Michael Toomes

My Top Films, Video Games and Concerts of 2011

Top 10 Films

My film watching habits the last two years has been poor at best.  I’m really going to try to get the theater a bit more next year.  As of today, I’ve only seen ten 2011 films. *Hangs head in shame*.  I still have a long list of things I want to see including: Win Win, The Skin I Live In, 50/50, The Descendants, Certified Copy, Red State, Young Adult, Attack the Block, Drive, etc. None of the ten films are bad and Tintin and The Way Back are the only ones I feel kinda meh about.

1. Midnight In Paris

2. Tree of Life

3. The Girl With A Dragon Tattoo

4. Cave of Forgotten Dreams

5. Bill Cunningham New York

6. Cedar Rapids

7. 13 Assassins

8. The Trip

9. The Adventures of Tintin

10. The Way Back

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Top 9 Video Games 

Looks like I’ve only played nine video games this year. Good news is all of them were good to great.  Even though Jamestown is at the bottom it was a really fun indie title that I’d recommend to any shump fan.  Skyrim and Portal 2 are incredible games however and stand hands and shoulders above the rest.  They are also opposites in a couple of ways.  Skyrim is a massive open world game that while buggy is an amazing time sink in which I’ve put 50+ hours into and I don’t think I’m that close to being done with.  On the other hand Portal 2 was fairly short (probably only put 20-25 hours in for the co-op and single player), but it is so well constructed with such a great story, humor and action that it doesn’t matter that it is short or linear.  Two different ways to make a phenomenal video game. I still plan on playing Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Batman: Arkham City and Dead Space 2.  I’d like to play Zelda: Skyward Sword but I sold my Wii I don’t ever plan on getting another one. And in case you were wondering, I’m burnt out on the Michael Bay franchise of the video game industry, Call of Duty.

1. Skyrim

2. Portal 2

3. Baiston

4. The Witcher 2

5. Payday: The Heist

6. Dead Island

7. Orcs Must Die

8. Renegade Ops

9. Jamestown

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Top 10 Concerts

I’ve seen more shows this year than any other year in my life mostly thanks to the two festivals Primavera Sound 11’ in Barcelona and Hopscotch in Raleigh.  In no particular order here are my ten favorites.

The National - Primavera, Barcelona

The Flaming Lips - Primavera, Barcelona & Hopscotch, Raleigh

Beirut - Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro

M83 - King’s, Raleigh

The Rosebuds - Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro & Hopscotch, Raleigh

Sufjan Stevens - Primavera, Barcelona

Explosions in the Sky - Primavera, Barcelona

Battles - Primavera, Barcelona

Warpaint - Primavera, Barcelona

Rhys Chatham’s Guitar Trio - Hopscotch, Raleigh

Top 30 Songs of the Year - 10-1

10. St. Vincent - Surgeon

Otherworldly guitar riffs from Annie Clark that are shown off every well in this video.

9. Atlas Sound - Angel Is Broken

8. Wilco - One Sunday Morning

Slow paced, quiet and long yet never boring and always beautiful. 

7. Royal Bangs - Silver Chair

5. Wye Oak - Civilian

Sans Andy Stack version of the song in this video. Hard to choose just one track off this album. Civilian, Holy Holy, Dog’s Eyes, Fish and Hot As Day are all worthy.

4. Beirut - The Rip Tide

3. Explosions in the Sky - Last Known Surroundings

Although Take Care, Take Care, Take Care wasn’t the strongest EitS album, there are a couple exceptional songs and this is one of them.

2. Yuck - Shook Down

NSFW vid here too.  I have to imagine this is my most played track over the course of the year as it came out very early in the year and I never stopped listening to it.

1. M83 - Midnight City

80’s synth and shoegaze mashed up into one big powerful track. 

You can find all of these songs of this top 30 plus some honorable mentions in order on this Spotify playlist.

Top 30 Songs of the Year - 20-11

After I compiled the list, I some how forgot to include Destroyer’s Kaputt, so it’s a top 31 now with 20a and 20b.

20a. Generationals - Greenleaf

20b. Destroyer - Kaputt

How could I forget a video like this!  One my favorite music video of the year.

19. I Break Horses - Winter Beats

18. TV on the Radio - Killer Crane

There are a lot worthy tracks of off TVotR’s new album (Second Song, Will Do, etc), but this is the best IMO.

17. Rosebuds - Come Visit Me

Kelly’s lone song as lead vocals happens to be my favorite.  I love Woods and Without a Focus too.

16. Little Scream - The Heron and the Fox

Not that it changes the song that much, but the video is a completely acoustic version of the song filmed inside a car.

15. Phantogram - Don’t Move

Makes you want to do the exact opposite of the song title.

14. Pepper Rabbit - Annexation of Puerto Rico

13. Handsome Furs - What About Us?

David Lynch inspired video that is NSFW.

12. Dodos - Don’t Try And Hide It

Video of the Dodos performing with Neko Case on Fallon.

11. Cut Copy - Need You Now

I’m not a huge Cut Copy fan, but each record they seem to put out at least a song or two that is undeniably catchy and fun.

Top 30 Songs of the Year - 30-21

As promised, my top 30 songs of 2011. Only one song per artist.  Here we go.

30. Cults - Go Outside

I almost want to call this a guilty pleasure the song is so dang catchy. Definitely a contender for song of the summer.

29. Thao & Mirah - Eleven

28. Stephen Malkmus - Brain Gallop

27. Deerhoof - Super Duper Rescue Heads!

Overall I thought their album Deerhoof vs. Evil was one of their weakest, but I do love this song and watching Satomi’s hand gestures.

26. WILD FLAG - Romance

Love me some Mary Timony.

25. Mazzy Star - Lay Myself Down

Mazzy Star is back! 

24. Bill Callahan - Riding For The Feeling

23. Unknown Mortal Orchestra - How Can You Luv Me?

22. Moon Duo - Mazes

Endlessly grooving psych rock

21. Future Islands - Before the Bridge

Top 20 Albums of 2011

I’m pretty sure I’ve listened to more music from this one year than any other year I can remember. I know I’ve seen more live shows this year than ever including two festivals (Primavera in Barcelona and Hopscotch here in Raleigh).  So, I wanted to make sure I did a couple of year end lists for music.  I’m starting off by doing a quick top 20 favorite albums, and then I plan on doing a more extensive top songs list.  I’m putting more weight on singles this year because I found this year to be lacking many great albums, however it is not lacking great songs.  None of these albums seem to stand head and shoulders above the rest.  On any given day I feel like any of the albums in the top 10 could be my number #1 of the year.

20. Destroyer - Kaputt

Cut from a similar cloth as Beck’s Midnight Vultures. Feels more serious than Midnight Vulture yet still plenty of kitschy goodness, sax and backup singers.

19. St. Vincent - Strange Mercy 

18. Future Islands - On the Water

I got hooked big time on Future Islands with their previous album, In Evening Air. Although this one is not as nearly as compelling as In Evening Air, it is still worth a listen.  The deciding factor on whether someone likes Future Islands or not seems to be the vocal, which I have grown to really enjoy.  It’s a shame I missed their live show twice already this year, which I hear is fantastic. 

17. Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Unknown Mortal Orchestra

16. M83 - Midnight City

Some of this year’s best songs are on this album. Midnight City, Intro, Reunion, Claudia Lewis, and Steve McQueen are all amazing songs.  The problem is there are too many throw away tracks and filler in between the great ones.  

15. Wilco - The Whole Love

I wouldn’t call it a complete return to form for Wilco with this album, but it’s pretty close to it.  The bookends on this album, Art of Almost and One Sunday Morning, are 20mins of top notch Wilco that stand above the tracks fall between them.

14. TV on the Radio - Nine Types of Light

13. Generationals - Actor-Castor

I was introduced to the Generationals thanks to Hopscotch where I watched them play a packed White Collar Crime and had the entire place dancing.  Fun album, very catchy. I’d be surprised if these guys didn’t blow next album.

12. I Break Horses - Hearts

Wonderful debut album and some really nice shoegaze.

11. Little Scream - The Golden Record

10. Royal Bangs - Flux Outside

I’m trying to spread the word about this album since I have seen it on zero top lists. I love this spastic and often frenetic rock of this Tennessee band.  Then again, maybe it was just made for me.  

9. Explosions in the Sky - Take Care, Take Care, Take Care

More material to soundtrack my life. Continue to be my favorite instrumental post-rock band out there.

8. Yuck - Yuck

7. Atlas Sound - Parallax 

6. Handsome Furs - Sound Kapital

5. The Rosebuds - Loud Planes Fly Low

Giving some local love to The Rosebuds for their deepest/most emotional album to date.  Love it.

4. Battles - Gloss Drop

Even without former “lead man” Tyondai Braxton these guys made another amazing album.  Love their brand of experimental rock and their drummer John Stanier is a machine.

3. Pepper Rabbit - Red Velvet Snow Ball

Just for the sheer number of times I’ve listened straight through this album led me to putting it in the top 3.  This is not a groundbreaking album at all, just one that got its hooks in me and hasn’t let go. Hate that I missed them at Hopscotch, but the conflict with Guided By Voices kept me from going.

2. Beirut - The Rip Tide

Always solid.  Also, played one of my favorite shows of the year at The Cat’s Cradle. 

1. Wye Oak - Civilian

I fell for these guys when I first saw their cover of The Kinks’ Stranger on AV Undercover. She is a great guitarist/vocalist and he plays drums and keyboard at the same time.  For a two piece band, they do some amazing things.  Watch the aforementioned video below.

10 Other Honorable Mentions

Smith Westerns - Dye It Blonde / Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. - It’s A Corporate World / Thurston Moore - Demolished Thoughts / Phantogram - Nightlife EP / Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues / Hooray for Earth - True Loves / The Joy Formidable - The Big Roar / Radiohead - The King of Limbs / Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Mirror Traffic

For Blake

 

 

I wish I could be back in the States right now to be with everyone to celebrate Blake’s life.  I figured I should do something in his memory though since I can’t be present, so I’m writing this.

Throughout college Blake always tried to call me at least 3-4 times a year to catch up even though we hadn’t see each other in a long time with him living in DC and me in Raleigh.  He loved talking about the past and recalling the great times we had in high school.  Admittedly I wasn’t quite as interested in looking back as much as Blake. I feel horrible about it, but the last few times I talked to him I was rather cold to him.  I was more interested in moving forward with life.  I didn’t feel like continuously talking about just the times at high school when I felt like I had moved on to the College life.  I feel so foolish now for not being more responsive to him.  For pushing him away when was just trying to be good friend. Now though, I can’t think of a more appropriate time to look back at the times we all had with Blake because I know I had some great times with him. I know Blake would love to see that we were thinking of those memories.  I’d like to share few here since I can’t be there.

I remember meeting Blake for the first time at New Hanover and immediately hitting it off.  It was in Mrs. Scott’s Geometry class.  We sat next to each other towards the back corner of the class.  It was such a boring class that a lot people just ended up falling asleep, but Blake and I were usually clowning around.  If recall correctly it was Mrs Scott’s class where the legendary Whippedituation (sp?) was created.  A piece a paper that was thought up by Blake and bonded our group of guys together.  Whatever Blake could to get a close group of friends together he would I think and this is just example of it.

There are of little things I can remember Blake doing for me.  Him letting me tell my parents that I was spending the night at his house when we were really staying out all night at a party or I was sneaking out to stay the night with Amy.  His loyalty was unmatched.  You knew you could always count on him. 

He would always insist that he was planning my bachelor’s party.  He had a bet going that I’d be the first to get married in our group of friends and that he was having a bachelor party for me whether I liked it or night.  I of course thought this would be a insane thing to do.  Blake planning a bachelor party would mean a Hangover-esqe night.

I can say for certain Blake had a significant influence on my life.  He was always trying to break me out of my introverted shell.  Get my goodie goodie self to do take more risks and have more fun with life.  To go out with friends and have a good time.  Blake was the one to give me my first beer at a high school party.  I remember this very fondly as he was showing me how to live the life in high school.  To be young and enjoy it.  To open up a little.  I can’t thank him enough for that.

Again, Blake was the one in the group of high school friends that always try to keep everyone in contact.  I know he would want us all to get together, a high school reunion of sorts, and talk about all of great memories we had together.  That’s why it pains me that I won’t be able to make it.  I hope that in writing this it might spark some conversation or just add to stories that will be told. I really hope everyone does get together to relive those memories and keep them living.

Beast of Burden, Aviators, The Heritage Club, Chinese Buffets, BW3, Nigeria, Ciggy, Whippedituation, Parties at Wes’…….  If you got a short description of a memory you have of Blake please keep it going on the Facebook comments.