China 5's Top 10 of 2011

Happy new year all, and sorry for the delay. Pete had to send me his comments, so here are both our top albums for 2011 combined in one top ten! The rankings 'average out' between our own personal likings of each album. Otherwise you'd be reading two top ten lists that would be mostly similar. And that would mean resizing and uploading 20 JPEGs. And I can't be stuffed doing that. Enjoy!10. Cage The Elephant
Thank You Happy Birthday
Pete: They're from Kentucky. I saw them live almost a month ago, and their singer Matt stage-dived three times! Rock.
Lychee: Crazy vocals!



9. Gang Gang Dance
Eye Contact
Lychee: Trippy shit, man. It seems to go on forever. And it does!
Pete: I like the drumming!

8. Bond
Play
Lychee: Don't do an online search for this artist and title, you mind find some twisted shit. But, uh, they all look different! And the hottest chick is wearing a see-through dress on the cover, which I like.
Pete: "Diablo" is a nice song and one of the members sings on it, which they didn't previously do.

7. Regurgitator
SuperHappyFunTimesFriends

Lychee: Game over dude! The band never sounded better than they do now. I have their first album and all, which still kicks, but they just sound better, louder and more rockin'.
Pete: I'm a big Regurgitator fan but I don't have this yet! Shame on me!

6. Nirvana
Nevermind (20th Anniversary Edition)
Pete: Let's be clear that this ranking only constitutes those songs which saw their first official release in 2011, which are the demo tracks here. It just so happens that one of said tracks, the 1990 Smart Studios demo version of "Sappy", is one of my favourite Nirvana songs, and this version is my favourite recording of the track. I prefer it to the 1990 and 1993 studio versions, and this version was the first time I heard it. Richard Kingsmill played it off some dodgy bootleg on Triple J in 1995. Good stuff.
Lychee: The boombox recording of "Old Age" is cool.

5. Who The Bitch
Toys
Lychee: Liking the Where's Waldo-esque cover art!
Pete: Second album by this Japanese punk-pop band. Not as good as their first couple of EPs but still melodic and sweet!

4. Foo Fighters
Wasting Light

Lychee: I like the fact you get a little piece of the master tape with the CD. Well, you do if you live in Australia. Otherwise, sucked in!
Pete: I dunno about the whole 'analogue' recording thing, but the riffage sounds great, especially "Bridge Burning".

3. Foster The People
Torches
Lychee: A great, upbeat pop album, sure to cheer you up and create the kind of mood to make you bounce around.
Pete: I also saw them live, and they sure know how to entertain. Their crazy live double-drumming is a must-see. "Pumped Up Kicks" isn't the only great track here, there's plenty to sing along to.

2. Weird Al Yankovic
Alpocalypse

Lychee: Ha, I know where Pete's gonna rank this. Weird Al's 13th album. It comes with a DVD of animated music videos which are pretty well done and offbeat.
Pete: "Perform This Way" must be one of Al's best videos. Strangely enough, all 12 tracks on this album have music videos made for them! Could your fave pull that one off? Didn't think so!

1. They Might Be Giants
Join Us
Pete: Whoa, new albums by Weird Al and TMBG in the same year? And a Nirvana deluxe reissue? Obviously the stars aligned for someone with my musical taste in 2011! Anyway, there are some songs here that are right up there with the best of TMBG's canon, especially the final track "You Don't Like Me". Which I can relate to.
Lychee: I did some research. Both Weird Al and TMBG's albums this year got them their highest ever ranking on the US Billboard Album charts; TMBG got to number 32 and Weird Al got to number 9. The fans have spoken!