I always end up taking a couple of weeks (see last year) to reflect on the past year and go through and collect my favorite albums. It seems like it takes me longer and longer to formulate and organize these reflections. I don’t know if this is indicative of the sheer speed life moves now or the overwhelming amount of media and memories to process over the last 12 months. Everything on this list (mainly in the honorable mention section) I listened to at least once. I’ve focused on just new records this past year as even this list has gotten a little out of control for me… I’ll let you know if I forgot anything (which always happens…). So, here’s my list for 2011:
Honorable Mention (In Alphabetical Order):
Adventure – Lesser Known (Carpark), Æthenor – En Form For Blå (VHF), Africa Hitech – 93 Million Miles & Do U Really Wanna Fight? EP & Out In The Streets EP (Warp), Alela Diane & Wild Divine – Alela Diane & Wild Divine (Rough Trade), Alva Noto – Univrs (Raster Noton), Alvarius B – Baroque Primitiva (Poon Village/Abduction), Amen Dunes – Through Donkey Jaw (Sacred Bones), Anne-James Chaton – Evenements 09 (Raster-Noton), Anti-Pop Consortium/Matt Shipp/William Parker – Knife In The Water (Thirsty Ear), Apache Dropout – Apache Dropout (Family Vineyard), Arkist & Kidkut – One Year Later 12” (Hotflush), Atlas Sound – Parallax (4AD), Autre Ne Veut – Body EP (Hippos In Tanks), Bahamas – Pink Strat (Universal), Barn Owl – Lost In The Glare (Thrill Jockey), Beach Fossils – What A Pleasure EP (Captured Tracks), Belong– Common Era (Kranky), BJ Nilsen & Stilluppsteypa – Big Shadow Montana (The Helen Scarsdale Agency), Björk – Biophilia (Nonesuch), Blanck Mass – Blanck Mass (Rock Action Records), Blouse – Blouse (Captured Tracks), Blue Daisy – The Sunday Gift (Black Acre), Blues Control & Laraaji – FRKWYS Volume 8 (FRKWYS), Bon Iver – Bon Iver (Jagjaguwar), Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – Wolfroy Goes To Town (Drag City), Borden, Ferraro, Godin, Halo & Lopatin – FRKWYS Volume 7 (FRKWYS), Boxcutter - The Dissolve (Planet Mu), Braids – Native Speaker (Kanine), Brian Eno – Drums Between The Bells (Warp), Brilliant Colors – Again & Again (Slumberland), Brown Recluse – Evening Tapestry (Slumberland), Brute Heart – Lonely Hunter (Soft Abuse), Burial/Thom Yorke/Four Tet – Ego/Mirror 12” (Text), Bvdub & Ian Hawgood – The Truth Hurts (Nomadic Kids Republic), Cass McCombs – Wits End & Humor Risk (Domino), Charlatan – Triangles (Digitalis), Chris Watson & Marcus Davidson – Cross-Pollination (Touch), Chrome Sparks – My <3 (Self Released), Clams Casino – Instrumentals (Type) & Rainforest EP (TriAngle), Cold Cave – Cherish The Light Years (Matador), Comet Gain – Howl Of The Lonely Crowd (What’s Your Rupture?/Fortuna Pop), Cornershop & Bubbly Kaur – And The Double–O Groove Of (Ample Play), Craft Spells – After The Moment (Captured Tracks), Cults – Cults (Columbia), Danava – Hemisphere Of Shadows (Kemado), Danny Paul Grody – In Search Of Light (Students Of Decay), Date Palms – Honey Devash (Mexican Summer), David Lynch – Crazy Clown Time (PIAS American), David S. Ware/Cooper-Moore/William Parker/Muhammad Ali – Planetary Unknown (AUM Fidelity), Deadbeat – Drawn & Quartered (BLKRTZ), Derrick Carter – Fabric 56 (Fabric), Dirty Beaches – Badlands (Zoo Music), DJ Shadow – The Less You Know, The Better & I Gotta Rokk EP (Island), Doug Shipton – Dedicated Swallower Of Fashion Mix (B-Music/Finders Keepers), Drake – Take Care (Universal), Dum Dum Girls – Only In Dreams (Sub Pop), Emika – Emika (Ninja Tune), Eternal Tapestry – Beyond The 4th Door (Thrill Jockey), Eternal Tapestry & Sun Araw – Night Gallery (Thrill Jockey), Factory Floor - Two Different Ways (DFA), Feist – Metals (Cherrytree/Polydor), Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues (Sub Pop), Ford & Lopatin – Channel Pressure (Software), Francisco Meirino – Recordings Of Voltage Errors, Magnetic Fields, On-Site Testimonies & Tape Tension (Misanthropic Agenda), Fucked Up – David Comes To Life (Matador), Ga’an – Ga’an (Captcha Records), Galapagos – Sounds Volume 1 (Chill Mega Chill Records), Gillian Welch – The Harrow & The Harvest (Acony), Glass Candy – Warm In The Winter EP (Italians Do It Better), Gruff Rhys – Hotel Shampoo (Ovni Records), Handsome Fures – Sound Kapital (Sub Pop), Harold Budd – In The Mist (Darla), Holy Other – With U EP (TriAngle), How To Dress Well – Just Once EP (Love Letters Ink), HTRK – Work (Work, Work) (Blast First Petite/Ghostly International), Hudson Mohawke – Satin Panthers EP (Warp), Hyetal – Broadcast (Black Acre), Iceage – New Brigade (Escho/Dais/What’s Your Rupture?), Implodes – Black Earth (Kranky), James Ferraro – Far Side Virtual (Hippos In Tanks), Jamie Woon – Mirrorwriting (Polydor), Jane Weaver & Septieme Soeur – The Watchbird Alluminate (Bird/B–Music), Jay-Z & Kanye West – Watch The Throne (Def Jam), Jean-Claude Vannier – Roses Rouge Sang (B-Music/Finders Keepers), Jim O’Rourke & Christoph Heemann – Plastic Palace People Volume 1 & 2 (Streamline), Johann Johannsson – The Miners’ Hymn (Fat Cat), Jonathan Wilson – Gentle Spirit (Bella Union), Julian Lynch – Terra (Underwater Peoples), Julianna Barwick – The Magic Place (Asthmatic Kitty Records), Kaboom Karavan – Barra Barra (Miasmah), Kate Bush – The Director’s Cut & 50 Words For Snow (Fish People), Kieran Hebdan/Steve Reid/Mats Gustafsson – Live At The South Bank (Smalltown Superjazzz), King Midas Sound – Without You (Hyperdub), Kitchen’s Floor – Look Forward To Nothing (Siltbreeze), Kyle Bobby Dunn – Ways Of Meaning (Desire Path), La Sera – La Sera (Hardly Art), Laura Marling – A Creature I Don’t Know (Virgin), Lego Feet – Lego Feet EP (Skam), Leyland Kirby – Eager To Tear Apart The Stars (History Always Favors The Winners), Light Asylum – In Tension (Mexican Summer), Liturgy – Aesthethica (Thrill Jockey), Lone – Echolocations EP (R&S), Low – C’mon (Sub Pop), Lykke Li – Wounded Rhymes (Atlantic), Maria Minerva – Tallinn At Dawn & Cabaret Cixous (Not Not Fun), Marissa Nadler – Marissa Nadler (Box Of Cedar), Martyn - Ghost People (Brainfeeder), Massive Attack & Burial – Four Walls 12” (Vinyl Factory), Matthew Herbert – One Pig (Accidental), Matthew Mullane – VDSQ Solo Acoustic Volume 4 (Vin Du Select Qualitaire), Mayer Hawthorne – How Do You Do? (Universal), Memory Tapes – Player Piano (Carpark), Meredith Monk – Songs Of Ascension (ECM), Mi Ami – Dolphins EP (Thrill Jockey), Mika Vainio – Life (…It Eats You Up) (Editions Mego), Miles – Facets EP (Modern Love), Mist – House (Spectrum Spools), Moby – Destroyed (EMI), Moon Duo – Mazes (Sacred Bones) , Motion Sickness Of Time Travel – Luminaries & Synastry (Digitalis Recordings), Mountains – Air Museum (Thrill Jockey), MV & EE – Country Stash (Three Lobed Recordings), Neon Indian – Era Extrana (Static Tongues/Mom & Pop), Noveller – Glacial Glow (Weird Forest), Omar Souleyman – Haflat Gharbia (Sublime Frequencies), Oneida – Absolute II (Jagjaguwar), Peter, Bjorn, & John – Gimme Some (Cooking Vinyl), PJ Harvey – Let England Shake (Island/Vagrant), Plaid – Scintilli (Warp), Prefuse 73 – The Only She Chapters ( Warp), Prurient – Bermuda Drain (Hydra Head), Psychedelic Horseshit – Laced (FatCat), Pulse Emitter – Spiritual Vistas (Expansive/Cylindrical Habitat Modules) , Pulseprogramming – Charade Is Gold (Audraglint), Quilt – Quilt (Mexican Summer), Radu Malfatti/Keith Rowe – Phi (Erstwhile), Ras G – Down To Earth (Ramp Recordings), Robag Wruhme – Thora Vukk (Pampa Records), Roll The Dice – In Dust (Leaf), Roska – Error Code 12” (Hotflush), Ryan Adams – Ashes & Fire (Capital), Sandro Perri – Impossible Spaces (Constellation), Sandwell District – Feed Forward (Sandwell District), Sean McCann – The Capital (Aguirre Records), Seefeel – Seefeel (Warp), Sic Alps – Napa Asylum (Drag City), Sidi Toure & Friends – Sahel Folk (Thrill Jockey), Six Organs Of Admittance – Asleep On The Floodplain (Drag City), Skoal Kodiak – Kryptonym Bodliak (Load), Slug Guts – Howlin’ Gang (Sacred Bones), Smegma & Jozef Van Wissem – Suite: The Hen’s Teeth (Incunabulum), Smith Westerns – Dye It Blonde (Fat Possum Records), Soft Moon – Total Decay EP (Captured Tracks), St Vincent – Strange Mercy (4AD), Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – Mirror Traffic (Domino), Still Corners – Creatures of An Hour (Sub Pop), Strange Boys – Live Music (Rough Trade), Surfer Blood – Tarot Classics EP (Kanine), Tennis – Cape Dory (Fat Possum Records), The Alps & Tauba Auerbach – Easy Action (Mexican Summer), The Amazing – Gentle Stream (Subliminal Sounds) , The Antlers – Burst Apart (Frenchkiss), The Civil Wars – Barton Hollow (Sensibility Music), The Demos – Lovely (Young Lion Of The West), The Field – Looping State Of Mind (Kompakt) , The Horrors – Skying (XL), The Men – Leave Home (Sacred Bones), The Psychic Paramount – II (No Quarter), The Spits – The Spits (In The Red), The Weeknd – House Of Balloons EP (Self-Released), Thee Oh Sees – Castlemania & Carrion Crawler/The Dream (In The Red), Theophilus London – Lovers Holiday EP (Warner Brothers), Thundercat – The Golden Age Of Apocalypse (Brainfeeder), Times New Viking – Dancer Equired (Merge), Tinariwen – Tassili (Anti), Tom Carter – All Ahead Now (Root Strata), Trouble Books & Mark McGuire – Trouble Books & Mark McGuire (Bark & Hiss/Wagon), TV On The Radio – Nine Types Of Light (Interscope), Tyler, The Creator – Goblin (XL), Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Unknown Mortal Orchestra (Fat Possum Records), Ursula Bogner – Sonne=Blackbox (Faitiche), Veronica Falls – Veronica Falls (Slumberland), Vivian Girls – Share The Joy (Polyvinyl), Vladislav Delay – Vantaa (Raster-Noton), Vladislav Delay Quartet – Vladislav Delay Quartet (Honest Jons Records), Walls – Coracle (Kompakt), Water Borders – Harbored Mantras (TriAngle), Wet Hair – In Vogue Spirit (De Stijl), White Denim – D (Downtown Music), White Hills – H–p1 (Thrill Jockey), Wilco – The Whole Love (Anti/dBpm Records), Wild Beasts – Smother (Domino), Wild Flag – Wild Flag (Merge), Wiley – 100% Publishing (Big Dada Recordings), William Parker – Crumbling In The Shadows Is Fraulein Miller’s Stale Cake (Centering), Wire – Red Barked Tree (Pink Flag), Wooden Shjips – West (Thrill Jockey) , WU LYF – Go Tell Fire To The Mountain (LYF Recordings), Wye Oak – Civilian (Merge), Xander Harris – Contamination (Self-Released), Yalls – Yalls (Self-Released), Young Montana – Limerence (Alpha Pup Records), Yuck – Yuck (Fat Possum Records), Zwischenwelt – Paranormale Aktivitat (Rephlex)