IBS's Best of 2011: Best of the Rest

Well, this brings us to the final list of the year. Looks like I squeaked in just under the buzzer. Maybe I shouldn't have put this off for 365 days... Try not to take this hodgepodge too seriously, and have a great 2012!


Top Ten Moments That Had Something To Do With Music:
10) Coming to the realization that "Pumped Up Kicks" and "Cleveland Rocks" are the same song.
9) Justin Vernon covering Bonnie Raitt on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon.
8) People finding out who Tyler, The Creator is. Then finding out he's really homophobic. Then not caring.
7) Lana Del Rey's lips.
6) When "Midnight City" was on that Victoria's Secret commercial. Or just that Victoria's Secret commercial...
5) When Fitz and the Tantrums played "Steady As She Goes" at the Roots N Blues N BBQ Festival.
4) When Julia Bush played "Santa Baby" on the ukelele at the Christmas party (had to be there).
3) @robdelaney: "The title of the new Coldplay album is the noise Gwyneth Paltrow makes every morning when she sits on her sapphire bidet. #MYLOXYLOTO"
2) When our president killed Osama bin Laden with his bare hands and then wrote a rap about it.
1) "Is it too soon for Japanese girls? Too tsunami?"

Ten Worst Moments That Had Something To Do With Music:
10) When Jack Black covered Mozart with Insane Clown Posse.
9) When people were mean to Rebecca Black.
8) When Lupe Fiasco thought it was OK to rip off Modest Mouse.
7) When the Grammys thought giving Arcade Fire an award would make up for how much the rest of the Grammys suck.
6) When the guy who sings "Teach Me How To Dougie" died.
5) Born This Way
4) Why exactly were we shufflin'?
3) And what the hell was Mick Jagger doing on a will.i.am song?
2) That part of the year when the Black Eyed Peas hadn't broken up yet.
1) What do you mean they're only on hiatus?!

Other Album Titles Considered By Kate Bush Before '50 Words For Snow' (right):

•Frenched by Frosty
•Two Words for Schadenfreude
•Why Do Snowwomen Have So Much More Realistic Figures Than Snowmen?




Nine More Album Covers You Can Print Out If Your Color Ink Cartridge Is Empty:
•Kaputt by Destroyer
•LiveLoveA$AP by A$AP Rocky
•Replica by Oneohtrix Point Never
•Awake EP by Trash Talk
•Tomboy by Panda Bear
•"House of Balloons" by The Weeknd →
•Smoke Ring for My Halo by Kurt Vile
•Wounded Rhymes by Lykke Li



One Album Cover You Can Recreate If You Have Microsoft Word:
•Father, Son, Holy Ghost by Girls →

Favorite EPs:
•Freaking Out by Toro Y Moi
•Just Once EP by How To Dress Well
•Family of Love by Dom
•James Drake by Bombé and Mr. Caribbean



I Asked Some People On Omegle What Their Album Of The Year Was. Top Five Responses:
5) "Ceremonials" by Florence + The Machine
4) "Tha Carter IV" by Lil Wayne

3) "Under the Mistletoe" by Justin Bieber →
2) "21" by Adele
1) "ASL?" by 17 M Looking For Horny F

Eight Songs That Start With The Letter "L," Arranged On A Scale From Aziz Ansari's Impression of Kanye Saying 'These beats are dope!' to This Song Is Actually A Cappella And Has No Beat Whatsoever:
"Lord Knows" by Drake feat. Rick Ross

"Lift Off" by JAY Z and Kanye West feat. Beyoncé

"Life on the Nickel" by Foster the People

"The Liftaway" (preferably live) by Walk the Moon

"Lights" (preferably non-dubstep) by Ellie Goulding

"Let England Shake" by PJ Harvey

"Lovesong" by Adele

"Lindisfarne I" by James Blake


Three Girl Power Moments That Drove Me Crazy:
•When Madeline from Cults sings, "So fuck you," at the end of "Never Heal Myself." Yeah!
•When Annie Clark asks, "What is so pressing you can't dress me, anyway?" in "Dilettante." Gah.
•When Merrill Garbus hits those high notes in "Powa." Wow.

RIP:
•Clarence Clemons ↓
•Gerard Smith (bassist, TV on the Radio)
•Amy Winehouse
•LCD Soundsystem

IBS's Best of 2011: Top 25 Albums of 2011

25) Real Estate - Days
24) Panda Bear - Tomboy
23) Frank Ocean - Nostalgia, Ultra
22) Destroyer - Kaputt
21) Beyoncé - 4
20) Iron & Wine - Kiss Each Other Clean
19) JAY Z and Kanye West - Watch the Throne
18) Beirut - The Rip Tide
17) Smith Westerns - Dye It Blonde
16) Cut Copy - Zonoscope
15) M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
14) James Blake - James Blake
13) The Antlers - Burst Apart
12) The Weeknd - Houes of Balloons
11) Yuck - Yuck
10) Youth Lagoon - The Year of Hibernation
9) Toro Y Moi - Underneath the Pine
8) Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost
7) St. Vincent - Strange Mercy
6) WU LYF - Go Tell Fire to the Mountain
5) Cults - Cults
4) Drake - Take Care
3) tUnE-yArDs - w h o k i l l
2) Bon Iver - Bon Iver, Bon Iver
1) Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues

IBS's Best of 2011: Top 50 Songs

A lot of songs came out this year. These were my favorite.

50) Drake feat. Lil Wayne - "The Motto"

49) Neon Indian - "Polish Girl"

48) tUnE-yArDs - "Powa"

47) Toro Y Moi - "Elise"

46) Cut Copy - "Take Me Over"

45) Kurt Vile - "Jesus Fever"

44) M83 - "Raconte-Moi Une Histoire"

43) Real Estate - "It's Real"

42) Big Sean feat. Kanye West and Roscoe Dash - "Marvin Gaye and Chardonnay"

41) Yuck - "Shook Down"

40) Panda Bear - "Last Night at the Jetty"

39) The Very Best - "Super Mom"

38) Smith Westerns - "All Die Young"

37) Britney Spears - "How I Roll"

36) The Rapture - "How Deep Is Your Love?"

35) Destroyer - "Chinatown"

34) Girls - "Vomit"

33) TV on the Radio - "You"

32)EMA - "California"

31) The Antlers - "I Don't Want Love"

30) The Decemberists - "Down By the Water"

29) Childish Gambino - "Break (AOTL)"

28) Fleet Foxes - "Grown Ocean"

27) Drake feat. Nicki Minaj - "Make Me Proud"

26) Bon Iver - "Minnesota, WI"

25) Tyler, The Creator - "Yonkers"

24) Beirut - "The Rip Tide"

23) M83 - "Midnight City"

22) Beyoncé - "1+1"

21) The Mountain Goats - "Damn These Vampires"

20) Shabazz Palaces - "Swerve... the reeping of all that is worthwhile (noir not withstanding)"

19) Walk the Moon - "Lisa Baby"

18) Toro y Moi - All Alone

17) JAY Z and Kanye West - "Niggas in Paris"

16) Lana Del Rey - "Video Games"

15) Beyoncé - "Countdown"

14) Smith Westerns - "Weekend"

13) Cults - "Oh My God"

12) Rihanna feat. Calvin Harris - "We Found Love"

11) Chris Brown feat. Busta Rhymes, Lil Wayne - "Look At Me Now"

10) The Weeknd - "The Morning"

9) Girls - "Alex"

8) Frank Ocean - "Novacane"

7) St. Vincent - "Surgeon"

6) Fleet Foxes - "Helplessness Blues"

5) WU LYF - "We Bros"

4) Adele - "Rolling in the Deep (Jamie xx remix) (feat. Childish Gambino)

3) St. Vincent - "Cruel"

2) Drake - "Under Ground Kings"

1) tUnE-yArDs - "Bizness"

IBS's Best of 2011: Top 10 Album Covers

10) Coldplay - Mylo Xyloto - I'm not actually a big fan of Coldplay — especially not album — and I kind of hate the title, which literally means nothing, but... Wait, why did I pick this one? Eh, it's kinda pretty and I like it.

9) Chiddy Bang - Peanut Butter and Swelly - This album cover looks like something I would make. That is, it includes peanut butter sandwiches and puns. That's really all I need.

8) Mogwai - Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will - They really could've arranged these words any way they wanted on the cover, and I would have put it on this list.

7) Washed Out - Within and Without - This picture comes from a Cosmo article titled, "Is This the Most Satisfying Sexual Position?" so I'm not sure what else I need to write here.

6) Tyler, The Creator - Goblin - This was actually the deluxe version, technically, but I think of it as the main album cover. It's classic, yet fresh. If they were aiming for simple and effective pop art, they hit it on the head.

5) Cut Copy - Zonoscope - Maybe it's the fact that it reminds me of "The Day After Tomorrow" (which I apparently kind of liked for some reason?) or maybe it's because I have a T-shirt with this design on it, but I really like this cover, whatever the reasoning.

4) Battles - Gloss Drop - Whenever I see this, I think of Big League Chew, which is awesome. So, by transitive property, this album cover is also awesome.

3) We Were Promised Jetpacks - In the Pit of the Stomach - I really wanna love this Scottish group because of their amazing band name, but, like real jet packs, they've kind of let me down. But they made up for it a little bit with this cool cover.

2) Mastodon - The Hunter - I've never actually listened to Mastodon, and now I'm not going to because there's no way in hell it could live up to this epic album cover.

1) Iron & Wine - Kiss Each Other Clean - This one reminds me of a picture you would design with something you bought off an informercial. I guess I just really like albums with lots of bright colors on the cover, which I suppose is a side affect when you're this secure in your masculinity.

IBS's Best of 2011: Top 15 Concerts

Music festivals kind of throw a wrench in the whole "best concerts" thing, so I'm going to do my list based on individual sets, regardless of opener or whatever. This was definitely a tough list to narrow down — 2011 has been my best year for concerts by a mile; Nos. 1-8 were some of the best shows I've ever been to — but here they are. The 15 best concert sets I witnessed in the past year:


15) Cut Copy @ Pitchfork Festival - I really hope to catch these guys at a non-festival venue some time soon because their endless output of energy would be a blast to catch in a dark, dance-friendly setting.

14) Fitz and the Tantrums @ Roots N Blues N BBQ Festival - Speaking of dance-friendly, this show was a blast. It was great to see a fun show outdoors in my college town — and with a great handful of friends, no less.

IBS's Best of 2011: Top 15 Music Videos

Let the lists begin! Welcome back to another season of end-of-year lists here at Isaac Bruce Springsteen. To kick it all off, we've got a new installment: Top 15 Music Videos! I'm not a religious music video-watcher or anything, but these were some of my favorites from the past year. And yes, this list was really just an excuse for me to stare at Annie Clark, Lana Del Rey and Beyoncé some more.


15) "Rebecca Black - "Friday" - Hold on, let me state my case. The grading of a music video technically has nothing to do with the quality of the song, so throw that argument out the window (back or front, it doesn't matter). This 2011 landmark daringly plunged further than any prior work into the deep, unexplored conflicts of weekend seat-choosing. But really, in a millenium where music videos have become anything but necessity, this was a video that everyone saw and that, after the initial shitstorm of hatred was flung, sort of united people in a big, viral what-the-fuck smile. And for accomplishing that while kindly making every other music vid look great in comparison, we honor you Rebecca. (Fun Fact: "Friday" was my most-played song of 2011 because one day I just listened to it on repeat until I learned all the words, rap included, under the assumption it was gonna help me pick up chicks or something.)