My best of 2011

Top 10:

1. Cass McCombs, Wit’s End (Domino)
2. James Blake (A&M/Atlas)
3. PJ Harvey, Let England Shake (Vagrant)
4. Tune-Yards, Whokill (4AD)
5. Laura Marling, A Creature I Don’t Know (Domino)
6. Wye Oak, Civilian (Merge)
7. Tinariwen, Tassili (Anti-)
8. Low, C’Mon (Sub Pop)
9. Beirut, The Rip Tide (Pompeii)
10. Matthew Herbert, One Pig (Accidental)

Also good (in alphabetical order):

Adele, 21 (XL/Columbia)
Keren Ann, 101 (Blue Note)
Antlers, Burst Apart (Frenchkiss)
Alison Krauss & Union Station, Paper Airplane (Rounder)
Bon Iver, Bon Iver (Jagjaguwar)
The Civil Wars, Barton Hollow (Sensibility)
Jolie Holland and the Grand Chandeliers, Pint of Blood (Anti-)
Jeffrey Lewis, A Turn in the Dream-Songs (Rough Trade)
Nick Lowe, The Old Magic (Yep Roc)
My Morning Jacket, Circuital (ATO)
Lou Reed and Metallica, Lulu (Warner Bros.)
St. Vincent, Strange Mercy (4AD)
Washed Out, Within and Without (Sub Pop)
Wilco, The Whole Love (dBpm)
Yuck (Fat Possum)

Best of 2009

For fun, and for explanatory exhaustion, I’m keeping my blurbs to four words apiece:

1. Wye Oak, The Knot. Brave hurricane of feeling.
2. Dirty Projectors, Bitte Orca. Decade’s boldest indie vision.
3. Fool’s Gold. Hot, culturally malleable Afroism.
4. Bat for Lashes, Two Suns. Arty eye, amorous heart.
5. Amadou et Mariam, Welcome to Mali. Cosmopolitan Bamako blues, smiling.
6. Grizzly Bear, Veckatimest. Harmony dreams, almost vertigo.
7. Micachu and the Shapes, Jewellery. Re-sculpted rubbish. Rauschenberg? Punk.
8. Jason Lytle, Yours Truly, the Commuter. Outsider’s diary, finally outside.
9. The Almighty Defenders. Delicious degeneracy. (Sorry, Sam!)
10. Antony and the Johnsons, The Crying Light. Pastoralism eulogized pastorally, eerliy.

Also recommended:

Neko Case, Middle Cyclone
Cryptacize, Mythomania
Cymbals Eat Guitars, Why There Are Mountains
Dinosaur Jr., Farm
Florence and the Machine, Lungs
Girls, Album
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
Phoenix, Wolfgang Amadeus Pheonix
Regina Spektor, Far
The Very Best, Warm Heart of Africa
Vivian Girls, Everything Goes Wrong
M. Ward, Hold Time
Wilco, Wilco (The Album)

Worst album of 2009 (tie):

Ray Davies, The Kinks Choral Collection
Decemberists, The Hazards of Love