Top 20 Albums of 2011

2011 will not go down as a particularly good year for music (others agree). Of the few gems, here are the ones I'll continue to listen to.

Honorable Mentions (in no particular order):


Times New Viking - Dancer Equired
Joy Formidable - The Big Roar - Joy Formidable is first and foremost a live band with an energy and enthusiasm that does not translate well to this overglossed production. Nevertheless, the exquisite songwriting translates in either format.
Cloud Nothings - Cloud Nothings
Battles - Gloss Drop
Mastodon - The Hunter - A fine record, and kudos to experimentation and taking chances. But Mastodon treads too closely to Torche tribute band. I expected more.
Dum Dum Girls - Only in Dreams - Separating themselves from the lump of girl-grunge bands i.e. Vivian Girls and Best Coast, this pop-oriented album of love ballads shows progress, but is decidedly too one-note to warrant "good album" status.
Sondre Lerche - Sondre Lerche
Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes
Vivian Girls - Share the Joy
Toro Y Moi - Underneath the Pine


Top 20:


20.  Wolves in the Throne Room - Celestial Lineage - I got turned on to WitTR just this year in my attempt to get back into the metal scene after many years away. What surprised me is that bands like this still exist, melding elements of black/death/doom in new ways, not unlike my favorite metal bands of the mid-1990s. They're also fantastic live.

19.  Decemberists - The King is Dead - It's just a solid Decemberists album. Which is to say, I've heard this all before, but I'm still not sick of it.

18.  Destroyer - Kaput - Cheese-ball for cheese-ball's sake, Dan Bejar takes his schtick to a new level. But it works. 

17.  The Antlers - Burst Apart - It's a heavy album that feels wistful, continuing the precedent set by 2009's excellent Hospice.

16.  Liturgy - Aesthetica - The next wave of hipster-metal is upon us. Mastodon was the crossover darling of 2007 and Liturgy carries the torch anew. Fascinatingly, this Brooklyn-based black metal band seems to be pulling it off, landing on several "Best-of" lists. Fortunately for them, they have the chops to quiet nay-sayers.


15.  Black Lips - Arabia Mountain - Straight-up playful rock, this notoriously awesome live band loses little on record.

14.  Yuck - Yuck - I dare say that if there is one subtext to 2011 is the emergence of 1990s-era alt-grunge influences, if not overt tributes. With Yuck, Joy Formidable and others, its surprising how well such a concept can be executed. 

13.  Radiohead - The King of Limbs - Radiohead puts out a new album that isn't in my Top-10? This is difficult to reconcile. And it's not that TKoL is a bad album, it's just not a Radiohead-level album. But it is still very good.


12.  Wye Oak - Civilian - This was a slow burn for me. After initially dismissing the album as too-cutesy, it grew on me with repeated listens. Then it dug its meathooks into me, and I can't stop coming back to it.

11.  Wild Flag - Wild Flag - Essentially as close to another Sleater Kinney album as we're going to get, it's like all SK albums. Which is to say, momentarily brilliant and other times frustrating. Listening to them still do their thing is very gratifying, but seeing it live is even better.

10.  TV on the Radio - Nine Types of Light - Like most TVOTR albums, Nine Types of Light has its brilliant moments where you wonder why this isn't the best-known band in the world. Then, the filler reminds you of the times this band gets lazy. On the whole, the good outweighs the bad - and the "good" is really, really good.

9.  Cults - Cults - Boy, just try getting away from this band in 2011. It was a little disappointing to witness that much of the pop-hook-earworm effect so wonderfully captured on this record is lost at their inexplicably boring live shows. But, as this list is strictly limited to albums, this sure was an impressive debut. Will it continue, though?


8.  EMA - Past Life Martyred Saints - Erika M. Anderson (EMA, get it?) has a knack for luring people in with her looks and voice, but it isn't until you realize that you've been sucked in by her hauntingly emotive songcraft that you begin to appreciate her as the truly talented artist she is. Unfortunately, there isn't a lot of variation, but the less-quiet moments on this album hint at finer things to come.


7.  tUnE-yArDs - W h o k i l l - Of all the albums on this list, it is the annoyingly-titled W h o k i l l that leaves me the most impressed and in awe, as some new ground is being covered here. The times when the progression dooms itself for being too self-aware are what keep it from being truly stellar. 

6.  Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues - Now that the onslaught of forest rock has seemed to die down, FF remains, victorious. Multi-harmony and excellent song-craft, unlike anything else out there today. 

5.  Smith Westerns - Dye it Blonde - Now this album was over-hyped. After bursting on the scene last year with their lo-fi debut, SW has taken on a more polished persona. Yet, none of the talent is lost. This is just a high quality rock record front to back that loses nothing in repetition.


4.  Real Estate - Days  - I never saw this record coming on so strong. Like Wye Oak, this was a steady climber into my rotation. Nothing jumped out at me as being awesome at first, but the more I paid attention to it, the more I realized how much of it I enjoy. 

3.  Fucked Up - David Comes to Life - I still remember when I first heard of the concept of this album, let alone the album itself. A Fucked Up rock opera? Where the hell do I sign up? It's all I could have hoped for, given even more uproarious pleasure when performed live. This is a band like no other, and we are all the better for witnessing it.


2.  Tennis - Cape Dory - It baffles me how good this album is, and how little platitudes are thrust upon this album. Tennis is a married-duo, who conceived and wrote Cape Dory while sailing abroad. In context, each song reads as a travelogue of the adventure - nothing more and nothing less. I am transported to each day at sea - the smells, sights, longing and fear of every moment, though I've never sailed a day in my life. The album is beautiful, perfect for what it is, and loses nothing live.  


1.  Youth Lagoon - The Year of Hibernation - Weighty, lo-fi, home-recorded, depressive synth-pop by a young, lone hipster is a recipe for disaster (see Bon Iver). Which is what makes this album all the more fascinating that it can work this well. I get the sense that even Trevor Powers is amazed at his own success, as this record feels like a cathartic release more so than any intentional artistic endeavor. The result is a lack of pretension and very raw emotion. It may not be the most impressive album objectively, and it is certainly not something that will live on decades from now as being a defining album of our times, but The Year of Hibernation is the most emotive, aesthetically pure album I have heard this year. Although 2011 may be without any truly remarkable, life-defining records, emotionally evocative purity is still a damn fine product for this, or any other year.