Music and Me in 2011

"Like when autumn leaves fall down from the trees." - The Roots, Sleep

 

Undun is the album of the year. For the second year in a row, The Unstoppable Roots Crew have shown themselves to be the strongest, most thoughtful, most interesting, and most adept artists in my field of vision. And that's saying something considering how excellent other bands, most notably The Black Keys, have been during this time frame.

 

Up until sitting down to write this, Watch The Throne was going to be my album of the year. Despite it's sometimes questionable lyrical content, that is the album I've listened to the most this year. That bombastic celebration of "black excellence, opulence, decadence" appeals to me. What can I say? But, Undun is thoughtful, literary, expansive. ?uest, Thought, and the crew (with help from some of my other favorite contemporary artists like Phonte and Sufjan Stevens) are telling a story. A wonderfully complicated and dark story that seems more reflective of this moment in time for the average person while Jay-Z and 'Ye focused on their own extra-ordinariness.

 

That might move butts but it doesn't satisfy the soul. That's what The Roots are here for.

 

Overall, though, this wasn't the best year for full length albums. There were very few "OH MY GOD" purchases...at least not ones that stood the test of time. However, you would not go wrong with having the following in your collection:

• Undun - The Roots
• Watch The Throne - Jay-Z & Kanye West
• James Blake - James Blake
• 21 - Adele
• Rebirth of New Orleans - The Rebirth Brass Band
• Dear Friends: An Evening with Foreign Exchange - Foreign Exchange
• Charity Starts At Home - Phonte
• Lioness: Hidden Treasures - Amy Winehouse
• El Camino - The Black Keys
• There's More To Life Than This - Ben Westbeech

The reality is despite having new services like Spotify at my disposal, I listened to less music this year which, to my surprise, is a three year long trend. With increased responsibilities at work and less alone time at home, I have less time for music exploration. I also have fewer moments dedicated to music discovery, depending heavily on last.fm to lead me towards artists I don't know about but probably should. I'm not sure I made it into a record store this year that wasn't digital. I know I have very few music blogs or human music recommenders in my life despite an increase in following more music folk on twitter.

I'd like to increase my music exploration this year. Got any music blog recommendations?

In other news, I really enjoyed pop music this year. For all the lack of great albums, there were a lot of really good really catchy ear-wormy tunes this year and I'm not ashamed to have liked them...and bought them. Rihanna, Maroon 5, Lupe Fiasco, Mindless Behavior, Beyonce, David Guetta, Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, and, lord help me, Chris Brown all put out dancy headnoddy tunes that I was all about.

I even find LMFAO's mindless pap enjoyable in a cotton candy kind of way. I couldn't bring myself to buy their songs but I surely don't change the channel when they show up on the radio or TV.

I could do with less of the global ibiza dance party sound overall but having traveled to the other side of the world this year, I can see why artists are making that music...it's big everywhere. The number of videos by artists who just a few years ago where rapping or singing from the corner that now feature them in jets, on sandy beaches and partying on stage with skinny chicks of non-descript origin and DJs who look like they never sleep is kind of overwhelming.

But I'm not mad. Times is hard. The world is going through big changes. And people want to dance their pain away.

I just hope that in 2012 it stops all sounding like the same song on endless loop.

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