2011's Best Albums (25-11)

My living room is dark except for the glow of the Christmas tree and the the tv, on which Ben is watching the Tottenham-Chelsea game. I'm spending my first day this break at home. Until now, I'd done a pretty good job of living alone in my newly empty apartment, going out to see friends and spending quality time with myself. The year really feels like it's winding down. The streets are empty. It must be time to list.

Bonus Awards

Biggest Disappointment
> Tha Carter IV - Lil Wayne

Best Song On A Boring Album
> "Helplessness Blues" - Fleet Foxes

2010 Album I Listened To More Than Any 2011 Album
> My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy - Kanye West

We're so close to the Top 10...

the Top 50 Albums of 2011


25 | Replica - Oneohtrix Point Never

Daniel Lopatin deserves the MVP for 2011. He's had a hand in crafting the two most complete albums this year, forging immersive sonic worlds that collide despair with excitement. His own ear for sound is never compromised to tell the story that interests him, which might be more impressive than the already amazing story he tells. Replica spills the beans on our potential future, one of segmented dreams and broken mirrors (which were always darkened computer screens).

24 | We Must Become The Pitiless Censors of Ourselves - John Maus

It's not easy to pull off something like this. The music sounds sincere through and through, even if its opening MIDI riff could have scored a dozen successful 80s movie soundtracks. Maus portrays himself as a daringly smart pop star on alt webzines, but he must be self-conscious about his image as the academic rocker. "Hey Moon" and "Believer" both point to some sort of genuine affection for music as art, which amounts to something more than jaded commentary on the music industry.

23 | Visits - Tammar

Visits is far and away the best record to come out of Bloomington this year. Tammar expertly export their massive live drones into a tight and restrained 45-minute deep space voyage. What's more? You can hear the blazing engine beneath their craft. "Yung Jun" and "Frost Meter" are bursting at the seams with potential energy until they finally explode into wickedly precise guitar lines and the haunted yelps of Dave Walter. As the songs burn, there remains a heart to enlarge them.

22 | Celestial Lineage - Wolves In The Throne Room

So, Wolves In The Throne Room have been included on just about every year-end list I've read. They're the obligatory representative for a genre that finally got its due in 2011. What distinguishes them? Why do they rank higher than any other black metal album on this list as well? Opener "Thuja Magus Imperium" tells all: the opening angelic vocals counterpoint the vomitous guitar and the rapturous drumming, describing the reserved hopefulness between discomfort and relief.

21 | Angels Exodus/Im Gay/Red Flame: Devil Music Edition/I Forgive You/Illusions Of Grandeur/Black Flame/BasedGod Velli/Bitch Mob Respect Da Bitch Vol. 1/The Silent President - Lil B

Lil B is my inspiration. He released over 130 songs this year. He paved the way for self-proclaimed pretty rappers Danny Brown and A$AP Rocky. He remained positive and honest. He gave us "Unchain Me". He never let his based disciples down. Thank you Based God.

20 | Tomboy - Panda Bear

Let's be honest: I love these songs. I listened to bootlegs of them for months and months before seeing them myself at Pitchfork last year. However, something is off on the record. Sonic Boom's production didn't translate the material how I expected, and though the songs are still powerful, they sound neutered. Nevertheless, the one-two punch of "Afterburner" and "Benfica" haunts like a phantom limb. Tomboy is the one that got away. What could have been?

19 | Take Care - Drake

It feels so much more like a sequel to So Far Gone than to Thank Me Later. I guess we should've expected as much from Drizzy, a reclusive self-reflection rather than a blockbuster head-turner. Even its bombastic lead single "Headlines" mostly deals with self-affirmation that discards the paranoia and insecurity that must've been exaggerated by his own self. The problem and triumph of this record is its creator's vacillation between braggadocio and fear. Drake contains multitudes.

18 | Eye Contact - Gang Gang Dance

Better than anyone, Gang Gang can move your body and mind at the same time. Eye Contact is a perfect summation of their inquisitive and transformative sound, which trips you out as much as possible while you can still keep a beat. "Sacer" is a milky trespass into your inner psyche, delivering sugarcoated rhythm and melody up front before surging into the recesses of your brain. This albums seeps into your body and heals you as ably as the Eastern medicines by which the band swears.

17 | Native Speaker - Braids

It's hard not to hear the similarities between this record and 2005's Feels, but there's nothing wrong with the Animal Collective influence here. The only wrong would be to write this album off as the derivative work of a young band. Braids are much more than this, which this album proves over and over again. Native Speaker holds an oceanic depth and the spiritedness to explore it. These are lush compositions out to get you celebrating the joyous horror of young love.

16 | The Magic Place - Julianna Barwick

Probably the most aptly titled album of the year, The Magic Place is a retreat. It's a package deal: where the spa is inside a cathedral and the massages are in the treetops. So yeah, this album is gorgeous and relaxing beyond belief. If there are lyrics, they're unrecognizable, because (I think) they might actually be the exhalations of God. "Prizewinning" is the album's best song, a triumphant march up the floating mountains of Avatar into some bright future.

15 | Bon Iver, Bon Iver - Bon Iver

I think that Grammy really bothers Justin Vernon because he thinks of himself as an Artist, and now he's in the same league as the Arcade Fire (the league of intimate indie music co-opted by Hollywood). None of this changes how well-produced and well-paced this album is. I don't want it to be the second album in a row on this list qualified by prettiness, but were you in my car when we drove to the top of a hill in a thunderstorm while "Holocene" traced the lightning's fingers?

14 | House Of Balloons - The Weeknd

This album needs only one argument: "The Morning", which I've listened to maybe ten times in a row. A more compelling argument might be that the Weeknd released two other exhilarating mixtapes year and that this first release sounds better than almost every other album on my list. These are some of the finest R&B* songs I've ever heard. The lyrics tell of a decadent lifestyle that almost intoxicates via its description alone, but the music hints at a darkness therein.

13 | On The Water - Future Islands

Sam Herring works hard. Future Islands work hard. You can almost taste the sweat as they slowly burn through their third album. On The Water is produced with the same fullness that gave last year's In Evening Air such oomph, a new wave stomp to save the romantics. Herring's lyrics are as unironic as ever, which is the special grace of this band. Standout "Tybee Island" finds him murmuring alone over a bed of warm synths and rolling waves. Eat his heart out, it's on his sleeve.

12 | Light Cones - Golden Retriever

This is the final cassette in a trilogy of breathtaking 2011 releases by Golden Retriever (you probably haven't heard of them). They are a Portland duo of bass clarinet and modular synthesizer. They are superb. Their instruments paint landscapes. The clarinet makes sounds like a church organ, which sounds a lot like far green country. The synth makes sounds like twinkling blips and syrupy bass, which sound a lot like the stars above or a river running.

11 | W H O K I L L - tUnE-yArDs

"The personal is political." Any feminist can and will tell you that. Our own actions are fraught with ideological implications. Our nation has a hand in our day-to-day. I think what naysayers of the Occupy movement fear is Occupy's realization that the individual can reveal and combat the structural inequalities of "our" nation. P.S. tUnE-yArDs. Merrill Garbus makes this political moment sound as immediate, explosive, and exciting as it really is. Oh yeah, and her voice, etc.

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Sorry for the delay. The Top 10 will be delivered tonight, I suspect.