Great and Underrated ’11: Best albums and tracks of 2011 that nobody cared to listen to

Best Albums

01. The Future – “The Future

I’m not really sure if it really was released in 2011, but the official bandcamp page says “1980″, so, I took a guess and, anyway, whatever year it was released this is the best album of. From the Back-to-the-Future-licious start, the gospel-inspired choruses, the perfect ’80s noises, the perfect pop and perfect rap, J. Martin Coppola and DJ Industrial Average (producer Joshua Valleau) create what should one day be considered a hip-hop classic: a perfect first-to-last track album; and with the Imani Coppola cameos, including my favourite track “Wait of the World”, this is the most underrated best album of the year.

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02. Circulo Polar Artico – “Armas de Casa”

C.P.A. are one of the best bands from Argentina, and this album shows why. While they consider themselves to be a punk band, and yes, sometimes they are, they inhabit the alternative rock genre and try each colour and form to create the best rock album of 2011. From the mellow title track and “Los Inundados”, to brilliant noise incoherence like “Big Big” and “Hamburger Song”, my good friend Diegol and company explore all the possibilities of their own sound and succeed.

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03. Chriddof – “The Cartoon Cat Did Not Know How To Help Him”

Maybe I’m biased, since I released this album on my Savant record series, but I can’t not express my love for this wonderful compilation. Chriddof is a great artist and every thing he does has this brilliance and humour that resonates with me, and this collection of tracks, selected by the man himself, presents his stylings in a very personal, deconstructive spectacle. Ranging from ambient, noise, parody, cut-up, pop covers and more, this album is the funniest album of the year.

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04. Ellipse Elkshow – “King Question, Volume I”

This hip-hop/pop culture deconstruction, by master cut-up artist Ellipse Elkshow, is the pinnacle of the genre and the artist’s masterpiece. As I wrote to Mr. Elkshow himself, “Of all the cut-up albums I have, this one really feels like a masterpiece. I’d equate it to Rob Swift‘s “The Architect” in the way it transcends beyond it’s own genre, and shows [him] as an artist with a personal, unique style inside the genre.” So, there.

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05. Louis C.K. – “Hilarious”

Louis C.K. must be my favourite comedian of the new century, and I’m not the only one who thinks so. This special, which I consider his best comedy album yet, includes such genius and cleverness, that it’s above most stand up today. His comedy goes deeper than most other comedians, focusing in his personal traumas and dreams. Offensive in the best possible way, this is a must have.

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06. Sam Kaplan – “The Necromusicon”

Sam Kaplan is a very mysterious man, who does very mysterious music. From the ambient/noise/avantgarde tradition, this album is a serious work of art and sound. Dense, metaphysical, macabre, spiritual, raging, profound, deep— this is the kind of experimental album that every artist should inspire to make. Not much to say about the artist, since there’s not much known him or his music. Please, hear for yourself.

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07. Ellipse Elkshow – “Garbage Party Live”

Ellipse Elkshow‘s introspective mixtape/DJ set/ambient piece/live show, “Garbage Party Live”, features the mellow side of the great cut-up artist. A pleasant version of his typical material, and also a great listening experience— very deep, soft, caressing, with still the touches of humour and chaos that defines the genre. This also was released on Savant, so, yes, this is a biased opinion, but still, I hope you’ll enjoy this as much as I did.

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Best Tracks

01. Imani Coppola – “The Kids are Dangerous”

Imani Coppola‘s ’80s pop/modern dubstep mash-up completely obliterates the cliché of the two genres. The lyrics are genius as always, and the production is marvelous. Catchy as hell, and makes my brain explode each time I listen to it. To be released on “The Glass Wall” this 2012.

Listen in Soundcloud

02. Secret Chiefs 3 – “Radar”

Trey Spruance is a modern genius. The outcast from ’90s Mr. Bungle— with releases like this he confirms my opinion that this guy’s the best musician to come from California’s musical scene. This song, a adaptation of the original track by Bernard Herrmann for “The Day the Earth Stood Still”, based on a small synthbass line, explodes on each turn into heavy metal frenzy, bells, robot voices, guitar harmonics or small jazzy drum playing.

Buy/Listen at BandCamp

03. The Lonely Island – “We’re Back”

The best hip-hop track of the year is a comedy track. The music is perfect gangsta rap frenzy, yet the lyrics are a crowning moment of funny. After knowing these guys from their Awesometown years, listening to this stuff is a victory. Kudos to you!

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04. Adriano Celentano – “Non ti accorgevi di me”

The comeback of Adriano Celentano seems at the start as common Italian sixties pop. Then, the electronic drums, the glitchy guitars and the epic strings enter your ears and you discover that this old man still knows how to be a modern, romantic, nostalgic genius. The orchestra bridge is one of the best moments of music, ever. He deserves the praise of stepping in this decade with a masterpiece.

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05. Little Jackie – “Cockblock”

Little Jackie‘s Motown tribute was a good album, but this track is one of the highest points. The great bass lines, drums, claps, strings, brass hits, the lyrics, Imani Coppola‘s voice— there’s nothing that doesn’t work on this song. Another reason why Imani Coppola deserves a great 2012: she’s reinventing pop music and doing it with genius and style.

Buy/Listen at Bandcamp

06. Dolls Can’t – “Eightsixandtwelve”

They could easily be called a The Mars Volta derivate, but that would be cruel, ignorant and plain stupid. This band and their french version of prog rock do with this track the major feat of rising above their own material. These wonderful lyrics, sung with passion and mystery; the masterful guitar sounds, the great changes of pace and time. Underrated and ignored, this band deserves more, and this track is why.

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07. Little Jackie – “Take Back the World”

When Amy Winehouse died, I didn’t care. Why? There was a great, much better singer, ignored by the mainstream media, and she was alive and well. The name’s Imani, and here’s another great track from her great Little Jackie album, “Made4TV”. Nothing much to say here: the track is as great as “Cockblock”, and also deserves your attention. The wonderful layering of vocals make this one of my favourite tracks an a big inspiration.

Buy/Listen at BandCamp

08. Imani Coppola – “State of the Art”

And finally, the last track on the list. Yes, this list is very Imani Coppola-centric, but that’s because she had a great year, and she deserves the praise. A little biased too because I did the artwork for the track, but well, whatever. With a promise for 2012 in the form of her new album “The Glass Wall”, this track is the future itself. What can I say? She reinvented herself. The chorus of this song is the best. I leave you with the link, and have a great new year!

Listen in Soundcloud

Okay, I’m a Nazi

So, hell opened up for Lars von Trier this Wednesday. In the press conference for his new film apocalyptic Melancholia, he said these hilarious words when asked about his german roots and the gothic aspect of the film, and his interest in the nazi aesthetic:

“The only thing I can say is I though I was a Jew for a long time, and I was very happy being a Jew. Then, late on came Susanne Bier, I then suddenly I wasn’t so happy about being a Jew. No, that was a joke, sorry. But it turned out that I was not a Jew, and even if I’d been a Jew I would be a kind of a second rate Jew, because there is kind of a hierarchy in the Jewish population. But, anyway, I really wanted to be a Jew, and then I found out that I was really a Nazi, you know, because my family was German [...], which also gave me some pleasure [laughs], so I’m kind of a… Yeah… I… What can I say? I understand Hitler, but I think he did some wrong things, yes, absolutely, but I can see him sitting in his bunker in the end… [to Kirsten Dunst] But there’ll come a point at the end of this… [...] I’m just saying that I think I understand ‘the man’. He’s not what you would call a good guy, but I, yeah, I understand much about him, and I sympathize with him a little bit, yes. Not… But come on, I’m not for the Second World War, and I’m not against Jews- Susanne Bier- No, not even Susanne Bier. That was also a joke. I am of course very much for Jews. No, not too much, because Israel is a pain in the ass. But still, how can I get out of this sentence? [...] I just wanna say about the art of… I’m very much for Speer. [...] Albert Speer I like. He was also maybe one of God’s best children, but yes, some talent that was kind of possible for him to use during the… Okay, I’m a Nazi.”

Also, about Melancholia being his introduction to the hollywood blockbusters, and about working on a film with a grander scale than his current film:

“On a grander scale? Yeah, that’s what we nazis… we have a tendency to try to do things on a greater scale. Yeah, maybe you could persuade me into… the final solution with journalists. [...]“

Later he apologized in a public statement. He said he was sorry if he had offended someone, that he was not a Nazi nor anti-semitic. The Cannes comitee reacted to all of this by banning him from the Cannes festival, declaring him persona non grata. His film Melancholia is still on competition for the Golden Palm, so there’s that. People around have been very offended by his comments, which I think has been a little taken out of context. Let’s analyze that quote.

First, he tells his transition from thinking he was a Jew, then discovering the man he thought was his father wasn’t, and then discovering his father was a Catholic Jew. He says he felt pleasure in being a Jew and then discovering that in fact he was probably from a Nazi origin, and finding a “some pleasure” in that too. Well, okay, that is very confusing, as confused as the man who said it. But, whatever he meant, he explained later. Move on.

Then he said he “understands Hitler”. That’s the quote that’s been circulating around the press. Taken out of context, of course this quote appears to be an horrible thing to say. But he clearly stated then that he understands “the man”, which indicates he shares sympathy with the human; sympathy for what Hitler could have felt and lived in his final moments, “sitting in his bunker in the end”, mad and defeated. I see nothing wrong in that. Let me explain:

There’s this idea that you can’t humanize a historical person if he did horrible things, just because then you’re agreeing with him, in this case, making you a Nazi. But then you have films like Monster, where the audience itself is made to empathize with the lead character. In this case, you’re not being asked to morally accept the horrible acts made by these individuals, but trying to acknowledge the fact that, all in all, these are human beings, with feelings, with ideas, with passions, with fears and loves. But then, popular culture tends to create caricatures of these people. The Holocaust, slavery, terrorism, racism, discrimination, hate crimes- I feel all these terrible things come from the act of dehumanizing people. When people can’t see each other as equals, the most evil things are done. This reminds me of the Stanford Prison Experiment that in some way proves that when people think they’re above others, they don’t care anymore about equality, or even right and wrong.

And then Lars von Trier explains that he’s not justifying World War Two or the Holocaust, which seems to even clarify more what he said. It was an outrageous thing to say, yes, but are we not even supposed to talk about these things? Why can’t we analyze one of the most important and divisive moments in human history and express our feelings about it? Can we not question it from every angle posible without being called a Nazi? The only way we could learn from something as terrible as World War Two is to be able to form our own opinions about it. We should feel the horror, not just acknowledge it and move on. Yes, Hitler was an human. Maybe a terrible human, a mad man, a morally evil man, but he was a human. And man men come in all colours and sizes. We should never forget that.

Then there’s this:

“The Festival de Cannes provides artists from around the world with an exceptional forum to present their works and defend freedom of expression and creation. The Festival’s Board of Directors, which held an extraordinary meeting this Thursday, 19 May 2011, profoundly regrets that this forum has been used by Lars Von Trier to express comments that are unacceptable, intolerable, and contrary to the ideals of humanity and generosity that preside over the very existence of the festival.

The Board of Directors firmly condemns these comments and declares Lars Von Trier a persona non grata at the Festival de Cannes, with effect immediately.”

Freedom of speech. They’re for it, yet when someone uses his right to say something which could be found unpleasant by some, then he’s declared persona non grata. This is not only an over-reaction, but that simple and absurd contradiction, that I find more unaceptable, intolerable and contrary to the ideals of freedom itself. These words I have heard from Louis CK, and then Penn Jillette: “you don’t have the right to not be offended”. Everybody has something that offends them. I’m offended by this declaration and decision from the Cannes festival, but I can’t do nothing about it. And, even if I could do something about it, I wouldn’t because then I would be neglecting their right to say and decide in their own festival. THAT would be a very fascist thing to do, isn’t?

And, the bit about Israel. Well, everybody has an opinion about it. As an godless child of europeans and a native southamericans, I’m opposed to Israel, which, by what I know, is based on the idea of a holy place that doesn’t exists at all. If there’s no son of God, there’s no birthplace for him; if there’s no birthplace, there’s no sacred land; and if there’s no sacred promised land for Jews, there should not be an Israel. Yet, I’m not rooting for Palestine methods either- that would be a terrible thing to say. But, I mean, everybody has his battles. Here in Chile, the Spaniards took the lands from the mapuches. I think the mapuches have a right to fight for the land that belongs to them, even if I’m mostly of European origin! Do I excuse the mapuches on their terrorist behaviour? Of course not, but I get it. And yes, Israel has being a pain in the ass in politics since its inception, that can’t be denied. If you feel offended by this declaration, well, you’re welcome.

Oh! and the whole Speer thing? One can find Leni Riefenstahl a great filmmaker too, even if she was a Nazi. I love Andrei Tarkovsky, even if he was an Orthodox Christian. And Mel Gibson is a great actor too, even if he’s a poor drunk man. We should be able to separate the work from the artist, because if not, then you’re censuring the art itself. You can probably not agree with Spike Lee, Godard, anyone! But that doesn’t imply you can’t enjoy their work and, you know, understand. You should be able to see Triumph of the Will and understand what it means, and yet be opposed to it. I enjoyed and praised The Sacrifice by Tarkovsky, even if I hated its catholic message.

And finally, the other infamous quote, “Okay, I’m a Nazi.” You know when you are trying to explain something and you get to the point where it’s impossible to get the message through, and you can see the other guy getting a very bad impression about you, and you simply can’t prove him otherwise? And how sometimes you just give up and say what the other is thinking anyway? Obviously, how the quote was taken out of context, it could be understood as a confession, but otherwise it seems just a very bleak way of ending the whole thing. And by then, he was just joking in his typical von Trier way. Yes, he made an ass out of himself. Yes, he apologized. Yes, he was banned from Cannes anyway. A joke out of control, taken too seriously. Let’s see now what happens with Melancholia and the Palm d’Or.

In summary: I understand Lars von Trier. I think he did here some wrong things but I can see him sitting in that chair… He is not what we could call a good guy, but yeah, I understand much about him and I sympathize with him. But come on! I’m not for the nazi stuff. And I’m not against Jews either… How do I get out of this sentence?

Okay, I am a Nazi, too.