Tonight, I'll be your company.
2011 According to… Nick Lê
Read the rest of our end of the year coverage as well:
- 2011 According to… Tyler Hanan [link]
I’m a twenty-one year old college senior with little direction in what to do with my life and a ton of other problems on the side. I guess I’m no different than anybody else my age. But rather than talk it out with my friends like a normal person, I tend to gravitate towards music to help funnel all my teenage angst and hopeless romanticism into something that’s a bit easier for me to process. In 2011, these were the albums that helped me do that. That probably explains why I can use the word ‘cathartic’ to describe at least 30% of the albums on my list - but don’t worry, I only used it once.
There were a few albums I wish I could have on here, but I had to do the impossible and limit myself to a mere twenty albums. Apologies go out to bands - like City and Colour, Title Fight, Polar Bear Club, and Mansions - that released amazing albums that are nowhere to be found in the list that follows. I became pre-occupied with
lifeother things this year and as a result, I didn’t I follow music as closely as I used to. Or at least that’s how I feel about it and that’s the excuse I plan to use when somebody berates me for not having so-and-so on my list. But looking back, doing that allowed me to really immerse myself in the albums I did hear. I stumbled upon releases that I connected with in a way that reminded me of that connection I had with albums I heard when I was 16. You know, those records we all still love, even if its only for nostalgia’s sake. Those are the records you’ll see in my Top 10.I’m not expecting everybody to agree with my list and based on what NSB typically covers, most of you will be wondering why I have so many pop punk bands on my list. Hell, you’ll be wondering why there’s even one pop punk band on there. Wait, there’s a metalcore record too. Dammit. But I think that’s what’s so great about the subjectivity of music. We all have our different tastes, but what’s even better is, like life, we all experience music and its effects on us in different ways. It’s more than safe to say the way I lived out my life this year went a little differently than yours and so did the music we both experienced. The songs and albums that made you sing, dance, and cry in 2011 probably didn’t sound exactly like the music that I sang along to, danced to, or cried to this year.
So here it is, my 2011.
EPs of the Year
- Transit - Something Left Behind
- Transit - Promise Nothing
- Dikembe - Chicago Bowls
- Hawkboy - Hawkboy/King Folly
- Childish Gambino - EP
- Make Do and Mend - Part and Parcel
Songs of the Year
- Jay-Z and Kanye West – ”Ni**as in Paris”
- Childish Gambino – ”Bonfire”
- The Swellers – ”The Best I Ever Had”
- The Wonder Years – ”Summers in PA”
- I Am the Avalanche – ”Holy Fuck”
- Such Gold – ”The World That You Live In”
- Title Fight – ”Society”
- Polar Bear Club – ”Screams in Caves”
- Yellowcard – ”With You Around”
- New Found Glory – ”Dumped”
- blink-182 – ”Ghost on the Dancefloor”
- Drake – ”Crew Love, ft. The Weeknd”
- Hawkboy – ”King Folly”
- Fireworks – ”Oh, Why Can’t We Start Old and Get Younger”
- Mayday Parade – ”Oh well, Oh Well”
- Defeater – ”I Don’t Mind”
- The Dangerous Summer – ”Work in Progress”
- Balance and Composure – ”I Tore You Apart in My Head”
- Touche Amore – ”Home Away From Here”
- La Dispute – ”King Park”
- Thrice – ”Listen Through Me”
- Pianos Become the Teeth – ”I’ll Get By”
- Hands – ”Give Me Rest”
- All Get Out – ”Come and Gone”
- Saves the Day – ”Daybreak”
Hear (almost) all of these songs on Nick’s Spotify playlist. [link]
Albums of the Year
20. New Found Glory – Radiosurgery
Christine. 23. Xylophone, popcorn, black tea, and scrapbooking enthusiast.
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