Top Ten Albums Of 2011...

[mjk73]

Explosions In The Sky - Take Care, Take Care, Take Care
PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
Arbouretum - The Gathering
Bon Iver - Bon Iver
Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
Nils Frahm - Felt
Mogwai - Hardcore Will Never Die...
WU LYF - Go Tell Fire To The Mountain
Josh T Pearson - Last Of The Country Gentlemen
King Creosote and Jon Hopkins - Diamond Mine

Other mentions - Bill Callahan, War On Drugs, J Mascis, Ryan Adams, Adele, Zomby, Antlers, Wilco, Johnathan Wilson, Low Anthem. Only got the the new Bonnie "Prince" a few days ago, don't have the new Black Keys or Roots yet...

I thank you DB for turning me towards Arbouretum.  I love that album.  I miss talking hip hop with you and I'll go ahead and say that Undun might have jumped into 4th place on my Roots album list and in time may replace one or more of the big 3.  It's that good.

ruckus then turned me on to Arbouretum!...

side note--(also Mastodon!!)...Curl of the Burl kicks ass man, no idea why you don't like it.. the combination of Season 3 of The Wire and Mastodon is just making me wanna take bodies out and rip sh*t up...how dare you cap Omar's old Grandlady on a Sunday Morning! that broke all the rules...

:o Oh hell, Christine is thuggin & buggin.

[ManNamedTruth]

There's always an album or 2 I'm late to the party on that would've made my top ten. This year it's White Denim - D. Probably would bump out Middle Brother and keep 1,2,3 in my top ten.

[Ghosts_on_TV]

That WU LYF album is badass.

[Ob1jacobe]

I am late to the party or spent time revisiting albums.  Decemberists was on several friends list and after giving a much deserved second chance i would put in my top ten, bumping out Okkervil River.

[Come Closer]

Undun is terrific. It's definitely in the mix as their 4th best album, along with How I Got Over and Game Theory.

[mjk73]

That WU LYF album is badass.

Indeed.

[Ruckus]

1.  Arbouretum - The Gathering
2.  Roots - Undun
3.  Astrounautalis - This is Our Science
4.  Country Mice - Twister
5.  Middle Brother - S/T
6.  Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears - Scandalous
7.  Scale the Summit - The Collective
8.  Fucked Up - David Comes to Life
9.  Rival Sons - Pressure and Time
10.Badbadnotgood - BBNG

Honorable Mention:
White Denim, Frank Turner, Megadeth, Dawes, Shabazz Palaces

[mahg33ta]

I've been meaning to do this for a while and hell it's Feb 6, if I don't do it soon what's the point.   So, here goes:

Top 11 albums of the year:
1   Head and the Heart   Head and the Heart
2   Brown Bird   Salt for Salt
3   Dawes      Nothing is Wrong
4   MMJ      Circuital
5   Wilco      The Whole Lover
6   White Denim   D
7   Decemberists   The King Is Dead
8   Civil Wars      Barton Hollow
9   War on Drugs   Slave Ambient
10   Felice Brothers   Celebration FL
11   Bright Eyes   People's Key

honorable mention (like some songs but album is flawed):  Deer Tick, Portugal the Man, Blitzen Trapper, Radiohead

albums that have a chance to crack the top 11 someday but I haven't had long enough:  Yuck, Glossary, Other Lives, Country Mice

Albums I've had long enough to know they won't crack the top 11*:  Stephen Malkmus, Eddie Vedder, Drive By Truckers, Death Cab for Cutie, Daniel Martin Moore, Coldplay, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Aunt Marsha, Airborne Toxic Event, Adele.


* When I see other people's top lists I always wonder "why isn't __ on there? didn't they like it or didn't they know it?".   Or, did they listen to 400 albums that year or 12? (if the latter, the top 10 list might contain some bad albums).    Also, I only included albums I heard many many times and know very well.   This list might generate some potshots at my musical tastes.   So I guess in total that's 29 albums I spent a lot of time with in 2011... probably a low number than many of you but a manageable amount to digest for me.

[Northern Neighbour]

I thought I posted my top albums in this thread, but I guess not.

1. The Antlers, "Burst Apart"
2. The War on Drugs, "Slave Ambient"
3. White Denim, "D"
4. Thee Oh Sees, "Carrion Crawler/The Dream"
5. PJ Harvey, "Let England Shake"
6. Bon Iver, "Bon Iver"
7. Wilco, "The Whole Love"
8. M83, "Hurry Up, We're Dreaming"
9. The Black Keys, "El Camino"
10. Cut Copy, "Zonoscope"

[ALady]

I guess I never posted mine either?  Huh.

1. Jesse Sykes & the Sweet Hereafter Marble Son
2. Zola Jesus Conatus
3. Disappears Guider
4. Charles Bradley No Time For Dreaming
5. Destroyer Kaputt
6. Dum Dum Girls Only In Dreams
7. Okkervil River I Am Very Far
8. Kanye West and Jay-Z Watch the Throne
9. Peaking Lights 936
10. Belong Common Era

[Northern Neighbour]

Good call on Zola Jesus.  I probably would have her in my top 10 as well, but I forgot.

[ALady]

Couldn't stop playing that one for months.