Natalie breaks down her top five 2011 finds. FWIW, this list is awesome.
From: Natalie Snoyman
To: Brandon Hall, Sarah Braunstein, Chris Mollica
For the last three years, I’ve put together a musical retrospective of sorts. Y’know, putting together a list of 20 or so songs I really enjoyed from that specific year. However, there are always two or three tracks I find myself desperately wanting to include but won’t because they were not released during the year in question. Anal? Perhaps. But when I set rules for myself, I try to follow ’em, okay? I find it’s a good exercise to force myself to only select songs from a specific year, but I’ll be the first to admit I find myself wanting to bend the rules just for this one song. But I don’t. As a result, this Crate Digging Retrospective is a nice release. Thanks, Brandon.
So let’s get into it. The following five albums would have surely made it onto the “Best of 2011” list had they actually been released in 2011 :
Sean Nicholas Savage – “Rowdy River of Love”
1) Sean Nicholas Savage, Movin Up in Society, 2010.
I first heard this record in the very earliest part of 2011 — just about three weeks after I sent out my 2010 retrospective. Naturally, I was a little devastated when I heard “Rowdy River of Love” and immediately thought, “This is so going on ‘Best of 2011′” only to discover that to do so would be a glaring inaccuracy. Alas, Movin Up in Society was released last year. In 2010, Sean Nicholas Savage released this folky record AND Mutual Feelings of Respect and Admiration — his attempt at a disco record. Trust me when I say both records are quite outstanding but I found myself returning to the former all year long. It’s a really lovely, bare bones release that features perfect melodies and arrangements. Lucky for me (and my retrospectives), Mr. Savage’s prolific tendencies continued into 2011; once again, he released two albums this year.
Arthur Russell – “What It’s Like”
2) Arthur Russell, Love is Overtaking Me, 2008.
In 2010 I joined a band. Before I joined this band, I listed them as one of my favorite bands. Not everyone can say they played in one of their favorite bands. Sometimes we wore masks in this band. The mask I wore was some sort of fox-bird creature and it was made especially to fit my face. In order to make it fit so nicely, my bandmate applied a layer of plaster to my face and I was ordered to lie on the floor of my apartment for 30 minutes without being able to move my mouth. As you can imagine, this made speaking a little difficult. So we decided to listen to some music during these 30 minutes in order to fill the silence. I chose to listen to Arthur Russell’s Love is Overtaking Me, an album that sat in my collection for a few years without receiving the amount of attention it deserves and quietly demands. Both my bandmate and I really loved this album and once we removed the plaster from my face, we talked about Russell’s melancholic voice and warm lyrics for the rest of the evening. This is a great album.
Gonzales – “Gogol”
3) Gonzales, Solo Piano, 2004.
This is an incredible instrumental album with amazingly delicate, rich compositions. To be honest, listening to this album just makes me so envious. I long to be able to play the piano like this.
Maher Shalal Hash Baz – “Epignosis”
4) Maher Shalal Hash Baz, Return Visit to Rock Mass, 1996.
This is the band’s second release and it’s over two and a half hours long. I recently found myself walking through Golden Gate Park on an extremely foggy night and decided this album would keep me good company. I’ll just say I made the right decision. To be honest, this isn’t a very accessible album. It is, however, one that I have been returning to on a near-daily basis, if only to revisit “Epignosis,” a fantastic, super energetic song. There are so many layers to this release and I appreciate the band’s approach to playing music in an imperfect way. Something to think about, anyway.
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – “Joan of Ark”
5) Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, Architecture & Morality, 1981.
I found this record for $2.99 at Record Surplus in Los Angeles, which is a truly amazing record store — they alphabetize the dollar bins for crying out loud! Back to the album. Of course, this band has been around for awhile and while I had heard this album before, it never sounded as good as it did in 2011 when it played on my record player in the apartment I now miss so much. The 7+ minute-long “Joan of Arc” is by far my favorite track on this album. This is a song I would dance to, which is saying a lot. I’m not really sure what that says about me. I mean, it’s a pretty cold, pretty precise song. But hey, maybe that’s how I like to dance. And hey, have you seen Andy McCluskey’s dance moves? They’re fantastic. Bonus: the cover art for Architecture & Morality is top notch.
Sigur Ros – “Festival”
Honorable mention: Sigur Rós, Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust, 2008.
“Festival” is one of those songs I will always want to hear played more loudly. Last night I had the pleasure of watching Inni at the Roxie Theatre here in San Francisco. It’s a beautiful film that perfectly captures the brilliance behind this band and I’m still reeling from it.
Stayed tuned for “Best of 2011,”
Natalie
AudioVole 
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