Noel Nocciolo’s Favorite Albums of 2011
My criteria is always the same year after year; it has to be solid (in my own version of what that means) the whole way through.
Putting yourself out there is difficult, for an artist of any kind. In a world empowered by opinions, warranted or not, and critique, correct or not, always makes for eyebrow-raising at these sorts of lists. Below are my favorites. I can’t really say that I know what “best” means, but if it’s on the list, I enjoyed the production, passion, execution & writing.
10) The Vaccines, What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?
Why wasn’t this album bigger? I’m a sucker for songs that short and gritty. And British dudes.
Favorites: Post Break-Up Sex, If You Wanna, Wreckin’ Bar (Ra Ra Ra)
9) The Weeknd, House Of Balloons/Thursday/Echoes Of Silence
The music interwebs blew up each time The Weeknd dropped one of his trilogy of mixtapes. Because no one likes to pay for music anyways, he took the “Rappers Wanting To Break” route and made three mixtapes, which you may download and enjoy, gratis. This is some chilled-out, “Whoops, did I just chase a quaalude with my vodka-soda?” mood music, i.e. let’s make out….or I might need a good, soulful cry & don’t want to play Adele.
Favorites: D.D., Life Of The Party, High For This
8) Lykke Li, Wounded Rhymes
Another solid, haunting, album from a girl who is “strange” in all the best ways.
Favorites: Youth Knows No Pain, I Follow Rivers, Sadness Is A Blessing, Get Some
#6, #7 & #8 on my list of favorites this year are sophomore albums made by women, and their debuts were fantastic. The idea of a “sophomore slump” is nothing but blame and laziness; these three made albums that were on par with or arguably better than their first; no easy feat.
7) Lady GaGa, Born This Way
I am in absolute love with the sheer musical talent that is behind the persona of Lady GaGa. A Warhol-era performance artist, who is a pop star, but was classically trained.
Favorites: You & I, Born This Way, Government Hooker, The Edge Of Glory
6) Adele, 21
Yep, it’s your Mom’s favorite album. And your moody older sister’s. And your Grandma’s. Guess what? It’s good. It’s actually REALLY good. Well-thought out. Sad as hell. Gorgeous. Kanye better take a cleansing deep breath, because homegirl is going to kill it at the Grammys.
Favorites: He Won’t Go, Set Fire To The Rain, Rolling In The Deep, Lovesong (The Cure cover)
5) Lupe Fiasco, Friend Of The People
Lupe is not one to hold back his true feelings on what he feels are the issues and injustices running rampant in our generation. Put down the video game console, download this mixtape for free and listen. Fair-weather hip-hop fans will be riveted by his rapid-fire intellect and flow. Well-placed samples, most notably from Ellie Goulding & Bassnectar, M83 and Justice, and he had the balls to title one of the tracks, “WWJD He’d Prolly LOL Like WTF.” I grew up in a small town with fifty Christian churches and zero diversity. To me, this is the greatest song title, ever.
Favorites: WWJD He’d Probably LOL Like WTF!!!, Friend Of The People feat. Dosage, SNDCLSH In Vegas, Lightwork
4) Various Artists, Rave On, Buddy Holly
A tribute album, while hearts (mostly) in the right place, can be risky at best, and sucky at worst. This one is pretty incredible. To commemorate what would have been Buddy Holly’s 70th birthday, a nice spread of artists contributed to Rave On. Only a few were downright self-indulgent and weird (I’ll give a pass to Paul McCartney; he owns Holly’s publishing) most were spot-on and lovely. Kid Rock has an amazing voice, in case you didn’t know. Fiona Apple & Jon Brion give a requisite loveliness to “Everyday,” one of Holly’s most well-known. Florence + The Machine, Justin Townes Earle, Nick Lowe & Graham Nash are all stand-outs.
Favorites: Changing All Those Changes, Maybe Baby, Well All Right, (You’re So Square) Baby I Don’t Care
3) Tally Hall, &
I wrote about this album upon its release here.
Everything I wrote, times ten. Love Love Love.
Favorites: You, Cannibal, Never Meant To Know, Turn The Lights Off
2) Wilco, The Whole Love
While it is no secret to anyone half-paying attention to this site, that I am a HUGE Wilco fan. Like Moms with kids, I try not to pick a favorite, but may I just say that this particular kid is leaps and bounds beyond the last two. Songwriting is kicked up a (already lofty) notch, band is tight and stellar.
Favorites: Art Of Almost, Standing O, I Might, Black Moon
1) Tom Waits, Bad As Me
Tom Waits does it his way. If you like it, great. If you “get it,” even better. He truly does not care if you don’t like his music, and is legitimately charming, though guarded, whenever he speaks to the press. He and his writer-wife raised their kids in Northern California, rather than in the hustle of Los Angeles. They create his work and he releases something every few years. He tours sporadically. Waits controls Waits. This particular album has slid into being one of my all-time favorites in his catalog; equal parts weird, jazzy, touching and everything in the middle. (+ 1 Keith Richards on a couple of tracks) And as I type this, while listening to the album for the umpteenth time, just before the new year…I hear, really hear, the closing track, “New Years Eve” for the first time.
Favorites: Right Raised Men, Kiss Me, New Year’s Eve
