Featuring production work primarily from the ever fascinating MadLib (plus assists from Karriem Riggins, Georgia Anne Muldrow and The Alchemist), and guest rhymes from Kweli, Planet Asia & Kurupt. M.E.D. is at his best when he’s anthemic as he is on “Where I’m From” and “Blaxican,” but even when he detours into very different themes on “Mystical Magical,” “Love & War,” “Classic” (with a breezy Phil Upchurch sample) and “Flying High,” he consistently shines brightly.
The amazing video for Blaxican (something that I’ll likely be using in my classes for years to come) in and of itself might have warranted inclusion on this list, but the depth and quality of the entire record deserves notice on this aptly named LP.
4. Phonte – Charity Starts At Home – Foreign Exchange Music
Phonte feat. Evidence and Big Krit – Life Of Kings
For almost 10 years, Phonte Coleman has been my favorite MC, so it’s no surprise that this, his debut “solo” release is on this list. Charity covers much of the territory you’d expect based off of his work with Little Brother and Foreign Exchange, but Phonte’s verbal skills keep it all fresh. This album in some ways marks the long awaited reunion of Phonte with 9th Wonder, though the two have been collaborating quite a bit over the past year or so (and hopefully will be swinging into LA for some shows in 2012). 9th’s production graces the best tracks on the album, from the working man/mc anthem “The Good Fight” to “Life of Kings” a treatise on humility featuring Big Krit and Evidence along with Tigallo. I don’t know if they can mend things with Rapper Big Pooh, but as long as these collaborations continue you can expect to see Phonte’s music on these lists for years to come.
3. The Strange Boys – Live Music – Rough Trade
The Strange Boys – You Take Everything For Granite When You’re Stone
I’m still a bit in shock that the Strange Boys released an album this good, so quickly after releasing last year’s Be Brave, which was also a pretty fantastic album. The casual listener might not note the growth between the two albums, but I certainly have. No longer content with being a garage band with a quirky singer, the Strange Boys are poised to get called up to the Show. Live Music is as good as Jeff Tweedy’s prime material with Wilco, and I mean that in the most complimentary way possible. It’s a record that really deserved to get much more press and airplay than it has. If I ever decided to record my dream album, the Strange Boys are exactly the band that I would want to back me up.
2. Charles Bradley & the Menahan Street Band – No Time For Dreaming – Dunham
Charles Bradley & the Menahan Street Band – Lovin’ You, Baby
Nobody does soul reclamation quite like Daptone (Truth & Soul perhaps comes in 2nd), and with the pairing of the Menahan Street Band with Bradley’s powerful vocals, they’ve got a nice compliment to Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, certainly the best 1-2 punch in all of retro soulsville. I’ve already said so much about this album that instead of repeating myself, I’ll just quote myself from the review linked above.
“No Time For Dreaming is also a product of these specific times even though the sound is from 1960s. Though Bradley mines some of the same subjects, hard times, heartbreak & loss (particularly the death of his brother in “Heartaches & Pain”), there’s a righteousness in these songs that leans more towards optimism than depression. Whether it’s his pleading, “Got to make it right, all that I’ve done wrong” on “The Telephone Song” or on the title track, as he preaches “No time For dreaming, Go to get on up and do my thing.” Times maybe hard, but in line with James Brown’s most inspiring late 60s/70s material, Bradley wants us to get involved and get OURSELVES together. Even when things turn darker, such as on “The World” Bradley’s role is more of as a truth-teller, diagnosing the ills of the world not simply to gripe about them, but to bring to our attention the problems we experience and to get us focused on doing what we can to solve them (kinda like a musical sociologist!)”
No Time For Dreaming is a brilliant LP and hopefully just the first of many between Menahan and Mr. Bradley.
1. Real Estate – Days – Domino
Real Estate’s Days is here for a simple reason. No other record met and exceeded expectations, or gave me as much joy in listening to it, as this the 2nd full-length release from these Jersey Boys. Last year’s Out of Tune 7” held out quite a lot of promise, and Days delivered in spades. A thoroughly listenable album, from start to finish, so good in fact that I really can’t pick a favorite track from the LP. If “Out Of Tune” hadn’t been released last year it might have ended up on my Top 5 Songs list, but there’s no way to chose from “Green Aisles,” “It’s Real,” “Municipality,” “Younger Than Yesterday,” “All The Same,” “Easy,” or “Three Blocks” for the best song of this LP. Thankfully they even kept a little of that easy going boardwalk spirit with the instrumental “Kinder Blumen.” For my money Real Estate is the best Indie-Rock band in all the world, and I can’t wait to hear what they have in store for us next.