Michael Britten, Music Ruins Lives
What are your top five albums that were released in 2011? (in order 1-5)
PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
Rarely does an early-year release hold top ranking all the way through until December, but then again, Let England Shake is a rare album: a later-career major “statement” record that loses none of its power if the listener decides to discard that aspect entirely. To the academics out there: Let England Shake is Harvey’s induction to the Western canon, a widescreen rumination on national pride and cultural identity in the face of the daily war-between-wars that is life in 2011. There is no soapbox-shouting, nor conclusion drawn – aside from, perhaps, an echo of what fellow-Englishman Alexander Pope wrote so long ago: “To err is human; to forgive, divine.” Is there really any other way to explain the relationships we have with the countries we call home?
Tombs – Path Of Totality
Path Of Totality is the album that Tombs has always had in them, and that no other metal band ever will – despite that other record of the same name having also dropped this year. But everything lies in the naming of things, doesn’t it? Path Of Totality, then, is fighting-weight lean among the Many Tons Of 2011 Heavy: an invading shadow, the hard road into Hell, a becoming of self. As cohesive as they are far-reaching, Brooklyn’s Tombs truly cross into the upper-echelon on this release – and all this before mention of “Passageways”, the cut that sank a thousand sub-Swans. Can we get that Hill/Gira tour package already?
St. Vincent – Strange Mercy
If past experience is any indication, I will eventually meet – and go out of my way to date – a girl that looks enough like Annie Clark that it borders on creepy fantasy-fulfillment. After maintaining an emotionally-muted and socially-draining relationship far past the point where happiness is involved, I’ll realize that this girl whom I dated was never the one I actually wanted, past superficial attraction. And then I’ll spin Strange Mercy, an album as secretly dangerous as it is toothsome: Annie Clark’s St. Vincent in a nutshell. The cure for the common courtship.
Pygmy Lush – Old Friends
I no longer age, though the world around me changes. That’s as close to mediating on mortality as I come, being a boy-man of indeterminate years, and that’s the frame of reference in which I’ve absorbed Old Friends, the third album by Pygmy Lush. Earlier output attempted to prove there was no David Bowie/Ziggy Stardust dichotomy at work, splitting the difference between severe and serene, and showcasing the same everything-at-once aptitude that Johnny Ward and the Taylor brothers pulled off at higher volume and greater physical risk whilst in Pageninetynine. That the same musicians whose music resonated with me years ago are still able to hit home via another genre is proof enough: the strongest trees have the deepest roots, and the ring-count doesn’t always matter.
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – Belong
I've always deserved a mousey girlfriend who wears sundresses, remembers episodes of My So-Called Life as vividly as I do, and chooses “piggyback ride” whenever transportation options are discussed. Thanks to Belong, I finally have that, if only for 39 minutes at a time.
What band did you discover in 2011 (can be a brand new band or an older band) that had an impact on your life? What made them significant?
Deafheaven – Roads To Judah
My introduction to Deafheaven’s Roads To Judah took place the first time thermometer readings edged over 80° in New Jersey this year, as soundtrack to a 7-mile hill run. Fitting in ways I didn’t realize at the time, Roads To Judah continually found its way into rotation this year to soundtrack similar moments both punishing and quixotic – mini-events through which physical association forced an emotional response. Translation: Roads To Judah was (and still is) life-affirming in the most direct of ways. The band’s live performances and subsequent post-show group bromance sessions did nothing but reinforce that.
How will you remember 2011 (in terms of music)?
2011 was a sleeper year of sleeper hits. I admittedly got burnt out on music (comparatively speaking) last year, between learning the ropes of launching a label, and trying to keep up with releases despite dwindling funds. Despite only listening to a fraction of what I wanted to, 2011 still delivered so unexpectedly – and consistently – that it’ll be the latest banner year that the next few are measured against.
What can we look forward to from you in 2012?
Industry.
What records are you looking forward to most in 2012?
I don’t dig as deep as I used to, and tend to fall into releases as they arrive nowadays, but here’s the short list: Spiritualized’s Sweet Heart Sweet Light, and the as-of-yet-untitled albums by The Knife and Fiona Apple.
What did you expect to be huge in 2011 which never made it?
BAD LIFE – THE DAY YOU DIE
I don’t pretend to understand the process of creation or genesis of song that musicians experience, though I have been fortunate to observe such things vicariously through close friends. I also don’t normally afford tags like “genius,” or “brilliance,” when discussing recorded output, but THE DAY YOU DIE forces my hand; I carefully tried to avoid placing any MRL releases on this list, but BAD LIFE is a project so abnormal and beyond my ken that, well, here it is. I truly lose myself imagining how this Memphis native arrives at some ideas – moments that seem otherworldly in their inspiration – and somehow make them all work in concert. Was THE DAY YOU DIE huge for us? Maybe not. Is it huge to us? The thing’s a perception-skewing auditory encounter with the Unknown – the sole reason why Music Ruins Lives exists. Good enough for me.
