Chambered's Top 40 Albums Of 2011
Here it is folks! |
| 40 |  | Low
C'mon
Although it doesn't strike as much of an emotional chord as their opus, Things We Lost in The Fire, C'mon is still most likely the slowcore album of the year. At times too non-chalant for its own good, Low still show they are true masters of their craft, providing a height of melancholia only found in one of their albums. |
| 39 |  | Giles Corey
Giles Corey
It loses steam here and there, and the execution doesn't quite live up to the concept, yet Giles Corey is an album to cherish. Apocolyptic folk that is at times stunningly beautiful and gloriously immense. |
| 38 |  | Yuck
Yuck
Basically the album you and your friends would have made back in 1995, in your garage, if you and your friends were actually good at writing songs. Closer "Rubber" is amazing. |
| 37 |  | Pygmy Lush
Old Friends
A subdued indie-rock album that never wavers from being pretty and hard-hitting. |
| 36 |  | Demdike Stare
Tryptych
An unwavering, truly ghastly mission. |
| 35 |  | Bon Iver
Bon Iver, Bon Iver
It doesn't touch For Emma, simply because, well, not only is it unfair to compare them, but For Emma just screamed desolation. Bon Iver is the sun-drenched plateaus to For Emma's haunting, winter woods. |
| 34 |  | Raekwon
Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang
It's Raekwon. It's solid. It's in the top 40. |
| 33 |  | Bomb the Music Industry!
Vacation
Consistently interesting with great lyrics to boot, Vacation sweeps from one emotion to another in an instant. |
| 32 |  | Crash of Rhinos
Distal
2011's "The Little Hardcore Album that Could". |
| 31 |  | A Winged Victory for the Sullen
A Winged Victory for the Sullen
Predictably beautiful. |
| 30 |  | Tyler, The Creator
Goblin
This is actually probably my most played record in 2011. While time has made it lose some of its charm, Goblin is still fun as hell. |
| 29 |  | Arizmenda
Without Circumference Nor Center
You won't fight a more pummeling black metal release all year. Shrouded in mystery and intensity, Without Circumference... dazzles with layers of noise and furious rhythms. |
| 28 |  | Braids
Native Speaker
I pretty much lose a little piece of my mind everytime I put this on. I mean that in the best way possible. |
| 27 |  | Big K.R.I.T.
ReturnOf4eva
if the first half was as good as the soulful 2nd, this could have very well been number 1. "The Vent" is absolutely magnificent. |
| 26 |  | Zomby
Dedication
I don't know if it's the crystal-clear production or the fact that these songs are too short to get tired of, Dedication is pure electronica bliss. |
| 25 |  | The War on Drugs
Slave Ambient
Aptly titled Slave Ambient keeps you in its seduction of americana masked by layers of gorgeous sound. One of the most colorful and vibrant rock albums of the year. |
| 24 |  | Algernon Cadwallader
Parrot Flies
Just look at that album cover, boom top 40. But really, an excellent, chaotic and interesting jam-out. |
| 23 |  | Colin Stetson
New History Warfare, Vol 2: Judges
Unconditional love for your instrument is never a bad thing. Especially if it's a saxophone. |
| 22 |  | Real Estate
Days
if "It's real" isn't enough of a reason to put this on the list, I don't know what is. Sunny, free, and hopelessly sad. |
| 21 |  | Cymbals Eat Guitars
Lenses Alien
Even though I've been waiting their followup to Why There Are Mountains since it was released, Lenses Alien still feels like a dark horse. Regardless, it's unsurprisingly fantastic. |
| 20 |  | Fleet Foxes
Helplessness Blues
While the title track has been floating around for what seems like forever, it was difficult to expect the entire album to live up to it. Boy does it ever. Fleet Foxes take their somewhat lifeless folk-y style of past releases and bloom it into a wonderous (and honest) record filled with climaxes and poignant lyrics. Their best album to date. |
| 19 |  | The Men
Leave Home
Building upon last year's Immaculada, Leave Home is The Men finally coming into their own, striking a perfect balance between their cerebral noise-punk and near flawless songwriting. |
| 18 |  | Pulling Teeth
Funerary
While a lot of negative attention has been aimed at Funerary for being too short, too much left to be desired, it's still quite a feat to find a harder punch to the face in 2011 than Pulling Teeth's forecful, hardcore assault. |
| 17 |  | Flourishing
The Sum of All Fossils
While it's certainly not the heaviest album of the year. death metal outfit Flourishing are somewhat of a revolutionary, combining Godflesh-like industrial with a hint of death and even some dissonant noise rock. This sounds like a juxtaposition made from hell, and maybe it is. Either way, it's always interesting, always exciting, and always fresh. |
| 16 |  | M83
Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
My first forray into M83's stuff, and it won't be my last. Sweet as candy, catchy as hell, innocent pop that sparkles the nerve endings and simply puts a smile on your face. |
| 15 |  | The Weeknd
House Of Balloons
An R&B album not concerned with the hedonistic lifestyle, but instead shows it for what it really is - a cancer. |
| 14 |  | Matana Roberts
Coin Coin Chapter One - Gens de couleur libres
A truly frieghtening and real experience. |
| 13 |  | Laura Stevenson And The Cans
Sit Resist
Variety galore, both in sound and songwriting, Laura's sultry and tender vocals cut through with some of the most honest lyrics of this decade. |
| 12 |  | BOBBY
BOBBY
It's still fascinating. A debut from nowhere that slows everything down, a Broken Social Scene-inspired, drowsy adventure. Light up that spliff and float down stream. |
| 11 |  | Iceage
New Brigade
Punx all up in this bitch, a punch to the face until Iceage is sure your nose is broken, If not, well, better defend yourself. |
| 10 |  | Dirty Beaches
Badlands
An ode to 50's rockabilly that simply crushes it into oblivion. Badlands is the sound of a man giving in, of knowing that it's over yet still retaining some of those seemingly lost memories and making them the one thing to believe in before everything goes underground. Superb. |
| 9 |  | Ampere
Like Shadows
Don't blink, because you'll most likely miss the lightning strike that is easily the best skramz of the year. |
| 8 |  | Wild Beasts
Smother
As beautiful as it is eerie, Smother is an exercise in intricate beauty. Being subtle never sounded so vivid. |
| 7 |  | James Blake
James Blake
It feels more of a mammoth than it probably is, thanks to its silence eating away at all the gorgeous electronica here. An album for people in a fog, and one of 2011's best. |
| 6 |  | Baton Rouge
Fragments D'eux Memes
I can't say enough about this one, the more focused side project from screamo outfit Daitro. So I'll just say this: Fragments is tank-solid, unforgiving, hard hitting punk rock. |
| 5 |  | Tim Hecker
Ravedeath, 1972
if there was ever a musical piece that perfectly defines this undefinable generation, it would most likely be this. |
| 4 |  | Shabazz Palaces
Black Up
A rebirth of sorts for the MC, in a time where swag is all the flavor, this out-of-this-world hip-hop party is only concerned with warping your mind. Better clear some space out. |
| 3 |  | Radiohead
The King Of Limbs
The most subtle, difficult to pin down Radiohead album yet, and one that brings the band crashing down to earth in a gloriously unglorious fashion. |
| 2 |  | Jenny Hval
Viscera
I've never heard anything like it and to this day, my aw usually stays on the floor while listening. not because of the completely unregarded sexual and mangled lyricism, but because Hval has crated something here unlike anything I've ever heard. So very visceral. |
| 1 |  | Wu Lyf
Go tell fire To The Mountain
Much like the indecipherable lyrics, 2011 has been quite the blurry year, in terms of the state of things and the music that's been coming out. Regardless, Go Tell Fire... absolutely soars, drums thundering, melodies peaking over the horizon. An album that feels like a turbulent moment in time, gone as fast as it came, but when it's here, when it's stuck in the present, it rattles the soul. |
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