The Sauced Bulletin

It’s not quite Christmas yet, but since you guys have been so good, you can open one present early this year.  And that present is:  our Top 5 Debut Albums of 2011!  Woohoo!  I know, we shouldn’t have, but you really don’t have to thank us.  We here at The Sauced Bulletin are all about encouraging new, awesome bands to continue making music, which is the point of this list.  So what I’m saying is, even if this list wasn’t your early Christmas gift, it would have been written anyway.  So there.  You’re welcome?

Check out the very best that the rookies of 2011 had to offer, after the jump.

5.  The Year of Hibernation by Youth Lagoon

The debut album from Trevor Powers’ Youth Lagoon project sounds like it was recorded many years ago, buried in the woods, and then dug up like some sort of child’s time capsule.  Beautifully constructed songs about memory, loss, and childhood wonder start small and build to near-sing-a-long crescendos complete with guitar, piano, and hand claps to augment Powers’ angelic voice.  You can’t always understand what he;s saying underneath the requisite haze of lo-fi intimacy, but it’s the feeling that counts.

You need to hear:  “July” and “Cannons”

4.  Yuck by Yuck

Who would have thought that the year’s best approximation of classic 1990s American indie rock would come from a group of London twentysomethings.  Beginning with one of the strongest one-two punches of 2011 (“Get Away” and “The Wall”) Yuck’s eponymous debut is the best kind of throwback album:  one that pays homage to its influences (Pavement, Dinosaur Jr., et al) while demonstrating that the kids who made it have good ideas of their own.  If you ever wished The Pains of Being Pure at Heart would fully embrace their scuzzy side and just fucking rock, then this is the band for you.

You need to hear:  “Get Away” and “The Wall” (duh)

3.  James Blake by James Blake

James Blake had a lot to prove this year.  After a string of successful EP’s, each showcasing his developing talents and burgeoning confidence, Blake found himself saddled with a peculiar mantle:  the kid who will make dubstep popular.  And what does he do?  He basically stopped making dubstep.  Blake’s music has matured into something far removed from the London underground’s penchant for low-end bass throb and lopsided dance beats.  On this record, he truly comes into his own as an arranger and, most significantly, a vocalist.  His full-throated, yet delicate, R&B croon emits more soul in one line than most pop singers do over an entire career.  An album that still feels a bit inscrutable even after many listens, James Blake is definitely a talent to watch.

You need to hear:  “The Wilhelm Scream” and “Measurements”

2.  Cults by Cults

Cults can easily claim the title of 2011’s most pleasantly out-of-nowhere band.  A boy/girl duo who play retro-tinged guitar pop mixed with burbling synths and sound bytes from real cult leaders?  The fact that what I just described totally works on their infectious debut is praise in and of itself.  Before this record’s release, Cults showed they could write a catchy summer jam like it’s nobody’s business via “Go Outside,” but this album goes far deeper than that.  Cults aren’t afraid to go to some dark places, coating songs about painful relationships in bubbly synth lines, xylophone plinks, and of course Madeline Follin’s girlish deadpan.  Also the guitarist’s name is Brian Oblivion.  How awesome is that?

You need to hear:  “Bad Things” and “Abducted”

1.  Within and Without by Washed Out

Of all the acts making their debuts in 2011, I think Washed Out was in the most difficult position.  Having won us all over with his Life of Leisure EP (specifically “Feel It All Around”) way back in 2009, Ernest Greene had to win us all over AGAIN with his long-awaited debut.  The man who helped define chillwave waited so long to put out his first album that his made-up genre became a real one; one whose other progenitors (Neon Indian and Toro Y Moi, most importantly) had put out two records each and moved on into new territory.  All this could have sunk Within and Without from the start, not to mention the hype that came with it.  But Greene was more than up to the task, taking his intimate bedroom project into the stratosphere with more sophisticated instrumentation (STRINGS!), while maintaining everything that made it great in the first place.  Everything is still swathed in synths and reverb, and you still can’t understand what Greene is saying ever, but the whole thing just feels incredibly welcoming.  A record that you can feel good about getting lost in, Within and Without represents the most assured, fully-realized debut record of the year.  And seriously, with cover art like that, how could he go wrong?

You need to hear:  “Eyes Be Closed” and “Amor Fati”