(pair of mirrors)

#2. Timber Timbre - Creep On Creeping On

“Bad Ritual”

I haven’t shut up about Timber Timbre all year. Three shows, three blog posts, and an absolutely astounding number of plays, Creep On Creepin’ On will forever be remembered as the soundtrack of my 2011. I know you aren’t surprised. 

One thing I have noticed since falling in love with this album is how much I hear its dark influence finding its way into other things. You can hear that creepiness creeping on along into albums like Watch The Throne (listen to the end of No Church In the Wild and tell me that doesn’t sound like a Taylor Kirk influence). Timber Timbre has started something that isn’t going to stop. 

Creep On Creepin’ On is such an impressively cohesive whole. It is the perfect blend of old familiar and nostalgic sounds yet it is so perfectly new, unique and noteably different. It is full of subtle themes, instrumentally, melodically and lyrically that all fit together so perfectly—flowing in and out of one another, reminding us over and over what Timber Timbre is all about. I have come to seriously adore each and every track on this album so very very much, but it is without a doubt best heard as a whole, as the Timber Timbre experience. 

I don’t want to go on and on about this, because we have done that a lot this year. You can read about why we love Timber Timbre here, here or here. 

Creep On Creepin’ On has however made me feel a vast spectrum of things this year and the juxtapostition of those feelings is quite striking. I will share a few things that this album has made me feel, which includes but is not limited to fear, comfort, hypnosis, goosepumps, hope, sadness, joy and above all, inspiration. Creep On Creepin’ On has become, for me, a ritual in and of itself. 

It’s a bad bad ritual, but it calms me down. 

-M

#5. Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes

“Youth Knows No Pain”

It’s a great feeling when an artist you really like comes out with a second, even better, even more impressive album. Such is the case with Lykke Li. She is getting better with age.Youth Novels was one of my favourite albums in university, but Wounded Rhymes is full of new insights, danceable tunes, reflective ballads and sing along songs. She did it again, but even better.  Lykke seems to have grown up a lot from Youth Novels, and she says now, “Youth Knows No Pain”. 

The success of Lykke Li is really exciting for me. The way Wounded Rhymes seems to be borderline mainstream says a lot to me about where music is headed. It seems the indie, the intelligent, the innovative, is on the up and up. Good music is finally starting to get the attention and ticket sales they deserve. It’s so refreshing to see a talented pop singer like Lykke selling out huge venues in Toronto and everywhere else. She is clever, talented, beautiful, and writes undeniably good songs. When you’re listening to Wounded Rhymes there is definitely no denying that music can be catchy and intelligent at the same time. She’s the mastermind behind these fantastic pop tunes.  Its this level of accessibility and the stomp along sing along quality of Lykke Li’s engaging songwriter that makes her the reigning indie queen in my books. And right along side those catchy singalong songs are gentle, sad, pretty and quiet ones too. 

I admire the way Lykke writes from this poignant perspective of being a smart and beautiful woman. It’s so brutally and beautifully honest. Songs like Rich Kid Blues and Get Some are both provocative and catchy, without seeming in the least bit over the top. I think she is an inspiring woman in the music scene and is going places even bigger than she’s been in 2011. 

L and I often have trouble agreeing on which albums deserve which spots on our countdowns, but since Wounded Rhymes came out we both knew it held a special place both in our hearts and on the countdown. We’ve enjoyed this album together and apart, recorded and live. It was an obvious choice from the get go. 

-M

#9. Laura Marling - A Creature I Don’t Know

“I Was Just A Card”

Laura Marling has made me think harder than any other musician this year. I have to listen to her so carefully, but I get something new out of every listen. Her songs are so sophisticated and discerning. I said it before but I have to say it again, Laura Marling seems incredibly wise beyond her years. A Creature I Don’t Know is my poetry album of 2011, for true listening and digestion. What’s even better is how the album isn’t limited to that poetic folk sound. It has these incredible and dynamic shifts between warm and harsh, bright and dark. Movement filled, percussive banjos and strumming between astonishingly quiet and peaceful moments. It is a roller coaster ride of a folk album. The ups and downs are dictated by a variety of things, be it number of instruments, the incredible range of Marling’s voice, the cheerful highs contrasted against sorrowful, heart wrenching lows. 

 I can’t help but think that Laura Marling represents some of the most intelligent, thoughtful, reflective song writing that this year had to offer. Her songs are so honest and immediate but complex at the same time. I have to say again that she is only 21, and so incredibly talented its just mind blowing. Lyrics, vocals, guitar playing, she is a goddess of folk. I can’t even imagine what this woman is going to accomplish next. 

Let’s just say three people on my Christmas list are getting this album, and I know they won’t be disappointed. 

Here are some of my favourite lyrics from the album:

I was just a card, caught up in the stars, looking down to mars

you know, you know, he knows, he knows

something about me that i don’t want him to know  -I Was Just A Card

He longs for the answers, as all of us must

He longs for the woman who will conquer his lust

He screams in the night, I scream in the day

We weep int he evening and lie naked and pray. -Night After Night

My friends, my dear friends, and lovers, oh my lovers

I’d leave you for them, they got a hand on my back   -My Friends

All I want for Christmas are tickets to Europe to see her play with Timber Timbre. Too bad I definitely won’t get it. Sigh. 

-M

#11. The Kills - Blood Pressures

“DNA”

The Kills are just so cool. All of their grungy, swagger filled blues rock has been, and Blood Pressures is no exception. Better than just being cool, it is contagiously so. It’s that album that makes me straighten up, pout a little more, and generally feel significantly more badass when I’m walking down the street. The album is infectiously sexy. And what more can you ask for than for an album that is so cool that it makes you feel cool too? 

Alison & Jamie are quite obviously two of the coolest people… well, ever. You can hear it in their songs, (no need to talk about how they hang out with Jack White and Kate Moss) but you can see it best when you watch them on stage. We, the ladies of POM, got to see them do their thing at the Sound Academy earlier in the year and it confirmed all our opinions about these two rock icons. They are badass, their music is badass, you want them, and you want to be them.

This album, like the two before it, will continue to have serious playtime long after 2011 gets rung out. We both knew since it first became streamable in March, that Blood Pressures was definitely going to have a spot on Pair of Mirrors Top 20 of 2011. We love them. I’ve listened to this album three times today while preparing to write about it, and now I feel sexy and invincible. I prescribe a good dose of Blood Pressures to you too. 

-M

#12. Girls – Father, Son, Holy Ghost

“Vomit”

The story of Christopher Owens, the man behind Girls, is not a usual one. Growing up as a member of Children of God cult, Owens was not allowed to listen to any music. Because of this, Owens says that his music is “an overflow of expression.”

That statement definitely applied to Girls’ first LP, Album, which came out in 2009. Songs like “Lust for Life”, “Big Bad Motherfucker”, and “Hellhole Ratrace” were classic ballads in form but not in substance. On Album, Owens tested his listeners’ boundaries through exploring themes like god, homosexuality, human psychology, and people’s relationships with one another. The juxtaposition of such themes with ballad-style composition was very effective – the whole album was an ironic, thought-provoking statement.

Girls’ second album, named Father, Son, Holy Ghost builds on the themes from Album. But at the same time, Father is so good it leaves the very excellent Album in the dust. It is incredible how much more prolific and creative Owens has become in his music. To begin with, the new album is much more musically full than its predecessor. On top of the familiar and easy electric guitar chords, Owens has added percussion, bass, and many more guitars. At times, like during “Die” and “Vomit,” Girls sound more like early Smashing Pumpkins or even Nirvana. At other times, Girls draw on almost cheesy alt-rock and gospel influences. The hooks and sha-la-las in “Honey Bunny” and “Magic” are almost juvenile; they are reminiscent of the breezy radio soft-rock enjoyed in junior high. At other times still, like during “Forgiveness”, the formula is simple: it’s Owens, an acoustic, and not much more.  

What permeates through the entire album is the heaviness, darkness, and tension which Owens is able to create through what seems like any musical medium. And yet this tension is often competing with themes of love, hope, and forgiveness.  “Vomit” is the standout track in this regard. The song is reportedly inspired by Proverbs 26:11: “As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his foolishness.” Throughout almost the whole song, Owens sings just three short lines:  

Nights I spent alone,

I spent ‘em running around looking for you, baby…

Looking for love.

The tension builds as Owens repeats those lines, and then suddenly, with about a minute to go, there is light and rapture and the whole mood of the song just changes. Owens begins singing a single phrase – “Come into my heart”. A gospel singer joins in the background. There is freedom; a burden lifted. How did this song appear daunting only minutes ago? But then you think about it – you really think about it – and suddenly you get the joke. At the end, is Owens trying to say that he finally broke out of the fool’s cycle? Or is he saying that, like a dog, now and forever, even when he thinks he won’t have to, even when he thinks he’s cured, he will always come back for more?

-L 

#14. The Black Keys - El Camino

“Sister”

Here at Pair Of Mirrors we are pretty serious Black Keys fans. We’ve been writing about the Dan and Patrick basically since we started this blog, so it’s probably not a huge surprise to any of you that El Camino would find its way onto our top 20 of 2011. As you may recall, Brothers was tied for first in last years countdown. 

I almost feel bad for not having placed this album in the top 10… But it came out less than two weeks ago and we didn’t want to jump the gun after thinking so long on hard on all the other albums for most of the year. In those last 2 weeks however, El Camino has been played more than anything else and with the warmest reception left right and centre. THIS ALBUM IS SO FUN. It is such a crowd pleasing, hip swaying, beer drinking, pancake making, road tripping kind of record that will have everyone smiling. 

Admittedly El Camino sounds a lot like, well, everything else the Black Keys have ever released… But no one seems to be complaining. I know I’m not. The Black Keys have always been likeable and this album is immediately and undeniably that. This is probably when the Black Keys get next level famous, above and beyond, and that just warms my heart. These boys deserve it. I’m so excited by their growing success and continually delightful rock and roll. 

Having listened to them on Q with Jian Gomeshi recently, I learned that I love these guys for more than just their music.  Their hilarious and humble attitudes to the business, themselves and each other are really inspiring. Its people like these guys that keep rock and roll what it should be. 

If you haven’t heard El Camino yet, you will soon. It’s going to be everywhere.

-M

#17. My Morning Jacket - Circuitual

“Outta My System”

To premise I have to admit to something. I discovered this album stumbling through Bonnaroo trying to get to the front of the biggest stage so that I would have an ideal view of Arcade Fire. As I waved my canadian flag on a stick, leading my pals through the throngs of people (I later learned having hit quite a number of people with said flag), I discovered My Morning Jacket. It isn’t that I hadn’t heard of or heard My Morning Jacket before, it was just that I’d never particularly appreciated their music. This was different. There was this incredible and undeniable energy pouring from the stage that—even without knowing any of the songs—pulled me in and made me want to dance and sing along. They were amazing! Seriously, if you ever get the chance to watch them live you definitely should.

Bonnaroo being wonderful as Bonnaroo is, I got distracted from this moment pretty quickly and it took me a few months to remember and actually purchase Circuital. When I first heard “Outta My System” I didn’t even realize it was the same band, because it sounded like it must have been something from the beach Boys era. But I loved it. And then I began to love the whole album. 

Circuital is this real and tough rock and roll album that simultaneously excels at poppy beach boy-esque hooks and soaring hymn-like fleet foxes style melodies. It’s kind of incredible. And beyond being such a wonderful combination of things, its also just a feel good album. It’s hard not to like it. 

So, knowing that this band is fantastic live, to an audience that knows their work or not, a feel good beach boys meets fleet foxes meets southern rock obviously deserves a spot on the top 20! Give it a listen if you haven’t already! 

-M