2011 had a revolutionary heart and a crazy optimism that uplifted while still flying in the face of conventional logic. We all know how Occupy ended up – park cleared by riot police in the early morning hours one day in late November. Arab Spring did not produce much in the way of obvious positive results either. It was probably inevitable, but when the Occupiers were broken up it felt more like the end of something than a beginning. Little did we know. Some seeds take a long time to bear fruit. While we waited, there was a sense of trying to break through to somewhere better — I counted three instances of the phrase “through to the other side” in as many different songs.
This week’s show on Bubble Wrap was part 2 of the 2011 survey, in which we again played all the songs we didn’t have time to play last week, and a few more besides. We got to play some of the darker songs of 2011 – Civilian by Baltimore’s Wye Oak (from my old home town), Destroyer by Telepathe (more fun and games from Brooklyn, NY) and Wire’s deeply cynical Two Minutes, which required two moments of silence. Bill LePage put out Music For A House that year, a quietly beautiful piece for two instruments.
The full playlist is below. As always, not everything you see here is from 2011. You’ll probably know which ones — then again, maybe not.
June 8, 2016
Games That We Can’t Win: More Songs of 2011
The Rapture – It Takes Time To Be A Man
Beastie Boys with Santigold – Don’t Play No Game That I Can’t Win
David Kilgour – Diamond Mine
My Brightest Diamond – Reaching Through To The Other Side
Bill LePage – Music For A House II
Jessica Lea Mayfield – Tell Me
Little Dragon – Sta Upp
Keren Ann – My Name Is Trouble
Thao & Mirah – Rubies and Rocks
Rainbow Arabia – Without You (Nguzunguzu remix)
E-Train – Get Down
Lykke Li – Get Some (Beck remix)
Gotye – I Feel Better*
Deerhoof – The Merry Barracks
Book of Mormon – I Believe
Wire – Two Minutes
Telepathe – Destroyer
Wye Oak – Civilian
Sans Serif – Let’s All Redistribute Wealth
Fonda – Better Days
Cults – Bad Things
The Black Keys – Lonely Boy
Beirut – Santa Fe
Bonus track for Bernie supporters:
Crowded House – Don’t Dream It’s Over
* Michael McDonald fans are really going to like this one.