My Top 10 Albums of 2011
As you get older, you get more set in your ways and it’s hard to keep up, seek out and absorb new music and much easier to just flip on Pandora (or the radio, if you’re 100), and just go with the flow. Keeping up with your favorites is easy but generally your favorites tend to disappoint just an album or two after they’re anointed with the distinction. Albums by The Strokes and Radiohead fell short this year which left room for some discoveries. The music I listened to most in 2011 was a mix of my favorite bands (Okkervil River, Handsome Furs), newer artists (Smith Westerns, Lykke Li), bands I’d already written off (Fountains of Wayne, Wilco) and a few artists that had been around for decades but had never clicked with me until now (PJ Harvey, Stephen Malkmus).
1. Okkervil River - I Am Very Far
Favorite Tracks: Piratess, Rider, Wake And Be Fine
2. PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
Favorite Tracks: Let England Shake, The Last Living Rose, The Words That Maketh Murder
3. Smith Westerns - Dye It Blonde
Favorite Tracks: Weekend, Imagine Pt. 3, Dye The World
4. Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes
Favorite Tracks: I Follow Rivers, Unrequited Love, Get Some
5. Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost
Favorite Tracks: My Ma, Vomit, Jamie Marie
6. Stephen Malkmus - Mirror Traffic
Favorite Tracks: Tigers, Stick Figures In Love, Long Hard Book
7. The Black Keys - El Camino
Favorite Tracks: Lonely Boy, Dead And Gone, Run Right Back
8. Fountains of Wayne - Sky Full of Holes
Favorite Tracks: The Summer Place, Someone’s Gonna Break Your Heart, Cemetery Guns
9. The Pains of Being Pure At Heart - Belong
Favorite Tracks: Belong, Heavens Gonna Happen Now, Heart In Your Heartbreak
10. Handsome Furs - Sound Kapital
Favorite Tracks: Memories Of The Future, Repatriated, No Feelings
Notable: Alex Turner, Beirut, Bon Iver, Cults, Drive Soundtrack,Fleet Foxes,Radiohead, The Strokes,TV On The Radio, Wilco.
music listomania okkervil river pj harvey smith westerns stephen malkmus lykke li girls drive wilco fountains of wayne pains of being pure at heart handsome furs tv on the radio fleet foxes bon iver
