Top 20 Albums of 2011

July 6th, 2012
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I’m pretty terrible at making these top 20 lists, but I keep forcing myself to make them because I think they are important. I love going back to my old lists and seeing what was important to me back then. I should also say it’s for 2 good reasons that I’m a poor top 20 list maker.

The first reason is that when making my lists I am always worried that I may have forgotten an album or haven’t given one enough time. On numerous occasions it has happened that January or February (or October) of the next year I will stumble across an album from the previous year and wonder how I had never heard of it before or why I didn’t have more interest in it earlier. I am a firm believer that how much you like an album is often directly related to how much time you put into getting to know the album so I want to give each album it’s rightful chance to make my list.

The second reason I am such a terrible top 20 list maker is that it is a serious task for me… I take this shit VERY seriously! The process goes like this… collect all of the albums that I found and really enjoyed over the the year. For 2011 I had 90 albums make this list. From there I begin categorizing. I have a “Top 20”, an “In Contention”, a “Runner Up”, and a “Not Quite” column that I file each album into. My categorization is based on a careful weighing of 1) how much I keep coming back to the album (joy I get from listening to it), 2) it’s personal relevance (how emotionally connected I will be in the future looking back on the album), and 3) it’s social relevance (how much I respect the album as a piece of art).

So all that being said… I present… in mid July of 2012… the Top 20 Albums of 2011 (according to Aaron Vanderzwan).  Log into Spotify to listen to tracks from the albums.


 Top 20 Albums of 2011

20

Radiohead – The King of Limbs

Band’s Website

Listen to “Little By Little”:
Listen to the album:
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19

Monarchy – Around the Sun

Band’s Website

Listen to “You Don’t Want To Dance With Me”:
Listen to the album:
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18

Wye Oak – Civilian

Band’s Website

Listen to “You Don’t Want To Dance With Me”:
Listen to the album:
rdio spotify itunes amazon mp3
17

The Naked and Famous – Passive Me Aggressive You

Band’s Website

Listen to “Punching In A Dream”:
Listen to the album:
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16

Das Racist – Relax

Band’s Website

Listen to “Happy Rappy”:
Listen to the album:
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15

The Mountain Goats – All Eternals Deck

Band’s Website

Listen to “Never Quite Free”:
Listen to the album:
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14

The Whip – Wired Together

Band’s Website

Listen to “Keep or Delete”:
Listen to the album:
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13

Death Cab for Cutie – Codes and Keys

Band’s Website

Listen to “St. Peter’s Cathedral”:
Listen to the album:
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12

Hooray for Earth – True Loves

Band’s Website

Listen to “True Loves”:
Listen to the album:
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11

The Airborne Toxic Event – All At Once

Band’s Website

Listen to “The Kids Are Ready To Die”:
Listen to the album:
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10

I’m From Barcelona – Forever Today

Band’s Website

Listen to “Battleships”:
Listen to the album:
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9

The Rural Alberta Advantage – Departing

Band’s Website

Listen to “Stamp”:
Listen to the album:
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8

A.A. Bondy – Believers

Band’s Website

Listen to “Drmz”:
Listen to the album:
rdio spotify itunes amazon mp3
7

Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues

Band’s Website

Listen to “Helplessness Blues”:
Listen to the album:
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6

M83 – Hurry Up We’re Dreaming

Band’s Website

Listen to “Midnight City”:
Listen to the album:
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5

Architecture in Helsinki – Moment Bends

Band’s Website

Listen to “Contact High”:
Listen to the album:
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4

Bombay Bicycle Club – A Different Kind of Fix

Band’s Website

Listen to “Shuffle”:
Listen to the album:
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3

Youth Lagoon – The Year of Hibernation

Band’s Website

Listen to “Montana”:
Listen to the album:
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2

The Antlers – Burst Apart

Band’s Website

Listen to “Parentheses”:
Listen to the album:
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1

Bon Iver – Bon Iver

Band’s Website

Listen to “Holocene”:
Listen to the album:
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Play all 20 tracks:

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