AWM’s Favorite Albums of 2011

I think a part of the reason I like to make lists of my favorite albums of the year is selfishness. It helps me take stock of the art that was put out over the course of the year. It helps me remember shows I’ve seen, or moments I shared with new music. It helps me feel fonder about the year that has passed, and more hopeful for the year that is coming. It forces me to examine what this music meant to me, and why it meant that. I tend to favor albums whose tracks I loved, start to finish, that had meaningful lyrics or were soundtracks for important moments. Plus, I always favor risks. If I feel like a band played it safe and made a solid record, I’ll dig it, but for those who try to tackle huge topics through their art, I always admire it and end up loving it more.

For these reasons, I really could just jot down a list to myself, smile smugly, and move on. That said, I do think there is value in sharing lists, because it sparks conversations (or arguments, if you’re into that) and can potentially (and hopefully) help people discover new albums they may not have heard of before. This year, I found myself leaving off albums that contained a handful of unforgettable songs because the rest of the album was weak. I also found myself extending my list to a top-15 instead of top-10, including in my final 5 growers that I still need to spend more time with, but that were so striking in their own way that I had to include them. Without further ado:  my 2011 best-of list! Enjoy, be angered, argue and discuss. All is welcomed.

Growing up with Austin City Limits – 2011 Reviewed

Growing up adoring live music is a strange thing. All of us have to come to terms with aging, and I am by no means old — I’m only 24, well aware of how much more youth is laid out in front of me. But even though it’s six years until my thirties and that’s even so young in modern times, I feel like every year that passes, my live music experience is tweaked enough to make me notice that I’m growing.

Austin City Limits has so often been the backdrop of my slow and steady coming-of-age, that my experience with the festival, the fans, the weather, the bands and the music itself shifts all the time. I remember my first Austin City Limits festival in 2005, when I was just starting to find out exactly how much I was in love with music. I focused more on meeting my heros, spending a lot of time at the Waterloo tent, getting signatures and goofing around with Tristan Prettyman, Rachael Yamagata and the Blues Travelers — I’ll never forget John Popper spouting off to me in French and kissing my bandaged-from-rowing-tryouts hands. 2006 was a huge turning point, where I totally lost myself during Muse’s set, moshing just a little and sweating like it was detox therapy. My tastes were splintering off in a thousand directions, and ACL catered to that beautifully. I was always the one to camp out for artists, to dance with reckless abandon and spend the whole day in a field with strangers. I’d never care that I was attending the festival alone, because I’d inevitably make new friends sitting around on the grass.

Now here we are, at the festival’s 10-year reunion and what was my sixth time attending (would-be seventh, if it hadn’t been for my broken ankle ’09 debacle), and it’s a completely different ballgame for me. First of all, I’m not a student anymore. This means I had to work for a better part of Friday — I managed to take off three hours and make the shows I was dying to see, but was still a bit bummed not to catch morning gigs and make a day of it. I also find that I don’t enjoy the festival as much when I’m by my lonesome. I can (and will) still go it alone when it means making a performance by my favorites, but if I’m with people I love and they want to move back in the crowd a bit, I’ll tend to oblige. I feel the physical taxation of festivals a lot more now, too. I used to just get sick after a weekend of rocking out, but this year was the first where I felt I was coming close to fainting. Finally, I find myself a little more jaded by my surrounding festival-goers — I’m more easily annoyed, and a little more judgmental of the very young kids I see wandering around the festival grounds. When I catch myself being a grump, I try to remind myself of being that girl or boy, and having that experience. And sometimes, I’ll still meet people who remind me of how awesome festival-goers tend to be.

Of course, it’s not all grouchiness and disillusion. With my age, I have fallen in love with far more bands, and even more genres that allow me to enjoy more bands. I have also fallen in love with more people, and get to see festivals through their eyes, too. Just because it’s different doesn’t make it worse, and even though it’s harder to get the same detox high that I regularly felt when I was younger, when it hits now, it is euphoric.

Austin City Limits Festival 2011 – Who to See

I have been excited about this year’s Austin City Limits Festival for a while, but the giddiness just hit me on Sunday. It is indeed that time of year where Zilker Park closes to lazy weekends with your dog to make way for tall white tents, towering stages and tons and tons of your favorite bands. My all-time top two will both be performing this weekend, so I’m more than ready for it all. Mostly, I’m excited to stumble upon some new bands I’ve never heard before – there are quite a few that could fill some empty spaces in my schedule. For now, I will recommend the bands I feel secure in signing off on. Below, you’ll get a song and a snippet about who I think you should see. Drink tons of water, reapply that sunscreen, and rock out with abandon.

Fun Fun Fun ’10 In Photos

As promised, here are some photos from Fun Fun Fun 2010. Check out our Facebook page for more!

Cody Ground of Royal Forest

Royal Forest kicked off my Saturday FFF experience, and they rocked. Their big-sounding, guitar-heavy rock music filled the open field and sent a surge of energy into the morning crowd. Kudos!

Erik Lugo of Royal Forest

Austin's Woven Bones

I’m always a fan of a band with a female drummer. Woven Bones were gritty and garagey, and definitely had me bouncing around for a little while. I was happy to finally see this Austin staple.

JEFF the Brotherhood

I enjoyed JEFF the Brotherhood, although I wish they could find a stronger lead singer. Their drummer stole the show in my eyes – he was full of energy and super talented. I’m definitely a fan of the bluesy, raw rock coming out of Nashville these days! (See: the Ettes, everything Jack White does.)

Little Stolen Moments

Only in Austin could a trio of interpretive dancers be as beloved as Little Stolen Moments. I first saw these folks perform at South by Southwest in 2009; they really do light up a stage.

The Antlers

The Antlers were definitely one of my favorite performances at FFF 2010. They were dreamy, soundscapey and just enjoyable to take in. I love that the keyboard player (below) was performing in his socks.

Socks!

The Antlers

Wavves

Wavves. Meh. Nathan complained a lot about technical difficulties, so they kinda lost me. I do like their album, though!

Andrew VanWyngarden of MGMT

I was definitely disappointed in how quickly MGMT rushed off of the stage at the end of their set, but let’s be real – they’re fun to look at (as evidenced by the league of pretty people standing around me, trying to squeeze closer to the stage to get a glimpse).

Ben Goldwasser of MGMT

Andrew VanWyngarden

Thax Douglas

Austin poet Thax Douglas was everywhere during FFF; he kicked off my Sunday by introducing Margot and the Nuclear So & So’s with a poem.

Margot and the Nuclear So & So's

I love this band on record, but live, I’m afraid they only came off so-so. Margot was just too bummed out for a Sunday morning at a festival.

Aerial Pink

Aerial Pink’s Haunted Graffiti didn’t do it for me. Too much show, not enough substance.

Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast

Bethany owned the stage and won the day with her sunny, sweet vocals and her couldn’t-care-less laid backittude. Plus, once again – female drummer! Love it.

Best Coast's drummer - rawk!

Fun Fun Fun 2010

This was only my second year to attend Fun Fun Fun Fest, but it lived up to its name and then some. I was able to see performers I’d never heard of before, relax in the grass (and dust!) with friends, and wander around backstage as Andrew VanWyngarden from MGMT stalked me (I swear, every time I turned around – there he was!) Here’s a little recap for those of you who went to relive it, and those of you who missed it to join the action. Massive amounts of photos are forthcoming, so look back later for a gallery.