Thank you for checking this.  For each band, I have a hyperlink to a cool clip, sometimes two.  My top 4 (Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver, Radiohead, and Wilco) all took turns shuffling atop all else.  Helplessness Blues was my favorite in the end.  I hope all of your existential crises turned out well like mine.  Happy new year.  Let’s catch a show soon.

2011 Best

FatTriGuy

Again, this was a fantastic year for music, and I have been on a whirlwind of gaining music and listening to most of it, and really skipped a few genre’s this year from super indie to a little dubsteppy to Hard Core Gangsta Rap (which still proves to be in my blood).

I had to devise out a different plan because I can provide a top 10 total, but thought that I would need to also include a couple other albums that would make the “top 10″ , but there was just too much music for it to be limited to “just a top 10″

As always, thanks to Gorilla vs. Bear, Jenny Eliscu, Sirius XMU and Pitchfork!  Unfortunately, Pitchfork knows me quite well so most of you have more than likely heard of these, but maybe there is a few that you all can check out.  BTW, you people need to check these out, and I would like some dialog after we get the full list as to what some of your thoughts are on the picks as well as what others thought of your picks (thinking about the horrible, horrible picks the past few years).  :-)

Best Indie Albums of 2011:

1.Burial, Four Tet and Thom Yorke – 7″ Single

2.Radiohead – The King of Limbs

3.Bon Iver – Bon Iver

4.Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues

5.Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr – It’s A Corporate World

6.Toro Y Moi – Underneath the Pine

7.Real Estate – Days

8.The Drums – Portamento

9.Washed Out – Within and Without

10. Atlas Sound – Parallax

11. The Morning Benders – Japan Echo EP (日本・エコー)

12. The Weeknd – Thursday

13. The War on Drugs – Slave Ambient

14. The Black Angels – Phosgene Nightmare

15. Peaking Lights – 936

16. Battles – Gloss Drop

17. Adele – 21 — I hate to say it… this album is not indie but it is beautiful!

18. Korrallreven – An Album by Korallreven

19. Puro Instinct – Headbangers in Ecstacy

20. Black Keys – El Camino

21. Cage the Elephant – Thank You Happy Birthday

22. Girls – Father, Son, Holy Ghost

23. Salem – King Night :

Best Remixs of 2011

1.  Radiohead TKOLRMX
2.  Stereogum – STROKED: A Tribute To Is This It :
3.  Live For The Funk July Mixtape - liveforthefunk.com
4.  Jamie xx – Rolling in the Heat (The Heatwave Refix)
5.  Death Cab for Cutie – Keys and Codes: Remix EP
6.  Small Black – MOON KILLER MIXTAPE
7.  Bear in Heaven – Beast Rest Forth Mouth – Remixed
8.  Lil’ Wayne – No Ceilings Mixtape
9.  Gorilla vs. Bear Summer-ish Mixtape
10.  Purity Ring – Their Singles (3 of them)

Best Rap Albums of 2011

1.Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire – Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire – Lost in Translation

2.ASAP Rocky – LiveLoveA$AP

3.Lil’ Wayne – Sorry 4 The Wait

4.Danny Brown – XXX

5.A.Dd+ – When Pigs Fly

6.Shabazz Palaces – Black Up

7.Das Racist – Relax

8.Jay Z and Kanye West – Watch the Throne : Huge disappointment for me, but it was still pretty good…

Best Holiday Album of the Year:

1.Scott Weiland – The Most Wonderful Time of The Year : Amazing Christmas Album, maybe, honestly, best album of the year!!!

Jaime Flores

I didn’t get to listen to as much music as I wanted to this year. With a newborn in the house, we are on an endless loop of nursery rhymes and classical music. Here’s my list and thanks for doing this every year!

1) Cults – Cults
2) The Kills – Blood Pressures
3) Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross – The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (soundtrack)
4) Austra – Feel It Break
5) Radiohead – The King of Limbs
6) Lady Gaga – Born This Way
7) Eisley – The Valley
8) M83 – Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming.
9) Cut Copy – Zonoscope
10) Lykke Li – Wounded Rhymes
11) Phantogram – Nightlife (EP)

And here are some bonus songs:
- Lana Del Rey – Video Games
- Jay-Z & Kanye West – Niggas in Paris
- Charli XCX – Stay Away
- Childish Gambino – Heartbeat
- Dum Dum Girls – Bedroom Eyes
- Mazzy Star – Common Burn/Lay Myself Down
- Rihanna – We Found Love
- Sarah Jaffe – Clementine (I know this song is from 2010, but I didn’t hear it until 2011)

Hugh Ramsey

1 – Washed Out

2 - The Horrors

3 – Dodos

4 – Yuck

5 – Beastie Boys

6 – Decemberists

7 – Kurt Vile

8 – Beruit

9 – Girls

10 – M83

Jason Healy

Here you go…

10.  Real Estate – Days
9.  Other Lives – Tamer Animals
8. Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – Mirror Traffic
7. Trey Brown & Mission Dorado – s/t
6. Bon Iver – s/t
5. Ryan Adams – Ashes and Fire
4. Dawes – Nothing Is Wrong
3. Mount Moriah – s/t
2. Yellowbirds – The Color
1. Gillian Welch – The Harrow & The Harvest

Matt Spalding

2011 Music

This will go down as one of the more underrated years of recent memory.  There’s nothing profound, nothing that breaks the mold in any fantastic way, but there’s a whole lot of really solid albums.  Three of my Top Five are sophomore albums that delivered more than I ever hoped, and the other two are veteran bands proving they’re not finished making outstanding music.  To me, they’re all obvious picks.  Without further ado:

Top 20 (Favorite Songs in Parentheses)

1. Bon Iver, Bon Iver (Holocene, Perth, Calgary)
2. Fleet Foxes, Helplessness Blues (Helplessness Blues, Bedoin Dress, Battery Kinze)
3. Radiohead, King of Limbs (Separator, Codex, Give Up the Ghost, Little By Little, The Daily Mail)
4. Wilco – The Whole Love (Born Alone, Open Mind, One Sunday Morning, The Art of Almost)
5. Real Estate – Days (All the Same, It’s Real, Out of Tune, Green Aisles)
6. The Decemberists – The King is Dead (Rise to Me, Down By The River)
7. Beirut – The Rip Tide (Goshen, Port of Call, Santa Fe)
8. Feist – Metals (Undiscovered First, How Come You Never Go There, Graveyard)
9. Wye Oak – Civilian (Holy, Holy, Civilian)
10. Sigur Ros – Inni (Live Album) (Popplagio, Saeglopur, Glosoli)
11. Joy Formidable – The Big Roar (Whirring, A Heavy Abacus)
12. Explosions in the Sky – Take Care, Take Care, Take Care
13. Kurt Vile – Smoke Ring For My Halo (Baby’s Arms, On Tour)
14. Herzog – Search (West Blvd, Static Shock)
15. St. Vincent – Strange Mercy (Cheerleader, Cruel)
16. Middle Brother – s/t (Daydreaming, Blue Eyes)
17. The Field – Looping State of Mind
18. The Shaolin Afronauts – Flight of the Ancients (Journey Through Time)
19. Julianna Barwick – Magic Place
20. AA Bondy – American Hearts

The Next Five

Coldplay

Kate Bush

Black Keys

The Roots

Civil Wars

Honorable Mention

Drake

Tim Hecker

Bonnie (Prince) Billy

Panda Bear

Deer Tick

Jay Z/Kanye West

Moonface

My Morning Jacket

Iron & Wine

Cut Copy

Cave Singers

tUnEyArDs

Mogwai

King Creosote & Jon Hopkins

James Blake

PJ Harvey

The Dodos

Washed Out

Adele

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.

We Were Promised Jetpacks

Delay Trees

Cass McCombs

Ryan Adams

TV on the Radio

Top 10 Songs

1. Bon Iver – “Holocene”
2. The Decemberists – “Rise To Me”
3. The National – “Exile Vilify”
4. Fleet Foxes – “Helplessness Blues”
5. Wilco – “Born Alone”
6. Real Estate – “All the Same”
7. Feist – “How Come You Never Go There”
8. Radiohead – “Separator”
9. Beirut – “Goshen”
10. Joy Formidable – “Whirring”

Best Music-Based Ad (tie)

Chipotle, Willie Nelson – “Back to the Start”

Chipotle, Karen Oh – “Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies…”

James Lehmann

I have been lazy about finding new bands and listening to new music — all established bands except one.  here is my top 5 from 2011.

1.  Fleet Foxes, Helplessness Blues

2.  Bon Iver, Bon Iver

3.  Radiohead, Lotus Flower

4.  Kurt Vile, smoke rings…

5.  Wilco, Whole Love

Chris Souza

SOUZA Top 10 for 2011

1. Justin Townes Earl – Harlem River Blues

Intrinsically confident and refreshingly sonic gospel-country-blues/rock.

1. Real Estate – Days

There is a whole world to explore in there; it’s very meditative.

1. Girls – Father, Son, Holy Ghost
2. Stephen Malkmus – Mirror Traffic
3. Bright Eyes – The People’s Key
4. Destroyer – Kapuut
5. Thurston Moore – Demolished Thoughts
6. Rangers – Pan Am Stories
7. Fucked Up – David Comes to Life
8. Spectrals – Bad Penny

Souza Hopes for 2012:

• Thurston Moore plays electric, he brings back Lee Ranaldo, and he stays the course on keeping Kim Gordon away.

• A guitar band resurgence, please (a perennially misplaced hope).

• Animal Collective somehow outdo themselves on anticipated 2012 release.

Allison Grinter

It’s not a list, per se, but I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that any list without at least due consideration paid to

Kimbra’s “Vows”,

Maia Vidal’s “God is My Bike”,

Lykke Li’s “Wounded Rhymes”

Drake’s “Take Care”

Yellow Ostrich’s “The Mistress” (technically 2010, but it’s new to me.)

Michael Lehmann

Check out the clips.

Top 20

1.  Fleet Foxes. “Helplessness Blues.” Helplessness Blues.

2.  Bon Iver.  “Holocene.” Bon Iver.

3.  Wilco.  “Born Alone.”  The Whole Love.

4.  Radiohead. “Lotus Flower.”  The King of Limbs.

5.  Decemberists.  “Rise To Me.”  The King is Dead.

6.  Kurt Vile.  “Runner Ups.”  Smoke Ring For My Halo.

7.  Real Estate.  “Younger Than Yesterday.”  Days.

8.  Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.  “Nothing But Our Love.”  It’s A Corporate World.

9.  Beirut.  “Santa Fe.”  The Rip Tide.

10.  Bright Eyes.  “Haile Selassie.”  The People’s Key.

11.  Stephen Malkmus.  “Asking Price –>Stick Figures In Love.”  Mirror Traffic.

12.  Destroyer.  “Savage Night At The Opera.”  Kaputt.

13.  PJ Harvey.  “The Words That Maketh Murder.”  Let England Shake.

14.  Cut Copy.  “Alisa.”  Zonoscope.

15.  Washed Out.  “Eyes Be Closed.”  Within & Without.

16.  Raphael Saadiq.  “Go To Hell.”  Stone Rollin’.

17.  Middle Brother.  “Portland.”  Middle Brother.

18.  St. Vincent.  “Surgeon.”  Strange Mercy.

19.  Roots.  “Make My.”  Undun.

20.  Iron & Wine.  “Walking Far From Home.”  Kiss Each Other Clean.

Honorable Mention (in order)

Panda Bear.  “Tom Boy.”  Animal Collective member solo album.

Shaolin Afronauts.  “Flight of the Ancients.” funk jazz.

Thievery Corporation.  “Culture of Fear.”  like street pizza, reliably good.

Girls.  “Father, Son, Holy Ghost.”  weird, but really good.  kind of like mgmt.

The Mountain Goats. “All Eternals Deck.”  Narrative Songs.

Wye Oak. “Civilization.”  Soundtrack to cool videogame?  No, good rock.

Black Keys. “El Camino.”  not enough time to digest.

My Morning Jacket.  “Circuital.”  some great, some ok, not their best.

Ryan Adams.  “Ashes & Fire.”  lives in the shadow of earlier work, good.

Joy Formidable.  “The Big Roar.”  Ethereal, guitar, female vocal rock.

Feist.  “Metals.”  good, just not as much as the last.

AA Bondy.  “Believers.”  mellow, cool, not as good as last.

Adele.  “21.”  amazing voice.

Drake.  “Take Care.”  great rap (quota met).

TVOTR.  “Nine Types of Light.”  a couple great tracks, just not complete album.

Smith Westerns.  “Dye It Blonde.”  cool sounds, wilco opener.

Grouplove.  “Grouplove.”  edward sharpe + arcade fire = grouplove

Fucked Up.  “David Comes to Life.”  good aggression, great music:  Favorite song clip.

great live clip.

Atlas Sound.  “Parallax.” cool jammy loops.

Bonnie Prince Billy.  “Wolfroy Goes To Town.”  always a couple nuggets on his records.

Cave Singers.  “No Witch.”  new, will get better.

Gorillaz.  “The Fall.”  I miss the 90s and Blur.  This is a guilty pleasure.

The Field.  “Looping State of Mind.”  electronic jam.

Eleanor Friedberger.  “Last Summer.”  Fiery Furnaces solo project.  indie chick rock.

Bill Callaghan.  peaceful.  two clips:  live and cool video.

Surferblood.  “Tarot Classics.”  reminds me of vintage Weezer.