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Pop & Rock 2011: 30 Best Albums

Page 8

Features > Year In Review > Dec 2011

Pop & Rock 2011: 30 Best Albums - Page 8
8. PJ Harvey Let England Shake (Island)
In cock-rockier hands, using the Great War to consider its contemporary counterparts and examine a bemused homeland could result in a ham-fisted concept album (see: the 1970s). Instead, PJ Harvey's Mercury Prize-winning Let England Shake fuses heady themes and dynamic compositions to create an elegant, erudite, and wholly thrilling artistic achievement. With economical, evocative lyrics, Harvey miraculously manages subtlety on an album populated with dying boys calling for their mothers ("The Colour of the Earth"), "gunners waiting in corpses," ("All and Everyone"), and soldiers falling "like lumps of meat" ("The Words that Maketh Murder"). Taking more inspiration from TS Eliot than Robert Graves ― though indebted to both ― her poetic scope continues to broaden. Correspondingly, this is as musically opaque as the songwriter has ever been. Recorded in a church, the sound is airy when it needs to be and, at turns, grating and appropriately lofty. Throughout, the pristine production judiciously anchors experimentation and brings together flights of fancy. Wisely using distorted guitars ("In the Dark Places"), unsettling orchestration ("England"), and a dash of reggae ("Written on the Forehead"), Harvey ingeniously augments and elevates thematic concerns. Conversely, "The Glorious Land" ― with its can't-resist bugle ― and the blood-soaked, piano-driven "Hanging in the Wire" are more obvious but no less effective. Filtering an examination of her home through World War I battlefields, Let England Shake may not be as overtly personal as some of Harvey's past work, but it's no less intimate (see "England). Bonus: it's way catchier than All Quiet on the Western Front.
Scott Tavener



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December 02, 2011Nameless Poseur9627
I love that Dog Day made this list, Deformer is one awesome album!
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December 02, 2011Nameless Poseur9635
Good to see Destroyer's masterpiece Kaputt so high on the list!
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December 03, 2011Nameless Poseur9640
But where are Other Lives???????????

http://youtu.be/ngNpXyaZD...
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December 03, 2011Nameless Poseur9645
Too soon this year for year end lists! BLACK KEYS new one is gonna rate right up there.
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December 05, 2011Nameless Poseur9666
Where is Katy Perry? She4's cool isnt she?
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December 05, 2011Nameless Poseur9671
Good list, I'd argue with many, but I think that's part of the fun. And, I agree, Black Keys will likely be close to the top. I just finished my first listen, it's sick. I'd also add Ottawa's The Golden Seals on there. And Gillian Welch, her new one is fantastic.
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December 05, 2011Nameless Poseur9674
No Bjork = bullshit.
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December 05, 2011Nameless Poseur9675
The Bjork was boring and way too safe. Good to leave that one off.
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December 05, 2011Nameless Poseur9684
Dudes, Kurt Vile shoulda been at the top of this shit! And no love for Josh T Pearson and David Lynch? Jeeeeeez
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December 05, 2011Nameless Poseur9685
Gillian Welch is here, on the Folk and Country list:
http://exclaim.ca/Feature...
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December 06, 2011Nameless Poseur9700
no fleet foxes ... what a joke !
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December 06, 2011Nameless Poseur9712
Um, Bon Iver but no Fleet Foxes? You've lost all cred. Ridiculous.
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December 06, 2011Nameless Poseur9717
That Fleet Foxes record SUCKED
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December 06, 2011Nameless Poseur9734
i love jimmy so very much. good one
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December 07, 2011Nameless Poseur9748
WTF is this dog shit? where are the ROCK bands on this list? no doubt this was put together by some asshole with a beard, for assholes with beards. i thought rock albums were supposed to you know, ROCK. this is all stuff i'd want to put on at night to help me fall asleep.
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December 09, 2011Nameless Poseur9816
Wow, I'm actually extremely surprised Chad Vangaalen didn't make the cut...
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December 12, 2011Nameless Poseur9842
Yuck? Yes.
Austra? Terrible choice... for anything... to do with listening to things.
Toronto's scene needs to let go of their ego on that one.
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December 13, 2011Nameless Poseur9895
I agree with the dude above me; Austra sucks. And where's Tomboy?
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December 15, 2011Nameless Poseur9942
1 Colin StetsonNew History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges
2 Oneohtrix Point NeverReplica
3 GirlsFather, Son, Holy Ghost
4 James BlakeJames Blake
5 M83Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
6 Shabazz PalacesBlack Up
7 Fucked UpDavid Comes To Life
8 The FieldLooping State Of Mind
9 Tune-YardsW H O K I L L
10 PJ HarveyLet England Shake
11 Bon IverBon Iver, Bon Iver
12 Panda BearTomboy
13 DestroyerKaputt
14 St. VincentStrange Mercy
15 RadioheadThe King Of Limbs
16 Cass McCombsWIT'S END
17 Atlas SoundParallax
18 Tim HeckerRavedeath, 1972
19 Sandro PerriImpossible Spaces
20 BraidsNative Speaker
21 Gang Gang DanceEye Contact
22 The CaretakerAn Empty Bliss Beyond This World
23 EMAPast Life Martyred Saints
24 Peaking Lights936
25 Bill CallahanApocalypse
26 Ford & LopatinChannel Pressure
27 Mikal CroninMikal Cronin
28 Dirty BeachesBadlands
29 Real EstateDays
30 Smith WesternsDye It Blonde
31 The WeekndHouse of Balloons
32 WU LYFGo Tell Fire To The Mountain
33 Youth LagoonThe Year of Hibernation
34 GrouperA I A
35 The Pains Of Being Pure...Belong
36 PonytailDo Whatever You Want All The Time
37 Fleet FoxesHelplessness Blues
38 Cass McCombsHumor Risk
39 John MausWe Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves
40 ThundercatThe Golden Age of Apocalypse
41 The Rural Alberta AdvantageDeparting
42 Gil Scott-Heron & Jamie XXWe're New Here
43 BattlesGloss Drop
44 ByetoneSymeta
45 Jürgen MüllerScience Of The Sea
46 FeistMetals
47 Dum Dum GirlsOnly in Dreams
48 DrakeTake Care
49 Kurt VileSmoke Ring for My Halo
50 Nicolas JaarSpace Is Only Noise
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December 15, 2011Nameless Poseur9943
Now THAT'S a list worth sharing.
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December 16, 2011chedderpinks9959
Where the f$%k are Demons Claws & Tandoori Knights?
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December 19, 2011Nameless Poseur9994
bon iver is boring
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December 19, 2011Nameless Poseur9995
I like reading through peoples comments with this guide. http://www.npr.org/blogs/...-20-unhappiest-people-you-meet-in-the-comments-sections-of-year-end-lists?sc=tw&cc=share
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December 20, 2011Nameless Poseur10004
Bon Iver is over rated garbage
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December 24, 2011Nameless Poseur10135
See NPR link two posts back. A must read after reading this list (or any list) comment thread
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December 27, 2011Nameless Poseur10164
No way the Golden Seals record was going to make that list. Exclaim didn't even bother to review it.
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December 27, 2011Nameless Poseur10168
My (humble) best of 2011:
ludditestereo.net
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January 03, 2012Nameless Poseur10230
It's blasphemy that Young Galaxy's Shapeshifting is not on this list.
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January 03, 2012tmakworld10262
Here is a top 10 albums of 2011 list for the classic rock type of music crowd. Thoughts? www.tmakworld.com
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January 04, 2012Nameless Poseur10280
Most of that list represents everything that is WRONG with music lately. SAFE + PREDICTABLE = BOREING.
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January 12, 2012Nameless Poseur10408
too much of this list is populated by that ethereal indie pop crap that sounds like it's a 3 minute intro with 30 seconds of an actual song. The bands that got that sound and do it right are few and far in between. I've heard the majority of these bands and I couldn't sit through more than 3 or 4 of their songs before my mind drifts off and I totally disregard the music. Not that the music is in the background and my mind drifts, just that my ears stop paying attention because it's so minimalistic and just plain boring.
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January 13, 2012Nameless Poseur10434
Its TRUE - popular indie rock is mind numbingly mellow. The only people kicking up the rock on this list are the gals like Wild Flag and PJ Harvey. Lets pray that women save us from boredom in 2012
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January 13, 2012Nameless Poseur10440
lets hope 2012 is gonna be a much better year in music
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January 13, 2012Nameless Poseur10448
How is Cold War Kids, Mine is Yours not on this list!? ...such a great album
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January 16, 2012Nameless Poseur10471
Strike Hard, Young Diamond by WILDLIFE should be here!!! Amazing record, I can't believe it's not on every list everywhere. Better than most of the stuff here really...
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Article Published In Dec 11 Issue