These are my favourite albums of 2011.
1
It wasn’t until I went back through my albums that I truly realized how much I adored this album. I could pick out nearly every song as my favorite, and as a whole it feels like a true story, even that weird free jazz bit that everyone complains about. Fleet Foxes create pure sonic bliss.
2
As someone who had invested a serious amount of google time in 2010 obsessing over this young UK talent, when I finally got to hear the record, James Blake had some seriously high expectations to deal with, on my part. And he managed to meet them. The album is a collection of great songs, to argue it was all about the genre he was heralded as bringing to the mainstream is wrong. He took snippets of all his past experiments; bass anthems, ambience made up of mp3 hiss, gospel’s groove and more, and made proper songs out of them, which very few people managed to achieve this year.
3
Shlohmo was the other artist on this list that consumed so much of my research time, waiting for his innumerable amount of remixes to drop, which gave me a new found appreciation for pop rap. Though hip-hop is ingrained in the groove of the album, just as it is with anything in the beat community, Shlohmo’s sound is far too unique to simply throw him away based on that conclusion. Reverb-drenched vocals, heavy bass and woozy synths create this introspective feel to the album. Rightly so, as Shlohmo recorded this by himself for 6 months, and the album feels almost like the music of someone slowly falling apart, both in its lazy rhythm and the slow descent into the noisy second half of the album.
4
Machinedrum probably went and created the best thing to come out of Juke’s explosion onto the bass scene. Not only that, but I could also play this to any non-electronic music fan and get them dancing and singing to every vocal hook.
5
All of the albums on this list have a unique sound, often taking you to another world in their journey. Patten takes it to an extreme; GLAQJO XAACSSO is a completely different universe. No other album on this list surprised me every time I delved back in. On the surface, the album feels chaotic, but if you go just a little further you realize how amazing this album truly is. A mixture of sampled field recordings, chopped vocals and guitars that don’t sound like guitars, it’s hard to pick out one instrument or sound that is driving the album, because there isn’t. For this reason GLAQJO XAACSSO is incredibly textural, but still has those great melodies buried somewhere in the haze of sound, playing to your subconscious ear.
6
Little Dragon‘s albums are getting better and better, as both the songwriting and production prowereess increase in quality. I’m astonished at how unique and interesting they can make pop music, without alienating non-music geeks.
7
Nicolas Jaar seemed to blow away everyone’s expectations this year. He showed everyone how to make a proper solo album, one which straddled many genre lines, but refused to cross any of them. An intrisic pulse and a consistent sound, despite drawing samples from Indian recordings to early R&B music, had this album on constant rotation for me this year.
8
Despite it’s quite minimal approach to songwriting, Jamie xx really has a sense of perfection which shines through, as pretty much every song is completely fantastic. Not only that, but despite all this, one really can feel that this is a collaboration, not just a collection of remixes. A proper album, with Jamie xx providing the instrumentals and Gil adding his unique voice.
9
Siriusmo‘s debut had a lot to live up to because he’s already been releasing music for over a decade. I’m not sure how those who have been following his career since the very beginning would feel, but I know I found this a fun and well crafted album. He managed to apply what he did before; well-humoured, unqiue sounding and catchy tracks and twist it into the album format, rataining all that Siriusmoness that we love him for. Despite being the only album on the list with tracks I really didn’t like, the good stuff (most of it), is enough to bring it out of those troubled lows.
10
As with many a great album, the cover reflects the music. Ducktails creates feel good indie vibes, but with all the devious experimentation of a rock musician who has finally been freed from the limitations of bandmates. When you’re finished with this album you will feel like you’ve just woken up, in a good way.
