We’ve passed the halfway mark of the year so what better time to take stock of the best albums so far this year. A lot will change by the year’s end with albums from Modeselektor and Toddla T yet to be released and I have yet to listen to SebastiAn, The Horrors and Digitalism properly.
Here’s the 10 albums of 2011 so far (the album title links go to full reviews). I hope this is useful to people, enjoy.
01. The Kills – ‘Blood Pressures’
“They push the parameters of their guitar/drum-machine set-up to its very limit, a fantastic record seeping with clanking, sleazy and dark snarling blues/punk hybrid.”
The Kills – DNA via Consequence of Sound
02. Pharoahe Monch – ‘W.A.R (We Are Renegades)’
“W.A.R (We Are Renegades) has everything; great rhymes, wordplay and head-nodding beats while lyrically it’s hard-hitting, intelligent and insightful, providing a scathing attack on the industry and society.”
Pharoahe Monch – Evolve via viciosdelaslilas
03. Gruff Rhys – ‘Hotel Shampoo‘
“Hotel Shampoo manages to strike the perfect balance between Rhys’ desire to indulge his oddities, lyrical humor and touching sentiment while making it all sound so natural and effortless.”
Gruff Rhys – Shark Ridden Waters via Crossfiremusic
“an eclectic patchwork of electronic music takes us on a rollercoaster ride where you can never tell what is coming next; dubstep to disco, hip-hop to house, electro and the experimental”
Siriusmo – Feromonikon via thesubs-blog
05. Arctic Monkeys – ‘Suck It And See’
“Suck It And See changes tack quite a bit, trading the kitchen sink approach for swooning swagger, it seems our Alex has found a certain romance“
Arctic Monkeys – Suck It And See via fadeglamourblog
06. GhostPoet – ‘Peanut Butter Blues & Melancholy Jam’
“Fitting somewhere between the everyday musings of Mike Skinner and the gruffness of Roots Manuva, he charts a journey through the daily toils of life in modern Britain”
07. PJ Harvey – ‘Let England Shake’
“brooding and dramatic gothic scores exploring Englishness, perils of colonialism and the ravages of war. It’s an album which is both tragic and beautiful”
PJ Harvey – The Words That Maketh Murder via VagrantRecords
08. Anna Calvi – ‘Anna Calvi’
“This album is an enthralling collection of brooding and dramatic gothic pop-songs, these sweeping multi-textured scores”
09. The Streets – ‘Computers and Blues’
“Skinner seems much more relaxed and assured. Computers and Blues is the most enjoyable listen since OPM, a great way to sign off.”
The Streets – Going Through Hell via highgerman
10. Pete And The Pirates – ‘One Thousand Pictures’
“well-observed, ditsy, easy on the ear and infectious indie”
Good to see Pharoahe high on the list… didn’t see him on any other 2011 lists yet, probably not enough of a ‘game changer’!
I’d highly recommend J Rocc ‘Cold Rock Stuf’, Lykee Li ‘Wounded Ryhmes’, White Denim ‘D’ & Metronomy ‘The English Riviera’… all quality albums.
Just got the new Horrors today so looking forward to getting stuck in!
Will check those ones out Robbie.
Got The Horrors new one yesterday, sounds good so far.