Best Songs of 2011, Vol. VI – The Vaccines, Black Lips, Vetiver, Bon Iver, Beirut, Blackbird Blackbird, The Postelles, Jeff The Brotherhood

Even though 2011 is officially history, we still have plenty of ‘best of 2011’ music posts in the works to be published in the coming weeks. For the past couple of months, we’ve been digging through our post archives and putting together Best Songs of 2011 mixes by month. This installment is focused on the first month of summer – June 2011.

June of 2011 was an exciting month for new music, whether it was the riveting new album from The Vaccines, the latest drop from the Black Lips, the rocking new album from Vetiver or the game-changing self-titled LP from indie superstars, Bon Iver. As with each of the installments for the best songs of 2011, we start it all off with the top No. 1 songs for each week, as determined by IRC listeners.

The first No. 1 song for the month of June – as determined by the number of times listeners’ streamed and downloaded tracks we posted that week – goes to the spectacular lead single off The Vaccines‘ latest album, What Did You Expect From The Vaccines? The enthralling, summertime-appropriate track, “If You Wanna,” just nudged out the band’s other single, “Norgaard,” which scored the No. 2 slot, making it a good week for The Vaccines – one of our favorite bands of 2011.

“If You Wanna”The Vaccines from What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?

“Norgaard”The Vaccines from What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?

For the second week of June, the much anticipated new album from Black Lips, Arabia Mountain, saw the release of the first single, “Modern Art,” which beat out No. 2 and No. 3 tracks, by radar band, City and Colour, and breakout band, Almost Free, for the No. 1 spot. Listen to the entire Top 10 Songs list for the second week of June to hear tracks from Cults, The Postelles, Dawes and others. See more about those bands further down in this post.

“Modern Art” Black Lips from Arabia Mountain

“Fragilebird” City and Colour from Little Hell

“Don’t Bother Me Now – Almost Free from In/Out (self-released)

By Week Three in June, the new single, “Can’t You Tell” from Vetiver‘s new album, The Errant Charm, took off like wild fire after we featured it in that week’s Best New Releases, capturing the No. 1 spot on the Top 10 Songs. Vetiver, who’ve definitely had their blogger and mainstream music press accolades over the past few years, beat out bands most “indie” lovers haven’t even heard of: 13& God, Last Dinosaurs, I Only Date Models, The Black Atlantic, Bodies of Water, and others. The Errant Charm is one of the best albums of 2011. No doubt.

“Can’t You Tell”Vetiver from The Errant Charm

Listen to all of the fabulous new tracks from that week’s Top 10 list – based on IRC listener’s favorite songs. Some of the other top tracks of that week are also posted further down in the second half of this long post (we sort of have a reputation for the long posts with lots of songs, and it turns out, people eat it up because it’s simple, loaded with great music and easily accessible.

We hate sites that make it so difficult to get to the music, or that make you click ten times to read one post, or that don’t make it easy to download free and legal MP3s (hint: right click on the song link; and click ‘Save As’). We didn’t want to do that. While including a few ads was a hot debate, and done reluctantly, the simple truth is there has to be a way to pay the costs to run the site, and trust us, the earnings from ads are not anywhere near what people might think.

One of the most gorgeous albums of 2011 got such an ugly album cover - Bon Iver

During the fourth week of June, 2011, the most significant single of the entire month, if not the whole of summer, “Calgary,” from the genius minds of indie’s newest darlings, Bon Iver, rocketed easily to the No. 1 spot for the week, beating out the nearest competitors, Beirut and Peter Bjorn and John, who captured No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, with their latest singles. One of the cool things about this week’s Top 10 is the fact that the top two tracks are names of places – “Calgary,” and Beirut’s “East Harlem.”

Bon Iver catapulted out of the ‘indie’ realm, if you will, to worldwide recognition after they being nominated for a Grammy in 2007. It’s safe to say that the nucleus of Bon Iver, Justin Vernon, is one of the most accomplished songwriters and musicians of our time. In live performances, Vernon is joined by Michael Noyce, Sean Carey, and Matthew McCaughan.

In 2007, after spending three months in a cabin in the mountains writing and recording the brilliant For Emma, Forever Ago, Vernon self released the album to the world. Within weeks, Bon Iver was one of the hottest DIY musicians on indie blogs and music sites across the web. Within months, Vernon was being called a genius. The follow-up to the Grammy nominated For Emma, Forever Ago, the ironically self-titled sophomore album, Bon Iver, released in Week Four of June 2011, is easily one of the top five albums of the year.

“Calgary”Bon Iver from Bon Iver

“East Harlem”Beirut from The Rip Tide – out August 30th

“Breaker Breaker”Peter Bjorn and John from single

 

Because week one of June shared days with the end of May, we technically ended up with five Top 10 Songs list for the month. The last few days of June shared a music week with the days leading right up to July 4. For that week, the 2011 breakout band Blackbird Blackbird took the No. 1 spot with the drippy, syrupy chillwave track, “Sunspray,” totally appropriate for the end of June and beginning of July.

Another ‘really indie’ band, Black Whales, reached the No. 2 spot with their track “Lately,” and coming in at No. 3 was another relatively unknown band, Shabazz Palaces, followed at No. 4 by The Island of Misfit Toys. Remarkably, all of these tracks beat out the new single from Julian Casablancas (The Strokes) titled “Rave On” from the Buddy Holly tribute album, Rave On Buddy Holly. See more about these tracks further down in this post.

“Sunspray”Blackbird Blackbird from Summer Heart

“Lately”Black Whales from Shangri-La Indeed

“Infinitum”Shabazz Palaces from Black Up

Listen to the entire Top 10 Songs playlist for the last week of June, and part of the first week of July 2011.

The Other Top Tracks of June 2011: Kids on a Crime Spree, Robert Pollard, My Morning Jacket, Son Lux, The Postelles, The Coathangers and Many More

The following are some other best songs of the first week of June, including some of the Top 10 tracks. A surprise IRC hit from the band Mando Diao climbed up to take the No. 3 spot for that week. The Oakland Spector-ian band Kids on a Crime Spree broke out of obscurity in 2011 with the mini sugary hit, “Sweet Tooth,” that is such an infectious pop track you wish it wouldn’t end as soon as it does. Following KOACS, the one and only Robert Pollard rounded out the Top 5 with his lead single, “In A Circle” from the LP, Lord of the Birdcage.

“Dance with Somebody”Mando Diao from Give Me Fire!

“Sweet Tooth”Kids On a Crime Spree from We Love You So Bad

“In A Circle” – Robert Pollard from Lord of the Birdcage

The tracks for the Top 5 of Week One all came from that week’s Best New Releases. But there also a lot of other great tracks from that week that landed on the bottom half of the Top 10, including awesome songs from Seapony, Son Lux, and Miwa Gemini and Ocote Soul Sounds. It was a little bit surprising that the title track from My Morning Jacket’s latest album, Circuital, only reached No. 8.

Seapony delivers a Cults meets The Vaccines style of pure pop delight with “Dreaming,” and Son Lux delivers the Beach Boys-influenced experimental electronic pop of “Rising,” complete with orchestrated infusions, harmonic choruses, sound effects, flute interludes. Perhaps if “Rising” were a bit more engaging, and had a hook to it, it would have placed higher on the Top 10 Songs mix for the first week of June.

Listen to all the top ten songs for week one of June.

“Circuital”My Morning Jacket from Circuital

“Dreaming”Seapony from Go With Me

“Rising”Son Lux from We Are Rising


Week Two – June 5 – June 11, 2011: The Wooden Birds, The Postelles, Ladybug Transistor, The Coathangers

The super duo The Postelles delivered one of the top summer songs of 2011 with the release of the single, “123 Stop” from their self-titled debut album. The bottom half of the Top 10 for the second week of June features some spectacular tracks from bands like The Rosebuds, Dawes, Ladybug Transistor, and The Coathangers.

While the Dawes’ track is a bit too country-ish to make it on our permanent MP3 playlists in iTunes, the tracks from longtime electro post punk band Ladybug Transistor, and the raw, garage rockers, The Coathangers – a new band added to the growing list of garage rockers – released their new album, Larceny & Old Lace, much to our delight in June and it almost immediately went into our ‘favorite albums of 2011’ playlist. We definitely would have liked to see The Postelles and The Coathangers a bit higher on the Top 10, but again, it’s our listeners who decide the weekly Top Ten Songs.

Listen to all of Week Two of June 2011’s Top 10 Songs.

Please note: The Top 10 Songs page – which contains literally hundreds of great songs from 2011 to download for free – will be moving to an archive page for 2011 so that we can start the 2012 Top 10 Songs lists, which will be coming soon. Also, you can access and download hundreds of songs from 2010’s Top 10 Songs page here.

“123 Stop”The Postelles from The Postelles

“Trailer Park Boneyard”The Coathangers from Larceny & Old Lace

Other posts published during Week Two include the weekly Best New Releases (with Black Lips, Givers, Arctic Monkeys) our coverage of the annual BFD Festival in Mt. View, California (adjacent to Google headquarters), featuring The Strokes, Snoop Dog, and, of course, Bonnaroo 2011. Here are some tracks from each post which you can see by clicking on the festival name link.

“Taken For A Fool” The Strokes from Angles (2011)

“Gin and Juice”Snoop Dog from Doggy Style (2009)

“Enzymes” The Freelance Whales, single 12/10

“Light of the Morning” Band of Skulls from Baby Darling Doll Face Honey [+digital booklet]

“Revival” – Deerhunter from Halcyon Digest

Plus, that week we also presented our post-Sasquatch Festival coverage, highlighting Day Three, with observations and reports from the Sasquatch site in the badlands of central Washington state. Features music from Sasquatch headliners, including Modest Mouse, The Flaming Lips, The Drums, Tokyo Police Club, Beach House, Yeasayer, and many others.

“Dramamine” Modest Mouse from This Is A Long Drive For Someone With Nothing To Think About (1996)

“Breakneck Speed” Tokyo Police Club from Champ (2010)

“Norway” Beach House from Teen Dream (2010)

“Ambling” Yeasayer from Odd Blood (2010)

I Only Date Models was one of our 7 Overseas Bands You Gotta Hear

Week Three – June 2011: Last Dinosaurs, I Only Date Models, The Black Atlantic, Bodies of Work and More

The entire Top 10 Songs mixtape for the third week of June (June 12 – June 18) 2011 is one our favorite Top 10 mixes of the entire summer. It features an awesome variety of keeper tracks from spectacular bands that we guarantee most people have never heard of: the funky electro dance pop of 13 & God; the catchy, melodic post rock of “As Far As Your Concerned,” by an IRC Band You Gotta Hear, Brisbane, Australia’s Last Dinosaurs; the potential college radio hit, “This Ends Tomorrow,” from another IRC Band You Gotta Hear, Nottingham, England quartet I Only Date Models.

They were followed by the wonderfully mellow folk art song, “Fragile Meadow” by The Black Atlantic, from Groningen, Netherlands, plus, the London band, Bodies of Work, also connected with listeners thanks to the title track single from their EP, Flyers. Each of these bands were featured in our June 13th post, 7 Overseas Bands You Gotta Hear.

Earlier in this post, the No. 1 track for the third week of June, Vetiver’s “Can’t You Tell,” was highlighted, and again was just more evidence that IRC listeners – who pick the Top 10 songs each week by the number of downloads and streams – demonstrate a consistency of picking the best songs that we chose to post in any given week, often centered around the weekly and popular series, Best New Releases.

“As Far As Your Concerned”Last Dinosaurs from Back From The Dead

“This Ends Tomorrow”I Only Date Models from This Ends Tomorrow

“Fragile Meadow”The Black Atlantic from Reverence for Fallen Trees

The response to the first two installments of 7 Bands You Gotta Hear was so strong that we are inclined to run a series of “7” playlist mixes this year: 7 Bands, 7 Albums, 7 Songs, and so on. Aside from the obvious implications, there is just something magical about the number 7. Both I Only Date Models and The Black Atlantic had two songs in the week’s Top 10, which served as even more evidence that they were popular with IRC listeners. Many of the bands from the ‘7 Bands’ series received their first significant, high visibility mention online via IRC.

Listen to the full Top 10 playlist for Week Three of June 2011 with additional tracks from I Only Date Models, Vetiver, Bodies of Work, The Black Atlantic and others. It’s such an awesome playlist, especially because it contains superb songs from bands almost no one has heard of it, which always makes it just that much more special.

Other posts during Week Three of June 2011 include:

Best New Releases – Vetiver, Woods, 13 & God, Thee Oh Sees, Sebadoh, King Post Kitsch, Joel Plaskett, Sebadoh, The Qualia

Great Indie Cover Songs, Vol. IX: The Black Keys, The Golden Bloom, Ruby Isle, Shearwater, Franz Ferdinand, Nada Surf

 

Week Four & Five of June 2011: Butcher The Bar, Priory, Bobby, Diva, White Hills

For Week Four, there were the top three tracks from that week’s Top 10 Songs – Bon Iver, Beirut and Peter Bjorn and John – that we featured earlier in this post, and which were all tied to singles from albums that had dropped that week – easily, one of the best week’s of the year for people who dig atmospheric, experimental, introspective “indie” music. Other songs that made the fourth week’s Top 10 include other bands to take note of, including Butcher The Bar, Priory, and Bobby.

“Bobby”Butcher The Bar from For Each A Future Tethered

“Sore Spores” – Bobby from Bobby

“Lady of Late”Priory from Priory

Other posts for Week Four (June 19 – June 25):

The S-25 Mix: 2011 Tracks by Beirut, Bon Iver, Peter Bjorn and John, The Vaccines, Should, Starfu*ker, Sleepy Vikings, Son Lux, Secrets

Best New Releases – Bon Iver, 1,2,3, Iceage, JEFF the Brotherhood, Paleo, Ty Segall, Viva Voce, Cassettes Won’t Listen, FM Belfast

Best New Releases, Part Two: Butcher The Bar, Centro-Matic, Bobby, Wonderful, Rubblebucket, Grown-Ups, Diva, Priory, Grieves

For the final partial week of June until to the 4th of July, check out the Top 10 and these other posts:

S-25 Mix: Songs for Summer 2011, Vol. I – Blackbird Blackbird, Brian Wilson, AM Syndicate, Apples in Stereo, Kinks, Beach Fossils

Best New Releases – Tribute to Buddy Holly, Black Whales, Beirut, Handsome Furs, Pillars & Tongues, The Night Beats, Quiet Lights

Recent Popular Posts:

Happy New Year 2012 Playlist Mix – The Walkmen, Camera Obscura, Scattered Trees, The Hush Now, FM Belfast, The Dodos

Best Songs of 2011, Vol. IV – The Kills, The Raveonettes, Panda Bear, Times New Viking, Scattered Trees, I’m From Barcelona

Best Songs of 2011, Vol. IV – The Kills, The Raveonettes, Panda Bear, Times New Viking, Scattered Trees, I’m From Barcelona

pandabearmusic
Noah Lennox, aka Panda Bear, and member of Animal Collective, released his sophomore solo LP in 2011

 

If you have been following the Best Songs of 2011 series, you know that we are in the midst of creating a total of 12 volumes of the best songs of 2011 – one for each month of the year. Unlike most ‘best songs’ lists, we are creating each volume chronologically by the month in which the songs were first featured on IRC.

So far, January, February and March have been completed (click the month to access each mixtape), and the number of visits to those mixes has been impressive – over 115,000 so far. The best songs are based on which tracks all of you listened to and downloaded the most for the month in question.  Therefore, this is truly a Listeners’ Choice music series.

Now it’s time to highlight the month of April, which saw fantastic releases from artists and bands like The Kills, The Raveonettes, Panda Bear, Foo Fighters, Crystal Stilts, Wild Nothing, Arctic Monkeys, Beach Fossils, to name a few.

This first batch of tracks represents the four No. 1 weekly songs for April 2011. Not surprisingly, many of the albums from which the Best Songs of 2011 originate from will also appear in IRC’s Best Albums of 2011 series starting next month. The spectacular garage rock duo, The Kills, captured the first No. 1 song spot for April with the track, “Satellite.”

The No. 1 song for the second week of April easily went to “Surfer’s Hymn” off the long-awaited sophomore solo album from Panda Bear, Tomboy. For the third week of April, the lesser known band Tuneyards took the top slot with their single, “Bizness,” and the French Horn Rebellion prevailed in the last week of the month with their new track, “This Moment.”

“Satellite” The Kills from Blood Pressures

“Surfer’s Hymn” Panda Bear from Tomboy

“Bizness” Tuneyards from Whokill

“This Moment”The French Horn Rebellion from The Infinite Music of the French Horn Rebellion

thekillsmusic

Early April – The Kills, The Raveonettes, Scattered Trees, Maritime, Panda Bear, Foo Fighters, Crystal Stilts

The Kills are one of our favorite female/male garage rock duos. In fact, we can only hope they keep going well beyond the 10-year mark they achieved last year. While The White Stripes are officially disbanded, it’s easy for us to say that The Kills’ are our favorite still-active girl/guy rock duo. The Kills’ latest album, Blood Pressures, released last April, was one of our favorite albums of 2011 from the start, and eight months later (wow, Old Man Time, you move pretty fast for an old guy). It was no surprise that two of the songs from the LP were two of the top three songs for the first week of April.

And if that wasn’t enough for lovers of garage rock duos, the Danish duo The Raveonettes also dropped their latest album, Raven In The Grave, roughly the same time as The Kills. The fact that all the Top Ten Songs are picked by the number of plays and downloads makes the 10 list even more special.  Other new singles from Scattered Trees, Maritime, Cold Cave, Glasvegas, Code Pie, and Wolf Ram Heart also made it into the Top Ten Songs, and thus the top songs for April 2011.

“Satellite”The Kills from Blood Pressures

“Recharge and Revolt”The Raveonettes from Raven In The Grave

“DNA” The Kills from Blood Pressures

Scattered%2BTrees
Scattered Trees

Scattered Trees are a band that crossed our radar early in 2011 with the lead track, “A Conversation About Death on New Years Eve,” not really because of the catchy title (we try to avoid falling for gimmicks), but the fact that it’s a great song by a band not many music lovers have heard of. Also, The Raveonettes second chart-ranking single, “Forget That You’re Young,” rounded out the Top 5 of the first full week of April’s Top Ten Songs mix.  Click here to hear the other five tracks.

“A Conversation About Death on New Year’s Eve”Scattered Trees from Sympathy

“Forget That You’re Young” – The Raveonettes from Raven In The Grave

Listen to more songs from Maritime, Cold Cave, Glasvegas, Code Pie and Wolf Ram Heart.

April, Week Two: Panda Bear Release; Coachella and Record Store Day

pandabearApril 10th – April 16th

This was a big week in music, in addition to Best New Releases from artists like Panda Bear, Foo Fighters and Crystal Stilts, there was the massive preparation that went into preparing and posting IRC’s guide to the 4th annual Record Store Day.

We literally reviewed many dozens, perhaps over one hundred, special RSD-only limited edition vinyls released by bands ranging from Radiohead and Foo Fighters to Foster The People and The Rolling Stones. And if all of that wasn’t exciting enough for music lovers, the second week of April was also all about Coachella, so it was another excuse to create a mixtape of some of our favorite artists at Coachella 2011. Read our mini-rant about the commercialization of music festivals at the end of this post. Notwithstanding, it was yet another outstanding year for Coachella; and each year, they’re getting better at every aspect of the festival, from the line-up to the sanitation – both are key to a festival’s success.

Listen to/download IRC’s Coachella Mix).

After a long, long wait for fans, Animal Collective founding member Noah Lennox (aka, Panda Bear), released his latest solo album, Tomboy, an LP that we’ve been enjoying considerably, and so have many of you. Therefore, it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that two tracks we featured from Tomboy took the top spots, followed by Foo Fighters, Crystal Stilts, Ghost Heart, Holy Ghost, Agnes Obel, Mazes, The White Stripes and The Beastie Boys. All based on which songs you guys play and download the most for the week.

“Surfer’s Hymn” Panda Bear from Tomboy

“Last Night At The Jetty”Panda Bear from Tomboy

“Back and Forth”Foo Fighters from Wasting Light

“Through The Floor” – Crystal Stilts from In Love With Oblivion

“Wilderness”Ghost Heart from The Tunnel

Listen to more Top Ten tracks for the week of April 10-16.

On the same Saturday that Coachella (get the Coachella mix) was in full swing, bands, labels and music lovers – especially vinyl collectors – were partaking in the fourth annual Record Store Day. Not only was it the largest RSD in as far as the number of participating record stores across the U.S. and around the world, RSD 2011 also saw more limited edition vinyls and other limited releases, from reissues to special imports and compilations to cover songs.

On Record Store Day, the iconic Beastie Boys, who helped bring hip-hop to a larger worldwide audience 20 years ago, released a new track, “Make Some Noise” from their latest album, Hot Sauce Committee, Pt. 2 (listen/download the full mix here).  The track just barely missed the Top 10 list for that week. Another RSD single was the cheerily, upbeat indie pop of “Plastic Flowers” (from The Wake) by Beach Fossils limited edition vinyl that the band split with Wild Nothing.

“Make Some Noise”The Beastie Boys from Hot Sauce Committee Pt 2

“Plastic Flowers” (The Wake) – Beach Fossils from split vinyl Beach Fossils/Wild Nothing

“Gruesome Castle” (The Wake) – Wild Nothing from split vinyl Beach Fossils/Wild Nothing

“Don’t Sit Down Because I Moved Your Chair”Arctic Monkeys from RSD single

Get more singles from limited edition vinyls released on Record Store Day in RSD Songs, Vol. One and Vol. Two (Cover Songs).

April 17th – April 23rd

The Top Ten for the third week of April highlighted some talented new bands who elevated their profile, and expanded their fan base, with some note-worthy new albums from which originated standout singles, including the No. 1 track “Bizness” from Tuneyards, followed by The Head and the Heart‘s first significant single from the Subpop Records‘ re-released, self-titled debut, “Lost in My Mind.” They also took the No. 4 slot with another track from the album, “Chasing A Ghost.”  In 2009, the Seattle band self-released their debut, and it caught on, selling some 10,000 copies in just a few months. It’s fair to say that The Head and the Heart, thanks in part to being scooped up by Subpop, really broke out as a serious indie folk-pop band in 2011.

Not far behind at No. 3 for the third week of April was the incredibly catchy, melodic indie pop-rock of I’m From Barcelona, a Swedish band which we have been enjoying since the 29 member band released their first EP and LP in 2006. Ever since then, the IFB collective has continued to turn out material which has evolved, and shown just how wonderfully eclectic the band’s music offerings are.

“Lost in My Mind”The Head and the Heart from The Head and the Heart

“Get In Line” I’m From Barcelona from Forever Today

“Chasing A Ghost” (Chapel Session) – The Head and the Heart from  The Head and the Heart

“Dirty D”Futurebirds from Futurebirds EP

“Model Son” – Heavenly States from Oui Camera Oui

“Fly Baby, Fly” The High Llamas from Talahomi Way

Ohio band Times New Viking got their name from the font typeface Times New Roman

For the final week of April, The French Horn Rebellion, a breakout band in 2011, grab the No. 1 spot, as featured with the other number one’s at the beginning of the post. Following closely behind at No. 2 was the newest irresistible single from Times New Viking, a band that is really one of our favorites to emerge over the past few years. Their track “Ever Falling In Love” from their album, Dancer Equired, was neck-and-neck with the FHR for the No. 1 spot, easily making it one of the best songs of the month. The band’s 2008 album, Rip It Off, one of our favorites of that year, received a 8 out of 10 from NME and even reached No. 17 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart. New York via Philadelphia indie rock band Matt Pond PA returns with somewhat of a new sound on their lead single, “Love To Get Used,” from the EP, Spring Fools, followed by another emerging 2011 band, Painted Palms and the ever-reliable The Globes.

“Ever Falling In Love”Times New Viking from Dancer Equired

“Love To Get Used” Matt Pond PA from Spring Fools EP

“All of Us” Painted Palms from Canopy EP

“Stay Awake” The Globes from Future Songs

“Sex Karma” Of Montreal from thecontrollersphere

More Singles from April – Cold Cave, Scattered Trees, Maritime, Cursed Arrows, Glasvegas

The Top Ten Songs lists are awesome – and visitor determined based on streams and downloads – but there are plenty of other great songs from April playlist mixes that don’t make the Top 10, but do make the Top 20 and Top 30 – if we were to expand the Top Ten. Of course, the first recommendation we’d make is to listen to more mixtapes from April if you enjoy the tracks featured so far in this special Best Songs of 2011, Vol. IV mixtape. In fact, you can access all April mixes below. But first, let’s check out more highlighted tracks from mixes for the first half of April. Some of these will surely include tracks that many of you have never heard before.

“Great Pan Is Dead”Cold Cave from Cherish the Light Years (Bonus Track)

“A Conversation About Death on New Year’s Eve”Scattered Trees from Sympathy

“Paraphernalia” Maritime from Human Hearts

“Death Rattle Blues”Cursed Arrows from The Madness of Crowds

“The World Is Yours”Glasvegas from Euphoric/Heartbreak

…Many others coming up…still have May through December. Listen to and download Best Songs of 2011 – January through March.

Best Songs of 2011, Vol. III – Beady Eye, The Strokes, The Dodos, Beach Fossils, Papercuts, Starfu*ker, Thom Yorke + Four Tet

beady-eye-different-gear-still-speeding
Beady Eye's debut album was one of the most anticipated albums of the year.

It’s so cool that volumes one and two of the Best Songs of 2011 mixtape series have been such a huge hit – literally tens of thousands of page views in just a few weeks. Today’s mixtape marks the third volume of the top 2011 songs series. If you didn’t have a chance yet, it’s definitely worth checking out Volume One (for songs released in January) and Volume Two (February).

There have already been about 70 of the best MP3 songs of 2011 posted in the first two volumes, but we think this one, Vol. III, is particularly fantastic. We urge you to listen to it all the way through, from the first song to the last. By the time you’re finished, you may agree with us that IRC regular listeners and visitors from around the world – literally millions of people – have stellar taste in music. It’s so much more special because the songs are Listener Choice; we’ve already played this entire mixtape, focusing on the top songs on IRC for the month of March 2011, three or four times in just the past week. (Read more about the process for this series at the end of this post)

So, here it is, volume three of the Best Songs of 2011, highlighting the month of March.

 beady eye music
Beady Eye is simply the reincarnation of 1990's super group Oasis.

Beady Eye Premieres; Takes No. 1 Spot

In March, the much anticipated debut album from Beady Eye was released. In case you don’t know, Beady Eye is the new band featuring former members of one of the most popular bands of the 1990′s – the Brit pop sensation Oasis. Beady Eye is comprised of former Oasis band members, Liam Gallahger, guitarist Gem Archer, and drummer, Chris Sharrock, plus Ride frontman Andy Bell.  The band released their debut, Different Gear, Still Speeding on March 3rd to fairly good reviews. It’s definitely in our Top 50 albums of 2011. And, for the first week of March, the band’s lead single, “The Roller,” easily made the No. 1 spot on IRC’s weekly Top Ten Songs mixtape.  The second single, “Four Letter Word,” took the No. 3 spot on the Top Ten, only outdone by the fantastic single from Papercuts, “.

“The Roller” Beady Eye from Different Gear, Still Speeding

“Four Letter Word” Beady Eye from Different Gear, Still Speeding

papercutsband

We’re just getting warmed up. March 2011 was a particularly good month for new music. We love the echoy vocals and pop perfection of the Papercuts‘ “Do What You Will.” We also included song No. 4 (DeVotchKa), 5 (Raised By Tigers), and 6 (Easter Island) because this set of songs flow so well together as a sah-weet mini-mix.

“Do What You Will” Papercuts from Fading Parade

“100 Other Lovers” DeVotchKa from 100 Other Lovers

“Song for Bob” Raised By Tigers from Reunion Parts

“Proud” Easter Island from Better Things


After we were the first music site to debut the music of Los Angeles songwriter and producer Paul Bessenbacher, aka, Opus Orange, IRC readers ate up his songs, and his success started to creep its way into other crannies of the vast independent music world.

Since his fantastic response from listeners on IRC in 2010, Bessenbacher continued to send us new tracks in 2011, and the listeners continued to give his songs big thumbs up.

“Crystal Clear” Opus Orange, single 2011

The next trio of tracks were the top three songs for the second week of March, according to the number of plays and downloads. Not a bad line-up of songs from Beach Fossils, Starfu*ker and Jamaica.

Do you agree the order of the songs, with the Beach Fossils‘ “Calyer” coming out on top?

“Calyer” Beach Fossils from What A Pleasure

“Death As A Fetish” Starfu*ker from Reptilians

“Jericho” Jamaica from No Problem

The Dodos and The Strokes Battle For Top of Top Ten Lists

For the third week of March, it was a virtual toe-to-toe battle for the top four spots on that week’s Top Ten Songs mixtape playlist between alternative rock heavy-hitters The Strokes, and the indie rock sensation, The Dodos. And, The Dodos just eeked past the world-famous The Strokes to take the No. 1 and No. 2 spots, pushing the latter back to the No. 3 and No. 4 positions. It was our own little mini epic for the weekly Top Ten Songs list, but clearly, in the end, there were just a few more listeners who played and downloaded the new Dodos’ singles than there were for The Strokes. We only wish The Dodos’ terrific album, No Color, had a more attractive cover.

Sidebar – Album Cover Art in the Digital Age:  Why artists, bands, and even labels, don’t put a little more imagination and consideration into so many album covers is puzzling, and even annoying, especially if you’re throwing down the $16 for the CD. Afterall,  the album cover art is still an important factor, even in a time when millions of music listeners may never even see the album cover art. Still, it’s part of the gig, and why we make sure to always include album cover art in our posts, with a preference for album covers that have had some real thought put into them.

“Black Night” The Dodos from No Color (Bonus Version)

“Don’t Stop” (with Neko Case) – The Dodos from No Color

“Taken For A Fool” The Strokes from Angles

“Machu Picchu” The Strokes from Angles

Noah and the Whale rounded out the top 5 songs of the third week of March’s Top Ten Songs playlist with the semi-annoyingly titled “L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.” Thankfully, the song is killer enough to forgive the band for making us type that out twice. (CAPS remain annoying.) “Life Goes On” is definitely deserving of the No. 5 spot, especially since it held its own in the mix with The Strokes and The Dodos, and other outstanding tracks from Idle Hands (“Socialite Death Square”), Generationals (“Greenleaf”), and Yuck (“Get Away”), among others.

“L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.” Noah and the Whale from The Last Night on Earth

With the amount of terrific albums, and singles, that were advanced or released during the month of March, looking back, it’s clear that March was one of the best months for music in 2011.  There were The Strokes, Beady Eye, The Dodos, Beach Fossils, and many others, and then along came new material from Thom Yorke. In fact, the second we posted Yorke’s single, “Ego,” in collaboration with Four Tet and Burial, it started getting a crazy number of plays. That made the song almost a shoe-in for the No.1 spot of the week, which is in fact what happened.

“Ego” Thom Yorke + Burial + Four Tet

“Ego” beat out The Strokes for the No. 1 spot, even though it was the week of the official release of The Strokes’ much anticipated album, Angles. Yet, the most popular first advanced single from Angles, “Under Cover of Darkness,” outdid the newer, Strokes’ advanced singles (see them here) to take the No. 2 top song spot.

“Under Cover of Darkness” The Strokes from Angles

An advanced single from the anticipated May release of Cults‘ debut album featured in the Fresh Tracks mix landed the No. 3 spot, followed at No. 4 with “Mirror,”  from the two-song project by Yorke, Four Tet and Burial.  The Swedish indie pop band, Acid House Kings, rounded out the Top 5 with “Are We Lovers Or Are We Friends?” – one of the poppiest tracks of 2011.

“You Know What I Mean” Cults

“Mirror” Thom Yorke + Burial + Four Tet

“Are We Lovers Or Are We Friends?” Acid House Kings from Music Sounds Better with You

Since March and April share one of the release weeks right down the middle, we’re actually including the top tracks for what we refer to as Week 4.5 of March 2011.  It’s also very convenient because it gives us another excuse to feature Broken Bells‘ single, “Windows,” from the band’s follow-up to the splendid 2010 self-titled debut. By a huge margin, the song captured the No. 1 spot, betting No. 2 clinchers Generationals‘ “Greenleaf.” Both Broken Bells and Generationals were up against some stiff competition coming from Foster The People, who managed to score the No. 3 and No. 5 positions of the week, with two advanced singles, and Peter Bjorn and John‘s “Second Chance,” which split the difference with FTP for the No. 4 spot of the week. See the section below for the No. 6 to No. 10 tracks.

“Windows” Broken Bells from Meyrin Fields EP

“Pumped Up Kicks” Foster The People from Foster The People EP

“Second Chance” Peter Bjorn And John from Gimme Some

“Helena Beat” Foster The People from Torches – out May 24th

 

The Lower Half of the Top Ten – March 2011

This next batch of songs is a faster way of presenting a bunch of other top tracks from last March, mainly consisting of tracks that ranked in the lower half of each of the weekly Top Ten Songs mixes for the month. But don’t let that throw you off – there are all kinds of spectacular songs below that are easily among the Best Songs of 2011. What will be interesting is to see which of all of the songs in this post IRC listeners and visitors play and download the most in the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned; we will be posting all the results in follow-up posts around the holidays.

“100 Other Lovers” DeVotchKa from 100 Other Lovers

“Song for Bob” Raised By Tigers from Reunion Parts

“Proud” Easter Island from Better Things

“Look Back, Look Up” Codes in the Clouds from As The Spirit Wanes

“Esa Nena Nunca Regreso” Davila 666 from Tan Bajo

“Breadcrumb Trail” Buried Beds from Tremble The Sails

“He Gets Me High” Dum Dum Girls from He Gets Me High EP

“Rattle Your Bones” Black Whales from Rattle Your Bones 7″

“Discoverer” R.E.M. from Collapse Into Now

“The Kite” The Sound Of Growing Up from Drifting EP

wye-oak

“Civilian” Wye Oak from Civilian

“Silbury Sand” Wolf People from Silbury Sand B/W Dry

“Lilly” One In A Googolplex from Lilly/My Sister’s Poem

“Bells Ring” Empress Hotel from Empress Hotel EP

“In My Time” Kurt Vile from Smoke Ring for My Halo

Songs 6-10 for Week 3, March 2011

“Socialite Death Squad” –  The Idle Hands from Life Is Beautiful

“Greenleaf” Generationals from Actor-Caster

“Get Away” Yuck from Yuck

“Stuck on Puzzle” Alex Turner (Arctic Monkeys) from Submarine EP

“Bite of My Soul” The Fleshtones from Brooklyn Sound Solution

Songs 6-10 for Week 4, March 2011

There are so many tracks that we love from the March Top 10 mixes, but this next little set is one of the best, with Fleet Foxes’ awesome change up on “Grown Ocean” and the can’t-get-it-out-of-your-head, incredibly catchy song, “Forever in Armitron” by Boat, followed by the melancholy, “Albatross” from the Wild Beasts and A Lull’s magnificent, semi-masterpiece, “Weapons of War,” plus, the closer from Surfer Blood, “I’m Not Ready.” This right here, again, is just an amazing mini-mix all by itself.

“Grown Ocean” Fleet Foxes from Helplessness Blues – out May 3rd

“Forever in Armitron” Boat from Dress Like Your Idols

“Albatross” Wild Beasts from Smother – out May 10th

“Weapons of War” A Lull from Weapons for War single (with remixes)  – out April 19th

“I’m Not Ready” Surfer Blood


Songs 6-10 for Week 4.5, March 2011

“Running With Insanity” Alcoholic Faith Mission from And The Running With Insanity

“Belong” The Pains of Being Pure at Heart from Belong

“Dancing Fools” Alcoholic Faith Mission from And The Running With Insanity

“Surfer’s Hymn” Panda Bear from Surfer’s Hymn single

“Birth of Serpents” The Mountain Goats from All Eternals Deck

March Songs We Like That Didn’t Make Top Ten

 

The Process of Organizing the Best Songs of 2011 Mixtape Series (continued from introduction)

For all eventual 12 parts of this playlist series, there will be one huge mixtape featuring the top songs for that month. Please keep in mind that some songs included were advanced singles from albums that came out later, just in case you find yourself thinking, “wait a second, I’m sure the album that track is from didn’t come out in March.” All of the songs included are based on the month in which we first premiered them on the site. The rest was up to everyone else since each of the 12 volumes of the Best Songs of 2011 series are representative of the weekly Top Ten Songs playlists posted throughout the year.  The songs that made the weekly Top 10 mixes were based on the number of times each one was played and downloaded during the week in question.

Whether you’re just hanging out at home, driving around, on a bike ride, or kicking it with friends, this mixtape, together with the other two volumes, will definitely be enough awesome tracks to keep you busy listening and downloading tracks to your iTunes or desktop.

Why is this mixtape series easily one of the finest of all the ‘best’ of 2011 mixtapes on the web? Well, besides the fact that the featured songs are all stellar, standout tracks of the year, it’s actually because you, and literally millions of other music lovers from across the country and around the world, picked the best songs over the past 10 months based on which tracks you listened to, and downloaded, the most.  We don’t know of any other ‘indie’ and alternative rock blog or site online in which the listeners rank the top songs of the year – in addition to the weekly Top Ten Songs series. For us, it makes it that much more special.

 

Best Songs of 2011, Vol. I – Bright Eyes, Cage The Elephant, The Radio Dept., Cold War Kids, The Decemberists, Delorean

bright-eyes-the-peoples-key

Today we kick off our Best Songs of 2011 series, albeit a bit early – but there are hundreds and hundreds of songs that we have to post in the coming months, so, no sense in waiting too long.

Afterall, with the kids back in school, and summer over, 2011 is hurdling to conclusion. So, with all of that in mind, it’s not too early to start putting up IRC’s Best Songs of 2011. We decided this year to do it chronologically, that way it’s that much easier to manage.

Plus, for each best songs of the year mixtape, we’re listing the four (only three for January) No. 1’s from the Top Ten Songs lists at the very top, with a link back to the original post they were featured in. At the end of each of volume, we’re including a poll so that readers can vote for their favorite song in each of the 12 volumes.  Also, look out for the Best Rarely Heard Songs of 2011 playlist series, coming soon.

Note: Some of the Top 10 Songs lists include advance singles that were released sometimes months before the official album itself dropped; many of those come from the popular playlist series, Fresh Tracks.

The No. 1 Songs – January 2011

Interestingly, the No. 1’s for January came off of some of the best albums of the year – albums so good that they remain among our favorites, and many other people’s as well, even this late into the year.

“Shell Games” Bright Eyes from The People’s Key

“June Hymn”The Decemberists from The King Is Dead

“The One” The Radio Dept. from Passive Aggressive: The Singles 2002-2010

Note: There was no Top 10 list for the first week of January due to the holidays

cagetheelephant

So quickly that time has come again – where it’s time to put together the Best Songs of 2011 mixtapes series. From now until the end of the year, on a near weekly basis, we’ll be publishing playlist mixes highlighting the songs in 2011 that IRC readers and visitors have been listening to, and downloading, the most.

There were also plenty of other terrific tracks from 2011 besides the No. 1 songs that will be included with each 12 volumes of the Best Songs of 2011 mixtape series.  We will be balancing between songs that made the Top 10 Songs lists, and other favorite songs of 2011 that didn’t make the Top 10 lists – for one or more reasons. We hope you agree; just remember to vote for your favorite song below, and bookmark this page so you can see how the vote count is going – these polls we be closed four weeks after they are published.

Grouplove

So, without further delay, here are more of our favorite songs of January 2011 – great tracks that were either released as advance singles, or as the lead track of new albums that dropped in January. These songs are totally in random order, and are not listed as most favorite to least favorite. Here’s the first of 12 volumes for the Best Songs of 2011.

“Around My Head” Cage the Elephant from Thank You Happy Birthday

“A Darkness Rises Up” Broken Records from Let Me Come Home

“Understand At All” Cloud Nothings from Cloud Nothings

“Equestrian” U.S. Royalty from Mirrors (self-released)

“Insects”Woodsman from Rare Forms

grouplove_cover

“Colours”Grouplove from Grouplove EP

“Synapses”Papercranes from Let’s Make Babies in the Woods

“It Goes Down” Tape Deck Mountain from Secret Serf

“Louder Than Ever” Cold War Kids from Mine Is Yours

minks

“Cemetery Rain” – Minks from By The Hedge

“The Merry Barracks”Deerhoof from Deerhoof vs. Evil

“Insects” Woodsman from Rare Forms

“Imagine Pt. 3”Smith Westerns from Dye It Blonde

Cape_Dory-Tennis

“Marathon”Tennis from Cape Dory

“Down By The Water”The Decemberists from The King Is Dead

“Understand At All” Cloud Nothings from Cloud Nothings

paperdiamond

“From Now Till…”Paper Diamond from The Levitate EP

“Slow Peels” – Com Truise from Cyanide Sisters EP

“Chinatown”Destroyer from Kaputt

“Discipline Your Hands” Dearling Physique from DeadEye Dyealer

DOLOREAN_UNFAZED

“The Unfazed” Dolorean from The Unfazed

“The Piano Lesson”John Vanderslice from White Wilderness

“Bloom” – The Veils from Troubles Of The Brain EP

“Devils” – Say Hi from Um, Uh Oh

This mix was created with songs published in the Best New Releases mix for January 11th , followed by the  Best New Releases for the week of January 18th , and January 25 . There was no BNR mix for the first week of 2011.

Vote For Your Favorite January 2011 Song

Best Rarely Heard Songs of 2011

Don’t forget to keep an eye out for the upcoming Best Rarely Heard Songs of 2011 mixtape series as well. It’s been some time since we put out a rarely-heard mix, which often turn out to feature some of our, and your, favorite mixtapes because they highlight bands, songs and albums that are not as well-known as many other artists we feature on IRC.