Feature: 2011: Favorite 50 Albums of 2011 ..
by TMT Staff • December 2011 Our Favorite 50 Albums of 2011 list reflects a multiplicity of trends. Yes, it continues our own trend toward the esoteric (
Hype Williams), the difficult (Tiziana Bertoncini & Thomas Lehn), and the overlooked (KWJAZ), but it also trends toward an embrace of transition in a time of sensory abundance, a time when nostalgia and memory have become aestheticized, a time when the very process of music-making has become increasingly audible and our valuation of it increasingly suspect. Trends are often equated with homogenization, superficiality, conformity, and reification, written off by those uncomfortable with change, people too afraid to commit in fear of sinking with a trend once it reaches its inevitable conclusion. But in 2011, all trends demanded critical ears, not only because they hinged on the same impulse that increased awareness and impact for marginalized voices — which, outside the music world, manifested in political occupations and revolutions before we even realized it — but also because trends are as ephemeral as our values of them, coming and going, twisting away from logic and producing ruptures and permutations that disrupt preconceived notions and turn over values we’ve internalized as given. Pessimists might dismiss this embrace as a capitulation to the rhythm of capitalism, symptomatic of a consumer culture whose signifiers are pretty much dead weight in the context of a sanctified modernism. But optimists see this sensory explosion as simply more potential breaking points, increased opportunities to partake in both demystification (
Tom Waits) and deconstruction (Bill Orcutt), democratization (
Oneohtrix Point Never) and myth-making (
Liturgy); more chances to extract new value from traditions (Rafael Toral) and elevate kitsch from the dumpsters (
James Ferraro); to prove wrong those who prematurely announced their death two years ago (
Lil B,
Shabazz Palaces,
Death Grips, etc.); to uncover new constructions of the mind (The Caretaker), body (
Colin Stetson, DJ Diamond), and spirit (A Winged Victory For The Sullen,
Grouper); to find new mediums (
The Flaming Lips), temporal ...
Tiny Mix Tapes
16 December 2011