A List of Noteworthy Lists

 

There are lots—lots—of end-of-year lists out there right now. I've sifted through so many lists for so many years that the very prospect of ingesting them all has become too tedious to bear. That said, there are a handful that I find to be pretty dependable every year, and that always yield at least a couple of finds for me. I've spent some time cycling through the tens (hundreds) of songs/albums on the lists below and have come away with something worthwhile from all of them. (Related, a couple of weeks ago I did a post of my favorite overall blogs of the last year—some overlap here, for obvious reasons. Also related: I listed my favorite albums of the year already, and my favorite "blind spot" discoveries; I'll do a favorite songs mix too, but probably closer to the new year.) This rundown, by the by, is sorted in the order I encountered the lists.

List: Altered Zones’ best albums of 2011 

#1 Album: n/a (alpha list)

Stuff I already knew and recommend:

• Tim Hecker: Ravedeath, 1972

Stuff that's on everyone else’s list too:

• Liturgy: Aesthetica
• Pure X: Pleasure
• Peaking Lights: 936

Why I like it:
Say what you want about Altered Zones, but it had a strong aesthetic point of view that wasn’t bogged down in discussions of Odd Future, Lana del Ray, or Destroyer. All the better since it was a group blog and not just one person’s taste. I didn’t love everything on the blog (nor on this list), but I found lots of gems—namely and especially Julia Holter, whose album I promptly downloaded after hearing "Goddess Eyes."

New-to-me songs I dig:

• Julia Holter: Goddess Eyes
• The Caretaker: Tiny Gradiations Of Loss

 

List: Rawkblog’s favorite songs of the year

#1 Song: Beyonce: "Love on Top"

Stuff I already knew and recommend:

• Little Scream: “The Heron and the Fox”
• Lia Ices: “Love is Won”
• Chad VanGaalen: “Sara”

Stuff that's on everyone else’s list too:

• Bon Iver: “Holocene”
• Tracks by St. Vincent, Real Estate, and Atlas Sound

Why I like it:
Dave knows what he likes—mostly reverby indie and girl-fronted folk, with a few outliers—and he searches hard for it (The Beyonce #1 is one of maybe five mainstream tunes, fwiw). I like it too, though I admit I have a lower tolerance for too much of it, which is why I think I like to look for his song recommendations more than his album recommendations (though I look for those too). 76 songs is a lot to wade through, and I admit that about half of it didn’t really faze me, but there are some treasures in here.

New-to-me stuff I dig:

• Masxs: Chairman Gou
• Pepper Rabbit: The Annexation of Puerto Rico

 

List: The Decibel Tolls best albums of 2011 

#1 album: The War on Drugs: Slave Ambient

Stuff I already knew and recommend:

• Disappears: Guider
• Unknown Mortal Orchestra: s/t

Stuff that's on everyone else’s list too:

• Panda Bear: Tomboy
• Atlas Sound: Parallax

Why I like it:
All the things I said about Rawkblog could be said about The Decibel Tolls, too—it’s just different genres of music. Kenny Bloggins goes for old and new psychedelic, veering from the garagey end of that spectrum over to the more atmospheric and spectral. Bonus points on this list for including ten excellent reissues. This is probably my favorite overall list, for a good mix of consistency and breadth and its ratio of known to new-to-me material. (Also: I've seen Slave Ambient show up on a few lists, and I've even listened to it once or twice to get a vibe for it; but seeing it at #1 here made me go out and get it for real, in hopes of unlocking it.)

New-to-me stuff I dig:

• Mikal Cronin: Apathy
• Nerves Junior: Champagne & Peaches

 

List: Aquarium Drunkard best albums of 2011

#1 Album: The Beach Boys: Smile Sessions

Stuff I already knew and recommend:

• Disappears: Guider
• Unknown Mortal Orchestra: s/t

Stuff that's on everyone else’s list too:

• Girls: Father, Son, Holy Ghost
• Pure X: Pleasure
• St. Vincent: Strange Mercy

Why I like it:
AD's list is a good mix of indie, classic and obscure reissues, and a few oddballs from genres I'm totally unfamiliar with, like the wonderful African guitarist Bombino.

New-to-me stuff I dig:

• Bombino: Tigrawahi Tikma (Bring Us Together)
• Fruit Bats: You're Too Weird

 

List: Pop Headwound's albums of the year

Stuff I knew and liked already:

• Tim Hecker: Ravedeath, 1972
• Disappears: Guider

Stuff that's on everyone else’s list too:

•  Bon Iver: s/t
• Destroyer: Kaputt
• Shabazz Palaces: Black Up

Why I like it:
This is, for the most part, a very indie-centric list, but the meat of the list feels less on-trend than the blurred-out sounds of Pitchfork or, say, the twee-er sounds of Rawkblog’s mix. There’s something a little more Americana about PHW’s list that appeals—plus the left-field pick of Arrange, who I've never heard of but who turns in a Hood-like mix of ambient, electronic, and sad-sack bedroom indie.

New-to-me stuff I dig:

• A.A. Bondy: The Heart Is Willing
• Arrange: Ivory Carpets

 

I'm sure a few more worthwhile lists will come before year's end—Coke Machine Glow's has begun, and I usually find some good stuff via Swan Fungus, who hasn't revealed a list yet. Any other lists I've missed that you found especially rewarding? Let me know in the comments.

Comments

[Sebastian]

I'm still in the process of making my list -- an incredibly stupid process in which I'm listening to all of the 2011 albums I have in iTunes from start to finish, and filling in the gaps with important/intriguing records from others' list. At this pace it'll be done in 2013, at which point I would love your input on it!

I can say that I've listened to 101 albums from 2011 in the last 20 days and roughly 34 of them are recommendable in some fashion or another.

[scott pgwp]

I started to do that at the beginning of the month but soon realized I was more interested in the albums that were not only good, but that also meant something to me. Cramming necessarily negated the latter. I'll probably do another post in January that is a rundown of 2011 albums I was late to.

[scott pgwp]

At any rate I'm looking forward to your list too!

[james]

Scott - thanks for the link and kind words. If you dig Bondy you should check out his album American Hearts from '07, a little rootsier/bluesier than Believers, but really great.

Malcom from Arrange is still a teenager, I expect he'll make something of a name for himself over the next few years in some capacity, really talented kid. I think his album Plantation was reviewed on Pfork and got a 7-something.