2011 has been a memorable year to say the least. These are exciting times in the music realm (if you can forget that Justin Bieber and Nicki Minaj exist for a moment). It seems more than ever that as far as music is concerned, anything goes. This year saw the release of some amazing follow-up albums. Albums like Starfucker’s Reptilians (which happens to be my #1 album of the year), The Black Keys’ El Camino, Portugal. The Man’s In the Mountain In the Cloud and Arctic Monkeys’ Suck It and See quickly nudged their ways into my “favorite albums of all time” list. I obsessed over indie-rock newbies Cults and Yuck and the Vaccines. On the more experimental side of town, dream-pop outfits like Porcelain Raft and Purity Ring dominated by their own right. I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of the likes in 2012. Anywho, I have compiled my most played indie/rock/indie-rock jamz from the past year. Check ’em out.

Top Indie/Alternative Tracks of 2011

15. Junk of the Heart (Happy) by The Kooks
14. Shook Down by Yuck
13. Take Me Over by Cut Copy
12. Gangsta by tUnE-yArDs
11. Machu Picchu by The Strokes
10. Got It All (This Can’t Be Living Now) by Portugal. The Man
9. Honey Bunny by Girls
8. I Can’t Feel It by Ty Segall
7. Sister by The Black Keys
6. All Die Young by Smith Westerns
5. Stuck On the Puzzle by Alex Turner
4. Never Heal Myself by Cults
3. Green Aisles by Real Estate
2. Suck It and See by Arctic Monkeys
1. Death as a Fetish by Starfucker (feat. Mattress)

I’ve never been the biggest advocate of Liverpool trio The Wombats. If you’d asked me a week ago what I thought of them I would have laughed and said the only song worth knowing was “Let’s Dance to Joy Division” (which happens to be a jam and a half) but anything else was a waste of time. I downloaded their followup LP This Modern Glitch the other day on a boredom-induced whim and I’m glad I did.

At a first listen, the album is a lot of the same danceable, rough-edge Brit pop/rock as their debut. Though it’s cleaner. Less obnoxious. More modern (as though the album title wasn’t a dead give away). They’ve added sugar coated layers of 1980’s synth and high tempo’d guitar riffs. Ironically this oft over the top ’80s vibe proves to be its modern glitch. Suffice it to say, there’s still something about their music that makes them more a guilty pleasure than anything else after your first few runs through of this album.

With a five-year gap between albums, you’d expect considerable maturity in the lyrics; this is not immediately noticeable in this album, which in a rather heart-on-the-sleeve manner grapples with the pangs and debauched pleasures of the life of the modern 20-something. In “1996” they reminisce on the long lost teenage days of carelessness. At times (i.e. “Tokyo” and “Jump Into the Fog”) they mockingly shirk the responsibility of maturity. The lyrics are almost too honest. Frontman Matthew Murphy declares, “I’ve made mistakes I admit that freely/It’s just that life tastes sweeter when it’s wrapped in debauchery.” The albums ultimate hook (and possibly saving grace because it allows you to see the band through a different lens) is its first single “Anti-D” in which Murphy discusses his ongoing struggle with chemical depression. The album from this point on becomes a lifeline. The self-deprecating wit of the other songs gains new perspective and the album in general doesn’t seem so one dimensional.

Despite the gloomy undertones, the album is dressed in warm flourishes that make it utterly, almost confusingly enjoyable, like a shock of energy through your system. Murphy sings “The lasers fill our minds with empty plans/I never knew I was techno fan.” The album is far from flawless, but it doesn’t aim for perfection and that’s made clear through some of the darker aspects of it. But it does succeed on several grounds. It did enough to change my mind about them, I’ll admit. I guess I never knew I was a Wombats fan.

Tracklist

1. Our Perfect Disease
2. Tokyo (Vampires & Wolves)
3. Jump Into the Fog
4. Anti-D
5. Last Night I Dreamt…
6. Techno Fan
7. 1996
8. Walking Disasters
9. Girls/Fast Cars
10. Schumacher the Champagne
11. Valentine

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Techno Fan (Acoustic Glitch)
Anti-D (Acoustic Glitch)
Tokyo (’96 Bulls Remix)
Let’s Dance to Joy Division

12FV

With the emergence and booming success of the likes of RAC and Starslinger, Indie remixes are becoming increasingly popular on the music scene. These most likely aren’t the kind of remixes you’ll hear at a party or at a rave. Typically, they’re the instances of a musician or a band adding their own colors and flair to another artist’s work. They usually don’t meddle with the song to the point where it’s something completely different. RAC for instance, has a knack for taking an already original and hooky track and embellishing it without disemboweling it. A lot of times I think these reworked songs are better than the original. Plus it’s always cool to see how one artist envisions another’s song.

From the recesses of my iTunes I bring you another compilation of these remixes. Some of the following are rather old, others are more recent. Some are obvious remixes, others could be mistaken for an original if you weren’t already familiar with the song. What they have in common though is undeniable catchiness. Enjoy yo’self.

Indie Remixes Playlist, Part ii

^click to download

1. 1996 (Lenno Remix) by The Wombats
2. Wait and See (Flight Facilities Remix) by Holy Ghost!
3. Take Me Over (Flight Facilities Remix) by Cut Copy
4. Going Nowhere (Digitalism Remix) by Cut Copy
5. Too Dramatic (The Morning Benders Remix) by Ra Ra Riot
6. Antillas (Architecture In Helsinki Remix) by El Guincho
7. Life On The Nickel (Mansions On The Moon Remix) by Foster the People
8. You’re A Animal (Fishing Remix) by Jonathan Boulet
9. Ready For The World (Star Slinger Remix) by How To Dress Well
10. I Follow Rivers (the Oos & Ahhs Remix) by Lykke Li
11. Everything To Me (Adventure Club Dubstep Remix) by Lips
12. Something Good Can Work (RAC Remix) by Two Door Cinema Club

AA Bondy’s most recent release Believers is a pulsing compilation of gentle melodies and husky-voiced Americana. Deeply and genuinely contemplative, it’s achingly lovely. Bondy is effective in that he never asks for an audience; each song is a solitary ode. In it’s own subtle, completely understated way, it’s probably one of the most beautiful releases of this year.

Tracklist

1. The Heart Is Willing
2. Down In the Fire (Lost Sea)
3. Skull & Bones
4. 123 Dupuy Street
5. Surfer King
6. Hiway/Fevers
7. Drmz
8. The Twist
9. Rte. 28/Believers
10. Scenes from a Circus

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I Can See the Pines Are Dancing

I’ve got this farfetched theory that if you wanted to know what was going inside John Lennon’s drug-riddled brain circa 1967 you would just have to listen to one-man show Porcelain Raft’s debut EP Gone Blind. Maybe it’s just his vocals though. There’s an edge of classism lost in a swirling, ether-soaked daze. Gentle reverb and floating loop melodies give his music a chill wave-esque ambiance that blends nicely on a playlist with other dream pop breakouts of this year such as Youth Lagoon and Oupa. The EP glides from song to song, transporting you through the numbing confusion of an over-populated city to a barren landscape. It’s expansive and makes use of its space really nicely with glitchy electronic beats that shimmer amongst a slew of unconventional instrumentation. At times his music is futuristically epic, like a post-apocalyptic society run by glimmering robots. Sometimes it borders scary; the kind of stuff I would honestly only listen to if I was bored and wanted to pretend I lived in psych-thriller fantasy world (the kind where the only person who comes out alive in the end is Tom Cruise or some guy and his dog). Or if I was in dire need of an adrenaline rush. To put it simply, his music is straight weird most of the time. However, once you shove the weirdness aside, there’s a vulnerability at it’s core that makes it difficult to write off even the really strange songs. But the catchy songs are pretty catchy. I’ve linked the noteworthy jams below.

Tip of Your Tongue
Gone Blind
Dragonfly

I wrote about New Orleans-based indie-rock duo Generationals earlier this year when their sophomore album Actor-Caster was released. I know it’s strange to move backwards and write about a debut after you’ve written about the follow-up but I’m gonna do it anyway. It’s an album you’ve got to know about.

Released in 2009, Con Law swims through several pools of influence but each song echoes against the same distant wall of memory. At times it tinkers with electro-synth and Beach pop. The vocal echoes give it a lo-fi edge without really nudging it into that genre. It occupies every space of sound possible with leaping percussion and shimmering guitars. Ultimately it’s a charming album that could win you over any time of the year. It’s the kind of stuff you wanna get up and dance to.

Tracklist

1. Nobody Could Change Your Mind
2. Angry Charlie
3. Faces In The Dark
4. When They Fight, They Fight
5. Our Time 2 Shine
6. Wildlife Sculpture
7. Bobby Beale
8. Exterior Street Day
9. It Keeps You Up
10. These Habits

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I Promise

Allow me to introduce you to indie-pop outfit French Cassettes. I’m willing to bet these California Bay-based youngsters are about to explode in a big way. They really embrace the fun of making music, with a sound that emulates classic rock with a more contemporary edge. In just a few years, they’ve come a long way from playing Strokes covers on acoustic guitars in high school–they’ve got their own experimental edge going on, working with what they’ve got. They’re one of those budding bands that just seems destined to go far.

Click here to buy their EP “Summer Darling.” It’s worth every cent.

Radley
Mouth Drum
Secrets Make Sounds