We'll start with the bad: Worst Album and Most Disappointing Album. These are the only two lists that will have less than five contestants. This is because I tried to only listen to albums that I thought would be good, so I didn't hear a lot that really disappointed me. But there were a few...
Worst Album
Runner-Up: Watch The Throne - Jay-Z & Kanye West
My full review of this album can be found here, and you can check that for all the detailed reasons that I didn't like this album. (TL;DR - Over-produced, one-dimensional lyrics, musically uninteresting and muddled.)
The Worst Album of 2011: Lulu - Lou Reed & Metallica
This was a cool idea, and I commend Lou Reed and Metallica for trying so sincerely to mesh artistically. But it just did not work. Lou Reed is a great poet and songwriter, but he simply isn't a great singer, and this is really not his element. I was glad to hear Metallica writing good heavy riffs, and I'm reassured that they'll be making more good stuff moving forward. This was just a bump in the road for both artists. Lou Reed isn't meant to sing Metallica songs, and Metallica is really not cut out for concept albums about German dancers. Lulu was a failed attempt at musical fusion.
Most Disappointing Album
Honorable Mention: Codes And Keys - Death Cab For Cutie
I was excited for this album, particularly after hearing the single "You Are A Tourist". But the album was all build and no reward. It never got interesting, and I was disappointed.
Runner-Up: Watch The Throne - Jay-Z & Kanye West
I had hopes that this album would be good (mostly because of the hype, but still). And it wasn't. That's about all.
Most Disappointing Album of 2011: Lulu - Lou Reed & Metallica
See above. It was such a neat idea and everyone involved was so excited, I really thought it would be great. And it just wasn't.
Okay, now for the fun categories. Stuff that doesn't necessarily affect the quality of the music, but still is worth noticing. I don't really have much to say about these lists, so here they are.
Best Album Cover Artwork
5. Camp - Childish Gambino
4. That Night A Forest Grew - The Odious
3. Dust Bowl - Joe Bonamassa
2. Helplessness Blues - Fleet Foxes
The best album cover artwork of 2011: Torches - Foster The People
Best Music Videos
5. "Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall" - Coldplay (Mylo Xyloto)
4. "Bonfire" - Childish Gambino (Camp)
3. "Shake It Out" - Florence + The Machine (Ceremonials)
2. "Someone Like You" - Adele (21)
The best music video of 2011: "Marry The Night" - Lady Gaga (Born This Way)
Best Lyrics
5. "Library Pictures" - Arctic Monkeys (Suck It And See)
4. "Shake It Out" - Florence + The Machine (Ceremonials)
3. "So American" - Portugal. The Man (In The Mountain In The Cloud)
2. "Outside" - Childish Gambino (Camp)
The best lyrics of 2011: "Someone Like You" - Adele (21)
3. "So American" - Portugal. The Man (In The Mountain In The Cloud)
2. "Outside" - Childish Gambino (Camp)
The best lyrics of 2011: "Someone Like You" - Adele (21)
Alright, now let's get serious. Here are the big three categories. My favorites in production, songs, and albums from last year.
Best Production on an Album
5. We Are The Tide - Blind Pilot (Skyler Norwood)
I don't think many people appreciate how difficult it is to produce acoustic music. All tone and level control is done with microphone placement and post-recording processing. The production on We Are The Tide was great anyway, but with the added difficulty, this one was hard to leave off the list.
4. Torches - Foster The People (Paul Epworth, Greg Kurstin, Rich Costey, Tony Hoffer, Mark Foster)
Torches employs a plethora of sounds from a plethora of sources, and each is mixed into the songs to perfection. The writing is good, but the production is the reason this album was as good as it was.
3. Mylo Xyloto - Coldplay (Markus Dravs, Daniel Green, Rik Simpson, Brian Eno)
The production is great. There's really nothing else to say. One doesn't have to love Coldplay's music to appreciate the sonic qualities that are achieved here.
2. Ceremonials - Florence + The Machine (Paul Epworth, James Ford, Charlie Hugall, Ben Roulston, Isabella Summers, Eg White)
Again, nothing too hard to get here. The production is spectacular. Florence Welch and her gospel-style choruses sound as huge as they should. Great album.
The best production on an album in 2011: Bon Iver - Bon Iver (Justin Vernon)
I've never experienced sound like that on Bon Iver. It's a sonic adventure through ten places that paints a vivid picture of each. A whole lot of work went into this album. Like, way more than pretty much every other album this year. It paid off.
Best Songs
Honorable mention: "Perth" - Bon Iver (Bon Iver)
5. "Charlie Brown" - Coldplay (Mylo Xyloto)
I suppose this is as good a time as any to say that my position on Coldplay's album has shifted. I like it more than I previously did. It still is not the best album of the year, but "Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall", "Paradise", and "Charlie Brown" are three great songs that deserve more credit than I previously gave them. "Charlie Brown" is now one of my favorites from the year.
4. "Shake It Out" - Florence + The Machine (Ceremonials)
One of my favorite songs from one of my favorite albums. It's big, it's strong, and it's inspiring. Florence Welch is a boss-lady.
3. "Lonely Boy" - The Black Keys (El Camino)
"Lonely Boy" is just a great song. It rocks. Great writing from Dan Auerbach (as per usual) and classic garage-style guitars and vocals. Plus, the music video is hilarious.
2. "Marry The Night" - Lady Gaga (Born This Way)
After hearing this song, if you don't believe Lady Gaga is a top-notch writer and singer, you are a crazy person. You don't have to love her music, but she's a talented artist with things to say. Start listening.
(Actually, start with this live, solo, acoustic performance.)
The best song of 2011: "Someone Like You" - Adele (21)
Go ahead and add this one to the list of songs that would make me cry if I had emotions. It shows Adele's amazing vocal talent better than almost anything else on the album because it's just her with the piano. Simple composition, powerful vocals, beautiful song. Best of the year.
And now, without further ado:
Best Albums
The order here was tough to finalize, and it changed several times in the last couple days. But here it is.
Honorable Mention: Mylo Xyloto - Coldplay
10. In The Mountain In The Cloud - Portugal. The Man
Portugal. The Man is only getting better. This album is really good. I got to see them live this year, and I saw how much energy they put into their music. These guys are great musicians that write smart songs, and In The Mountain In The Cloud shows it better than anything else they've released.
9. Bon Iver - Bon Iver
It's all in the production here. I mean, the songs are well-written and well-performed, but the production takes it to the next level. These songs are real works of art. Great album.
8. Dust Bowl - Joe Bonamassa
Okay, I'm going to level with you. The fact that Joe Bonamassa still hasn't ever been nominated for a Grammy was like half the reason I decided to make my own list. He is one of the best guitarists alive, and he deserves way more credit than he's given. You can check out my full review of Dust Bowl here for an explanation as to why it's in my top ten. But really you should just listen to it.
7. We Are The Tide - Blind Pilot
This was honestly my #1 album for about a month after it came out. It's amazing. Again, I have a full review here that will explain exactly why it's so good. And again, just listen to it.
6. El Camino - The Black Keys
This is the best album yet from The Black Keys. You don't have to listen for very long before you go "man, these guys rock." Seriously, if they don't win a bunch of Grammys for this next year, I will shoot someone. They create sounds that are clearly modern, but that evoke images of 1960s and '70s garage rock. Listen to this album.
5. Torches - Foster The People
Foster The People absolutely exploded this year. And deservedly so. Torches is fantastic. It doesn't have the flow and continuity of some albums, but every song is great. Really, there are no bad songs on this album. There's something about Mark Foster's falsetto that fits so well with the bouncy songs he writes, and they stick with you for days.
4. Born This Way - Lady Gaga
As I said before, Lady Gaga is a great singer and songwriter whether you like it or not. This album has good continuity and arrangement, and the songs are all excellent. It really shows how much maturity Lady Gaga has compared with her pop music peers. She writes real songs about real things that she really cares about. She cares about the music she publishes, and here it pays off big-time.
3. The King Is Dead - The Decemberists
Colin Meloy is amazing. That wasn't really a secret, but this album gave me a new understanding of just how amazing he is. I do suppose it's not fair to give him all the credit, because this is clearly a full-band effort. Every instrument and every voice has a role, and none is left unfilled. The King Is Dead does pretty much everything while staying comfortably within the comfort zone of all performers. That's a rare feat, and it shows the real talent that these musicians hold. And for what it's worth, I've listened to this album about three times per week for months and I'm still not tired of it.
(Bonus material: they released a follow-up EP in November that's also pretty good. Find it on iTunes or Spotify. It's called Long Live The King.)
2. Ceremonials - Florence + The Machine
Excellent writing? Check. Excellent production? Check. Excellent arrangement? Check. No aspect of this album is not excellent. Some will say that there's only one sound on the album and that it doesn't vary as much as it should. To these people I will say this: Florence Welch and everyone involved intended at the outset to make an album that included all the chamber pop of Lungs, but that centered around soul and occasionally gospel styles. They succeeded. The songs are soulful and emotional, deep and heavy, loud and strong. It's an auditory catharsis for both performer and listener. I didn't write a full review of this album on account of this excellent one beating me to it. It says all the right things. I did speak on it briefly in this video, so you can watch the first bit of that. Go read the review, and then go listen to this album.
The best album of 2011: 21 - Adele
Well, yeah. Was this even a question? Adele is fantastic, this album has more power than just about anything else in recent memory. Adele is redefining pop music for the better with her strong vocal-and-piano style. "Rolling In The Deep" became an instant hit, but don't think for a second that it's the only good song on the album. "Someone Like You" (as noted above), is one of the greatest songs I've heard in a really long time. "Rumour Has It"— actually on second thought, I'm not going to go through all the good songs because that's more or less all of them. This album is a real masterpiece, and there can be no doubt that it is the best of the year.
Phew. There it is. That's what I thought of 2011 in music. Again, I didn't get a chance to listen to a lot of great stuff, and so this review is far from definitive. But of what I did see and hear, these things were the best (or worst). Overall, it's been a fun year. I'm looking forward to hearing all the music in 2012. Thanks for reading. Don't forget to be awesome.
P.S. I think I will be making a video with an abbreviated version of this in the coming days. Watch for that.
Best Production on an Album
5. We Are The Tide - Blind Pilot (Skyler Norwood)
I don't think many people appreciate how difficult it is to produce acoustic music. All tone and level control is done with microphone placement and post-recording processing. The production on We Are The Tide was great anyway, but with the added difficulty, this one was hard to leave off the list.
4. Torches - Foster The People (Paul Epworth, Greg Kurstin, Rich Costey, Tony Hoffer, Mark Foster)
Torches employs a plethora of sounds from a plethora of sources, and each is mixed into the songs to perfection. The writing is good, but the production is the reason this album was as good as it was.
3. Mylo Xyloto - Coldplay (Markus Dravs, Daniel Green, Rik Simpson, Brian Eno)
The production is great. There's really nothing else to say. One doesn't have to love Coldplay's music to appreciate the sonic qualities that are achieved here.
2. Ceremonials - Florence + The Machine (Paul Epworth, James Ford, Charlie Hugall, Ben Roulston, Isabella Summers, Eg White)
Again, nothing too hard to get here. The production is spectacular. Florence Welch and her gospel-style choruses sound as huge as they should. Great album.
The best production on an album in 2011: Bon Iver - Bon Iver (Justin Vernon)
I've never experienced sound like that on Bon Iver. It's a sonic adventure through ten places that paints a vivid picture of each. A whole lot of work went into this album. Like, way more than pretty much every other album this year. It paid off.
Best Songs
Honorable mention: "Perth" - Bon Iver (Bon Iver)
5. "Charlie Brown" - Coldplay (Mylo Xyloto)
I suppose this is as good a time as any to say that my position on Coldplay's album has shifted. I like it more than I previously did. It still is not the best album of the year, but "Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall", "Paradise", and "Charlie Brown" are three great songs that deserve more credit than I previously gave them. "Charlie Brown" is now one of my favorites from the year.
4. "Shake It Out" - Florence + The Machine (Ceremonials)
One of my favorite songs from one of my favorite albums. It's big, it's strong, and it's inspiring. Florence Welch is a boss-lady.
3. "Lonely Boy" - The Black Keys (El Camino)
"Lonely Boy" is just a great song. It rocks. Great writing from Dan Auerbach (as per usual) and classic garage-style guitars and vocals. Plus, the music video is hilarious.
2. "Marry The Night" - Lady Gaga (Born This Way)
After hearing this song, if you don't believe Lady Gaga is a top-notch writer and singer, you are a crazy person. You don't have to love her music, but she's a talented artist with things to say. Start listening.
(Actually, start with this live, solo, acoustic performance.)
The best song of 2011: "Someone Like You" - Adele (21)
Go ahead and add this one to the list of songs that would make me cry if I had emotions. It shows Adele's amazing vocal talent better than almost anything else on the album because it's just her with the piano. Simple composition, powerful vocals, beautiful song. Best of the year.
And now, without further ado:
Best Albums
The order here was tough to finalize, and it changed several times in the last couple days. But here it is.
Honorable Mention: Mylo Xyloto - Coldplay
10. In The Mountain In The Cloud - Portugal. The Man
Portugal. The Man is only getting better. This album is really good. I got to see them live this year, and I saw how much energy they put into their music. These guys are great musicians that write smart songs, and In The Mountain In The Cloud shows it better than anything else they've released.
9. Bon Iver - Bon Iver
It's all in the production here. I mean, the songs are well-written and well-performed, but the production takes it to the next level. These songs are real works of art. Great album.
8. Dust Bowl - Joe Bonamassa
Okay, I'm going to level with you. The fact that Joe Bonamassa still hasn't ever been nominated for a Grammy was like half the reason I decided to make my own list. He is one of the best guitarists alive, and he deserves way more credit than he's given. You can check out my full review of Dust Bowl here for an explanation as to why it's in my top ten. But really you should just listen to it.
7. We Are The Tide - Blind Pilot
This was honestly my #1 album for about a month after it came out. It's amazing. Again, I have a full review here that will explain exactly why it's so good. And again, just listen to it.
6. El Camino - The Black Keys
This is the best album yet from The Black Keys. You don't have to listen for very long before you go "man, these guys rock." Seriously, if they don't win a bunch of Grammys for this next year, I will shoot someone. They create sounds that are clearly modern, but that evoke images of 1960s and '70s garage rock. Listen to this album.
5. Torches - Foster The People
Foster The People absolutely exploded this year. And deservedly so. Torches is fantastic. It doesn't have the flow and continuity of some albums, but every song is great. Really, there are no bad songs on this album. There's something about Mark Foster's falsetto that fits so well with the bouncy songs he writes, and they stick with you for days.
4. Born This Way - Lady Gaga
As I said before, Lady Gaga is a great singer and songwriter whether you like it or not. This album has good continuity and arrangement, and the songs are all excellent. It really shows how much maturity Lady Gaga has compared with her pop music peers. She writes real songs about real things that she really cares about. She cares about the music she publishes, and here it pays off big-time.
3. The King Is Dead - The Decemberists
Colin Meloy is amazing. That wasn't really a secret, but this album gave me a new understanding of just how amazing he is. I do suppose it's not fair to give him all the credit, because this is clearly a full-band effort. Every instrument and every voice has a role, and none is left unfilled. The King Is Dead does pretty much everything while staying comfortably within the comfort zone of all performers. That's a rare feat, and it shows the real talent that these musicians hold. And for what it's worth, I've listened to this album about three times per week for months and I'm still not tired of it.
(Bonus material: they released a follow-up EP in November that's also pretty good. Find it on iTunes or Spotify. It's called Long Live The King.)
2. Ceremonials - Florence + The Machine
Excellent writing? Check. Excellent production? Check. Excellent arrangement? Check. No aspect of this album is not excellent. Some will say that there's only one sound on the album and that it doesn't vary as much as it should. To these people I will say this: Florence Welch and everyone involved intended at the outset to make an album that included all the chamber pop of Lungs, but that centered around soul and occasionally gospel styles. They succeeded. The songs are soulful and emotional, deep and heavy, loud and strong. It's an auditory catharsis for both performer and listener. I didn't write a full review of this album on account of this excellent one beating me to it. It says all the right things. I did speak on it briefly in this video, so you can watch the first bit of that. Go read the review, and then go listen to this album.
The best album of 2011: 21 - Adele
Well, yeah. Was this even a question? Adele is fantastic, this album has more power than just about anything else in recent memory. Adele is redefining pop music for the better with her strong vocal-and-piano style. "Rolling In The Deep" became an instant hit, but don't think for a second that it's the only good song on the album. "Someone Like You" (as noted above), is one of the greatest songs I've heard in a really long time. "Rumour Has It"— actually on second thought, I'm not going to go through all the good songs because that's more or less all of them. This album is a real masterpiece, and there can be no doubt that it is the best of the year.
Phew. There it is. That's what I thought of 2011 in music. Again, I didn't get a chance to listen to a lot of great stuff, and so this review is far from definitive. But of what I did see and hear, these things were the best (or worst). Overall, it's been a fun year. I'm looking forward to hearing all the music in 2012. Thanks for reading. Don't forget to be awesome.
P.S. I think I will be making a video with an abbreviated version of this in the coming days. Watch for that.
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