2011 Gambler Awards
January 1, 2012
1 - The Decemberists - The King Is Dead (134)
Six months ago, this album wouldn’t have been anywhere near my top 20 – let alone my #1 album of the year. But the more I listened, the more the songs really began to hit me which forced me to keep playing it over and over again. Pretty soon the melodies were ingrained in my subconscious and I couldn’t get enough of them. “Calamity Song” is the best song R.E.M. never wrote; the pastoral beauty of “January Hymn” and its sister song “June Hymn” make me long for the beginning of each new season; “Down By the Water” and “This Is Why We Fight” bring the folk rock. Even after thirty or forty listens, I still can’t stop playing this one. It’s the perfect song cycle from a band at the top of its game (whom I never would have thought to listen to if it wasn’t for the fine folks on this board). - Verbow (10)
Whole thing is good. Very REMy but in a good way. - dogdoctor (9)
Loved the early REM vibe provided by Peter Buck. - Boxcar Trev (7)
I've never been a huge fan of this band, but this album is great. It's simple, honest, and affecting. - Melt (2)
erschen (10), KnobTwister (10), Screen Door (10), Macho (10), drivebytornado (10), track11 (9) Petty (9),
Greatbahen (9), wellstone (8), AlbertaBound (8), Nortwoods (6), Machine (3), bootlegend (2), Beldo (2)
2 - Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - Here We Rest (122)
Four years after leaving the Drive-By Truckers, Jason Isbell releases his best solo album yet. - Gas OJ (1)
Travelbysea (9), Drivebytornado (9), 1973 (8), Machine (8), 3legcat (8), howard (5), Charps (5) Beldo (3), Boxcar Trev (2), Wellstone (1)
3 - Wilco - The Whole Love (105)
As soon as opener "Art of Almost" whirrs to a start, you'll know something has changed. A glitchy motorik groove crashes into swarming strings before giving way to a slippery Tweedy melody; then it's elegant bass ooze and keyboard creep, over which Nels Cline drapes a searing kosmische capper. Fraught and foreboding, the song is easily the most daring thing they've put to tape since A Ghost Is Born, a interstellar spin on Wilco (The Album)'s highlight "Bull Black Nova". It seems at first as much statement as song: The self-produced Whole Love is the first LP the band laid down entirely in their practice loft, and the brash, voluminous "Almost" feels like six musicians bottling themselves off from the world and pushing each other towards their breaking points. - DADDY (9)
Silver and black might be cliché in the art world but not when it comes to the art of Wilco. - Gas OJ (9)
Beldo (10), nacho (10), charps (9), drivebytornado (8), paulhead (8), howard (7), Macho (7) Machine (6), Toddygirl (6), Loon Rider (3), track11 (3), wellstone (3), Bowood (2), AlbertaBound (1) Blaze (1), brokenceramic (1), erschen (1), KnobTwister (1)
4 - Hayes Carll - KMAG YOYO (& other American stories) (73)
I'll admit I wasn't a huge Hayes Carll fan before this album. Maybe it was because he's so popular in Little Rock or maybe I just thought he was country frat rock, like Pat Green. But he really sold it to me this time. - Toddygirl (5)
zeppelinster (10), Rockstar Aimz (10), brent887fm (9), lushus (8), Nortwoods (7),
Trailer (7), bootlegend (6), drivebytornado (6), track11 (5)
5 - Dawes - Nothing Is Wrong (69)
Fantastic sophomore effort from today's most promising young band. - bltkmt (10)
It's no secret that I love Dawes, but I was actually disappointed when I first heard this follow-up album. I quickly changed my tune as this is a grower. Coming Back to a Man gets me every time. - Toddygirl (10)
track11 (10), Loon Rider (9), AlbertaBound (6), Macho (6), paulhead (6), howard (5), Ranchhand (4), charps (3)
6 - Centro-matic - Candidate Waltz (68)
More melodic and poppy than their older albums but just as enjoyable. - Boxcar Trev (9)
This is the most fun Centro-matic record in ages...and one of their best. - Melt (6)
erschen (9), bootlegend (8), Zeppelinster (8), brokenceramic (7), travelbysea (7), drivebytornado (4), Machine (4), nacho (4), bltkmt (1), Rick V (1)
7 - Gillian Welch - The Harrow & The Harvest (64.5)
She may take a long time between releases but it's worth the wait. - Rick V (8)
No Revalator but not bad - dogdoctor (5.5)
An incredible eight years between albums was well worth the wait. That's The Way It Will Be and this way is fine by me. More musicians should be doing the same. After roosting for so many years, it is evident that pride and honesty will always be strong attributes of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. - Gas OJ (3)
charps (8), Petty (8), Rockstar Aimz (8), pearlsnapman (5), Loon Rider (4), brokenceramic (4), Loon Rider (4), Bowood (3), howard (3), travelbysea (3), Macho (1), Toddygirl (1)
8 - My Morning Jacket - Circuital (56)
A work of greatness. Must be listened to a handful of times from beginning to end. THEN you will get it. And it's sooooo worth the effort. - Rick V (10)
My Morning Jacket have always been something of a mythic outfit. Back in 1999, when the band released its debut LP, The Tennessee Fire (and again in 2001, after the release of At Dawn), its legend was whispered quietly, like a ghost story: Kentucky, grain silos, reverb, that high, liquid voice. As 2001 was the apex of a certain kind of dark, New York City cool-- with the Strokes and Interpol slouching around the Lower East Side in threadbare t-shirts and tiny ties-- My Morning Jacket were steeped in a warm, eerie other-ness that culminated, cathartically, with Jim James howling "All your life Is obscene." Well, sure. - DADDY (2)
Beldo (9), Bowood (9), nacho (8), drivebytornado (5), charps (5), wellstone (4), THE LOVER (3), Ranchhand (1)
9 - Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring For My Halo (50)
I like the cut of his man’s gib. On one hand he sounds like your stoner roommate from college who talked a whole bunch of crazy shit and sounded like he was half asleep all the time. On the other hand, the intricate finger picking patters in his songs make you think he might be some kind of prodigy, or at least an idiot savant. Whatever his deal, this album kicks some ass. Worth it for the very “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart”-esque “Ghost Town”. - Verbow (4)
paulhead (10), wellstone (9), kizmiaz (8), Screen Door (6), greatbahen (3), Macho (3), nacho (3), brokenceramic (2), Petty (2)
10 - Bon Iver - Bon Iver (46)
A trendy pick for 2011, but I'll be damned if this wasn't the best thing I've heard all year. By a longshot. - Melt (10)
travelbysea (10), wellstone (7), Ranchhand (5), Petty (4), Slowcoustic (4), Macho (4), Machine (2)
