My selection of Best Albums of 2011 is very diverse, from straight up pop to avant-garde experimental music, I take the opportunity to introduce to you these albums and invite you to take a look and open your mind to the ones that you don’t really get, google a little about their history and sit back and enjoy some of the most experimental, sweet, sexiest and reflective albums I came across this year.
As you will see, I go from number one hit billboard dance records, a rock n’ roll hall of fame legend and a grammy nominee album, to some other material sometimes simple and sometimes edgy.
This list doesn’t necessarily reflect the albums that had the best songs, it’s more about the artists that created a well rounded concept (Tim Hecker, PJ Harvey…), that handled well in terms of production (Metronomy, Twin Sister…) or simply the ones that did something no one never did before them (Colin Stetson, Shabazz Palaces…)
Ofcourse there are some albums that are not in the list that define the 2011 sound, such is the case of M83, Adele, EMA, Jamie XX or The Weeknd, and I’ll leave these 5 like my honorable mentions, the 30 below still will make your 2011 experience a very complete one.
Enjoy!
30. Twin Sister – In Heaven
29. The Black Keys – El Camino
28. Big K.R.I.T. – Return of 4Eva
27. Battles – Glass Drop
26. SBTRKT – SBTRKT
25. Shabazz Palaces – Black Up
24. Beastie Boys – Hot Sauce Committee Part 2
23. Kate Bush – 50 Words For Snow
22. Little Dragon – Ritual Union
21. The Mountain Goats – All Eternal Decks
20. The Antlers – Burst Apart
19. Young Galaxy – Shapeshifting
18. Atlas Sound – Parallax
17. Real Estate – Days
16. St. Vincent – Strange Mercy
15. Yuck – Yuck
14. Girls – Father, Son, Holy Ghost
13. Kurt Vile – Smoke Ring For My Halo
12. Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
11. Mogwai – Hardcore Will Never Die But You Will
10. Tim Hecker – Rivendeath, 1972
9. Smith Westerns – Dye It Blonde
8. James Blake – James Blake
7. Colin Stetson – New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges
6. Nicolas Jaar – Space Is Only Noise
5. PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
4. Tom Waits – Bad As Me
3. Metronomy – English Riviera
2. Bon Iver – Bon Iver
1. Destroyer – Kaputt
Subwaywalk 