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The Best Albums of 2011: 40 Records That Made This Year Unforgettable
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We heard some amazing debuts, a sprawling punk masterpiece, a singer-songwriter hitting it big after some high-profile hip-hop dalliances, a long-lost album finally seeing the light of day, a growling old favorite making welcome return and a jilted singer dominating the charts, airwaves and hearts of millions while pouring her heart out. And that just represents our top 10 picks.
The decision-making was intense as usual: Several rounds of nominations, voting and insults, plenty of F-bombs and down-to-the-wire tweaking. But in the end, we were able to agree on the albums you can find in the gallery below (or just check out the list here, if you don't feel like reading our insights on these terrific LPs). So click through, see if your favorites made the cut and leave your blessings or curses in the comments.
- 40. Raveonettes, 'Raven in the Grave'
- 39. Pujol, 'Nasty, Brutish, and Short'
- 38. Destroyer, 'Kaputt'
- 37. The Kills, 'Blood Pressures'
- 36. Carter Tanton, 'Freeclouds'
- 35. The Black Keys, 'El Camino'
- 34. Kurt Vile, 'Smoke Ring for My Halo'
- 33. M83, 'Hurry Up, We're Dreaming'
- 32. Feist, 'Metals'
- 31. Holy Ghost!, 'Holy Ghost!'
- 30. Charles Bradley, 'No Time for Dreaming'
- 29. Toro y Moi, 'Underneath the Pine'
- 28. Timber Timbre, 'Creep On Creepin' On'
- 27. Zola Jesus, 'Conatus'
- 26. Frank Ocean, 'Nostalgia/Ultra'
- 25. Handsome Furs, 'Sound Kapital'
- 24. Real Estate, 'Days'
- 23. Death Cab for Cutie, 'Codes and Keys'
- 22. Washed Out, 'Within and Without'
- 21. Drake, 'Take Care'
- 20. Yuck, 'Yuck'
- 19. Little Dragon, 'Ritual Union'
- 18. Girls, 'Father, Son, Holy Ghost'
- 17. St. Vincent, 'Strange Mercy'
- 16. We Are Augustines, 'Rise Ye Sunken Ships'
- 15. A$ap Rocky, 'LiveLoveA$ap'
- 14. Neon Indian, 'Era Extrana'
- 13. Austra, 'Feel It Break'
- 12. P.J. Harvey, 'Let England Shake'
- 11. Atlas Sound, 'Parallax'
- 10. Cults, 'Cults'
- 9. The Beach Boys, 'The SMiLE Sessions'
- 8. Bon Iver, 'Bon Iver'
- 7. Tom Waits, 'Bad as Me'
- 6. Adele, '21'
- 5. Tennis, 'Cape Dory'
- 4. Dum Dum Girls, 'Only in Dreams'
- 3. F---ed Up, 'David Comes to Life'
- 2. The Weeknd, 'House of Balloons'
- 1. EMA, 'Past-Life Martyred Saints'
- 10 Musical Acts You Hate
- Coldplay
- Creed
- The Eagles
- Insane Clown Posse
- Kanye West
- Limp Bizkit
- Maroon 5
- Metallica
- Morrissey
- Spin Doctors
- TV Stars Who Moonlight as Musicians
- Joey Lawrence
- John Barrowman
- Brent Spiner
- Paris Hilton
- Hugh Laurie
- Katey Sagal
- David Hasselhoff
- William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Nichelle Nichols
- Janet Jackson
- Lenny Kravitz Sessions Photos
- Lenny Kravitz
- Lenny Kravitz
- Lenny Kravitz
- Lenny Kravitz
- Lenny Kravitz
- Lenny Kravitz
- Rolling Stones Archival Photos
- Keith Richards
- Ronnie Wood
- Bill Wyman
- Mick Jagger
- The Rolling Stones
- The Rolling Stones
- Charlie Watts
- Far From Home
- Beirut
- Of Montreal
- Portugal, The Man
- Asia
- Bay City Rollers
- Yukon Blonde
- Boards of Canada
- Manitoba
- Russian Futurists
- Nazareth
- Filed under: The Hit List
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Around The Web:
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Add a Comment
Rose
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February 12 2012 at 9:27 PM Report abuse Permalink +1 rate up rate down Reply
Michelle
Hey check out (and like) an interesting take on St. Vincent's album "Strange Mercy by Dusty Wright one of the founders of Culture Catch at: http://culturecatch.com/dusty/2011-music-st-vincent-dum-dum-girls-wild-flag
January 25 2012 at 1:23 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
Dating
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January 06 2012 at 1:05 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI want to know about James Durbin's 1st CD and what the critics had to say about it.
January 03 2012 at 9:34 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
Saccade
A few others worth mentioning:
- Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes
- Paradise by Slow Club
- Gimme Some by Peter Bjorn & John
- Native Speaker by Braids
- Torches by Foster the People
- Wounded Rhymes by Lykke Li
- Out of My Head by Movits!
What about Foo Fighters?
December 29 2011 at 9:09 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyADELEADELEADELEADELEADELEADELEADELEADELEADELEADELEADELEADELE !
December 29 2011 at 8:48 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyM83 double album ''Hurry up, we're dreaming'' is the best new album I have bought this year
December 29 2011 at 8:41 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
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