Tuesday, December 6th 2011
News: Year End Lists
Antiquiet’s 25 Best Songs Of 2011
Who gives a damn about singles? They’re rarely the best track on any given album, appealing to as wide a demographic as possible for that first-week sales rush. Individual songs, however, are a different story. In the hype blast of an album release, a cornerstone-gem track can be overlooked by the masses for the sheer sake of feature hype, be it a guest appearance, a dubstep experiment or other grabby gimmick.
AQ’s core staff couldn’t come within screaming range on a consensus on the best individual songs released this year, so we’re featuring each writer’s respective lists of the Best 25 Songs of 2011. That way Britney can rear her demon head for those who deem her worthy, as well as the rest of our little niche finds that would otherwise get squashed in committee.
Each writer contributed their top 25 of the year, with Noel Gallagher, TV On The Radio, The Kills, Jay-Z & Kanye West all making repeat appearances, as well as the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Rome project with Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi. A foreshadowing of Antiquiet’s best albums of 2011 list? Perhaps…
Check out each contributor list below, and if you’ve got beef with the selections, take it to ‘em directly – clicking each writer’s pic takes you to their Twitter account!
Johnny Firecloud’s Top 25 Songs of 2011
1. Jay-Z & Kanye West – That’s My Bitch
2. Red Hot Chili Peppers – Brendan’s Death Song
3. Foo Fighters – Dear Rosemary
4. Jane’s Addiction – Words Right Out of My Mouth
5. Radiohead – Morning Mr. Magpie
6. The Kills – Baby Says
7. TV On The Radio – Repetition
8. The Black Keys – Little Black Submarines
9. Mariachi El Bronx – Revolution Girls
10. Electric Six – French Bacon
11. Puscifer – Telling Ghosts
12. Rome (Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi) – Black
13. Theophilus London – Last Name London
14. Incubus – In The Company of Wolves
15. AWOLNATION – Sail
16. Jack White – Love Is Blindness
17. The Strokes – Under Cover of Darkness
18. Eddie Vedder – Satellite
19. Florence & The Machine – Bedroom Hymns
20. Eleven – This Little Finger
21. Dead Sara – I Said You Were Lucky
22. Trent Reznor & Karen O – Immigrant Song
23. Indians – Dream Store
24. Beastie Boys – Long Burn The Fire
25. Cocaine 80s – 6 Feet Over
Skwerl’s Top 25 Songs of 2011
1. Jane’s Addiction – Twisted Tales
2. Foo Fighters - Dear Rosemary
3. Jay-Z & Kanye West - That’s My Bitch
4. The Decemberists - This Is Why We Fight
5. Noel Gallagher - If I Had A Gun
6. Rome (Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi w/ Jack White) - Two Against One
7. The Kills – Future Starts Slow
8. Ethiopia, Red Hot Chili Peppers
9. The Black Keys - Lonely Boy
10. Portugal. The Man - Share With Me The Sun
11. Pistol Annies - Hell On Heels
12. Buffalo Death Beam - Staff Of The Shepherd
13. Arctic Monkeys - Reckless Serenade
14. ††† - The Years
15.Karen O with Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross - Immigrant Song (Zeppelin)
16. Charles Bradley & The Menahan Street Band - Stay Away (Nirvana)
17. Awolnation - Sail
18. Britney Spears - Inside Out
19. Electric Six – French Bacon
20. Black Nurse – Glassjaw
21. TV On The Radio – Repetition
22. Cake – Easy To Crash
23. The Dears – Omega Dog
24. Screaming Trees – Black Rose Way (Previously Unreleased)
25. Tegan & Sara - Call It Off (2011 Live Version)
Fernando Filho’s Top 25 Songs of 2011
1. The Kills – Pots and Pans
2. Foo Fighters – Dear Rosemary
3. The Black Keys – Little Black Submarines
4. Mastodon – The Hunter
5. Red Fang – Wires
6. Incubus – Adolescents
7. PJ Harvey – All And Everyone
8. Russian Circles – 309
9. Arctic Monkeys – Don’t Sit Down ’cause I’ve Moved Your Chair
10. Radiohead – Give Up The Ghost
11. The Horrors – Moving Further Away
12. Nicole Atkins – The Tower
13. The New Regime – The Skeptic
14. Puscifer – The Weaver
15. Tom Waits – Kiss Me
16. Thurston Moore – Orchard Street
17. Mogwai – Rano Pano
18. Eddie Vedder – Without You
19. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – If I Had a Gun..
20. Nine Inch Nails – Zoo Station
21. Red Hot Chili Peppers – Brendan’s Death Song
21. Jane’s Addiction – Underground
23. Rome (Danger Mouse and Daniel Luppi) – Two Against One
24. TV On The Radio – Second Song
25. Jack White – Love Is Blindness
Revered Justito’s Top Top 25 Songs of 2011
1. Kasabian – Switchblade Smiles
2. Noel Gallagher – AKA! What A Life
3. TV On The Radio – Will Do
4. Phish – Steam
5. Mastodon – Curl of the Burl
6. The Black Dahlia Murder – Carbonized in Cruciform
7. The Decemberists – This Is Why We Fight
8. Blitzen Trapper – Love The Way You Walk Away
9. Kasabian – Goodye Kiss
10. Down I Go – Poseidon
11. Electric Six – French Bacon
12. Girls – Vomit
13. Primus – HOINFODAMAN
14. The Black Keys – Lonely Boy
15. Silversun Pickups – Broken Bottles
16. Joseph Arthur – This Is Still My World
17. Mastodon – Octopus Has No Friends
18. Amon Amarth – War Of The Gods
19. Social Distortion – California (Hustle and Flow)
20. Joseph Arthur – This Is Still My World
21. Red Fang – Hank Is Dead
22. Foo Fighters – White Limo
23. St. Vincent – Cruel
24. Beady Eye – Kill For A Dream
25. Lana Del Rey – Video Games
Morad Moazami’s Top 25 Songs of 2011
1. Bon Iver – Holocene
2. Rome (Danger Mouse and Daniel Luppi) – Black
3. Bjork – Thunderbolt
4. TV on the Radio – Will Do
5. Radiohead – Lotus Flower
6. Puscifer – Man Overboard
7. TV on the Radio – Repetition
8. PJ Harvey – The Words That Maketh Murder
9. The Decemberists – Down by the Water
10. The Black Keys – Lonely Boy
11. Bon Iver – Calgary
12. Bjork – Crystalline
13. Foo Fighters – Alandria
14. James Blake – Limit To Your Love
15. Puscifer – Horizons
16.. Wilco – Art of Almost
17. Tom Waits – Satisfied
18. Tinariwen – Tenere Taqqim Tossam (feat. Tunde Adebimpe & Kyp Malone)
19. Radiohead – Codex
20. Kavinsky – Nightcall (featuring Lovefoxxx)
21. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – AKA… What A Life!
22.. Karen O with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross – Immigrant Song
23. Girls – Die
24. Cults – Abducted
25. Amanda Palmer – The Ship Song (Nick Cave Cover)
Steven Anthony’s Top 25 Songs of 2011
1. Jay-Z & Kanye West – Otis
2. Radiohead – Separator
3. TV On the Radio – Will Do
4. Britney Spears – Inside Out
5. Depeche Mode – So Cruel
6. Theophilus London – Stop It
7. Mayer Hawthorne – The Walk
8. The Black Keys – Nova Baby
9. Jane’s Addiction – Twisted Tales
10. M83 – Midnight City
11. Jay-Z & Kanye West – Niggas in Paris
12. Britney Spears – Till The World Ends
13. Beyonce – Love On Top
14. Arctic Monkeys – Don’t Sit Down Cause I’ve Moved Your Chair
15. The Kills – Satellite
16. Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi – Two Against One
17. Radiohead – Little by Little
18. Justice – Horsepower
19. Jack White – Love is Blindness
20. Sade – Love is Found
21. Wye Oak – Holy Holy
22. Duran Duran – All You Need Is Now
23. R.E.M. – Uberlin
24. TV On the Radio – Repetition
25. Noel Gallagher – The Death of You And Me
I’m most interested to see Justin Dettle’s list.
Holy fuck, Skwerl has a mustache!?
Glad to see a couple of you putting “That’s My Bitch” in there. Easily the best song on the album, even if Justin Vernon was incorrectly credited for Charlie Wilson’s vocal.
broken bottles is really good, I enjoy those new songs quite a bit
The best song on Jane’s new record is “Splash a Little Water On It”- easily.
You should check out these lads:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLafUk_cV98
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0l5wy5TuTj4
They supported Them Crooked Vultures on their European tour.
I agree with the lists of Fernando, Johnny and Skwerl :)
Is the Britney Spears song a joke to see if anyone really read this or what.
nope.
Nice to see some love for Red Fang. One of the years most criminally overlooked records in my opinion. My only gripe is that I think it’s kinda fucked up (pun most definitely intended) seeing the almost total lack of Fucked Up on almost every list I’ve read. If you haven’t listened to David Comes to Life, you’re depriving yourself of a masterpiece. You guys should give it a try if you haven’t already.
agreed on Fucked Up. I’m going to troll here, but even pitchfork got that one right!
@ Steven Anthony…….Britney and Beyonce? really? lol my hats off to you for having the courage …nay, the balls to make them your top 25.
You know how I roll. Best pop music of the year by far. Not exactly AQ’s market, but there you have it.
Is diss a jok? Do u people even try to find good music or you just listen to whatever’s on MTV? It’s no surprise that I hadn’t even heard of your stupid blog.
ya JK we hav2 hide R alt rape gaze buzzband hits 4 nxt yr – SHHHH
I was about to post a well done for not listing any Bon fucking Iver but then Moazami sadly had to slip him out.
Justito probably had the best list in there altho Brendan’s death song On Johnny’s list was a good choice from an otherwise weak album.
2011 wasn’t a bad year dispite a lack of new bands breaking through. Lists are good, something for us to go check out.
I genuinely believe Bon Iver is the breakout artist of 2011. To follow-up an album as good as For Emma isn’t a very easy task, and the fact that he not only exceeded the expectations with a 5-star record, but delivered an album wholly different in style and sound this year makes him worthy of consideration in my book.
I want to play marbles with Iver’s eyes and tear his arm off so I can use it as a back scratcher. I bet in a year nobody cares about him.
Other than that you had a fine list.
HELL YEAH MY LIST IS PROBABLY THE BEST.
Hey Morad, just curious what you like about Puscifer’s Man Overboard. That song just seemed really pointless to me, the music was good but the whole concept of the song was kind of lost on me. Not arguing, just wondering what made you pick it.
I was actually having the very same conversation with Johnny when I sent in my list.
I really didn’t warm up to “Man Overboard” when the track was first released, but after over a dozen listens to that album and seeing the band live, I now think the complete opposite. If you look past the assumed masturbation theme, and just focus on how the track keeps developing and progressing with layer after layer built upon it, you’d really appreciate the power of the song.
My initial favorite off the album was “Telling Ghosts” but after multiple listens, it began to sound repetitive. I find myself going back to “Man Overboard” most often and each time I do I find an even greater appreciation for both the looseness of the track and its escalating atmosphere.
What I’ve always loved about Puscifer is how laid back it is. Unlike Tool or A Perfect Circle which require you to be in a certain mood to fully appreciate the music, Puscifer can be played on pretty much any occasion. It’s loose and it doesn’t take itself as seriously as Maynard’s other two bands do – and I’m not saying Tool or APC taking themselves seriously is a bad thing; I just find Puscifer a very refreshing change-of-pace.
And Hell, it’s just really easy to get the song stuck in your head for days and days.
I agree the song gets stuck in your head. Thank you for responding. I also like the build up of the song. I guess the lyrics kind of kill it for me. Upon listening to it again I suppose it can be considered to have a masturbation theme, but to me the lyrics were just lame, which makes it hard to like in anything more than passing. It’s also a curious choice for his first single. Oh well to each their own, still better that most music haha.
how good can album really be if you have to listen to it a dozen times AND see the band live before you like it? I wonder how many albums you have dismissed after a listen or two, that might have held up under the same scrutiny.
It’s also a damn shame that none of you seems to have been listening to Steven Wilson’s new solo album.
why is Ole not on ANYONE’S list?
’cause it’s a stupid song.
Yep.
you’re a stupid song, man
Glad I’m not the only one who loved Future Starts Slow. Most reviews I’ve read seem to completely ignore the song.
Great to see all the TV on the Radio but I really wouldn’t have picked Repitition as a top track from Nine Types of Light. Must just be me because it showed up in 4 of your polls!
More Strokes and PJ Harvey should be on these lists I reckon.
Nobody dug The Butcher by Radiohead enough to sneak it in? I liked that song more than anything I heard on TKOL.
If anything…these lists are reminding me that this has been a fucking fantastic year for new music. Vastly superior to 2010!
I think I would agree most with Fernando and Morad this time.
Justito’s the shit! But…..no Maynard love? ;P ~ or for that matter, Journey :D HA!
Great lists. Had me take a few second looks at some artists. Chill.