Music

Published on July 18th, 2011 | by Andy Whorehall

3

Mid Year Best of 2011 | Albums and Songs selected by our Staff and Contributing Writers

Below you’ll find a short list selection of releases (albums & songs) that have caught our staff & contributing writers ears more than once during the first half of 2011.

STAFF

Alex Danger Stewart

Albums
1. Yuck- Yuck
2. Smith Westerns-Dye it Blonde
3. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart- Belong
4. Radiohead- King of Limbs
5. Dum Dum Girls-He Gets Me High EPSongs

Songs
1. Mountain Goats-Liza Forever Minnelli
2. Smith Westerns-Weekend
3. Telekinesis- Car Crash
4. Warren Franklin-You Get Weary
5. Yuck-Suicide Policeman
5 1/2. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart- Heart in Your Heartbreak
6. Dowsing-Amateur Cartography

Chip Copeland

Albums
Wye Oak – Civillian
Sebadoh – Bakesale (Reissue)
David Bazan – Strange Negotiations
Cameron McGill & What Army – Is A Beast
Yuck – Yuck
German Error Message – After the Warmth

Songs
New Terminus – Where We Meet
German Error Message – We Arose
Cameron McGill & What Army- Michelangelo’s Blue Period
Yuck – Shook Down

Andy Whorehall

Albums
David Bazan – Strange Negotiations
Cass McCombs – Wit’s End
Cameron McGill & What Army – Is a Beast
Kurt Vile – Smoke Ring For My Halo
Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
Recent Releases/Many Listens:
Old 97s – Grand Theater Volume 2
Bon Iver – Bon Iver
Raphael Sadiq – Stone Rollin’
Gillian Welch - The Harrow & The Harvest

Songs
Cass McCombs – County Line
Foster The People - Pumped Up Kicks
Cameron McGill & What Army – Sad Ambassador
The Boxer Rebellion – Doubt
Arctic Monkeys – Suck It And See
Recent Repeat Song:
Old 97s – Perfume

In between the newer releases I’ve spent a great majority of 2011′s first half revisiting:
Chuck Prophet, Harold Faltermeyer, Warren Zevon, Loudon Wainwright, Kathleen Edwards, The Commodores, Bert Jansch, Bryan Adams, and The Kinks.

CONTRIBUTORS

Rebecca Williams

Albums:
1) Bon Iver: Bon Iver
2) Cults: Cults
3) The Rural Alberta Advantage: The Departing
4) Radiohead: King of Limbs
5) Handsome Furs: Sound Kapital

Songs:
5) Her: Tyler, the Creator
4) Calgary: Bon Iver
3) Barnes’ Yard: The Rural Alberta Advantage
2) Lorelai: Fleet Foxes
1) Fragile Bird: City and Colour

Sam Rashid

Albums
1) Black Lips – Arabia Mountain
2) Cage The Elephant – Thank you, Happy Birthday
3) Arctic Monkeys – Suck It And See
4) The Airborne Toxic Event – All At Once
5) Ty Segall – Goodbye Bread

Songs:
1) Pumped Up Kicks by Foster The People
2) My Body by Young the Giant
3) Bone Marrow by the Black Lips
4) Around My Head by Cage The Elephant
5) Changing by The Airborne Toxic Event

Sam Gordon {www.reviewsic.com }

Albums
Little Hell- City and Colour
Priory- Priory
Showroom of Compassion- Cake
Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will- Mogwai
Helplessness Blues- Fleet Foxes

Songs
Fragile Bird- City and Colour
Around My Head-Cage the Elephant
Sick of Your-  Cake
Rope- Foo Fighters
Blackberry- Devin Townsend Project

Lindsey Bakker

Top 5 Movies So Far:
1. Hanna
2. Attack the Block
3. Super 8
4. X-Men First Class
5. Win Win

Tags: 2011, best of mid year, black lips, bon iver, cameron mcgill, cass mccombs, city and colour, david bazan, foster the people, hanna, news, wye oak, yuck

About the Author

Andy Whorehall Agent of creative destruction. Andy Whorehall can be contacted at 815-570-9866. Please leave a message with Reggie, and Andy may or may not call you back. Probably not. AW also produces a podcast for Rockford College Radio and SockMonkeySound.com called: http://www.songsaboutstuffandthings.com/Original illustrations and archival ink prints are available at his online store: http://andywhorehall.bigcartel.com/Waste more time stalking Andy Whorehall on the world wide web of useless information at: http://andywhorehall.com/