The Best Albums (and more) of 2011

As always, here are our top five selections as selected by the staff here at 402 Productions! The list was created in a few steps: first, all the writers from this past year listen to every album that has been nominated for album of the year for 2011. Then, they rank their top five selections based off of all the nominees. Lastly, I compile all of those lists into a spreadsheet and the top five albums with the “best” (meaning closest to the number integer 1) averages become the “best of” for 2011. In the event of a tie, the albums with the highest amount of #1 votes wins the tiebreaker. In the event of another tie, the album with the least amount of exposure (via number of Google results) is the victor.

Feel free to click on any album to read our review from this past year!

5. Stepdad – Ordinaire EP

Nate Pavlot on Ordinaire EP: Crazy catchy tunes. This band can’t help but put a smile on my face, and their music is immediately ensnaring. The 8-bit noises supplementthe band’s “not too serious or into ourselves” aura, creating a sound which is both fun and addicting. Definitely keeping these guys on repeat for a while.

4. The Weeknd – House Of Balloons

Adam Finley on House Of Balloons: The only album that’s ever made me want to cry and masturbate at the same time — looks like I’d better double up on the tissue!

3. Casiokids - Aabenbaringen Over Aaskammen

Nick Wan on Aabenbaringen Over Aaskammen: I very much appreciate the layering of both electronic and acoustic instrumentation, especially when it seems fairly massive and intricate. Hard to deny this album multiple listens when based off of the shear quality of instrumentation alone. When judged on actual songs and how they are strung throughout this album, it’s hard to deny this top honors.

2. M83 – Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming

Blake Rice on Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming: The finest album I have heard in recent years. The production is seamless and both CDs merge so beautifully that it is hard to wake up from the bliss. ‘OK Pal’ is probably my most-played track this year.

1. The Speed of Sound in Seawater – Underwater Tell Each Other Secrets

Nate Pavlot on Underwater Tell Each Other Secrets: This is math-rock done right. Not only is the guitarwork impressive, but thewhole band shines instrumentally. The sound is tight. The tracks all hold individual gleaming moments built over long, complex song structures. The overall talent level of this band relative to their young age baffles me. I expect great things in the future.

Honorable Mentions

Childish Gambino – Camp
Blake Rice on Camp: Donald Glover is Abed’s right hand man on the popular, but recently halted, Community. His first real album was a breath of fresh air for hip hop this year. While die hard rap fans will probably find ways to discredit this album, the honesty and intelligent lyrical content kept me engaged from beginning to end.

Adebisi Shank –  This is the Second Album of a Band Called Adebisi Shank
Remy Chan on This is the Second Album of a Band Called Adebisi Shank: Though slow to start, this album kicks you in the face. It reminds me of Fang Island jamming with Minus the Bear, and MTB thinking they miss being Botch.

For your reposting/reblogging pleasure

5. Stepdad – Ordinaire EP
4. The Weeknd – House Of Balloons
3. Casiokids - Aabenbaringen Over Aaskammen
2. M83 – Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
1. The Speed of Sound in Seawater – Underwater Tell Each Other Secrets

 How we all voted

Here is a crude spreadsheet of how we all voted. I believe this spreadsheet is sortable… I haven’t used it in a year, so let’s hope it works. A few things to note:
You will see a lot of “N/A” votes. This is to be expected, as all the staffers (and everyone in the world) will have different ideas of what is the best albums of the year. A vote of “N/A” just means they didn’t include the album on their list. Also, you will notice a few ties. I explained how we do tie breakers earlier, but to be brief… we break a tie via the most #1 votes (followed by the most #2, #3, and so on). If we are still tied, Google results will help break it, via the album with the least amount of results will be on top.

 Some notable things about our list

Nate Pavlot and Nick Wan had almost identical lists
A vote for #1 and #2 go a really long way
In true 402 Productions fashion, a band with little to no press and has yet to be signed is our #1 album of the year
M83 may be the only album on our list that is shared on other best of lists
Two EPs made it — pushing towards the idea that the EP generation has begun
There was no clear cut #1 album of the year (it went down to a Google tie breaker)

Nick Wan’s Top 5 Most Vicious  402 Reviews of 2011

As many of you know, our rating system is a little more black and white than the more common Likert scale stylings of other music reviews websites. Our system is based on a Good-Average-Bad, three-point system. Because of this, many of the albums we consider “bad” may actually be mediocre or not as bad as many people believe. Of course… many people will disagree with our decisions. And many are not afraid to speak about their disagreement. Here are my five favorite bad reviews of the past year from our writers.

O’Brother – Garden Window - Review by Ryan Gabos
The review itself is well-written. I personally didn’t think this album was 100% horrible… however, I wouldn’t go out of my way to say how much I disagreed with this review. Much less, if I were in O’Brother I wouldn’t blast Ryan Gabos’ review over Twitter.  The amount of responses in this review definitely makes this one of the more evocative reviews we’ve had in a while.

The Perms – Sofia Nights – Review by Adam Finley
I love the narration. This may be one of the only times breaking away from the formula of the website worked completely to Finley’s (or should I say, Professor Snivelmire’s) advantage. And if you chanced upon this album at all, you would definitely understand how this review really twists the knife.

Noxious Foxes - Legs - Review by Blake Rice
I seriously loved this review. Rice’s “Anyone Can Play Guitar” example was not only subtle, but a metaphor in itself. I wasn’t all that impressed with Noxious Foxes, and preferred the guitar-centric sounds of And So I Watch You From Afar’s Gangs much more, but this took it to a new scathing level.

aTelecine – A Cassette Tape Culture (Phase 2 & 3) – Review by Blake Rice
This review was not as subtle as the Noxious Foxes review, for many blatant reasons you can most likely discover for yourself. Some quotable gems: “She probably listened to Windowlicker and really liked it,” and “Personally, I was much more stimulated by her performance as Maria in Pirate’s II: Stagnetti’s Revenge.”

Aderlating - Spear of Gold and Seraphim Bone Part One - Review by Blake Rice
This review had pretty much all the key elements: a deviation from the normal 402 formula, an insightful review on what the album is and isn’t, a fairly rampant comments section… Although these top 5 bad reviews from 2011 are in no particular order, this may be one of my most favorite of the year, if not for all time.

Adam Finley’s 5 Best Tumblrs of 2011

I don’t Tumbl. I mean, I do get drunk and fall down a lot (thanks home made Four Loko), but I don’t use Tumblr, the short form blogs that let you quickly throw small bits of content at the interwebs like so many used tampons. Tumblr exploded this year; it’s popularity more than doubled, and with it came a glut of new content. Most terrible. Some amazing. What follows are the 5 Best Tumblrs of 2011.

#5 – Halloween or Williamsburg?

Much like People of Walmart, user-driven Tumblrs are hit and miss. But whereas Accidental Chinese Hipsters (which just missed inclusion in this list) is probably 30% lame, Halloween or Williamsburg is much more successful, documenting the ridiculousness of Brooklyn’s trendiest neighborhood. When gentrification has turned Williamsburg into a full-on yuppy town, we’re all going to look back at the good old days of 2011 and laugh at a recently dead Macho Man Randy Savage waiting for the train.

#4 – Hippo Coworker

We all know that coworker: the one who watches The Office too much; the one who is casually racist; the one who swears even when a swear word isn’t called for (typically me in any office setting). They’re all here, in the guise of a shouting hippo. Maybe the funniest part is the back story: these two hippos were best friends in some wildlife park when the female got pregnant and they had to be separated because the male would at least pull a Joe Jackson on those babies if he doesn’t kill them outright. After separation, the male spent hours each day hanging over the barrier bellowing to his friend; much like that D-bag in the cubicle next door.

#3 – Watch The Cradle

402 has its finger on the pulse of the indie community, but that doesn’t mean we’re deaf to the sounds of pop culture. This year, Jazy-Z & Kanye’s mega-hit album Watch The Throne was one of the most innocuous and fun albums of the year. But the internets took it farther– some enterprising individual started gathering baby pictures and stumbled on pure 2011 gold.

#2 – Pepper Spray Cop

Who can forget the image of the mustachioed cop casually macing the unholy fuck out of some protesters who had done nothing worse than sit in a place they weren’t supposed to sit? He was so casual about it. The nonplussed stare? The slow, repeated sweeps, completely ignoring the wails of the sprayed? He might as well have been at a picnic. It was a tragic event, but this is how the internet turns tragedy into hilarious triumph:

#1 – Texts From Bennett

Gay kittens, Drake’s breakfast cereal, Speaking Mexican, Birdman putting Lil Wayne in a car seat– this may be my favorite Tumblr ever. It’s the one I can go back to time and time again, show new people, check on a daily basis, reread old posts, and it never gets old. For a Tumblr consisting solely of screen shots of texts, this is as funny as it gets. Prepare to laugh until you piss.

Blake Rice’s Top 5 Films of 2011

As a brief introduction to this small list, let me say how difficult it is to see new limited release films in the Bay Area. When I was living in Southern California it was no problem. Regardless, searching out films you’re interested in is always worth the trip. Enjoy this list.
1. The Skin I Live In
Almoodovar is a visionary director who explores sexual taboo like no other. The Skin I Live in had great performances from Antonio Banderas and Elena Anaya. Held together by the best adapted screenplay of the year, this is one you won’t want to miss if you enjoy the work of provocateurs.

2. Melancholia
Lars von Trier returns with his follow-up to Antichrist which as one of my favorite films of 2010. Part spiritual sequel and part confession boot, von Trier continues his most recent work which tracing his own steps of recovery and delivering the purest and darkest portrait of depression in cinema.

3. Drive
Angelo Badalamenti’s neon 80′s soundtrack will grab you in an otherwise very silent film. Gosling pulls out his best performance to date, and Bryan Cranston has a great (but brief) role. If you liked M83′s new album and played Vice City as a kid, why haven’t you seen this yet?

4. I Saw The Devil
I usually don’t like modern Asian splatter cinema, but this film did it right. The dramatic atmosphere and phenomenal story progression really ties the film together. While definitely not for the queezy, it is a great film that was majorly overlooked in 2011.

5. Enter The Void
Gaspar Noe’s follow-up to the very successful Irreversible is really, really, long. So long, in fact, that the uncut version didn’t “work” for me. With all that said, it was something I had never seen before. The direction was extraordinary and if they cut it down by 30 minutes to an hour, it would have packed a larger punch.

Nate Pavlot’s Top 5 Fantasy Football Busts of 2011

While music is clearly the main passion of the writers here at 402 Productions, most of us also hold sports dear to our hearts. In fact, myself, Nick Wan, and Adam Finley even compete in a fantasy football league together. The nature of fantasy football dictates that any player can step up and become a desirable playmaker, but it also has the ability to render past star players meaningless. With that said, here’s my personal list of the Top 5 Fantasy Football busts of 2011.

5.) DeSean Jackson

Michael Vick’s partner in crime, the flashy Jackson really failed to live up to his expectations. Inconsistency, a poor attitude, and only 3 TD grabs have left Jackson in hot water with fantasy owners and Philly fans alike. Dream team, huh?

4.) LaGarrette Blount

This sucker-punching second year RB out of Oregon looked to be a solid 2nd round pickup this year, after coming on hot at the end of the season last year. With Cadillac Williams out of the picture, Blount stood as the clear number 1, yet he failed to produce the numbers expected of him. He was actually benched last week after an early fumble.

3.) Andre Johnson

Now I have nothing but respect for this guy, a true class act and a freakishly talented receiver, but Andre really did have an off year. His hamstring kept him out for a good part of the first half of the season, and with the Texan’s locking up the AFC South and an injured Matt Schaub to boot, Johnson has no reason to rush back into the lineup.

2.) Peyton Hillis

I felt this one personally, having blown a second round pick on the guy. Could you blame me? Hillis came on for a monster season last year for the Browns, earning him the dubious honor of being the cover boy for Madden. Then came the hamstring issues, and the strep throat, and the weight loss, and the tears. I should have known not to test the curse.

1.) Chris Johnson

CJ2K, the Titans’ halfback with “gettin’ away from the cops speed” (good call Gus Johnson) really didn’t help his case for MVP this season. After a pre-season holdout ending with $53 million over 4 years, Johnson performed abysmally. Generally picked in the top 3 in almost every league, CJ finished the year as the 17th ranked fantasy RB with a meager 4 touchdowns. Bet Hasselbeck is missing beast mode.

Ryan Gabos’ Top Five Bands He Wishes More People Knew About

That’s all from us this year, folks!

Thanks to Adam Finley, Blake Rice, Nate Pavlot, and Ryan Gabos for a fantastic year. Especially to Adam Finley for making me feel like I’m doing something right. And definitely to Ryan Gabos for stepping up to the plate and becoming the head editor this coming year.

And of course, we would all like to thank the readers. There is always a disconnect between a person and what he or she puts out there for the internet to see. Just as well, there is a disconnect between a reader and acknowledging that the writer who put something out there for the people to read is actually some guy or girl on a computer typing some stuff up about what they think. I’ve been fortunate to meet some of my readers, as well as getting to know every one of my writers. Both groups aren’t too much different. And I think that’s why this website succeeds in the way it does — everyone apart of this website is searching for more music. It doesn’t matter if you’re a writer or a reader, both groups are listening to even more music than we present on this website. So, for the sheer fact that our readers come back here as a reference or in hopes to find a new jam for the day, week, month, year, or whatever it may be… I really do appreciate it. Thanks. Makes me feel like I’m not the only guy who gets excited for an unknown opening band or the girl quietly playing in the corner of a coffee shop.

See you next year!