Band of Skulls has been one of my top five favorite bands since their debut, Baby Darling Doll Face Honey discussed here, and they are also in my top three of bands to see live (discussed here). So you can imagine that I have been awaiting their sophomore album with great anticipation. Sophomore albums being what they are, however, I have tried to keep my expectations in check.

As it turns out, I needn’t have worried. This band can be counted on to produce music that reminds you of their previous hits, yet explores new territory and never repeats itself. The new album has a softer side than the debut had, and I don’t know if it will grab people right off the bat like that album did, because it’s less obviously hooky and more complex, but its a great follow-up, and it contains my favorite song title in the last five years: You’re Not Pretty But You Got It Goin’ On.

You can listen to the whole album here. Let me know what you think.

The punch of the low notes on the brass – gone.  Turning the bass boost all the way up does nothing.  It’s all treble, all the time.  The lower end (and even the lower end of the middle) is so faint it might as well be missing.  What were they thinking?

Other remastered albums suffer from the same problem – my favorite metal band Queensrÿche had their back catalog remastered, and while the results aren’t bad, they suffer from (as TV Tropes calls it) “Record of Loudness War” problems (for those not willing to click through, the remastering involved “break[ing] out the dynamic range compression, which squashes every bit up to the same volume level . . . The often-used analogy here is that of attempting to read a text written entirely in capitals with a huge font … it can result in severe clipping, unpleasant and harsh-sounding distortion that happens when the signal is pushed to the saturation point . . . the practice is sometimes known as “brickwalling” in audiophile circles” – this can be fine for some extreme forms of metal, but not any band that actually has any sort of nuance to their music).

However, there are good remasters out there.  I’m a fan of Irish folk group the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, and their “Live at Carnegie Hall” album is wonderfully remastered.  I’ve heard older versions of the concert, and the digital remastering is so clear and clean, it sounds like it was recorded on modern equipment.  It’s great.

Any good/bad remasterings anyone out there is aware of?

Music: [from metacritic]

Critics pick the best albums of 2011

Added in last update (Jan. 2): Cleveland Plain Dealer, NOW Magazine

Below is our updated running tally of the albums most frequently mentioned by individual music publications in their year-end Top Ten lists. Although most of the lists come from publications whose reviews are included on this site, we have also included a few extra lists from prominent music stores, websites, and publications not normally found on Metacritic. Note that if a source ranks more than the standard 10 albums, we will not include titles ranked 11th or worse. In case of a tie for first or second, each album will receive the full points for that position. Our points system works as follows:
•3 points for each 1st place ranking
•2 points for each 2nd place ranking
•1 point for being ranked 3rd – 10th, or for being included on an unranked list

1 Let England Shake by PJ Harvey

2 Bon Iver by Bon Iver

3 21 by Adele

4 Watch the Throne by Jay-Z and Kanye West

5 whokill by tUnE-yArDs

6 House of Balloons by The Weeknd

7 Strange Mercy by St. Vincent

8 Take Care by Drake

9 Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes

10 Black Up by Shabazz Palaces

11 David Comes to Life by Fucked Up

12 James Blake by James Blake

13 Smoke Ring for My Halo by Kurt Vile

14 Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming by M83

15 Skying by The Horrors

16 undun by The Roots

17 Kaputt by Destroyer

18 The Whole Love by Wilco

19 Father, Son, Holy Ghost by Girls

20 Bad As Me by Tom Waits

21 The English Riviera by Metronomy

22 Burst Apart by The Antlers

23 Wild Flag by Wild Flag

24 Metals by Feist

25 The King of Limbs by Radiohead

26 Days by Real Estate

27 Glass Swords by Rustie

28 The King Is Dead by The Decemberists

29 Nostalgia, Ultra. by Frank Ocean

30 So Beautiful or So What by Paul Simon

I love the fact that Metacritic does these compiled lists, so you hopefully get the individual biases of all the individual publications and critics filtered out somewhat, and you get a picture of the artists that got the most aclaim from the most number of critics. The result is hard to argue with, although there are some surprises. For me, I would have included Foo Fighters and Elbow, instead of some of the hip-hop artists, but that’s just me.

For movies, the list looks like this:

Critics pick the best movies of 2011

Added in last update (12/31): Baltimore Sun, Houston Chronicle, Miami Herald, The Playlist, Reelviews, Reverse Shot, Salt Lake Tribune, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Time (Pols)

Below is our updated running tally of the films most frequently mentioned by individual critics on their year-end Top Ten lists. Note that if a critic ranks more than the standard 10 films, we will not include films ranked 11th or worse. In case of a tie for first or second, each film will receive the full points for that position. Our points system works as follows:
•3 points for each 1st place ranking
•2 points for each 2nd place ranking
•1 point for being ranked 3rd – 10th, or for being included on an unranked list

1 The Tree of Life

2 The Artist

3 Drive

4 The Descendants

5 Hugo

6 Melancholia

7 A Separation

8 Certified Copy

9 Take Shelter

10 Moneyball

11 Margaret

12 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

13 Martha Marcy May Marlene

14 Shame

15 Beginners

16 Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

17 Bridesmaids

18 The Skin I Live In

19 Meek’s Cutoff

20 We Need to Talk About Kevin

21 Mysteries of Lisbon

22 Poetry

23 A Dangerous Method

24 Weekend

25 The Interrupters

26 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

27 Midnight in Paris

28 War Horse

29 Rise of the Planet of the Apes

30 Of Gods and Men

31 The Future

32 Margin Call

On this list I was a bit surprised that “Dragon Tattoo” wasn’t higher, but I know some critics were not big fans of it. I was also surprised because there were a number of movies on this list I had never heard of, but will now make it a point to see if I can.

Here’s the TV list:

Critics pick the best TV shows of 2011

Added in last update (Jan. 2): Cleveland Plain Dealer

Below is our updated running tally of the TV shows most frequently mentioned by individual critics in their year-end Top Ten lists. Note that if a critic ranks more than the standard 10 shows, we will not include titles ranked 11th or worse. In case of a tie for first or second, each show will receive the full points for that position. Our points system works as follows:
•3 points for each 1st place ranking
•2 points for each 2nd place ranking
•1 point for being ranked 3rd – 10th, or for being included on an unranked list

1 Breaking Bad (AMC)

2 Homeland (Showtime)

3 Downton Abbey (PBS)

4 Parks and Recreation (NBC)

5 Game of Thrones (HBO)

6 Louie (FX)

7 Justified (FX)

8 The Good Wife (CBS)

9 Modern Family (ABC)

10 Community (NBC)

11 Friday Night Lights (DirecTV/NBC)

12 American Horror Story (FX)

13 Boardwalk Empire (HBO)

14 Enlightened (HBO)

15 The Walking Dead (AMC)

16 Revenge (ABC)

17 Awkward. (MTV)

18 The Big Bang Theory (CBS)

19 Happy Endings (ABC)

20 The Middle (ABC)

Of these I was most surprised by The Middle, which I’ve never really watched because it seemed, well, dull, and Awkward, which I have watched, but seemed just ok. I’m glad that Happy Endings got included, because I think that’s one of the best comedies in recent years. I love a lot of the others in the top ten, although I’ve never seen Game of Thrones because I don’t take HBO anymore, and I haven’t watched much of The Good Wife, but I’ve heard good things. I like Louie, but I’m a little surprised it’s ranked as high as it is because, to me, it’s a bit uneven. I haven’t seen Boardwalk Empire or Enlightened, but I’m surprised we don’t see Dexter on this list.

Let me know your thoughts on these lists and other top things from 2011.

Y’all know how I hate to brag, but I called this one.

Pentatonix won the trophy, the $200,000 (is that all?) and the recording contract. They were the smallest group and the youngest group, but they were never the underdogs. They had something special going on nearly every week. Here’s the performance that got them into the finale:

Just amazing.

The runners up, The Dartmouth Aires, were also great and deserved every accolade they got. Here’s their performance that clinched the finale:

It was sad to see Vocal Point and Afro Blue (my other two favorites) go, but I agreed with the judges’ decisions on those occasions, as with every other decision along the way. Unlike many others, I think this is one singing competition show that got it exactly right.

Within Temptation — Silent force: passable, light symphonic rock with some Celtic flavor. Lead vocalist seems a bit too thin and warbley for the high parts. She should stick to the fast tempo songs because her voice sounds pretty good when she’s angry. Best track = “It’s the Fear.” The album also serves as a reminder that many metal lyricists need to work on using concrete imagery and/or building a real narrative flow.

Within Temptation — An acoustic night at the theatre: It has been so long that I have done one of these that I forgot that my last one was a Within Temptation album. Also, for some reason, it didn’t register with me that this is an acoustic album. What the acoustic setting does, though, is really bring out the weaknesses of this band. Again, the thin and warbly; the mid-tempo; the bland lyrics all conspire against the band. When the vocalist gets angry and sounds more like Kate Bush and less like a pop singer (or even in some cases kinda country), it gets much better. Stand out track is the faster “Somewhere” which is a duet with Anneke Van Giersbergen.

Zu — Carboniferous: So take a dissonant free jazz baritone saxophonist who has a thing for noise bands and lay his stuff over a death metal rhythm section and then add in electronica fuzz and freakiness and that’s what Zu is. This is a very good album. Mike Patton and King Buzzo (The Melvins) make guest appearances. Stand out tracks are three (Carbon), seven (Axion) and nine (Obsidian), but you also gotta check out the closing track — Orc — which starts out with these water swamp sounds and then gets in to some guttural chanting by Mike Patton and just gets weirder from there. It’s like ambient music for Gollum.

Jesu — Conqueror: This may be completely off base, but the best way I can describe this album is shoegaze guitars and vocals combined with doom metal rhythm section, tempo and song structure (as in long — as in all the songs range from 5-10 minutes with most in the 7-8 minute range). You know how with many really good albums, the songs all sound similar (or at least in the same family) but each brings some new pleasure? This album does this. And while the lyrics don’t amaze, they also don’t embarrass. I really like whatever strange hybrid it is. Standout tracks are four (weightless & horizontal), six (brighteyes), seven (mother earth) and eight (stanlow). Yes, that’s half the album.

Static-X — Cult of Static: Rather silly speed metal of the staccato hoarse vocals with lyrics chosen more for being syllabic than meaning much — not to mention made up words like Tera-Fied and Isolaytore. Tracks three (Terminal) and eleven (Grind 2 Halt) are somewhat interesting variations from the standard shout the verses, shout the chorus, go to guitar solo structure. Warning: the lead shouter is rather fond of the f-word.

Huh. According to wikipedia, the band is industrial metal. I guess. I thought the use of electronic sounds and programming was pretty weak.

Black Tide — Light from Above: pretty standard speed metal with hard rock posturing. Clumsy lyrics that barely even scan and have incredibly generic imagery and sentiments. Heck, there’s even a non-ironic track called Live Fast Die Young. Lots of guitar solos — only one of which I found somewhat interesting (the one at the end of Track 10 – Black Abyss). Track 5 (Let Me) is one of the most (unintentionally) hilarious come on songs ever. Oh, and there is some fondness for the f-word should you be inclined to check this album out (and I can’t see why you would be).

Disfear — Live the Storm: Raging anarcho, hardcore punk with death metal touches of the Scandinavian variety. This album is tight. Songs are short (10 tracks; 35 minutes). And they build off each other, but are all in the same (angry, anarchist) family. Vocals are shout-growled but you also get moments where the band chimes in and sing-repeats certain phrases and that adds a nice touch. The lyrics have an intensity and vivid imagery that while reflecting a rather one-dimensional, juvenile worldview, are crafted and coherent enough to give the songs some real force. The solutions are vague, but some of the diagnosis cuts deep. I like this album quite a bit even though I’m not much of a hardcore fan. A big part of it, I think, is that the overall sounds of the bass, the guitars, the drums are sounds I like and am familiar with and don’t come across as tired and cheesy to me. Best tracks are Track 4 (The Cage), Track 8 (In Exodus), and the one epic track on the album Track 10 (Phantom) which clocks in at 7:10. Also one or two f-word warning here. Best I can tell is that if one track uses the f-word 1-2 times you don’t get a Parental Advisory sticker. Go over that, and you get one slapped on.

Motörhead  – Kiss of Death: Lemmy is a dirty old man. Seriously. Almost all of the songs on this album are specifically about wanting to get it on with a woman. So yeah, didn’t really work for me. Here’s what I learned though: Lemmy has a great voice that has some real texture and range to it and while he’s not an amazing lyricist, he does some clever things with rhyme schemes. The stand out track is 6 — God was never on our side. It’s a standard, anti-religion track, but it features a really great vocal performance.

Warning: the b-word and slut and whore get used. Like I said, not an album that really works for me in terms of subject matter.

I haven’t done much with metal since this experiment ended in October 2010. I’ve continued to listen to High on Fire and Torche (from part one). 

http://www.nbc.com/assets/video/widget/widget.html?vid=1366925

http://www.nbc.com/assets/video/widget/widget.html?vid=1366932

I also really liked Vocal Point’s rock song:

http://www.nbc.com/assets/video/widget/widget.html?vid=1366926

But for me, the group that is emerging as the one to beat is the smallest group in the competition, Pentatonix:

http://www.nbc.com/assets/video/widget/widget.html?vid=1366944

And this performance by the Dartmouth Aires last week was the highlight of the season so far:

http://www.nbc.com/assets/video/widget/widget.html?vid=1365415

Drew is my favorite. She’s only 14.

http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1

My other favorite, Josh Krajick:

http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1

Chris Rene is also a favorite, mainly because of his very first audition:

http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1

Melanie Amaro is also really great:

http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1

The contestants have been narrowed down to 12. They’re group into categories–boys under 30 (mentored by LA Reid), girls under 30 (mentored by Simon), groups (mentored by Paula), and people over 30s (mentored by Nicole). Every category has great talent, although I’m not really into any of the groups. I think the over 30s is the strongest, but the two strongest girls overshadow them, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens.

Well it turns out, plenty more. The new season started recently with 16 groups(!). The line-up has several college groups, including one from BYU called Vocal Point. They did a Justin Bieber song (Never Say Never) this week which drew a funny comment from judge Ben Folds (who really makes the show) that he would never again think that he wouldn’t want to hear a bunch of Mormons sing Bieber. But these guys are much better with an old standard like Sinatra’s The Way You Look Tonight:

That’s my favorite Sinatra song, and I loved the way they did it, except that I wish they would have slowed it down again in the end and ended like they started.

There’s also a female supergroup formed from past contestants from previous seasons (and there have been only two previous seasons) called Delilah:

And another group of college boys from Rochester called the Yellowjackets:

But the best group so far is probably Afro Blue, who I could listen to all day:

The second bracket seems weaker to me, but I liked this performance from Sonos:

And this from Deltones:

The group that got kicked off this week turned in this amazing performance:

Let me know if you’re watching this. If you’re not, check it out because it’s pretty fun.

The Von Bondies manic theme on Rescue Me:

I also really like the Community theme song:

And now we have the cool new theme song from Suits by Ima Robot:

Any other nominations?

Could it possibly be true that this album, I’m With You, is The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ 10th album? And that Anthony Keidis is 48? Where does the time go?  And how is it possible that these guys are still able to play shirtless?  Are the tube socks coming out next?

This album is the first in 15 years without guitarist John Frusciante, and it’s been five years since the bloated Stadium Arcadium was released, so this effort has a lot of pressure on it right out of the gate. Luckily, although Frusciante can never really be replaced (as the band already found out years ago), the new guitarist, Josh Klinghoffer, is very good and wisely lets the rhythm section, bassist Flea and drummer Chad Smith be the stars of the show.  Keidis has never been much of a singer, but that’s not his role in this band, he’s more of a rhythm to vocals translator.

This is not the best Chili Peppers album ever, but this is a band that hits it out of the park only one or two times per album anyway, and in that sense this album ranks in the upper third of the band’s oevre.

Those of you who are fans of Wilco can stream their new album, The Whole Love, here.   My sense after one time through is that it’s very good.