A Look and Listen Back to Some of the Best Sounds of The Year That Goes to 11
And so in just a few hours, the Year That Goes to 11 shall come to a close. This is the perfect time to look back and listen on the past year and share some thoughts on music which stood out in numerous ways. If you aren't following me on Twitter, here is the recap of my picks for the Best of '11.
Let's start with live music. Admittedly, I didn't make it to as many concerts as I would have liked to this year, but that said, the ones I saw all had something special about them. After being a fan for 30 plus years, I finally saw Devo live (twice!) and I was among the tens of thousands to fill Anaheim Stadium as U2 played back-to-back sold out performances on the closing leg of the U2360° Tour. But the best performance I attended this year was when Deep Purple were backed by a full orchestra at the Greek Theater. I've never seen the band in such fine form or having so much fun as I did on this night.
The reissues market had a huge '11, with numerous artists enjoying deluxe and super-deluxe editions of their key albums or even entire catalogues. For the sheer level of quality and attention to details given to the first two of three sets in the series, Pink Floyd takes the honor of Box Set of The Year. The Immersion edition of The Wall releases in February, completing the set. The sound quality of both DSOTM and Wish You Were Here were stellar, as were other reissues, but one album in particular was an order of magnitude better in terms of improvement of sound. That reissue was Jethro Tull "Aqualung". The clarity and improvement in the quality over the original is utterly stunning and truly must be heard to be believed. Do your ears a favor, pick it up, put on a quality set of headphones and lose yourself in the listening experience as you've never done before. For further reading, check out my friend's very well done take on the album's deeper meanings.
'11 was a great year for songs that stick with you. The first earworm of the year and by far my favorite was Chikita Violenta's passionately melodic "Roni". Hit play and keep reading.
Also among artists and song which became welcome earworms in '11, were The New Mastersounds' undeniably great Brit Funk, Ryan Adams' stripped-to-its-core-sound-and-feeling cover of Iron Maiden's "Wasted Years" and the most sweetly sung ode to rolling d20's with friends during an evening of Dungeons & Dragons, CossbySweater's "Tonight".
The soundtrack world, both film and video game, had a banner year. Among my favorite, traditional soundtracks were Alexandre Desplat's score for "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2", and Michael Giacchino's "Super 8". As of this writing I haven't seen "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" yet, but from what I've heard of it, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' film score will also be among the best of the year. But the film soundtrack I listened to the most this year, and my pick for Best Licensed Music Soundtrack, is Sucker Punch, for its striking use of covers and the way it was used to such great effect in the film.
The world of video game soundtracks also saw enormous strides made in not only the number of releases (in North America) but also the quality and level of detail in the packaging. My pick for Indie Game Soundtrack is Bastion. Here is just a taste of it:
Picking a single game soundtrack from the AAA world was quite tough this year, as each one released has strong merits unique to each, but, for the sheer amount of music included in it, my pick for AAA Video Game Soundtrack goes to Skyrim. If you've been reading this blog recently, you know how Jeremy Soule's music has affected the fan community.
With so much music shifting to the digital realm, artists choosing to release in a physical form have truly upped their games (so to speak) for these kinds of releases. Danny Baranowsky gets props for Best Physical Edition Game Soundtrack (Indie) for Super Meat Boy.
And the incredibly awesome team at Sumthing Digital have earned the accolade of Best Physical Edition Game Soundtrack (AAA) for the inspired green vinyl edition of the Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Edition soundtrack.
Also of note in '11, was finding a gem of a radio program, The Video Game Music Show, which is broadcast and live streamed from KPSC every Friday night.
When it comes to genre specific picks, my favorites were:
Rock Album of the Year - Foo Fighters Wasting Light
Punk Album of the Year - Social Distortion Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes
Metal Album of the Year - Anthrax Worship Music
Electronic Album of the Year - The Japanese Popstars Controlling Your Allegiance
Comeback of the Year - Wanda Jackson (with help from Jack White) The Party Ain't Over
The world of reunions and secrets collided this year, with two of the worst kept secrets (for various reasons, all unrelated to or by fault of the artists) were the reunion announcements of the original line up of Black Sabbath and the new album and tour from Van Halen. However, the absolute best kept secret of '11 goes to the fine folks at The Roxy, for keeping quiet the fact that Van Halen spent several weeks rehearsing at their location!
And the last honor I want to mention is an album I've been enjoying (via an advance copy) for several weeks now, yet it won't see release until early 2012. That album is I Waited For You by Southern California's Valora. This is an artist to watch in '12, and I am looking forward to bringing you a review of this fantastic album soon.
To everyone who has spent time reading this blog or sharing it with others this year, a huge thank you. I truly hope you are enjoying what I am sharing with you and that perhaps a few of the artists featured here have made their way onto your iPods or physical players. Here is wishing you who are reading this right now, a very Happy New Year!
Comments
Post a Comment