MusicJanuary 13th, 2012 by Foxopoly foxopolys Top !! Albums From 2011
# Denotes standout tracks. Portugal. The Man In the Mountain, In the Clouds Alaska’s very own Portugal. The Man. So excellent. #So American, Floating, Got It All Neverending White Lights ‘Act III: Love Will Ruin Pt. 1’ Canada’s Daniel Victor mastermind releases the first part 1 of the third act in his heartbreaking tragedy/trilogy. #Ghost Ship, The Greatest One, Falling Apart dredg – ‘Chuckles Mr Squeezy’ Some people hated this album produced by Dan the Automater and other people loathed it. To me it’s just the next step in the evolution of dredg. #The Ornament, The Tent, Another Tribe FTM – ‘Arrows Anchors’ The most underrated rock album this year comes from Dallas Texas’ Fair To Midland. Don’t know where they went wrong this album should have blown this band sky high in 2011. #Musical Chairs, Golden Parachutes, Armadillo Sleeps On My Pillow Foo Fighters – ‘Wasting Light’ In a world of paint by numbers, big business, over-commercialized musical climate it’s nice that a good old fashioned rock and roll record can hold it’s own. I had no idea how big this band had become until this year. I feel like I’ve always been one of the earliest and biggest fans of D. Grohl’s little side project that could. Though I’m not nearly as big of a fan anymore this album stands head and shoulders above any of their last four or five efforts. Even more excellent is the companion documentary ‘Back and Forth’. #These Days, White Limo, Walk Mastodon – ‘The Hunter’ Much less metal and more melodic that their previous releases, but just as interesting (ie…out there in space). Still probably the best metal band out there right now. #Blasteroid, Stargasm, Octopus Has No Friends Crosses – ‘ep #1’ New musical endeavor from Chino, Shawn Lopez and Dr. Doom. Minimal and ambient, but still song-driven. #Option, Bermuda Locke White Lies ‘Ritual’ – My current favorite UK band besides Interpol of course. #Is Love, Strangers, Bigger Than Us Joy Formidable – ‘The Big Roar’ – Three-piece sonic powerhouse by way of Wales. #Whirring, Buoy, The Greatest Light Is The Greatest Shade St. Vincent – ‘Strange Mercy’ Guitar wielding indie chanteuse makes such beautiful music. Another local show that I hated to miss this year. #Cruel, Cheerleader AWOLNATION – Megalithic Symphony Something different and highly refreshing. My favorite release of the year. Killed me to miss them live at the Bear Tooth last weekend. #Not Your Fault, Burn It Down, Sail December 21st, 2011 by Goblins Top 11 Albums of ‘11
I made a Spotify playlist with all of these albums here. 11 ) Ringo Deathstarr, “Colour Trip” – The best 90’s britpop band from Texas. 10 ) Does It Offend You, Yeah? “Don’t Say We Didn’t Warn You” - LCD Soundsystem and Muse have sex on the dance floor. 9 ) Cymbals Eat Guitars, “Lenses Alien” – Shoegaze emo kids listening to a lot of Built to Spill. 8 ) The Death Set, “Michael Poiccard” - Sing-along dance-punk from Australia via the depths of Baltimore. 7 ) Telekinesis, “12 Desperate Straight Lines” – Genius Seattle Merge Records power-pop written and recorded by one guy, fleshed out by a full band for the live show. Some people say too Cure-derivative, but I see much more. 6 ) Bombay Bicycle Club, “A Different Fix” – Mumford and Sons meets James. 5 ) Tune Yards, “Whokill” – Sample maven chops up her voice and spreads across a very diverse world-fusion of beats. 4 ) Joy Formidable, “The Big Roar” - Welsh shoegaze three-piece with a massive sound. 3 ) Mogwai, “Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will” - Moody, mostly instrumental Scottish vets put out another great one. 2 ) Chapel Club, “Palace” – Young new Britpop band that remind me a bit of the Editors. 1 ) Unknown Mortal Orchestra s/t – New Zealand experimental rockers move to Portland and make this gem I can’t stop listening to. It’s weird, dance-y and rocks a bit of a 70’s vibe. Please give these albums a listen. I hope you are introduced to something surprising. December 19th, 2011 by Foxopoly Anakin – ‘Abort.Retry.Fail’“Abort.Retry.Fail” by Anakin From the debut album “Random Accessed Memories” December 14th, 2011 by Foxopoly Demon Hunter – LifeWarExcellent one-take clip for Demon Hunter’s ‘LifeWar’: December 11th, 2011 by Phantasmo FILTER: Live in Anchorage 12.09.11
The first two songs were a bit mid-tempo, with Richard holding the mic stand cautiously and I was curious if things would liven up a bit, and they immediately did. The band kicked into overdrive with ‘The Inevitable Relapse’ as Richard Patrick announced to the crowd, “I feel like crowd surfing!”. As he screamed out the chorus “Drink it, drink it, snort it, smoke it!” he propelled himself into the audience. Standing inches from the stage, I spent the next few minutes holding him up along with a few others. Throughout the show, he did this several times, often looking up at the VERY low ceiling to find a handhold on a pipe, lighting rig, or anything that would carry his weight. At one point, he was singing with the mic in one hand, while his other hand and his two feet grappled around the ceiling fixtures throughout the club – it was pretty damn cool to watch this guy suspended inches above your head while belting out a kick ass rock song. There was quite a bit of stage banter, with the band completely puzzled how they had been to so many foreign places and not Alaska (“How have we been to fuckin’ KUWAIT and never been here?!”). While the band kept a solid tempo and were impressive in their own right, Richard Patrick stole the show. The guy ignited the place and had endless energy. Jumping, leaning out in the crowd to hold him up, the crowd-surfing, he was on fire. At one point during the show, I had my iPhone held up in front of him to snap a photo, when he suddenly grabbed it out of my hand and proceeded to film me, the crowd, himself and the band before handing it back to me – it was shaky as hell, but damn cool to have that happen. The set list was varied with several songs from each album and I was happy to see two of my favorites – “Jurassitol” and “Skinny” – make the cut. They closed the show with a blistering “The Best Things” before returning for a two-song encore – “So I Quit” (with a bit of “War Pigs” added on) and “Hey Man, Nice Shot”, with bassist/Carls Jr. spokesman Phil Buckman taking a shirtless center stage to rock the opening bass line before downing several shots of (requested) Jameson as the chorus kicked in. Planned or not, it was ironically funny. RP absolutely screamed his lungs out as they closed the show and walked off stage, promising to return. The band hung around for a bit, but Richard Patrick was nowhere to be seen afterward… It was a tightly-packed, sweaty little rock show and I had a great time. Filter put on an excellent live show and it’s amazing how Koots can get bands like Filter to play in such a small little area of the bar. I LOVE going to shows there. SETLIST Here’s video of the band performing ‘Skinny’ – sorry I missed the first twenty seconds or so…and be sure to watch in HD. And here’s the 25 seconds of video that Richard Patrick shot on my iPhone… November 25th, 2011 by Foxopoly Guilty PleasureGreat song / great clip. So. Shoot. Me. |
