PopMatters 75 Best Albums of 2011

51: Smith Westerns Dye It Blonde

Super young Chicago threesome Smith Westerns channel the spirit of Marc Bolan into their sophomore effort Dye It Blonde, a bright and beautiful collage of syrupy-sweet guitar riffs, dazzling disco balls and irresistible hooks. Fluttering between dancefloor fillers, acoustic ballads and choir-backed gospels, the album is comparable to T-Rex’s own second record Electric Warrior, where Bolan investigated various genres, transforming the record into a vivid glamorama by sprinkling glitter all around him. Similarly, Dye It Blonde maintains a certain flamboyance as the band pack the ten tracks (all of which are pretty much odes to teenage girls) with sugar rush after sugar rush. Each song is driven by a smooth cocktail of warm guitar licks, rinky-dink piano and Cullen Omori’s wispy vocals, while producer Chris Coady (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Beach House) adds tons of echo to the band’s sound, giving a wide-open, cathedral feel to each track, underlined by the band’s affinity for beefing up their rhythm section with a hunky organ. Dean Van Nguyen

06: The Weeknd House of Balloons

When the Weeknd’s House of Balloons mysteriously dropped earlier this year with just a handful of seedy black and white images and a curiously misspelled artist name to put to the music, enthralled listeners were quick to seek out the source. The ambiguity surrounding the release was punctuated by the music, an isolated, distressing brand of R&B that sounded like an emotionally shattered The-Dream plugged full of cocaine and dipped in ice water. “You don’t know what’s in store / But you know what you’re here for,” howled the acidic vocalist on opener “High For This”, but did we know what we were getting ourselves into? Toronto singer Abel Tesfaye emerged as the man behind the music, but House of Balloons works best as a journey through the most debauched weekend of our faceless host’s life. It’s a nine-track tale of lurid sex, heartbreak and drug indulgence, set in a hauntingly beautiful world built on synthetic drum machines and striking samples. Dean Van Nguyen

Full list is here: http://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature/152303-the-75-best-albums-of-2011/