{"id":14184,"date":"2011-12-07T12:06:48","date_gmt":"2011-12-07T17:06:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ok-cleek.com\/blogs\/?p=14184"},"modified":"2011-12-07T12:06:48","modified_gmt":"2011-12-07T17:06:48","slug":"2011-top-five","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ok-cleek.com\/blogs\/?p=14184","title":{"rendered":"2011 Top Five"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It's close enough to the end of the year, right?<\/p>\n<p>So, here are my top 5 albums of 2011. Of the dozens of records I bought this year, just ten were from 2011; so finding a top five wasn't much of a challenge.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><b>Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Mirror Traffic<\/b><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pADR7Hx9xqk\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/>\n(check out Jack Black and Gary Cole (the boss from Office Space) in the video!)<\/p>\n<p>Malkmus and Jicks records always take a while to grow on me. I think it's because Malkmus so dominates everything that it takes time to get past the initial \"Hey, there's <i>that<\/i> Malkmus quirk again,\" and \"Now what a Malkmusly clever lyric!\" reactions and start to appreciate the songs as more than just ways for Malkmus to do his thing. This one doesn't really sound or feel a lot different than any other SM&tJs record, but I think the stand-out songs are a notch or two better than usual. <\/p>\n<li><b>Wye Oak - Civilian<\/b><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7vj0rVY41kY\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/>\nThis is a solid follow-up to their awesome previous record, \"The Knot\". It trades some of The Knot's raw immediacy for a cleaner, and more modern sound - which makes this one a bit less interesting to me. There's less of the sing-song whisper\/explosion\/whisper dynamics here. But, there are plenty of great songs. So, this spends a lot of time in my car's CD player. <\/p>\n<li><b>Gillian Welch - The Harrow & The Harvest<\/b><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/paE_WxZEJA8\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/>\nThey spent many many years on this, writing, rejecting, selecting songs (hence the title). They took so long, I was seriously starting to doubt they'd ever do another record. So, it was great news when this came out. The verdict: it's not as grand as \"Revelator\", but I think it surpasses their last, \"Soul Journey\", and fits in nicely with their first two records. They stick to their tried-and-true tradition of slow, and sometimes sad songs, simply done. And there are a couple of likely classics on here. There are also, sadly, a couple of really awkward lyrics; and when I hear them, my reflexive wincing throws me out of the song briefly. But, overall, a good record.<\/p>\n<li><b>Adele - 21<\/b><br \/>\nNo need for a link. You all know what Adele sounds like. <\/p>\n<li><b>Sea & Cake - Moonlight Butterfly<\/b>.<br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dV3m29EVkmQ\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/>\nI think they've made a slight turn back towards their classic sound here, and I deeply approve. What really hooks me with this is when they use (intentionally or more likely, not) bits which remind me of songs from other bands I really dig: Unrest, my own songs. So, for example, in the song linked here, Sam Prekop is playing a rhythm part which is almost identical to a song I wrote in 1991 for the woman I'd eventually marry. Sounds like faint praise, and maybe it is; but I've given the S&C a lifetime pass, so anything that isn't trash is welcome.\n<\/ol>\n<p>How about you? What did you like from this past year?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It's close enough to the end of the year, right? So, here are my top 5 albums of 2011. Of the dozens of records I bought this year, just ten were from 2011; so finding a top five wasn't much of a challenge. Stephen Malkmus &#038; The Jicks - Mirror Traffic (check out Jack Black [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ok-cleek.com\/blogs\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ok-cleek.com\/blogs\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ok-cleek.com\/blogs\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ok-cleek.com\/blogs\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ok-cleek.com\/blogs\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ok-cleek.com\/blogs\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14184\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ok-cleek.com\/blogs\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ok-cleek.com\/blogs\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ok-cleek.com\/blogs\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}