Off-Topic

I realize this is coming exceedingly late, especially considering how long I'd been talking about doing this. I think at this juncture, I've simply realized that despite my best intentions, I have NO time to be writing up anything even remotely interesting about the music I liked in 2011. I liked a lot of it, as this list perhaps evidences. However, given the amount on my plate these days, I've neither the wherewithal nor the desire to focus on that for any length of time.

So, please, do forgive me for the lack of write-ups. I wish I coulda done it this year. It just didn't work out. Hopefully the list itself is helpful enough in aiding your own music perusals.

Enjoy.

1. Fucked Up - David Comes to Life

2. Peter, Bjorn & John - Gimme Some

3. Parts & Labor - Constant Future

4. Cut Copy - Zonoscope

5. Mastodon - The Hunter

6. Starfucker - Reptilians

7. Rival Schools - Pedals

8. The Beastie Boys - Hot Sauce Committee, Part Two

9. The Joy Formidable - The Big Roar

10. Foo Fighters - Wasting Light

11. White Denim - D

12. The Black Keys - El Camino

13. Real Estate - Days

14. St. Vincent - Strange Mercy

15. M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

16. The Go! Team - Rolling Blackouts

17. Wye Oak - Civillian

18. Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues

19. My Morning Jacket - Circuital

20. The Antlers - Burst Apart

21. Cymbals Eat Guitars - Lenses Alien

22. Mogwai - Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will

23. Okkervil River - I Am Very Far

24. Saigon - The Greatest Story Never Told

25. TV on the Radio - Nine Types of Light

26. Deafheaven - Roads to Judah

27. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Hysterical

28. We Were Promised Jetpacks - In the Pit of the Stomach

29. Battles - Gloss Drop

30. O'Death - Outside

31. Darren Korb - Bastion Soundtrack

32. ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead - Tao of the Dead

33. Amon Amarth - Surtur Rising

34. Widowspeak - Widowspeak

35. Explosions In the Sky - Take Care, Take Care, Take Care

36. The Strokes - Angles

37. British Sea Power - Valhalla Dancehall

38. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Belong

39. The War on Drugs - Slave Ambient

40. Bon Iver - Bon Iver, Bon Iver

41. Handsome Furs - Sound Kapital

42. Samiam - Trips

43. Ha Ha Tonka - Death of a Decade

44. Iceage - New Brigade

45. Blitzen Trapper - American Goldwing

46. The Reigning Sound - Abdication... For Your Lov

47. The Vaccines - What Did You Expect from The Vaccines?

48. Little Dragon - Ritual Union

49. Boris - Heavy Rocks

50. Surfer Blood - Tarot Classics

51. Neon Indian - Era Extrana|

52. The Decemberists - The King Is Dead

53. Animals as Leaders - Weightless

54. Thursday - No Devolucion

55. Los Campesinos! - Hello Sadness

56. Junior Boys - It's All True

57. The Cars - Move Like This

58. Drive - Original Soundtrack

59. Washed Out - Within and Without

60. Drive-By Truckers - Go-Go Boots

61. Cave In - White Silence

62. Say Hi - Um, Uh Oh

63. Feist - Metals

64. Beirut - The Riptide

65. Wild Beasts - Smother

66. The Roots - Undun

67. Foster the People - Torches

68. Tombs - Path of Totality

69. Cult of Youth - Cult of Youth

70. DJ Shadow - The Less You Know, the Better

71. The Lonely Island - Turtleneck & Chain

72. Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost

73. Justice - Audio, Video, Disco

74. The Mountain Goats - All Eternals Deck

75. The Dears - Degeneration Street

76. Mates of State - Mountaintops

77. Woods - Sun and Shade

78. The Decemberists - Long Live the King

79. Wolves In the Throne Room - Celestial Lineage

80. Oh No Oh My - People Problems

81. 13 & God - Own Your Ghost

82. Wild Flag - Wild Flag

83. She Wants Revenge - Valleyheart

84. Deerhoof - Deerhoof vs. Evil

85. Panda Bear - Tomboy

86. Megafaun - Megafaun

87. Atlas Sound - Parallax

88. GridLink - Orphan

89. Architects - The Here and Now

90. Primus - Green Naugahyde

91. The Rosebuds - Loud Planes Fly Low

92. The Insane Warrior - We Are Doorways

93. Fujiya and Miyagi - Ventriloquizzing

94. The Elected - Bury Me In My Ring

95. Cold War Kids - Mine Is Yours

96. The Horrors - Skying

97. Destroyer - Kaputt

98. Jay-Z & Kanye West - Watch the Throne

99. Jens Lekman - An Argument With Myself

100. Vetiver - The Errant Charm

2012? :P

Good to see the Mountain Goats get some love up there. Definitely a list I need to go down and check a few things out, thanks for this.

@Ozone: How would you do video content? That seems to be the biggest hurdle for a music website.

I guess this is pretty eye-opening about the difference between a casual music guy and a more enthusiast music guy. I like music, but I don't even know if I've listened to 100 albums within the past 2-3 years.

I've listened to maybe 30 of these albums, and that's still a lot to me, especially when I want to just re-discover older artists or just listen to an LCD Soundsystem again.

Sweet, I will dig into this list as soon as I have the time. Glad to see Bon Iver is on the list, it must be the album I've listened to the most last year (along with the Decemberists). And Bastion, apt choice.

I'm amazed how Amon Amarth's album totally slipped pass me. I've been looking forward to a new release since "Twilight..." gosh darnit.

And I'm bummed there isn't more heavy music. But maybe it's been a slow year for that stuff. At least Mastodon made it to top 5.

Thanks for the list, Alex.

This is a pretty good... ah, who am I kidding? I only listened to two of these. And one of them (Bon Iver, Bon Iver) was severely disappointing.

I wish I had any musical knowledge so I could say something interesting about this list. I have listened to a few of these albums. I have no idea where to start.

YES! A top 100 list. If only we had a small paragraph for each entry.

Ok, let's go down the list:

• Fucked Up, yeah I can see that
• Nice, Beastie Boys
• Black Keys, sure
• Real Estate, oh, St. Vincent. That's a great album
• M83, yes
• Fleet Foxes, alright
• I still can't figure out the great liking for My Mourning Jacket, but whatever
• Mogwai, yep
• Explosions, always a nice tune to have
• Bon Iver, uhh deserved a better spot
• The Roots and DJ Shadow never a bad choice
• Girls, Justice, Mountain Goats, ok
• Panda Bear, Atlas Sound and Destroyer should all get better spots

Serious omissions: Balam Acab, James Blake, The Field, Tom Waits, PJ Harvey, Paul Simon

Edit: Oh and Unknown Mortal Orchestra. I enjoyed that a lot!

meh omissions: David Lynch, Shabazz Palaces, tune yards, The Weekend, Veronica Falls

Great list Alex. Double Thumbs Up!!

@Winternet: I got pretty bored with that new Field record pretty quickly. And I've always been a bigger fan of Tom Waits the man than Tom Waits the musician.

@Alex: It's the first album I heard of them. I like it. I find the repetitiveness of it to be distracting and soothing. I listen to it mostly when driving, so I guess that tells something. Too bad about Tom Waits, though. Man is a genius.

What about James Blake? You haven't heard it or just not into it? It took me by surprise. Dude's first album and he is like 21 or 22 and it's such a detailed, mature and well thought album. I really liked it.

Working my way through the list I've been listening to both Fucked Up and Peter, Björn and John now (fragmented on the youtubes that is). I have to say I'm really glad to have read the list, if only for this. I new about Peter, Björn and John before but Fucked Up was new to me. Stupid hard to cathegorize (post-punk-rock? Hardcore-rock-pop?). It doesn't matter, It's awesome anyways. Maybe a buy in the future.

I absolutely love Bon Iver, Bon Iver

I'm glad to see that Cave In - White Silence is getting a decent amount of love from various quarters. I was really excited for those fellas to get back together, & both the Planets of Old EP & the new full length album have managed to reach & possibly exceed the expectations I had for them. Though nothing on White Silence quite manages to match the jaw-dropping excitement I got when I first heard that they were back together & they'd recorded Retina Sees Rewind

Super glad to see Neon Indian on there. I think I might have listened to Polish Girl about a half million times now.

Also: watch the throne kind of went really cold on me, however Niggas In Paris is probably my favorite rap song of 2011. Too bad it's the only GREAT cut on what should have been a pretty epic album.