TOP TEN LOCAL ALBUMS of 2011 (#s 2 & 1)

So we reach the end, having since Monday celebrated our top ten local albums of the year.  It was a difficult list to compile, and if this trend towards widespread awesomeness continues we’ll have to take two weeks and post a top twenty next December.

By no means do we suggest ours is the definitive list.  There are so many talented artists in the Twin Cities and so many venues and record stores to support them that it has become impossible for anyone to even track down and hear everything new.  And even we each had the resources and time to do so, you and I would likely chose different albums, likely even entirely different lists.

Our emphasis has been on originality, leading us to choose music from a variety of genres.  In each case we feel the album is good enough to merit national attention, although we have not seen this happen for these artists.  Perhaps 2012 will be the year for each of them – Success would be well-deserved.

Tomorrow’s post will look forward into 2012 and feature a few tracks from forthcoming releases.  Several of my favorite local groups are recording new material or mixing albums.  Some are even already finished!  Yes, it’s going to be a hell of a year.

And now our two favorite local releases of 2011. . .

#2 The Cactus Blossoms

Like the Ericksons the Cactus Blossoms are a sibling act that looses something special on playback.  Each duo is supported by an outstanding cast of accompanists and has appeared in a variety of venues and even outdoor settings.  Some have been well-suited and others ill-fitting fiascos, but each group perseveres.  If there is anything admirable about aspiring musicians it is the perseverance of the best.

The Cactus Blossoms have earned a reputation for versatility this year, rising gracefully above the noise at Palmer’s Bar to almost – almost – make it a place where one can enjoy live music, while also putting on a classy CD release show at the Ritz Theater worthy of the Ole Opry legends (and outcasts) whose songs they often perform.  The group’s month-long residency at the Turf Club set a new standard for local country, and theirs was the keystone performance of our own six-week Schlitz Kickin’ Country series in the fall.

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(“Cold Foot Boogie”)

I feel like I spent more than a third of 2011 watching one band or another play in one bar or another – The Cactus Blossoms are the only act I saw all year who could get people to dance.  Remember dancing?  It was great.

Jack Torrey and Page Burkum have performed in the past accompanied only by their own guitars but this year have been backed by three of the finest professionals in the Twin Cities:  Fiddle player “Razz” Russell, heard around town with Calamity and the Owl and the Union Suits, and once a performer with the Jayhawks, string bass player Liz Draper (Black Blondie) and Randy Broughten on steel guitar (Gear Daddies, Trailer Trash).

And although each performance by the Cactus Blossoms include a variety of old time standards twenty or more years older than Jack and Page, those songs along the line of “I’m so Lonesome I Could Cry” fit seamlessly within a set of Torrey/Burkum originals.

When I was first given a copy of this fantastic disc, I was sure it was a ruse like the local label that has “discovered” everything from lost 70s porn soundtracks to Russian funk.  My theory was that the two of them had discovered a stack of lost 78s at the bottom of one of those huge piles of unfiled discs around Vintage Music.  Since nobody had seen them for decades the songs were essentially new, and these two scoundrels passed off Ernest Tubb’s “Stoplight Kisses” as their own, not to mention the old traditional standard “Song of the Bird”, as recorded by Bill Monroe.

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(“Song of the Bird”)

They even stole a lost song by Tex Ritter (“Lonesome and Blue”) and a song from my beloved Marty Robbins, “Adios Maria”.  I had to catch these thieves in the act!  I rushed over to Vintage but they’d never seen the two, let alone the stack of lost country 78s I imagined.  Could it have been…ulp…that these two were genuine?

I could corner the two and grill them with trivia questions – What was the name of Bill Anderson’s game show?  Who was driving the Cadillac in which Hank Williams died?  WHAT’S THE PRICE OF ADMISSION TO DOLLYWOOD?!

I would have, but when I stormed into Palmer’s Bar during one of their sets – Hey, if you’re going to kick ass like Lt. Mike Stone (yeah, baby) you might as well do it in the right place – but they were so damn good.  These guys have actually written the first set of new old time classics in decades!

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(“A Sad Day to be You”)

When again are you going to be able to give a copy of a local band’s new disc to your Mom for Christmas?  When could you take her to waltz with Dad at the Turf Club?  And when are you going to hear anyone do “Blue Railroad Train” so damn well?*

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(“Blue Railroad Train”)

*This one actually is a cover.  The rest really were by either Jack Torrey or Page Burkum.

In the end, what’s fantastic about The Cactus Blossoms and it’s eight new songs isn’t the joy it brings to people like myself, who actually own records by the Delmore Brothers, it’s the fact that people have seen them and come into the shop to buy the disc and asked for records by the Delmore Brothers.  That everybody – even hipsters – who sees them gets it.

Next year they’ll be too famous for a record shop like ours, but we’ll understand – They will probably have inspired a generation of bolo tie-wearers and honky tonkers.  It’s got to be better than the 90s swing revival.

#1 Selva Surreal by Buffalo Moon

No me malinterpreten, siempre nos ha encantado estos chicos y chicas pero el momento de la confesión es la vencida – Nunca me gustó su primer CD (Wet Suit).  Todo lo que me encantó de Buffalo Moon se perdió en la producción.  Seguro, el resultado fue una buena combinación de bossa nova y el salón ’90s, pero nunca lo capturó la emoción de una actuación.

El 45 liberados por sello local Moon Glyph capturaron a algunos de los potenciales de la banda, pero incluso eso era demasiado suave.  Nada – totalmente nada – podría haber preparado el mundo para Selva Surreal.

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(“Vida Canibal”)

En Inglés es Surreal Jungle.  Es el primer LP en los próximos años será un álbum en el sentido de los ’70s.  Es un álbum.  Es una obra importante de arte, a pesar de que es feliz.  Es el tipo de disco de su padre hace una gran cosa – salvo que los mejores momentos de la música de la generación del “baby boom” nunca fue tan buena.

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(“Amores Perros”)

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(“Trust Your Instincts”)

Si, el ruido de los monos se encuentran en dos álbumes en la lista de este año!El otro está en el disco de Exotik-A-Gogo.  “Trust Your Instincts” es una gran canción, ya que no podría haber sido cantada por alguien más.