GARETH CAMPESINOS!’ RECORDS OF 2011
An over-cooked documentation of the albums/EPs/records I have got most enjoyment from over the past 12 months. I think this year’s been a pretty exciting one for the evolution of my musical tastes and interests, as I’ve found hardly a single thing ‘guitar record’-wise that has stirred any emotion in me (a couple of notable exceptions to be found within here, however) and so have opened up to new ideas and sounds. I attempted to write a bit about each record, I tried REALLY hard, but one of the things I loathe most is people who have no ability to write about music having music blogs, and though I’m never usually shy to embrace hypocrisy, I stood firm here.
I’d be totally interested in hearing any recommendations you might have for me, from this year or any other, based on this list. Cheers guys,
G
Araab Muzik – Electronic Dream
ASAP Rocky – Live Love ASAP
Clams Casino – Instrumental Mixtape
Danny Brown – XXX
Destroyer – Kaputt
Drake – Take Care
Laurel Halo – Hour Logic
Tim Hecker – Ravedeath, 1972
Julia Holter – Tragedy
How To Dress Well – Just Once EP
Machinedrum – Room(s)
Prurient – Bermuda Drain
Shabazz Palaces – Black Up
Slow Club – Paradise
The Weeknd – House Of Balloons
Have you heard Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire’s “Lost in Translation”? It might be up your alley given your enjoyment of XXX.
Because of Machinedrum, I would also recommend the Sepalcure album just in case, but you have probably heard that already.
Lastly, have you heard the second Benoit & Sergio 12″ from this year? It’s no “Boy Trouble” but it is still good.
Frank Ocean’s Nostaglia/Ultra was my second favourite R&B album after House of Balloons. Both albums seems to share the whole “I’m not a smooth-talking loverman, I’m a dangerous psychotic” vibe.
No bon iver???
Kind of (sort of) in the same vein as Machinedrum, you should definitely check out Lucy’s Wordplay for Working Bees and Kuedo’s Severant. Both are amazing.
He hates Bon Iver. Would love to hear his opinion on Childish Gambino though
Freakishly close to my own list (especially the sad-sack R&B stuff).
I think you would love – if you haven’t already heard it, that is – is ’808s & Dark Grapes’ – Main Attrakionz. The song you really want to hear from them is ‘Perfect Skies’. Track of the IMHO.
The other thing I think that you would dig is an Aussie-Canadian dude named Guerre, whose ‘Darker My Love’ EP sits somewhere between HTDW and The Weeknd.
Oh and one more – try out Oscar + Martin’s self-titled!
Albums from Girls, The Wombats and The Vaccines impressed me a lot this year; you can regain your guitar interest there I think.
Im surprised Adele isn’t up there especially because you both write about break ups and heartbreak, slow club cd is defiantly great and house of ballon. I do want to know what you would think about Childish Gambino. And do you like drake take care because it came out the same day as your cd? I know thats not the reason but just a thought.
I Love You Guys
Gareth you NEED to hear Kendrick Lamar’s Section.80 LP, based on the hip hop you have listed. Trust me. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHe5zFDe9oo
Have you guys heard of Foster the People over in England?
J. Mascis’ solo album was pretty good. Check this one out:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N9yhRlNaUw
Were you not impressed with the M83 album? It at least hast a couple killer tracks.
totally agree with Noah, going to see Girls in February, and am excited as FUCK!
Gareth, do you ever tour with Slow Club?
Pleased to see you’re a fan of Destroyer, as I file both of you under my mental “uber literate lyricists” label. If that’s your first exposure to him, you might like to do some exploring of the rest of his discog. “Destroyer’s Rubies” is a favorite of mine.
Also: please come back to the states and tour more. I couldn’t come home from school when you played my area. Was really disappointed.
No: Wye Oak – Civilian?
Zola Jesus – Conatus?
EMA – Past Life Martyred Saints?
M83 – Hurry Up We’re Dreaming?
Laura Marling – A Creature I Don’t Know?
Johnny Foreigner – Johnny Foreigner vs Everything. (as much as NME hated it I really quite enjoyed it.)
No way would I expect all of those to be on your list but I did think that Wye Oak would be on there. If you haven’t heard that album then you should certainly check it out it’s fantastic. Hardly the complete album by any means but there are few of those around and obviously that’s entirely based on opinion. (thereby undermining my entire argument.)
Seconding the Main Attrakionz recommendation. There’s a Clams-produced track featuring A$AP, so you know, good stuff.
Also, elite gymnastics’ r u i n EPs are great.
No Active Child? Colour me surprised.
No One Direction!!?!?!
Drake is the worst. Also don’t listen to people recommend Childish Gambino. How that dude has written for one of the best sitcoms going and yet can make a record so unfunny and just ignorant (and not in a fun way like J-Zone used to) is crazy.
Recommendations? Signing up to dat piff. But based on this list I would say PRGz’s ‘Fear and Loathing in Hunts Vegas’, I’ll third the Main Az recommendation, Killer Mike’s ‘I Pledge Allegiance To The Grind II’, the Big K.R.I.T. records, Lil Boosie’s Incarcerated…
oh and any records by The Field.
Seeing as you’ve gone and got me obsessing over The Beautiful South I suppose I should return the favour.
If you haven’t listened to any Aesop Rock you might want to check out Labor Days, it’s not new but it’s about as good as rap gets (to me anyway).
Withered Hand’s ‘Good News’. That’s not new either though.
Stuff it, I can’t think of anything this year so I’m just going to give up on that.
‘The Sunset Tree’ by The Mountain Goats and ‘Let it be’ by The Replacements are both completely unrelated to anything you listed but, y’know, awesome.
Nice, took to a lot of the same records. I love that Araabmuzik and Shabazz Places one. Still needa give ASAP Rocky more listens and get around to Clams Casino.
Aside from that I loved the Youth Lagoon record, the new Friendly Fires record was quite good, Destroyer’s new one was pretty fantastic. Uh what else did I like, M83, The Wombats, tUnE-yArDs, Pictureplane, Tom Vek, The Throne, and obviously the new JoFo record.
Lotsa good stuff this year.
BLC
I hate to sound like last.fm, but if you liked XXX (one of my fave albums this year also) then check out Death Grips: http://thirdworlds.net/exmilitary.php
Hip hop meets hardcore punk. Danny Brown is a fan.
You didn’t like tUnE-yArDs?
Also, I’ve been telling everyone to listen to Hell On Heels by Pistol Annies, which is perfect from start to finish.
I didn’t think the new Beirut album was so bad. Destroyer was my favourite by miles, but walking through a crowded French market with Clams Casino soaking into my ears was unforgettable.
Gareth the only album I bought last year was The Tempest by Insane Clown Posse, but I can’t help but notice that it’s not on your list. What does this mean?