Favorite albums of 2011

2011 was a great year for music, i discovered a lot of new artists of different genres there were a few disappointments but not as much as it has happened on other years.
decided to do a top 15 this time, making this list wasnt easy this time but i finally have it.

15. Grouper AIA Alien Observer and Dream Loss

two great shoegaze records from one of the genres best band. it may feel like this record transports you somewhere else thats peaceful and strange im guessing part of what the band wanted to transmit through this two albums.

14. Larry and His Flask- All that we know










who ever thought bluegrass could be this fun, i put this band because its one of the few supposedly associated to punk that i enjoyed a lot this year.

13.The Planet Smashers- Descend into the Valley of









extremely enjoyable and fun ska record, as good as it is to honour the great records its good to do that with the fun ones too like this one.

12. Lunatic Soul- Impressions









this was a discovery i made thanks to a recommendation someone gave to me about a good ambient and experimental band. i was pleasantly surprise when i heard this complex and engaging.

11. Cats and Cats and Cats- Mother Whales










one of the only records that can be classified as math rock or experimental that i enjoyed the most. the use of vocals complements the songs instead of toning down the quality as it may happen in other albums

10. The World Inferno Friendship society- The Anarchy and The Ecstasy










some call it cabaret punk or and eclecti mix of different sounds and genres, the simplest way to define this record is fun and different in its own way.

9. Destroyer-Kaputt









one of the aspects i like the most about this record is the simplistic approach to the music at times but also when the singer experiments quite a bit with the songs.

8.Los Campesinos-Hello Sadness: interesting indie pop record adding some electronic elements in some songs that work in its favour.











7. Obits-Moody, Standard and Poor











Froberg and his band have done it again after returning to music with the first album, they follow it up with a record with various elements from genres like post-punk and sometimes garage rock.

6. Wild Flag-Wild Flag










featuring members of sleater-kinney among other bands. one of the most interesting debuts released last year.

5. WU LIF-Go Tell Fire To The Mountain









great debut from this experimental band.

4.TV ON THE RADIO- Nine Types Of Light: so kind of difficult to classify this, but it has some elements of post-punk among other genres. my first introduction to this band







3.M83-Hurry Up Were Dreaming










double album from and electro-shoegaze band that doesnt let down in any moment of it. beautiful sounds, bringing up imaginative imagery.

2. Jesu-Ascension









a great post-metal and experimental record after a few years of hiatus from this band. broadrick comes back stronger than ever

1. We Were Promised Jetpacks-In the Pit Of The Stomach










whoever said sophomore slump this doesnt apply to this band after making and interesting debut record they follow it up with this good indie rock record from this scottish band.

Honorable Mentions
Bomb The Music Industry!-Vacation









the bands most mature record to date. a bit reflective and thoughtful

Cloudkicker-Let yourself be Huge










recommended for fans of jesu or if youre remotely interested whether it be in post-metal or experimental music in general

The Living End-The ending is just the beginning repeating











though there are still some rockabilly elements theyre not as present as they have in other albums. in spite of that is a fun rocknroll record

Dead to Me-Moscow Penny Ante










i pretty much had almost written the band off after jack left, but recently they recruited two ex-members of new mexican disaster squad and the result is a fun punk roc record.

PJ Harvey-Let England Shake










this british singer-songwriter makes interesting arrangements using different instruments among them a saxophone.

House Boat-The Thorns Of Life










pop-punk done right and fun also.

The Mountain Goats-All Eternals Deck










though a good record it lacked something to be truely great, darnielle is still a great storyteller and this album proves it.

some of the albums in my honorable mentions could have made the main list if i would have listened to them a bit more.

Best Music of 2010

so this was a rather good year for music at least in my opinion, some of my favorite bands released good albums but also some new bands that may have promising futures

its hard to narrow down a list when so much good music was released.
20. Envy-Recitation

this album could have been higher on the list if i listened to it a bit more, this is another band i just got into this year with elements of post-rock , screamo and other sounds not only makes it interesting but also engaging to the listener
 
19. Street Dogs-S/T

 

a really fun album that sees the band going back to what they do best. fast catchy street punk anthems.

18. Lost in the Trees- All Alone in and Empty House

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
A good debut from and orchestral folk band
 
17.Jaga Jazzist-One Arm Bandit

 

  my first introduction to this experimental jazz band, that im looking to hear their back catalogue after listening to this great album
 
16. Quasi-American Gong

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
this was my first introduction to this band and a very good one at that

15.Shining-Blackjazz

this is mainly and experimental album by a band from norway that delivers a different and interesting sound in this album. combining jazz and black metal

14.Screaming Females-Castle Talk

a good garage punk album from a band i just discovered this year

13.School of Seven Bells- Disconnect from Desire

its a bit difficult for me to classify this album, though it has elements of various genres that make it interesting and different in part. from other artists ive heard this year

12.The Flatliners-Cavalcade

the band ditches the few ska punk roots they had to deliver a fast punk rock album

11.Bad Religion-The Dissent of Man

though good it lacked something to be truely great like this bands classic albums

10.No Age- Everything in Between

making a big change to the sound they were know for no age put out and album that may have lost them some fans but gained them new ones too.

9. Ted leo and the Pharmacists-The Brutalist Bricks

so after the mixed living with the living ted leo goes back to his roots in part , making and enjoyable album

8. Kylesa-Spiral Shadow

this has been the year for total changes in sound from a lot of bands, and this one is another one in that category ditching their sludge sounds from their early records, making what could be described as a stoner rock record and one of the years best
7.Deerhunter-Halcyon Digest

another experimental band that so far hasnt released a bad album . it may not be as loud and distorted as past albums but its great nonetheless

6.Masshysteri-Masshysteri

so this proves sweden is a great place for bands. as this band shows in this good punk rock album

5.A Silver Mt Zion-Kollaps Tradixionales

i think its curious that this album was the one that got me into the band, though strange at times its a good album from a band i hope to hear more in the future.

4.Ida Maria-Katla

so this was a good year for norway artists shining and ida maria released albums that made my list of favorite albums of the year. hope to continue hearing great things from this artist.

3.Superchunk-Majestic Shredding

First album after a few years of silence from this band, i was able to see them live thanks to matador records livestream of their anniversary concerts. ive enjoyed this record a lot , hopefully this band continues releasing albums for a few more years.

2.Medications-Completely Removed

so the number two is this album of a post-punk band making a good record after a few years of not releasing anything and apparently staying dormant.

1.Titus Andronicus-The Monitor

no other album of this year captured from the start as this one, sees the band practically ditching their old sound and experimenting with new ones.

Honorable Mentions
The Menzingers-Chamberlain Waits

so the menzingers follow up hold on, dodge with a fun album that haves them releasing one of this bands best albums yet.


Dillinger Escape Plan-Option Paralysis

one of this years best heavy albums. mathcore at its best

Howe Gelb and a Band of Gypsies
alegrias

the definition of a good folk album, in my opinion at least

Cloudkicker-Beacons

a post-metal album that takes inspiration from jesu and other bands from a rather unknown artist

None More Black-Icons

Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra

so this is one of the few two tone or third wave ska albums released this year, from a country whose bands i overlooked in the past. fun and upbeat like each of this bands albums.

Black Mountain- Wilderness Heart

the bands most accesible record to date, completely ditching the stoner rock roots from their early beginnings.

The Walkmen- Lisbon

huge props to the band for releasing what might be considered as a classic record from their catalogue.

ef-mourning golden morning

one of the few albums from this genre that i listened to a lot this year, this was the year of discovering old and new bands from different genres and this was one of those bands, that ill continue checking out everything they release.

A look back of last year

pretty much a few days have passed since new years so i decided to make this entry about of last year and this new year too, well 09 was a great year and a ok year i discovered a lot of old and new music, saw a lot of movies and traveled a little which was ok with me.

ok so to continue this entry last year started with me looking for a place to do a practice that was obligatory to do in my career, after a short search i was able to do that it was in a retirement home that was ran by a family composed of a gerontologist, a businessman and a nurse that took on the task on taking care of at the beginning twenty elderly people and before they moved it diminished into just five people each with a different disease mainly alzheimer or parkinsons, since i decided my thesis was going to be related to the elderly i went to the home for a year and gathered lots of information concerning to that topic.

to no bore anyone with anything more college related last year was the year i got back into comics i started reading new and mighty avengers and some cable and deadpool and the new deadpool run , liked the new avengers a lot and cable and deadpool too, then later on decided to catch up on the original deadpool comic run and it was way better than the current ongoing one, i forgot that i also read the invincible iron man at least the extremis saga it was great maybe ill catch up on it later on this year, and recently i began to read all star superman and the inmortal iron fist one is considered the ultimate superman story and the other one is a relatively new comic book character.

what else saw a lot of movie but not as much as i would have wanted to, and also various youtube videos from deadpool fans and comic book geeks and general reviewers of stuff, a big laugh i got everytime i watched and infomania or supernews segment on the current.com channel, ironically it was the year i got caught up in watching various horror movies among them i finally saw all the nightmare on elm street franchise the best of the series are the 1st , 3rd , 4th and new nightmare, in very cautious on the remake theyre making of the original nigthmare on elm street might be good or it might suck a lot, what else i discovered four internet geeks and comedians that each one reviewed different types of things the nostalgia critic old movies and sometimes top 11 about a specific topic.

the angry video game nerd bad games from different consoles, and his counterpart james r does cinemassacre where he posts his movies and his monster madness marathon recommending some of his favorite horror movies and he also does movie review which are very good, the spoony one who apparently likes to torture himself not only playing bad games intentionally but bad movies too, without his reviews i wouldnt have know of yor the hunter from the future who is a badass as is the person playing him reb brown, and this person also does blogs and reviews of movies, tv among other things.

and finally linkara who reviews bad comic books and sometimes bad video games, a very funny person his best reviews are amazon attacks, superman at earths end, mr t and the t force, countdown and silent hill dying inside, hope to see more reviews one funnier than the next.

since this year marks the end of a decade various bloggers, people, websites, etc, are doing end of the decade lists i might do one but only mentioning like a top 10 instead of a top 100 since that takes time.
if things go well id graduate from college this year or at least finish all the subjects and my professional practice and graduate next year

Favorites of the year

• Favorite albums of 2008
  well as promised here are the albums i enjoyed the most this past year, theyre not in order except the last 3 , the movie list will be up tomorrow.
• Nada Surf-Lucky(Barsuk)
  well this was a surprise for me , a band that was known for one hit song back in the 90s is making nowadays good indie rock and this album proves it worthwhile.
  
  
  Attack and Release- The black keys(Nonesuch)
  Now this is a good blues rock album, i recently got into this band and i think this is one of their best albums i may be wrong, but it may become a favorite of mine
  
  
  Mike Hale-Broken with no Hope(Asian Man)
  
  this could be called another album from a punk singer singing country, well it isnt, instead of turning in a country album like others have done mike hale delivers and acoustic album with great songs and lyrics that anyone can relate to.
  
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• The bronx-The bronx III(White Drugs)
• 
  

this is a late entry, another band i discovered this year not only do they have aggresive and fast songs but they also have good old rock and roll tunes too, i think this is their most coherent and best album to date.



Mock Orange- Captain Love(Wednesday records)
This record has enough twist and turns to keep you listening


Nick Cave- Dig Lazarus Dig(Anti)
i agree with what everyone saying that this is one of the best record of the year, its pretty diverse.


Bridge and Tunnel-East/West(No Idea)


debut album from this new band with and exmember of latterman, it has various standout tracks and doesnt hold down at any minute.


Scream Hello- Everything is always still happening(Red Leader)
good debut album from a band that has taken some elements from braid and texas is the reason to make their own music that sounds fresh and different.


Cheap Girls-Find me a Drink Home(Bermuda Mohawk)
this is just a good old pop record, taking cues from the smoking popes and other bands, they make a good record that you can listen to relax on and old sunday afternoon


Portman-From here to your eyes and ears(Walnut Tree Records)
this album took me by surprise its another debut album from a band that could get up kids fans might like.







The Riot Before-Fists Buried in Pockets(Say 10)
a good old folk punk record with good songs and singalong anthems

Off with their Heads-From the Bottom(No Idea)
when you think lifes been treating you down this record could help you overcome what youre thinking or feeling, a great debut album from this band



The Casting out-Go Crazy Throw Fireworks(Self released) the debut album from the new band of nathan gray from bot sets fire fame, its just a good old melodic punk record.



Frightened Rabbit-The Mignight organ fight

just a goold old indie rock record with some folk influences.
heres the top 4.

4. The Night Marchers-See you in Magic (Vagrant)
Jhon Reis and company still know how to rock, and they show it well on this debut album from his new band

3) Smoking popes-Stay Down
the popes have done it again, after and 11 year hiatus they come back with another strong album that develops and expands on the sound shown on their last album before this one called destination failure, this album has in my opinion one of the best openers in and album this year with welcome to jainesville.2) Mogwai-The Hawk is Howling/The Copyrights- Learn the Hard way(Tie)
the new mogwai record catched my attention from start to finish a good record but not good enough for the top spot, and the copyrights record was one of my most listened record of the year , good melodies and songs, though not as good as make sound still great at its own right.





1) The Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride(4AD)

the best record of the year and the best in the bands career in my opinion, not only does it have great music but also good lyrics, and jhon darnielles characteristic great storytelling.
albums that might have make the list if i had listened to them a little more
Papermoons-New tales
Shearwater-Rook
The Slackers-Self medication
Less Than Jake-GNV FLA
Chuck Ragan and Austin Lucas- Bristle Ridge

Honorable Mentions
Good Luck-Into Lake Griffy
The New Frontiers-Mending
LaGrecia-On Parallels
Lasalle-Pretty World
Paint it Black-New lexicon
Polar bear Club-Sometimes things just disappear
This will destroy you-S/T
The Futureheads-This is not the world
and others.

Best Pop-Punk Album of the year
Teenage Bottlerocket-Warning device
i think this record needed a category of its own, its really good and memorable.