On Friday, KRCL will reveal the Top 100 Albums of 2011 as selected by our lovely listeners. Tune in for a day-long countdown beginning at 8 a.m. on 90.9 FM!! To tide you over until then, we’ve gathered a handful of KRCL DJs to share their personal favorite releases of the year. And if you still haven’t weighed in, share your faves in the comments section!
Ebay Jamil Hamilton (Weekday Middays)
*in no particular order
The War On Drugs / Slave Ambient
Elbow / Build a Rocket Boys!
Paul Simon / So Beautiful or So What
Raphael Saadiq / Stone Rollin’
TV On The Radio / Nine Types of Light
Fleet Foxes / Helplessness Blues
Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks / Mirror Traffic
Radiohead / The King of Limbs
Bon Iver / Bon Iver
Tinariwen / Tassili
Jamie (Weekday Mornings)
*in no particular order
Kurt Vile/ Smoke Ring For My Halo
The War On Drugs/ Slave Ambient
Tom Waits/ Bad As Me
The Kills/ Blood Pressures
Booker T Jones/ The Road From Memphis
Wild Flag/ Wild Flag
Wye Oak/ Civilian
Charles Bradley/ No Time For Dreaming
AA Bondy/ Believers
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks/ Mirror Traffic
Bad Brad Wheeler (Weekday Afternoons)
TOP 20
Thee Oh Sees/ Carrion Crawler
Kid Congo & Pink Monkey Birds/ Gorilla Rose
Moon Duo/ Mazes
Richard Swift/ Walt Wolfman
Moon Duo/ Mazes
Sonny & The Sunsets/ Hit After Hit
Mark Sultan/ Whenever I Want
Mark Sultan/ Whatever I Want
Kitty, Daisy & Lewis/ Smoking In Heavn
Wooden Ships/ West
Tom Waits/ Bad As Me
Ty Segall/ Goodbye Bread
Jacuzzi Boys/ Glazin
Jack Oblivion/ Rat City
Darondo/ Listen To My Song
Unknown Mortal Orchestra/ Unknown Mortal Orchestra
VA/ Psyche Funk Sa Re Ga
Bloodshot Bill/ Thunder & Lightning
Bass Drum of Death/ GB City
VA/ Sonny Smiths 100 Records
Wanda Jackson/ The Party Ain’t Over
LOCAL
Spell Talk/ Touch It
Spell Talk/ Electricloud
Ugly Valley Boys/ Double Down
The Chickens/ The Chickens
Dark Seas/ Dark Seas
VA – Long Memory Project / Utah PhillipsTribute
No Nation Orchestra/ More, More, More
Holy Water Buffalo/ Holy Water Buffalo
Joshua Payne Orchestra/ Zoom
Max Pain & The Groovies/ Tortilla Sunrise
Gianni (Dirty Boulevard)
No Wye Oak or Adele, sorry.
Let’s start with some real stinkers…
Such as…
the Lou Reed I still love and the Metallica I used to love. Somebody
owe some back taxes??
Red Hot Chili Pee still making records? Good God, put that band down,
they have parvo.
PJ Harvey, I have a record you should listen to… it’s called “Uh Huh
Her” and it’s by the same woman who gave us “Stories From the City”…
ever heard of her?
1. Elbow / Build a Rocket Boys
Best band on the planet, hands down.
2. Tom Waits / Bad As Me.
The Messiah of the Dirty Boulevard.
3. Vanish Valley / Get Good
Best Record nobody played but me, and nobody heard but me & Dave…
tsk tsk people.
4. Girls / Broken Dreams Club…
My friends from SF… they rule, even though it came out in late 2010
and they released Father Son, Holy Ghost in 2011…
Trust me… START HERE.
5. Coeur de Pirate / Blonde
God, I love Béatrice Martin. She could read the phonebook to me and I
would listen all day.
6. Thievery Corporation / Culture of Fear
Boom. Sound.
7. Bon Iver / Bon Iver
I want to hate him but I don’t, so here’s the deal. I will make him
#6 if people will stop pronouncing it “Boney Vare.”
You don’t say “Bone Jure” do you??
8. The Antlers / Burst Apart
Beautiful, sad and unique.
9. Handsome Furs / Sound Kapital
I’m kidding. Really? This record sucks. What won’t people listen to???
10. Little Dragon / Ritual Union
10.5 Those Darlins / Screws Get Loose
Neither are great records, but they make me happy albeit, for
completely different reasons.
Robert Nelson (Smile Jamaica)
1. Various/ Bristol Reggae Explosion 1 & 2 (Bristol Archives) 1978-83
2. Thievery Corporation/ Culture of Fear (ESL)*
3. Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry/ Return of Sound System Scratch (Pressure Sounds) 1973-79
4. Easy Star All Stars/ Dubber Side of the Moon (Easy Star)*
5. Soom T & Disrupt/ Ode to a Carrot (Jahtarian)*
6. 10 Foot Ganja Plant/ Shake Up the Place (ROIR)
7. Keith Richards/ Wingless Angels (Mindless) 1997
8. Hollie Cook/ Hollie Cook (Mr. Bongo)
9. Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry/ Return of Pipecock Jackson (Honest Jons) 1980
10. Bob Marley & the Wailers/ Live Forever: Pittsburgh (Tuff Gong) 9/23/1980
*Mutant Dub
Courtney (Afternoon Delight)
PJ Harvey/ Let England Shake
Wild Flag/ Wild Flag
Zola Jesus/ Conatus
M83/ Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
Austra/ Feel It Break
Destroyer/ Kaputt
Yuck/ Yuck
Active Child/ You Are All I See
Craft Spells/ Idle Labor
Future Islands/ On The Water
Eugenie (Red, White & Blues)
Tedeschi Truck Band/ Revelator
Gregg Allman/ Low Country Blues
Warren Haynes/ Man In Motion
Etta James/ The Dreamer
Tab Benoit/ Medicine
Wynton Marsalis & Eric Clapton/ Plays the Blues Live from Jazz at
Lincoln Center
North Mississippi AllStars/ Keys to the Kingdom
Eric Lindell/ West Country Drifter
Jimbo Mathus/ Confederate Buddah
Ana Popovich/ Unconditional
Satan & Adam/ Back in the Game
Emily (Wednesday Nights)
the head and the heart
wye oak/ civilian
st. vincent/ strange mercy
gardens & villa/ gardens & villa
middle brother/ middle brother
fleet foxes/ helplessness blues
lykke li/ wounded rhymes
the black keys/ el camino
bon iver/ bon iver
generationals/ actor-caster
little dragon/ ritual union
Phil (Sunday Sagebrush)
Robert Earl Keen/ Ready for Confetti
John Hiatt/ Dirty Jeans And Mudslide Hymns
Dave Alvin/ Eleven Eleven
Adele/ 21
Drive By Truckers/ Go Go Boots
Neil Young International Harvesters/ A Treasure
Hot Tuna/ Steady As She Goes
Leon Russell/ Best Of
Steve Earle/ I’ll Never Get Out Of This World Alive
Bruce Cockburn/ Small Source of Comfort
Slaid Cleaves/ Sorrow and Smoke
Circus Brown (Not A Sideshow)
Spindrift – Classic Soundtracks Vol. 1
The Flaming Lips – Strobo Trip E.P.
Pretty Worms / Plastic Furs 7 Inch Single
Mr. Gnome – Madness in Miniature
No Nation Orchestra
Spell Talk – Touch It!
Palace of Buddies – Summertimes
Man Man – Life Fantastic
Black Lips – Arabia Mountain
Bing Ji Ling – Shadow to Shine (thanks for this one Jamie)
Mixel Pixel – Highschool is not Hell
2 of these were EP’s so I went up to 11.