The best albums of 2011

[NotoriousTIMP]

Make your lists, I need new music........

[slave2thewage]

Top 3:

IAMX - Volatile Times
VNV Nation - Automatic
Handsome Furs - Sound Kapital

This year was a bit shit for new music tbh.

[icklekitty]

The new ones by Evaline and Elbow are very good.

[Kid Charlemagne]

Fucked Up- David Comes to Life
PJ Harvey- Let England Shake
Lykke Li- Wounded Rhymes
The Decemberists- The King is Dead
My Morning Jacket- Circuital
Fleet Foxes- Helplessness Blues
M83- Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
Black Lips- Arabia Mountain
Okkervil River- I Am Very Far
Wilco- The Whole Love
Tom Waits- Bad As Me
Toro Y Moi- Underneath the Pine
Tune-Yards- Whokill
TV on the Radio- Nine Types of Light
Tyler, the Creator- Goblin
Jay-Z and Kanye West- Watch the Throne
Arctic Monkeys- Suck It and See
Bright Eyes- The People's Key
Drake- Take Care
Cake- Showroom of Compassion
Cee Lo Green- The Lady Killer
Danger Mouse- Rome
Das Racist- Relax
Drive By Truckers- Go Go Boots
Explosions in the Sky- Take Care, Take Care, Take Care
Hayes Carll- KMAG YOYO
Iron and Wine- Kiss Each Other Clean
Lil B- I'm Gay

[jaimie]

I thought this year was a fantastic year for music. Off the top of my head I have enjoyed

PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
My Brightest Diamond - All Things Will Unwind
Feist - Metals
Sister Crayon - Bellow
St Vincent - Strange Mercy
Austra - Feel It Break
The Family Crest - The Village
Anna Calvi - Self Titled
The Horrors - Skying
The Kills - Blood Pressures
Big Black Delta - BBDLP1

Albums I am not 100% sold on but think I need to spend more time with...

Religious To Damn - Glass Prayer
Florence and the Machine - Ceremonials
Zola Jesus - Conatus
The Jezabels - Prisoner
Kate Havnevik - You
Joan As Police Woman - The Deep Field
Son Lux - We Are Rising
Papercranes - Lets Make Babies In The Woods
Niki & The Dove - The Fox EP

[Ryan]

The new Puscifer record is really doing it for me. Especially Horizons and Monsoons.

[Wretchedest]

My favorite this year was Take Care, Take Care, Take Care, by Explosions in the Sky.

It was nice

[kitz]

It is definitely Violeta Violeta by Kaizers Orchestra. It came out on 11/11/11 in Norway and the rest of Europe have to wait until January, but it's still an album from 2011, so it gets my vote

[lady weetly]

Florence + The Machine - Ceremonials
Big Black Delta - BBDLP1
Puscifer - Conditions of my Parole
Foster The People - Torches
Company Of Thieves - Running from a Gamble
Lady Gaga - Born This Way
Holy Ghost! - Holy Ghost!
Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes

[richardp]

1. The Joy Formidable - The Big Roar
2. Mastodon - The Hunter
3. Radiohead - The King Of Limbs
4. Bon Iver - Bon Iver
5. My Morning Jacket - Circuital
6. Mute Math - Odd Soul
7. M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
8. Foo Fighters - Wasting Light
9. The Boxer Rebellion - The Cold Still
10. The Horrors - Skying


Honorable Mentions:
The Antlers - Burst Apart
Coldplay - Mylo Xyloto
PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
Puscifer - Conditions Of My Parole
Sonoio - Red
TV On The Radio - Nine Types Of Light
White Lies - Rituals

Mind you, Dragon Tattoo will probably end up squeezing it's way into the top 5.

[Harry Seaward]

I haven't heard nearly enough new music, but there are definitely a few good ones.

Puscifer - Conditions of My Parole
Scroobius Pip - Distraction Pieces (Surprised no one mentioned this yet, it's great.)
SONOIO - Red

[zombielynx21]

Family and Friends by Serengeti is absolutely amazing. Great, great stuff. Solid instrumentals and an incredible skill when it comes to narrative, especially on "Goddammit" and "The Whip".

[Carbon Soul]

My top 3 for 2011 would have to be:

1. Devin Townsend Project - Deconstruction
2. Puscifer - Conditions of My Parole
3. Jonathan Coulton - Artificial Heart

[BRoswell]

Personal favorites:

21-Adele
Hot Sauce Committee Part Two-Beastie Boys
Bon Iver, Bon Iver-Bon Iver
Attention Please-Boris
Camp-Childish Gambino
Drive-Cliff Martinez/Various Artists
Galactic Melt-Com Truise
Crazy Clown Time-David Lynch
The Less You Know, The Better-DJ Shadow
Off The Ground-Drivemouth
Helplessness Blues-Fleet Foxes
Ceremonials-Florence and The Machine
Giants-Giants
Making Mirrors-Gotye
Audio, Video, Disco-Justice
Free-Magic Machines
Conditions Of My Parole-Puscifer
Empros-Russian Circles
Volcanic Sunlight-Saul Williams
Red-Sonoio
Hanna-The Chemical Brothers
Speak Through The White Noise-The New Regime
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo-Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
Nine Types Of Light-TV On The Radio
Alpocalypse-Weird Al Yankovic

Special mention for these re-releases:
Nevermind (Deluxe Edition)-Nirvana
The Dark Side Of The Moon (Immersion Edition)-Pink Floyd
Wish You Were Here (Immersion Edition)-Pink Floyd

[Mike]

Green Naugahide (I think that's how it's spelled) by Primus
Everything else has already been mentioned.

[LaneSax]

Mastodon's The Hunter is all you need!

[Presideo]

Arctic Monkeys - Suck it and See
The Antlers - Burst Apart
Atlas Sound - Parallax
Big Black Delta - BBDLP1
Curren$y - Covert Coup/Weekend At Burnies
Freddie Gibbs - Cold Day in Hell (Mixtape)
The Horrors - Skying
Jay-Z and Kanye West - Watch the Throne
M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
Panda Bear - Tomboy
Pictureplane - Thee Physical
PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
Pusha T - Fear of God II
Radiohead - The King of Limbs
St. Vincent - Strange Mercy
TV on the Radio - Nine Types of Light
Tyler the Creator - Goblin
The Weeknd - House of Balloons/Thursday EP's

[perceptionnexus]

2011 was kinda a weird year for music.

Joy Formidable- Big Roar
BBD- BBDLP1
Numan- Dead Son Rising
PWEI- New Noise Designed By A Sadist
Trail Of Dead- Tao Of The Dead
Feersum Ennjin- S/T
Cave In- White Silence

Probably a scary sign of getting old, but I've actually been more into reissues this year. All the Nirvana, Pumpkins and PWEI that came out this year have been ace

[Jinsai]

Grouper - AIA Alien Observer
Tom Waits - Bad As Me
Russian Circles - Empros
Wilco - The Whole Love
Skinny Puppy - HanDover
Colin Stetson - New History Warfare Vol 2: Judges
Africa HiTech - 93 Million Miles
Gil Scott-Heron & Jamie xx - We're New Here
Gary Numan - Dead Son Rising
PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
Radiohead - King of Limbs
E-40 - Revenue Retrievin' : Graveyard Shift
David Lynch - Crazy Clown Time
Silent Horror - Seance
Rustie - Glass Swords
Venetian Snares - Cubist Reggae
Kuedo - Severant
Bjork - Biophilia
other stuff

[cicada]

E-40 - Revenue Retrievin' : Graveyard Shift

Had no idea E-40 was still on the scene.

Mastodon - The Hunter
Beasties - Hot Sauce Commitee
Trem - For The Term Of His Natural Life
City and Colour - Little Hell

[xmd 5a]

In a rough-ish order:

Motion Sickness of Time Travel - Luminaries and Synastry (number 1 by far)
Grouper - A I A
Seefeel - Seefeel
Giles Corey - Giles Corey
Radiohead - The King of Limbs
Bjork - Biophilia
Esben and the Witch - Violet Cries
Death in Vegas - Trans-Love Energies
Ekin Fil - Language
Tim Hecker - Ravedeath 1972
Belong - Common Era
Raspberry Bulbs - Nature Tries Again
Prurient - Bermuda Drain
Marissa Nadler - Marissa Nadler
Death Grips - Exmilitary
David Lynch - Crazy Clown Time
Cut Copy - Zonoscope
Aidan Baker - Lost in the Rat Maze
Sonic Youth - Simon Werner A Disparu

Some other stuff I've no doubt forgotten too.

Autechre's EP 91-02 compilation is also essential (since reissues have been mentioned above)

[jaimie]

Esben and the Witch - Violet Cries

Yessss forgot about this record - its been so long since it came out but I definitely want to add it to my list

[Lessthanzero]

I had this premonition back in January that Trentatticus were going to release a massive sprawling instrumental opus for a big budget hollywood remake, so I started saving my allowance in anticipation that another Ghosts mega-uber-deluxe box set was on its way

I went as far as refusing to buy anything else because of this, and then the Smiths just HAD to pre-emptive strike this idea with something even more lavish, and all my money was pissed away on that monstrosity.

now old ladies are getting robbed with plastic butter knives as I slowly build up my savings for TGWTDT deluxe

THANKS A LOT JOHNNY MARR, YOU ASSHOLE

[Lessthanzero]

okay seriously tho, I'm not complaining about new Ohgr and new Skinny Puppy records in the same year

[sheepdean]

Peter Murphy's Ninth was brilliant

[onthewall2983]

In mostly no discernible order

Steven Wilson - Grace For Drowning
The Drive Soundtrack, mostly for Cliff Martinez's score, but the songs are growing on me as well
TR & AR - The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Paatos - Breathing
Jakszyk, Fripp & Collins - A Scarcity Of Miracles
Steve Hackett - Beyond The Shrouded Horizon
Black Country Communion - 2
Gregg Allman - Low Country Blues
Opeth - Heritage
Memories Of Machines - Warm Winter
Radiohead - The King Of Limbs

[|mando|]

Ohgr - Undeveloped
Skinny Puppy - HanDover
Bibio - Mind Bokeh
Big Black Delta - BBDLP1
SONOIO - RED
Neon Indian - Era Extraña
Puscifer - Conditions of My Parole
M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

Looking forward to next year:
HTDA
The Knife
Tobacco/Black Moth Super Rainbow
Aphex Twin (wouldn't it be nice?)
Boards of Canada (again ... I'm dreaming here)

[isak]

Trash Talk - Awake
Touche Amore - Parting the Sea Between Brightness and Me
Blut Aus Nord - 777 Sects / The Desanctification
Between the Buried and Me - The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues
Defeater - Empty Days & Sleepless Nights
Jesu - Ascension
Crosses - Self Titled
Tim Hecker - Ravedeath, 1972
Opeth - Heritage
Mastodon - The Hunter
Rustie - Glass Swords

Still really need to listen to David Lynch's debut, I can't say I enjoyed 'Good Day Today' all that much, it grew on me a little with the video that came from that fan competition thing.
Want to give the new M83 and Bjork a go too.

[Kid Charlemagne]

Trash Talk - Awake

If we're counting EP's, and I usually don't count them, this would top my list. Best 8 minutes I've heard all year.

[Ax Mr. L]

Many great albums were released this year:

Skinny Puppy - hanDover
ohGr - unDeveloped
SONOIO - RED
Gary Numan - Dead Son Rising
Alva Noto + Ryuichi Sakamoto - Summvs
Alva Noto - Univrs
Fennesz + Sakamoto - Flumina
Fennesz - Seven Stars
Byetone - SyMeta
Big Black Delta - BBDLP1
Amon Tobin - Isam
David Sylvian - Died In The Wool
Steven Wilson - Grace For Drowning
Puscifer - Conditions Of My Parole