1) Killer Mike – R.A.P. Music – Kick’s Kendrick Lamar’s Ass, track by track, also kick’s everyone’s ass this year
2) Alabama Shakes – Girls & Boys (Alabama MOTHERF***ING Shakes, big girl lays it down)
3) Of Monster’s and Men – My Head is An Animal (a quasi 2011 album, solid folk duets from Icelanders?)
4) First Aid Kit – The Lion’s Roar (2nd best folk album, again by foreigners)
5) Alt-J An Awesome Wave (came on strong lately, penalized for formulaic sound)
Hon. Mentions (random order):
–Mackelmore & Ryan Lewis – The Heist (decent attempt for an Anglo-American)
-Beach House - Bloom (harmony, harmony)
-Bowerbirds – The Clearing (maybe my #6 for track consistency)
-Cloud Nothings – that album (solid rock but the 90's called looking for their sound)
-Damien Jurado – Maraqopa (Working Titles)
-Polica – Give You The Ghost (check out Wandering Star)
-Japandroids – Celebration Rock (yes, new rock songs/sounds)
Best of 2011: http://fastermustache.org/node/7598
Best of 2010: http://fastermustache.org/node/7188
Best of 2009: http://fastermustache.org/node/6819
Best of 2008: http://fastermustache.org/node/5990
Best of 2007: http://fastermustache.org/node/4740
Best of 2006: http://fastermustache.org/node/2669
Best of 2006 (more): http://fastermustache.org/node/2597
Best of 2005: http://fastermustache.org/node/733
Best of 2005 (more): http://fastermustache.org/node/757
Good list, Roger. I liked all
Good list, Roger. I liked all of those albums except I didn't listen to the Polica album. I'll try to check it out soon.
My top 10:
1) The Walkmen - Heaven (still my favorite band)
2) Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d. city (smart, brass, crass, and came out of nowhere)
3) Damien Jurado - Maroqopa (his best album ever and the most catchy, diverse, and sonically satisfying)
4) Hot Water Music - Exister (their best album since "A Flight and a Crash"
5) White Lung - Sorry (best girl fronted band since Pretty Girls Make Graves and a similar sound to PGMG)
6) Slug Guts - Playing in Time With the Deadbeat (haunting, noisy austrailian rock, coined as "Swamp Rock" by the guitar player while drinking shots at Java Lords after the show).
7) First Aid Kit - The Lion's Roar (what Roger said)
8) Japandroids - Celebration Rock (what Roger said)
9) Dinosaur Jr. - I Bet on Sky (almost as good as Beyond and Farm, in other words: really really good)
10) Cloud Nothings - Attack on Memory (in response to Roger, finally a brave, young, and totally urgent album that scrapes and claws and clings instead of trying to be pretty).