Saturday, July 09, 2011

The Best of 2011 so far: Top 40 Albums

You've already seen and listened to our Top 40 Singles of the year so far here; time now to sort out the list of our favorite albums of the past six months, based, of course, on what we've been able to listened to until now.

It has to be said that the first half of 2011 hasn't exactly been spectacular for new music. Rock releases (indie or otherwise) have been rather underwhelming so far and a casual comparison to what was going on in the same period last year, proves to be largely in favor of 2010. At the same time I am not hearing anything truly groundbreaking going on for electronic music or hip hop either (James Blake? - really?).

It's not all bad though. Actually, P.J. Harvey's "Let England Shake" is one of those rare masterpieces that don't come around too often and (spoiler alert!) I'll be very surprised if a finer record is released this year! Anna Calvi has given us the most promising debut of 2011 so far, while great first records also came from EMA and Cults (more about them soon). The female presence in the top ranks of our list is further strengthened by Lykke Li and Merrill Garbus, a.k.a. tUnE-yArDs, who both gave us excellent sophomore albums, while more first-rate music was released by some of the usual suspects of the '00s, namely TV On The Radio, The Kills and Arctic Monkeys. The surprise comeback of the first half of the year was that of The Feelies with the timeless "Here Before", an album that sounds as good as anything they've done in the '80s or '90s. Here's the complete list in a not entirely random order:

Top 40 Albums (January - June 2011)

  • Let England Shake - PJ HARVEY
  • Anna Calvi - ANNA CALVI
  • Nine Types Of Light - TV ON THE RADIO
  • Blood Pressures - THE KILLS
  • Suck It and See - ARCTIC MONKEYS
  • Whokill - TUNE-YARDS
  • Past Life Martyred Saints - EMA
  • Wounded Rhymes - LYKKE LI
  • Cults - CULTS
  • Here Before - THE FEELIES
  • Belong - THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART
  • Eye Contact - GANG GANG DANCE
  • The King Of Limbs - RADIOHEAD
  • Cherish The Light Years - COLD CAVE
  • Dynamite Steps - TWILIGHT SINGERS
  • Angles - THE STROKES
  • The King Is Dead - THE DECEMBERISTS
  • Kaputt - DESTROYER
  • Red Barked Tree - WIRE
  • Mazes - MOON DUO
  • In Love With Oblivion - CRYSTAL STILTS
  • Glass Prayer - RELIGIOUS TO DAMN
  • Kiss Each Other Clean - IRON AND WINE
  • Collapse Into Now - R.E.M.
  • Riot Now! - ELEVENTH DREAM DAY
  • Yuck - YUCK
  • The Big Roar - THE JOY FORMIDABLE
  • Share The Joy - VIVIAN GIRLS
  • Smoke Ring For My Halo - KURT VILE
  • Degeneration Street - THE DEARS
  • Codes and Keys - DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE
  • The People's Key - BRIGHT EYES
  • Lollipop - MEAT PUPPETS
  • Tao Of The Dead - …AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD
  • Alela Diane & Wild Divine - ALELA DIANE
  • Helplessness Blues - FLEET FOXES
  • Violet Cries - ESBEN AND THE WITCH
  • What Did You Expect From The Vaccines? - THE VACCINES
  • Hard Times And Nursery Rhymes - SOCIAL DISTORTION
  • Wasting Light - FOO FIGHTERS

P.J. Harvey - In The Dark Places

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