Bears and Bullets Albums of the Year: Pt. II

We'll continue today with our top 25 countdown with albums #20 through #16.

#20: Tom Waits - Bad As Me
If I told you that Bad As Me starts off like a "roaring train," you'd have every right to disregard whatever I have to say about it. Of course it sounds like a train - it's Tom Waits; the man who in his decades of work has become a physical manifestation of a midnight train and a misty back alley. From "Chicago" to "Hell Broke Luce," Bad As Me sounds in every way like Waits' machination: gritty, plunging yelps pacing an industrial pounce, making you wonder if the world is much worse than you ever thought.

#19: Big K.R.I.T. - Return of 4Eva
Justin Scott, the 25-year-old Mississippi rapper, hasn't totally made it. Building a reputation on free mixtapes, an all-the-more common internet era version of handing out your demo on the corner, Big K.R.I.T.'s biggest moments on Return of 4Eva skip the southern-rap regularity and shine through pitch-perfect sampling (also done by Scott). That being said, "Country Shit" with Ludacris is all too fun to ignore. There's a future here.

#18: Radiohead - The King of Limbs
There's a well-documented subsequent frustration with The King of Limbs. In all, it's hard to say it stacks up well against any of the landmark records the band has put out since their emergence with The Bends in 1995. Going back 16 years on a band that has become crowned the kings of the current era was certainly confounding for some who expect nothing less than titular perfection from the band of evolving (and aging) perfectionists. But for all its retractions (mull vocal styling, length, etc.), Radiohead have yet again pushed through something that doesn't totally replicate anything from their previous years. And once you get yourself past the fact that it's not an awe-inspiring mountain of perfection, there's definite value that goes over head.

#17: The Roots - Undun
The latest entrant in the list, The Roots have to be forgiven for what could be called a "tired" pass. Undun, the (almost) concept album of the morally righteous criminal drafted into a world where he doesn't want to belong. You have to forgive it because much like the rest of what the Philadelphia band has crafted since in the late 90s, it comes out too beautifully, too resonating. And those moments come collectively crashing with the band's final movement; a four-song lashing that makes you wonder if there's something more that The Roots can do.

#16: Real Estate - Days
Days  lingers. It comes off like an entrapped memory long distant in those teenage years - the forgetful moments where no one says a word because no one knows what to say. It's a lot to say from Real Estate, who may not come across as anything more than another member of the new class of indie bands worth your attention. The details of Days are hardly profound, but that's part of the backwards endearment. Call it toned-down fuzz rock for anyone who isn't apt to a predictable title, but it's still one of the finer products of 2011.



We'll continue our countdown tomorrow with albums #15-#11 ...