My Favorite Albums of 2011

1 | Charles Bradley | No Time For Dreaming
Where James Brown left off, Charles Bradley picks up. Charles Bradley was a James Brown impersonator and you can hear that very strongly at times, but you can also hear his own take on what he does. I had the pleasure of seeing him over the summer and it was immensely great.
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2 | Metronomy | The English Riviera
Being a fan of Lights Out a couple years back I wanted to see Metronomy show off their songwriting and put the kooky sounds aside for a minute. I am so glad that they listened to me :-P The Look was easily one of my favorite tracks of the year.
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3 | Gardens & Villas | S/T
This album was produced by Richard Swift (see next album on the list) and that was the initial draw, then two days after I heard about Gardens & Villas, my band was offered a show with them. They are a bunch of kooks, the lead singer has a quiver (arrow holder) full of different wooden flutes that he plays intermittently. But damn if this album didn’t creep into my ear and make babies.
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4 | Richard Swift | Walt Wolfman
Richard Swift, in my eyes, can do no wrong. In debt to Randy Newman and Stax/Motown-era soul, Mr. Swift writes the most cohesive set of songs in the style of the latter. I wish this was a full length album.
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5 | Thee Oh Sees | Carrion Crawler / The Dream
I never would have thought that Thee Oh Sees would find themselves so high on a list of mine, due to the fact that I used to think they were a little one-note (a great one-note, but still just that). This album blew me away. I am gonna listen back through their discography and I’m sure I will find some other albums that are pretty damn great too.
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6 | Unknown Mortal Orchestra | S/T
After hearing the strength of Ffunny Ffriends I was anxiously awaiting the Fat Possum debut LP. At times it is almost too stylized, but shit I love the Nuggets boxset, so it’s like finding a long-lost band from that era in a way. I hope they remain true to this style for a couple of albums, very enjoyable.
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7 | Craft Spells | Idle Labor
Extremely catchy, New Order loving, lo-fi-ish pop songs. Nothing more to say.
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8 | Psychic Dancehall | Dreamers
Last year I was mildly obsessed with the Crocodiles, so when I heard Psychic Dancehall I was hooked. The music is similar in aesthetic but with a bit of a Black Arc-dub influence. So I was listening to this album for a good month or so, then I recommended it to a friend and he said “Oh yeah this is that band with the singer from the Crocodiles right?” I played it off like I knew all along, but between you and me I had no clue.
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9 | Belong | Common Era
This album is like driving through the fog along the coast, after a night of staying up way too late, drinking way too much and listening to music far too loud. 
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10 | Kurt Vile | Smoke Ring For My Halo
This album immediately feels comfortable. I know a lot of people knock it for rehashing some old popular songs he wrote, but to me that is his charm. It’s like rewriting your resumé. Yeah, you did some stuff in the past and you are gonna say that you did, but you are also going to write about new things/skills/experiences and after a while you have so many new things to add that you end up only writing about the older points that you think are the most relevant. I hope that makes sense, because Smoke Ring For My Halo definitely makes sense to me.
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11 | Civil Civic | Rules
This albums received literally next to no press whatsoever. They raise money for the album via Kickstarter, I found out too late. They are like a mix of DFA 1979, old-Ratatat, and some other extremely catchy pop group. Check it out.
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12 | St. Vincent | Strange Mercy
I don’t think I can write anything that hasn’t been said, this album is equal parts shred-fest and beauty.
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13 | Generationals | Actor-Caster
The Generationals are all over the place, but in a good way. This album in particular ends up sounding like a well constructed mixtape with slight variations in genre, production and style. Overall a good listen.
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14 | The Kills | Blood Pressures
Honestly, I thought the Kills lost me on this one. But it grew on me and now it is one of my favorites by them. I was nervous about what Dead Weather would do to the Kills and thank god it didn’t Kill them.
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15 | Ringo Deathstarr | Colour Trip
Ringo Deathstarr doesn’t re-invent the wheel with a heavy dose of MBV and Jesus and Mary Chain-esque vocals, but it is done exceptionally well.
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16 | Blouse | S/T
Great album. I was nervous that the LP would have some ghosthouse tendencies and I am very glad that it doesn’t.
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17 | Chapel Club | Palace
I remember really liking the Editors first album and then each album after that got more self-indulgent to the point of them almost sounding like a mockery of what they once were. To me, Chapel Club is what the Editors should sound like three albums in: more confident, less gimmicky and hook-smart.
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18 | The Horrors | Skying
Skying would have been much higher, had I not gotten sick of it so soon. It is a nice progression for these guys. They went from a post-punk sounding Doors, to a Shoegaze loving band, to a Echo and the Bunnymen, who knows what their next album will sound like? That is exciting.
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19 | Toro Y Moi | Underneath The Pine
Abandoning the haze of chillwave and going full force with the his love of funk. Chaz Bundick really proved that he could stand on his own, apart from the chillwave that crested last year.
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20 | Handsome Furs | Sound Kapital 
The Dan Boeckne songs were always my favorite Wolf Parade jams, but something never really clicked for me with Handsome Furs. This album on the other hand seems to have some pretty huge balls; it sounds the most polished and produced of all the Handsome Furs releases and maybe that is just what they needed. Like when you would put rough looking rocks into a Rock Tumbler and get out some rad gems.
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21 | Youth Lagoon | The Year Of Hibernation
I tried to steer clear of the hyperbolic love-fest for this album, but I couldn’t resist. I’m eager to see what this guy does as a follow up.
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22 | The Stepkids | S/T
Totally under-rated! With a heavy does of early-70s psychedelic funk influence this album sounds equally new and old.
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23 | Cults | S/T
Sure some of these songs have vocal melodies that almost infringe upon songs that are just on the tip of your tongue, but you can’t deny how catchy it all is as a whole.
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24 | Junior Boys | It’s All True
Nearly every album of the Junior Boys sounds the same, sound-wise, but each album gets better songwritting-wise. Mid-tempo minimal electronic done very well.
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25 | Smith Westerns | Dye It Blonde
I swear the lead singer looks like Keanu Reeves from Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. It’s almost as if these dudes took Rufus and the phone booth back to the rehearsal space adjacent to Mark Bolan and rewrote some of the cutting room scraps.
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26 | Real Estate | Days
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27 | Peter Bjorn & John | Gimme Some
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28 | Lykke Li | Wounded Rhymes
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29 | Young Prisms | Friends For Now
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30 | Cant | Dreams Come True
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31 | Radiohead | The King of Limbs
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32 | Atlas Sound | Parallax
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33 | James Blake | S/T
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34 | Peaking Lights | 936
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35 | Dirty Beaches | Badlands
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36 | Das Racist | Relax
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37 | JD McPherson | Sign & Signifiers
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38 | Widowspeak | S/T
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39 | Papercuts | Fading Parade
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40 | Yuck | S/T
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41 | Shabazz Palace | Black Up
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42 | Jeff The Brotherhood | We Are The Champions
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43 | Grouper | A I A
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44 | Part Time | What Would You Say
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45 | Fleet Foxes | Helpless Blues
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46 | M83 | Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
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47 | Young Girls | S/T
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48 | AA Bondy | Believers
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49 | Radio Moscow | The Great Escape Of Leslie Magnafuzz
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50 | Banjo Or Freakout | S/T
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