SOUNDS LIKE FUN

Top 10 Albums of 2011 by Jan Paternoster and Dries Van Dijck of Black Box Revelation

Foo Fighters - Wasting Light
The cool thing about this album is that it’s recorded in Dave’s garage and recorded on analog tape! That’s the way we do it too! Wasting Light sounds so powerful! You can feel Dave’s energy in your room when you put it on! His wildly screaming voice, but also the slower songs where you can here his voice is beautiful. I think my favourite track is the first one, “Bridge Burning.” When the drums start, the party begins. So energetic! You got to listen to this one really loud! While we were recording our album with Alain Johanns in Los Angeles, Wasting Light came out. Alain Johannes and Dave know each other already for a longer time so we were able to go to one of the secret shows that Foo’s played in town. It was an impressive show in a small venue for only three hundred people! They played the whole album, so loud, but it sounded great! True rockers!

Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring For My Halo
The more I listen to this record, the more I like it. I bought it because of the title and cover pic. I didn’t know his music when I played it for the first time on my record player, and I have to admit that on that first listen I only liked the first song and one of the later songs on the album. But I always feel a tension to put this album back on and now I really dig all of the songs on this album. I really like the atmosphere. And the So Outta Reach EP he released later this year might even be more amazing. Or at least the opening track (The Creature). Haha, again, the opening track.

Kasabian - Velociraptor!
Kasabian brings good atmosphere. you hear they’re influenced by a lot of bands. The song, “Re-wired”, is a great song! I love the way how it builds up till the strong, catchy chorus starts. “Days Are Forgotten” is a good groove that when you hear it, you wanna start dancing. Those are the best! We know Kasabian already from their first album, but with the previous one they did “West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum” we really became fans! Too bad I’ve never seen a whole concert of them.

The Kills - Blood Pressures
The Kills are only 2 people of course. It’s cool what they do with a drumcomputer, a guitar and their voices. Raw riffs and Alison’s crazy rock n roll voice are fitting together so well! We played with The Kills on the same festival last summer in France, so we saw their show, we liked it a lot! Quite simple, but at the same time really strong. The guitar sounds amazing! The way they sing together “In Future Starts Slow” sounds deep.

Red Hot Chili Peppers - I’m With You
We’ve known The Red Hot Chili Peppers for a long time already. We were really into their music when we were 12 and 14 years old. The album, ‘I’m With You’, is good to put on in the car. On our last tour we did through the US, we had lots of long drives, we put The Peppers on and time was flying. Chad Smith’s drum sound is recognizable, especially his snare drum. All their songs on this one could be singles.

Beady Eye - Different Gear, Still Speeding
We really like Beady Eye a lot! When you hear Liam’s voice you just know it’s him, defenitly unique! Our favorite song on this album is “The Roller” for sure. That song stays in your head all day long. Nice groove. Of course there will always be some people that say it sounds like Oasis. That’s just ‘cause they hear Liam, and aren’t really listening to the songs behind his voice. We like the album cover too! A little girl, riding a crocodile, looks cool! We toured with Beady Eye a couple of weeks ago, and the rest of the band is amazing! They are all friendly guys, their live shows are good looking with the right image. And you probably didn’t know the drummer is 52 years old, and still banging his drums so hard. It is impressive to see. Love them!

Arctic Monkeys - Suck It And See
They lost my attention a little bit with their second and third record but when this came out I was really excited. Great songs and lyrics, I like the attitude in the vocals, and there’s just no doubt about how great these guys can play music. Tight and right.

Smith Westerns - Dye It Blonde
Heard a lot of this band all year, but never really had the chance to listen or see them live. I actually only heard the record for the first time yesterday, and I was surprised how many of the songs I liked from the first second. Great vibes and vocals. I don’t know why, but this album feels like it has a lot of nostalgia in it. Maybe I’m talking nonsense right now but hey I only heard this one yesterday. It’s immediately in my top albums of 2011!

Tyler, The Creator - Goblin
This guy probably has the dirtiest voice you could ever imagine, especially for such a young person. Kinda jealous, no? Combined with his lyrics makes it a winner, for me at least. So dirty that I almost can’t believe it.

The Horrors - Skying
This one is in my top cuz I like the artwork so much. I think great artwork is a good enough reason to put this one in my favorite list. Same reason why I bought the record. I was just so curious to see the inside of that gatefold lp. And to be honest, we’ve been touring so much this year that I actually didn’t have the time yet to really listen to it. That’s probably something to do for 2012, haha!