The WW music staff picks their best albums of 2011.
ByCASEY JARMAN
Music Editor Casey Jarmanâs top 15 local albums of the year.
This was the year Portland came face-to-face with its
blossoming, narrowly defined international reputation for "keeping it
weird." Portland then slouched, dropped its head and let out a long sigh
of defeat. We're not all underemployed artisan cheesemakers who
moonlight in tall-bike polo leagues, but damn if everybody's not in a
band. And while the local indie-rock world's prevailing winds aren't too
far off the national average—with many of our fine local groups
producing rock of the dreamy, spacey, electronic variety—many of
Portland's metal and experimental artists are gaining national acclaim
for making masterful music that resides right on the edge of
accessibility.
My tastes, however,
run a bit palatable. I hope you find something you like here, but if
not—try turning the page. Oh, and happy new year.
After an extended hiatus, drum ânâ
laptops duo Deelay Ceelay returned to drop an album just as colorful and
explosive as its multimedia productions.
The more time I spend with this gorgeous,
whip-smart collection of puzzle songs from the vastly underrated Steve
Hefter, the more I love it. âLong Distance Call,â in particular, is a
generation-defining song.
Well, we put our heads together, and this
is what we came up with. Not a complete list, to be sure, but a
collection of our favorite local and national music of the year.
By EMILEE
BOOHER, NATHAN CARSON, DEVAN COOK, JONATHAN FROCHTZWAJG, ROBERT HAM,
ARYA IMIG, REED JACKSON, CASEY JARMAN, AP KRYZA, MATTHEW P. SINGER,
CHRIS STAMM, MARK STOCK, NIKKI VOLPICELLI.
Bryan John Appleby, Fire on the Vine
Atriarch,
Forever the End
Beastie Boys,The Hot Sauce Committee Part Two
Check Your Head
James Blake,
James Blake
Blouse,
self-titled
Drive
BOAT,
Dress Like Your Idols
Rachel Taylor Brown,
World So Sweet
Danava,
Hemisphere of Shadows
Alela Diane,
Alela Diane & Wild Divine
Fucked Up, David Comes to Life
PJ Harvey,
Let England Shake
Nick Jaina,
The Beanstalks That Have Brought Us Here Are Gone
WW
Zola Jesus,
Conatus
Key Losers,
California Lite
Katy Davidson and companyâs first full-length is alternately pretty, funny and so damn smooth. (CJ)
Log Across the Washer,
2009-2010 Collection
Luck-One,
True Theory
Other Lives,
Tamer Animals
A surrealistâs masterful portrait, set to
bone-shaking orchestral sketches. Vast, cinematic and ruggedly
sophisticated, this record haunts. (MS)
The Physics,
Love Is a Business
Pulse Emitter, Spiritual Vistas
Red Fang,
Murder the Mountains
Kelli Schaefer,
Ghost of the Beast
Paul Simon,
So Beautiful or So What
Something Fierce, Donât Be So Cruel
Tycho,
Dive
Virus,
The Agent That Shapes the Desert
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