ABOUT THIS ITEM

"RTCC11 is Rough Trade Shops’ annual report 2011, comprising 42 tracks that were either a favourite with our customers, a big seller on the shop floor or a recommendation by a member of the Rough Trade staff.

The Top Ten of the Rough Trade Shops annual chart features heavily as you would expect and this year we have tracks from Josh T. Pearson (Mute), Kurt Vile (Matador), Nicolas Jaar (Circus Company), Zomby (4AD), Veronica Falls (Bella Union), John Maus (Upset! The Rhythm), White Hills (Thrill Jockey) and The Head and The Heart (Heavenly) from that list, giving you an idea of the diverse range of styles present.

The collection begins with a set of ten beautifully crafted works from Pearson, Vile and The Head and The Heart alongside Mara Carlyle (Ancient & Modern), Lanterns On The Lake (Bella Union), The Decemberists (Rough Trade Records), Drive-By Truckers (ATO), King Creosote & Jon Hopkins (Domino) Richmond Fontaine (Décor) and Still Corners (Sub Pop).

A trio of pop nuggets from Real Estate (Domino), The History of Apple Pie (Roundtable) and Little Dragon (Peacefrog) follow closely before this collection takes a turn toward technology with subtle production techniques from Jaar, SBTRKT (Young Turks), Planningtorock (DFA), Koreless (Pictures Music) and Ghostpoet (Brownswood), who melds rap with electronic pulsations. The latter being a good example of where some of the most exciting indie music was at in 2011 - supreme creativity that was unclassifiable in the i-Tunes sense of the word, further examples of which dominate disc 2.

Holy Other, Clams Casino (both on Tri Angle) Goitia Deitz (DiscError) and Fatima Al Qadiri (UNO) channel electricity in brand new ways, while Hype Williams (Hippos In Tanks), U.S. Girls (KRAAK), Peaking Lights (Not Not Fun / Domino) and Maria Minerva (Not Not Fun) deconstruct indie-rock before rebuilding it in their own unique vision. Factory Floor (Factory Floor) and drmcnt (gangsigns) take a similar approach, breaking things down before producing beautifully detailed minimal music, referencing industrial/no-wave and bass / dubstep respectively.

Flying Lotus’ presence is never far way and quite rightly so, his influential Brainfeeder label is represented here with a hip-hop skit from Samiyam and some cybotron shape-throwing from Martyn. We stick around on the dancefloor with the Queen Diva of Bounce Music Big Freedia (540) and Azari & III (Loose Lips), whose self-titled debut, one of the big cross-over albums of the year, caught everyone by surprise with its blend of tech-funkiness that’s as ‘Detroit’ as it is ‘Minneapolis’. Lastly in this section, VCMG (Mute) (Martin Gore and Vince Clarke, re-united at the desk for the first time since Depeche Mode’s debut 30 years ago) and their track ‘Spock’, which is five minutes and forty-two seconds of pure and bubbling minimal techno that would make fans of Kompakt and Basic Channel very happy.

The volume and intensity is turned up to eleven as we approach the conclusion of the comp. Scorching riff-rock from the noise punk quartet Dope Body (WTR CLR) and weird new-wave brutality from Divorce (Night School) prepare the ground for Copenhagen’s Iceage (Xl / Abeano) as they channel Pere Ubu and Nation of Ulysses to create a fever-causing energy discharge, before White Hills (Thrill Jockey) at last unleash their blistering space rock terrorism. The ‘Hills creating a suitable crescendo before David Shrigley (Vow of Noise) tickles our funny-bone with a typically ’quirky’ post script quip." - Rough Trade.

CD1
01. Josh T Pearson - Drive Her Out
02. Lanterns On The Lake - Ships In The Rain
03. The Head And The Heart - Rivers And Roads
04. Mara Carlyle - Bowlface En Provence
05. The Decemberists - Rise To Me
06. Drive-By Truckers - Ray's Automatic Weapon
07. Richmond Fontaine - The Chainsaw Sea
08. Still Corners - Into The Trees
09. King Creosote & Jon Hopkins - Bats In The Attic
10. Kurt Vile - Peeping Tomboy
11. Real Estate - It's Real
12. The History Of Apple Pie - You're So Cool
13. Veronica Falls - The Fountain
14. Little Dragon - Ritual Union
15. Planningtorock – Manifesto
16. Peaking Lights - Hey Sparrow
17. Nicolas Jaar - Too Many Kids Finding Rain In The Dust
18. SBTRKT - Wildfire Ft. Yukimi Nagano (Little Dragon)
19. Ghostpoet - Us Against Whatever Ever
20. Koreless – MTI

CD2
01. EVOL - Three Hundred Grams Of Latex And Steel In One Day (Redux)
02. Hype Williams – Untitled
03. Clams Casino – Natural
04. Fatima Al Qadiri - Hip Hop Spa
05. Holy Other – Touch
06. Factory Floor - A Wooden Box (Angus Andrew Remix)
07. Samiyam – Kitties
08. Zomby - Things Fall Apart
09. Drmcnt – Work
10. Martyn – Viper
11. Big Freedia - Azz Everywhere
12. Azari & III - Tunnel Vision
13. VCMG – Spock
14. Goitia Deitz – Romance
15. Maria Minerva - Ruff Trade 16. U.S. Girls - The Boy Is Mine
17. John Maus - Quantum Leap
18. Dope Body – DillonAero
19. Divorce - Love Attack
20. Iceage - Youre Blessed
21. White Hills - The Condition Of Nothing
22. David Shrigley – Joy