| Great Albums Of 2011 |
| 25 |  | Thrice
Major/Minor
Another emotional release from Sputnik's favorite band. I feel like not including
this would be like Sputnik suicide. Anyways, it's good. But, you probably already
knew that. |
| 24 |  | Mogwai
Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will
Mogwai prove that despite their 16 years of existence, they are still more than
capable of making ingenious music. 'Hardcore Will Never Die...' is smart and
subtle. The songs here build slowly, capturing a wide spectrum of ideas in its
swaying crescendos. |
| 23 |  | Touche Amore
Parting The Sea Between Brightness And Me
20 minutes of energetic post-hardcore. Tons of replay value, and intuitive
instrumentation. |
| 22 |  | The Devin Townsend Project
Deconstruction
This guy is awesome! Discography is really strong all around. This year he concluded his DTP series,
with Deconstruction and Ghost, released on the same day. This album, Deconstruction, is one of the
most cluttered, complicated, and chaotic releases this year. Not a moment of rest on this one! |
| 21 |  | Girls
Father, Son, Holy Ghost
A homage in large part to soul, blues, and R&B. Girls wear their influences on their sleeve, and thus
present an album highly derivative of the retro records they grew up with. Yet, they are capable of
shaping their own style, creating a sense of old-fashioned appreciation that works wonderfully
between the vocals of Chris Owens and Chet White's ideal percussion. |
| 20 |  | Kendrick Lamar
Section 80
Strong flow and a lot of nice production parts. Great lyrics, albeit the frequent Kanye-isms. |
| 19 |  | Yuck
Yuck
yuck's debut seems to me to have a ton of potential. "Suicide Policeman" is a kickass track,
and I can't wait to see what these guys will make in the future. |
| 18 |  | The Dear Hunter
The Color Spectrum (Complete Collection)
The complete Color Spectrum is sprawling, massive, long, and honestly close to
impossible to finish in one sitting. However, it's all worth it in the end. There are some
excellent tracks on here, and obviously some duds. More a 36 song album, its quality
does tend to remain fairly consistent. |
| 17 |  | Panda Bear
Tomboy
One of Animal Collective's co-leaders, Noah Lennox, is Panda Bear. His solo album Tomboy sounds like
mostly all of his contributions to AC; very trippy, lyrical, and dense. Panda has a good voice. |
| 16 |  | Bjork
Biophilia
For some reason or another, I expected this to be a "masterpiece" of sorts. I had hyped it up so much to the
point where if it was anything less than perfect, I'd be disappointed. This kinda happened. Nevertheless, it's
still quite a well-done album, and its very enjoyable if your expectations aren't sky-high. |
| 15 |  | Radiohead
The King Of Limbs
There's tons of debate over how boring, overhyped and shitty this is, but its really not that bad at all. Sure, it
isn't
In Rainbows or Kid A, but give Radiohead a break! There are moments on this album that border on dubstep,
and
others that feature those typically cryptic Yorke lyrics that people make blogs about to discuss aimlessly. |
| 14 |  | Danny Brown
XXX
Underground rap at its purest. Danny Brown has a really high-pitched voice that isn't for everyone, but its
definitely a
lot better than the monotonous sea of weed-rap that teenagers nowadays seem to worship. |
| 13 |  | Destroyer
Kaputt
Uber cheesy, in a VERY good way. Takes all the corn and cheese of the 80s and makes something really
lovable out of it. Expect a lot of synths and pedophile-esque whisper-singing. |
| 12 |  | Bon Iver
Bon Iver, Bon Iver
HIPSTURRR. Quality. Vocals kick ass. The closing track pisses me off though; uber cheesy and not in a good
way. The other nine tracks range from good to great. I dig. |
| 11 |  | Glassjaw
Coloring Book
I played this so much when I first got it. Almost as addictive as all the drugs that Daryl Palumbo doesn't do.
Also, Daytona White is beautiful. |
| 10 |  | Bomb The Music Industry!
Vacation
This band kicks ass, and this album was free, and free is a great price, and it has great lyrics, and its
really fun and skatastic. |
| 9 |  | James Blake
James Blake
"not all dubstep is bAd, guise!!!11!!" Seriously though, this is really cool and inventive and yadda
yadda yadda. |
| 8 |  | PJ Harvey
Let England Shake
PJ Harvey has grown a lot since Rid Of Me. She's diminished the raunchy, sex-driven attitude prevalent on her
early albums, and replaced it with an acute sensibility of music with a uniquely stylistic flair. Let England
Shake
shows what could arguably be described as PJ Harvey's major transition into maturity. |
| 7 |  | La Dispute
Wildlife
It's not as good as their first album, but at least Jordan Dreyer's vocals are a little less
melodramatic...Just a little, that is. The band is more prominent on this album, with the same
ultra-poetic lyrics we've come to expect. The vocals on King Park are astonishing. |
| 6 |  | Battles
Gloss Drop
Inventive, creative; highly interesting math-rock. the time signature changes, man! my god! |
| 5 |  | Fleet Foxes
Helplessness Blues
White people LOVE this album. Yet, as much as I want to hate this, I can't; it's a great release. The Shrine/An
Argument and Montezuma impress me every listen. |
| 4 |  | Shabazz Palaces
Black Up
Trippy, atmospheric, entertaining and complicated; Shabazz Palaces deliver consistently excellent verses
one after another with some of the best beats and rhythmic flow on any album this year. |
| 3 |  | St. Vincent
Strange Mercy
Annie Clark improves with every album; on Strange Mercy, not only does she show enhanced
songwriting abilities but also an improved sense of style, production and musicality. |
| 2 |  | Death Grips
Exmilitary
Utterly abrasive and harrowing, Exmilitary is built around merciless howls and unrelenting
percussive beats. It exemplifies the feelings of anger and lust in unequivocal ways. |
| 1 |  | Colin Stetson
New History Warfare, Vol 2: Judges
Being one of the most unique, original and totally mindblowing albums I've
heard this year, I'd be hard-pressed not to to include this somewhere in the top
5. Its amazing on biblical proportions. Literally, the occasional vocals on this album with the dramatic backing
are reminiscent of a sermon from some sort of God. |
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