Liking the new Beruit Album - the Rip Tide - on Spotify.

Good to hear - another contender for me is the new Steven Wilson album - Grace For Drowning.

Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost

Quickly maturing and growing into the album of the year for me. Great musicianship, painfully honest lyrics and by far their best release so far. This is one hell of an album!

This is indeed a gem. It starts off sounding like the Undertones (nothing wrong with that) but as the album progesses so does the music, into a variety of styles and unexpected turns. In that respect it's almost Beatles-esque.

M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

I've fully supported M83 through it's transformation, from being an ambient synth duo in the early 2000s to now what has become the solo project of Anthony Gonzalez. This is an album that oozes ambition from it's 22 tracks and 2 disks. Epic synth sounds, shoegaze aesthetics and over the top production are all worked into creating something which has hit me hard and after just the first listen I can say i'm in awe of this achievement. This is a celebration of a great career, a patchwork of tracks that sums up what has made M83 one of the best electronic acts of the past decade.

Another video from the Steven Wilson album:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMZ98XHyKYg&feature=related

Final listing for 2011...

1. Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues (almost matches their classic debut - and another work of genius)
2. The War on Drugs - Slave Ambient (Animal Collective meets the Arcade Fire)
3. Ryan Adams - Ashes & Fire (his best collection since Gold)
4. Wilco - The Whole Love (well up to standard and closed by the magnificent 'One Sunday Morning')
5. Bon Iver - Bon Iver (seems to be getting out more, but still haunting and original)

No apologies for the fact that these are all American artists - they also make most of the best TV drama these days as well (Treme, Boardwalk Empire, etc), although The Promise was the best UK series that I've seen for quite a while.

I cannot get it down to 5 - my top 10 - in no order

Tom Waits : Bad as Me - a return to what he does best
Drive-By Truckers – Go-Go Boots
Ryan Adams - Ashes & Fire (see above)
Half Man Half Biscuit - 90 Bisodol (Crimond) - their best album for many years
Metronomy – The English Riviera
Paul Simon - So beautiful or what
Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit - Here we rest - simply very good
Josh T Pearson – Last Of The Country Gentlemen
Feist – Metals
Wilco – The Whole Love - just becasue its Wilco

Tom Waits would get the vote.

It's been another fantastic year for music.

My top 10, again in no particular order:

Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost
Beirut - The Riptide
Tom Waits - Bad As Me
Wild Beasts - Smother
TV On The Radio - 9 Types of Light
Bon Iver - Bon Iver
Cloud Control - Cloud Control
Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
Ghostpoet - Peanut Butter Blues & Melancholy Jam
Rob St John - Weald

Honourable mentions to Korallreven, M83, Active Child, Dark Dark Dark, Tennis who either just missed the cut or I haven't listened to enough. It's not been a vintage year, with no truly outstanding albums IMO, but still plenty of good music to get excited about .

Edit: just looked back at my first posts and I missed out Gruff Rhys' Hotel Shampoo, I think that gets in the 10 in place of Bon Iver

Where to start? So many good albums came out last year that it was difficult to keep up with them all, especially as most of them have been avaiable on the brilliant Spotify. I still have a "must listen to" list of about a dozen that I haven't had time to hear yet. But of those that I have, here's my Top 10:

Cowboy Junkies – Demons A bit like Goldfrapp, a bit like Portishead, a hint of alt country
EMA - Past Life Martyred Saints
The Airborne Toxic Event – All at Once An LA five-piece. Imagine what Arcade Fire might have sounded like circa 1978.
Ryan Adams – Ashes & Fire Possibly his best yet
Fountains of Wayne – Sky Full of Holes Superb, grown-up pop/rock music. For anyone who’s still missing Squeeze
Fujiya & Miyagi –Ventriloquizzing Despite the Japanese name, a British band. Reminds me of Kraftwerk/Can
Found – Factorycraft From Edinburgh, check them out
Red Hot Chili Peppers – I’m With You I like this much more than "the critics" did. Even an average Chilis album is still better than a career-best album from most other bands
Sparrow – Playtime Atmospheric, minimalist, sometimes heavy outfit from Brighton with some nice boy/girl harmonies.
Kina Grannis – Stairwell California girl. Beautiful voice, lovely songs, perfect late-night music
TV on the Radio – Nine Types of Light So much better than Dear Science, which unlike many on Fiso, I didn't rate
Stevie Nicks – In Your Dreams My guilty pleasure Stevie’s voice still has the power to give me goosebumps. Best thing she’s done since Fleetwood Mac
Wilco – The Whole Love
Nero – Welcome Reality Dubstep, featuring an occasional vocalist who sounds a bit like Madonna. Do not play if susceptible to migraine attacks.
The Pierces – You & I Two sisters. Great harmonies, reminds me of the Mamas and Papas.
Tune-Yards – WHOKILL Crazy name, crazy girl; indescribable music.

Oops, that's 16
Song of the year: Lana Del Ray, Video Games
Surprise of the year: Rebecca Ferguson - Heaven. This is really rather good, in a Macey Gray/Mary J Blige kind of way, although comparisons with Aretha Franklin are pushing it a bit.
Disappointment of the year: My Morning Jacket - Circuital

Bit surprised no one has mentioned El Camino by The Black Keys (have they?).

If you like this then the album won't disappoint................

Thanks for the recommendations, The Black Keys album was only released a month ago, Islington libraries wont have that yet.
However, from the previous 3 posts I requested 11 albums online, they usually take a couple of weeks to come in if they are out on loan, sooner if not.
I will comment in time if anything grabbed my attention.

I used to think I was into music (always fancied being an A&R man) but this thread makes me realise that I'm so far from that now. I've recently started listening to 6 music which I think may be how some of the above came across some of this stuff, most of which I've never heard of. This one I have however:

It's hard to describe just how good this song is. I know there was a lot of doubt about her credibility etc. but frankly when listening to this I couldn't care. Also, in the video she transcends beauty, it's almost ethereal.



Blue Jeans ain't half bad either.

Good lad!

I should have my list of favourite albums from 2011, ready for around May/June 2012....

Lana Del Rey's debut album is due at the end of this month. If it's all as good as Video Games and Blue Jeans, the search for album of the year 2012 could be over before it begins.

There's a good Video Games remix on Spotify called Omod16B. But my favourite version is when Elizabeth Grant (as she's known to her Mum and Dad) sang it live on Jools Holland, with mostly just a guy on piano accompanying. She's so nervous she's almost trembling, but in a way the nerves improve the performance:

That's the version my wife saw and pointed out to me. I was amazed but began immediately preparing myself for disappointment as I do whenever the first track I hear is amazing (a bit like Daniel on Bat For Lashes' second album) but Blue Jeans is right up there too and the one they're playing all over 6 music aint half bad either.

Dont get much music of recent time, but wife brought me Amy Winewhouse Lioness Hidden Treasures, very good, so sad as listening to this she really was developing into a major talent

I thought it was quite poor compared to the other two albums, even giving it some grace for not intending to be the finished product. It is from all across her career but her voice is decidedly dodgy on some tracks, almost slurry.

What would you recommend of hers, must admit do enjoy listening to her take on a couple of my fav songs on Lioness, never really listened to her properly before (wife got as she knew loved those 2 songs) she sounds very similar to a few singers from my generation, understand your point as some of arrangements bit naff but she could sell a song

Here's a link to a worldwide site that i've contributed to - their top 100 of the year;

http://www.besteveralbums.com/yearstats.php?y=2011

including many of those mentioned in this thread, plus some others. Anyone can contribute their own top 40 favourite albums. See bottom right of the page, they've already started on a top 100 for 2012, which seems a bit previous, so it goes.

Either of her 2 proper albums.

The second, Back To Black, is probably the obvious choice.

She isn't really my cup of tea stylewise but her voice and talent was so great (pre overdoing the booze/drugs) that the records were stil very enjoyable.

That's an interesting site - I like the way you can sample albums straight from the charts. Good to see Yuck, Girls, Tuneyards and St Vincent all in the Top 20 . But the fact that people have already started compiling "Best of 2012" lists shows its weakness - obviously the earlier in the year an album is released, the higher up the site's charts it will appear, which is a bit dumb.

A similar site which I use a lot is anydecentmusic, which aggregates every review that appears to produce an overall score - a bit like rottentomatoes does with film. Unlike on besteveralbums.com, links are provided to all the reviews. I usually check out its home page every couple of weeks - it's where I first discovered Tuneyards.

Can you really look any further than Steps "The Ultimate collection"

A few latecomers to the ball. Well, to my ball anyway. These are all as good as anything else I've recommended. IMO, of course

Destroyer – Kaputt Don’t be put off by the metal-sounding name and title: this is the work of Vancouver's Dan Bejar, formerly of The New Pornographers (don’t be put off by that name either!). It’s a bit Prefab Sprout, a bit Scritti Polliti and a bit like a modern-day Roxy Music, but really you have to listen to it yourself!
Cake – Showroom of Compassion Their first for seven years, and worth waiting for. A great collection of songs - a bit Kinks/Beatles-esque.
The Antlers – Burst Apart Beautiful, multi-layered music. Fans of Death Cab for Cutie should like this.
Radiohead – The King of Limbs As I said about the Chili Peppers, an average Radiohead album is still better than a career-best one from most other bands.
Gillian Welch – The Harrow and the Harvest Soulful country music, with the excellent Dave Rawlings on acoustic guitar.

I listened to that Destroyer album in 2010 still, a great headsup to anyone who hasn't checked it out yet. The Antlers was a bit of a disappointment for me compared to their first album, although a lot of my friends really got into it. As for Radiohead's King Of Limbs, it has two outstanding tracks and the rest are merely passable in relation to the expectations one should have when listening to Radiohead albums.

The Destroyer album was released in January 2011, but according to Wikipedia "The album was leaked towards the end of 2010." Either way, it's well worth listening to

Two more great albums from last year that haven't been mentioned yet (I think). Then that's it from me for 2011:

The Maccabees – Given to the Wild
Feist – Metals

Meanwhile here's Lana del Rey as you may not have seen her before





Maybe we should retitle this thread Rear of the Year rather than Album of the Year

Is it really? She looks completely different. Maybe this was pre-surgery, in which case I wonder why she did it

Depends which end LDR sings out of, but she does have a remarkable voice. In any case Vicky Pendleton has got the rear of the year for the next 5 years (in my opinion).
Knulpuk mentioned Leslie Feist a few weeks ago, very good album.
Maybe the reason The Maccabees new release has not been spoken of yet is it only came out January 6th. Album of 2012? we will see.