2010: Awesome, fun, pacy, boozy, hummable and with a good fucking sense of crash and rattle to it.
2011: Veni, Vidi ... Veni, if you will; a collaboration brew of sorts between Mel and I requiring 9-months of barrel-aging and one hell of a commitment to quit being a selfish, prickly fucker. Enzo Augustine came hurtling onto this planet while epic villains, the world over, were snuffing it all over the place; Rebbecca Black and Toby Keith were informing me what to do with my Red SOLO cup on Friday! Friday! Gotta get down on Friday!, and Blake Gideon was playing his final few minutes in a Longhorns uniform without becoming too much of a nuisance; It was very plainly obvious that a new light of goodness was entering this world.
In 2011, LCD Soundsystem -- [AA]'s 2011 #1 song artist -- hung up the robotics and then promptly afterward, The Rapture made, what amounts to an LCD record -- thereby delaying our post-James Murphy devastation. The Arctic Monkeys wrote and performed an album that musically-celibate Morrissey would have ambled through with the same hubris of Mr. Toad of Toad Hall (althought El Mozza is set to release an album in '12, dear readers!). And Beirut provided the stop-gap for a non-Andrew Bird year.
All of this, of course, implies nary an original idea; the resistance of will to create original composition -- whereas, I would disagree and convince you that -- as Enzo personifies -- an homage to lineage. And even then -- more than just an homage, but a radical augmentation to its root. While earlier artists were the bedrock of craft, 2011 was its sprout. The same concept, I'm thinking, applies to parentood. Enzo will cultivate and refine our ideas, and ... make a record? Probably not, but he will do everything better than we did.
The Top 101 this year was heavily influenced by three things: The loong, painfully alert, and perpetually conscientious state of carrying (#2, #3, #7, #12), loong summer road trips around-and-back through fly-over America with our new whip, perpetually shedding white animal, pregnant bride, XMU/Sirius/Hipster Runoff poetry/Josiah, and hooch from 32 midwestern counties (#5, #8, #10, #11, #17), and finally, the buffet of emotions as a result of the new earthling invading, what was once my very own cuddly, cozy Venus (#1). It really sets the mood for, you know, lyrics and rhythms. And then they tend to stick with you forever.
And then sometimes you just end up liking silly shit that's cray (#13). You gotta crawl before you ball. Innit still a life lesson, tho?
In conclusion, 2011, IMO.
Listen to the entire [An Avenue] Top 101 list on Spotify HERE!
101 - Girls | Alex
100 - Yuck | Get Away
099 - Gomez | Options
098 - Shabazz Palaces | Are You... Can You... Were You? (Felt)
097 - Okkervil River | Your Past Life As A Blast
096 - Lupe Fiasco | Till I Get There
095 - The Joy Formidable| Whirring
094 - Viva Voce Plästic Rädio
093 - Yacht | I Walked Alone
092 - Tyler, The Creator | Yonkers
091 - Akron/Family | So It Goes
090 - Gruff Rhys | Honey All Over
089 - Spank Rock | Birfday
088 - CSS | Hits Me Like A Rock
087 - Feist | Graveyard
086 - Blitzen Trapper | Love The Way You Walk Away
085- Youth Lagoon | Montana
084 - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah | Same Mistake
083 - Fool's Gold | The Dive
082 - Los Campesinos! | By Your Hand
081 - Cass McCombs | County Line
080 - Jamie XX | Far Nearer
079 - Yeasayer | Phoenix Wind
078 - Herman Düne | Tell Me Something I Don't Know
077 - Arctic Monkeys | That's Where You're Wrong
076 - The Kooks | Junk of the Heart (Happy)
075 - Dum Dum Girls | Bedroom Eyes
074 - My Morning Jacket | Circuital
073 - The Decemberists | Don't Carry It All
072 - Bright Eyes | Shell Games
071 - Junior Boys | Banana Ripple
070 - Wilco | The Whole Love
069 - Death Cab for Cutie | You Are a Tourist
068 - Peter Bjorn & John | Second Chance
067 - Braids | Same Mum
066 - Handsome Furs | Serve the People
065 - Foster The People | Pumped Up Kicks
064 - Sin Fang | Nothings
063 - Radiohead | Staircase
062 - Wolf Gang | Something Unusual
061 - Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. | Skeletons
060 - The Naked And Famous | Young Blood
059 - Iron & Wine | Walking Far From Home
058 - The War On Drugs | Baby Missiles
057 - Memory Tapes | Today Is Our Life
056 - Young Galaxy | We Have Everything
055 - DeVotchKa | 100 Other Lovers
054 - Junior Boys | You'll Improve Me
053 - Dodos | Don't Try And Hide It
052 - The Black Keys | Lonely Boy
051 - Beady Eye | The Beat Goes On
050 - Tyler, The Creator | Sandwitches (Ft. Hodgy Beats)
049 - James Blake | The Wilhelm Scream
048 - Neon Indian | Hex Girlfriend
047 - Fleet Foxes | Helplessness Blues
046 - Middle Brother | Million Dollar Bill
045 - Cults | You Know What I Mean
044 - Wu Lyf | L Y F
043 - Arctic Monkeys | Love is A Laserquest
042 - Arcade Fire | Speaking in Tongues (feat. David Byrne)
041 - The Rural Alberta Advantage | Stamp
040 - Wolf Gang | Lions In Cages
039 - Cut Copy | Take Me Over
038 - Toro Y Moi | New Beat
037 - St. Vincent | Cruel
036 - Generationals | Ten Twenty Ten
035 - Battles | Ice Cream
034 - Frank Ocean | Novacane
033 - Little Dragon | Ritual Union
032 - Future Islands | Balance
031 - Slow Club | Two Cousins
030 - Handsome Furs | When I Get Back
029 - Braids | Lemonade
028 - Smith Westerns | All Die Young
027 - Beirut | East Harlem
026 - Theophilus London | Why Even Try
025 - M83 | Midnight City
024 - TV On The Radio | Will Do
023 - Tune-Yards | Bizness
022 - White Denim | Street Joy
021 - Architecture In Helsinki | Contact High
020 - Bob Schneider | Let The Light In
019 - Alexander Ebert | A Million Years
018 - The Donkeys | I Like The Way You Walk
017 - Foster The People | Helena Beat
016 - Tapes 'n Tapes | Freak Out
015 - The Rapture | In The Grace Of Your Love
014 - Beirut | Goshen
013 - Jay Z & Kanye West | Niggas In Paris
012 - The Strokes | Under Cover Of Darkness
011 - The Drums | Money
010- Cut Copy | Need You Now
009 - M83 | Wait
008 - Bon Iver | Calgary
007 - Dodos | Black Night
006 - Radiohead | Separator
005 - The Rapture | Sail Away
004 - The Antlers | I Don't Want Love
003 - Bon Iver | Holocene
002 - The Antlers | Putting The Dog To Sleep
001 - Wu Lyf | We Bros
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