Top Albums: 2011 version

Hot on the heels of the 2010 version, here's a list of my favorites for 2011:

1. Destroyer – Kaputt
2. Wye Oak – Civilian
3. Lykke Li – Wounded Rhymes
4. Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
5. James Blake – James Blake
6. M83 – Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
7. Braids – Native Speaker
8. Cass McCombs – Wit's End
9. Bon Iver – Bon Iver
10. The Cave Singers – No Witch

Honorable Mentions

• Iron & Wine – Kiss Each Other Clean
• Handsome Furs – Sound Kapital
• Wilco – The Whole Love

Maybe more than in other years, there are a number of albums I'd still like to have had time (and $) for closer inspection, but that certainly doesn't diminish my enthusiasm for what's here.

Top Albums: 2010 version

Last week, Pastor Matt promised to read my 2010 top albums list if I posted it. Looking back, I actually only had listed 9, so with the benefit of an extra year of perspective, I'm added the final choice and am pretty pleased with my selections:

Top 10:

1. Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest
2. The National – High Violet
3. Mimicking Birds – Mimicking Birds
4. The Head and the Heart – The Head and the Heart (Sure, it's on lots of the lists for 2011, but this is for the self-release which actually landed last year.)
5. The Black Keys – Brothers
6. Yeasayer – ODD BLOOD
7. Janelle Monáe – The ArchAndroid
8. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross – The Social Network
9. Wolf Parade – Expo 86
10. Frightened Rabbit – The Winder of Mixed Drinks

Honorable mentions:

• Siskiyou – Siskiyou
• Holy F&*% – Latin

And now that it's almost 2012, maybe I can get this year's version out in a more timely fashion.