Favorite albums of 2011, part 2

As promised from the first part from back in July, here's the rest and/or things that have been released since then. The Mars Volta pushed their new album back to next year, but that's okay because we're still left with a lot of other great stuff.

Maybeshewill - I Was Here For A Moment, Then I Was Gone



Maybeshewill has an interesting style. They're very Mogwai-ish, but often with the precise electronics and drumming of math rock, like with 65daysofstatic or Toe. This is pretty stereotypical post-rock, so if you're not into the genre you probably won't find it very interesting. Explosion in the Sky's Take Care, Take Care, Take Care is still probably my favorite post-rock CD out this year (and probably my favorite CD overall, to tell the truth) but this is still pretty great.



Arms and Sleepers - The Organ Hearts



Now this is a real gem. I just found out about these guys a couple months ago, and they've become one of my favorite new bands. This performance comes from a great website called WeArePostRock, but to be honest it's a little hard to put them in that genre. "Post-Rock" is kinda hard to pin down anyway, people usually just take instrumental music and call it "post-rock" to sound more hipster. But it usually has the same elements: somewhat minimalist, and if vocals are ever used, then they're used as just another instrument, and lyrics are irrelevant. Arms and Sleepers don't really do those things, this is more ambient and trip hop. I suppose they're all just labels anyway, ask any person on the street and I guess he wouldn't be able to tell the difference.



The Black Keys - El Camino



I actually haven't listened to this yet, but I thought I'd put it here in case anyone doesn't know about it. I'm sure it's great because it's the god damn Black Keys.



M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming



M83 take their name from the Messier 83 galaxy, which is awesome, because that's one of my personal favorites too. I've read in interviews that M83 is inspired a lot by the 1980s. I hate 80s music. Unfortunately for me, they've sort of grasped onto that feeling a little more in recent years. I fell in love with their earlier songs on Dead Cities and Before the Dawn Heals Us -- the ambient stuff, the stuff that made me want to play Mass Effect and go stargazing. And some of that's still there, but Hurry Up, We're Dreaming feels very 80s pop. It's still not too bad because you can still pick up their style in it. You will love this CD if you're into this kind of music.



Pretty Lights - Unreleased 2010 Remixes



Pretty Lights is fucking good. The Sunday Youtube Post this week is off of this album. It's all remixes, he takes from James Brown, to Kanye West, and even Pink Floyd. And it's weird, because I'm usually not all that into this music, but it's just catchy as hell and I can't stop listening. It's very Daft Punk. Pretty Lights makes his money playing shows, so he puts all of his music up on his website for free.



Immortal Technique - The Martyr



Recently I've started listening to Rage Against the Machine for the first time, so I was wondering what other sort of revolutionary music is out there. It didn't take me long to find Immortal Technique. This guy is an arrogant jackass, and somewhat of a conspiracy theorist, but he does his fucking research and his lyrics usually hit the nail on the head. The Martyr was released in support of the Occupy movement (he's personally been visiting the encampment at Wall Street a lot), and he put it up online for free.



Sun Rise Above - Every Day I Wake Up on the Wrong Side of Capitalism



I discovered Sun Rise Above through the same search. He seems a lot more grounded than Immortal Technique, which is good, because it feels like Immortal Tech's obsession with keeping with his 'hardcore' image sort of undermines his central message. Sun Rise Above's talent as a lyricist is pretty damn impressive, and it seems like only a matter of time until this guy takes off.