Giles

I know I should be the last person starting a thread about this topic, since my keeping up with music this year has been on the pathetic end, but what do all think are your favorites (so far - and yes I am off by a month)?


albums:

- Smith Westerns: Dye It Blond
- Fujiya & Miuagi: Ventriloquizzing
- Soul Clap: Social Experiment 2
- Jackmaster: FabricLive 57
- Gang Gang Dance: Eye Contac

Songs:

- Lady Gaga: Judah
- The Strokes: Machu Picchu
- Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike: One Generation
- Stanton Warriors: Bodywork / Turn Me Up Some
- Noah and The Whale: Tonight's The Kind Of Night
- Little Dragon: Ritual Union *
- Hard-Fi: Good For Nothing *
- Elbow: Lippy Kids *
- Mates of State: Maracas
- The Knife: Silent Shout
- Skrillex - First of the Year
- Mat Zo - Superman

* albums forthcoming, overall impression TBD

Sean O'Hara

PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
Esben and the Witch - Violet Cries
Sarah Jarosz - Follow Me Down

But Harvey blows the other two out of the water.

cdollaz

The Best:
The Strokes - Angles
Gang Of Four - Content
Duran Duran - All You Need Is Now

Good:
Yes - Fly From Here
They Might Be Giants - Join Us
Explosions In The Sky - Take Care, Take Care, Take Care

Disappointments:
Foo Fighters - Wasting Light
Radiohead - King Of Limbs
REM - Collapse Into Now
The Cars - Move Like This

Shit:
Queensryche - Dedicated To Chaos

statcat

Biters All Chewed Up- what else has an 8 track release?

Adjusters Wrong Place, Wrong Time

nothingfails

albums:
Adele - 21
REM - Collapse Into Now
James Blake - James Blake
Strokes - Angles
Lykke Li - Wounded Rhythms
Stevie Nicks - In Your Dreams
Paul Simon - So Beautiful Or So What
Duran Duran - All You Need Is Now

singles:
Foster The People - Pumped Up Kicks
James Blake - The Wilhelm Scream
Justice - Civilization
PJ Harvey - The Words That Maketh Murder
Arctic Monkeys - Brick By Brick
Adele - Someone Like You
Fitz And The Tantrums - Moneygrabber
Bjork - Crystalline
Coldplay - Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall
Blondie - Mother

Giles

I'm still trying to form an opinion of the new Justice song - it's so 70's prog and the video with the sound effects is just annoying - hope the forthcoming albums holds more surprises

oh thanks for clarifying what the end credit song of 'Friends with Benefits' was - I somehow missed the Foster the People song listing.

brokenhanger

2011 overall has been pretty disappointing. The good stuff is reallllly good, though.

Albums:
Mirrors - Lights & Offerings (I sincerely doubt anyone will be able to top this one)
The Joy Formidable - The Big Roar
Gruff Rhys - Hotel Shampoo
Battles - Gloss Drop
Florrie - Experiments EP
The Boxer Rebellion - The Cold Still

Disappointments:
PJ Harvey - Let England Shake (I really, really do not the the praise, this is so beyond dull and the live show was even worse. Sorry, Polly, but between this and 'White Chalk' we are officially fighting.)
Elbow - build a rocket boys! (Talk about dull! More than once I claimed I'd listen to Guy Garvey read the phone book, and outside of "The Birds" and "The River", I'd rather listen to that. *sigh*)
The Kills - Blood Pressures (Too much Dead Weather, not enough Kills. Shame.)
Hunx and His Punx - Too Young To Be In Love (The schtick was wearing thin even on the singles comp so I suppose this is no surprise.)
Daniel Agust - The Drift (I'm glad he's still able to make music but this is not what I was looking for at all.)

Too new to decide:
Steve Mason & Dennis Bovell - Ghosts Outside
Washed Out - Within and Without
SBTRKT - SBTRKT
Kaiser Chiefs - The Future Is Medieval
Fountains of Wayne - Sky Full Of Holes

The single of the year so far is The Joy Formidable's "Whirring" - the last 4 minutes of the album version are pure guitar white noise bliss.

islandclaws

Ulver - Wars of the Roses
Amon Amarth - Surtur Rising
Cannabis Corpse - Beneath Grow Lights Thou Shalt Rise
Steve Moore - Primitive Neural Pathways
The Flight of Sleipnir - Essence of Nine
Pentagram - Last Rites
Death - Human (remastered)

Giles

and I just bought the new Gruff Rhys album - I have to give this a listen immediately.

The Battles album didn't initially wow me - will have to give it a second listen.

That's very disappointing to read your comments on the Elbow album.

re: Kaiser Chiefs: heard the new single that BBC Radio 1 recently played and it did absolutely nothing for me - it sounded like a subpar B-side song - completely unmemorable

brokenhanger

I didn't love the Gruff Rhys or Battles records at first - Gruff seemed a bit too mid-tempo and Battles was a bit samey - but they both really grew on me. Neither are their best works but both are worthy additions to the catalog.

The Elbow is just so. friggin. boring, and nothing they haven't done a million times better before. It's really disheartening.

I love the Kaiser Chiefs single but haven't really given the rest much of a listen yet.

Giles

^ the song 'Futura' on the Battles album though - whoah - makes you want to pogo off the walls and ceiling - (the song made me stop making lunch midway just to enact some silly dance moves - for all it's six minutes)

when is the new Kaiser Chiefs album coming out stateside? I know they are touring soon and I'd assume the album will come out prior - I only see the import over at Amazon.com

it's not on my list as I haven't bought the two EP's, but I've been loving the singles from Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs.

[oh and I need to buy the Joy Formidable album since alot of folk have been raving about them]

Hiro11

Top Five Albums so far for me:

5. Decembrists - King is Dead
<iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/XqDlTKqxu2w" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

4. Raveonettes - Raven in the Grave
Noisy jangle pop kings finally hit one out of the park (this is a really stupid video, but a good song):
<iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/49PKoAU07qY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

3. Joy Formidable - The Big Roar
Epic MBV-influenced rock with a a bunch of crunch, they're amazing live too:
<iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ZvYDpmnwMno" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

2. Battles - Gloss Drop
Er, electro-world-post-metal-pop .... stuff? This is great stuff. Also, their drummer is really, really good. Video is probably NSFW
<iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/3FsvMyQeC-Q" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

1. Fucked Up - David Comes to Life
Punk concept double album about a factory worker who decides to start making bombs. Dreampop riff on riffs on riffs with Husker Du style pop melodies. If Springsteen's "The River" had been a shoegaze-punk album, it would have sounded a bit like this album:
<iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/NgkdvgJEOvQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The next five:
Beastie Boys - Hot Sauce Committee Part Two
(you know who the Beastie Boys Are)

And so I watch You From Afar (hate that band name) - Gangs
Metallic, euphoric post rock instrumentals with a high degree of chops:
<iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/HzwqQ9tBdUI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Starfucker - Reptilians
Sarcastic nasty retro synth pop made by teenagers this video is also potentially NSFW:
<iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Nph6sDOta1U" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Stimming - Liqourice
Amazing minimalist electronic album, headphones:
<iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/futUw4TmVkM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Malachai - Return to the Ugly Side
Dirty British R&B
<iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/G3-oJYYlzoA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

kstublen

My Top Three Albums of 2011:
1.) Jessica Lea Mayfield - Tell Me
2.) Alex Ebert - Alexander
3.) Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes

*Yael Naim - She Was A Boy (This was released in the United States in 2011, but I imported it from France in 2010, otherwise it would be #2 on my 2011 list)

Honorable Mentions:
Death Cab For Cutie - Codes And Keys
Cults - Cults
Big K.R.I.T. - Return Of 4eva (Mixtape)
James Blunt - Some Kind Of Trouble

Biggest Disappointment
Lady Gaga - Born This Way

---

EDIT: There hasn't been much released this year that I've really been interested in. I've found myself going back to a lot of older artists and re-discovering artists I haven't listened to for a while. Jessica Lea Mayfield's album was definitely the standout and is my favorite by a mile. There's still albums I'm looking forward to that haven't been released though: Cansei De Ser Sexy (August), St. Vincent (September), Coldplay (October), and possibly The Black Keys, Kid Cudi, and Kanye West.

marginal

In no particular order:

Cults - Cults
Decemberists - The King is Dead
Frank Turner - England Keep My Bones
Owl City - All Things Bright and Beautiful (yeah, I said it... much better than his previous album)
The Book of Mormon - Original Broadway Cast Recording
Project Jenny, Project Jan - Home Sweet Home

New and moving up fast:
Old 97's - The Grand Theatre, Volume 2

Still simmering:
Washed Out - Within and Without

bootsy

The Weeknd - House Of Balloons
Frank Ocean - Nostalgia, Ultra
Big K.R.I.T. - Return of 4eva
Kendrick Lamar - Section.80
Adele - 21

Mike86

My favorites so far:

Beastie Boys: Hot Sauce Committee Part Two
Eddie Vedder: Ukuele Songs
Foo Fighters: Wasting Light
Social Distortion: Hard Times & Nursery Rhymes
The Strokes: Angles
The Book of Mormon (Original Broadway Cast Recording)

JAA

Those two would be among my best. Great stuff!

B5Erik

Black Country Communion - II

rexinnih

No particular order but my top 3 so far this year:
Homewrecker - Little Hurricane
Foster the Poeple (EP)
Codes and Keys - Death Cab

kstublen

I wanted to limit it to my three favorite albums of 2011, but those would've been 4 & 5, respectively.

---

I dunno how I forgot about it, but Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi - Rome (Starring Jack White & Norah Jones) was released in 2011 and is an incredible album. Here's my revised list:

01.) Jessica Lea Mayfield
02.) Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi - Rome (Starring Jack White & Norah Jones)
03.) Alex Ebert - Alexander
04.) Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes
05.) Death Cab For Cutie - Codes And Keys
06.) Cults - Cults
07.) Big K.R.I.T. - Return Of 4eva (Mixtape)
08.) James Blunt - Some Kind Of Trouble

This list could, and likely will, change again with the releases I mentioned earlier.

riotinmyskull

top 5:
bon iver
fleet foxes
my morning jacket
washed out
drive-by truckers

honorable mention:
title fight
radiohead
jesu

Rocketdog2000

Hands down favorite so far...

Sloan - The Double Cross

...others I'm favoring...

Adele - 21
Death Cab For Cutie - Codes And Keys
Gomez - Whatever's On Your Mind
Raphael Saadiq - Stone Rollin'
Yes - Fly From Here

...and some I like, but am still on the fence about...

Bon Iver - Bon Iver
Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
Foo Fighters - Wasting Light
Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Belong

big whoppa

You mean Judas.

Throwing Copper

Bon Iver - Bon Iver
-- I love this record and thought the band put on a solid show in Chicago last night.

Adele - 21

JeffTheAlpaca

Albums

Foo Fighters Wasting Light
Avril Lavigne Goodbye Lullaby

Songs



Coldplay - Teardrop on a Waterfall
Avril Lavigne - Smile
Foo - Walk
Gaga - Edge of Glory
Eddie Vedder - Without You