The 50 Best Records of 2011
2011 was a much better year in music than I was expecting. At the beginning of the year there wasn;t a whole lot that I was really looking forward to, but as the year progressed, a lot of good records cam out. Listed below are my top 50 from the past year, with #1 being my absolute favorite. Who could have guessed that Kate Bush would have new music, let alone the best of her career. As usual, most are available on vinyl and should be purchased at Music Saves for maximum listening pleasure. And now, the list:
- Kate Bush - 50 Words for Snow
- Matthew Shipp, William Parker, Beans, and Hprizm - Knives from Heaven
- Zola Jesus - Conatus
- EMA - Past Life Martyred Saints
- Tune-Yards - Whokill
- Tom Waits - Bad As Me
- PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
- St. Vincent - Strange Mercy
- James Blake - S/T
- R.E.M. - Collapse Into Now
- People Like Us - Welcome Abroad
- Battles - Gloss Drop
- TV On the Radio - Nine Types of Light
- Février - The Lover
- Brian Eno & Rick Holland - Drums Beween the Bells
- Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes
- Dum Dum Girls - Only in Dreams and He Gets Me High EP
- Beastie Boys - Hot Sauce Committee Part Two
- Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost
- Esmerine - La Lechuza
- M83 - Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
- Wild Nothing - Gemeni
- Active Child - You Are All I See
- The Black Keys - El Camino
- Radiohead - The King of Limbs
- Austra - Feel It Break
- Can’t - Dreams Come True
- Les Cousins Dangereux - Play “All Sprinkles”
- Washed Out - Within and Without
- Cults - S/T
- Smith Westerns - Dye It Blonde
- Zomby - Dedication
- Thurston Moore - Demolished Thoughts
- Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring for my Halo
- Feist - Metals
- John Maus - We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves
- Cœur de Pirate - Blonde
- Class Actress - Rapprocher
- Twin Sister - In Heaven
- Tennis - Cape Dory
- Gill Scott-Heron and Jamie XX - We’re New Here
- Frankie Rose and the Outs - S/T
- Danger Mouse & Danielle Luppi - Rome
- Okkervil River - I Am Very Far
- Efrim Manuel Menuck - Plays “High Gospel”
- Das Racist - Relax
- Cloud Nothings - S/T
- Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.- It’s A Corporate World
- Wye Oak - Civilian
- Daryl Hall - Laughing Down Crying
Here is the part where I usually list the best reissues and archival recordings. Well, there were some good ones in 2011, but only one really matters - The Beach Boys' Smile Sessions. This has been 40+ years in the making and is worth every penny. Yes, you really do need an entire CD of Good Vibrations outtakes.
