[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Alina Simone
—Oops I Did it Again
Alina Simone’s version of “Oops I Did It Again” makes you realize just how sad Britney Spears must have been singing this.
I have never loved baseball more than I do right now. Thank you Omar Infante. Thank you Miami.
Don’t Bend, ascend.
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
—EMA - 'Kind Heart'
Ok, ok we get it. 2011 is over. But the jams (oh! the jams!) live on. Just two more songs until we stop looking back at the year that was and look forward to the year that is.
EMA, Erika M. Anderson formerly of the otherworldly defunct Gowns, released her debut album, “Past Life Martyred Saints”, to much huzzah! and we loved every moment. But our favorite track that came from the mouth behind those bangs was the B-side of The Grey Ship single, a sixteen minute cover of Robert Johnson’s Kind Hearted Woman. Anderson wrings every last drop of emotion from her body (and guitar) like a washcloth and hangs it out to dry in the sub-zero cold leaving it to gasp for breath as it freezes solid.
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
—Zola Jesus - Run me out (acoustic PTP version)
Have you forgotten about 2011 already? We haven’t just yet.
Zola Jesus saw her music stock rise exponentially with the release of Conatus and running her siren pipes tirelessly around the world on tour. But it was her acoustic rendition of Stridulum standout track “Run Me Out” from her label’s, Sacred Bones, record store day release Todo Muere Volume 1 that kept us breathless every time it crackled and popped through our speakers last year.
Fucked Up’s David Comes to Life is bursting at the seams with epic triple guitar tracks, but our favorite cut, and the third in our series of favorite jams from 2011, is the album opener “Queen of Hearts” that sets the tone for the elaborate four act rock opera (yes, opera) that unfolds over the next hour and a half.
If You Let Me Be There Again
Future Islands - “The Great Fire”
The next track in our series of our favorite tracks of 2011 is another heartbreaker featuring Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner. Her duet with fellow Baltimore natives Future Islands, The Great Fire, made us realize that sometimes we should just keep our mouths shut and enjoy the silence; oh, that spark.
We’re not putting together a “best of” list this year; you can read about that all over the internet already. But then again you probably already knew how awesome the new Drake and Danny Brown records are and how the latest from Zola Jesus, Grouper, John Maus, Wolves in the Throne Room and Gil Scott-Heron / Jamie xx pale in comparison. Instead we’ve decided to share with you a few of our favorite jams from the past year over the next week and change.
Our first cut is the title track from Baltimore duo Wye Oak’s stunning third full length Civilian. You can bask in the track’s original glory here or have your heart crushed in vocalist/guitarist Jenn Wasner’s fist with the acoustic rendition above.
How you like that new Drake now?
