Top 25 Albums of 2011

An inordinate amount of my favorite albums this year were debut releases. While that might mean 2011 was a relatively light year on fantastic albums from established acts, it's cool to have some new blood.

25)  Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Hysterical 

After the disappointing 'difficult second album' Some Loud Thunder and a long hiatus, Hysterical is an enjoyable effort from a band I wasn't sure I'd ever hear from again.

24)  Wild Beasts - Smother   

"Lion's Share" is great.


23)  Bon Iver - Bon Iver, Bon Iver  

I've seen this record topping a lot of lists at #1. I just don't find it as compelling or exciting to place it that highly, but there is some beautiful music here. "Holocene" is a great song.

22)  James Blake - James Blake

Although officially released in 2011, I most listened to James Blake back in December 2010. Admittedly, I have to be in the right mood for this, but it is an interesting sound. Kudos for showing me that it's possible to use auto-tune and have it not be terrible.

I don't know shit about dubstep, and I don't really plan on rectifying that anytime soon, but James Blake has established himself as an artist of interest.

21)  Caveman - CoCo Beware

"Thankful" is fantastic.

20)  Radiohead - The King of Limbs

Damn that album art is cool.

I was disappointed by The King of Limbs upon first listen, and I can't say my feelings about this record have radically changed. Previous record In Rainbows showed us that Radiohead could be post-Kid A weird and could still rock out (see "15 Step"). The King of Limbs was essentially Radiohead telling me "but we don't want to rock out".

I still hate opening track "Bloom", which remains insufferably minimal and clicky and totally non-musical.

So how is this one of my favorite records of 2011? Well it's still Radiohead. Thom Yorke's voice is still amazing. Not to turn a positive into yet another complaint, but I'd have to say Radiohead are coasting on Thom's voice with this record. You don't have a great singer on here and a number of these songs would be dismissed immediately.

Anyway, this album is saved for me by Side B, starting with 'single' "Lotus Flower" and especially the hauntingly beautiful piano-driven track "Codex", one of my favorite songs of the year.

19)  Mister Heavenly - Out of Love 

I won't really get into how Mister Heavenly are a supergroup of sorts. I was interested because of Nick Thorburn's (Unicorns / Islands) involvement, and I was not disappointed.

This group/record coined the term 'doom wop', which I guess means it has a poppy sound but with some menace underneath. Some fun and catchy songs.

18)  Active Child - You Are All I See 

Active Child employs harp and electronics in his dream pop music. "Hanging On" was a monster song for me, loved it. And "Playing House" featuring How to Dress Well is an interesting slice of alternate universe R&B music.

Ultimately I might have liked the overall direction on Active Child's EP better, but this is a solid album with a handful of great songs. I'll be excited to see what he does next.


17)  Washed Out - Within and Without

As with Active Child above, Washed Out's debut LP Within and Without is not as impressive as his EP Life of Leisure. I've heard this effort described as 'lazy', and I can't really refute that.  Still, songs "Amor Fati", "Eyes Be Closed", and "Before" are great 'chill' electronic music.

16)  Destroyer - Kaputt  

I'm a big fan of Dan Bejar, but I will admit I generally like him better when he's collaborating with A.C. Newman in The New Pornographers. Kaputt might be the best Destroyer record though.

15)  Youth Lagoon - The Year of Hibernation


Youth Lagoon's debut record The Year of Hibernation was a surprise for me, and it took me a little while to get into it. Vocals being distorted and buried under reverb and other effects is very much in vogue nowadays, but even still, this dude from Youth Lagoon, his vocals are ultra fragile. If he's 'hibernating', his vocals are coming to the song from a distant place, from deep inside a cave somewhere.

Anyway, this makes it a bit difficult to connect with the vocals at first. But you let the songs play. A typically used song structure here is the song starts off slowly and builds, and then the undercurrent explodes. And those buried vocals nonetheless manage to effectively convey some powerful emotions. Now I'm really enjoying this.


14) Handsome Furs - Sound Kapital

I was very sad to hear about Wolf Parade's 'indefinite hiatus', and while I still am, Handsome Furs, which features Dan from Wolf Parade and his wife, came along with by far their best record yet, giving me hope for a post-Wolf Parade career.

There are some interesting themes in the lyrics, about being in another land, about censorship and oppression.

"Memories of the Future", "When I Get Back", and "Repatriated" are favorite tracks of mine.

13) Mother Mother - Eureka

This Canadian band is massively underrated, at least here in the US. Some of the best alternating male/female vocals I've ever heard, wonderful pop sensibilities. Every song on here is super catchy. If you like say, The New Pornographers, absolutely check this out.


12) Starfucker - Reptilians

I wrote a lot about this record when it first came out, so I'd best simply direct you to my review.

11) TV on the Radio - Nine Types of Light

TV on the Radio return, and they're not producing edgy spacey music so much anymore. No, here on Nine Types of Light, they're more into balladry. Still it's damn good stuff. Easily one of the most underrated albums of the year.

10) Nerves Junior - Bright As Your Night Light

Another fantastic debut record. Thanks go to We Listen for You for making me aware of this band. They remind me of Radiohead in some ways, but maybe with a bit more swagger? There are some spacey electronics, but they are used more to add additional texture, rather than being the driving force of the songs. Just listen to this record.

09) Gauntlet Hair - Gauntlet Hair



And yet another debut. Gauntlet Hair have some of the tribal singing elements that remind me a bit of Animal Collective, but way more rockin'. Strong percussive grooves, fun and very energetic songs.

"Lights Out" especially is amazing.


08) The Antlers - Burst Apart


I completely ignored Antlers' previous record Hospice, and I still haven't quite put the time in to try and get into it, but I love this record, Burst Apart.

Emotional, tightly crafted songs.


07) Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost

Girls have a more 'straightforward' rock sound than most groups I would rank as my favorites. As in, they don't do electro-pop or none of that stuff that I'm often drawn to. But Girls make well-crafted music that comes off as genuine and heartfelt, and that stands on its own.

06) M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

The criticism that applies to virtually every double album ever released also applies here - there is some filler. But M83 was going for big and epic here, and he achieves it. The level of imagination is high, and there are some gorgeous sounds.

"Midnight City" might just be the single of the year.

05) Atlas Sound - Parallax

What would a year end list be without a contribution from Bradford Cox, the insanely prolific frontman of Deerhunter who releases his solo material under the moniker Atlas Sound?

Bradford has never done such singer-songwriter material before. This doesn't have quite the same edge for me as Logos, which is likely the point - this is far and away the most accessible Atlas Sound record.

"Te Amo", "Mona Lisa", and "Angel Is Broken", among others, are beautiful.

04) Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Unknown Mortal Orchestra

Whoa, where did this come from? Unknown Mortal Orchestra, or UMO, have a sound that feels both vintage and modern, kinda bluesy, with a really deep low end.

"Jello and Juggernauts", "Ffunny Ffriends", and "How Can U Luv Me" are all fantastic. 

03) Neon Indian - Era Extraña

With Era Extraña, Neon Indian delivered for me on the promise of Psychic Chasms, made more of a pop record, with perhaps some darker material underneath. Alan Palomo gave us more of the pure pop he was working with in VEGA, and he really hit my pleasure center with those bleeps and bloops and synths.

"Hex Girlfriend" is my favorite. "Polish Girl" is crazy catchy. "Arcade Blues" has grown on me to become another favorite.

An incredibly addictive listen overall.

02) Toro y Moi - Underneath the Pine

What a fucking year for Toro y Moi. 2010 saw Toro emerge as a promising new artist with his debut Causers of This. His brand of electronic-based music was grouped together along with Neon Indian, Washed Out, Small Black, and others under the 'originally a joke' term 'chillwave'.

Toro resurfaced quickly in 2011 with Underneath the Pine, switching it up and exchanging his electronic samples for more standard instrumentation, going for a more organic feel. And it fucking works. The sound is lush, really paints an atmosphere. Toro definitely proved for me he is not to be pigeonholed in any one sound, and he gave us some great songs in the process.

The funky "New Beat", "Still Sound", and especially my favorite cut "How I Know" are all great.

To say nothing of the fact that Toro y Moi followed this up with the EP Freaking Out, which is something of a mix of the styles from Causers of This and Underneath the Pine, and is also fantastic.

01) Cut Copy - Zonoscope

 

Cut Copy's Zonoscope came out early in 2011, and I can't say that it jumped to the top of my list immediately. Over the course of the year, however, my love for this band and this record grew. Ultimately, I have to say this is my most consistently enjoyable collection of songs to be released this year.

Yes, the record is somewhat front loaded, though I honestly I can't imagine being in a band and not putting my best foot forward when making a record. Also, late track "Hanging Onto Every Heartbeat" is amazing. 15-minute song "Sun God" might stretch on for too long, but is an interesting experiment, and works as a closer.

"Need You Now" and "Blink And You'll Miss A Revolution" are absolute bliss.

Finally, that album art is just the best.