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Best Albums of 2011 (So Far)

  • Posted   by Spinner Staff
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Email This
From a 62-year-old soul man's debut and an indie luminary's sci-fi epic to a daring punk concept records and a heartfelt chart-topping smash, 2011 has already given us a wide range of spectacular albums. After whittling down our favorites, we settled on 10 LPs that hold up after numerous spins. Read our picks below and stream the full albums for free!
10
'No Time for Dreaming'
Charles Bradley
Ian MacKaye's lyric "It's not how old I am, it's how old I feel," perfectly summarizes Charles Bradley, the 62-year-old Screaming Eagle of Soul who commands crowds with his soaring voice. With musicians from the Menahan Street Band in tow, Bradley created a timeless record that takes listeners on a riveting, heartbreaking journey through his life, tackling subjects ranging from love lost to the murder of his brother. Buckle up. --Mike Spinella
Buy the Album
Amazon
09
'Cape Dory'
Tennis
Husband-and-wife team Patrick Riley and Alaina Moore traded Rocky Mountains for high seas to take a trip along the Atlantic seaboard. After eight months on the water, they recorded shimmering, throwback girl-group surf-pop songs that would make up their debut LP. Since the Denver duo's generic band name doesn't really evoke their blissfully catchy sound, try to imagine if the Raveonettes and Beach House had twins that were babysat by Bohdi from 'Point Break.' --Joshua Ostroff
Buy the Album
Amazon
08
'Yuck'
Yuck
Adopting Dinosaur Jr.'s fondness for fuzzy guitars and Teenage Fanclub's fiercely hooky power-pop sensibility, this quirky UK foursome gives the everything-old-is-new-again concept a good name. With full dedication to the original alt-rock aesthetic, Yuck effortlessly move from slacker love song to riff-heavy romp on this, their self-titled debut. --Kim Davis
Buy the Album
Amazon
07
'David Comes to Life'
F---ed Up
How does one follow-up a genre-busting, Polaris Prize-winning tour-de-force like 'The Chemistry of Common Life'? Well, if you're Toronto hardcore heroes F---ed Up you go for baroque with an epic concept album. Yes, concept album. Despite being split into four acts to tell the story of David, a working-class kid in dreary, repressive 1970s England, the band is still punk as, well, you know. It's just that now F---ed Up's artistic ambitions are even bigger -- and more naked -- than their frontman. --J.O.
Buy the Album
Amazon
06
'The People's Key'
Bright Eyes
Upon hearing the spoken-word, quantum physics-laced intro, we thought Conor Oberst lost his mind. Well, were wrong. 'The People's Key' is a brilliantly crafted epic on existence that combines anthemic choruses and Pixies-style science fiction. Thanks to this record, any notions we had of Oberst as the sad-sack emo singer-songwriter are long gone. --Dan Reilly
Buy the Album
Amazon
05
'Dye It Blonde'
Smith Westerns
Sure, Smith Westerns wear their influences on their sleeve, but at least they have impeccable taste. If you're borrowing from T.Rex, MGMT and Suede, we'll happily give you the benefit of the doubt, especially when the songs are backed up with serious chops and a healthy dose of old-fashioned, pouty rock attitude. 'Dye It Blonde' is 35 backward-looking minutes of glam-pop perfection. --Jason Persse
Buy the Album
Amazon
04
'Helplessness Blues'
Fleet Foxes
The Northwest band who helped usher modern folk to the music world's forefront with its 2008 debut bring even more beauty from the wondrous voice of Robin Pecknold, delivering another gorgeous helping of traditional folk and the best harmonies since Crosby, Stills and Nash. A welcome respite from the tech-heavy acts of the 21st century, Fleet Foxes' sophomore album proves this band is worth following into the past any time. --Steve Baltin
Buy the Album
Amazon
03
'Burst Apart'
Antlers
We had an inkling the Antlers' new record would be good -- 2009's 'Hospice' was a helpful signpost, after all -- but we didn't know just how good. Their fourth studio effort is a quietly beautiful collection of songs that blend dreamy sonic textures and deep, electronic-influenced rhythms on tracks that speak to persevering in the aftermath of a trauma. Singer Peter Silberman sometimes sounds wary, but 'Burst Apart' is, at its core, a hopeful album. --Eric R. Danton
Buy the Album
Amazon
02
'Arabia Mountain'
Black Lips
For their sixth studio album, the punk rock-worshiping delinquents -- they recently told us that they're like "GG Allin light" on stage -- take a chance on a slicker sound thanks to producer Mark Ronson, who gives their unique brand of filthy dirty garage rock a welcome sunny (and sweaty) sheen. --K.D.
Buy the Album
Amazon
01
'21'
Adele
Our girl Adele has had quite the year. Her sophomore release, '21,' has been breaking records all over the place, and its success can be explained after just one listen: there's simply not a bad track on it. Whether Adele is going all-out on belts like opener 'Rolling in the Deep' or singing with simple piano accompaniment on 'Someone Like You' she's telling it like it is: She's been hurt and she wants us all to know about it. And boy, are we happy to listen. --Rob Smy
Buy the Album
Amazon
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Carole Brookshire Ph

You left off a good one..Portamento by The Drums..

December 04 2011 at 12:23 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
sierena

Most of these albums are actually good (except for Helplessness Blues, I found it rather boring). This list misses PJ Harvey's Let England Shake, I expected it to be here. Graveyard's Hisingen Blues is probably my number one album of the year so far but I don't think people here are really fond of blues rock and heavy psych.
Also... Adele's 21 is good but doesn't deserve to be on the first spot in here.

September 10 2011 at 1:25 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
Craij

None of these albums come close to: Austra - Feel It Break

August 18 2011 at 4:13 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
abbaddon

Yaaaaawn...Adele's OK, at least she's not a melismomaniac, but being even considered "best" album says a lot more about 2011 than it does about her.
Madonna and her cohorts killed the music in the music business...:)

August 10 2011 at 5:02 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
swhiteyolk

The only person I know on this list is Adele, and she's horrible so it doesn't really matter. Where's the good music? When Dream Theater releases their new album "A Sudden Change In Events" this year and it doesn't make it on this list, I'm going to be ticked.

August 09 2011 at 9:40 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to swhiteyolk's comment
johntonycoud

Actually, it's "A Dramatic Turn of Events" and I agree. Have you heard it already hit #1 on the total sales chart and it hasn't been released yet?!!!! I can't wait until tomorrow!! By the way, I'm 13. That's just to show that my generation has many kids who have taste in REAL music.

September 12 2011 at 8:30 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
Mathew Hopkins

I just paid $ 24,31 for an iPad2-64GB and my girlfriend loves her Panasonic GF 1 Camera that we got for $ 34,26 there arriving tomorrow by UPS. I will never pay such expensive retail prices in stores again. Especially when I also sold a 42 inch L.E.D TV to my boss for $ 678 which only cost me $68,18 to buy. Here is the website we use to get it all from, CentSpace.com

August 04 2011 at 8:57 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
joedalling

Simply proves the vast majority are tone deaf.

July 30 2011 at 3:46 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
Nick

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July 25 2011 at 6:33 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Nick's comment
joedalling

Why does AOL allow this contamination ? Quick enough to remove other 'comments'

July 30 2011 at 3:48 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
sultan4swing

I'm now 62 but have been singing and playing guitar since my late teens, and have kept a wide interest in music generall since. While not up with all the modern artists, in terms of song-writing ability and 'musicality' (a horrid modern word which seems unfortunately to fit), we seem to have ingored the more mature and highly talented artists like Paul Simon - 70 but still has the singing and guitar talent in spades, and certainly one of the best song-writers/musicians of the last 30 years - no-one checked out his latest album - 'So beautiful - so what'.... does no-one appreciate non-popy stuff any more.. ???

July 23 2011 at 5:33 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to sultan4swing's comment
huffingtor

Check out metacritic dot com, that's one of the highest reviewed albums of the year.

July 24 2011 at 10:11 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
dellap3821

I can't keep up with all the new talents out there. I'm more in tune with the oldies, like in the 60's, 70's, 80's. Guess that means I am really old. Oh, well...still like to see/hear what the new agers have...

July 19 2011 at 4:54 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
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