myTUNES The few that (almost) got away

Wilbert Joseph Dupre Sr.
January 7, 2012
The one that got away
January 10, 2012
Wilbert Joseph Dupre Sr.
January 7, 2012
The one that got away
January 10, 2012

Before the year that’s got apocalypse written all over it (see Nostradamus and the Mayans and that preacher from California) really starts, let’s talk about a few albums that escaped attention until every year-end list on the Web had been pored over obsessively and exhaustively.


The things I do for love.

KURT VILE sounds like he’d be a goth overlord, but he’s actually a cool singer-songwriter from Philadelphia. Sounding at times as if he’s just woken up or taken his turn at the pipe, he’s got a real way with a melody and the accompanying word. His “SMOKE RING FOR MY HALO” is his third proper release and is reportedly an upgrade on the production values used on his first two. He’s got the Dylan lilt and the Lou Reed sneer working at times, but he’s also got a real gift for songcraft.


Vile loves chord changes; on several songs he tries to fit in as many as the tune will allow, and then some. Other songs have a drone quality with few changes but are adorned with guitar flourishes reminiscent of the bluegrass his father exposed him to.


Recorded in a studio rather than his bedroom, ‘Smoke Ring’ nevertheless has an intimacy rarely achieved. This one will tend to sneak up on you rather than impress up front and, if you allow it into your playlist, could prove addictive.

LISA HANNIGAN is an Irish singer and multi-instrumentalist whose second, “PASSENGER,” heralds a major talent. She’s not Adele-sized in her scope or ambition (yet), but the mention of the current queen of the music scene is not inappropriate.


Hannigan’s voice is a marvel of malleability, husky come-ons followed by bird-like trills and rafter-shaking belting. Her folk songs are beautiful without preciousness. The traveling of the album’s title is evoked literally in a few songs and implied in others.


Hannigan’s got a deft touch with her arrangements, knowing the value of dynamic range and instrumental variety. Here’s hoping she doesn’t “go big” on future efforts.

Speaking of going big, M83 (the band name for Frenchman Anthony Gonzalez), goes huge on “HURRY UP, WE’RE DREAMING.” A double album in the age of singles and mixtapes, it’s a sprawling yet cohesive colossus of imagination and daring. Gonzalez is in love with the ’80s, mining gold where most remember dreck. Hence, synthesizers, electronic drums and soaring stacks of harmony vocals are found in service to his vision.

Yes, there are dead spots of ambient wash and indulgent bombast, as you might expect in this context; but those are fleeting. You can dance to it, you can drive ecstatically to it or you can just lay back and let it wash over you. One thing it’s not n background music.

Looking more like a skate punk than the soul crooner he is, “ALLEN STONE” is a son of a preacher and not just another white boy singing the blues. Take a look at his YouTube videos and then download his bargain-priced album on iTunes(!). Stone’s earnestness is only exceeded by his talent.

Several songs have real grit and bite (“Satisfaction,” “Contact High”). Instantly likable, one wonders if he’ll grow and wear well. For now, though, this is enough. Big smiles and hip-shaking guaranteed.

Hip-hop is all over the place, and the throne shared by Kanye and Jay-Z is threatened (if not ignored) by the young ’uns making subversive homemade product available for little or nothing on the Web. Weeknd’s three free mixtapes got most of the press, but artists like CITIES AVIV (Gavin Mays, from Memphis) demanded attention. His “DIGITAL LOWS” is an object to be admired as much as grooved to.

Immersed in the culture, he sounds alternately hopeful and uplifted one moment, cynical and shattered the next. Clichés are toyed with, not spouted unconsciously. His boasting sounds tempered with the wisdom of someone who knows better. His beats are as varied as they are imaginative. He’s young, he’s gifted and he bears watching.

THE DEL MCCOURY BAND & THE PRESERVATION HALL BAND are a heavenly match on “AMERICAN LEGACIES.” Bluegrass and the blues (trad jazz-styled) are introduced, courted, married and consummated with nary a discordant note. Fiddles and clarinets trade licks as though they always had. McCoury’s dry tenor cuts through the joyous racket without straining. He shares the vocals with the Hall’s singers, and their similarities outweigh the differences. The songs come from both canons and are uniformly knocked out of the park. A cure for any form of angst or ennui, the album shines.

Oh, there’s more. Amanda Shires, The Joy Formidable, Anthony Hamilton, The Roots and Hollie Cook all released gems in 2011, as did many, many others. But space and time prevent more words here. Fill up your “Recently added” playlists and start listening, people.