The 55 Best Albums of 2011 (23-33)

It was the year of the reunion/comeback.  So many big artists came back together to put out one more album.  Maybe I'm just getting older and there are more bands under my belt who have the potential to reunite...but this honestly has to be the most reunions I can remember in awhile.  The strongest outing by far was by The Cars...and they seemed to have the most stacked against them.  Missing their key bassist/songwriter/singer, Benjamin Orr, no one thought they could really regenerate the magic the group possessed in the 80s.  But of all the reunions, The Cars seemed to embody the most honest energy of all the bands.  It's like they acknowledge off the bat that they couldn't do it properly without Orr...so they did everything in their power to do as good and respectable of a job as possible.  And it worked.  There were some good reunions this year...but The Cars came in the most low key and finished by far on top.

ATTENTION: I'm still collecting your TOP 20 LISTS.  If you don't have 20 albums...that's okay.  You can send as many as you want.  If it's just 5 or even 1 that's fine, too.  Send them in now and I'll compile an uber monster list to kick off 2012.

Here are the 55 Best Songs of 2011 (23-33):

23.       Deer Tick - Divine Province

24.       Washed Out - Within and Without

25.       Acrylics - Lives and Treasures (Nightwatch)

26.       Radical Dads - Radical Dads (Walking Wires)

27.       Death Cab For Cutie - Codes and Keys

28.       Feist - Metals

29.       The Decemberists - The King Is Dead

30.       Neon Indian - Era Extrana

31.       Justice - Audio, Video, Disco

32.   The Roots - undun

33.   The Cars - Move Like This

Buy these albums and many more best of 2011...now!!! (all for under $5)

The 11 Best Side Project/Solo albums of 2011 (so far)

This week another project from the Dispatch family comes out.  Chad Urmston under the moniker Chadwick Stokes has a very strong solo release hitting the digital shelves.

Dispatch is a very interesting band considering their huge popularity on the east coast...while out on the west coast nobody even knows who they are.  It's rare to see a band whose popularity is regulated to a region of the country.  Even in today's digital world where everything should be equal, Dispatch still remains an east Coast legend while on the west coast they might as well be a unsigned act.  On the east coast they have a legion of die-hard dedicated fans and on the west coast they wouldn't even be on the guest list to their own concert.

This year, Chad isn't the only one branching out from his main band to go out on his own.  Here's a list of the best side projects and solo albums so far.

Here are the 11 Best Side Project/Solo albums of 2011 (so far):

1.  Middle Brother - Middle Brother (Dawes, Deer Tick, Delta Spirit) - Daydreaming live
2.  Radical Dads - Mega Rama (Clap Your Hands Say Yeah)
3.  David Lowery - The Palace Guards (Cracker)
4.  The Elected - Bury Me In My Rings (Rilo Kiley)
5.  Chadwick Stokes - Simmerkane II (State Radio, Dispatch)
6.  Panda Bear - Tomboy (Animal Collective)
7.  Eddie Vedder - Ukelele Songs (Pearl Jam)
8.  Fruit Tree Foundations - First Edition (Idlewild, Twilight Sad, Frightened Rabbit)
9.  Graham Wright - Shirts vs. Skins (Tokyo Police Club)
10.  Miracle Parade - Hark and Other Lost Transmissions (Everyday Visuals, Rilo Kiley)
11.  Alex Turner - Submarine EP (Arctic Monkeys)

Buy Chadwick Stokes - Simmerkane II now!