In my humble opinion, 2011 hase been an incredible year for music. Honestly, I believe I could make a list of 100 albums from this year, all of which I loved, but for our sanity, I decided to cut that in half. Here are my 50 favorite full-lengths from the year that was, along with their respective genres, so anyone who plans on checking these out knows what they are getting themselves into. 2010 gave us some incredible releases, but 2011 definitely has a more innovative feel.
Without further a due,
Top 50 Albums of 2011
1. Colin Stetson – New History Warfare Pt. II, Judges
>Avant-jazz
2. Bjork – Biophilia
>Bjork being Bjork
3. Nicholas Jarr – Space is Only Noise
>Minimal techno
4. Tim Hecker – Ravedeath, 1972
>Ambient
5. Ice Age – New Birgade
>Noise Punk/Hardcore
6. Natural Yogurt Band – Tuck in With the Natural Yogurt Band
>Jazz
7. James Blake –James Blake
>"Post"-dubstep
8. Radiohead – King of Limbs
>You know.
9. A Winged Victory for the Sullen – A Winged Victory for the Sullen
>Orchestral Ambient. It’s beautiful.
10. Haushka – Solon De Amuers
>Neo-Classical
11. Ela Orlans – NEO PI-R
>Weird/Outside/Cult
12. Co La – Dial Tone Earth
>Loop based dub
13. Death Grips – Exmilitary
>Abrasive Rap produced by Zach Hill of Hella
14. Woods – Sun and Shade
>Freak folk with Krautrock influences.
15. Shabazz Palaces – Black Up
>Hip hop
16. Girls – Father, Son, Holy Ghost
>Post-punk
17. Chelsea Wolf – "Ἀποκάλυψις"
>Black Metal
18. Giles Corey – Giles Corey
>Genre-bending shoe gaze
19. Grouper – A|A
>Ambient
20. Jamie xx & Gil Scott Heron- We’re New Here
>Hip hop
21. tUnE-yArDs – W H O K I L L
>Merill Garbus being delightfully weird.
22. The Kilimanjaro Dark Jazz Ensemble – From the Stairwell
>Jazz Noire
23. Jim O’Rourke – Old News #6
>Ambient/Musique concrète
24. Liturgy -Aestethica
>Black Metal
25. James Ferraro – Far Side Virtual
>Futuristic Ambient, concept album
26. Tom Waits – Bad As Me
>Tom Waits being a bad ass.
27. Fergus & Geronimo – Unlearn
>Fun as hell garage rock
28. The Men – Leave Home
>Noise-rock/Punk
29. John Maus – We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves
>Avant Pop
30. Roll the Dice – In the Dust…
>Ambient. The soundtrack to the movies that play in your dreams.
31. Naked City – Grand Gruingol
>Avant-Jazz/Expiremental
32. Mogwai – Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will
>Post-Rock
33. Hella – Tripper
>Experimental Math Rock
34. Cave – Neverendless
>Chicago Krautrock
35. WU LYF - Go Tell Fire to the Mountain
>Indie Rock or ”Heavy Pop” as they call it.
36. Wooden Shjips - West
>Psych-rock
37. Total Control – Henge Beat
>Post Punk/New Wave
38. Yann Tiersen – Skyline
>Jeff Mangum loves this guy, and so do I.
39. LaDispute – Wildlife
>Post-Hardcore
40. Earth – Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light
>Doom Metal
41. Born Gold – Bodysongs
>Catchy-as-fuck Glitch Pop
42. Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
>Folk
43. Braids – Native Speaker
>Kinda like AnCo but with girls.
44. Nujabes - Spiritual State
>Hip Hop
45. Burzum – Fallen
>Black Metal
46. Mind Spiders – Mind Spiders
>Garage-Rock
47. Thundercat – The Golden Age of Apocolypse
>Instrumental Hip Hop
48. UV Race – Homo
>Garage Rock
49. Ash Borer - Ash Borer
>Black Metal
50. Panda Bear – Tomboy
>Yup.
Honorable Mentions:
Tape Inbetweening, Dumbo Gets Mad, The Fall, Peaking Lights, Red Horse, Davilla 666, Ty Segall, Vladislav Delay Quartet, Sleeping Bag, Altar of Plagues, The Fied, Big K.R.I.T., Boris, Jóhann Jóhannsson, John Vanderslice, Jonwayne, Vektor, Matana Roberts, The Log.OS, O'Death, Swarms, To Destroy A CIty, Sun Araw, and Rustie.
Top 5 EPs of 2011
1. Darkside - Darkside
2. Audacity - Audacity
3. Heavy Ghost - Ten Thousand Years
4. Burial - Street Halo
5. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Witchhunt Suite for WWIII
Honorable mentions: Eddy Current Suppression Ring: Walking in Unison.
CATCHIEST, TOE-TAPINEST, ROOTIN TOOTINEST INDIE RAWKERZ THIS SIDE OF THE MISSISSIPPI:
1. Sleeping Bag - "Slime"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzqOKdE5tfw
2. Audacity - "Ears and Eyes"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jReKjPIr8IM
3. Fergus and Geronimo - "Girls with English Accents"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSPv5Vq8g2Q
4. Natural Child - "Dog Bite"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd0wFhOYryQ&feature=related
5. Unknown Mortal Orchestra - "FFunny FFrends"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-36lCKovBg
Reissues!
1. Beach Boys - SMiLE Sessions
2. Can - Tago Mago
3. Throbbing Gristle - 20 Jazz Funk Greats
4. The Retards - Teenage Hate
5. ESG - Dance to the Beat of ESG
Honorable Mention: Harald Grosskopf and Mercury Rev.
Best sets of 2011:
- Flaming Lips at Aragon
- Titus Andronicus at Congress
- Woods at Subteranean
- Arcade Fire at Bonnaroo
- Billy Crystal Meth Jr. at Mortville
- Black Lips at Logan Square Auditorium
- tUnE-yArDs at Rhino's
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