I think my favorite part about living in Pittsburgh and keeping up with the music scene here is making annual year end lists of my favorite local music (if you’re curious, here are my 2009 and 2010 lists). I used to take the Steel City’s music scene for granted (especially during college) and assumed every other moderately sized metropolitan area in the region had a similar, or possibly larger, independent music community. But, after three years of really listening to (and subsequently analyzing) tons of music that was in some way, shape, or form born and bred in Pittsburgh, I’m pretty damn confident our music scene can stack up with any other city’s in America.

Just from looking at and listening to the music featured on the list below, it’s evident there is no singular Pittsburgh “sound.” Whether its the indie rock being played at the Brillobox and Mr. Small’s, the underground punk of The Shop, 222 Ormsby, and Mr. Roboto, the shredding metal at the 31st Street Pub and the Smiling Moose, the hip-hop of the Shadow Lounge and Z Lounge, or the electronic music mecca of the VIA Festival, I think we can all agree Pittsburgh’s music scene is currently flourishing. With that in mind, The Top Steel City Tracks of 2011 is my attempt to capture all the disparate sounds of Pittsburgh into one, condensed, twenty song list, with no ranking hierarchy or further explanation.

Also, if you think I missed something (and I most certainly did) please feel free to blow up the comment section with links to music, upcoming shows, or videos. Check the list after the jump.

1,2,3 – “Work”

The 58′s – “Outta My Mind”

B-Free Da Misfit – “Kewn”

Big Hurry – “Gets Me Low”

Big Snow Big Thaw – “Brackish Water”

Boaz – “Do It For Ya”

Boca Chica – “Afternoon Tea”

The Cynics – “I Need More”

Dazzletine – “Skin Period”

Donora – “Boom Boom”

Ennui – “Coconino”

Good Sport – “Pushover”

Legs Like Tree Trunks – “Pushover”

Mac Miller – “Donald Trump”

Majeure – “Solar Flare”

New Shouts – “Hung On You”

Shade – “Waves”

Sistered – “God Save the Child Brides”

White Wives – “Spinning Wheels”

Wise Blood – “Nosferatu”

Through seven years of changing lineups, stalled major-label ambitions and drastic sonic evolution, Jim Doutrich has remained the primary creative engine and stabilizing force for Pittsburgh-based electro-pop group Ennui. A Philly transplant who moved here eight years ago, the classically trained multi-instrumentalist ushered Ennui’s growth from the piano-driven Brit-pop of its 2004 debut Inchoate EP to the slick indie rock of 2007′s Cry EP, produced by Brian Deck (Modest Mouse, Iron and Wine).

Doutrich and Ennui’s process for their first full-length album, 2008′s The Myth in Which We Live, turned sharply away from their previous methods and influences. The result was a hyper-produced, Italo-disco-infused electro-pop record that sounded little like the band’s previous output. The album was a labor of love that took almost two years to complete and confounded any label interest with such a radical change in direction. Doutrich’s changing perceptions of his own music coincided with Ennui’s schizophrenic persona.

“While writing and recording The Myth, the priorities started to shift,” Doutrich says. “If there’s anything different about now compared to where I was [before the Inchoate and Cry EPs], I don’t care about anything else but the music I’m making. Would I still want to tour and be successful? Of course I do, but I don’t think about it anymore, it’s nowhere near the drive for me.”

Now, Doutrich and current partner-in-crime Sam McUmber (of Mariage Blanc) are gearing up for the March 18 release of Formation of Tides, their first album together under the Ennui moniker. Tides is yet another bold step, moving away from the dense, techno tapestries of The Myth toward the arena-ready prog-rock of mid-’70s Pink Floyd and Low-era David Bowie.

“It was a result of the last album, which was such a studio project, something that can’t easily be produced live,” said Doutrich. “I wanted this album to be something that has a live-band feel. We were playing these songs perfectly at shows before we ever went into the studio.”

The majority of Tides’ songs were recorded a year and a half ago as raw, guitar-driven demos; Doutrich and McUmber spent the better part of 18 months adding layers and mixing tracks in their home studio. The result is an album of dreamy psychedelic pop, as ethereal as The Myth was electronic and angular.

Splashes of The Myth’s dance music (“We Are Young”) still exist on Tides, along with Giorgio Moroder-inspired production flourishes (the bouncing synth line in “Coconino” easily recalls “Take My Breath Away”). But Doutrich can’t help but be more concerned with the next stage of Ennui’s transformation.

“As far as my process goes, it’s ever changing,” he says. “Before I’ve even finished an album, I feel like we are ready to go in a different direction. The way I am, it takes me a significant amount of time to look back and say, ‘Oh, I’m proud of what I did.’ Because now, even looking at [the just completed] Tides, I just want to improve as a musician and change what I’m doing.”

 On the duo’s new album, Ennui’s psychedelic pop recalls Pink Floyd and Bowie - PGH City Paper

Check the tracks after the jump.Along with former Professor Murder member Jesse Cohen, Tanlines plans to release their first EP Settings on March 9th off True Panther.  “Real Life” takes a pared down approach to The Tough Alliance’s jubilant, percussion based synth pop.  Not quite sure, but that may be Emms on vocals. On the group’s MySpace, he is apparently in charge of “GUITARS, LIFE,” so I feel like jumping to conclusions.

Tanlines – Real Life

“Fire Flies VIP” is gorgeously chilling and relaxed, Doutrich applies his spaced out vocals to a sparse down-tempo collage of twinkling synth lines, hand clap percussion and bossa nova guitars. The track was posted on Rx’s own Subdivision website. What is Subdivision? Glad you asked: “We’re an eight member collective based in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Manchester dedicated to spreading the heavy bass sound.” Sounds pretty righteous for Pittsburgh based dubheads who can now get an essential pipeline to the down-tempo capital of the world, Manchester, UK.

Rx – Fire Flies VIP (featuring Jim Doutrich of Ennui)

Ennui plays a show with Donora, Savior Adore, and Mon Khmer this Friday at Howler’s Coyote Cafe.

Zombi – Spirit Warrior

I have a love/hate relationship with progressive post-rock.  I count Explosions in the Sky’s All of the Sudden, I Miss Everyone as one of my all-time favorite LP’s, but have always resented the hell out of The Mars Volta for their cryptic, overblown, existential/mystical musings put to music.  It’s a fine line between ground breakingly epic compositions, and bloated experiments that seem more interesting for the musician to play than for the audience to listen to. However, Pittsburgh’s Zombi, with their latest release Spirit Animal, have boiled down my favorite ingredients of prog-rock into a bombastic and unabashed explosion of thundering virtuosity. “Spirit Warrior” is the second shortest track on the album, clocking in just shy of the 9 minute mark, and offers no shortage of intricately layered sonics that interlock with clockwork precision.  The track’s backbone is a spiraling synth line that allows a variety of electronics and percussion to surround and recede before the riff’s massive breakdown mid-song.  It then blasts off into a slightly altered trajectory, showing off doppelganger versions of  rhythms and combinations from the song’s first half.  The attention to detail and expert craftsmanship on “Spirit Warrior” is utterly apparent, easily carving out Zombi’s spot atop Pittsburgh’s progressive rock mountain.

Steamship Jesus – Ohio

I didn’t realize it was possible to make the state of Ohio a personal and spiritual sanctuary for the persecuted and oppressed, but that’s just what local roots rockers Steamship Jesus have managed to do.  With the track “Ohio” off their debut EP,  Steamship Jesus have painted a tragically beautiful portrait of escape that is both illusory and fleeting, assuring us that their Mecca is only one state line away (three if you count West Virginia’s phallic panhandle).  As cringe-worthy as it may seem to some Pittsburghers, I find that weirdly comforting, especially amidst the ramshackle guitar heroics and no-bullshit plan for exodus via the soul-drenched vocals. This is a last chance at redemption, and you best get on the bus or get the hell out of  lead singer Mike D.’s way, as he claims “so I will run, without you somehow/listen to me now, I’m leaving somehow.”  I can easily smell the mildew of the flea bag motel this guy has been holed up in, littered with lines of coke, bottles of Jack, and midnight confessions.  As romantic as it all sounds, is making it to Steubenville really an escape?

Satin Gum – I Got a D.U.I. Babe

This girl has to be bummed. The dude she was dating purposefully took a D.U.I. so he didn’t have to drive her around all day.  That has to go down in history as the most elaborately stupid plan to give the slip to a chick.  But at the same time Satin Gum, with their track  “I Got a D.U.I. Babe”  off their self titled debut EP,  make the mundane, day to day moments of a relationship seem like reason enough to hit the bottle and hit it hard.  The crashing guitars, subtle electronics, and massive hooks give this overcharged power pop gem some legs and lend a persuasive hand to the booze over chick scenario.  “Anything I ever said about love was just the whiskey talkin,’ ” assures lead singer Brian Spekis with a half-baked sense of rationalization, illustrating that this relationship was not only born from a drunken night, but will be disposed of in a similar manner.  A man much wiser than me once said “Alcohol, the cause of, and solution to, all of life’s problems.”  It’s hilariously refreshing to hear a young, upstart band armed with such ironic catchiness take that advice to heart, especially when they have the 23-year-old in me thinking, “Fuck it, I’d probably do the same thing.”

Ennui – Lil’ Radio

Okay, unfortunately, I just discovered Ennui’s goregeous debut full length, The Myth in Which We Live, this past week even though it was released close to nine months ago.  I’ll be the first to admit when I’m not a head of the curve, but this is the only time it really hurts. Ennui’s glitchy, sample laden, electro pop pulsates brightly enough to be seen from space, and “Lil’ Radio” might be shiniest beacon of the bunch, giving the rest of the Milky Way some throbing, other-wordly beats to groove to.  Utilizing similar electronic textures and guitars as The Books, Ennui incorporates vocals that sound as if Sigur Ros suddenly chose to sing in English.  “Lil’ Radio” manages to efficiently combine these elements into a track that is thrillingly anthemic and unbearably danceable in the same breath.  I am keeping this review short, because the song speaks for itself.  Ennui proves to be yet another local band that has me holding my breath for their next release.