CHIRP: The Chicago Independent Radio Project

Abbey Fox writes

CHIRP Radio Best of 2011 (Abbey Fox)

Throughout December CHIRP Radio presents its members’ top albums of 2011. The next list is from DJ Abbey Fox.

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

• Tom Waits – Bad As Me (ANTI-)
  BUY: Insound / iTunes
  Bad As Me was probably the album I was most looking forward to this year and I am pleased to report that it was also one of my favorites. Sure, it’s nothing really new in Waits terrority; he still sounds like a tortured voice that dares to speak the raw truth singing (often) dark and (sometimes) sweet love songs…and damn, he’s still really good at it. And that version of Auld Lang Syne at the end of the album? Perfection. You get the sense that this is the bad-as-me-kind of guy that wants all acquaintance to be forgot-sort of thing. Heartbreaking and beautiful.
  
  Recommended: “Raised Right Men,” “Kiss Me,” “New Year’s Eve”
• tUnE-yArDs – W H O K I L L (4AD)
  BUY: Insound / iTunes
  What can be said about Merril Garbus that hasn’t been said already? Seeing her live ignited my passion for Tune-yards. She is one of the most inventive, beautiful, and JOYFUL performers who so clearly loves making music….and all by herself. W H O K I L L continues to showcase her fascinating use of the vocal loop, random drumming on whatever is close to her, and over-all infectious energy that always present. It is often hard to capture someone so wonderful live on a recorded album, but listening to W H O K I L L only makes me like Tune-yards even more. Merril Garbus is awesome. This album is no exception.
  
  Recommended tracks: “Gangsta,” “Riotriot,” “Bizness”
• Tennis – Cape Dory (Fat Possum)
  BUY: Insound / iTunes
  A lovely pop album from the adorable couple that is Tennis, Cape Dory is delightful, light, and fun. It’s about love. It sounds like summer. It makes you want to dance. I really enjoyed it.
  
  Recommended tracks: “Pigeon,” “Marathon
• Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues (Sub Pop)
  BUY: Insound / iTunes
  Building on the success of their 2008 release, this sophomore album does not disappoint (in fact, it makes my top ten list). Introspective lyrics about one’s own relationship with society and thus one’s place in the world [lyrics ‘so now i am older/than my mother & father when they had their daughter/ now what does that say about me?’ open the album] are the beautiful forefront of the album for me. I’m in my mid-twenties, I feel like it was written for me, and I think the Fleet Foxes showcase modern folk music and its finest.
  
  Recommended tracks: “Montezuma”, “Sim Sala Bim”, “Helplessness Blues”
• Beirut – The Rip Tide (Pompeii)
  BUY: Insound / iTunes
  Critics have called it the most ‘restrained’ Beirut album; the one that manages to find the perfect balance between creative experimentation of his East European -influenced music (horns! strings! keyboards!) and earnest lyrics, and I agree. The Rip Tide has an expansive romantic sound that clocks in at only 33 minutes. And I again say, Zac Condon and crew: I want more!!
  
  Recommended tracks: “East Harlem,” “Payne’s Bay,” “Vagabond”
• Tinariwen – Tassili (ANTI-)
  BUY: Insound / iTunes
  They’ve been around for the past 30 years, but Tassili was my introduction to this amazing Sub Saharan band. A mixture of their native Arab influenced sounds and American blues performed on acoustic guitars will get stuck in your head for days. It doesn’t matter that you can’t understand the language, you feel their exploration of struggles and belonging. This is the kind of album that continues to grow on you, and I keep discovering new nuances with every listen. (also to be noted: they collaborate with Dirty Dozen Brass Band & TV on the Radio’s Kyp Malone on this album)
  
  Recommended tracks: “Walla Illa,” “Tamiditin Tan Ufrawan,” “Iswegh Attay”
• Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside – Dirty Radio (Patrtisan)
  BUY: Insound / iTunes
  This quirky little debut album by this bluesy-rockabilly band stuck with me all year. Based in Portland, Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside have a fun sound that still manages encompass raw emotions and pure honesty.
  
  Recommended tracks: “I Swear,” “Write Me a Letter,” “Where Did You Go?”
• Yellow Ostrich – The Mistress (Afternoon)
  BUY: Insound / iTunes
  “WHALE” is my favorite song from 2011, hands down. The rest of the album is great too…front man Alex Shaaf really knows how to work a vocal loop pedal and harmonizes perfectly. I’m really psyched to watch this band grow in the next couple of years.
  
  Recommended: “WHALE,” “Mary,” “Bread”
• PJ Harvey – Let England Shake (Vagrant)
  BUY: Insound / iTunes
  I was never a PJ Harvey fan until this album. It’s not that actively avoided her music, but nothing ever quite stuck with me like this album did (and does). It’s a highly political album that brilliantly illustrates the complexities in our ever changing (and often violent) world. Harvey sings for her life on this album, it’s often terrifying but it’s always beautiful.
  
  Recommended tracks: “In Dark Places,” “Let England Shake,” “The Words that Maketh Murder”
• Steven Malkmus and The Jicks – Mirror Traffic (Matador)
  BUY: Insound / iTunes
  Lo-fi indie rock at its finest by one of our forefathers from Pavement. He continues to make weird words fit together in a way that makes you bob your head like you agree. Stephen Malkmus’s musical range is huge, will get you moving and will make you nostalgic in a way that also makes you excited for the next album.
  
  Recommended tracks: “No One Is (As I Are Be),” “Tigers”