If you haven’t been downright impressed with the overflow of incredible genre crossing music this year you are either a huge Nickleback fan or you are Amish, there’s no other logical excuse to complain about the status of music.
Last year when I put the “Best Albums” list together it was one of the first Heycoolkid! posts ever and with all honesty I was ill-prepared. This year I’m putting these albums up with complete confidence. Sure there’s an album or two that should have the made the cut and somehow was overlooked but all excuses aside here are the albums which I thought were the best of 2011:
There are two very alive “scenes” in Indianapolis, the DIY, My Old Kentucky Blog fueled, the tight knit band-of-brothers group that call the wasteland of Fountain Square home and the underground beats guys that A-Squared and M-80 continually breath life into.
With no offense to the bands I love and the shows I get all geeked out about but the Hip-Hop scene is by far the more exciting of the two with their indefinable presence of “Cool”, not to mention they are the most accepting of the artistic niche’s in Indianapolis. Knowing this, being around it, I still haven’t been doing much to help that aspect of Indy music get recognition.
Other than a few random songs I’ve strayed from posting any hip-hop tracks on heycoolkid!. This hasn’t been from any biased stand point or even from personal preference it’s just that usually rap songs stick out and come across as unnecessary when sitting between low-fi and chillwave songs.
Basically this post is an apology.
So here’s what’s been mixed in on my personal playlists over the last few months.
All songs are for promotion purposes only, I own no rights. If you or an artist you represent would like content removed send me an email or leave a comment. Know that I will continue in the future to only refer to you or the artist you represent negatively focusing on your desire to make money instead of art.
There isn’t much better to help summer along than a solid playlist; So if you’ve got a case of pbr and a cliff to dive from or some polluted waterway to lose yourself in, start downloading cause this is a must have to bring along ….
Add The Powder Kegs to the list of great bands coming out of the scene in Philadelphia, Seriously,it seems like every decent new band i hear has either come out of philly or Canada. Not that i’m complaining, as long as i get to keep hearing great new music i could care less from where they are out of. I usually don’t have a concrete stance when it comes to international relations but for the record i still believe Canada owes each United States Citizen a hand written apology for Nickelback and i refuse to ever put gravy on my french fries again until it has happened.
A few weeks ago i put up a link to another Powder Kegs song la mariposa, if you missed it here’s another chance to check it out (it’s more than worth posting twice : The powder kegs- la mariposa
August Breeze makes my all-time top 100 list. I stumbled over Blake’s songs maybe five years ago on purevolume -i think- and i’ve only been able to come up with minimal information about him since. It never fails when making a drive back from a show for me to play this song at top volume and become completely captured by it. Something in me just settles, locking me in contentment between longing memories and realistic optimism towards the future. Windows down in that moment where a night breeze, a cigarette, and some long missed memories come together to help me appreciate and feel grateful for the exact place i’m at in my life. Blake skidmore gets IT and there’s so few musicians i’ve come in contact with that actually do. (He has another song that makes my top 100 list as well that i’ll most likely end up sharing in the future called “my brother”) I’m afraid from how scarcely accessible this guy is that he has no idea how fantastic the art he creates really is, and more so how important it is to some people. Hopefully this blog might help in some little way.
Bishop Allen is another one of my favoritist bands. Seriously if you don’t appreciate these guys you should probably be googling godsmack’s new album or something. Speaking of appreciation here’s the trailer from the amazing movie staring BA’s justin rice Mutual Appreciation which features rice playing a great live version of one of their best songs “quarter to three”
(if you don’t like that movie maybe you should be googling saw 16 instead)
Somewhere between weezer and 1997 jared mees has found a nice place to fall into and the best thing is that it seems they lack the grand-pop-radio-play-ambition of the aforementioned bands which has obviously become their Achilles heal.
Benediction- a short invocation for divine help, blessing and guidance, usually at the end of worship service… Yeah i had to look it up. I felt that if i was singing along to a song it was more than necessary to know what the hell thurston was referring to.
When Sonic Youth were relevant i wasn’t even in elementary school which means i was more worried about finding the best way to cover myself in mud and the walls with crayon than i was about girls or good music. From what i remember growing up they were constantly being hyped as being one of those anti-hero-voice-of-a-generation sort of bands which almost always translates to a contrived version of overrated. Although it seems to me when i listen to sonic youth albums that they were probably more forerunners for grunge than nirvana (oh the blashphemy right… Here it is: I liked nirvana but think they were a far cry from the worshiped band they became. Even more i distinctly remember how everyone at school made fun of them one year and then becoming obsessed wearing their tshirt and constantly referring to them the next. Take a guess which two years those were). This is the first track with any sonic youth relation that i’ve wanted to actually hear again.
I was looking through my ipod the other day and realized this is the most played song i have on it. It definitely is fitting for any occassion. The lyrics are perfect. There most definitely should be a contract between bodies and hands.
the dismemberment Plan have always been one of those bands that i can never quite figure out if i really like them or not. This is one of the examples of the times when i think i do. Plus i’ve always felt like ben folds was influenced early on by these guys which is good enough for me to keep giving them a chance.
Since Tomboy is officially no longer indie’s chinese democracy and it is in fact amazing and everyone who could possibly care about how amazing it is has already streamed it I felt that someone else from animal collective deserved some scene love.
Where did keep shelly in athens even come from when two months ago i had never even heard of them? A few amazing and rather mysterious tracks later all i can do is wonder how that is even possible. oh for the love of electronica keep shelly in athens create perfect music.
Another song in my all-time 100 list. if you want to know my exact feelings about popular music right now, which you probably could care less, follow this song line by line. Angsty bitter perfection. I’m not a die hard trail of dead fan but i am a die hard fan of bands who put what they really mean into their lyrics, trail of the dead are damn good at doing that.
Two years ago amo joy were my favorite indy band to see live. A lot of things have changed in two years. This band truly is brilliant. I’m not sure what has happened but somehow in the process of getting signed and working on a new album they’ve managed to became… well…not fun. Out of nowhere they just started coming across on stage like one of those bands who take themselves ” serious” about what they are doing and in the process have completely erased what had people lining up to pack into basements to take part in their shows. These guys are true performers with unmatched talent. Off stage nothings changed which is nice. Honestly the last three times i’ve been to an amo joy show i’ve walked away feeling like they just weren’t enjoying themselves. I really hope they get back to what they did best because i’m more than ready for indianapolis to be known for something more than the indy 500, basketball, and margot and the nuclear so and sos. (once again: Dear Margot please stop trying to be an indie “band” and just stick with the sad acoustic stuff, that’s when you’re great. *feel free to substitute ryan adams for margot at the beginning of this statement)
I can’t figure out if there’s a shortage of decent low-fi coming out this year or if i’m just starting to get over it. Not that i don’t appreciate low-fi it’s just that i don’t do enough drugs to get that deep into most of these bands without being able to fully grasp the lyrics and the sentiment behind them. Woven bones are still a great band and this track is great to have on in the background.
Keith Murray may say he won’t let your lousy reputation throw him off and that he himself is not a saint, but other than those two lines i get this burning feeling that he is in fact letting your reputation kind of ruin what he wants to feel about you. Sounds like his loss, right?
Ra Ra Riot seem like indie’s academy is… A band that has all of the right factors to make high school kids think they are listening to the most genuine new music out but when you actually take a step back and take in the whole thing there’s kind of this sneaky sort of feeling that they’re really more swagger and image than creative talent. I know that may com across in some way as harsh but these guys signed with v2 and tour all-ages venues my feelings are valid. I was a fan of the academy is and i’m a fan of ra ra riot and just as i did years ago i feel like i’m allowing myself to really betray every musical moral in my body but i really do enjoy ra ra riot.
