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Best of 2011 Music
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By Adele, 2011
21 is the 2011 sophomore album from British singer-songwriter Adele. It's the follow up to Adele's critically acclaimed, Grammy Award-winning debut album 19 (both named after her age at the time the songs were written). Recorded in Malibu and London, 21 offered Adele the opportunity to work with...
- Mylo Xyloto
By Coldplay, 2011
Mylo Xyloto is the fifth studio album and first concept album by English alternative rock band Coldplay. Chris Martin stated that he does not think "bands should keep going past the age of 33", but later rephrased this to say that what he meant was that they must proceed "as if it's our last...
- King Of Limbs
By Radiohead, 2011
Radiohead's string of innovative releases continues with their eighth record, 2011's The King of Limbs. The album's initial February 19 release for download features what the band refers to as the first "newspaper" album where people who pre-order can receive the CD, two LPs, and many large pieces...
- Nine Types of Light
By TV on the Radio, 2011
TV On The Radio's fourth full-length album, Nine Types of Light (Interscope), is a lush and beautiful album that stands apart from the group's previous work. If their other albums had shades of dystopia and distress, this album, sung by Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone, is filled with songs about...
- Helplessness Blues
By Fleet Foxes, 2011
Engineered and mixed by Phil Ek and co-produced by Phil and the band, the sophomore Fleet Foxes record is called Helplessness Blues. Recording for Helplessness Blues began in April 2010 at Dreamland Recording in Woodstock, NY and continued off and on through November of that same year back in...
- Bon Iver
By Bon Iver, 2011
Bon Iver's Bon Iver is Justin Vernon returning to former haunts with a new spirit. The reprises are there -- solitude, quietude, hope and desperation compressed -- but always a rhythm arises, a pulse vivified by gratitude and grace notes. The winter, the legend, has faded to just that, and this is...
- Metals
By Feist, 2011
Recorded in Big Sur, California, Feist co-produced the album with longtime collaborators Chilly Gonzales and Mocky, as well as newcomer Valgeir Sigurðsson (Bjork, Bonnie "Prince" Billy) Metals will mark Feist's celebratory return to the world stage. Like The Reminder, this album is astoundingly...
- Lasers
By Lupe Fiasco, 2011
- Yuck
By Yuck, 2011
A deliciously maverick streak shows up once again on Yuck's 2011 debut album. Self-produced, it unveils the full breadth and scope of Yuck, showcasing a band capable of sprinting off in pretty much any direction, so diverse and fully realized is its vision. It also shows that their previous...
- Wounded Rhymes
By Lykke Li, 2011
Produced by Bjorn Yttling of Peter, Bjorn & John and recorded in Stockholm, Wounded Rhymes is the follow up to Lykke Li's critically-acclaimed debut, Youth Novels. As one of 2008's most talked-about albums, Youth Novels -- a postmodern pop masterpiece combining elements of folk music, hip hop...
- Circuital
By My Morning Jacket, 2011
My Morning Jacket, with almost 2 million albums sold worldwide and a previous Billboard #9 debut with 50,000 scanned first week, return with their sixth studio album, the stunning Circuital. Circuital was recorded in Louisville, KY and Nashville, TN, and was co-produced by frontman Jim James and...
- The Smile Sessions
By The Beach Boys, 2011
The long awaited release of the Brian Wilson and Beach Boys masterpiece, Smile Sessions. With the full participation of original Beach Boys Al Jardine, Mike Love, and Brian Wilson, Capitol/EMI has, for the first time, collected and compiled the band's legendary 1966-'67 sessions for the...
- Let England Shake
By PJ Harvey, 2011
2011 album from the critically adored British singer/songwriter. Let England Shake was recorded in a 19th Century church in Dorset, on a cliff-top overlooking the sea. It was created with a cast of musicians including such long-standing allies as Flood, John Parish, and Mick Harvey. What is...
- James Blake
By James Blake, 2011
- Tomboy
By Panda Bear, 2011
Recorded at his studio in Lisbon, Tomboy sees Animal Collective member Noah Lennox stepping away from the sample-based parameters of his previous record, Person Pitch, and incorporating more guitar and synthesizer. The record, massive in its span of emotion, genre, and sound, is the welcome return...
- The Rip Tide
By Beirut, 2011
Zach Condon's music often parallels the exotic mysteries of world travel. Since Beirut's last album, 2007's The Flying Club Cup, sang a love-letter to France (with a 2009 stop-off in Mexico for the March of the Zapotec EP), many asked where his songs would voyage next, but few predicted the inward...
- Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
By M83, 2011
Produced by Justin Meldal-Johnsen (Beck, NIN, The Mars Volta, Goldfrapp) and including contributions from Brad Laner (from 90's band Medicine) on guitar, Saturdays=Youth vocalist Morgan Kibby, and guest vocalist Zola Jesus, Hurry Up, We're Dreaming is a double-album journey that takes us to the...
- Unto the Locust
By Machine Head, 2011
Musically, Unto The Locust is the essence of what Machine Head have been doing for nearly two decades. "It feels like the culmination of what we've been doing for the last 17 years: power grooves, patented Machine Head harmonics, crushing guitars and dark melodies, but taken to a new level," Flynn...
- 50 Words For Snow
By Kate Bush, 2011
50 Words For Snow features 7 tracks set against a background of falling snow, with a total running time of 65 minutes; through a highly evocative musical and lyrical landscape this haunting album once again pushes the boundaries of Kate Bush's art. The album features a number of special guest...
- Strange Mercy
By St. Vincent, 2011
St. Vincent, the nom-de-stage of "playful chanteuse [and] fearsome shredder" (NY Times) Annie Clark, releases her second album for 4AD, Strange Mercy. The record's 11 tracks showcase Clark's gift for fusing the cerebral and the visceral, her melodically elegant arrangements packing hefty emotional...
- Bad As Me
By Tom Waits, 2011
Throughout his career, Tom Waits has created milestone albums that serve both to refine the music that has come before, and to signal a new phase in his career: Rain Dogs and Mule Variations are both counted by fans as among these pivotal works. 2011's Bad As Me, his first studio album of all new...
- So Beautiful Or So What
By Paul Simon, 2011
Produced by Phil Ramone and Paul Simon, with liner notes written by Elvis Costello, So Beautiful or So What is one of the most highly anticipated albums of the year. Rolling Stone magazine recently declared it, "His best since Graceland," and National Public Radio affirmed, "...his new music...
- Stone Rollin'
By Raphael Saadiq, 2011
Featuring ten new tracks, Stone Rollin is the follow up to Raphael Saadiq's 2008 solo album The Way I See It, which boasted four Billboard R&B chart singles and was nominated for three GRAMMY Awards including Best R&B Album. With Stone Rollin, Saadiq nods to his heroes like Chuck Berry, Stevie...
- Father, Son, Holy Ghost
By Girls, 2011
More spontaneous and stripped-down than either their self-made debut or their lush EP, Girls' second record, Father, Son, Holy Ghost, is a gorgeous, largely minor-key record, enlivened by flashes of innocent pop and given depth by its wealth of influences and willingness to face sadness.
- Odd Soul
By Mutemath, 2011
Odd Soul came together over the course of six months, during which the members of MUTEMATH locked themselves down at Meany's home studio in New Orleans and didn't emerge until they were ready to play it for others. "The idea of complete isolation was the only thing that appealed to us.
- No Devolución
By Thursday, 2011
No Devolución is the sixth studio album by the American rock band Thursday. The musical style on No Devolución is a departure from the more traditional post-hardcore sound on Thursday's earlier records, and instead explores darker and more atmospheric tones.
- Lenses Alien
By Cymbals Eat Guitars, 2011
Lenses Alien, the result of these collaborative explorations, is a stunning example of a band growing into itself - learning to collaborate, becoming more confident. Why There Are Mountains was a record that Joseph D'Agostino made largely on his own, with help from Matt Miller and some other...
- What Were You Hoping For
By Van Hunt, 2011
With What Were You Hoping For?, Van Hunt employs a spare but dizzyingly vibrant meld of day-glo psychedelic soul laced with glammed-up riffs and the acerbic energy of punk. The album sees the Grammy-winning musician/songwriter/producer turning up the volume on his genre smashing songcraft and the...
- The Big Roar
By The Joy Formidable, 2011
After self-releasing their eight-track A Balloon Called Moaning EP, The Joy Formidable spent 2009 touring the U.K., Europe and Australia with bands including Editors, Temper Trap and Passion Pit, mastering tiny clubs and festival stages alike. Along the way, they earned critical raves from NME, The...
- Suburbia: I've Given You All And Now I'm Nothing
By The Wonder Years, 2011
Inspired by Allen Ginsberg's 1956 poem "America," The Wonder Years' Suburbia You've Given Me All And Now I'm Nothing is an introspective, heartfelt, and honest journey that tells the story of a growing culture of people trying to find their place in the world without compromising the beliefs that...
- David Comes To Life
By Fucked Up, 2011
Their third album, the 18-song, 78-minute David Comes To Life, is a rock opera, an album set to a play. Though no less monumental, it is far more melodic than their break through The Chemistry of Common Life. There are more female vocals, which work in perfect contrast to Damian Abraham's highly...
- dye it blonde
By smith westerns, 2011
Chicago's glammy garage rockers Smith Westerns release their sophomore effort, Dye It Blonde, on January 18, 2011. In an interview with Pitchfork.com, Smith Westerns front man Cullen Omori had this to say about the new record: "It's pretty different. There's still the whole glam thing that we...
- Underneath the Pine
By Toro y Moi, 2011
Underneath The Pine is an album evocative of R.Stevie Moore's homespun ruminations, David Axelrod's sonic scope, Steve Reich-ian piano phrasing, and the pervasive funk of Toro Y Moi's first record. Underneath the Pine announces a new phase for an artist whose talent defies classification. .
- Ceremonials
By Florence & The Machine, 2011
A lot can happen to a daydreaming girl in the world, and in the last few years, it's all happened for Florence. The debut album she dreamt up in her bedroom in South London burst into being and swept the planet, selling over three million copies, winning the coveted Brits 'Best Album' award and...
- Rolling Blackouts
By The Go! Team, 2011
2011 release, the third album from the British Electro/Rock/Hip Hop/Garage outfit. Frantic, seesaw brass stabs and delay-pedal vapor trails. Eagles riding the thermals. A call and response between a flute and a girl gang. Time lapse through the seasons in Yosemite Park. A ray-gun Synth and a steel...
- The Greatest Story Never Told
By Saigon, 2011
With his much anticipated debut album, The Greatest Story Never Told, the skillful rapper is attempts to change the world with his poetic flair and wild style. Originally signed to Atlantic Records, Siagon quit the business when he felt the label was trying to comprise his artistic integrity. He...
- W H O K I L L
By Tune-Yards, 2011
w h o k i l l, Garbus' second album as tUnE-yArDs, delivers on the promise of her 2009 debut, BiRd-BrAiNs. Unlike that album, which she recorded almost entirely on her own using a digital voice recorder and the sound editing program Audacity, w h o k i l l was mostly made in traditional studios in...
- Smother
By Wild Beasts, 2011
It was a strange kind of purgatory in 2009 determining whether Animal Collective's superb prankster innovation on 'Merriweather Post Pavilion' or the captivating flamboyant melodrama of Wild Beasts 'Two Dancers' was that years best album. Now 2011 sees music fans being feted and overindulged, with...
