It’s that time of the year again, and as we say farewell to 2011 and greet 2012 many of us here at WKNC reflected on what the best albums of the year were. Much like the previous two years I sent out a request to the Daytime staff to see what their favorite albums of 2011 were, and below are their top five individual favorites.

 

Sarahnade

 

 

 

 

1. The Dodos- No Color
2. The Decemberists- King is Dead
3. Fleet Foxes- Helplessness Blues
4. Givers- In Light
5. Future Islands- On the Water

 

Hurricane Julia

 

 

 

 

1. tUnE-yArDs- w h o k i l l
2. Darwin Deez- Wonky Beats
3. Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside- Dirty Radio
4. Tom Waits- Bad as Me
5. Bonnie “Prince” Billy- Wolfroy Goes to Town

 

John

 

 

 

 

1. James Blake- James Blake
2. Rangers- Pan-Am Stories
3. Amen Dunes- Through Donkey Jaw
4. Thee Oh Sees- Carrion Crawler/The Dream
5. Grouper- A I A: Alien Observer/Dream Loss

 

Psychonaut

 

 

 

1. TV on the Radio- Nine Types of Light
2. M83- Hurry Up We’re Dreaming
3. Zola Jesus- Conatus
4. Bon Iver- Bon Iver, Bon Iver
5. Coma Cinema- Blue Suicide

 

DJ Walter-Ego

 

 

 

 

1. Andrew Jackson Jihad- Knife Man
2. Metronomy- The English Riviera
3. Crystal Stilts- In Love With Oblivion
4. Black Lips- Arabia Mountain
5. Starfucker- Reptilians

 

Mollypop

 

 

 

 

1. Sarah Jarosz- Follow Me Down
2. Chris Thile & Michael Daves- Sleep With One Eye Open
3. Bombadil- All the Rain Promises
4. The Decemberists- The King Is Dead
5. Mandolin Orange- Haste Make, Hard Hearted Stranger

 

DJ Radio Dead

 

 

 

 

1. Shabazz Palaces- Black Up
2. St. Vincent- Strange Mercy
3. tUnE-yArDs- w h o k i l l
4. Jay Z and Kanye West- Watch The Throne
5. Radiohead- The King of Limbs

 

DJ Ones

 

 

 

 

1. Wye Oak- Civilian
2. The Dodos- No Color
3. St. Vincent- Strange Mercy
4. Fleet Foxes- Helplessness Blues
5. James Blake- James Blake

 

May Day

 

 

 

 

1. The Drums- Portamento
2. Future Islands- On the Waterfront
3. Fleet Foxes- Helplessness Blues
4. The Dodos- No Color
5. The Joy Formidable- The Big Roar

 

DJ Flipside

 

 

 

1. St. Vincent- Strange Mercy
2. Yuck- Yuck
3. Real Estate- Days
4. Delicate Steve- Wondervisions
5. Ponytail- Do Whatever You Want All the Time

 

DJ Mason

 

 

 

 

1. tUnE-yArDs- w h o k i l l
2. Braids- Native Speaker
3. Youth Lagoon- The Year of Hibernation
4. Panda Bear- Tomboy
5. Deerhoof- Deerhoof vs. Evil

 

Anastassia

 

 

 

 

1. Yuck- Yuck
2. Braids- Native Speaker
3. Girls- Father, Son, Holy Ghost
4. Balam Acab- In Motion
5. Real Estate- Days

 

Chuck

 

 

 

 

1. Balam Acab- Wander/Wonder
2. Bon Iver- Bon Iver, Bon Iver
3. Holy Other- With U
4. The Weeknd- House of Balloons
5. Liturgy- Aethethica

 

What are your favorite albums of the year? Comment below.

 

This year’s Grammy Award nominations have been announced, and among those in the independent circle, Bon Iver came away with four nominations: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best New Artist, and Best Alternative Music Album. His song “Holocene” receives the nod for both record and song of the year.

A handful of nominations for other independent artists were also included in the list of Grammy candidates. Alongside Bon Iver, The Decemberists picked up nominations for Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song for their track “Down By the Water.” Wilco’s album The Whole Love was nominated for Best Rock Album.

 

To view the full list of nominees you can check out the entire shortlist here.

The Revolution is giving away some truly phenomenal tickets this week! Whether you’re layin’ out ‘n’ listenin’ or stayin’ in, have your phone handy. This week 88.1 FM Raleigh is giving away tickets to:

6/2 Holy Ghost Tent Revival @ Kings Barcade

6/9 Sondre Lerhe @ Cat’s Cradle

6/9 All Tiny Creatures @ Kings

6/9 Women Helping Women @ Cardinal Club

6/10 Kingsbury Manx @ Kings

6/11 Decemberists with Best Coast @ Raleigh Amphitheater

Thomas Jefferson once said ‘Every Generation Needs a New Revolution’, so listening to Eighty-Eight point One is essentially in our constitution.

Yo, Yo Yiggity Yo.

If you like/love/can-admit-an-appreciation-for, The Decemberists, Best Coast, The Morning After, Corrosion of Conformity, Beggars, Dance Music for Nerds, Caltrop, Americans in France, Jews & Catholics, Red Collar, Dangerous Ponies or Grace Potter & The Nocturnals, then you should LISTEN UP to WKNC 88.1 this week, because we’ve got giveaways right now for every single one of these shows. You should be listening right now.

Below is the list of shows. Read up and get down as you listen to The Revolution, waiting to see if you can win tickets to your show!

6/11 Live Nation presents The Decemberists w/ Best Coast @ The Raleigh Amphitheater

5/25 The Morning After @ Pinhook (Durham)

5/26 Corrosion of Conformity @ Cat’s Cradle (Carrboro)

5/26 Beggars (w/ Colossus and White Tiger and the Bed of Roses) @ Casbah (Durham)

5/27 Dance Music for Nerds @ Pinhook

5/27 Caltrop @ Kings Barcade (Raleigh)

5/28 Americans in France album release party @ Kings Barcade

5/28 Jews & Catholics @ Pinhook

5/28 Red Collar @ Casbah

5/29 Dangerous Ponies @ Pinhook

5/29 Grace Potter & The Nocturnals @ Lincoln Theatre (Raleigh)

88.1 WKNC’s Pick of the Week 1/26
By Sarah Hager, WKNC DJ

The Decemberists celebrated their decade of making music together with the Jan. 18 release of their sixth full-length album, The King is Dead.

The Portland, Ore. natives are known for their mix of indie, folk and rock music all packaged under the chilling yet soothing voice of Colin Meloy. The new album offers another genre blend that wasn’t prominent on former albums. The influences of Americana and blues are unmistakable during each new track.

The six-piece band plays an array of over 14 instruments, including Hammond organ, piano, violin and harmonica. In addition to the band members, guests Peter Buck of R.E.M. and indie folk star Gillian Welch also appear on the new album. Despite the mass amount of instruments and bodies, each song has deep layers of music without any part of it sounding odd or random.

“Don’t Carry It All” starts off the album with a blast from Meloy’s harmonica to immediately set the mood of The King is Dead. All the instruments complement one another. Sara Watkins harmonizes with Meloy on the choruses, which turn out to be a common tool throughout the album.

The second track picks up the tempo and adds interesting lyrics, which are an aspect of The Decemberists that any fan immediately recognizes. Their lyrics consist of clever rhymes and vocabulary-building words virtually every time.

“Down By The Water” and “Rox in Box” are truer to older Decemberists music. The first features harder cymbals, harmonies in all the right places and musical build-ups to engage the listener. This is the one you’ll sing along to first. The latter is also catchy, but has an older feel to it, laced with sharp guitar licks and accordion.

“January Hymn” reminds me of Dave Matthews Band. It’s slower with heavy reliance on acoustic guitar and voice. Lyrics like “April, all an ocean away, is this the better way to spend the day/Keeping the winter at bay” paint a scene of someone deep in thought, retracing their choices. With a shaker acting as the only percussion, the listener focuses on the lyrics and gets lost in thought.

“This Is Why We Fight” is a track that has more rock than country. The lyrics are choppier and repetitive, making a point and getting straight to it. “Come the war/come hell” paired with a chorus containing “and when we die/we will die/with our arms unbound” has a political air to it. The last 45 seconds of the song feel like listening to someone playing guitar from another room.

Overall, this album was not what I was expecting, but I enjoyed it. They embrace their Americana roots and run with it. This is right up the alley of fans of Bob Dylan and Neil Young. The vocals, wide range of instrumentation, lyrics and genre variation will reach a wide listener range. Although it strays from the rockier center of traditional Decemberists music, The King is Dead is definitely worth a listen.

88.1 WKNC Pick of the Week is published every Wednesday in the print edition of Technician, as well as online at technicianonline.com and wknc.org.

The Decemberists have a busy summer ahead of them. Lucky for us, their whirlwind “Popes of Pendarvia World Tour” will bring them straight from Bonnaroo to our fair city for a Saturday, June 11 performance at the Raleigh Ampitheatre. Best Coast will join The Decemberists for this and at least three subsequent shows.

Because WKNC is so awesome, not only do we have five pair of tickets to bestow upon our lucky listeners, we have them well before the tickets actually go on sale. If you aren’t one of the lucky ones, you can pick up your own pair starting Friday, March 18 at 10 a.m. via Live Nation.

On this edition of SoundOff we return! DJ Shorty Shorts and DJ Ones breakdown the upcoming Grammys, the Gorillaz staying together, and the new collaboration between Danger Mouse and Jack White, while reviewing the latest from The Decemberists and Tennis.

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1. Record Store Day 2010 broke records (get it?) as being the biggest one yet. Stores across the country reported their biggest sales dates of the year. (via Pitchfork)

2. Xiu Xiu wants your hair. Yes, the art-pop band wants locks of your hair for their upcoming music video. The idea is that you hand them locks of your hair at shows and get some swag from the band. Currently the band is planning on filming themselves lighting the hair on fire while saying the name of the person who the hair had belonged to and inhaling the smoke. Yep. (via Pitchfork)

3. The Kills report that they are three-fourths of the way complete with their follow-up with to 2008′s “Midnight Boom.” The band is planning on completing the album when Alison Mosshart finishes up touring with The Dead Weather. (via NME)

4. Guitarist Johnny Marr has unveiled plans to compose the soundtrack to the upcoming film by Tony Kratz, “The Big Bang.” (via NME)

5. Front man of The Decemberists, Colin Meloy, is set to expand his writing career with a new deal with Harper-Collins. He is set to write three novels that are intended for a adolencent audience, much like his previous work books. (via Pitchfork)

Chris Funk, guitarist for The Decemberists, will be calling into the station for an interview this Thursday, June 4, at 11:30 am. Tune in to hear about the new record, The Hazards of Love, as well as what it was like going up against Stephen Colbert in a guitar shredding contest.

Please note the time change to 11:30 am.

Here are the top 30 records at WKNC for last week, compiled by Daytime Music Director Jenna St. Pierre:

1. Technicolor Health by Harlem Shakes
2. Three Sides by Veelee
3. Eating Us by Black Moth Super Rainbow
4. Actor by St. Vincent
5. American Folklore by American Folklore
6. Ascenseur Ouvert by Kingsbury Manx
7. Kingdom Of Rust by Doves
8. Inside Your Guitar by It Hugs Back
9. Power Move by Screaming Females
10. Telekinesis by Telekinesis
11. Pretzelvania by Americans in France
12. Manners by Passion Pit
13. Walking On A Dream by Empire of the Sun
14. These Times Old Times by Lonnie Walker
15. Oh Tall Tree In The Ear by Roman Candle
16. Set Em Wild, Set Em Free by Akron/Family
17. The First Time by Embarrassing Fruits
18. To Lose My Life by White Lies
19. Fantasies by Metric
20. It’s Blitz by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
21. Welcome To Mali by Amadou and Mariam
22. The Love Language by The Love Language
23. Suckers [EP] by Suckers
24. Devotion Implosion by Gliss
25. Pilgrim by Red Collar
26. Jupiter by Starfucker
27. Seven Days Now by Xu Xu Fang
28. Bunny Gets Paid by Red Red Meat
29. Bromst by Dan Deacon
30. Hazards Of Love by Decemberists

Here are some new albums we’ve added to our library, which you can look forward to hearing:
Veckatimist by Grizzly Bear
Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix by Phoenix

The Decemberists are coming to Raleigh’s Memorial Auditorium June 4th and 88.1 has your chance to win tickets. Cat’s Cradle is presenting the show so you know it’s going to rock. Also on the giveaway menu:

• Clutch w/ Wino’s Band and Maylene and the Disasters TONIGHT at Cat’s Cradle
• Goodnight’s Comedy Club and UAB present comedian John Oliver from The Daily Show this Saturday at Stewart Theatre in Tally Student Center, NCSU campus.
• Sneak preview passes for Drag Me To Hell on Tue., May 26th at Crossroads 20 in Cary
• Kennebec w/ Love Colt on Sat., May 30th at The Pour House
• Carolina Rollergirls double header on Sat., June 6th at Dorton Arena

Here are the top 30 records at WKNC for this week, compiled by Daytime Music Director Jenna St. Pierre:

1. Telekinesis! by Telekinesis
2. Ascenseur Ouvert by Kingsbury Manx
3. To Lose My Life by White Lies
4. The First Time by Embarrassing Fruits
5. Inside Your Guitar by It Hugs Back
6. Technicolor Health by Harlem Shakes
7. Power Move by Screaming Females
8. Pretzelvania by Americans in France
9. Walking on a Dream by Empire of the Sun
10. The Love Language by The Love Language LOVE LANGUAGE
11. (A)spera by Mirah
12. Set Em Wild, Set Em Free by Akron/Family
13. Everybody Come Outside by Pomegranates
14. It’s Blitz by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
15. Devotion Implosion by Gliss
16. Romanian Names by John Vanderslice
17. Fantasies by Metric
18. Jupiter by Starfucker
19. Mama, I’m Swollen by Cursive
20. Seven Days Now by Xu Xu Fang
21. Bromst by Dan Deacon
22. Bunny Gets Paid by Red Red Meat
23. Welcome To Mali by Amadou and Mariam
24. Looking For Bruce by Hammer No More The Fingers
25. Mouthful Of Bees by Mouthful of Bees
26. Hazards Of Love by Decemberists
27. Suckers [EP] by Suckers
28. Outside Love by Pink Mountaintops
29. Kid Moves by Kinetic Stereokids
30. Cold Warrior by Grandchildren

Here are some new albums we’ve added to our library, which you can look forward to hearing:
These Times Old Times by Lonnie Walker
Pilgrim by Red Collar
American Folklore by American Folklore

The Decemberists present the ‘complete’ album with ‘The Hazards of Love’
Seth White

The Decemberists have given me hope that the concept of an album is still alive. On their latest, The Hazards of Love, Colin Meloy and crew tell the dark story of two lovers, William and Margaret, and the two antagonists that attempt to foil their plans, the Queen and the Rake. The album’s seventeen songs are perfectly crafted and woven together with common themes and solid transitions. In an interview with Paste Magazine, Meloy commented that Hazards was initially set to be a musical but then reinvented as a rock opera.

An instrumental prelude slowly starts off the album and blends into part one of the title track, there are four altogether. “The Hazards of Love 1″ resembles their earlier works complete with acoustic picking, rich upright bass and well-read Meloy’s lyrics circling about “lithesome maidens.” This formula is immediately shed on the following song, “A Bower Scene.” Here, distorted electric guitars thump power chords reminiscent of “Ziggy Stardust” or The Wall. What surprises me the most about this new sound is how well it actually works for the Decemberists, the changes from folk to rock are pulled off effortlessly here.

After an instrumental interlude about halfway through the album, “The Rake’s Song” kicks in. An eerie song featuring thick drums about a widower murdering his children, he pays for that at the end of the album. Following this is “The Abduction of Margaret” — here, the band revisits the sounds of “A Bower Scene” and pushes them to new boundaries.

Shara Morden of My Brightest Diamond is brought in to do the vocals of the Queen. Here, her voice is emotionally empowering and downright evil especially over prog-rock guitars on “The Queens Rebuke” and “The Wanting Comes in Waves.” Along with Morden, the Decemberists brought in My Morning Jacket’s front man, Jim James, to help out with background vocals on various tracks.

The last track, “The Hazards of Love 4,” brings the album to its tragic close as William and Margaret are swept off and drowned by the river. The song is a gentle finale with a wonderful steel guitar solo sandwiched in between the last duet by the two lovers.

There are drawbacks some might see to this take-it-or-leave it concept album. Each song flows right into the next leaving no real breaks — great for an album but causes it to lack the singles of its predecessor, The Crane Wife. But for what it’s worth, they aren’t missed here. As a whole, The Hazards of Love is a conceptual masterpiece from start to finish that Decemberists fans will cherish on their first listen.

88.1 WKNC DJ Pick of the Week is published in every Tuesday print edition of the Technician, as well as online at technicianonline.com and wknc.org.