Back to 2011 (Re-Ranking the Best of Lists) • Page 4

I'm late! When I think about 2011, I think it's the year I had my own "golden age of the scene" moment like when I would read much older people reminisce about the Drive-Thru era. Some of the albums I have in mind like:

The Wonder Years - Suburbia (still the only album I can connect with from them, weirdly)
Fireworks - Gospel
Transit - Listen & Forgive
Living With Lions - Holy Shit
I Am The Avalanche - Avalanche United
The Swellers - Good For Me

Were all part of it, and it's crazy to think that they were all released in such a short timeframe. I mainly revisit Transit's album out of that bunch, as it remains an emo-pop classic. I'll add the Promise Nothing split as well as the Something To Remember album they released that same year. It was easily their peak, and witnessing their growth as well as discussing all of this in the ap.net forums was so fun.

Seeing everyone freak out over The Weeknd's mixtapes was fun as well. I'm still not sure which one I prefer, so I might highlight Trilogy for the 2012 article instead.

Otherwise, 2011 weirdly feels... not that long ago to me? Maybe because, the first half at least, was one of my most cherished periods, finishing my first high school year, being in a relationship for the first time and having it end awkwardly in a typical 15/16 year olds fashion. Those moments were mainly soundtracked by the emo/pop punk-y records previously mentioned. That's why I keep mentioning that time as me living through a more recent golden age musically.

As for the rest, my 2011 list wouldn't differ that much as I was starting to get deep into genres of music I'm more familiar with these days, so here are other albums I probably had somewhere in my top 20 and still are there today:

Thursday - No Devolucion
Florence + The Machine - Ceremonials
Funeral For A Friend - Welcome Home Armageddon
Kendrick Lamar - Section 80
Friendly Fires - Pala
Lower Than Atlantis - World Record
Kimbra - Vows
City Of Ships - Minor World
Touché Amoré - Parting the Sea Between Brightness and Me
Dance Gavin Dance - Downtown Battle Mountain II
Mutemath - Odd Soul
Junius - Reports From The Threshold Of Death
The Dangerous Summer - War Paint
There For Tomorrow - The Verge
Defeater - Empty Days & Sleepless Nights

It's also the year I got obsessed with Blink again, and I still maintain Neighborhoods, despite disappointing me at first, is a solid if a little bit uneventful album. I'd take it over the newer ones any day.

I was big into the Sleeping With Sirens album as well. I probably haven't listened to it a lot since. Not sure how well it aged, but I'll see that soon.

I'm not sure if I would put Yellowcard's album in that list. I didn't really replay it at the time, and I'd say the following albums were all better. It's a good reunion album anyway, but I guess it got overshadowed by so much stuff for me.

That summer, I also got a lot into Frank Ocean, getting into his mixtape and then a hundred or more of unreleased songs. I remember blasting Erykah Badu's discography as well, but she didn't have an album that year right?

I also saw many shows, with Comeback Kid being a bit of a blur due to the energy of the crowd. Similarly, Letlive. opened for Enter Shikari and it was... the wildest show I ever witnessed. Jason was a ball of fury. I'm not highlighting the album because to me it remains a 2010 one and I already had a weird "I'm sick of metalcore-y suff" phase at one point.

I hadn't read the previous posts before writing this one, and it's funny how Jason mentioned that year or more particularly that summer being peak drama because that's exactly the thought I had in mind when I thought about this article yesterday. Not just about that band, but it felt like the scene had a scandal every other day or something controversial, like that whole Dance Gavin Dance fiasco or Victory signing another horrible band or that one youtube getting heckled by NeverShoutNever or something. Yeah I know, I remember weird stuff.

I also remember the one two punch of Thursday and Thrice announcing their hiatuses back to back hurting a lot. On the contrary, the one two punch of Refused and At The Drive-In announcing their reunions was... incredible. Pretty sure the site crashed at some point?

Adding White Silence by Cave In now that I recall it from that year.

And samesies about How I Met Your Mother. I got into that show that entire summer and, along with my family and a few friends, was obsessed with it. Weirdly, it didn't last long and I was the only one in my surroundings to watch the dreadful final seasons and especially that all time worst final episode. Every re-watch attempt failed. What a waste.

 

A few records I just recalled:

Glassjaw - Coloring Book and Our Color Green
Perfume - JPN
Natalia Kills - Perfectionist
Big K.R.I.T. - Return Of 4Eva
School Food Punishment - Prog-Roid
SBTRKT - S/T

No one mentioning Glassjaw is surprising considering that year was their big return. I did forget about them earlier though! Coloring Book and JPN have since become all time faves.

 

Looking back on this year, turns out it was quite a bit better than I thought. Here’s my humble opinion of the albums that kicked ass:

Balance and Composure - Separation
Black Pistol Fire - s/t
Bon Iver - s/t
Emery - We do what we want(their best IMHO, some heavy weights on here)
Explosions in the Sky - Take Care...
Four Year Strong - In some way, shape, or Form
Glassjaw - Our Color Green(if anyone knows where I can get Coloring Book, please let me know!)
Grieves - Together/Apart
Hands - Give me rest(such an incredible record that I rarely hear about, I think Decoymusic once had a crush on it)
La Dispute - Wildlife( holy shit, King Park)
Letlive. - Fake History
Lights - Siberia
Lupe Fiasco - Lasers
Manchester Orchestra - Simple Math
Moving Mountains - Waves(had to revisit, I forgot how good this is)
Mute Math - Odd Soul
O’Brother - Garden Window
Pianos Become the Teeth - the Lack Long After
Sainthood Reps - Monoculture(Hunter is a top 3 song for this year, love it)
The Devil Wears Prada - Dead Throne
Thrice - Major/Minor
Thursday - No Devolucion

Overall, a helluva year...I had turned 31 at the time and while getting old sucks, music has certainly made it an enjoyable ride along the way - this was a great year for many different flavors

 

Wow, I would definitely bet their come back was maybe like 5 years ago!

 

Dropkick Murphys don't get enough love on this site. Going Out In Style is top 5 for me.