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Best Albums of 2011 By Clark Benson [94 more lists]
2011's releases easily topped the Best Albums of 2010, but that is faint praise indeed. 2011 was a slightly sub-par year by recent (the last 5 years) standards, but IMHO new rock (and related) music has been ebbing for quite some time (see the best albums of the '00s). Not to be a total downer though - everything in my Top 10 is top-notch, even compared to the respective artists' previous work. Nos 11-20 are also quite solid, though the quality drops for the rest of the list.
I usually don't finish my year-end list until late Jan or so (to give late-in-year albums time to breathe), but the list seems firm enough to me at this point, though I might tweak the order a bit. Please note that the positioning of the Black Keys record at #5 is a "best guess" as I have only just got it and have given it nowhere near enough spins to give it a final ranking - but I definitely dig it.
- 1
Wilco2011Folk music, Alternative rock“ A fine return to "Ghost Is Born" form. I can't say I've yet listened to this enough to have a final opinion - I'm nervous about listening to it too much because my wife likes Wilco a lot so I know i'll be hearing a lot of it in the next year and I don't want to get burned out on it since Wilco is one of those bands that I just NEED. „ - 2
PJ Harvey2011Folk music, Alternative rock, Soft rock, Folk rock, Experimental rock, Experimental music, Art rock MoreAlbum“ PJ Harvey's albums tend to each have a unique feel, and while I've always liked her work, the only other album that I have really loved was Stories By The Ocean, Stories From The Sea - until this record. Which is very different from Stories . . . Let England Shake has a hard-to-define ethereal feel that really stands out. One of the most original records by an established artist of recent memory. „ - 3
Mine Is Yours
Cold War Kids2011Alternative rock, Indie rockAlbum“ My go-to 2011 record when I just need an energy boost (sadly, there don't seem to be as many of those records these days although there were more this year than the last few) - the first 2 songs are amazing. This record is a hybrid of their first album - which had a handful of amazing songs and some filler - and their 2nd, which was consistently good but never great. „ - 4
AdeleAlternative rock, Rock music, Rhythm and blues, Soul music, Pop music, Indie rock, Blues MoreAlbum“ Honestly, at different times any of these top 5 records could be my #1 - and it was nice to see the year's bestselling record actually be one of A+ quality. „ - 5
El Camino
The Black Keys“ Growing on me more and more - starting to like even more than the excellent "Brothers" „ -
- 6
Kiss Each Other Clean
Iron & Wine2011Alternative rock, Indie pop, Blues, Indie folkAlbum“ A bit of a departure from the previous Iron and Wine releases, it took me a few listens to really get into this one. Once I did, I was well-rewarded - Sam Beam has taken this group to the next level and they are now a more "full" band. „ - 7
Bad As Me
Tom Waits“ Like his 1999 Mule Variations (and unlike everything else he has released since then) Bad As Me does not to my ears appear to have even a single mediocre track. „ - 8
Circuital
My Morning Jacket2011Indie rock, Psychedelic rock, Space rockAlbum“ Another strong MMJ record. „ - 9
Wild Flag
“ Sounded a bit wishy-washy on the first few listens, but has really grown on me since then. „ - 10
Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds
Noel Gallagher2011Alternative rock, Rock musicAlbum“ More consistent than any Oasis record since Morning Glory „ - 11
The King of Limbs
Radiohead2011Alternative rock, Electronic music, Experimental rock, Art rock“ Although the songs don't exactly stick with me, I always enjoy this album and keep coming back to it. „ - 12 Battles2011Experimental rock, Math rockStudio album“ Each of their records is a "levelup" - easily the best experimental/(mostly) instrumental release of the decade so far. „
- 13
Here We Rest
Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit2011Soul music, Alternative country, Southern rock“ Blows away the Drive-By Truckers 2011 album, which was one of their weakest efforts. „ - 14 Fleet Foxes2011Folk music, Baroque popAlbum“ Sounded even better live. „
- 15
Give Till It's Gone
Ben Harper2011Alternative rock, Blues-rock“ I kinda forgot about this record, but it's up there with Ben's better work - first two songs are especially excellent „ -
- 16
Dynamite Steps
The Twilight Singers2011Indie rockAlbum“ Not their best work, but almost everything Dulli does is at such a high level of quality . . . „ - 17
Dark Hope
Renée Fleming2010Indie rock“ Opera singer doing rock songs - and mostly non-obvious ones. Quite cool and unique - seek this out. „ - 18
C'mon
Low2011Alternative rockAlbum“ Year after year, Low's songwriting skills slowly creep upward. „ - 19
Rome
Danger Mouse, Norah Jones, Jack White, Daniele Luppi2011Folk rock, Indie rock, Symphonic rock, Operatic popAlbum - 20
David Comes to Life
Fucked Up2011Progressive rock, Punk rock, Experimental rock, Hardcore punk, Rock opera MoreAlbum“ Need to listen to this more (just don't find myself in the mood for 70 minutes of loud neo-hardcore as often these days as I used to) but damn it's ambitious, and full of strong songs. „ - 21
Diotima
Krallice2011Black metal - 22
Gentle Spirit
Jonathan WilsonAlbum“ Added late as I didn't hear this until 2012 . . . might climb even higher on the list „ - 23
Mockingbird Time
Jayhawks2011Rock music“ Best thing they've done since . . . well since Olson left the band in '97 or so. „ - 24
I'm with You
Red Hot Chili Peppers2011Alternative rock, Experimental rock, Funk-rock“ John Frusciante is definitely missed, and I don't hear any outright classics on this, but neither is it filled with clunkers. I'd rate it somewhere between Stadium Arcadium and By The Way. „ - 25
The Apostasy
BehemothBlackened death metal, Death metal, Technical death metal, Black metalAlbum
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