The Fishpork 20: Favorite Albums of 2011
This list may fly in the face of most “best of” lists for 2011. Excluded are the overrated Bon Iver, James Blake, and the array of wince-inducing rap projects that have been embraced by particular hipster circles. Included are some albums that have been relentlessly bashed by the indie blogosphere, but ones we loved, such as The Strokes, Radiohead, and White Lies, as well as some that were completely ignored this year (Feersum Ennjin and Saul Williams).
We don’t call ‘em the best, just our favorites. These are the records that got the most plays on our iPods this year, our favorite albums of 2011:
1. Modeselektor – Monkeytown
2. Tapes ‘n Tapes – Outside
3. The Strokes – Angles
4. Radiohead – The King of Limbs
5. Feersum Ennjin – Feersum Ennjin
6. The Antlers – Burst Apart
7. Panda Bear – Tomboy
8. Wilco – The Whole Love
9. Saul Williams – Volcanic Sunlight
10. Atlas Sound – Parallax
11. TV On The Radio – Nine Types of Light
12. Puscifer – Conditions of My Parole
13. SONOIO – RED
14. Battles – Glass Drop
15. Beastie Boys – Hot Sauce Committee Pt. 2
16. M83 – Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
17. REM – Collapse Into Now
18. PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
19. White Lies – Ritual
20. The Decemberists – The King Is Dead
Most Disappointing Albums of 2011:
Dredg – Chuckles and Mr. Squeezy
Ladytron – Gravity the Seducer
Fishpork’s 25 Favorite Tracks of 2011
Jeff Mangum came out of hiding to officially release some brilliant old tracks from the archives, Keaton Henson put out an achingly powerful single from 2010′s self-released Dear…, and a lot of deaf music reviewers shit on The Strokes latest collection of songs (except for us, of course). 2011 welcomed back our all-time favorite artists and introduced us to new favorites. Narrowing down the year’s best was especially difficult this time around, but here is our very biased list of 25 favorite tracks from 2011 (give the page a minute to load the embedded clips):
1. Neutral Milk Hotel – “Ferris Wheel on Fire”
2. Keaton Henson – “You Don’t Know How Lucky You Are”
3. The Strokes – “Machu Picchu”
4. Feersum Ennjin – “Hate The Sun”
5. Modeselektor – “Pretentious Friends”
6. HEALTH – “Goth Star (Pictureplane cover)”
7. Tapes ‘n Tapes – “Nightfall”
8. M83 – “Midnight City”
9. SONOIO – “Enough”
10. Radiohead – “Codex”
11. Panda Bear – “Alsatian Darn”
12. Keaton Henson – “Strawbear”
13. The Antlers – “Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out”
14. The Strokes – “Taken For A Fool”
15. M+A – “Liko Lene Lisa”
16. Tapes ‘n Tapes – “Badaboom”
17. Modeselektor – “Grillwalker”
18. The Horrors – “Still Life”
19. Saul Williams – “Triumph”
20. Amanda Palmer – “Map Of Tasmania”
21. Atlas Sound – “Mona Lisa”
22. Adebisi Shank – “Century City”
23. Puscifer – “Monsoons”
24. Battles – “Ice Cream”
25. Givers – “Noche Nada”
Fishpork’s 10 Favorite Videos of 2011
Did Andreas Nilsson really not make a video this year? I suppose that takes a bit of the bite out of this year’s favorites list, doesn’t it? Just like last year, 2011′s list includes more from the legendary music video auteur Spike Jonze. While there were many worthy videos this year, we narrowed down a list of ten favorites. Featuring the Beastie Boys sequel to a 25-year-old original, a raucous comedy by Maynard James Keenan, and a performance piece that incorporates light and darkness to perfection, these are Fishpork’s 10 Favorite Videos of 2011:
10. “Don’t Play No Game That I Can’t Win” by Beastie Boys (Directed by Spike Jonze)
9. “My Machines” by Battles (Directed by Daniels)
8. “Dance” by Saul Williams (Directed by Cédric Blaisbois)
7. “Midnight City” by M83 (Directed by Fleur & Manu)
6. “Lotus Flower” by Radiohead (Directed by Garth Jennings)
5. “You Don’t Know How Lucky You Are” by Keaton Henson (Directed by David Wilson)
4. “Conditions of My Parole” by Puscifer (Directed by Mike King and Maynard James Keenan)
3. “Fight For Your Right (Revisited)” by Beastie Boys (Directed by Adam Yauch)
2. “Shipwreck” by Modeselektor (ft. Thom Yorke) (Directed by Tony “Truand” Datis)
1. “Enough” by SONOIO (Directed by Matt Sundin and Caspar Newbolt)
Album Review: Monkeytown
With Monkeytown, Berlin-based electronic maestros Modeselektor have released their best album to date. Gernot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary’s tastes are beyond eclectic. In an interview, the pair labeled Modeselektor as “happy metal, hard rap, country-ambient, Russian crunk” and stressed, “We don’t like it if people tag us as being a certain style or school or scene or whatever. We don’t really care about all that.” The duo certainly do not limit themselves to genre on Monkeytown.
After numerous listens, “Pretentious Friends” may just be the track of the year for me. Among the guests on Monkeytown, LA-based emccee Busdriver is the standout. His humor and fluctuating speed of delivery align perfectly with Modeselektor’s frantic beats on the only hip hop-infused track on the record. The mid-song phone call “was fabulous!”
Modeselektor “Pretentious Friends” feat. Busdriver (MONKEYTOWN015) OUT SEP 30 by Modeselektor
Much of the press around the album centered on Thom Yorke appearing on two of the tracks. Yorke is a huge fan of the band, and Modeselektor has supported Radiohead on tours overseas. Yorke has expressed that the band is one of his inspirations for getting so deep into electronic styles with recent Radiohead and solo releases. On Monkeytown, both Yorke appearances are stellar. His vocals are looped throughout much of “Shipwreck,” fitting nicely with the off-beat drum and bass. Yorke delivers three brilliant, high-pitched verses in the track using an original vocal delivery. It’s like nothing I’ve heard from him before. The second Yorke track, “This,” features more looped segments of different vocal pieces. There are no standard verses, but the use of these vocal fragments play nicely off Modeselektor’s intensely layered composition.
Album standouts include “Grillwalker,” and “Green Light Go.” The latter may be the most straightforward track on the record in terms of traditional song structure, and features Australia-based experimental rockers PVT. “Berlin” may be the most single-friendly and chartable track on Monkeytown, featuring a catchy R&B hook and guest appearance by Romanian-German singer, Miss Platinum. The slowly building “Blue Chords” and the subdued “War Cry” serve as beautiful bookends to a near-perfect album. I’m not sure how Monkeytown will be topped as my favorite album of 2011. I haven’t been this excited about an electronic album since LCD Soundsystem’s This Is Happening. This one deserves to be part of your vinyl collection. It’s 56 minutes of aural bliss.
Listen to excerpts from the album below or stream the entire thing on the album player on the right side of the page [via Spin]
Listen to 45 Seconds of Each Track From Modeselektor’s Monkeytown
August 6, 2011 by Mark
Filed under Electronic, News
Berlin techno duo Modeselektor have decided to share with the world 45 second snippets of all of the tracks off their forthcoming album, Monkeytown. This new album, out September 27 on Monkeytown Records, is their third album and was produced in one session over the course of ten weeks. Flowing freely between styles and tempos, Monkeytown experiments with the edges and extremes, exploring fresh sonic territory from a solid base of beats located deep within the groove. With massive drums, minced vocals and a mastery of mounting tension, Modeselektor creates a new animal out of dance music, a mutating chimera with body parts of left-field hip hop, soulful R&B, punk rap and playful surprises. Contributing to the album is an exciting palette of guest vocalists and musicians, including Thom Yorke, Busdriver, PVT, Anti Pop Consortium, Miss Platnum, Sascha Ring (aka Apparat), Pillow Talk, Gordon Boerger, Siriusmo and Otto von Schirach [via Pitch Perfect PR].
Monkeytown track listing:
01. Blue Clouds – Modeselektor
02. Pretentious Friends – Modeselektor feat. Busdriver (emergency call by Pillow Talk)
03. Shipwreck – Modeselektor & Thom Yorke
04. Evil Twin – Modeselektor (vocals by Otto von Schirach)
05. German Clap – Modeselektor
06. Berlin – Modeselektor feat. Miss Platnum
07. Grillwalker – Modeselektor
08. Green Light Go – Modeselektor & PVT (drums by Gordon Boerger, additional synth by Siriusmo)
09. Humanized – Modeselektor feat. Anti Pop Consortium
10. This – Modeselektor & Thom Yorke
11. War Cry – Modeselektor (guitar by Sascha Ring)
MP3: “Sayulita” by Apparat
October 7, 2010 by Mark
Filed under MP3s, Upcoming Releases
Finally taking a break from his work with Moderat (Apparat + Modeselektor), Sascha Ring (aka Apparat) offers up a track named after the Mexican town where he recorded new material. “Sayulita” is his exclusive contribution to his DJ-KiCKS mix. Harnessing the shaky, organic percussion, big hoover like bass sounds and the erratic guitar chops that cut through the rising pads it blends somewhat brilliantly with Joy Orbison’s “The Shrew Would Have Cushioned The Blow” on the mix but also manages to stand up to repeated listens on its own; fully blossoming into a somewhat angular exercise in where Ring is at right now sonically – complete with curved reverb tails across the snare drums while the low end chomps at the bit behind it. The album drops on October 25 on iTunes. You can download “Sayulita” by Apparat here or stream it below:
Fishpork’s 100 Favorite Tracks of the 2000s
This is an attempt at the impossible. Here are our 100 favorite songs of the past decade (featuring multiple tracks from Animal Collective, The Knife, Radiohead, and Elliott Smith). Our top two choices are more like 1a and 1b. Be patient, as the page needs to load the embedded songs.
1. Panda Bear – “Bros” (2007)
2. The Knife – “We Share Our Mother’s Health” (2006)
3. Animal Collective – “For Reverend Green” (2007)
4. Grizzly Bear – “While You Wait For The Others” (2009)
5. The Knife – “Heartbeats” (2003)
6. Grizzly Bear – “The Knife” (2005)
7. LCD Soundsystem – “Someone Great” (2007)
8. TV on the Radio – “Staring at the Sun” (2003)
9. Crystal Castles – “Crimewave” (2008)
10. Beirut – “Ciloqut” (2007)
11. Thom Yorke – “Harrowdown Hill
12. Animal Collective – “Derek” (2007)
13. Nine Inch Nails – “Me, I’m Not” (2007)
14. Beck – “Lonesome Tears” (2002)
15. At The Drive-in – “One Armed Scissor” (2004)
16. Animal Collective – “Grass” (2005)
17. Deerhunter – “Nothing Ever Happened” (2008)
18. Atlas Sound – “Recent Bedroom” (2008)
19. Panda Bear – “Comfy in Nautica” (2007)
20. System of a Down – “Chop Suey” (2001)
21. Animal Collective – “Peacebone” (2007)
22. Battles – “Atlas” (2007)
23. Error – “Jack the Ripper” (2004)
24. Enon – “Pleasure and the Privilege”
25. Elliott Smith – “Son of Sam” (2000)
26. Animal Collective – “Did You See the Words” (2005)
27. The Knife – “Marble House” (2006)
28. LCD Soundsystem – “All My Friends” (2007)
29. Thom Yorke – “Analyse” (2006)
30. The Flaming Lips – “Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell” (2002)
31. Girl Talk – “Smash Your Head” (2006)
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32. A Perfect Circle – “Judith” (2000)
33. Radiohead – “Idioteque” (2000)
34. Tapes N’ Tapes – “Manitoba” (2006)
35. TV On The Radio – “I Was A Lover” (2006)
36. Radiohead – “Reckoner” (2007)
37. Fever Ray – “Coconut” (2009)
38. Animal Collective – “My Girls” (2009)
39. Built to Spill – “Things Fall Apart” (2009)
40. Wilco – “I’m Trying to Break Your Heart” (2002)
41. Modest Mouse – “Tiny Cities Made of Ashes” (2000)
42. Animal Collective – “Leaf House” (2004)
43. Modeselektor – “Happy Birthday” (2007)
44. Arcade Fire – “Wake Up” (2004)
45. Autolux – “Blanket” (2004)
46. MGMT – “Time to Pretend” (2007)
47. Built to Spill – “Conventional Wisdom” (2006)
48. Wilco – “Side With the Seeds” (2007)
49. Elliott Smith – “Happiness/The Gondola Man” (2000)
50. Avey Tare – “I’m Your Eagle Kisser” (2007)
51. Department of Eagles – “Waves of Rye” (2008)
52. Animal Collective – “Summertime Clothes” (2009)
53. Radiohead – “2+2 = 5″ (2003)
54. Dredg – “Sang Real” (2005)
55. While Lies – “Farewell to the Fairground” (2009)
56. Grizzly Bear – “Ready, Able” (2009)
57. Matisyahu – “King Without a Crown” (2005)
58. Modest Mouse – “Paper Thin Walls” (2000)
59. Dillinger Escape Plan – “When Good Dogs Do Bad Things” (2002)
60. Elliott Smith – “Twilight” (2004)
61. Deerhunter – “Flourescent Grey” (2007)
62. Holy Fuck – “Lovely Allen” (2007)
63. LCD Soundsystem – “Never As Tired As When I’m Waking Up” (2006)
64. The Notwist – “Boneless (Panda Bear Remix)” (2008)
65. Liars – “Nothing Is Ever Lost or Can Be Lost My Science Friend” (2004)
66. The Mars Volta – “Inertiatic E.S.P.” (2003)
67. The Notwist – “Solitaire” (2002)
68. Of Montreal – “The Past is a Grotesque Animal” (2007)
69. Queens of the Stone Age – “Tangled Up in Plaid” (2005)
70. Radiohead – “Jigsaw Falling Into Place” (2007)
71. Saul Williams – “Raised To Be Lowered” (2007)
72. Autolux – “Great Days for the Passenger Element” (2004)
73. Sigur Ros – “Untitled 8″ (2002)
74. Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs – “Maps” (2003)
75. Portishead – “Threads” (2008)
76. Sufjan Stevens – “Chicago” (2005)
77. Ugly Casanova – “Things I Don’t Remember” (2002)
78. Animal Collective – “Brothersport” (2009)
79. Radiohead – “Pyramid Song” (2001)
80. Nine Inch Nails – “Only” (2005)
81. El-P – “Flyentology” (2007)
82. Queens of the Stone Age – “No One Knows” (2002)
83. Ghostface Killah – “Shakey Dog” (2006)
84. Modest Mouse – “Missed the Boat” (2007)
85. UNKLE – “Persons and Machinery” (2007)
86. Amon Tobin – “Verbal” (2002)
87. The White Stripes – “Denial Twist” (2005)
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88. Tomahawk – “Captain Midnight” (2003)
89. Modest Mouse – “Bukowski” (2004)
90. Sigur Ros – “Hoppipolia” (2005)
92. Fuck Buttons – “Sweet Love For Planet Earth” (2008)
93. Bon Iver – “Skinny Love” (2008)
94. Built to Spill – “In Your Mind” (2001)
95. The White Stripes – “Icky Thump” (2007)
96. Does It Offend You, Yeah? – “We Are Rockstars” (2008)
97. Dub Trio – “Not Alone” (2006)
98. Modest Mouse – “The World At Large”
99. The Walkmen – “In the New Year” (2008)
100. Nine Inch Nails – “The Great Destroyer (Modwheelmood Remix)” (2007)
Album Review: Moderat
Moderat is not the first collaboration by electronic gurus Modeselektor and Apparat. They released the disappointing Auf Kosten der Gesundheit EP in 2002 under the same moniker. The second collaborative effort from the group has much to offer fans of each but does not quite live up to each individual band’s previous works, especially that of Modeselektor. Happy Birthday! and Hello Mom! are landmark electronic dance records that few in the genre have approached in production and sonic mindfucking.
Recording on vintage analog gear, Moderat offers up one of the best tracks of 2009 in “New Error,” a slow building tour de force with an affecting drum beat and synths that seem to purposely fall off the rhythm track every once in a while. Other album highlights include “Rusty Nails,” a somber but catchy drum and bass track featuring vocals by Sascha Ring (Apparat) and “Sea Monkey,” a track that slowly builds from a repetitive and eclectic dance floor beat and pays off in the second half with a batch of swirling synths. The album does lose some of it’s addictive nature after the first three tracks and contains some filler between additional standouts “Sick With It” and “Porc#2.”
Moderat is currently supporting Radiohead on their European tour.
MP3: “New Error” by Moderat
Modeselektor (aka Gernot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary) and Apparat (aka Sascha Ring), two of Germany’s most acclaimed electronic acts, have joined up to release their upcoming collaborative record, Moderat (out May 12th on Bpitch Control). Modeselektor and Apparat first worked together as Moderat on an EP for BPitch Control in 2002. Amongst a slew of remixes for the likes of Thom Yorke and Björk, Modeselektor also went on to tour with Radiohead across Japan in 2008.
Download “New Error” here or stream it below: