Free Music Fridays (The Saturday Edition): The 11 Best Free Albums of the Year

It's that time of the year...the best of the year lists.  As every year...I ask for your help.  Starting next week, I'll reveal my favorites of the year.  But I want your help to make a master 111 Best Album of the year list.

Send me your favorite albums of the year.  Give me your top 20...if you can't think of the 20...then just 10, 5, or 1 is fine...whatever you liked.  I'll compile the list and make a master list just after Christmas.  It's very easy to do...either email me...or just put your list in the comment section below.

Until next week...here's a primer list...

The 11 Best Free Albums of 2011:

1.  The Weeknd - House of Balloons
2.  Wugazi - 13 Chambers
3.  Frank Ocean - Nostalgia
4.  Danny Brown - XXX 
5.  Stroked - A Tribute To The Strokes
6.  Tokyo Police Club - The Polaroid Album
7.  The Weeknd - Thursday
8.  Ondadrops Vol. 4 - One Way Ticket To Nowhere
9.  Gayngs - Remix EP
10.  True Blue - A Tribute to Madonna
11.  Newermind - A Tribute to Nirvana

Free Music Friday (Thursday Edition): Wugazi - 13 Chambers

This week while I was at home visiting my parents, they were playing this cutting edge Tango music to try and impress me.  My mom was trying to sell me on the album by explaining that these songs were so good they could be played on the radio.  I'll always give any music an honest listen, but my mom was so enthusiastic about the tango music, I knew something had to be wrong.  I started listening and instantly recognized the song.  I looked at my wife and then to my mom and said..."Mom, this is Depeche Mode." My mom didn't believe me...but one look at the credits and it confirmed that it was a cover.  The next song was a New Order song...and so on...  The music wasn't bad, decent actually.  But it was kind of amusing that I had to inform my mom that ground-breaking song that she was listening to...wasn't an original like she thought.  I guess I know how they felt when I thought Tiffany's "I Think I'm Alone Now" and Bananarama's "Venus" were originals, too.

I really think the future of music may lay in the past.  The most talked about new release this week isn't any of the mainstream dreck on itunes or Amazon's main page.  It's a bootleg album...that's being given away for free.  It's a mash-up of uber-indie punk, Fugazi, and seminal rap entourage, Wu-Tang.  It's all over Twitter, Facebook, and the blogosphere.  Like the tango music, maybe being original today isn't about creating something new out of nothing...maybe it's about taking some great and looking at it with different eyes...or ears in this case.

Download Wugazi - 13 Chambers (free for now)