danbird’s Top 40 Albums of 2011
40. Battles – Glass Drop
39. St. Vincent – Strange Mercy
38. The Dodos – No Color
37. Gillan Welch – The Harrow & The Harvest
36. My Morning Jacket – Circuital
35. The Roots – Undun
34. Nicole Atkins – Mondo Amore
33. Feist – Metals
32. Brown Recluse – Evening Tapestry
31. J Mascis – Several Shades of Why
30. tUnE-yArDs – WHOKILL
29. Deer Tick – Divine Providence
28. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. – It’s a Corporate World
27. Panda Bear – Tomboy
26. Atlas Sound – Parallax
25. Toro Y Moi – Underneath the Pine
24. Yuck – Yuck
23. Vetiver – The Errant Charm
22. Givers – In Light
21. Blitzen Trapper – American Goldwing
20. Woods – Sun & Shade
19. Fruit Bats – Tripper
18. Explosions in the Sky – Take Care, Take Care, Take Care
17. The Head and the Heart – The Head and the Heart
16. PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
15. Akron/Family – S/T II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT
14. The Antlers – Burst Apart
13. Middle Brother – Middle Brother
12. The War on Drugs – Slave Ambient
11. Wye Oak – Civilian
10. Real Estate – Days
This album is just really really good.
9. Bon Iver – Bon Iver
Well polished second album from Justin Vernon. His sound is full and rich and it’s coming into his own.
8. The Black Keys – El Camino
Not as good as Brothers, but a solid barn burner through and through. These guys are officially rock stars.
7. Jessica Lea Mayfield – Tell Me
Dark and brutally honest. If Elliot Smith was a troubled girl from the Southern US, this is what it would sound like.
6. Wilco – The Whole Love
So many good songs on here. Fresh and new sounding. Best Wilco effort in quite some time.
5. Kurt Vile – Smoke Ring for My Halo
Lazy, hazy, sleepy, dreamy set of songs that sets quite the mood.
4. Radiohead – The King of Limbs
This album is highly underrated. Unique and tightly crafted Radiohead effort. Watch Live From the Basement and like these songs even more.
3. The Decemberists – The King is Dead
Every song is a winner on this one. The Decemberists at their best.
2. Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
An amazingly deep and rich album that just gets better with each listen.
1. AA Bondy – Believers
This album is like leaving your entire life behind and hitchhiking to anywhere other than here. It’s dark and beautifully haunting.
Nice picks, I agree, however, I would have put them in a much different order. I am surprized that that Fleet Foxes is your #2 and also that MMJ is so high up. Don’t get me wrong MMJ has had better albums in the past, but I was still surpirzed by #36, I would have expected #26 or something. Then there’s Fleet Foxes, I think I remember you didn’t like the whole ablum when it first was released. I’m glad you came around, I enjoy it very much, but still like the previous self titled ablum the best. I have not heard the antlers although, I have seen the name bounce around here and there…I will have to check them out…and then there’s Wilco and you know how I feel about that.