SWSL Albums Of 2011: out of sight earshot, out of mind

Knowing when to draw the line - it's sometimes difficult to know. Particularly when it comes to deciding when I've heard enough to be able to survey the previous year's musical outpourings without running the risk of missing out something critical, writing off a record prematurely or being caught in the throes of a temporary passion for an album which really isn't all that great. Pathetic, I know, but the embarrassment at committing any one of the above faux pas can be acute.

However, following a flurry of recent purchases, I have now forced myself to draw the line and so, by way of preamble to the big annual countdown, I detail below in no particular order some of the albums that might have found their way into the overall list had I heard them in full, rather than just the (representative?) sample tracks I've linked to and commented on briefly. There are a number of superb songs in amongst them, and some fine videos too. Hopefully one or two might strike a chord...

tUnE-yArDs - w h o k i l l
Sample track: 'Bizness'
Merrill Garbus' second stab at Afro-pop futurism. Yelpy.

KURT VILE - Smoke Ring For My Halo
Sample track: 'Baby's Arms'
"Celestial finger-picking". So sayeth Pitchfork - and who am I to argue, having not heard the album?

COLD CAVE - Cherish The Light Years
Sample track: 'Confetti'
Hardcore and power electronics veterans join forces to craft synth-pop monster with black ice in its veins.

ESBEN AND THE WITCH - Violet Cries
Sample track: 'Marching Song'
Youthful Brighton trio channelling the spirits of the dead and tormented. It's grim doon south.

J MASCIS - Several Shades Of Why
Sample track: 'Is It Done'
He might be in Neil Young campfire mode, but even still the electric wizard can't resist unleashing the odd screeching solo.

THE TWILIGHT SINGERS - Dynamite Steps
Sample track: 'On The Corner'
Trademark lustful nocturnal melodrama from Greg Dulli, just in time to whet appetites for this summer's Afghan Whigs reunion.

ELEANOR FRIEDBERGER - Last Summer
Sample track: 'My Mistakes'
Quick, while brother Matthew isn't looking! The Fiery Furnaces sneaks out some delightfully uncomplicated, breezy pop.

TIMES NEW VIKING - Dancer Equired
Sample track: 'No Room To Live'
A glimpse of what's been hiding beneath the scuzz all this time: another Crystal Stilts. I wonder what prompted them to lose the disguise?

SUUNS - Zeroes QC
Sample track: 'Up Past The Nursery'
At last, a band who recognise and appreciate Clinic's charms, even down to aping Ade Blackburn's sinister through-clenched-teeth murmurings and hissings.

COLOURMUSIC - My ___ Is Pink
Sample track: 'You For Leaving Me'
Don't be seduced into pigeonholing them on the grounds of their Fleet Foxes beards! Perhaps the reason Wayne Coyne was impressed by Colourmusic was because they do gospel-fuzz-funk better than any of the tracks on the Lips' At War With The Mystics.

GIRLS - Father, Son, Holy Ghost
Sample track: 'Vomit'
Unexpectedly lengthy and carefully crafted epic from a band who seemed a bit shambolic and unfocused even by slackers' standards at Green Man in 2010.

M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
Sample track: 'Midnight City'
It was probably only a matter of time before Anthony Gonzalez put out a double album. That we can forgive him - but allowing ubiquitous lead single 'Midnight Sun' to be used in Made In Chelsea? Hmm...

MARISSA NADLER - Marissa Nadler
Sample track: 'Baby, I Will Leave You In The Morning'
Country-tinged tales of heartbreak and sorrow. Ever thought about hooking up with Josh T Pearson, Marissa? You'd give that Campbell and Lanegan a damn good run for their money.

BEIRUT - The Rip Tide
Sample track: 'East Harlem'
For once, Zach Condon chooses not to colour an album with cross-cultural borrowings but instead just to play it straight.

HANDSOME FURS - Sound Kapital
Sample track: 'Serve The People'
Husband-and-wife combo Dan Boeckner (of Wolf Parade) and Alexei Perry downsize the guitars and make a play for the big time.

VERONICA FALLS - Veronica Falls
Sample track: 'Beachy Head'
Indiepop fanatics with a death fixation. Makes a change from girls and hairslides.

DEAD SKELETONS - Dead Magick
Sample track: 'Dead Mantra'
On the subject of death fixations... All you need to know about this is that Julian Cope probably approves.

DIRTY BEACHES - Badlands
Sample track: 'Lord Knows Best'
They don't make 'em like this anymore. Except actually they do - well, Alex Zhang Hungtai does, anyway. "Minimalist rockabilly", he claims, with a Beat heart and a soft spot for David Lynch and Suicide.

BARN OWL - Lost In The Glare
Sample track: 'Midnight Tide'
Sensuous pastoral drone, like Six Organs Of Admittance nodding off to sleep, only with Sunn 0))) occasionally lurking beneath the window.

CYMBALS EAT GUITARS - Lenses Alien
Sample track: 'Rifle Eyesight (Proper Name)'
What Lenses Alien's schizophrenic and sprawlingly ambitious opening track says about the album as a whole is anybody's guess.

UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA - Unknown Mortal Orchestra
Sample track: 'Ffunny Ffrends'
Another album opener here, this one akin to on-hiatus psych-art-poppers Women getting funky.

TIM HECKER - Ravedeath, 1972
Sample track: 'Hatred Of Music I'
The drone aficionado's album of choice for 2011. The forboding soundtrack to those night terrors.

REAL ESTATE - Days
Sample track: 'It's Real'
Bittersweet power pop jingle-jangle that's airy and unassuming enough to suggest it could steal your heart without you noticing.

And that's all for now - fuller reviews of all the albums I did hear in their entirety and, of course, the Top 10 to come.