| 2011 |
| Brendan Kelly and the Wandering Birds A Man with the Passion of Tennessee Williams | 3.5 |
| There Will Be Fireworks Because, Because | 4.0 |
| The Black Keys El Camino | 3.0 |
| Toh Kay Streetlight Lullabies | 3.5 |
| R.E.M. Part Lies Part Heart Part Truth... | 4.0 |
| Los Campesinos! Hello Sadness | 3.5 |
| Owen Ghost Town | 4.0 |
| Johnny Foreigner Johnny Foreigner vs Everything | 3.0 |
| The Decemberists Long Live the King | 3.5 |
| Pianos Become the Teeth The Lack Long After | 4.0 |
| O'Brother Garden Window | 3.5 |
| Dead to Me Moscow Penny Ante | 3.5 |
| Banner Pilot Heart Beats Pacific | 4.0 |
| Tom Waits Bad As Me | 4.0 |
| We Are The U-nion Graveyard Grins | 3.5 |
| Timeshares Bearable | 3.5 |
| The Gaslight Anthem iTunes Session | 3.5 |
| Real Estate Days | 4.0 |
| Empire! Empire! (I Was a Lonely Estate) On Time Spent Waiting | 3.5 |
| Future Islands On the Water | 3.5 |
| La Dispute Wildlife | 4.0 |
| Radical Face The Family Tree: The Roots | 4.0 |
| Ben Howard Every Kingdom | 4.0 |
| blink-182 Neighborhoods | 2.5 |
| A few good songs, mostly average material. Kinda like every other Blink record. |
| Wilco The Whole Love | 4.0 |
| Dan Mangan Oh Fortune | 4.0 |
| Youth Lagoon The Year of Hibernation | 4.0 |
| AJJ Knife Man | 4.5 |
| Bridge and Tunnel Rebuilding Year | 3.5 |
| The Jezabels Prisoner | 4.0 |
| Polar Bear Club Clash Battle Guilt Pride | 3.5 |
| St. Vincent Strange Mercy | 3.0 |
| Kevin Devine Between the Concrete and Clouds | 3.0 |
| Cymbals Eat Guitars Lenses Alien | 3.5 |
| Chuck Ragan Covering Ground | 4.5 |
| Chuck Ragan > Chuck Norris |
| Thrice Major/Minor | 4.0 |
| The Horrible Crowes Elsie | 4.5 |
| The Nightwatchman World Wide Rebel Songs | 2.0 |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers I'm With You | 2.5 |
| Sun Araw Ancient Romans | 3.0 |
| Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks Mirror Traffic | 3.0 |
| The War On Drugs Slave Ambient | 4.5 |
| One of the most beautiful things about modern music is that the spirit of Americana has never come close to declining, as the likes of the Gaslight Anthem, the Hold Steady, and the State Lottery have carried on the legacy sparked by Bruce Springsteen and the Replacements. Although existing most commonly in punk rock, a few outliers have come into the mix of modern Americana; most recently the War on Drugs. There is something oh so familiar about the band?s second LP Slave Ambient, whether has to do with the fact that lead singer Adam Granduciel sounds like a Bob Dylan/Tom Petty hybrid, or that the music is perfectly on point in capturing the sentiment of Americana. And yet, it isn't clear that something like this has been done before. Fusing together your typical rock music with shoegaze influences, Slave Ambient sits back and takes the scenic route to the promised land, eventually exploding into its stunning climax. Slowing down even more towards the middle of the record and reaching a point of immense tranquility with "City Reprise #12," Slave Ambient transitions into the ultimate underscore in "Baby Missles;" a moment which cannot be rivaled by nearly any release over the past decade. Elevated by everything from the keyboards, driving rhythm section, smooth leads, and harmonica solos, "Baby Missles" is the Springsteen-esque Americana classic that catapults Slave Ambient to the top of the 2011 list, essentially summing up everything that the record is about in three and a half compelling minutes. And god damn is it a resounding ride. |
| Cut Off Your Hands Hollow | 3.5 |
| Braid Closer To Closed | 3.0 |
| House Boat The Thorns of Life | 3.5 |
| Beirut The Rip Tide | 4.0 |
| Against Me! Black Crosses | 4.0 |
| Frightened Rabbit A Frightened Rabbit EP | 3.5 |
| Bomb the Music Industry! Vacation | 4.0 |
| For the longest time this year, Vacation was the most frustrating release in some time. No ska, clean vocals, and almost devoid of that vintage Bomb the Music Industry! chaos, Vacation was ticketed for a one-way trip to the honorable mentions list in July; an unsettling position for a BTMI! record. Yet, after finally accepting Vacation for an uplifting pop-record as it is, BTMI’s 2011 installment serves the spirit of orgcore punk with a sheer enjoy-ability factor: whether this is conveyed through the ever infectious “Vocal Coach,” “Why, Oh Why, Oh Why,” and “Hurricane Waves” or the fact that “Can’t Complain” and “Campaign for a Better Weekend” are some of the best lower-key tracks in Rosenstock and crew’s arsenal. Vacation is far from BTMI’s best record and that’s just fine, because it stands on its own enough to be celebrated as one of the better releases of 2011. |
| 311 Universal Pulse | 2.5 |
| Trophy Scars Never Born, Never Dead | 4.0 |
| Portugal. The Man In The Mountain In The Cloud | 3.5 |
| Incubus (USA-CA) If Not Now, When? | 2.0 |
| I listened to an album called If Not Now, When? one time. I didn't know until halfway in...Incubus never came! Incubus never came! |
| Fair to Midland Arrows and Anchors | 3.0 |
| The Horrors Skying | 3.5 |
| Warren Franklin Your Heart Belongs To The Midwest | 3.5 |
| Basement I Wish I Could Stay Here | 4.0 |
| The Smith Street Band No One Gets Lost Anymore | 4.5 |
| Junior Battles Idle Ages | 3.5 |
| Empire! Empire! (I Was a Lonely Estate) Home After Three Months Away | 4.0 |
| Bon Iver Bon Iver, Bon Iver | 4.5 |
| The Dear Hunter Red | 4.5 |
| The Wonder Years Suburbia I've Given You All and Now I'm Nothing | 3.5 |
| The Holy Mess The Holy Mess | 3.5 |
| The Dear Hunter The Color Spectrum (Complete Collection) | 3.5 |
| The Dear Hunter Black | 3.5 |
| The Wild A Collection | 4.0 |
| WU LYF Go Tell Fire to the Mountain | 4.5 |
| When it comes down to it all, one does not need to even have a clue about what WU LYF’s message is about. Inevitably, the more we find out about WU LYF, the less significant they will become. Go Tell Fire to the Mountain isn’t just striking because of its uniqueness and oddly infectious hooks, or the fact that the record is ballsy, jubilant, or flat-out beautiful at any given time. The Manchester natives’ debut brings about the remarkable sentiment of unity within its anthems, just as Titus Andronicus’ The Monitor had done. And isn’t that the greatest message of all? |
| City and Colour Little Hell | 3.0 |
| Fucked Up David Comes to Life | 4.5 |
| Touche Amore Parting The Sea Between Brightness And Me | 3.5 |
| Frank Turner England Keep My Bones | 4.0 |
| Departures When Losing Everything Is Everything You Wanted | 4.0 |
| Flogging Molly Speed of Darkness | 3.5 |
| More of the same from Flogging Molly, but this is not a negative thing |
| Death Cab for Cutie Codes and Keys | 2.0 |
| Eddie Vedder Ukulele Songs | 3.0 |
| Maybeshewill I Was Here For a Moment, Then I Was Gone | 4.0 |
| I Was Here For a Moment, Then I Was Gone is not exactly a complete shift in direction for Maybeshewill, but is evidence that the post-rockers are evolving in terms of musicianship and diversity. The haziness of the message is what prevents the record from reaching an astronomical level however, as I Was Here For a Moment, Then I Was Gone does not pack the same poignant punch as Sing the Word Hope In Four-Part Harmony or even Not For Want of Trying. Maybeshewill’s preceding releases were successful in the fact that the inspiration and sincerity was apparent, but with I Was Here For a Moment, Then I Was Gone, this is left open to debate. Regardless, Maybeshewill has made an elaborate statement with their third record, even if one thing remains true: Maybeshewill is post-rock without the bullshit. |
| Against Me! Total Clarity | 3.5 |
| The Men Leave Home | 4.0 |
| Manchester Orchestra Simple Math | 4.5 |
| The Antlers Burst Apart | 3.5 |
| Okkervil River I Am Very Far | 3.5 |
| Elway Delusions | 4.0 |
| Balance and Composure Separation | 4.0 |
| Moving Mountains Waves | 4.0 |
| Old Gray Demo | 3.5 |
| The National Think You Can Wait/Exile Vilify | 4.5 |
| Fleet Foxes Helplessness Blues | 3.0 |
| Have Nots Proud | 3.5 |
| Title Fight Shed | 3.5 |
| dredg Chuckles and Mr. Squeezy | 1.0 |
| Iron Chic Split N' Shit | 4.0 |
| Laura Stevenson Sit Resist | 4.5 |
| Matt Pond PA Spring Fools | 3.0 |
| I'm From Barcelona Forever Today | 3.0 |
| Explosions in the Sky Take Care, Take Care, Take Care | 2.5 |
| Foo Fighters Wasting Light | 4.0 |
| Crystal Stilts In Love With Oblivion | 4.0 |
| TV on the Radio Nine Types of Light | 4.0 |
| Spraynard Funtitled | 4.0 |
| Thursday No Devolucion | 4.0 |
| The Raveonettes Raven in the Grave | 3.5 |
| The Kills Blood Pressures | 3.5 |
| Crash of Rhinos Distal | 4.0 |
| The Mountain Goats All Eternals Deck | 4.5 |
| What Tuna meant to say is that you don't want to see him without his mask on |
| William Fitzsimmons Gold In The Shadow | 2.5 |
| Yellowcard When You're Through Thinking, Say Yes | 3.5 |
| The Strokes Angles | 2.5 |
| The Lonely Forest Arrows | 3.5 |
| Restorations Restorations (LP1) | 4.0 |
| Rise Against Endgame | 3.0 |
| J Mascis Several Shades of Why | 4.0 |
| The Dodos No Color | 3.5 |
| R.E.M. Collapse Into Now | 3.5 |
| Noah and the Whale Last Night On Earth | 2.0 |
| Kurt Vile Smoke Ring For My Halo | 4.0 |
| Dropkick Murphys Going Out In Style | 4.0 |
| Starting to think this is the album I've always wanted from Dropkick |
| Bayside Killing Time | 3.0 |
| Red City Radio The Dangers of Standing Still | 4.0 |
| Radiohead The King of Limbs | 2.5 |
| Yuck Yuck | 4.0 |
| Early AOTY candidate? I think so |
| PJ Harvey Let England Shake | 3.5 |
| Bright Eyes The People's Key | 3.5 |
| Chuck Ragan Live At Cafe Du Nord | 4.0 |
| ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead Tao of the Dead | 3.5 |
| The Steinways Promise It'll Never Happen Again | 3.5 |
| Little Comets In Search of Elusive Little Comets | 3.0 |
| Ben Marwood Outside There's A Curse | 3.5 |
| Keep It Like A Secret Not With A Bang But A Whimper | 3.5 |
| Destroyer Kaputt | 2.5 |
| Cloud Nothings Cloud Nothings | 3.0 |
| Cold War Kids Mine is Yours | 3.5 |
| Douglas Shields and the X-Factors Obsessed Unicorn | 3.5 |
| The Veils Troubles of the Brain | 3.0 |
| The Joy Formidable The Big Roar | 4.0 |
| Amateur Party Truncheons in the Manor | 3.5 |
| The Decemberists The King Is Dead | 3.5 |
| Social Distortion Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes | 3.5 |
| Old Man Markley Guts N' Teeth | 3.5 |
| Spokes Everyone I Ever Met | 4.0 |
| Daytrader Last Days of Rome | 3.5 |
| Pearl Jam Live On Ten Legs | 3.5 |
| Love Axe Phenomenomenons | 4.0 |
| Joyce Manor Joyce Manor | 3.5 |
| Self Defense Family The Sorrowful And Immaculate Heart Of Emanuela... | 3.5 |
| The Taxpayers To Risk So Much For One Damn Meal | 3.5 |
