Top Ten Tracks of 2011
Colin Stetson – The Stars In His Head (Dark Lights Remix)
Just look at the size of the man’s sax FFS. Probably the most original album of the year. This is a pulsating beast of a song, layers of looping, howling brass. Not quite sure how he does it, which is not a question much music asks of you at the moment.
Kurt Vile – Runner Ups
The magic of Kurt Vile is that he somehow takes a load of done-to-death influences which in other hands would be crushingly dull and derivative – Springsteen, Neil Young, Fleetwood Mac, classic 70s stoner rock – and turns them into something that is completely his own, and utterly wonderful. Which is an extraordinary feat.
Tim Hecker – In The Fog I, II, III
In three parts, as a song this good should be. Tim Hecker made Ravedeath, 1972 by playing a huge organ in a church, feeding the sound into a computer programme which then digitally ate away at it, turning it into a deformed, shuddering drone. As uneasy to listen to as it is beautiful.
Kuedo – Scissors
Apparently he took the helicopter-style whirling drums from chi-juke, which I find mostly unlistenable as a genre, but is probably worth revisiting if its capable of contributing to a song as good as this. My favourite of all the many, generally pretty great post-dubstep albums to come out this year.
PJ Harvey – The Glorious Land
Most singers are happy enough to write lyrics about meeting/losing some girl/boy or the joys of a dancefloor on a Saturday night. Peej takes you straight to the blood-soaked fields of the Somme. Amazing to think she’s still producing stuff as good as this 20 years after her debut.
Peaking Lights – Tiger Eyes (Laid Back)
Takes all that Animal Collective wishy washy stuff and adds a fierce dub bassline to it, which is an idea that is at once both completely obvious and total genius. It removes it from lapsing into aimlessness and grounds it with hypnotic loops of King Tubby-style bottom end.
Sandwell District – Falling The Same Way (Regis Mix)
LA/Berlin/Birmingham collective who mix drones, synth loops, and ambient into the best techno I’ve heard for ages – a bit like Tim Hecker collaborating with Shackleton, and probably even better than that sounds.
Julia Holter – Try To Make Yourself A Work of Art
Super late entry which blew my ears off on first listen. It’s almost classical in places, before developing into something that sounds like Einstuerzende Neubauten backing Kate Bush. Both delicate and terrifying at the same time.
Low – Especially Me
C’Mon didn’t exactly break new ground for Low, keeping resolutely within their epic slowcore formula, but it’s as good as anything they’ve released. There’s a nursery rhyme, almost anthemic, simplicity to this one, but as with most Low songs, there’s an ever-present sense of dread lying just beneath the surface.
Holy Other – With U
It was a battle to the death as to whether this one or ‘Touch’, another track from the With U EP, made the grade. The whole EP is fantastic basically, mixing Burial, Joy Orbison and Teengirl Fantasy into a whole world of dreamy goodness.
BONUS
Kurt Vile – Downbound Train
Kurt does Bruce, and fucking nails it.


