Zantera's Top 30 Songs From 2011
Since I'll be going away over Christmas, I thought rI would post this rlittle list of my favorite tunes from 2011. I also rhave a top 80 rreleases done, which I will probably post in a rweek or so. |
| 1 | Pain of Salvation
The Physics of Gridlock
A tune that showcases everything I love with this band. I know some
people love the sort of Tom Waits-part, some people hate it, personally I
think it's quite odd but fits the song in a good way. |
| 2 | Steven Wilson
Deform to Form a Star
A song that stood out early when I listened to Grace For Drowning the first
times. A very catchy and "simple" song, and to me it is easily in the same
division as some of Porcupine Tree's best songs. I would also like to give an
honorable mention to "Like Dust I Have Cleared From My Eye", which was
my second pick on the album, but I wanted the list to have only one song
from each artist. |
| 3 | Amplifier
White Horses at Sea/Utopian Daydream
A band I discovered early this year, some count this as a late 2010-release,
but to me it's clearly 2011. Sweet little progressive ballad, some Porcupine
Tree and Oceansize-influences, but still unique in it's own way. |
| 4 | Tori Amos
Star Whisperer
One of my more anticipated albums this year, and a fantastic album
throughout for me personally. This is my favorite, and one of her best songs
the last 10 years IMO. |
| 5 | Between the Buried and Me
Specular Reflection
I see a lot of BTBAM-fans argue about Colors vs The Great Misdirect, new
direction vs the old, and honestly I don't really pick a side in that
discussion. While Colors remains my favorite, TGM is still a great album, and
I enjoyed this EP, even though I want a full album. This is my favorite, and
sadly I don't think the rest of the EP is AS good, the other two songs are
not bad though. |
| 6 | Riverside
Forgotten Land
One of my favorite Progressive-songs from this year, seeing the band live
really made me appreciate this song even more, and I think the ending
alone makes this one of my favorite tunes by this band. |
| 7 | Blackfield
Oxygen
While I don't think Welcome to My DNA was as good as the first Blackfield
album, I enjoyed it slightly more then the second, and all in all I think it was
a good album. This song stood out as a favorite right away, it's just so
incredibly catchy, in a true Blackfield-way, and I don't even care if some find
the lyrics.. "lacking", I really love this. |
| 8 | Kimbra
Cameo Lover
Another fantastic debut-album, it's hard to pick favorites. However, Cameo
Lover gets this spot almost purely because of how catchy it is, rarely I hear
a song that gets stuck in my head after the first listen, but this song
managed to. |
| 9 | Petter Carlsen
Spirits in Need
Really good album, this is my favorite song on it. Great artist that has been
touring with Anathema some, and I think people should check him out. |
| 10 | Mogwai
White Noise
Not only my favorite Post-Rock song of the year, but also one of my favorite
Mogwai songs all in all. Seeing it live was an immense experience. |
| 11 | Cloudkicker
Let Yourself Be Huge
While there has been a lot of boner-jokes related to the song and the
album-title, I'll let that slide seeing how incredibly good it is. I know this
guy
rarely uses vocals, but it's a great feature in this song, and I would love to
hear it more. |
| 12 | Ulver
Stone Angels
Most pretentious song this year? Maybe, Ulver as a band could probably fit
under that, being a very artsy band. However, being a huge lover of
ambient music with cool lyrics read over it, I love this piece. |
| 13 | Radiohead
Lotus Flower
This song together with Codex were tied as my favorite song from the new
Radiohead album, but in the end I have to give it to Lotus Flower. The video
was really awesome as well, Thom Yorke dancing is always pro. |
| 14 | The Dear Hunter
Echo
The Dear Hunter... First off, I could have picked almost all of the songs from
The Color Spectrum, there are probably just two songs on the entire thing
that I feel are slightly below the others, (mostly due to getting repeated a
bit too much), but today I'm gonna say Echo, tomorrow I probably would
have said another song. |
| 15 | Devin Townsend Project
Feather
Really beautiful and atmospheric piece, the intro is just perfect and the only
thing that drags this song down slightly for me is that the latter half of the
song isn't AS good. (Still really enjoying it obviously) |
| 16 | Manchester Orchestra
April Fool
Most people would say the title-track, and while I love this, I have to pick
April Fool. It's just fun, catchy and has several riffs that just hit homerun
with me. |
| 17 | Bjork
Crystalline
Could have picked several songs from her album, "Mutual Core" was
another candidate, but in the end I'm going with the single, "Crystalline".
Just a good mix of what makes her so good, and the outro gives it an
unique vibe. |
| 18 | Emilie Simon
Mon Chevalier
Catchy, poppy and my favorite from her new album, "Franky Knight". |
| 19 | Thrice
Disarmed
Many people would say "Words in the Water", "Anthology" or "Call it in the
Air", but the song that took the longest for me to click has also become my
favorite, and that is the closing-song.. "Disarmed". |
| 20 | Tom Waits
Bad As Me
Smoke, Whiskey and the voice of Tom Waits. |
| 21 | Stateless
Assassinations
Groovy song. |
| 22 | Fair to Midland
Uh-Oh
Could have picked several songs from this album, but "Uh-Oh" get's the vote. |
| 23 | Opeth
Folklore
Took a while to click for me to be honest. For a long time I considered
"Famine" and "Nepenthe" to be my favorites, but hearing this song live
really made me appreciate it more. |
| 24 | The War on Drugs
Brothers
Indie-rockish music with some ambient in it, cool mix. |
| 25 | Codes in the Clouds
Where Dirt Meets Water
Really enjoyable Post-Rock. |
| 26 | Anathema
Sleep in Sanity
Technically not a new song, seeing as it's a new version of a very old song.
Still, this song has very little in common with the original. (Some find it
good, some find it bad) I really love this, even if it's a simple piece of
music. |
| 27 | 65daysofstatic
Rantaloupe
Favorite from the new 65dos album, great tune. |
| 28 | Eisley
Oxygen Mask
Hard picking favorites from this album since it's all so good, but went with
"Oxygen Mask" today, tomorrow it could have been something different. |
| 29 | Bass Communion
Citadel (q)
Dark, ambient and almost scary. This song is really good, and one of the
reasons to why I love the album "Cenotaph" so much. |
| 30 | Floex
Precious Creature
Electronic, Jazzy and has some interesting vocals. Really digging it. |
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