Some Singles for 2011

There are a whole bunch of albums I listened to this year that I didn't review last post.  Either I didn't have a great handle on them, or I didn't like them enough, or they were EPs.  But they had some excellent tracks.  Here's A PLAYLIST I MADE so you can follow along, otherwise click the album art.

Ice Cube - "Ghetto Vet"

I know the crazy motherfucker named Ice Cube from Straight Outta Compton and the beleaguered Papa-bear named Ice Cube from Are We There Yet?, but always wondered what happened to him out there on the road to make him change.  Let's just say that the car right ahead of him was in a horrible crash, and he decided right then and there to drive the speed limit.  Metaphorically, of course.

Jens Lekman - "An Argument With Myself"

This is a song with a lot going on.  It has some catchy and intricate guitar work paired with a Paul Simon-style world-bounce for a rhythm track, a cheeky half-time reggae digression, and incidental accordion, among other things.  Lyrically, besides having a quite literal argument with himself, he manages to describe and critique his current home of Melbourne, examine his love life, and quote Marx.  All in a voice that alternates between mellifluous and converstional.  It's a fearlessly complex and playful song.

Pokey Lafarge and the South City Three - "La La Blues"

The first track off 2010's Riverboat Soul, it captures the tightness and energy of a band that cut their teeth trying to eke change out of passers-by.  This is Western swing music, that is, upright bass, guitar, and either harmonica or percussion (snare or washboard).  Wonderful shouted harmonies, tight vibrato on the vocals, and period apparel; shtick, yes, but as sincere and satisfying a shtick as you'll see.

The Coup - "Fat Cats, Bigga Fish" / "Pimps (Freestylin' at the Fortune 500 Club)

The first two real songs on Genocide & Juice are just about flawless.  Great storytelling with a political bent, wry, cynical humour: this is conscious hip hop.  Boots Riley is on the mic and behind the beats, which ooze funk like he goes by Bootsy instead.  He does a better job describing problems than prescribing solutions, and who can blame him?  They're systemic, not systematic.

Death Cab for Cutie - "Little Bribes"

The first track on last year's excellent The Open Door EP is everything you expect from Ben Gibbard: earnest, lean, and evocative.  Except he can't focus on his troubled romantic life under the tremendous neon lights of Las Vegas, so for once we get something more than solipsism.  Don't expect him to be any more optimistic about the American Dream, but enjoy the subject change.

Random Axe - "Random Call"

Guilty Simpson, Sean P, and Black Milk are clearly more than just random acts.  P sums it up effortlessly: "Me, Guilty, and Black is aggressive content / Don't loveletter-rhymes in raps about chicks / Just a whole lot of druggin' and thuggin', that's it."  After one of the finest track mutes I've ever heard, he comes back with "You can call me one dimensional / But ain't too much talkin' when this slug get into you."  Clearly, these guys understand the humour of being unreasonable men.  The piano hook is Milk's finest melodic touch on an otherwise dark album, the verses are on point.  It's an intimidatingly good song.

The Dismemberment Plan - "The Ice of Boston"

At first blush, this could be a Weird Al tune, but then you realize Travis Morrison isn't blushing.  Sure, there are some things he'd rather not admit to right now, but that's because he's drunk and depressed and desolate. Cut him some slack.  Besides, all this is poured over the catchiest, slinkiest tune on a brilliantly weird album.  Some of these post-hardcore/art-punk/whatever songs are so odd you can't blame casual fans for doing 'the standing still' out of sheer fear, but when "The Ice of Boston" comes on, you better believe they all head for the stage.

Drake - "HYFR (Hell Ya Fuckin' Right)"

On his second album, fellow Torontonian K'naan says most mainstream rap is "yapping about yapping," and most underground rap is "rapping about rapping."  Drake claims to be underground turned mainstream, and on his second album, if I wanted to be snarky, whining about whining.  But that's worst case.  Here, he's rhyming in bizarrely-timed bursts of triplets, clichés are minimal, and he stays off the hook and the autotune (well, almost).  Because the hook is Lil' Wayne's, and it's a showstopper.  In other words, this is best case: Drake is winning about winning.

Fruit Bats - "You're Too Weird"

The lead single from this year's Tripper, and it sure sounds like it.  It has a heavy, sweet hook that really cashes in on the falsetto vocal octaves and pairs well with the sensual groove laid down by the bass and drums.  The meandering guitar solo connects the verses, which give way to a languid refrain that carries the song into fade out.  Cause really, how did you think it was going to end?

The Henry Clay People - "This Ain't a Scene"

Another case of a clear-cut single, this rocker is sandwiched between a ballad in waltz time and the sort of punker that got Japandroids famous.  It grabs your attention by omission, letting the bass and snare wander in after a few measures, and keeps it by building in intensity as it progresses. Great gee-tar work, simple but effective drums, and energetic vocals; if indie rock and roll has lost its teeth, the Henry Clay People are giving them dentures at least.