Best of 2011: 10 Albums

As unbelievable as it is to me, 2011 is drawing to a close, and as it has for each of the two years prior, this year’s end brings along with it our annual wrap up posts, where we (as with every other blog on this vast great Internet) count down our favorite records, tracks, and gigs of the year. Today we bring to you the ten albums that caught our hearts, made us fall in love, and meant the most to us this year.

BEN MARWOOD – OUTSIDE THERE’S A CURSE
I never wrote a full review for this album. I started several times but my drafts never saw the light of day. I blame this on getting too wrapped up in Outside There’s A Curse. There’s a healthy number of listenings one must do to adequately review an album and I have no idea when to stop. Especially with ones that dig as deep as this. Marwood spits and spins words, dropping pop culture references and quips all over the place. (Half of which I’m sure I’m still not grasping.)
Ben Marwood – JJ Abrams

BRIGHT EYES – THE PEOPLE’S KEY
Bright Eyes are cemented as a huge part of my life. I don’t know what I’d do if they had released an album that I didn’t love. Thankfully this one fit right into my heart, with the growing up I’ve done since their last album release. It clangs and bangs and jingles through life lessons, affirmations, and moments worth repeating. [Full review here.]
Bright Eyes – Shell Games

FLORENCE + THE MACHINE – CEREMONIALS Florence + The Machine seemingly exploded into the collective consciousness of the music scene this year, garnering well-deserved praise for her intensely gorgeous pipes and theatrical stage presence. She turned my head with her performance at this year’s Bonnaroo Festival, a set so flawless that it completely took my breath away. Likewise, Ceremonials is perfect – full of big, anthemic tracks (and as a bonus, several acoustic versions of those tracks) that make me fall in love with this ginger goddess over and over again. Florence + The Machine – Heartlines

FRANK TURNER – ENGLAND KEEP MY BONES
That England Keep My Bones is my pick for album of the year probably comes as a surprise to absolutely no one. But it’s (half) my blog so I will inflict my biases upon you left and right. But you know what, Frank Turner deserves it. This is a damn good album. It came in at number 12 on the UK charts and saw sold out tours across the UK and North America. The music itself ranges from moments of heartbreaking truth (“Redemption”) to anthemic singalongs (“I Still Believe”) and songs that shake one’s soul melodically and lyrically (“One Foot Before The Other”). [Full review here.]
Frank Turner – Redemption

INTO IT. OVER IT. – PROPER I’ve been called an Evan Weiss fangirl before, so Into it. Over it.’s Proper might seem like an obvious choice for this list, but the truth is that whenever I listen to Proper, I listen from start to finish, on repeat, because it is just so good. This is a really solid album. Whenever I’m asked by those unfamiliar with Evan Weiss’s work to recommend a track, I find myself failing repeatedly before falling back on the last one I listened to. #fangirl Into It. Over It. – Discretion & Depressing People

KELLI SCHAEFER – GHOST OF THE BEAST
This is the album that I mention whenever someone asks for new music recommendations. It’s incredibly refreshing- it isn’t quite like anything else. I feel like I’m taking big gulps of air every time I listen. The production is amazing. I don’t know that I’ve ever said that about an album, but for this one it makes the impact broader and deeper. I’ll quote Chris Walla’s review of Ghost of the Beast because I can:

“Schaefer’s acute superpower is as a modern, jagged, quasi-gospel singer. But her writing ties an imagined next world to our own with a bird’s nest of needles, chicken wire, cotton balls, and whatever other junk she can fashion into song, and it’s this illustration of story that keeps her airborne and away from the water.”

Kelli Schaefer – Gone In Love

LAURA STEVENSON AND THE CANS – SIT RESIST Laura Stevenson has a way with lyrics that is almost unmatched, and Sit Resist is the perfect example of that. Take “8:08″ for instance – one of my favorite tracks on the record:

But I can’t spill / through your fists / until my hands are solid white / My lungs are buckled tight together / My sliding drawl is like a cannonball / I’ll slur myself to sleep outside your door

This is a record that grips you with its storytelling, weaving achingly perfect instrumentation around stunning narrative that makes you want to wrap yourself up in it. Laura Stevenson & The Cans – Halloween Pts. 1 & 2

LISA HANNIGAN – PASSENGER
This album was the only thing I wanted to listen to for close to a month. I was biting my tongue to not share it with the world before it’s release. I wanted to discuss how lovely this record was with my friends that I knew would enjoy it just as much. It’s a gorgeous journey and I’m thrilled to be Lisa Hannigan’s passenger.
[Full review here.]
Lisa Hannigan – Safe Travels (Don’t Die)

QUIET COMPANY – WE ARE ALL WHERE WE BELONG We Are All Where We Belong is a revelation of sorts; a grounded in reality treatise warning the listener against buying into the fallacies of religion while encouraging the seeker to strike out and think for himself, all wrapped up in clever lyrics, unbridled enthusiasm, gorgeous harmonies, and, well, an unfailingly perfect track arrangement, which are essentially the reasons why I love Quiet Company so much. Quiet Company – Preaching To The Choir Invisible, Part 2

SLEEPY VIKINGS – THEY WILL FIND YOU HERE Sleepy Vikings are the only local Tampa band to make this list, and it is a spot well earned. They Will Find You Here is a painstakingly crafted record; you can hear an almost obsessive depth of involvement on every track, and the result is a sort of brilliance that I have rarely heard on an debut album before. Each track is beautifully arranged, and underscoring all of this are the lyrics; at times stark, often lush, and overall, really, really well written. This is an album that begs to be listened to all the way through, no skipping, as many times as you can handle it. Sleepy Vikings – White Wolves