My Favorite 30 Albums of 2011

A few weeks ago when I started thinking about which albums were my favorites of 2011 I only had a short list of 20. After scrolling through my iPod that list grew to over 60 albums that I liked so much that I bought (yes, actually bought). As usual the list runs the gamut of musical genres, with the only obvious omission being heavy metal. (sorry Mastodon).

Thank you Kate Bush for making my year.

1. 01 / 50 Words for Snow – Kate Bush
2. 02 / Wilco – The Whole Love
3. 03 / Bon Iver – Bon Iver
4. 04 / Burst Apart – Antlers
5. 05 / Adele – 21
6. 06 / Kiss Each Other Clean – Iron & Wine
7. 07 / The Decemberists – The King is Dead
8. 08 / TV on the Radio – Nine Types of Light
9. 09 / The Kills – Blood Pressures
10. 10 / Drake – Take Care
11. 11 / Cut Copy – Zonoscope
12. 12 / M83 – Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
13. 13 / Feist – Metals
14. 14 / The Black Keys – El Camino
15. 15 / James Blake – James Blake
16. 16 / Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
17. 17 / PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
18. 18 / Jay Z & Kanye West – The Throne
19. 19 / Ryan Adams – Ashes & Fire
20. 20 / Florence + the Machine – Ceremonials
21. 21 /The Weeknd – House of Balloons
22. 22 / Cults – Cults
23. 23 / The Horrors – Skying
24. 24 / St. Vincent – Strange Mercy
25. 25 / Gillian Welch – The Harrow & the Harvest
26. 26 / Civil Wars – Barton Hollow
27. 27 / The Vaccines – What Did You Expect From the Vaccines?
28. 28 / Wye Oak – Civilian
29. 29 / Dum Dum Girls – Only In Dreams
30. 30 / Friendly Fires – Pala

Honourable Mentions:

• Radiohead – King of Limbs
• Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi – Rome
• The Joy Formidable – The Big Roar
• Foo Fighters – Wasting Light

Disappointments (for me anyways):

• Death Cab for Cutie – Codes & Keys
• Arctic Monkeys – Suck It and See
• The Strokes – Angles