Best Albums of 2011

[Buzzstein]

My list so far...

Handsome Furs - Sound Kapital
Peter Bjorn And John - Gimme Some
Generationals - Actor-Caster
Wooden Shjips - West
Wild Flag - S/T
The Joy Formidable - The Big Roar
Cut Copy - Zonoscope
Ringo Deathstarr - Colour Trip
Parts & Labor - Constant Future
The Decemberists - The King Is Dead
White Denim - D
TV On The Radio - Nine Types of Light
Booker T. Jones - The Road from Memphis
Mates of State - Mountaintops
Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears - Scandalous

[virgil p colon]

Here is how my list is looking...

Bill Callahan - Apocalypse
Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears - Scandalous
Black Lips - Arabia Mountain
The Cave Singers - No Witch
Charles Bradley - No Time For Dreaming
Cuckoo Chaos - Woman
The Devil Whale - Teeth
Dum Dum Girls - Only In Dreams
Eleanor Friedberger - Last Summer
The Elected - Bury Me In My Rings
Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
G. Love - Fixin' To Die
Middle Brother - S/T
Mikal Cronin - S/T
Mind Spiders - S/T
Office of Future Plans - S/T
Okkervil River - I Am Very Far
The Pains of Being Pure At Heart - Belong
Parts & Labor - Constant Future
Ringo Deathstarr - Colour Trip
Say Hi - Um, Uh Oh
Stephen Malkmus And The Jicks - Mirror Traffic
Tapes 'N Tapes - Outside
Telekenisis - 12 Desperate Straight Lines
Thee Oh Sees - Castlemania
Thee Oh Sees - Carrion Crawler/The Dream
Tristen - Charlatans At The Garden Gate
Troubadour Dali - Let's Make It Right
Tune-Yards - WHOKILL
Ty Segall - S/T
Wilco - The Whole Love
Wild Flag - S/T
Yellow Ostrich - The Mistress
Yuck - S/T

[cyclone]

Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring For My Halo
The Beach Boys - The SMiLE Sessions
Low - C'mon
Sacred Spirits - Some Stay
PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
Jane Jane Pollock - s/t
Atlas Sound - Parallax
Thee Oh Sees - Castlemania
Shabazz Palaces - Black Up
Panda Bear - Tomboy
Oneohtrix Point Never - Replica
Cave - Neverendless
Danielson - Best of Gloucester Country
Panda Bear - Tomboy
The War on Drugs - Slave Ambient

[twentyshots]

subject to change and in no order:

wye oak- civilian
the dodos- no color
radiohead- king of limbs
pj harvey- let england shake
the joy formidable- the big roar
pains of being pure at heart- belong
hunx and his punx- too young be in love
colourmusic- my_is pink
elbow- build a rocket boys
ringo deathstarr- colour trip
parts & labor- constant future
cut copy- zonoscope
beastie boys- hot sauce
thee oh sees- castlemania
thee oh sees- carrion crawler/the dream
kate bush- 50 words for snow
youth lagoon- the year of hibernation
phantogram- nightlife
kurt vile- smoke ring for my halo
wooden shjips- west
cults- cults
mogwai- punk rock will never....
ty segall- goodbye bread
war on drugs- slave ambient
bon iver- bon iver
weird al- alpocalypse
beirut- the riptide
the vaccines- what did you expect from the vaccines?
handsome furs- sound kapital
wire- red barked tree
dum dum girls- only in dreams
taps 'n' tapes- outside
zola jesus- conatus
washed out- within and without
the drums- portamento
unknown mortal orchestra- unknown mortal orchestra
bachelorette- bachelorette
strange boys- live music
keep shelly in athens- our own dream
neon indian- era extraña
milagres- glowing mouth
i break horses- hearts
the ettes- do you want power
the rosebuds- loud planes fly low
peter gabriel- new blood
yuck- yuck
the horrors- skying
japanese popstars- controlling your allegiance
battles- gloss drop
vhs or beta- diamonds and death

[luisterpaul]

Is this the official voting thread? If so, spot reserved.

[Ella Minnow Pea]

Is this the official voting thread? If so, spot reserved.

No - this is the discussion thread. Look for the voting thread in the next couple of days.

[underwhelmed]

1. PJ Harvey - Let England Shake

...working on the rest.

[euro60]

vhs or beta- diamonds and death

am I the only one who was terribly disappointed with this album? It hardly sounded like the band of old.

[frizgolf]

vhs or beta- diamonds and death

am I the only one who was terribly disappointed with this album? It hardly sounded like the band of old.

can't believe a single word

[Jen]

I have a long list of albums to listen to but what will be on my albums list for sure are, and in no certain order, (other than alphabetical):

Bell X1-Bloodless Coup
Beirut-The Rip Tide
Big Troubles-Romantic Comedy
The Black Keys-El Camino (I imagine it will be anyway)
Blouse-s/t
Bombay Bicycle Club-A Different Kind of Fix
Cut Copy-Zonoscope
DeVotchKa-100 Lovers
Elbow-build a rocket boys
Fleet Foxes-Helplessness Blues
Florence and the Machine-Ceremonials
Guillemots-Walk the River
Gus Gus-Arabian Horse
Handsome Furs-Sound Kapital
The Head and the Heart-s/t
The Horrors-Skying
Hooray For Earth-True Loves
I Break Horses-Hearts
The Joy Formidable-The Big Roar
Junior Boys-It's All True 2
Kasabian-Velociraptor!
The Kills-Blood Pressure
Lanterns on the Lake-Gracious Tide, Take Me Home
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart-Belong
Parts & Labor-Constant Future
Peter Bjorn & John-Gimme Some
Peter Murphy-Ninth
Phantogram-Nightlife
Radiohead-The King of Limbs
The Raveonettes-Raven in the Grave
Sea and Cake-The Moonlight Butterfly
The Twilight Singers-Dynamite Steps
Washed Out-Within or Without
We Are Augustines-Rise Ye Sunken Ships
Youth Lagoon-The Year of Hibernation
Zola Jesus-Conatus

[Cockney Rebel]

Many on here will know that I spent a sizeable percentage of my life listening to, promoting and selling music to the masses. I was incredibly lucky to make a substantial living out of doing something that I really really enjoyed. It was like a heavily-remunerated hobby.

To say "music was my world" is something of an understatement. When I was working for Virgin in my late teens I literally walked, talked, ate, drank, shat and slept nothing but music. I chased it wherever I could find it, experiencing, rubbing shoulders with and enjoying some of the very best acts and artists on the planet (and Siouxsie Sioux).

When music became my 'business' - rather than a mere career - things changed a little, but I continued to healthily chase new acts to promote and sell, often undermining many record companies' attempts to alternatively foist shite upon the general public. I'm proud to say that my little shop - once described by one of my customers as "300 sq ft of cool" - was very instrumental in getting several acts signed to major labels and breaking many unknown acts regionally before they crossed over to mass appeal.

When I sold the business in 1997 - to move to the USA to be with MK - I initially promised myself that I would try and keep up with 'trends' and still look for and listen to new music. It seemed like I very much owed that to myself.

Instead - and perhaps lacking an 'audience' to sell new shiny things to - I found myself delving further and further into the past, uncovering more and more musical gems from the 60's and 70's that fired my enjoyment. Far moreso than any 'new stuff'. It became something of an obsession, tracking down and getting hold of obscure recordings - sometimes just one song - by acts who barely had 10 seconds of fame let alone their pre-requisite 15 minutes. It felt more 'real' to me to go back.

Consequently, "garage rock", "freakbeat", Northern Soul, and obscure R&B became very much my listening of choice, supplementing my other longstanding loves of Blue Note Jazz, 'Pure Pop', Funk, Krautrock and old school reggae & dub.

I eventually stopped reading almost anything to do with new acts, especially those which I knew - from past experience - were mere pawns in the industry's oft-one-sided game and who were being touted as 'the next big thing' less so for their talent and more for their sheer bottom-line profitability.

I pretty much stopped listening to new stuff as well. I know this seems like heresy to state here but *gasp* I didn't even listen to WOXY much, Mike and the team only rarely floating my own boat with anything they were raving about and airing. Now and then my interest would get piqued and I'd hunt down a CD or nab a download but I often found myself quickly abandoning it in favour of an 'old favourite' or another play of one of the Nuggets boxsets.

A couple of years back I realised that I recognised not one single thing featured in series of Top 40 charts I read somewhere. Nothing. I knew nothing about the acts, nothing about the songs and could not have hummed the tune to any of them.

It felt like a crossroads to me, a moment when I had to accept that my past was....well, very much my past and whatever I had to say about music was now entirely redundant. However, I also realised that I had reached that hugely important point in my life which (my favourite UK broadcaster) Danny Baker once remarked on... he said "To be finally freed from keeping up with pop culture is like being unchained from a lunatic"

And it's true. Personally, not having to care about new music anymore is wonderful. Most everything I happen across these days which is considered 'hot' or 'the next big thing' I listen to with an attitude of "really??" and then conclude that so much of it owes everything to material that was written and recorded 30, 40 or even 50 years ago. I am maybe the worst kind of music snob? Or perhaps just "an old farty"?

For all the arguments I used to have with A&R people back in the day I now realise and accept that they were perhaps something of necesssary element in the process of segregating the best from the rest. A kind of public filter to save us all. It didn't always work out right  - otherwise we wouldn't have had to endure The Lighthouse Family or Fine Young Cannibals - but they probably snagged it 60-70% of the time which satisfied most artistic leaning ears. But that was then. Different times. Different attitudes. Different needs.

Those barriers are all now ripped down. Services like Spotify completely change the playing field. All of us can find and play whatever the hell we want, whenever we want to hear it. I have found things on streaming services that I have never been able to locate on anything but shabby old slabs of worn-out vinyl and have found myself delving even further into that past for another handful of obscure 60's one-hit wonders or Joe Meek outtakes. We are all now - in a very real sense - our own A&R.

What have I written all of this drivel? Mainly to have something to write about whilst I am in a peculiarly rare mood to write, but also to say that this year I HAVE actually been introduced to two 'new' bands who have impressed me and who seem to carry a little weight of credibility about themselves.

Nashville's The Silver Seas are terrific songwriters with a tremendous old-fashioned way of presenting their material. I don't think they've done anything wrong so far. Three albums in and I can only hope they don't fuck it all up with the fourth. In keeping with what I said earlier I know nothing more about them other then they used be called The Bees. To be honest I don't think I need to know much more if I enjoy their music do I? Losing my anal retentiveness about music has actually allowed me the freedom to enjoy stuff without prejudice.

In complete contrast are Rival Sons from California. I know even less about them other than they have succesfully fused the bombastic posturings of Led Zeppelin with those of the more laid-back Free/Bad Company and produced material that is (at least in my mind) great to drive to.

You may already have heard them, you may not. But they both come with a pair of my old fashioned retail recommendations. Worthless I know.

However, in keeping with this thread my solitary album of the year - and somewhat by default - is Rival Sons' "Pressure & Time", the Silver Seas' "Château Revenge" having apparently been released in 2010. See, I don't even know release dates any more?!! Most of these other bands y'all are talking about I've never even heard or heard of... I have been freed of the need.

[Homsar]

Wow.  The best vote ever.

[Butter]

1. PJ Harvey - Let England Shake

...working on the rest.

Yes.

Fleet Foxes and Tennis will be in the top 5, as will probably Unknown Mortal Orchestra and maybe Tune-Yards.  Maybe an album or two I haven't gotten to yet will sneak in there. 

But I don't think PJ Harvey's album can be beat this year.

[Butter]

However, I also realised that I had reached that hugely important point in my life which (my favourite UK broadcaster) Danny Baker once remarked on... he said "To be finally freed from keeping up with pop culture is like being unchained from a lunatic"

I feel like this with TV.  I can't keep up, don't even try.  I used to try, but now I just watch what I like and just give people blank stares when they talk about shows like "Lost" or "Big Bang Theory".

[Buzzstein]

I think what matters most is that we maintain our enthusiasm for music in general - new and/or old. I think for most of us it's impossible for us not to be passionate about music. If we lose that, we have a problem.