The 111 Best Albums of 2011

Here they are.  The 111 Best Albums of 2011 as voted on by you my readers.  If you don't like the results...then vote for something better next year.

I personally, always like the results of this list much better than most critic lists.  This list is always more honest to me.  While Adele dominated most lists...she only cracks the top 40 here.  Or the Decemberists who barely made it on many critic lists jumped up high here because the people just liked the album.

Here are the 111 Best Albums of 2011:

1. Bon Iver - Bon Iver
2. The Black Keys - El Camino
3. The Decemberists - King Is Dead
4. Yuck - Yuck
5. M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
6. Death Cab For Cutie - Codes and Keys
7. Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
8. Radiohead - King of Limbs
9. Wilco - The Whole Love
10. Foo Fighters - Wasting Light
11. St. Vincent - Strange Mercy
12. The Weeknd - House of Balloons/Thursday/Echoes of Silence
13. Manchester Orchestra - Simple Math
14. PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
15. Wye Oak - Civilian
16. Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost
17. Jay-Z & Kanye West - Watch The Throne
18. The Strokes - Angles
19. TV on the Radio - Nine Types of Light
20. R.E.M. - Collapse Into Now
21. Iron & Wine - Kiss Each Other Clean
22. Bright Eyes - The People's Key
23. Florence + The Machine - Ceremonials
24. Middle Brother - Middle Brother
25. Telekinesis - 12 Desperate Straight Lines
26. Destroyer - Kaputt
27. War on Drugs - Slave Ambient
28. Wild Flag - Wild Flag
29. Coldplay - Mylo Xyloto
30. Tune-Yards - Who Kill
31. Foster The People - Torches
32. Fucked Up - David Comes To Life
33. Real Estate - Days
34. Beirut - Rip Tide
35. Ryan Adams – Ashes and Fire
36. Rural Alberta Advantage - Departing
37. Tom Waits - Bad As Me
38. Adele - 21
39. Gomez – Whatever’s On Your Mind
40. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Hysterical
41. Raveonettes - Raven in the Grave
42. James Blake - James Blake
43. Stephen Malkmus - Mirror Traffic
44. Alexander (Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros) - Alexander
45. The Pains of Being Pure At Heart - Belong
46. Tapes N Tapes - Outside
47. Paul Simon - So Beautiful or So What
48. Class Actress - Rapproacher
49. Dawes - Nothing Is Wrong
50. My Morning Jacket - Circuital
51. Dum Dum Girls - Only in Dreams
52. Ersatz G.B. - The Fall
53. Arctic Monkeys - Suck It And See
54. Atlas Sound - Paradox
55. Explosions in the Sky - Take Care, Take Care, Take Care
56. Rival Schools - Pedals
57. Sigur Ros - Inni
58. Battles - Gloss Drop
59. Dustin O Halloran - Lumiere
60. Sam Roberts Band – Collider 
61. Beastie Boys - Hot Sauce Committee Part 2
62. Drake - Take Care
63. Washed Out - Within and Without
64. Feist - Metals
65. Jason Isbell - Here We Rest
66. Fountains of Wayne - Sky Full of Holes
67. Grouplove - Never Trust a Happy Song
68. Handsome Furs - Sound Kapital
69. Childish Gambino - Camp
70. Low - C’mon
71. Crooked Fingers - Breaks in the Armor
72. Blitzen Trapper - American Goldwing
73. Deer Tick - Divine Providence
74. EMA - Past Life Martyred Saints
75. Hey Rosetta! - Seeds
76. SBTRKT - SBTRKT
77. The Head and the Heart - The Head and the Heart
78. The Roots - undun
79. Noah and the Whale - Last Night On Earth
80. Mates of State - Mountaintops
81. New Found Glory - Radiosurgery
82. Gillian Welch - Harrow and Harvest
83. Anna Calvi - Anna Calvi 
84. Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears - Scandalous
85. Found - Factorycraft
86. Metronomy - The English Riviera
87. Library Voices - Summer of Lust
88. The Vaccines - What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?
89. The Kills - Blood Pressures
90. Juliana Barwick - The Magic Place
91. Cut Copy - Zonoscope
92. We Were Promised Jetpacks - In The Pit Of Our Stomachs
93. Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring For My Halo
94. Tennis - Cape Dory
95. Cults - Cults
96. The Antlers - Burst Apart
97. Friendly Fires - Pala
98. Bombay Bicycle Club - A Different Kind of Fix
99. J. Mascias - Several Shades of Why
100. Tyler the Creator - Goblin
101. Noah Gallagher - High Flying Birds
102. Ladytron - Gravity the Seducer
103. We Are Augustines - Rise Ye Sunken Ships
104. The Airborne Toxic Event - All At Once
105. And You Will Know us By The Trail of Dead - Tao of the Dead
106. The Felice Brothers - Celebration, Florida
107. The Joy Formidable - The Big Roar
108. Okkervil River - I Am Very Far
109. Glossary - Long Live Us All
110. Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes
111. The Deep Dark Woods - The Place I Left Behind

Buy these albums and more here and here.

The 11 Best Songs By Fleet Foxes

With Donald Trump’s chances of knocking out Obama for President looking slimmer by the second, another dark horse is taking a mighty swipe at another behemoth.  Today, Amazon slashed all of its song prices to .69 cents.  That’s almost 50% cheaper in some cases to Itunes’ prices.  Almost all of Amazon’s songs are better quality.  In this battle, I don’t believe Apple will be able to hire Seth Meyers to knock Amazon back in their place…nor do I think Apple has an OBL “trump” card to play.  No pun intended.   Maybe.  In this case, I think Amazon may be the front runner in this race.  Really, all Apple has is the hip factor.  That will not last forever.  Once that is gone, they will have to rely on product.  And if their product is the exact same (or even weaker) than the competition but costs twice the price what will the point be to buying their product?

The new Fleet Foxes is $3.99 on Amazon.  $9.99 on Itunes.  Need I say more?

Here Are The 11 Best Songs By Fleet Foxes:


1.  Tiger Mountain Peasant Song (Fleet Foxes)
2.  Mykonos (Sun Giant)
3.  Anyone Who's Anyone (Fleet Foxes EP)
4.  White Winter Hymnal (Fleet Foxes)
5.  Textbook Love (Fleet Foxes EP)
6.  English House (Sun Giant)
7.  Ragged Wood (Fleet Foxes)
8.  Quiet Houses (Fleet Foxes)
9.  Your Protector (Fleet Foxes)
10.  Drops in the River (Sun Giant)
11.  She Got Dressed (Fleet Foxes EP)

Buy the Fleet Foxes new album, Helplessness Blues, now!!  (only $3.99 for a very limited time)

The 11 Best Albums of 2008 (Part 2)

Yes, I know there are two number 36s. Why are there two number 36s? Because I made my list of the 55 best albums of 2008...then I went out and started listening to other albums from 2008 that I hadn't heard yet. Brilliant move, right? So, after really digging the Sleepercar album (Jim Ward from Sparta's new band), I felt compelled to include it. But since I had already posted the bottom of the list, I couldn't squeeze in anything new without screwing up the numbering system. Then I realized...I run the site and make my own rules. So I can do whatever I want.

Don't forget to send me your top 20 albums of 2008 and I'll compile a master list of the 111 best albums of the year!

The 11 Best Albums of 2008 (Part 2):

34. Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple
35. We Are Scientists - Brain Trust Majesty
36. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
36. Sleepercar - West Texas
37. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes (White Winter Hymnal - Daytrotter)
38. Dead Confederates - Wrecking Ball
39. The Faint - Fasciination
40. Okkervil River - The Stand Ins
41. Nine Inch Nails - The Slip
42. Cat Power - Jukebox
43. Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
44. The Dirtbombs - We Have You Surrounded

Be sure to visit my Amazon Store to buy any of these great albums.