The Year That Was: 2011′s Best Projects #20-11

#20 Toro Y Moi Underneath The Pine

When first listening to Underneath The Pine, I felt as if a kaleidoscope full of colorful sounds was turning through my headphones. The eccentric electrobeats and mesmerizing melodies mixed amongst each other makes any body sway along to the songs without even realizing it. It seems as if front man Chazwick Bundick tapped in to what inner thoughts echoed like and expressed them all in a variety of tempos, vibratos and contexts. I was lucky to see Toro Y Moi on three different occasions this year and not once did they disappoint. Any artist that can make an album come to life on stage is worth the repeat to witness.
-Kayte O.

Toro Y Moi “Good Hold”
Toro Y Moi – Good Hold by valterbarreira

#19 DJ Quik The Book of David

Oh man, how do I even start with this record? To those that know me, DJ Quik is perhaps my favorite artist in any genre. His albums epitomize “sunshine” music and if you look up West Coast on Wikipedia, I’m pretty sure there is a picture of David Blake smiling back at you.

In this offering, Quik brings an updated vibe to his signature west coast bounce, while continuing to rap circles around most with equal parts wit and veracity. He channel’s every one of his 7 previous albums here, and doesn’t leave any fan unsatisfied. On the production tip he’s got hard hitters like the intro track “Fire and Brimstone” that will make you slip a disk; slick, crisp keyboard beats like “Killer Dope” that are the best kind of simplistic head nodders; and of course the classic gheri curl juice dripping, guitar lick laden G-Funk tracks like “Love of My Life” which are my personal favorite Quik slaps.

Lyrically, Quik is often rapping with a chip on his shoulder here. He touches on personal subjects with a somewhat scorched earth approach that is pretty amazing to witness on one hand, while also spouting the traditional upping of his musical prowess and ability to pull the female persuasion in a style that makes most of today’s blog rap stars sound reaaaallllly boring, subject matter be damned. It comes down to the fact that Quik’s ability to ride the beat and rhyme words that have no logical reason being paired is second to none. His rap style and cadence are just perfect for the type of music he produces, and in the end that one two punch is a winner every time…especially when the sun is shining.

Is it summer time yet?
-DJ100proof

DJ Quik ft. Jon B & Gift “Hydromatic”


#18 G-Side iSLAND

ST 2 Lettaz and Clova dropped two albums this year, both deserving consideration on our list. On the first day of 2011 came The One… Cohesive, a sweeping posse album of W-4 boy ambient-rap; in November came iSLAND. The latter is the more adventurous for a crew that has comfortably found its niche fucking with sounds that no one else can, or should.

iSLAND smoothed out the very-Euro leanings of The One, mostly doing away with its cheeseball choruses and allowing only minimal guest appearances (barely any from the usual Slow Motion Soundz crew), letting the focus rest firmly on G-Side. The One may, yes, be the more musically cohesive effort, but iSLAND shows the breadth of the group’s travels better than any declarations of passport-stamping which punctuate so many of their cuts. “No U in Us” injects a draped-down swag into Joy Orbison’s post-dubstep classic “Hyph Mngo” in the best example of Block Beataz’ knack for taking overseas dance influences and making them something distinct, and distinctly hiphop. “Stay-Cation”’s raw-cut horns have faces numb in all their sticky Vietnam-era glory. “Rabbits” does an excellent Goodie Mob impression, so much so you could swear that’s Khujo on the chorus.

As far as they go sonically, the subject matter stays mostly the same: hustling hard, seeing the world, and a couple well-done obligatory sex-raps. But the same demons follow them wherever they go, the same doubt and anxiety which has ST confessing, “I’ve been having nightmares of being broke and 30.” For all their success, for all the new places music has taken them and the sounds they have been exposed to, they’re still dogged by home. Let’s hope that inspires two more great albums in 2012.
-Joe G.

G-Side ft. Joi Tiffany “Stay-Cation”

#17 Jamie XX & Gil-Scott Heron We’re New Here

I found this album as I was looking for more of Heron’s because I thoroughly enjoyed my first encounter with his material, I’m New Here. Needless to say I’m not an expert on his material, message, or personality so I found this album to be an entertaining and thoughtful listen because of the source acapellas and Jamie’s hypnotic, hazy style.

“Ur Soul and Mine” finds Jamie taking the reins of Gil’s vocals by looping the title words around a seductive upbeat rhythm with bright synthesizer stabs and reverb-drenched vocals to create a dance tune perfect for someone special. It’s the type of tune that really stands out in my mind because of its delicate sounding synthesizers and vocals that manage to not get blown away by the hard percussion and thick kick; definitely owe that one to Jamie.

The combination of Jamie’s atmospheric sound paired with Gil provides for an interesting listen because this style of sound can lend itself to highlighting the dissonant qualities of Gil’s voice. Indeed, on the closing track, “I’ll Take Care of You,” the heavy and rough qualities of his voice shine out from the track and guide the listener along the tracks laid by Jamie’s slinky jam. It’s a fantastic end to the album because the distant keys put your mind in a trance while the percussion moves your body and Gil speaks to your heart. At the end of the nearly five-minute track, you snap out of it and realize that you need to start over again, from the beginning.
-Kyle Jordan

Jamie XX & Gil-Scott Heron “I’ll Take Care of You”

#16 The Roots Undun

For their 13th album, Questlove and company employed a host of marquee collaborators to develop fictional personas and perform guest appearances that fit succinctly inside the record’s cautionary tale of Redford Stevens, a fictional hustler archetype whose rise and fall is documented with somber reflection and expert musicianship on Undun. This is probably the most serious album The Roots have ever assembled, a significant mark considering the darker turn their music has taken in the last six years. With the LP’s decidedly doleful subject matter comes edification for heads who previously worried about artistic dilution in conjunction with the group’s very status quo day job. Never that, though. After all, didn’t The Beatles get sufficiently more inventive after the initial rush of their mainstream American success? (And, yes, I think The Roots are the closest thing hiphop has ever had to The Beatles. Believe it.)

The life of Redford Stevens is undone fully in reverse, beginning in death and ending in birth. Novel concept aside, there’s much to celebrate here strictly from a musical standpoint. Black Thought sounds totally re-energized, his ever-deepening register threatening to break through your speakers and headphones on “The OtherSide.” Technically, it’s difficult to imagine The Roots sounding tighter. Questlove, as always, is the beating heart, providing urgent or meditative energies depending on the needs of the moment. And that right there is the greatest thing about this group: Their ability to always give the music exactly what it needs to succeed. It’s the mark of true professionals of top-notch excellence. It’s the mark of one of the greatest hiphop groups in the history of the game, performing at the top of theirs.
-Chul G.

The Roots “Sleep”

#15 Charles Bradley No Time For Dreaming

Ending on a better note than it started, there were times when 2011 looked bleak. Like civilization crumbling, Mayan-prophecy-coming-true bleak, what with never-ending recession, natural disasters, widespread unrest and a constant smattering of saddening happenings. When it’s all said and done, life goes on. Even if the economy turns around and we don’t go start another oil war in the Middle East, there will always be pain, and sadness, and difficulty. Life can’t be any other way, and if it weren’t for all of existence’s adversity, the times when things are how they should be wouldn’t feel so amazing.

It took a 64-year old who has seen his fair share of hardship releasing his debut album to remind us all of this. Charles Bradley’s No Time For Dreaming bares the blisters and callouses of a life lived living rough, frustrated but with head up and an eye toward better times. Bradley sings in a battle-scarred wail that can’t be anything but pure passion and perseverance. The inemitable Menahan Street Band graces the Screaming Eagle with the funk and soul of his 20s, a tip of the cap to an almost-forgotten OG.

Nas once said that Illmatic was his best record because he had his whole life to write it; everything afterwards didn’t have such a wealth of experience on which to draw. He recorded that when he was barely 20. Bradley puts a lifetime of experience into No Time, words and voice emanating from eyes that have seen much before happening again – but some lovely things happening for the first time.
-Joe G.

Charles Bradley “Why Is It So Hard”

#14 Blu N O Y O R K!

When Blu got signed to Warner Bros back in 2009, he claimed that, “Ill continue to live my life and make music and continue to be an inspiration.” I don’t remember the hiphop community’s reaction to this signing, but I don’t think anyone could have predicted Blu to craft a project as expansive, ambitious, and noncommercial as No York!

It’s a project that sacrifices pop-sensibilities for artistic exploration and the creation of a unique sound that challenges listeners to comprehend something totally different than before. For instance, I wasn’t initially intrigued by the saturated synthesizers, disorienting percussion pattern, and crisp pronunciations of “Slng Bngrs!” However, I refused to skip this track during my listens of this album because these same qualities intrigued me, despite my inability to understand the song’s theme upon initial listens. Eventually, I grew to love the manner in which Blu’s rhymes move amongst the various synthesizers, blend around the percussion, and morph into the cacophony that takes over midway through the track.

As a listener addicted to hearing artists push personal and musical boundaries, I grew to appreciate much of the tracks No York! in a similar manner to “Slng Bngrs!,” but there were some I knew I loved upon first listen because Blu’s got that touch I vibe with very personally. For instance, I can’t imagine how anyone couldn’t lose their shit listening to “Ronald Morgan.” It’s high tempo, groovy bass, spastic drumming, and Blu’s lyrics create a free-flowing rap track that feels as if its going to explode through my speakers, out of my house, and into space.

No York! Is one of my favorite albums of the year because it challenges the listener to keep up with its constant experimentation and off-the-wall ideas. At some level, I understand the objections to this album that I’ve read or heard about it because this album isn’t for everyone with its crazy beats and sounds, but for those that it does intrigue, this is a gold mine and I am the 49er.
-Kyle J.

Blu “SLNG BNGRS!”

#13 Adele 21

The year’s best-selling album should be good, but it usually isn’t remarkable. Popularity and genius aren’t found often enough in the same company. 2011 was different. Adele’s 21 broke records, sold over 3 million more than the year’s #2 record, Michael Buble’s Christmas (see my second sentence), and proved once again that at a time when pre-programmed beats and auto-tune are at their most popular, the beauty of an exceptional human voice over tried-and-true instrumentation will always triumph over the new-new.

21 is not a happy album. Adele wrote and sung out of heartbreak, and nailed the anger, guilt, confusion, and loneliness of a painful break-up. Her talents as a lyricist can be overlooked next to her vocal mastery, but most not be; read a transcript of “Someone Like You.”

The only knock against 21 is that it has birthed too many karoake torch-song staples that will be murdered repeatedly until the end of time, or karoake. 21 is not a record I’m supposed to like, and albums like this are not supposed to get the overwhelming adoration they deserve.
-Joe G.

Adele “Someone Like You”

#12 Evidence Cats & Dogs

Earlier this week I wrote about The-Dream, and how his project was one of two projects I had anticipated, that I had actually loved, and the other one is Evidence’s Cats & Dogs.

Initially, I wrote almost a novel about the album when I reviewed it over at my blog because there were so many pieces that I enjoyed. I loved the production throughout, which is remarkably different than the trap music that I’ve been gravitating toward lately, but in retrospect, even more remarkable was what Ev rapped about.

Honestly, I really feel like I could write in depth about every song, but I won’t. The project starts off strong with a camouflaged intro in “Liner Notes,” includes one of my favorite Alchemist beats on “Red Carpet” that also features Ras Kass and Raekwon, and he just doesn’t have a track 13, which I found to be really dope.

While I briefly mentioned some of the songs that stood out to me, the link between all the songs is, of course, how personal they are, and how the listener learns so much about Evidence. “It Wasn’t Me” explains how Ev got his name, and how he’s not notorious graffiti artist Buket. “I Don’t Need Love” explains how his mother’s death affected him and the way he acts toward females, and “Well Runs Dry” talks about his financial problems. Not only is Evidence an incredibly nice guy, but Cats & Dogs stood out to me because, as he raps “I love rap, but I’m livin’ in life.” In other words, I can relate to far more of his music than I can with most other rappers.
-Julie J.

Evidence ft. Krondon “Well Runs Dry”

#11 The Weeknd House of Baloons

The final collection of songs in The Weeknd’s Balloon trilogy, Echoes of Silence, dropped on December 21, just in time for listeners to have a very un-Holy Christmas. I would argue that Echoes is the best EP of the three (which also includes the underwhelming Thursday), but that’s because it resonates with more pop inflections, which I totally dig and imagine is more of the direction The Weeknd will take in 2012.

Speculation notwithstanding, the intrigue all started with the mysterious House of Balloons, owner of still my favorite Weeknd song, “The Morning,” a cautionary tale about the addictive properties of money disguised as a stripper anthem. There’s a similar depth of field in the majority of Abel Tesfaye’s nihilistic love/sex/drug poetry, a range of interpretation that allows for both far-reaching think pieces and drug-induced escapism alike. That inherent intelligence, coupled with the very immediate visceral reaction generated by the group’s wavy electronica, should keep The Weeknd’s hustle a step in front of acts with similar musical conceits.
-Chul G.

The Weeknd “The Morning”

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 12th, 2012 at 2:01 pm. It is filed under Blog, Featured and tagged with Adele, Blu, Charles Bradley, DJ Quik, Evidence, G-Side, Gil Scott-Heron, Jamie XX, Menahann Street Band, The Roots, The Weeknd, Toro Y Moi. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.