The First Year I Got Into Music (2011)
Last year was the first year I made a conscious effort to listen to and form
an opinion on as much music as I possibly could. I lurked around on Sputnik
for a while, but didn't make an account until recently. I thought it might be
fun to post my top albums from last year before I post my 2012 list in a few
months. These are my favourite albums, not yours, so be nice. |
| 50 |  | Florence and the Machine
Ceremonials |
| 49 |  | Grouper
A I A |
| 48 |  | Destroyer
Kaputt |
| 47 |  | Colin Stetson
New History Warfare, Vol 2: Judges |
| 46 |  | Nils Frahm
Felt |
| 45 |  | Barrow
Being Without |
| 44 |  | City and Colour
Little Hell |
| 43 |  | Rise Against
Endgame |
| 42 |  | Protest the Hero
Scurrilous |
| 41 |  | PJ Harvey
Let England Shake |
| 40 |  | BADBADNOTGOOD
BBNG |
| 39 |  | Swarms
Old Raves End |
| 38 |  | Adele
21 |
| 37 |  | Oneohtrix Point Never
Replica |
| 36 |  | Thursday
No Devolucion |
| 35 |  | The Rural Alberta Advantage
Departing |
| 34 |  | Crash of Rhinos
Distal |
| 33 |  | Defeater
Empty Days and Sleepless Nights |
| 32 |  | The Weeknd
Echoes of Silence
All 3 were good, but this was my favourite. |
| 31 |  | Iselia
Life From Dead Limbs |
| 30 |  | Submotion Orchestra
Finest Hour |
| 29 |  | The Devil Wears Prada
Dead Throne |
| 28 |  | Christina Vantzou
No.1 |
| 27 |  | Lykke Li
Wounded Rhymes |
| 26 |  | Coeur de Pirate
Blonde |
| 25 |  | Laura Marling
A Creature I Don't Know |
| 24 |  | The Jezabels
Prisoner |
| 23 |  | Olafur Arnalds
Living Room Songs
I didn't listen to many eps this year, but this was my favourite. |
| 22 |  | Maybeshewill
I Was Here For a Moment, Then I Was Gone |
| 21 |  | August Burns Red
Leveler |
| 20 |  | Eisley
The Valley
This caught me off guard, but I found it really enjoyable. |
| 19 |  | Andrew Jackson Jihad
Knife Man
Thought he was a whiney bitch on first listen, but his lyrics are really entertaining. This
grew on me pretty hard. |
| 18 |  | Bjork
Biophilia
It took me a while to get into Bjork?s music because it can be really weird. But I've
grown to admire her as an artist. Also, I think it?s pretty bad ass that she
commissioned people to make new instruments like Gameleste. |
| 17 |  | Feist
Metals
An incredibly consistent album that proves that she is so much more than the girl
from that iPod commercial. |
| 16 |  | Bon Iver
Bon Iver, Bon Iver
I had really high hopes for this album and for the most part I wasn?t disappointed. I
freaking love ?Holocene? and ?Towers,? but the 80s elevator music on the last track
really weighs this album down for me. |
| 15 |  | Lights
Siberia
I've liked Lights for a long time. I met her when she opened for Chiodos in Toronto
the day after she released her first ep. People were shouting ?who the fuck are you?
and ?get off the stage,? but she quickly shut them up. She has one of the best voices
I've ever heard and she?s also the artist that I've seen in concert the most time (8
times). Not all of the tracks are spectacular, but it?s still an awesome album. |
| 14 |  | St. Vincent
Strange Mercy
I?m pretty sure Regina Spektor and Sufjan Stevens had a secret lovechild and named
her Annie Clark. This album is kind of weird, but it?s also kind of awesome. |
| 13 |  | Cults
Cults
Best 60s throwback album ever. |
| 12 |  | Tycho
Dive
Really chilled out happy electronic music. I know there?s ?better? electronic albums
out there that came out this year, but I found myself spinning this much more than
Old Raves End or Finest Hour. |
| 11 |  | Beirut
The Rip Tide
A nice, short Indie folk album. His voice was a little bit of an acquired taste for me, but
I really enjoyed this. |
| 10 |  | La Dispute
Wildlife
Such a raw and emotional album. King Park is easily one of my favourite songs of the
year. This album is definitely worth all the hype it receives. |
| 9 |  | M83
Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
I generally shy away from double LPs because they are so freaking long, but Maybe
I?m Dreaming is really quite the listen. ?Intro,? ?Midnight City? and ?Steve McQueen?
are freaking gold. |
| 8 |  | The Caretaker
An Empty Bliss Beyond This World
I actually don?t really know why I like this. It sounds like the end of the world, but I
just want to keep listening to it. |
| 7 |  | Frank Turner
England Keep My Bones
Frank Turner. That is all. |
| 6 |  | Youth Lagoon
The Year of Hibernation
This was the first year that I decided to step out of my musical comfort zone. I gave
a lot of albums a chance that I probably would not have when I was younger because
I didn?t like the genre, album cover, artist name etc. Some of these albums that I
gave a try didn?t do it for me, but sometimes I was pleasantly surprised. The Year of
Hibernation was by far the biggest pleasant surprise. I?m very glad I gave this a shot. |
| 5 |  | Fleet Foxes
Helplessness Blues
One of the best, if not the best, modern folk band. Helplessness blues makes me
want to grow my beard, stop showering and grow an apple orchard. I really like the
pictures the lyrics paint and the earthiness of this album. Highly recommended to
anyone who enjoys folk music. |
| 4 |  | Tim Hecker
Ravedeath, 1972
Drone and ambient music sometimes get a bad rap for being long, boring, and
unoriginal. I agree that some albums can be almost unnecessarily long (I absolutely
love Lift Your Skinny Fists, but it definitely drags on, in my opinion.), but I think
Ravedeath, 1972 is the perfect length. It?s captivating, depressing; it?s really good
thinking music. |
| 3 |  | Pianos Become the Teeth
The Lack Long After
In my opinion, this album has some of the best, most emotional lyrics in the entire
genre of post-hardcore. You can hear it in the screams, the way it sounds like his
throat is threads away from ripping apart. This is post-hardcore done right. The
instrumentation is also near perfect. I?m going to be spinning this for a long time |
| 2 |  | Laura Stevenson and the Cans
Sit Resist
Her voice. Oh my god, her voice. And that accordion. Just, like, holy shit. I don?t
know where she came from and I don?t know why I didn?t hear this album until the
end of last year, but it has grown to be one of my favourites of all time. ?The Healthy
One,? ?Barnacles,? ?Master of Art? and ?The Wait? are my favourite songs from the
album. You may not agree with me (I know this because of the ?Sit Resist Ranked?
lists), but that?s what makes this album so amazing. There?s literally not a single bad,
or even mediocre song on it. God I love it. |
| 1 |  | A Winged Victory for the Sullen
A Winged Victory for the Sullen
When I heard that one of the guys behind Stars of the Lid had a new project with a
classical artist I got fairly excited. I was interested to see what a mix of Ambient and
Neo-Classical would sound like. Turns out it sounds like bliss. This isn?t the kind of
album you can put on in the background when you?re reading, AWVFTS demands
your attention and, if you give it, it will blow your mind. ?Steep Hills of Vicodin? has
grown to become my second favourite song of all time. The song slowly builds into a
culmination of strings and synths that I can?t explain. I don?t love all ambient music
and I don?t love all classical music, but I freaking love this album. |
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