Acclaimed Music Top 40 Albums from 2011 poll

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.