Stereogum's Top 50 Albums of 2011

[dvdjamm5150]

http://stereogum.com/8914...1/franchises/listomania/


50 Youth Lagoon – The Year Of Hibernation
49 Toro Y Moi – Underneath The Pine
48 Oddisee – Rock Creek Park
47 Wilco – The Whole Love
46 tUnE-yArDs – w h o k i l l
45 Adele – 21
44 James Blake – James Blake
43 Twin Sister – In Heaven
42 Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Unknown Mortal Orchestra
41 Das Racist – Relax
40 Kendrick Lamar – Section.80
39 Nicolas Jaar – Space Is Only Noise
38 Burst Apart – Burst Apart
37 Smith Westerns – Dye It Blonde
36 Cut Copy – Zonoscope
35 Atlas Sound – Parallax
34 Kurt Vile – Smoke Ring For My Halo
33 SBTRKT – SBTRKT
32 St. Vincent – Strange Mercy
31 Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
30 Radiohead – The King Of Limbs
29 Washed Out – Within And Without
28 Pictureplane – Thee Physical
27 Destroyer – Kaputt
26 The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – Belong
25 Cold Cave – Cherish The Light Years
24 Frank Ocean – Nostalgia, Ultra
23 Wild Flag – Wild Flag
22 Ryan Adams – Ashes & Fire
21 Clams Casino – Instrumental Mixtape
20 Real Estate – Days
19 Iceage – New Brigade
18 Beyoncé – 4
17 Oneohtrix Point Never – Replica
16 Neon Indian – Era Extraña
15 Zola Jesus – Conatus
14 Austra – Feel It Break
13 Yuck – Yuck
12 M83 – Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
11 Kate Bush – 50 Words For Snow
10 Kanye West & Jay-Z – Watch The Throne
09 ASAP Rocky – LIVELOVEA$AP
08 PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
07 EMA – Past Life Martyred Saints
06 Gang Gang Dance – Eye Contact
05 The Weeknd – House Of Balloons
04 *+**$! Up – David Comes To Life
03 Bon Iver – Bon Iver
02 Drake – Take Care
01 Girls – Father, Son, Holy Ghost

 

[adobecs4]

Half of those are mixtapes though.

 

[heavenlee777]

Sort of surprising.

 

[thejrob]

Na

 

[jthagreat]

only heard 4 of those...guess i need to listen to more music

 

[noskey]

Beyonce though?
Toro getting $*%! on

I feel like Stereogum just chose 50 albums and went to one of those random list generator sites. Gang Gang Dance getting love, at least

 

[awwsome]

Toro Y Moi 49
James Blake 44
Kendrick 40
SBTRKT 33
ASAP Rocky 9.

Oh.

 

[heavenlee777]

Originally Posted by Noskey

I feel like Stereogum just chose 50 albums and went to one of those random list generator sites.

I felt the exact way

 

[DYNAMICS]

Had to close the original link the first few seconds reading it, just terrible (from the albums I've heard).

 

[noskey]

I just realized that none of Shabazz Palaces, Bjork, Elzhi, or TV on the Radio even got an honorable mention. %+*! Stereogum, their list, and everything they stand for.

 

[purplenurple1414]

this is a joke.

 

[nocomment6]

nope.

 

[redman]

While I do mess with ASAP it shouldn't be that high on the list.

 

[jking0821]

Originally Posted by RedMan

While I do mess with ASAP it shouldn't be that high on the list.

I was going to say this same exact thing

I like liveloveAsap but num 9....no way

I haven't heard 85% of these....but weeknd at 5

 

[User 37837]

So cut copy and james blake werent even in the top 20

 

[boys noize]

I don't see anything wrong with their list. They got #1 right and they're all good records for the most part. I wouldn't put James Blake's record in the top 20. That $%*# was so underwhelming. All of the good tracks were ones we had heard months before the release. He needs to release more CMYK-type tracks.

 

[dior paint]

Oddisee's Rock Creek Park was the *%#+.

 

[vicrain24]

Originally Posted by purplenurple1414

this is a joke.

 

[tuff g0ng]

Take Care at #2 while Section.80 is #40?  Okay.
For the most part it's an okay list however.  I still play "Vomit" at least 5x a day. 

And TKOL should not be on this list.  At all. 

 

[Peep Game]

Looks like a list somebody who claims to be "diverse" put together.

 

[sillyputty]

The hype surrounding most of these artists doesn't equate to talent...especially the rap artists on there.

These people are more famous for being famous than actually putting out genre defining and artistically evocative work.



This is why I hate when hipster sites review rap music...don't get me wrong, I love my neon-pop, alternative stuff...i've got tons of the albums on that list, but dont get it twisted. These urban wannabes/suburban gangsters don't know anything about good rap music and I whole-heartedly stand by that. The hell is PitchFork reviewing anything rap-based and giving out reviews of 2s and 3s out of 10???

These type of sites don't understand the genre as a whole. You know this based on their reviews. They'll break down rap lyrics with the WORST translations or not understand certain types of slang. They don't embody the culture and are not in a position to critique it efficiently. I'm not saying they can't enjoy the music, but damn, they gotta respect it. I'm not going to walk into a country concert and start rating things when I have no real grasp of the genre.


Oh and Kendrick Lamar is slightly overrated in my book. Hes just alright to me.
This list was made for people in the "alternative"/indie music scene who needed a couple of rap suggestions to round out the list. 

 

[vicrain24]

^^ Agreed with everything said there

 

[dub 253]

@ A$AP being that high, or even on this list.

 

[dior paint]

Any of these lists are stupid. All this %%@* is subjective.

 

[boys noize]

Originally Posted by sillyputty

The hype surrounding most of these artists doesn't equate to talent...especially the rap artists on there.

These people are more famous for being famous than actually putting out genre defining and artistically evocative work.



This is why I hate when hipster sites review rap music...don't get me wrong, I love my neon-pop, alternative stuff...i've got tons of the albums on that list, but dont get it twisted. These urban wannabes/suburban gangsters don't know anything about good rap music and I whole-heartedly stand by that. The hell is PitchFork reviewing anything rap-based and giving out reviews of 2s and 3s out of 10???

These type of sites don't understand the genre as a whole. You know this based on their reviews. They'll break down rap lyrics with the WORST translations or not understand certain types of slang. They don't embody the culture and are not in a position to critique it efficiently. I'm not saying they can't enjoy the music, but damn, they gotta respect it. I'm not going to walk into a country concert and start rating things when I have no real grasp of the genre.


Oh and Kendrick Lamar is slightly overrated in my book. Hes just alright to me.
This list was made for people in the "alternative"/indie music scene who needed a couple of rap suggestions to round out the list. 

I see where you're coming from but at the same time I think it's silly to think that just because the site caters to a certain "crowd" that they can't review rap music. It's all, at the end of the day, music and there are standards of excellence in each particular genre. I've read enough Pitchfork reviews to know that the writers actually do know their rap music but that they also have their own personal biases. A lot of the low scores I've seen recently seem to stem from disappointment rather than a dislike of the artist. At the end of the day, there's no such thing as an objective review of something like music so if Pitchfork or Stereogum aren't talking about music that is relevant to you, you're probably not going to completely agree with what they have to say.
Some rap reviews from Pitchfork. Good and bad.

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/16074-camp/

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/15570-black-up/

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/15208-lasers/

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/9437-food-liquor/

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/14771-flockaveli/

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/16026-liveloveaap/