Whew! Another year has passed and left an oily slick of music in its wake. Some of that music was good and some of it was lousy but on balance, 2011 was a pretty exciting year in the music industry. As expected, CDs continued their slow death march but to the delight of music nerds and audiophiles everywhere, vinyl sales grew. Spotify graced us with its benevolent presence, thereby saving thousands of cubicle dwellers from the tyranny of their coworkers’ Maroon 5 and Taylor Swift playlists. Napster, Spotify’s precursor, bit the dust (much to the delight of Lars Ulrich—more on him later) and iTunes’ creator passed away.
Where the Girls Were in 2011
2011 was an unusually good year for women in the music industry–though, this statement is more applicable to individual artists than girl groups, which are still sorely lacking in both quantity and quality. Young indie songstresses such as Lykke Li, St. Vincent and Zola Jesus hit their stride with great new albums and ever-expanding critical acclaim. Adele and Florence Welch were everywhere—the latter of whom released a tepid sophomore album—and will surely have bright futures in the world of popular music. Rock stalwarts PJ Harvey, Dum Dum Girls and Wild Flag (an indie super-group of sorts, comprised of ex-Helium member, Mary Timony, Rebecca Cole and 2/3 of much loved Sleater-Kinney) reminded everyone that women can still rock and Leslie Feist’s latest output reminded us that sometimes they do not. Meanwhile, inflatable pool toy, Lana Del Rey managed to incite the ire of bloggers with a few warble-y singles and a MacLaren-esque management team from hell.
- Lykke Li – Wounded Rhymes
- Zola Jesus – Conatus
- St. Vincent – Strange Mercy
- PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
- Wild Flag – Wild Flag
- EMA – Past Life Martyred Saints
- Adele – 21
- Dum Dum Girls – Only in Dreams
The Reliable Work Horses
A robust group of music industry veterans released albums over the past year. Indie prince Stephen Malkmus, summoned the rest of the Jicks to the studio to record an album with Beck. Wilco, Tom Waits, TV On The Radio, Foo Fighters and Radiohead all released well-received records, as well. Meanwhile, Coldplay continued to bore us and R.E.M. released their final album before breaking up after thirty-one years together. Dinosaur Jr toured the country performing the entirety of Bug and enlisted certified punk windbag, Henry Rollins as emcee. Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore announced that they were separating and killed the idea of true love to legions of fans in the process. On a more positive note, the Black Keys proved that a meat and potatoes rock band could still build a career the old fashioned way. High on the unexpected success of their 2010 album, Brothers, the Keys returned to the studio with Danger Mouse and released a fun new record called El Camino. Good for them. Seriously.
- The Black Keys – El Camino
- Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks – Mirror Traffic
- Tom Waits – Bad As Me
- TV on the Radio – Nine Types of Light
- Radiohead – King of Limbs
- Wilco – The Whole Love
- J Mascis – Several Shades of Why
- Thurston Moore – Demolished Thoughts
Coming up in Parts 2 & 3: Indie Darlings, The Year in Music News, Reissues & My picks for 2011’s Worst of the Worst
