CHIRP: The Chicago Independent Radio Project

Jim Waiter writes

CHIRP Radio Best of 2011 (Jim Waiter)

Throughout December CHIRP Radio presents its members’ top albums of 2011. The next list is from Jim Waiter.

(Click here to get the complete list of CHIRP Radio members’ picks.)

• James Blake – James Blake (Universal Republic)
  BUY: Insound / iTunes
  James Blake’s self-titled debut is both inventive and original. Blake sings in a warm, soulful style, over glitchy experimental electronic stuttering, stop-start, beats. It’s hard to describe, but a very rewarding listen. For a taste, listen to “Unlucky.”
• Atlas Sound – Parallax (4AD)
  BUY: Insound / iTunes
  Deerhunter’s Bradford Cox latest solo album, under the Atlas Sound guise, has a pleasant, otherwordly quality. These a well constructed pop songs that are guided and lifted by some quality studio engineering. “My Angel Is Broken” hits me perfect.
• Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi – Rome (Capitol)
  BUY: Insound / iTunes
  Producer-composer Danger Mouse and Italian composer Daniele Luppi team up to produce a soundrack that rivals classic ’60s and ’70s Ennio Morricone scores. Features guest vocals from Norah Jones and The White Stripes’ Jack White. Check out “The Rose With A Broken Neck.”
• Kate Bush – 50 Words For Snow (Fish People)
  BUY: Insound / iTunes
  Kate Bush has been producing wonderful art rock since the seventies. On this album, she whispers seductively over her beautiful and gentle piano pieces. 50 Words Fr Snow, her first release since 2005, is delicate and ethereal, perfect to take in next to a fire while the snow sheets blanket the ground outside. Try the oddly beautiful, “Misty.”
• Smith Westerns – Dye It Blonde (Fat Possum)
  BUY: Insound / iTunes
  Chicago’s own Smith Westerns second album is well produced fuzzy and shimmery rock and roll affair. Smith Westerns continue a legacy of Chicago’s power pop bands, sprinkle in a bit of T. Rex glam, and come out with an all around winner. For the uninitiated, check out “Dance Away.”
• Panda Bear – Tomboy (Paw Tracks)
  BUY: Insound / iTunes
  Panda Bear’s follow up to 2007’s Person Pitch continues the tradition of gently drifting multi layered songs. The reverbed vocals create a pleasant, moody, atmospheric feeling to go along with his solid melodies. To download, “Last Night At The Jetty.”
• Cut Copy – Zonoscope (Modular Interscope)
  BUY: Insound / iTunes
  Cut Copy use their cut and copy abilities to recreate the eighties synth pop years. Reminiscent of several good bands of the time, from OMD to Heaven 17, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this recent offering, well done. Grab your Ray Ban’s and pretend you’re in a John Hughes film. “Blink and You’ll Miss a Revolution” is a standout.
• Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues (Sub Pop)
  BUY: Insound / iTunes
  eattle outfit Fleet Foxes sophomore effort is the perfect soundtrack to a lazy Sunday morning. The Foxes effortlessly evoke the feel of early 70’s light rock bands like Crosby, Stills & Nash. Check out the warm vocal harmonies on the albums title track, “Helplessness Blues.”
• Wooden Ships – West (Thrill Jockey)
  BUY: Insound / iTunes
  Wooden Shjips always remind me of the psych rock from Loop or the Spacemen 3, and that’s never a bad thing. With droney, fuzzed out, spacey, noisey guitars, this is their brightest and best produced album to date. Love the opener, “Black Smoke Rise.”
• The Horrors – Skying (XL)
  BUY: Insound / iTunes
  More mid-eighties retro with Skying. Listening to this, Simple Minds, Psychedelic Furs and the like jump to mind. The Horrors do it well. Check out “Still Life.”

Honorable Mentions

• The Advisory Circle – As The Crow Flies (Ghost Box)
  The Bewitched Hands – Birds & Drums (Look Mum No Hands)
  The Naked And Famous – Passive Me, Aggressive You (Fiction)
  St. Vincent – Strange Mercy (4AD)
  Wild Flag – Wild Flag (Merge)