Top 10 Albums of 2011

1.     BON IVER – BON IVER

I loved Justin Vernon's falsetto when he came out with his spectacular debut album "For Emma, Forever Ago". His music feels like he has his hand on your cheek while he tells you "It's alright, the world is a bad place but I'm here". His new album titled "Bon Iver" is undeniably the best album of the year. The first time I heard it I said "what a great song" 10 times. Yes, the album has 10 songs. A flawless album!

Song Selection: "Holocene"

2.     COLDPLAY – MYLO XYLOTO

Call it favoritism if you like. But Mylo Xyloto is Coldplay's best album since A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002). This is their epic. It is also their most hopeful, optimistic record. It is not "feel-good". But it is able to transcend and make you soar. Coldplay is the biggest band after U2. If you want to know why, listen to this album.

Song Selection: "Charlie Brown"

3.     ADELE – 21

No list of 2011 is complete if this album isn't on it. Being deaf is the only alibi. If 2011 is to be remembered decades from now, it will be for Adele's breakout mainstream success. A few years ago, she came out with her debut album "19". I loved her voice and her songs, especially her beautiful cover of Bob Dylan's Make You Feel My Love (if you haven't heard it, dig it out now!). With this album, Adele fully blooms. Each song is great. Especially "Someone Like You", a song that proves that the most direct songwriting can only be honest and true

Song Selection: "Someone Like You"

4.     TUNE-YARDS - W H O K I L L

This is the most original album I have heard all year. The sound is ingenious. You cannot name the influences. Merrill Garbus seems to be from a country that just sprouted on the face of the earth. The number of instruments Garbus and Nate Brenner (bass player) use are vast but there is no chaos, there is only creation. Pure creation. Merrill Garbus is the biggest find of the year. This is talent, unadulterated.

Song selection: "Powa"

5.     METRONOMY – THE ENGLISH RIVIERA

Metronomy makes me happy. This is their most fully realized album and catapults them into the pantheon of great artists. It is fun, it's crazy, it's silly, it's escapist. It is all the good stuff. I'm sure I will be listening to this one for years to come.

Song selection: "The Look"

6.   JAY-Z & KANYE WEST - WATCH THE THRONE

It isn't My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. It is no Blueprint either. But when two of the best rap artists come together to create an album, you don't ignore it. Fortunately, this one happens to be brilliant as well. There's also this sound that Kanye makes multiple times which goes something like: "Haayn!" (No one knows what it means but it's provocative. Gets the people going)

Song selection: "Niggas in Paris"

7.     FLORENCE + THE MACHINES – CEREMONIALS

Florence Welch's sophomore effort is glorious. Her voice is still massive. Probably bigger than before, she could eat two arenas with it. I wish she gets an Adele-like mainstream success soon.

Song Selection: "Shake It Out"

8.     RADIOHEAD - THE KING OF LIMBS

Radiohead returns after creating the wonderful In Rainbows to create another great album. It is a short one, where not a single song is wasted. After all these years, Radiohead is still challenging themselves and creating new sounds.

Song selection: "Separator" 

9.  M83 – HURRY UP,  YOU'RE DREAMING

M83 takes you to the 70s then to the 80s. A place called Shoegaze and then to Synthland. And then it takes you somewhere in the future. A sometimes dystopian and sometimes utopian future. This album is a work of beauty.

Song selection: "Midnight City" 

10.      

(TIE)

THE BLACK KEYS - EL CAMINO

The Black Keys bring the Roll back in Rock n Roll. This is textbook rock music material. Many of the greatest rock bands ever from Led Zep to The Rolling Stones to The Clash to Nirvana would be proud of this album.

Song selection: "Lonely Boy"

&

MY MORNING JACKET - CIRCUITAL

My Morning Jacket shows the other side of rock that has made sure it lasts as a genre this long. This album is all soul. You couldn't deny its beauty an echo away.

Song selection: "Victory Dance"

RUNNERS-UP: (in alphabetical order)

• THE DECEMBERISTS - THE KING IS DEAD

Song selection: Down By The Water

• DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE

Song selection: You Are A Tourist

• DRAKE - TAKE CARE

Song selection: Take Care (Feat. Rihanna)

• FEIST - METALS

Song selection: How Come You Never Go There?

• FLEET FOXES - HELPLESSNESS BLUES

Song selection: Grown Ocean

• JAMES BLAKE - JAMES BLAKE

Song selection: Limit To Your Love

• JULIANNA BARWICK - THIS MAGIC PLACE

Song selection: Prizewinning

• LYKKE LI - WOUNDED RHYMES

Song selection: I Follow Rivers

• NERO - WELCOME REALITY

Song Selection: Me & You

• NICOLAS JAAR - SPACE IS ONLY NOISE

Song selection: Space Is Only Noise If You Can See

• PJ HARVEY – LET ENGLAND SHAKE

Song selection: The Words That Maketh Murder

• REAL ESTATE - DAYS

Song selection: It's Real

• RYAN ADAMS - ASHES & FIRE

Song selection: Chains of Love

• SBTRKT – SBTRKT

Song selection: Wildfire
(Special mentions: Sampha and Yukimi Nagano of Little Dragon)

• SHABAZZ PALACES - BLACK UP

Song selection: Swerve the Reeping of All that is Worthwhile (Noir Not Withstanding)

• SKRILLEX - BANGARANG

Song Selection: Bangarang (Featuring Sirah)

• ST. VINCENT - STRANGE MERCY

Song selection: Cruel

• THE WEEKND - HOUSE OF BALLOONS

Song selection: House of Balloons/ Glass Table Girls

• WILCO - THE WHOLE LOVE

Song selection: Art of Almost





 And.. some more.. (also in alphabetical order)

• BEYONCE - 4

Song selection: Countdown

• ELBOW – BUILD A ROCKET BOYS!

Song selection: High Ideals

• IRON & WINE – KISS EACH OTHER CLEAN

Song selection: Tree by the River

• LADY GAGA - BORN THIS WAY

Song selection: Born This Way

• SNOW PATROL - FALLEN EMPIRES

Song selection: The Symphony

• THE STROKES - ANGLES

Song selection: Under the Cover of Darkness

• TEDDY THOMPSON - Bella

Song selection: Take Care of Yourself