December 17, 2011

Best Albums of 2011

At last, the moment you've all been waiting for: My top 100 albums of 2011. As always, every year produces its fair share of exemplary music. To say that there's no good music around these days is a total cop-out; you're just not listening to the right stuff or giving contemporary music a fair chance. And it doesn't matter which genre you're into—there's stuff for everyone. The list below is solid proof as I've picked the year's best from a wide cross-section of genres, including rock, pop, metal, rap, hip-hop, prog-rock, experimental, electronic, and everything in between.

So without further ado, here they are: The best albums of 2011:

1. Fleet Foxes: Helplessness Blues

2. tUnE-yArDs: W H O K I L L

3. PJ Harvey: Let England Shake

4. …And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead: Tao of the Dead

5. Hooray For Earth: True Loves

6. Snowman: Absence

7. Destroyer: Kaputt

8. Kurt Vile: Smoke Rings For My Halo

9. Real Estate: Days

10. Smith Westerns: Dye It Blonde

11. Blut Aus Nord: 777 - Sect(s)/The Desanctification

12. Oneohtrix Point Never: Replica

13. Cymbals Eat Guitars: Lenses Alien

14. Amon Tobin: ISAM

15. Fucked Up: David Comes to Life

16. Opeth: Heritage

17. The Field: Looping State of Mind

18. Liturgy: Aesthethica

19. Russian Circles: Empros

20. Deafheaven: Roads to Judah


Here's the entire list:
  1. Fleet Foxes: Helplessness Blues
  2. tUnE-yArDs: W H O K I L L
  3. PJ Harvey: Let England Shake
  4. …And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead: Tao of the Dead
  5. Hooray For Earth: True Loves
  6. Snowman: Absence
  7. Destroyer: Kaputt
  8. Kurt Vile: Smoke Rings For My Halo
  9. Real Estate: Days
  10. Smith Westerns: Dye It Blonde
  11. Blut Aus Nord: 777 - Sect(s)/The Desanctification
  12. Oneohtrix Point Never: Replica
  13. Cymbals Eat Guitars: Lenses Alien
  14. Amon Tobin: ISAM
  15. Fucked Up: David Comes to Life
  16. Opeth: Heritage
  17. The Field: Looping State of Mind
  18. Liturgy: Aesthethica
  19. Russian Circles: Empros
  20. Deafheaven: Roads to Judah
  21. Girls: Father, Son, Holy Ghost
  22. Atlas Sound: Parallax
  23. The Weeknd: House of Balloons
  24. Wolves in the Throne Room: Celestial Lineage
  25. Gang Gang Dance: Eye Contact
  26. Yob: Atma
  27. TV On The Radio: Nine Types of Light
  28. Cass McCombs: Wit's End
  29. Disma: Towards the Megalith
  30. Youth Lagoon: The Year of Hibernation
  31. Cults: Cults
  32. St. Vincent: Strange Mercy
  33. Tim Hecker: Ravedeath, 1972
  34. Nicolas Jaar: Space Is Only Noise
  35. Tombs: Path of Totality
  36. Panda Bear: Tomboy
  37. Shabazz Palaces: Black Up
  38. 40 Watt Sun: The Inside Room
  39. Cut Copy: Zonoscope
  40. Advisory Circle: As the Crow Flies
  41. Bon Iver: Bon Iver
  42. Krallice: Diotima
  43. The Horrors: Skying
  44. Colin Stetson: New History of Warfare Vol 2: Judges
  45. Tycho: Dive
  46. Drake: Take Care
  47. James Blake: James Blake
  48. John Maus: We Must Become The Pitiless Censors of Ourselves
  49. Biosphere: N-Plants
  50. Iceage: New Brigade
  51. Julianna Barwick: The Magic Place
  52. Wu Lyf: Go Tell Fire to the Mountain
  53. Toro Y Moi: Underneath the Pine
  54. Bill Callahan: Apocalypse
  55. Explosions in the Sky: Take Care, Take Care, Take Care
  56. Kate Bush: 50 Words for Snow
  57. Adele: 21
  58. EMA: Past Life Martyred Saints
  59. Mastodon: The Hunter
  60. Black Keys: El Camino
  61. DJ Quik: The Book of David
  62. Washed Out: Within and Without
  63. M83: Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
  64. Plaid: Scintilli
  65. Trap Them: Darker Handcraft
  66. Trash Talk: Awake EP
  67. Lykke Li: Wounded Rhymes
  68. A$AP Rocky: LiveLoveA$AP
  69. Jay-Z & Kanye West: Watch the Throne
  70. Priestbird: Beachcombers
  71. Radiohead: King of Limbs
  72. Yuck: Yuck
  73. Moonsorrow: Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa
  74. The Dodos: No Color
  75. Deerhoof: Deerhoof vs. Evil
  76. Neon Indian: Era Extrana
  77. Wilco: The Whole Love
  78. Battles: Glass Drop
  79. Machine Head: Unto the Locust
  80. The War on Drugs: Slave Ambient
  81. Cynic: Carbon-Based Anatomy EP
  82. Low: C'mon
  83. Primus: Green Naugahyde
  84. Beirut: The Rip Tide
  85. Das Racist: Relax
  86. Dum Dum Girls: Only in Dreams
  87. The Caretaker: An Empty Bliss Beyond This World
  88. Twin Sister: In Heaven
  89. Africa Hitech: 93 Million Miles
  90. Mogwai: Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will
  91. Iron & Wine: Kiss Each Other Clean
  92. Wild Beasts: Smother
  93. Heretoir: Heretoir
  94. Symphony X: Iconoclast
  95. Anna Calvi: Anna Calvi
  96. Boris: Attention Please
  97. Holy Ghost!: Holy Ghost!
  98. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart: Belong
  99. Jane's Addiction: The Great Escape Artist
  100. Handsome Furs: Sound Kapital
Honorable mention (listed alphabetically):

  • And So I Watch You From Afar: Gangs
  • Austra: Feel it Break
  • Bright Eyes: The People's Key
  • Chad VanGaalen: Diaper Island
  • Cold Cave: Cherish the Light Years
  • Dirty Beaches: Badlands
  • Drive-By Truckers: Go-Go Boots
  • Fading Parade: Papercuts
  • Florence and the Machine: Ceremonials
  • Four Tet: FABRICLIVE 59: Four Tet
  • Jesu: Ascension
  • Justice: Audio, Video, Disco
  • Little Dragon: Ritual Union
  • Los Campesinos!: Hello Sadness
  • Metronomy: The English Riviera
  • My Morning Jacket: Circuital
  • Puscifer: Conditions Of My Parole
  • Raekwon: Shaolin Vs Wu-Tang
  • Tennis: Cape Dory
  • The Antlers: Burst Apart
  • The Decemberists: The King is Dead
  • The Kills: Blood Pressures
  • The Raveonettes: Raven in the Grave
  • This Will Destroy You: Tunnel Blanket
  • Tyler the Creator: Goblin
  • Vessels: Helioscope
  • Zola Jesus: Stridulum II

Comments welcome!

No comments: