End of Year List Mister Svperstar's 2011 Best Albums

[LIDL 692]

WESTERN albums list.

Japanese coming soon.

All samples are for previewing purpose.

St. Vincent - Strange Mercy

(Art Rock, Baroque Pop)

Sample: Chloe In The Afternoon

I was going to put Lady Gaga's 2nd album on the first position for it's variety and

a bolder sounds of retro dance, something that refreshingly good among any mainstream

dance tracks that are so stagnant,bland, and boring but

this album fucks "Born This Way" right in the @$$.

Painful, Raw, Sticky, and Sweet. Flawless victory!

Every beats coming out from this album is totally clever.

Totally underrated. Totally deserve more recognition.

And this coming from a hardcore Lady Gaga stan.

Nuff said.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Selah Sue - Selah Sue

(Ragamuffin, R'n'B, Soul)

Sample: Fyah Fyah

Diamond in the rough.

I got introduced to her by my BF.

And boy, did i got swooned by the record!!

This talent coming from Belgium.

And to be honest we didn't hear much about the Belgium

more than their fries (yes,it's from Belgium, not France!),

Waffles, High Quality chocolate,

the fact that Marvin Gaye once been living in Ghent for quite awhile,

The country that lead the European Nation and

more recently,

the 3rd country in EU that went into monetary crisis following Greece and Italy.

But nothing we heard of their musicians past Lara Fabian, Technotronic,

Ian Van Dahl, Francis Goya and Adamo.

Anyway,

Selah Sue came to save the day

and surely become one artist to watch for 2012.

Being someone who were heavily inspired by Eyrkah Badu, M.I.A, Lauryn Hill and The Zutons.

Makes this record really great to the bone.

If you're into good Soul, Ragamuffin and R'n'B,

then you MUST listen to this record.

As she sang on one of her song here, "I'm pretty much you're looking for!"

Plus her voice is pure gold.

You know, i think i find the successor

for Amy Winehouse and Ms.Dynamite already, and more.

Kinda reminds me with the magic when i was first found

Adele when she was just releasing 19.

I've had the same magic when listening this new act.

Surely this record could be her key to major stardom.

I just hope she got great management to support her.

Watch this space.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Bon Iver - Bon Iver

(Indie Folk)

Sample: Holocene

Their best effort yet.

And shows that impact how indie folk can be sucessful commercially,

and can still maintain to be powerful.

This is how to spend an improved budget,

though anything is more than nothing,

and expand a sonic palette,

without compromising what appealed in the first place.

It is one of 2011’s most absorbing,

affecting and downright brilliant LPs

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Smith Westerns - Dye It Blonde

(Glam Rock, Indie Rock, Garage Rock, Country Rock)

Sample: Only One

Simply put,

This album offers a great deal of comforting Wild West new-old tunes.

Let's have a shindig!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

James Blake - James Blake//Enough Thunder

(IDM, Post-Dubstep, Soul, Vocal, Electronic)

Sample: We Might Feel Unsound

Probably the most brilliant IDM/electronic/post-dubstep album

that I've encountered this year.

Totally captivating, and in a graceful way.

And kinda reminds me with great Massive Attack here and there.

The vibe is there. Super chill out. Totally major. Brilliant.

Skrillex, praise your King!

p.s: Enough Thunder EP is both, sold separately and

included as one package with Deluxe edition of the self titled LP debut.

So you can choose according to your wallet condition.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Glen Campbell - Ghost On The Canvas[/b]

(Country, Rock, Alternative)

Sample: A Thousand Lifetimes

Becoming a bonafide living legend isn’t as easy as Glen Campbell makes it look.

First, you have to have a solid foundation of talent

on which to build — like being one of the hottest guitar players in the world.

Then you have to record songs that will stand

the test of time — standards such as “By The Time I Get To Phoenix” and “Wichita Lineman.”

And of course, to be a “living” legend,

you need to survive the harsh reality of a celebrity lifestyle.

Check, check, and check.

It certainly doesn’t hurt to have

a witty, bantering stage style that draws fans

like college students to Daytona Beach,

or a hit television show viewed by 50 million people every week for three years.

When you put it all together,

the result is a career that spans forty years

and fans that cross generational and international lines.

In other words: Glen Campbell.

This album is a great way to close his singing career,

as this album intended to be his last album, due to his Alzheimer's.

You wouldn't believe this voice is coming out of a 75 years old!

And every songs just very well structured, well said lyrics, very well composed.

This is how a legend do it, with a bang!

Five stars!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Gillian Welch - The Harrow & The Harvest

(Bluegrass, Americana, Country, Folk)

Sample: Dark Turn Of Mind

This is one of the most defiantly traditional,

non-radical and deceptively simple albums in recent memory.

“Some girls are bright as the morning,

some girls are blessed with a dark turn of mind”

If you’re an artist who plays music that sounds as if could have been written a century ago,

what difference does it make if you take eight years between albums?

No difference at all if you’re Gillian Welch.

It would be inaccurate to call The Harrow & The Harvest a concept album,

but many of the songs—most notably the progressively titled “The Way It Goes,”

“The Way It Will Be” and “The Way The Whole Thing Ends”—are subtly connected

by themes of coming to terms with the past and finding the resolve to move on.

Listening to these songs, one can hear that the eight years taken between releases

has caused Gillian Welch to ruminate and pour all of her weighing up and

accounting of life’s sad twists and turns into one of her best albums.

The Harrow & The Harvest is simply one of the richest, most expansive roots albums to be released in some time.

Some decent album, check it out!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

tUnE-YarDs - w h o k i l l

(Experimental, Lo-fi, R'n'B)

sample: door step

If you're the kind of person that can listen to a Bjork or Joanna Newsom song

without feeling compelled to jam a fork into your ear,

there's a fair chance you'll find something to enjoy about tUnE-YarDs ' second album w h o k i l l.

Garbus' voice is as divisive as either of the aforementioned ladies - powerful and ferocious,

flipping between jazzy scatting and soulful crooning like a female version of

the Dirty Projectors' Dave Longstreth – but it is just one component of an extensive,

eccentric avant-pop collage of sounds that also includes ukulele, glockenspiel and saxophone,

and beats (both organic and electronic) influenced by hip-hop, R&B, dub and African street music.

At times, Merrill Garbus is Annie Lennox, and at others, she’s Prince.

One thing’s for sure though — she’s always entertaining,

and her powerhouse voice makes w h o k i l l one of the year’s must-listens.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Arctic Monkeys - SUCK IT AND SEE

(Indie rock, post-punk revival, garage rock, psychedelic rock)

SAMPLE: She's Thunderstorms

It’s a common misconception that a good Arctic Monkeys album

should hit you like a punch to the face.

It’s easy to see why one would feel that way,

their ferocious 2006 debut Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not

earned its spot in the ’00s rock canon largely by sounding like

the musical equivalent of a bar fight,

and their two subsequent LPs both feature their fair share of songs

that seize your attention with brute force.

It’s understandable, then, if fans used to connecting to the Sheffield lads’ work

like a chin to a fist after a few too many pints

are a bit confused by their fourth album Suck It and See.

But don’t for a second think that means Turner and company have gone soft

on Suck It and See, the Monkeys are evolving.

For the first time,

the band has produced an album in which Turner’s lyrics are truly given room to breathe.

Lines like “Your waitress was miserable, and so was your food” (“Piledriver Waltz”)

that might have been buried with a rapid-fire delivery in the past are instead front-and-center.

In actuality, it’s not so much a departure,

but rather the sound of a band finally settling into itself.

the Arctic Monkeys still have a few tricks up their sleeves.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[Furik 832]

I checked out Selah Sue and I am SO glad I did!

My god, she is amazing! Thank you!

[LIDL 692]

oh great! I am so happy that this topic is actually useful xD

And thanks for checking Selah out also.

She deserve the chance ~! <3

[bukimi_heishi 62]

You never put up your Japanese list!! >_

[LIDL 692]

OMG, thanks for the reminder,

got lost track in time tbh lol

I am gonna put that up in a day.

[bukimi_heishi 62]

haha no problem! I look forward to seeing it

[bukimi_heishi 62]

bump