2011 "Best" Albums and your Musical Highlight/s of the Year

Lindsay Buckingham's 'Seeds We Sow' is certainly well up my list

For me, without a doubt...

My top 10 albums of the year are:

1. Anaal Nathrakh – Passion
2. Der Blutharsch and the Infinite Church of the Leading Hand/Aluk Todolo – A collaboration
3. Pete Namlook and DrAtmo – Escape, nthe futurescape
4. Sunn O))) meets Nurse with Wound – The iron soul of nothing
5. Burzum – Fallen
6. Krallice – Diotima
7. Trap Them – Darker Handcraft
8. Wolves in the throne room – Celestial lineage
9. Masakari/Alpinist – Split
10. Lee Scratch Perry – On-U Sound presents Lee Scratch Perry Nu Sound & Version

My top concerts of the year were Anaal Nathrakh/ Drugzilla and Wolves in the throne room/Wolvserpent

My top event of th year was the On-U SOund opern eveining/album launch at Rough Trade Records

My musical dissapointment was Trap Them cancelling their tour

I must admit to ordering Fatou after reading the comments.

Lovely.

Thank you.

Better late than never, some more best of the year lists:

http://www.residentadvisor.net/feature.aspx?1423

http://www.factmag.com/2011/11...lbums-of-2011-50-41/

http://boomkat.com/collections/boomkat-charts-2011

Overall, a great year for new music for me. Easily my best gig (note to self - stop getting dragged along to see unsigned bands as they're almost always terrible) was Nicolas Jaar at Fabric, playing his album with a live band for the first time. Such an air of anticipation beforehand, and he didn't disappoint. For anyone curious, he's touring again later this month.

No real disappointments, though I still haven't tried listening to the Villalobos Re: ECM album again.

Anyhow, here's twenty 2011 releases from me, including one or two longish EPs, and roughly in order:

20, Burial - Street Halo

19, Lucy - Wordplay For Working Bees

18, Peaking Lights - 936

17, Machinedrum - Room(s)

16, Toro Y Moi - Underneath the Pine

15, Motion Sickness Of Time Travel - Luminaries & Synastry

14, Lone - Echolocations

13, Washed Out - Within and Without

12, Sepalcure - s/t

11, 2562 - Fever

10, Oneohtrix Point Never - Replica

9 - Laurel Halo - Hour Logic

8, Martyn - Ghost People

7, The Field - Looping State of Mind

6, Zomby - Dedication

5, Soft Metals - s/t

Unashamedly retro, analogue Roland-heavy synth-pop: 'The Cold World Melts'

4, Nicolas Jaar - Space Is Only Noise

Slow, almost bluesy, intelligent electronic album, featuring all kinds of genres: 'Balance Her In Between Your Eyes'

3, Nils Frahm - Felt

Simple, intimate, modern classical recordings made by Nils himself, playing his piano at home late at night, damped with felt so as not to disturb his neighbours: 'Familiar'

2, The Weeknd - House Of Balloons

Impeccably produced hedonistic songs about love, sex, and drugs. I'd buy shares in The Weeknd if I could: 'What You Need'

1, Kuedo - Severant

Jamie Vex'd soundtracks the future with an incredibly atmospheric blend of the old (lush Vangelis-style synths and even Carly Simon melodies) and bang-up-to-date beats. One of those great albums where you can't decide what your favourite track is. For today, because I've just realised that the 808 at the start is just like the one in 'Planet Rock': 'Whisper Fate'.

Thanks as always to everyone for their music room posts and recommendations. HNY, CC

This has been a very interesting thread and there is a fair amount of music to work through here. Chief, I like what I heard on Kuedo and now trying The Weekend out as well. Trip to Brighton CD shopping tomorrow so these could be on the list.

Keep the 2011 albums coming. 

My favourite release of 2011

Musically sublime, so glad i purchased the 3xLP set -

[even though my fave Sade track is not included in this new compilation]

and the RCA pressings are really wonderful. : )

Debs

Hi Adrian, Yes, an interesting thread for me too - I remember you posting the Metronomy album a while ago, and having heard it over Christmas, it's one I'll be getting.

I expect you'd like Kuedo's Severant. Best heard as a complete album, I've played it non-stop since it came out in the autumn. The Weeknd has since signed to Drake's label, though still no physical release for House Of Balloons  and its two follow-ups, all on SoundCloud and available as free downloads from http://the-weeknd.com/ if you're curious. (Try 'The Morning' and 'Wicked Games'.)

Though even the Guardian likes The Weeknd, I'd be surprised if you get on with it though - to be honest, I'm almost surprised I like it.  (The Aaliyah-sampling track I posted is probably the only one I could link to due to the very sweary lyrics, btw.)

Glad you like the Metronomy album, played it earlier today and still one of my faves.

Although I can enjoy The Weekend it is probably not for repeated listening for me. But I might download it anyway as you never know. Soft Metals was OK but not one I will buy.

The two I might got for so far are Kuedo and Nicholas Jaar. 

Yes, that sounds about right - you can blame me afterwards. : )

If you're feeling brave, try The Field album I posted, on one of my favourite labels of recent years, and minimal's finest, Cologne's Kompakt. Endlessly repetitive loops that are probably really boring for most folks - but perfect for those late-night autobahn journeys. Set the cruise to 250 km/h and press play.