1. "Helplessness Blues" by Fleet Foxes

The Fleet Foxes self-titled debut album was my favorite album of the year back in 2008, so I had high hopes for this release.  It exceeded expectations.  Fleet Foxes does something with their music that is not an easy feat to pull off.  On the surface it can sound like a retread of so many styles of music that are now decades behind us, and yet the songwriting is so good, so pure and fresh, that it feels vital and relevant to an entirely new generation.  This album is filled with beauty and craft that reminds us of what has gone before, and yet is not limited by those references.  This music is alive.  The songs are big and beautiful but never overblown.  There is a certain timelessness here.  This is music that people will still be enjoying in another 20 or 30 years.

2. "Bon Iver" by Bon Iver

Music, at its best, has the power to transport you to another place.  It can stir feelings, emotions, and thoughts within you that can be difficult to comprehend, let alone try to explain.  It can bring you to tears and yet leave you unsure if you are in fact sad, or just incredibly happy.  Just as all of the most important events in life, the best music is a poignant mixture of sorrow and joy.  

There are many moments on Bon Iver’s self-titled second album that strike that perfect balance between light and darkness, sorrow and  joy, happiness and despair.  Moments so breathtaking that any attempt to explain them in words only leaves the speaker frustrated and lacking.  This album is an incredible accomplishment.  Everyone needs to experience it.

3. "The King of Limbs" by Radiohead

Deemed a “lesser” Radiohead album by many, this is still something that 99.9% of humans couldn’t dream of producing.  It represents a left turn in a career full of left turns, and yet the second half is more straightforward and beautiful than they’ve sounded since...maybe ever.  At only 8 tracks, it feels like two very different short EPs that have somehow been  stuck together on one CD.  A fascinating listen.  Perhaps not the best album for newcomers to Radiohead, but a solid addition to their catalog.

4. "The Whole Love" by Wilco

Despite the widespread opinion of this album being some sort of “return to form” after a couple of lesser albums, this is really just business as usual for Wilco, who never really stray too far from “form” anyway.  Apart from the electric guitar freak out of the 7 minute opener and the unparalleled beauty of all 12 minutes of the closing track, there are not many other surprises to be found...just a bunch of completely solid Wilco songs.  And that’s never a bad thing.

5. "The Year of Hibernation" by Youth Lagoon

“Youth” being the key word here.  This album sounds like a 14 year old boy made it in his grandmothers basement.  In actuality songwriter Trevor Powers is a 22 year old who records in his bedroom at Boise State.  The production is muddy and overly saturated with reverb.  In a fragile, weak voice we hear of posters on bedroom walls, hunting for snakes, memories of simpler times...in a nutshell, being caught in the strange place between childhood and adulthood.  As unlikely as all of this sounds, somehow it all just works.  “When I was seventeen, my mother said to me, don’t stop imagining, the day that you do is the day that you die” Powers sings on “Seventeen”.  Lucky for us, this album never stops imagining.

6. "Burst Apart" by The Antlers

Unfortunately I didn’t discover The Antlers first album, Hospice (2009), until earlier this year.  That being a devastating and emotionally brutal concept of an album that completely draws every bit of feeling you could expect from it’s title, it could simultaneously rip you apart while at the same time trying to put you back together again.  I’ve never heard or felt anything quite like it.  It would definitely have been my top album of 2009, if only I’d known it existed.  

But alas, this review is not about that album.  Compared to Hospice, Burst Apart took a while to for me to really get into.  I think I’m beginning to realize the reason for that is because a lot of the music of Burst Apart is just a bunch really good musical ideas rather than “songs” in the traditional sense.  The beauty is in the subtleties that you often don’t notice until the 5th or 6th listen.  This may not pack the emotional wallop of their previous effort, but maybe that’s a good thing.

7. "The Unfazed" by Dolorean

Not to be confused with Spanish alternative dance band Delorean, mysteriously, this Portland band remains largely unknown in the United States, although I hear they have a much larger following on the other side of the Atlantic.  This is an interesting fact considering that their sound is definitively American.  Nothing complicated here.  Simple and beautifully well written songs of life and love gone wrong are set to lush americana soundscapes.

8. "Rome" - Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi

Have you ever sat down to watch an old classic 60’s western movie and been inspired by the music to say, “you know, someone should make an entire album of music like this, only with a modern twist”?  Well, neither have I, but that’s exactly what Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi have done with Rome.  And what a great idea it turned out to be.  For vocals they’ve enlisted the help of Jack White and Nora Jones, giving them each a different avenue in which to let their talents shine.  There may be just a couple too many instrumentals that sound maybe just a bit too much like the rest, but it is all of consistent quality. When you're in the right mood, this is an incredible listen.

9. "Tamer Animals" by Other Lives

If the second half of this album could keep the brilliance of the first half going, this would be my album of the year.  So many amazing things happen in that first handful of songs.  The latter half, while still interesting, feels more like a lesser band impersonating the first half.  But make no mistake, when this album is good, it is frighteningly so...magical even.  Other Lives are now on my bands to watch list.  Hopefully this is only the beginning and they someday get the chance to fully realize their potential.

10. "The King is Dead" by The Decemberists

“The King Is Dead” presents The Decemberists in a complete 180 turnabout from the conceptual ambitions of their previous album.  They’ve seemingly traded in the metal-tinged medieval fantasy leanings of 2009’s The Hazards of Love for a pair of cowboy boots, a harmonica and a fiddle.  This time around they’ve settled for good old fashioned SONGS rather than grandiose concepts.  While the latter certainly have their place, The King is Dead is a refreshing change of pace.  Not quite as many highlights as previous Decemberists albums (For my money, 2005’s Picaresque is the best thing they ever did) but a very listenable album right through.  If for some reason you were to attempt to get your mother into the Decemberists, this would be the album to start with.  That is meant neither as a compliment nor an insult but I suppose it could be both.

Favorite Albums of 2011

It's that time of year again when I like to reflect back on the music that meant something to me over the past 12 months.  And then I like to quantify and rank something that probably shouldn't be.  Putting two pieces of art up against each other and declaring one as "better" than the other is probably a futile exercise...and yet as humans it seems we love to do this.  And as it turns out, within the human race, I am no exception.  But rather than call this a "best" album list, lets just say these are the collections of music that meant the most to me personally.  Your mileage of course will vary, but I offer this as both a window into what inspires me as an artist and also a tool for anyone who's looking for some decent music.

This year I'll be distributing my list a little differently.  Starting tomorrow I'll post each day until the end of the year, counting down my top ten album choices.  This serves several purposes.  It drags the experience out for as long as possible and also allows for greater appreciation and exploration of each album that I post about.

So come back each day for the next 10 days to see how it's coming along.  Let me know if you've found something you like.  Or maybe you think I'm forgetting something.  Leave your thoughts in the comments.

See you tomorrow.

James