Best Non Hip-Hop album of 2011

floggg

Obviously this thread isn't about hip-hop directly, but I'd like to get hip-hop fans views on the best non hip-hop albums of 2011.

Personally I tend to listen mainly to rap, so i havent listened to that much non-rap albums this year (though I would like to expand my horizons in that regard). That said, my favourite non hip-hop albums of last year are probably Ziggy Marlry - Wild and Free and Frank Ocean - Nostalgia.Ultra.

What else did people listen to last year?

Boom_Bap

Radiohead's was very good.
What I've heard of The Black Keys 'El Camino' has been really good so far.

But aside from Hip Hop, I was mostly listening to logs of old Jazz, Blues and Funk last year.

Da Shins Kelly

I really enjoyed 'Helplessness Blues' by Fleet Foxes. Something very comforting about it. Katy B's 'On A Mission' is very good too, I think. A genuine record about young people and the club scene that actually sounds like it was written by someone who is part of that scene. Florence and the Machine's new album is great too.

Other than hip hop, I mainly listen to a lot of old records like Billie Holiday, Etta James, Donny Hathaway, Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, etc. I also like Arcade Fire, Florence and the Machine, Bob Dylan, Beck. There's loads.

Andy_rse

For me its gotta be Noel Gallaghers album.

And in close second The Horrible Crowes

evil_seed

we're only 10 days in

Da Shins Kelly

evil_seed wrote: »

we're only 10 days in

I assumed the OP meant 2011.

Rjd2

The Field, Looping State of Mind was very good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9KLCMqjlyw

M83- hurry Up We're Dreaming

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX3k_QDnzHE

Kimbra- Vows, Very good pop music indeed.

Sl!mCharles

Bon Iver, House of Balloons, haven't listened to a whole lot of full albums from 2011. Nostalgia, ultra by Frank has some whopping tracks on there too

mufcboy1999

High flyin birds for me by Noel Gallagher recent enough but I think it's class , enjoyed coldplays new 1 too.

Boom_Bap

There's a Foo Fighters album in my car as well, probably the old ladies....been listening to that a bit and quite good. I think its from this year.

Jimmy Iovine

Probably the only album I've listened to is the new Chili Peppers album. It's great in places. Not a classic but it's always good to hear new Chilis.

As an aside the Chili's singer Anthony Kiedis was influenced a lot by Grandmaster Flash and some of the early rappers. He basically rapped all of the earlier songs, around the middle of the '80s. They've been around so long and changed their style so much that it's great to go back to their early works and listen to Kiedis spit as hard as he can on the mic.

Makaveli

Frank Ocean, album of the year.

floggg

Makaveli wrote: »

Frank Ocean, album of the year.

Certainly up there. Only actually gave it a full listen this year but already (per iTunes) it's on of my most listened to of 2011!

She with Tyler the Creator is also one of my favourite tracks of the year.

Da Shins Kelly

Frank Ocean is gonna be so huge.

mufcboy1999

Da Shins Kelly wrote: »

Frank Ocean is gonna be so huge.

i still haven't given him a chance!! been lazy with him... is he part of Tylers group ye?

whats his best material so far...

cheers

CiaranMT

Rustie - Glass Swords for me.

Kryptic Minds - Can't Sleep is class too, as is Jamie Woon - Mirrorwriting.

Actually!

We're New Here by Jamie xx and Gil-Scott Heron is excellent. Really love that album.

Just going through iTunes there and realising how much stuff I've gotten that I haven't listened to yet

Jimmy Iovine

mufcboy1999 wrote: »

i still haven't given him a chance!! been lazy with him... is he part of Tylers group ye?

whats his best material so far...

cheers

Yea he is part of it but from listening to interviews with him he seems to be the polar opposite of them, apart from the content of his lyrics.

Check out his mixtape, "Nostalgia". That's a banger. He has an album coming out next year. Also look up his song with Tyler called "She".

He's also on two tracks from WTT. The best of them is "No Church in the Wild" imo

Da Shins Kelly

mufcboy1999 wrote: »

i still haven't given him a chance!! been lazy with him... is he part of Tylers group ye?

whats his best material so far...

cheers

He is part of Odd Future, but is different from the rest of them, and is probably the most talented in the group, in my opinion. He has written a good few tunes for other people and appeared on Jay-Z and Kanye West's album as a guest.

He wrote this tune for some girl, but I like his version better:

I also like his song 'Songs for Women'. His mixtape is great. He's got a bright future. Kinda reminds me of a mixture of D'Angelo and Pharrell Williams.

Hugh Cream

Frank Ocean / Bridget Kelly's Every Girl is pretty good / Adele 21 ...

Sl!mCharles

On second thought, and millionth listen, House of Balloons is definitely my favourite of 2011

Jimmy Iovine

Hugh Cream wrote: »

Frank Ocean / Bridget Kelly's Every Girl is pretty good / Adele 21 ...

That's a name I never hoped to see in this forum unless it was linked to a remix of one of her songs. She's a decent singer and writes some catchy songs but they're all the exact same; boyfriend does something to hurt or annoy her and she writes a whole album about the experience. It's perfect for the female market because it plays right into their insecurities and what not.

She's already had surgery on her vocal cords and if she doesn't change the way she sings then I reckon she'll be cutting her career in half.

Anyway like Steve Redgrave says in the Ultralase ad about contact lenses, Adele? Not for me.

This is probably my favourite non hip hop song from last year. I've actually listened to a lot less this year than I normally do. Too much hip hop on my iPod :pac:.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxJncigqdGk

Bobby Baccala

Jimmy Iovine wrote: »

That's a name I never hoped to see in this forum unless it was linked to a remix of one of her songs. She's a decent singer and writes some catchy songs but they're all the exact same; boyfriend does something to hurt or annoy her and she writes a whole album about the experience. It's perfect for the female market because it plays right into their insecurities and what not.

She's already had surgery on her vocal cords and if she doesn't change the way she sings then I reckon she'll be cutting her career in half.

Anyway like Steve Redgrave says in the Ultralase ad about contact lenses, Adele? Not for me.

This is probably my favourite non hip hop song from last year. I've actually listened to a lot less this year than I normally do. Too much hip hop on my iPod :pac:.

Decent singer? Adele is a better singer than any female artist out there at the moment. Hands down

mufcboy1999

had a listen to a few of frank oceans songs on his vevo account on youtube yesterday and just now.

So far not really liking his stuff a bit too slow for me, he might grow on me. I did like his efforts on WTT though but maybe thats because he was only doing the hook and there were verses in between.

kind of seems very drake-ish without the odd raps, in all so far my honest opinion not feeling him.:eek:

Hugh Cream

Jimmy Iovine wrote: »

That's a name I never hoped to see in this forum unless it was linked to a remix of one of her songs. She's a decent singer and writes some catchy songs but they're all the exact same; boyfriend does something to hurt or annoy her and she writes a whole album about the experience. It's perfect for the female market because it plays right into their insecurities and what not.

She's already had surgery on her vocal cords and if she doesn't change the way she sings then I reckon she'll be cutting her career in half.

Anyway like Steve Redgrave says in the Ultralase ad about contact lenses, Adele? Not for me.

This is probably my favourite non hip hop song from last year. I've actually listened to a lot less this year than I normally do. Too much hip hop on my iPod :pac:.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxJncigqdGk

shes a great singer, she makes good music, albums usually follow the same theme, and shes only two albums in.
if shes making the same album on album five ye shes making the same song over and over again, but as it is i cant say i agree with you on that.

personally nothing against the artists mentioned in this thread, its all music, but at least adele is some what close to hip hop, closer than the chilli peppers and everyone else mentioned.
who i hoped id never see in a hip hop forum.

Sl!mCharles

Hugh Cream wrote: »

shes a great singer, she makes good music, albums usually follow the same theme, and shes only two albums in.
if shes making the same album on album five ye shes making the same song over and over again, but as it is i cant say i agree with you on that.

personally nothing against the artists mentioned in this thread, its all music, but at least adele is some what close to hip hop, closer than the chilli peppers and everyone else mentioned.
who i hoped id never see in a hip hop forum.

How is adele close to hip hop? genuine question.

As for the chilis, their first few albums are entirely made up of funky rappy stuff.

CiaranMT

Hugh Cream wrote: »

personally nothing against the artists mentioned in this thread, its all music, but at least adele is some what close to hip hop

No problem with liking her but lol^^^^

, closer than the chilli peppers and everyone else mentioned.
who i hoped id never see in a hip hop forum.

Whole point of thread... ?

Jimmy Iovine

P4DDY2K11 wrote: »

Decent singer? Adele is a better singer than any female artist out there at the moment. Hands down

She's better than the female artists populating the charts alright. She hasn't much competition with the likes of Kesha and whoever else. If you look outside the charts then you'll find far, far better singers. She's impressive sounding alright, but she's not hands down the best.

Hugh Cream wrote: »

personally nothing against the artists mentioned in this thread, its all music, but at least adele is some what close to hip hop, closer than the chilli peppers and everyone else mentioned.
who i hoped id never see in a hip hop forum.

How is Adele in anyway close to hip hop? I'm not looking for an argument, I'm just lost totally by that claim. The only ties she has with it as far as I can see is that Big KRIT and Trae tha Truth did covers of some of her songs. Apart from that zero, zilch, nada.

Anyway I'm glad you doubted the Chili Peppers hip-hop roots. Back in 1984 the Chilis came together as a band for the first time and the very first song they played was called "Out in LA". It's essentially Anthony Kiedis rapping a poem that he wrote over the guitar of Hillel Slovak.

Kiedis states quite emphatically in his autobiography that Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were the influence behind his future career in music:

So when "The Message" became the hottest song that summer, it started to dawn on me that you don't have to be Al Green or have an incredible Freddie Mercury voice to have a place in the world of music. Rhyming and developing a character were another way to do it.

We decided to put together something, and it instantly became clear to me, thanks to Grandmaster Flash, that I didn't have to sing a song, I could go out there and rap a poem.

Kiedis went on to rap on more songs than he sang in the early years. On their best album of all, "Blood Sugar Sex Magik", his best performance was rapping on the classic "Give It Away".

I would argue that the Chilis have more of a reason to be in this thread than anyone else. Of course their songs nowadays are more ballady and radio-friendly, but they were 100% influenced by rap. Kiedis is an awful singer at times and that was his only way to deal with that.

His performances may not be in the class of a Rakim or an Ice Cube but he is rapping all the same, for good or for bad.

Then you have the former Chilis guitarist John Frusciante who has produced over a hundred songs with RZA, almost all of which will never be heard by anyone unfortunately. Oh yea and he also featured on a Wu-Tang song while he was still with the Chilis. RZA said that Frusciante inspires him to continue working as a musician.

I really can't see how you can continue to claim that Adele is closer to hip-hop than the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Listen to the Chilis first 4 albums. It's all funk rap pretty much. And they arrived 6 years before the G-funk era, over in LA dominating the West coast all on their own.

Hugh Cream

her sound and influence is more urban than anyone mentioned, apart from the r&b acts obviously, in 2012 thats a fact.
ye i can see where people are coming from with the chilli peppers but that was the early to late 90s, plus they were a name i mentioned but i was talking about everyone on the list(excluding r&b acts)
also, i didnt say she was straight rap or the british mary j blige either, i just said she was closer than most.

you know it is a hip hop forum, we have forums to satisfy your other musical tastes, juss saying.
personally speaking, looking at peoples posts and the bands and music their talking about, its all starting to make sense now.

Jimmy Iovine

Hugh Cream wrote: »

ye i can see where people are coming from with the chilli peppers but that was the early to late 90s, plus they were a name i mentioned but i was talking about everyone on the list(excluding r&b acts)
also, i didnt say she was straight rap or the british mary j blige either, i just said she was closer than most.

What difference does it make that they were early to late 90s, they are still rap influenced. You didn't say she's straight rap at all, but you did say she's more so than the Chilis. I say that you're wrong.

Hugh Cream wrote: »

at least adele is some what close to hip hop, closer than the chilli peppers and everyone else mentioned.

Hugh Cream wrote: »

you know it is a hip hop forum, we have forums to satisfy your other musical tastes, juss saying.

Have a look back at the title of this thread, Best NON Hip-Hop Album of 2011. This is all about posting your favourite albums from all genres of music.

Hugh Cream wrote: »

personally speaking, looking at peoples posts and the bands and music their talking about, its all starting to make sense now.

Ha you're the man to be talking on this considering your love of all things Drake, and now all things Adele :pac:.

Anyway I'm not looking for a fight on this. This is my last post in this thread. Have to go and do other things now, adios.

Hugh Cream

ha ha I don't follow the herd and agree with everyone that drake is **** and that means I love him.
I mention Adele as an artist who released a good album and I love her, brilliant lol.
In 2012 Adele's music is closer sounding to urban music than most acts that people have listed.
She's influenced by and works with people with in r&b / hip hop.
But If people want to misconstrue what I said to suit an agenda go ahead, but it's a fact so you need to deal with it.

conor.hogan.2

Blasphemous hoping chillies would never be mentioned in HH forum, clearly you never heard their early career or Fruiscante on the wu song (he left them after, and it was not all the wu) and as mentioned worked a lot with rza after he left.

Hugh Cream

He played guitar on a few wu tracks, let's induct him into the hip hop hall of fame so.

conor.hogan.2

Hugh Cream wrote: »

He played guitar on a few wu tracks, let's induct him into the hip hop hall of fame so.

No. Also let's just ignore their influence on g-funk.

Hugh Cream

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

No. Also let's just ignore their influence on g-funk.

Come again, they influenced g funk, as in dre and cube?

CiaranMT

Hugh Cream wrote: »

ha ha I don't follow the herd and agree with everyone that drake is **** and that means I love him.
I mention Adele as an artist who released a good album and I love her, brilliant lol.
In 2012 Adele's music is closer sounding to urban music than most acts that people have listed.
She's influenced by and works with people with in r&b / hip hop.
But If people want to misconstrue what I said to suit an agenda go ahead, but it's a fact so you need to deal with it.

Still not reading the thread title then?

Hugh Cream

CiaranMT wrote: »

Still not reading the thread title then?

Instead of chiming in with sarcastic comments why not contribute to the thread?

conor.hogan.2

Yes they started in 83 in California and if your their early stuff it is very influenced by rap and very funky.

It was a two way give and take influence in that they were influenced by hip-hop but also influenced it back.

That is not to say they are the sole or the main influence or that they were sampled in g-funk because as far as I know they were not but a mid 80's rock group in LA not influencing later g-funk is just crazy.

Hugh Cream

i was under the impression dre and those around the era of g funk were influenced by the likes of George Clinton, parliament.
i didnt realize the chilli's were an influence tbh.

CiaranMT

Hugh Cream wrote: »

Instead of chiming in with sarcastic comments why not contribute to the thread?

I wasn't being sarcastic. I'm genuinely confounded that you could miss the point of the thread so clearly.

conor.hogan.2

Hugh Cream wrote: »

i was under the impression dre and those around the era of g funk were influenced by the likes of George Clinton, parliament.
i didnt realize the chilli's were an influence tbh.

Naturally but gfunk was not just about sampling old time funk as that was being done in hip-hop for a long time before gfunk.

Jimmy Iovine

Hugh Cream wrote: »

i was under the impression dre and those around the era of g funk were influenced by the likes of George Clinton, parliament.
i didnt realize the chilli's were an influence tbh.

I said I wouldn't be back but I am. George Clinton produced the Chilis second album "Freaky Styley" back in 1985. It's the closest any band could get to going full on funk while retaining a rock element to it all imo.

There were a few members of Parliament featured on the album as well.

You should really have a listen to it. It'll change your mind on the Chilis if you're only familiar with their most recent work. They've changed so much in 26 years that you wouldn't recognise them. They were kind of the Odd Future of their day but they took 40 times more drugs than them and you can hear it in their music. They were high on acid and injecting heroin and cocaine while recording so it's full of the craziest funk you'll hear.

A great story about it is that George Clinton wasn't able to repay the debts he owed to his drug dealer so he offered him a spot on the album. At the start of the song "Yertle the Turtle" his drug dealer gets to speak the lyrics "look at that turtle go bro".

The Chilis were the link between the 70s P-funk and the 90s G-funk era. They played an essential part in keeping it alive and part of the culture in California, until Dre and the others took it into a different direction.

Hugh Cream

Jimmy Iovine wrote: »

I said I wouldn't be back but I am. George Clinton produced the Chilis second album "Freaky Styley" back in 1985. It's the closest any band could get to going full on funk while retaining a rock element to it all imo.

There were a few members of Parliament featured on the album as well.

You should really have a listen to it. It'll change your mind on the Chilis if you're only familiar with their most recent work. They've changed so much in 26 years that you wouldn't recognise them. They were kind of the Odd Future of their day but they took 40 times more drugs than them and you can hear it in their music. They were high on acid and injecting heroin and cocaine while recording so it's full of the craziest funk you'll hear.

A great story about it is that George Clinton wasn't able to repay the debts he owed to his drug dealer so he offered him a spot on the album. At the start of the song "Yertle the Turtle" his drug dealer gets to speak the lyrics "look at that turtle go bro".

The Chilis were the link between the 70s P-funk and the 90s G-funk era. They played an essential part in keeping it alive and part of the culture in California, until Dre and the others took it into a different direction.

i havnt got an opinion on them, i have not denied anything, nor am i shytting on them or anything, but this is 2012, not the late 80s, early 90s.
as for george clinton producing them, that really doesnt add any weight to the point of the statement that they influenced dr dre or ice cube or anyone around that era.

Hugh Cream

CiaranMT wrote: »

I wasn't being sarcastic. I'm genuinely confounded that you could miss the point of the thread so clearly.

you are being sarcastic, thats your thing when replying to me, which is not often i admit but its beginning to occur to me that you only reply to a post of mine when you disagree with what it is im saying, why i bother you so much is baffling to me tbh.
you also shouldnt assume im confused, that way my posts wont confound you.

CiaranMT

I'm genuinely not.

Take it or leave it if you wish.

conor.hogan.2

Jimmy Iovine wrote: »

They were kind of the Odd Future of their day

No, no they were not. Except the fact they were a group from California otherwise OF are nothing like them.

Jimmy Iovine

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

No, no they were not. Except the fact they were a group from California otherwise OF are nothing like them.

I meant in the sense of the energy they had about their songs and performances, not in the musical or lyrical sense. They used to play on stage with only a sock on their cock and they recreated the famous Beatles Abbey Road picture with only a sock on again when they were in London.

Then there was the time in '99 at Woodstock when they played "Fire" by Jimi Hendrix as their encore just as the whole crowd were going mad and setting fire to everything they could lay their hands on. Pretty bad choice of a song :pac:. Oh and Flea played that song entirely naked on stage.

Read Kiedis' autobiography, it's a miracle him, Flea and John Frusciante are alive today.

Content wise they are miles away from OF, but I meant it entirely from a charisma point of view. Remember that performance on Jimmy Fallon that got them noticed? Well 25 years ago you can bet your bottom dollar that the Chilis would have been doing the exact same thing.

conor.hogan.2

Oh right, ye they were crazy but as you said they would still put OF to shame in that respect too.

OF are just over the top to be over the top as far as I can tell.

Da Shins Kelly

Adele's rubbish, in my opinion. She has a good voice (although sometimes sounds like a less good Etta James), but the lyrics are muck and all the songs sound the same. For some reason, I find something about her to be insincere or something. I don't believe a word of what she sings, and I think that's down to her poor song-writing skills. The lyrics are very vague, no little details or storytelling techniques, just really naff lines. She's such a 'girl' kind of artist too (and I'm saying that as a girl), appealing to women's emotions and such. A poor man's Amy Winehouse, in my opinion - not as good a songwriter, easier to market, more predictable, safer, less interesting basically.

As far as the Chillis go, was never a big fan of them and I think they've just gotten worse with age too.