Acclaimed Music Top 40 Albums from 2011 poll

An embarrassment of riches.

I knew I forgot something, forgot the dashes between the artist and album titles.

Gotta rep for Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats...

EMA

all sounds like a dream to me...

voting for quik

i think this is the weakest year of the decade by some distance

Can't wait to see what user "2011nostalgia" has to say about that.

I think this is better than 2010.

Ot maybe not, as I look back over our voting ranking, it was actually a great year.

Of the five I've heard, St. Vincent. I still don't know what I think of 50 Words for Snow, it might not be very good.

no, 50 words for snow is decent. it's better than red shoes at least!

voted helplessness blues because i must respect a quality beard and robin pecknold's was rugged and exceptional on the tour. game acknowledged.

also this is the year i got divorced on my birthday. lol life.

AND RECOGNIZED.

GAME ACKNOWLEDGED AND RECOGNIZED.

way to fuck up the one important line, jeez.☺

Yes, it's better than The Red Shoes, but there's something mawkish about it that was only hinted at on Aerial.

2014 was weakest year of the decade imo

beyond kaputt, eye contact is also an all-time favourite here

Hah, just posted about TV on the Radio this morning (whose album didn't even make the cut in this poll!)

I agree, weak year, but Nine Types of Light is surprisingly an album I enjoy quite a bit now, and Frank Ocean's has really grown on me.

But my pick is Wild Flag...or it would be if it were here! That was a great record, and the show they put on at Prospect Park was one of the best ones I had seen in recent years.

Fucked Up had a great album, sad I missed that tour because everyone told me it was great too.

I need to revisit tUnE-yArDs, quite a few people I know are really big fans but as much as I admire the work, it's never really left a huge impression.

I guess I'll go with Tom Waits - if he's done recording new stuff, at least he went out with a great one.

Of the five I've heard, St. Vincent. I still don't know what I think of 50 Words for Snow, it might not be very good.

― Halfway there but for you,

Misty is the only one I kept from 50 Words For Snow. I couldn't really get into the rest, especially the Elton song and the title track which are some of her weakest songs.

Another vote for Destroyer here. Gang Gang Dance probably the only real competition. DJ Quik, Lykke Li, St. Vincent, Katy B and PJ Harvey are the only other albums I revisit. Easily my least favourite year of the decade. 2012 is where the decade really gets going for classic albums.

The Waits is good, but uninspired — no new ideas, just a bunch of well-crafted Tom Waits songs that you could sprinkle around any of the half dozen albums he did before that. Leaning toward Nicolas Jaar; I'll have to listen to it again, but I remember it being really good.

kaputt and eye contact are among my favs. could’ve sworn that the quik album came out in 2010 but that didn’t stop my vote

terrible year apparently

Still love the Maus; his subsequent reactionary turn isn't necessarily out of spirit with the album's romanticism but I think it's really pretty murky as politics ("Cop Killer" notwithstanding).

Abstaining in protest of the exclusion of Jamie Woon.

voted for Born This Way

beyond kaputt, eye contact is also an all-time favourite here
― ufo, Thursday, May 19, 2022 3:30 AM (six hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Another vote for Destroyer here. Gang Gang Dance probably the only real competition.
― kitchen person, Thursday, May 19, 2022 4:28 AM (five hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

kaputt and eye contact are among my favs.
― in places all over the world, real stuff be happening (voodoo chili), Thursday, May 19, 2022 4:43 AM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

And with that, I think we can put to rest that tired argument and agree that music appreciation is objective.
I also really like the PJ Harvey.

Can't wait to see what user "2011nostalgia" has to say about that.

― Bee OK, Wednesday, May 18, 2022 5:20 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

Every day I regret my username on this website

But it is a unique year! After all, friggin tuneyards won pazz and jop

Definitely one of the weaker years of the decade though. Currently between Destroyer and EMA.

So many great records missing! This could be Matana Roberts, Grouper, Corrupted, Blues Control/Laraaji, Petrels, Hallock Hill, Meg Baird...

Of the ones there, either Shabazz Palaces or Destroyer.

How is Death Grips - Exmilitary not on here? I'm probably overdue listening to that Danny Brown; otherwise an easy vote for Shabazz Palaces. Indie/rock was still in ferocious doldrums at this time

(as was pop)

fairly instinctive vote for Gang Gang

xp that said I'm probably the only person who thinks the years 2006-2012 were the worst years for popular music on record - and that the years 2014-2017 were about the best

2016 was a great year, MUSICALLY speaking.

I no longer have it, but I made a playlist once from 2008 to 2016 covering what I thought were the best and most well-known tracks reflecting the era and the culture as it developed over the Obama years. It made 2008 to 2016 feel like a very fruitful era, never mind individual years, but it also had a pretty sad trajectory, going from the optimistic highs of TV on the Radio's "Golden Age" to a long stretch of tumult and anxiety to the obliterated hopes of David Bowie's "Lazarus."

I'm a pretty big PJ Harvey fan but have yet to hear Let England Shake, I need to correct that especially because it was so highly regarded.

Replica

Replica

Danny Brown

not that interested in most of these now

voting for Rustie - Glass Swords or Tim Hecker - Ravedeath, 1972

also still like Black Up, Replica, and Space Is Only Noise

Let England Shake seemed very overpraised to me at the time but I guess I should listen to it again

Kaputt still sounds good and will win this poll I guess

I'm a huge fan of PJ Harvey's work, but I didn't like it either - at the time it felt like a misguided attempt to turn a history dissertation into good rock music (and years later, when I first got word about Hope Six, I thought it was too much of a logical progression to be true), but I know plenty of people who like it so I'll probably revisit one of these days.

My overriding memory of the music of 2011 is that there seemed to be an unusually high proportion of gresycale album covers.

Agree with the people saying this was a lean year - some good albums here but not much I feel really enthusiastic about. Let England Shake is fine but relatively minor in PJ Harvey's catalogue I think, I always much preferred White Chalk.

Update: am 4 tracks into the Danny Brown; am voting for Danny Brown

God his lyrics though, way too much lol

White Chalk and Let England Shake are my favourite PJH records I think. voted for the latter here.

Although I do love the Nicholas Jaar album as well.

I've heard so few of these. I love St. Vincent. Strange Mercy is a pretty regular occupant of my turntable.

thought the first Girls album, Album (2009) was perfect, especially Lust For Life

Father, Son, Holy Ghost was good, but seemed too buffed and sanitized to be great

for me Bon Iver can’t compare to For Emma, Forever Ago

Agreed, but "Perth" and "Holocene" are pretty great songs.

I remember really loving Zomby's Dedication from 2011, but haven't listened to it in a long time

also Sun Araw's Ancient Romans

I don't think I've heard any albums from this list aside from Helplessness Blues. 2011 wasn't a particularly strong year for me, I think my AOTY was the Disco Inferno EP compilation.

Helplessness Blues had a track that sounded like the Beach Boys covering a song from Dylan's Blonde on Blonde - I remember really liking that.

speaking of which, the SMiLE Sessions issue from 2011 was pretty great

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I loved Tomboy at the time but haven't played it in years.

regarding The SMiLE Sessions - the Wire: “At the heart of SMiLE lies the question of how to make a society, how to live joyfully in a state of knowledge... SMiLE aimed to make the most idiosyncratic, personal and obscure music accessible to the greatest number of listeners.”

Hurry Up, We're Dreaming was also great, especially the Intro and Midnight City, and the way the male voice at the beginning of the intro morphs into Zola Jesus's voice. both songs were epic

We didn't need a story, we didn't need a real world
We just had to keep walking
And we became the stories, we became the places
We were the lights, the deserts, the faraway worlds
We were you before you even existed

my personal faves are:
Drake Take Care
Destroyer Kaputt
Nicolas Jaar Space Is Only Noise
The Caretaker An Empty Bliss Beyond This World
Kate Bush 50 Words for Snow
DJ Quik The Book of David

Kaputt takes it by a margin

50 words for snow is fantastic, great winter album

hilarious to think how huge these were en 2011 and never again:
The Weeknd House of Balloons/Trilogy
WU LYF Go Tell Fire to the Mountain

Kaputt is my album of the decade, just ahead of Art Angels.

iibh, I'd vote for Bon Iver, but I went with Hell on Heels because it deserves way more recognition than it's going to get.
Space is Only Noise is another ridiculously awesome album that I worry will be under-recognized.
avid Comes to Life is epic but I rarely go back to it.
The original 4 was better than the reshuffled version, imo.

I didn't vote for it, but the Weeknd's House of Balloons is still my favorite from him - it may not have my favorite singles, but it's the one I like most as a whole. (Also glad he was able to re-issue it with the missing samples reinstated.)

Black Up's really good too. I need to give that another listen.

WU LYF Go Tell Fire to the Mountain

― corrs unplugged, Monday, May 23, 2022 3:50 AM

i still jam "lyf" and "we bros" from this album. considered a strategic vote for it in this poll. after the dust settled, my analysis is that they probably never intended to make a second one. ellery screaming "WASSUP MUTHAFUCKAHH!" during their letterman performance was very (chef's kiss)

went for replica over ravedeath

Glass Swords every time

that's what I ended up going for

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Tough break for Wilco

45 - Julianna Barwick The Magic Place 0

aw, forgot to vote. big year for me, so many tunes I associate with so many moments, but still nothing quite like The Magic Place.

Still disappointed Wild Flag wasn't included. I play that more than anything else from 2011.