Favourite music of 2011

[DK]

Soil & "PIMP" Sessions - 15 Summer Goddess [Son of Goddess Ver.] - YouTube

Made my year.

[Loony BoB]

Ed Sheeran's album, +, I adored so much after downloading it that I actually went and purchased it afterwards (which is something I've not done for many a year). When I first heard one of his songs ages back I thought he was just another James Blunt or something, but since then I've actually listened to the lyrics, noted that he does it all himself and also fallen for the way he sort of half-sings, half-raps his songs out.

I also heard Dan singing some song from a Fallout game and I don't know about you guys but I thought it was pretty damned good. ;D

[Psychotic]

My album of the year is What Did You Expect from the Vaccines? by the Vaccines, obviously.

I also heard Dan singing some song from a Fallout game and I don't know about you guys but I thought it was pretty damned good. ;D

70 years too late on that one, although I will agree heartily with your assessment.

[Old Manus]

Smoking in Heaven by Kitty Daisy & Lewis

Takes me back to my youth in the 50s

[Rantz]

I'll have to add Nicolas Jarr - Space is Only Noise. Recent discovery!

[Breine]

Some favourites of this year are:


Kate Bush - "50 Words for Snow": As always, Kate is amazing. Simply brilliant. As a big Kate Bush fan I'm very happy.
The Antlers - "Burst Apart": Great album from a great band. Obviously way different than "Hospice", but it still packs a whole lot of nerve. Also, I saw them live a couple of weeks ago, and it was a pretty intense experience.
Bon Iver - "Bon Iver": A wonderful mix of ethereal soundscapes and spacy 80s synth. I dig it.
PJ Harvey - "Let England Shake": Harvey does it again.

[sharkythesharkdogg]

TesseracT - One A new band I discovered a little while ago. Their debut album release and they've already shown they can hang with some of the larger names in metal. Has some very heavy and complex guitar work and the music is very atmospheric.

I told you about them at least 8 months ago! You never listen to me!

This is why Mike is my new metal soul-mate.

Anyway.

Animals As Leaders - Weightless

Nemertines - Bad Blood

Eluveitie - Everything Remains As It Never Was

Born of Osiris - The Discovery

Structures - Divided By

[chionos]

I really like Born of Osiris' sound, the syncopation and guitar work especially.

[NorthernChaosGod]

TesseracT - One A new band I discovered a little while ago. Their debut album release and they've already shown they can hang with some of the larger names in metal. Has some very heavy and complex guitar work and the music is very atmospheric.

I told you about them at least 8 months ago! You never listen to me!

This is why Mike is my new metal soul-mate.

Anyway.

Animals As Leaders - Weightless

Nemertines - Bad Blood

Eluveitie - Everything Remains As It Never Was

Born of Osiris - The Discovery

Structures - Divided By

xD I guess that's why I had that video linked for so long before I found the album online.

Sorry, sharky. Can you ever forgive me?

[Pete for President]

Some of my 2011 favourites:
Cold War Kids - Mine is Yours
the Cubical - It ain't human (now this is one hell of a raw blues album)

But there's one album which particularly caught my interest:
the Amazing - Gentle Stream
(The Amazing -Gentle Stream.wmv - YouTube)

Arguably the worst bandname ever, but this Swedish psychedelic/rock/indie formation's latest is so beautifully orchestrated, it's nothing short of amazing. It's subtle, but epic at the same time and instrumental orchestrations on song's endings do make the entire album actually flow like a gentle stream. I recommend this underdog to anyone who's into Band of Horses, Pink Floyd, Fleet Foxes and the like.

[sharkythesharkdogg]

xD I guess that's why I had that video linked for so long before I found the album online.

Sorry, sharky. Can you ever forgive me?

Awwww, I can't stay mad at you. (well, actually, I can) Either way you're still in the family.

Also.

Scale The Summit - The Collective

Zeds Dead - Rumble in the Jungle

[Wolf Kanno]

Gorillaz ~ The Fall - Okay so this was actually released last December but it passed my radar and I didn't get a hold of it until this last summer, besides it was literally released like the last week of 2010. I'm still putting it on here cause the album is gorgeous, recorded on an iPad during the American Tour, the album has a styling and feeling of "traveling" which really hit home for me, because I use to travel by road trips when I was a young. So the album really creates that sense of old family vacations and trips I've taken to some great places and some godforsaken places. Revolving Doors, Amarillo, and Hillbilly Man are all exceptional tracks. It's a very experimental album so I can't really recommend it for casual listening.

Revolving doors is amazing. That said, I was a bit disappointing with this album after Plastic beach. Mind you, the only bad song I though was Bobby in Pheonix, which was almost Sweepstakes bad (Okay, it's still a ways better then sweepstakes, but still). Compared to any of their last three albums it's lacking a lot, but at the same time I'm still happy to have bought it.

I agree it's not as good as Demon Days or Plastic Beach but I kind of compare it more to the D-Sides and G-Sides albums which are also mainly hit or miss. Mostly to the albums experimental and semi-improvised creation. Then again, I'm probably biased cause as I said, this album taps into memories of a part of my life where I traveled on the road a lot so it's theme of traveling through the U.S. is kind of nostalgic for me.

[charliepanayi]

20. The Rapture - In the Grace of Your Love
19. The War on Drugs - Slave Ambient
18. Tom Waits - Bad as Me
17. Explosions in the Sky - Take Care, Take Care, Take Care
16. Summer Camp - Welcome to Condale
15. Mogwai - Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will
14. Tune-Yards - Whokill
13. St Vincent - Strange Mercy
12. The Decemberists - The King is Dead
11. EMA - Past Life Martyred Saints
10. Okkervil River - I Am Very Far
9. Wild Flag - Wild Flag
8. F***ed Up - David Comes to Life
7. Yuck - Yuck
6. Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes
5. The Horrors - Skying
4. Low - C'mon
3. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Belong
2. PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
1. M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

[The Man]

Ok, somehow I missed hearing the best album of last year until just a couple days ago: Giles Corey - s/t. It's a solo project of one of the dudes in Have a Nice Life and Nahvalr, two projects some of you may be familiar with,, but as far as I'm concerned it's light-years beyond even those two projects (which have both produced some great music). This is some of the most emotionally wrenching music I've ever heard in any genre, and at the same time it manages to be pretty experimental, incorporating influences from a bunch of different genres (electronica, ambient, folk, alt-country, shoegaze, lo-fi, psychedelic rock, plus a subtle metal influence). I would not be surprised if this ends up in my top 50 albums ever, and possibly being my album of the decade.

That said there's still a bunch of other stuff I haven't listened to that could end up being contenders, but I'm having a hard time imagining anything topping this.

[Boney King]

Ok, somehow I missed hearing the best album of last year until just a couple days ago: Giles Corey - s/t. It's a solo project of one of the dudes in Have a Nice Life and Nahvalr, two projects some of you may be familiar with,, but as far as I'm concerned it's light-years beyond even those two projects (which have both produced some great music). This is some of the most emotionally wrenching music I've ever heard in any genre, and at the same time it manages to be pretty experimental, incorporating influences from a bunch of different genres (electronica, ambient, folk, alt-country, shoegaze, lo-fi, psychedelic rock, plus a subtle metal influence). I would not be surprised if this ends up in my top 50 albums ever, and possibly being my album of the decade.

That said there's still a bunch of other stuff I haven't listened to that could end up being contenders, but I'm having a hard time imagining anything topping this.

I liked that album but I think Deathconsciousness is just a wee bit better, imo.