All the Young Punks’ Top 40: Best Albums of 2011
There was so much good music released in 2011 that I find it’s actually hard to confine a list to the top 40. These are some of the albums that struck me as interesting, exciting or irresistible.
I’ll count down from 40 to 1 in two posts.
40. Bass Drum of Death – GB City: This is such a fun debut from two guys from Mississippi. It rocks hard.
Young Pros – Bass Drum of Death
39. The Obits – Moody, Standard and Poor: Indie vet Rick Froberg plays stripped down, loud rock ‘n’ roll.
38. Male Bonding – Endless Now: Great second album from these London punks.
37. Cymbals Eat Guitars – Lenses Alien: Band pays respectable homage to Pavement.
36. The Babies – The Babies: What do you get when you cross Woods with the Vivian Girls? A pretty boss album.
Meet Me In The City – The Babies
35. Gauntlet Hair – Gauntlet Hair: Trippy, cool debut from a couple of guys from Denver. It should appeal to Animal Collective fans.
34. Mogwai – Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will: More interesting stuff from the lords of big instrumentals.
33. The Joy Formidable – The Big Roar: Bombastic. This ode to the early ’90 alt-rock scene has some great moments.
32. Mikal Cronin – Mikal Cronin: Ty Segall’s buddy shows he has some garage rock chops of his own.
31. Vivian Girls – Share the Joy: The band said it was inspired by Burt Bacharach. I take that with a grain of salt. Urge Overkill was influenced by Neal Diamond, right?
I Heard You Say – Vivian Girls
30. The Antlers – Burst Apart: Mournful and desolate — but something keeps drawing me back to The Antlers.
Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out – The Antlers
29. Cass McCombs – Wit’s End: And speaking of mournful and desolate, this Cass McCombs offering is very sad — and very good.
Cass McCombs – County Line by PitchPerfectPR
28. EMA – Past Life Martyred Saints: A very cool debut by South Dakota native Erika M. Anderson. She lays it all out kind of Patti Smith style.
27. Widowspeak – Widowspeak: Molly Hamilton’s forlorn vocals punctuate this garage debut.
Widowspeak – "Nightcrawlers" by forcefieldpr
26. Veronica Falls – Veronica Falls: Spooky-cool rock debut from yet another Brit band.
25. Summer Camp – Just when I think that ’80s John Hughes soundtrack stuff is just about played out, these guys suprised me.
24. Tune-Yards – WHOKILL: It’s a fascinating and challenging album from Merrill Garbus. One of the most original albums released this year.
23. Toro Y Moi – Underneath the Pine: One of the chillest albums of the year by the master of cool.
22. Real Estate – Days: Sunny and yet very chill. Nice follow to 2009 debut.
21. Atlas Sound – Parallax: More greatness from Bradford Cox.
December 15, 2011 at 2:27 pm
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