2011 Commemoration (Runner-ups)

***(To clarify, I posted the photo above because I thought it was funny. I don't wanna start all sorts of controversy)

Happy 2012 people! I'm sure many of you were busy with holiday festivities and whatnot the past month or so. 2011 was a good year for music - a great one in fact. Here are my (almost) favourite albums of the year, in no particular order. There's a few tracks from each album, to give a bit of a sample taste.

Manchester Orchestra - Simple Math

Actually the first album of theirs that I got into, and now I'm just a huge fan of all their work. Not much to say about this album except that absolutely everyone should listen to the whole thing at least once.

Leave It Alone

Pale Black Eye

Apprehension

Pensacola

Dan Mangan - Oh, Fortune

Dan The Man(gan) is a genius. I had this album kicking around in my library for a while until I actually listened. The first time I sat down and decided to play the whole thing through, I was blown away. If you're into folky singer/songwriter kind of stuff, this guy's for you. He plays with jazz musicians; 'nough said I guess right? Right. Also this album has a lot of "orchestration" if you will, strings and trumpets and all that jazz (no pun intended). Just listen. Jeopardy (closing track) is so awesome when it picks up.

Post-War Blues

Starts With Them, Ends With Us

Jeopardy

Elzhi - Elmatic

I love this album more every time I hear it. I know it's a tribute to a classic, but at the same time, it IS a classic! I also discovered that Will Sessions (production) is a band, and that all the beats on here are live instruments, which makes me love it even more. I still can't get over Elzhi's flow.

Genesis

Halftime

One Love

I could go on and on about all the great music that came out in 2011, but I'll leave it at that. Although, the #1 is still yet to be announced. Stay tuned for that.

Happy 2012 listening errrbody!

-s

El-Dorado

Former Slum Village member Elzhi (he styles it 'eLZhi') is one of few artists capable of making an adequate tribute album to Nas' Illmatic; yeah, he did that by the way. Elzhi is undoubtedly influenced by Nas, but the man has character in his voice, plus his lyrical skill is virtuous to say the least. An important lesson Elzhi took from Nas is how to flow so seamlessly yet with such intricacy - an admirable trait in the 'workplace'.

This guy is a great storyteller; some incredible wordplay in there as well:

"Wait, I must be on the wrong side of the lane trail; where they rob memory banks and end up in the brain cell." (Memory Lane)

Take a listen (pay special attention to lyricism), and maybe you'll see why I refer to him figuratively as the rough Spanish translation for "place of gold".

Elzhi - Memory Lane

Elzhi - Talkin' In My Sleep

Elzhi - The Alchemist

Slum Village - Lock It Down

Elzhi - Represent

-s