In a year of the good, the bad, the ugly, and the really, really, insanely ugly, some artists managed to release some pretty damn good albums. Here are the fortunate few that made it to the Fiend's Fave List.
The Top 10 (in no particular order)
1. The Joy Formidable - The Big Roar: Wales' finest took classic 90's shoegaze and dream pop influences like Lush, My Bloody Valentine, etc and turned on the blast acceleration.
2. TV on the Radio - Nine Types of Light: Brooklyn's finest take a left turn from their new millenium style prog-rock and produce a mellower feeling but by no means less substantial work.
3. The Roots - undun: Questlove and the coolest band on Earth make one of the most equisite sounding hip-hop albums ever.
4. Office of Future Plans - Office of Future Plans: J Robbins comes out with another monster power pop album with a brand new secret weapon - cellist Gordon Withers.
5. Anthrax - Worship Music: Apparently the thrash legends jumped back into the time machine to make this album because it sounds like it came straight out of 1989.
6. Beastie Boys - Hot Sauce Committee - Part 2: It's always comforting to know that Mike D, Ad Rock, and MCA haven't embraced that concept of growing up yet. This is just a fun record to listen to.
7. Real Estate - Days: Just a great, dreamy yet totally substantial pop album chock full of hooks.
8. Machine Head - Unto the Locust: The Bay Area thrash legends follow-up to their epic The Blackening is a brutal, uncompromsing metal epic. Oh The Pain...
9. Wugazi - 13 Chambers: Minnesota mash-up artists Swiss Andy and Cecil Otter do the ultimate - mix Ian MacKaye and Old Dirty Bastard on the same album. Download immediately.
10: Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here (Experience Version): The 2011 re-release features a number of previously unreleased live and studio tracks that are amazing. Check out the original version of the title track with jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli.
The Best of the Rest:
The Kills - Blood Pressures
Battles - Gloss Drop
The Twilight Singers - Dynamite Steps
Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact
Phantogram - Nightlife
Liturgy - Aesthethica
Das Racist - Relax
Oneohtrix Point Never - Replica
Le Butcherettes - Sin Sin Sin
The Sweet Ones - Big Mistakes
A big thumbs up to "Love Goes To Buildings on Fire", Will Hermes' document of the music scene in NYC between 1973 and 1978 and "Beats, Rhymes, and Life - The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest", Michael Rapaport's documenatary.
That's it for 2011. Hope you had as much fun listening as I did and we'll see you next year.
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