—Deep (Vocal)
TOP 46 ALBUMS OF 2011
And so, we’ve reached the end of the year, and it’s time for the annual roundup of the year’s albums. This year’s total number came out to 46, for some reason. We’ll be counting down the albums to number one this whole month.
34. Thuggin’ EP - Freddie Gibbs & Madlib
Madlib puts out an amazingly bizarre amount of music - his discography given the time frame of his career really can’t be matched by any other artist. In 2010, and part of 2011, he released 12 mixtapes of beats, samples, journeys - pretty much a culmination of everything he’s worked on, from Madvillain to Yesterday’s New Quartet to Quasimoto. And it’s hard sometimes to take all of that in, to pick out tracks that resonate with you when there are just so many. That’s why, on first listen, Thuggin’ EP, which he shares with Freddie Gibbs, is incredibly easy to like. Maybe it’s because its more of a collaborative effort with Gibbs than Madlib’s other production work, like beats used by Kanye West or MED’s last album Classic, which Madlib produced entirely by himself. Since it is so short, you can really dig into what Madlib is doing here, and feel each beat for what it’s worth, and that’s the immediate success of the EP.
But for such a short release, with really only two tracks a few beats, and some instrumentals of the Gibbs tracks, is it really worth paying attention to? Was this just a fun project a few giants of the creative rap scene put together and released, or is it something that we should really pay attention to. I would argue the latter. I know little of Gibbs’ music and career, but it seems bogged down in meaning to do too much, and the relaxation here with Madlib is welcome. Madlib is older now, he’s been making music for years, and he’s finally able to simply make good music without having it have to be in your face. That’s why Stones Throw has always stayed relatively in the shadows, because they put out such massive projects, but don’t need to shove it in your face like every other rap artist. And that’s why Thuggin’ will most likely fall to the sidelines of other hip hop releases this year, which is a real shame. “Thuggin’” itself is a generous beat with a curious rap by Gibbs, who seems fixated on how to both rap effectively and avoid the pratfalls that get other artists, and Madlib really helps with that. Not only are his samples and beats amazing here, but they are better than the rapping Gibbs is doing, and so it’s really Gibbs shooting higher than he’s able to so that he can be good enough for what Madlib is throwing down. This is mostly evident on “Deep,” which is one of Madlib’s best beats in a while - it’s good with Gibbs’ vocals, but it’s probably better as an instrumental. The way it breaks down and builds back up, well, we just want more of it. And Thuggin’ is merely a taste of what Madlib is capable of, and it’s all we really need. Until he’s willing to put out an album that is more than child’s play for him, we can’t really expect more than a few good beats and a few tasty other things, which are the Bonus Beats he includes here. But even if this is all we’re going to get, it’s a pretty good taste and it sounds pretty sick.
33. James Blake - James Blake
James Blake might be the most overrated album of the year. He built a lot of buzz from releasing a few singles and EPs, and those were good, but nothing really that special. His debut album, the self-titled performance from the British performer, also doesn’t feel so special. Maybe the reason it feels overrated his because people actually listen to this guy - he’s mainstream enough that his cover of Feist’s “Limit To You Love” can be found on regular iPods. People talk about how they love James Blake, and they can actually hold a conversation about him. But why is that? What sets him apart from other struggling electronic artists, especially ones who deal less in the experimental and more in the standard electronic, which is slowly broaching its way into pop culture? The obvious answer here is his voice: the deep and hollow tones he’s able to give us, in repetition, before he finally skewers it into something completely different and unrecognizable. When it’s just his voice, and a few basic instruments, I see the appeal. But when it’s mixed with more crazy computer junk, I don’t see why people like it. Unless those people are into really good music, which most people aren’t.
If you set aside that James Black is relatively famous now, and just enjoy his music, then it’s not that hard. James Blake is, in all honesty, a beautiful album, handcrafted and put forward in both the most sincere and insincere way possible. His music roves in and out of vision, mixing both space and time and instruments, as if Swedish artist Lindstrom was slowed down and drugged. He at times lets the thing build until you’re not sure what to do - like on “I Never Learnt To Share,” or certain moments of “Unluck” - but that doesn’t happen very often. He pretty much keeps it calm and steady and that’s all we really need. Sure, there are moments where you want to dance, but there are other moments where you want to cry, and those moments can be in the same song. And that’s probably why James Blake is so successful, because his music both encompasses sadness and joy at the same time. And rarely does he fall out of his routine into something so honest and open that you don’t know how to respond; the obvious example here is “Lindesfarne II,” which lets Blake grow calm enough to let out his true, emotions and that’s a bit scary. It’s probably the best song on the album, making us think of Bon Iver if Bon Iver were copying Blake. And then, of course, there’s “Limit To Your Love,” which might be better than the original and deserves all the press its getting, even if its for the wrong reasons.
Blake is obviously an incredibly talented musicians, mixing elements of both Adele and Aphex Twin into one singular piece - there are songs like “Give Me My Mouth” and then songs like “Measurements,” which could not be more opposites and yet more the same. “Measurements” is a good example of Blake, because it seems so satisfied with what it’s doing, while the audience is just as satisfied. He’s released a few singles and EPs since this track, but none of them hit as close to the mark as James Blake itself, which just feels so right in all the right places. Sure, there’s an immediate hump to get over, in the form of the simplicity here, but simplicity in music these days, especially popular music, is scare at best. Blake allows for the silence to overtake the song, knowing how important it is to the whole thing. Sometimes it’s in the form of his lone voice, others in the form of lone instruments, others in simply nothingness. And it’s an incredibly brave move, especially when it’s taken into account that when he is working, it’s very beautiful.
