#bestof2011

Previously, we posted our collective picks for albums 50 through 26. Today we bring you our top 25 albums for 2011. 25. Wye Oak - Civilian (2 votes, 93 points) Singer Jenn Wasner has a smokey, emotive stoicism that leaves you feeling as though you were there when it all happened. The music doesn't let you down, but it's not upbeat by any stretch of the imagination. Still, one of my favorite albums of this year. Very much a "time and place" album. - RB Jenn Wasner is a great songwriter, a great singer, and a great guitarist. The result is almost magical. And no, this isn't cheery listening, but "Holy Holy" and "Civilian" are epic tracks. - dw 24. James Blake - James Blake (3 votes, 97 points) In a time when dubstep is becoming the new Autotune, James Blake manages to take it in a new, quieter direction. And he pretty well succeeds at it. - dw Another album I should placed higher. Quickly becoming one of my current favorites. Haunting. Like the love child of Bon Iver and Crystal Castles. - GR 23. P.J. Harvey - Let England Shake (4 votes, 98 points) I'm not a huge P.J. Harvey fan, but it was nice to hear from her again. This album is a sort of love letter from the artist to her homeland. - AC Yes, it is a very British record from a mercurial woman who would make an entire album played on spoons and a washboard if she could. But like a good, old single malt, you have to know what you're drinking to appreciate, and if you know what you're drinking, you're going to know what's great and what's brown liquor. And you have to tolerate a certain amount of peat and smoke to understand what's great. Polly Jean Harvey makes albums about being British. And being British means confronting their recent wars, the grief over what was lost in the Great War and what has been lost in Iraq and Afghanistan, and really, what does being British mean? Her words are at times grotesque (Soliders falling like lumps of meat, e.g.), but every word is well-thought and well-crafted. Much as how The Suburbs was less about "here's what's wrong with the suburbs" and more about "these are stories from the suburbs," this is an album about being British, not about how horrible the British are. And in the hands of one of the greatest woman rockers in history, it's a beautiful declaration of ugly, lovely love for England. - dw 22. The Black Keys - El Camino (3 votes, 101 points) Since our deadline to submit albums happened before this one was released, I didn't include El Camino in my list. Now I wish I had. It's a terrific, loose album -- the Black Keys unleashed. - AC Gave it a listen. To borrow a roller derby reffing term, this would have had no impact on my list. - TN I've been listening to The Black Keys since I was writing for Australian indie/punk rock magazine Blunt and was tasked with reviewing Thickfreakness and one of their shows in 2003. They've come a long way from recording lo-fi blues on a Tascam 388 and not being able to sell out a club with a capacity of 250. They were a revelation back then, and they're something I look forward to every couple of years now. This album is really solid, if a little watered-down from their previous offerings. Still one of the best of 2011. - GR El Camino puts the pedal to the metal with the opening track Lonely Boy and never looks back. One of the best of 2011. - MG Shoulda had it out two weeks earlier, fellas. - CD I wish I'd been able to listen to this one before we put our lists together because I'm really enjoying it so far. It appears they've opted not to make the album available on streaming services, but this one is actually worth buying. - AW 21. Coldplay - Mylo Xyloto (4 votes, 103 points) Yes, it’s Coldplay, and I feel like I’m not supposed to like Coldplay. But Mylo Xyloto is pretty catchy from beginning to end. - AC I wasn't thrilled with the first single, but the album is solid. -CD It's so funny that Andy said he feels like he's not supposed to like Coldplay. That's exactly how I feel. Why is that? Whatever, I like this album a lot and included it in my top 10. - AW 20. Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds (4 votes, 106 points) The Oasis front man spreads his wings and flies solo. A nice effort. I was surprised to see it make the top 20 of our list. - AC Me too. Really enjoyable listen. I feel like these guys should get together with Beady Eye and make a record together. -CD Noel Gallagher's first solo effort since the demise of Oasis is surprisingly fun to listen to. Especially when compared to the atrocity that is Liam Gallagher's Beady Eye. Just goes to show that Noel was Oasis. - JG 19. The Drive By Truckers - Go-Go Boots (4 votes, 112 points) I keep hoping that the Truckers will get it together and create an album as cohesive as their magnificent Southern Rock Opera. This isn’t it. It has its standout tunes, most notably the first track “I Do Believe” and “Everybody Needs Love,” but even for a die-hard DBT fan like me, some of the southern gothic shtick is starting to get old. - AC Any album by the Athens, Ga. roots rockers is bound to contain wonderfully twisted storylines, cheating lovers and dead bodies. In that context, this album does not disappoint. - TN 18. TV on the Radio - Nine Types of Light (4 votes, 115 points) This one didn't make my personal top 50. Rather disappointing, I think. - AC I didn't find it disappointing. Maybe a little overwrought, not as good as earlier works, but still a great piece of indie pop. - dw Not their best, but even that's better than most everything else out there. - GR 17. Jay-Z & Kanye West - Watch the Throne (4 votes, 123 points) Everything about this album is "boys behaving badly and loving it." The beats are off the charts, the rhymes superfluous but fun. La Roux and Bon Iver (yes, that's him) check in and Frank Ocean is hip-hop's rookie of the year after contributing his vocals on the lead track "No Church In The Wild." - RB This album would be so much better if Kanye never opened his mouth. - GR 16. Foster the People - Torches (3 votes, 131 points) An album full of catchy tunes that just kept growing and growing on me, despite my best efforts to ignore it. The L.A. band’s “Pumped Up Kicks” has to be the earworm of the year. Every track on this album is catchy, and if you can get past the poppiness to tune in to the message of the lyrics, so much more the better. - AC "Pumped Up Kicks" was the single of the summer. Other decent tracks, but just couldn't get into the whole album. - TN This felt like a guilty pleasure. A lot of enjoyable songs, but it's more hooks than craft. The definitive party album of the year. - dw This is a great album to play over and over when you're doing something tedious at work. I really like it, and I haven't gotten tired of it yet (which says something). - AW Bonus: For those of you sick of "Pumped Up Kicks," try the acoustic version:

The results are in, our lists are compiled, and we are ready to present to you our picks for our 50 favorite albums of 2011. First, a bit about methodology. How did this list come about? First, we each compiled our own individual lists, then combined those lists and ranked our favorites and assigning a point value for each. Each number-one pick received 50 points, number two received 49, number three got 48, and so on down the line. Among our 11 judges this year, no album received votes from all 11, but four albums made it to the ballots of seven judges. Each of us submitted our choices for a minimum of 10 albums and a maximum of 50. Here are albums 50 through 26. We will post the top 25 a bit later. P.S. - A partial Spotify playlist of tunes from these albums is linked at the bottom. 50. Mogwai - Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will (2 votes, 55 points) Mogwai gets style points for the album title alone. - AC This album was one of the first ones I really enjoyed this year. I'd never spent a lot of time with Mogwai before this LP, but it's just such a great background noise album. Certainly worth adding to your list if you're one of those "sit at your desk all-day" types. - RB

Ditto on AC's point. This was my favorite album title of the year. As for the music, Mogwai rarely misses a beat, and this is no exception. Incredible soundscapes and an uncanny ability to blend ambient/noise electronic with elements of post-hardcore. - GR 47 (tie). Danger Mouse & Danielle Luppi - Rome (2 votes, 56 points) Danger Mouse seems on a concept album kick of late -- first the Dark Night Of The Soul recording with the late Mark Linkous, and now this piece, a kind of tribute to the spaghetti Western soundtrack (the same music that was the backbone of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy.") Ultimately, though, while it's nicely done, it's just not as emotionally satisfying as Dark Night Of The Soul was. - dw

This was one of my top albums this year. Danger Mouse has unquestionably sound musicianship, the concept for the album (spaghetti Western soundtracks) makes for a familiar feel with a unique palette, and multiple collaborations with both Jack White and Norah Jones? Come on. - GR

47 (tie). Social Distortion - Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes (2 votes, 56 points) While this album sounded more like the Black Crowes than vintage Social D, it worked for me. This had a permanent home in my car CD changer this summer. - MG Yeah, I can see the Black Crowes here a bit (and I type this just as "Jealous Again" comes in on the background), but it definitely still has the Social D punch. -CD 47 (tie). The Strokes - Angles (3 votes, 56 points) It was good to hear a new release from these guys. But despite a few strong tracks, as a whole this album didn't hold together very well. - AC And yet, it somehow made our top fifty while Butch Walker gets shafted. /shakes head sadly -CD

I put Angles in my top list as it was one of the few albums I listened to more than once this year. It's not great, but don't feel like 2011 had that much *great* new music. - JG 46. St. Vincent - Strange Mercy (2 votes, 58 points) St. Vincent seems to be an acquired taste, and despite giving her 2007 release Marry Me several goes, it's a taste I just haven't acquired yet. - AC Strange Mercy marks the moment when Annie Clark transitioned from being an ingenue singer/songwriter/guitarist into the best singer/songwriter/guitarist in indie rock, period. The songs are confessional, the guitar playing aggressive and soulful, and the singing, well, she still has one of the prettiest voices in hipsterdom. I was transfixed by this record from the first play. - dw

This album has been growing on me. There more I listen, the more I think I should have ranked it higher on my list. I can't help but hear some Flaming Lips influence in here, from the effects used to song construction. Doesn't sound like Coyne, and co. at all, but it has a pleasant degree of crushed psychedelic blues woven into the fabric. - GR 44 (tie). Blitzen Trapper - American Goldwing (2 votes, 59 points) It's just good ol' fashioned hipster Americana. Enjoyable stuff. - RB

Blitzen Trapper goes more rootsy, and I like it. Great songwriting and just enough 70s Southern-rock guitar that some of the tracks would seem at home on the Dazed and Confused soundtrack. - MD 44 (tie). Fucked Up - David Comes to Life (2 votes, 59 points)

Fucked Up (along with The Menzingers, and the bevy of great folk-punk artists who are gaining steam) is saving punk rock. This is a must listen. - GR Punk rock died after London Calling. #justsayin - AC Yes, London Calling is as good as it gets. That being said, David Comes to Life continues the tradition of rock operas and pushes the envelope with a very listenable effort. - MG 43. Tom Morello (The Nightwatchman) - World Wide Rebel Songs (2 votes, 61 points) This was an unexpected surprise for me. Here is a protest album in the spirit of the 60's and Morello is a much better vocalist than I expected. This was my soundtrack as I watched #OWS unfold this fall. - MG I love Tom Morello's Nightwatchman stuff; this ramps it up a notch. Well done. -CD 42. Shabazz Palaces - Black Up (2 votes, 64 points) The cognitive dissonance involved with a rap album on Sub Pop Records was enough for me to give this one a listen. One of the artists in this group was a member of the 90s jazz-rap group Digable Planets. Space-age beats are tight, the rhymes are generally on point. -RB 40 (tie). Cymbals Eat Guitar - Lenses Alien (2 votes, 65 points) An album that seems to try to go in a lot of different directions. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. Uneven but enjoyable, especially if you like a lead vocalist who sounds like a young Tom Petty with a head cold. - AC I agree with Andrew in that this is uneven, but it's a somewhat enjoyable album to me and feels somewhat like a mix between Circa Survive and Thrice. - RB 40 (tie). Paul Simon - So Beautiful or So What (2 votes, 65 points) A terrific but uneven album by one of pop music’s greatest poet-philosophers. Still creative after all these years, Simon mixes international rhythms and ambient sounds into his well-crafted tunes. So Beautiful or So What stands on its own as a terrific work by someone who continues to create beautiful music. - AC 39. Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes (2 votes, 66 points) The latest Scandinavian pop sensation to catch on, this Swedish singer-songwriter’s haunting quality is worth more than a few listens. - AC I didn't rate this, because I thought it came out last year. But I do enjoy Lykke Li's work. She's consistently raising her game and this LP is no exception. - RB 38. Beastie Boys - Hot Sauce Committee, Part II (2 votes, 67 points)

It's the Beastie Boys. If they made the same record every year, I think I'd buy it. Fresh. - GR

This was number 2 on my list this year. Granted, there's a a bit of nostalgia in the pick -- the Beastie Boys were my first "real" concert when I was 9 years old -- but this is solid all the way through and my most listened to album of the year. To add to the awesomeness, the amazing short film for "Fight For Your Right (Revisited)" brings Will Ferrell with more cowbell. - MD

37. Noah and the Whale - Last Night on Earth (2 votes, 72 points) I picked this up on a whim at the library; thought it looked interesting purely from the cover. I was really pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. -CD

36. The Antlers - Burst Apart (3 votes, 73 points) Just an enjoyable set of tracks here. It's very understated and a different sounding output than their 2009 LP "Hospice." In the era of downloading just the tracks you like, you can turn this one and let it play all the way until the end. - RB 35. Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost (3 votes, 74 points) As a pure rock album, this might be my favorite of the year. - dw A great album 34. WU LYF - Go Tell Fire To The Mountain (2 votes, 75 points) I heard this late in my voting cycle, but mostly because I'd been avoiding it for months. It's hard to really peg, but I like the sound a lot. - RB Who are these guys? Where did they come from? Are they a bunch of guys from Manchester who recorded this album in a church, or are they space aliens who heard Dave Mathews and thought, "Oh, we can do better than THAT" and broadcast it back to us? Regardless, this album is equally parts strange and beautiful. "We Bros" sounds like a frat anthem... if the frat you were in was Sigma Alpha Fleet Foxes. - dw

Count me among the Sigma Alpha Fleet Foxes pledges. - GR

33. Raphael Saadiq - Stone Rollin' (2 votes, 78 points) A throwback to a different era of R&B music. The former Tony! Toni! Toné! member has done a heck of a job in the 2000s putting his own fingerprint on soul. Stone Rollin' is his best effort yet. - RB

I came on this one late, but I really liked this modern take on classic soul. - MD

32. Frank Turner - England Keep My Bones (2 votes, 82 points) Tim Nekritz recommended I give this guy a listen. I’m happy that I did. - AC My favorite discovery of the year also released what I consider 2011's best. Could be best described as a young Billy Bragg with a better voice. The simple-wisdom set opener "Eulogy," hometown paean "Wessex Boy" and rousing "I Still Believe" are among many standouts. The version with a half-dozen bonus tracks is worth it for the stunning "Balthazar, Impresario" alone. - TN 31. Dum Dum Girls - Only In Dreams (2 votes, 83 points) On their second full-length release, the Dum Dum Girls dial down the noise to let lead singer Dee Dee Penny’s luxurious vocals break through. The result is a cleaner, more luxurious product. But the Girls still have plenty of kick -- evidenced from the opening track, “Always Looking” -- and enough reverb to keep them connected to their lo-fi roots. - AC Andrew turned me on to this as I'd forgotten about it completely. This is just an entertaining rock and roll effort. In a world where we have no Sleater-Kinney, Dum Dum Girls gives us a good grrrl rock band to hang our caps on. - RB

OK, I'm a sucker for the retro-girl-band-rock sound, and few acts do it better. The Dum Dum Girls deliver the goods with "Bedroom Eyes," "In My Head," "Coming Down" and other tracks that shake, shimmer and shine. - TN 30. The Foo Fighters - Wasting Light (4 votes, 84 points) I don't listen to much "modern rock" anymore, but I did give the new Foo Fighters album a spin and enjoyed it. - dw

They consistently put out solid radio rock. They did it again. I won't change the station in my car if a track from this album comes on. But that's probably because I'm lazy. - GR Nothing earth-shattering here, and not necessarily their finest work, but it's solid. (Can't take the Lemmy tune, though.) -CD 29. Yuck - Yuck (3 votes, 87 points) The spirit of Dinosaur Jr. lives on. - AC It's as if the 90s never left. - RB Don't get me wrong, I like Yuck's nostalgic throwback to the days I was a college student jamming to Teenage Fanclub, Sonic Youth, and Dinosaur Jr. It's as warm and comfortable as one of those flannel shirts I wore. But it feels too nostalgic. And it makes me feel damn old. It's dad-rock not because it's something your dad would like, it's dad-rock because I AM A DAD NOW. - dw

I didn't catch this one before I made my list. Wish I had. A throwback to the days when "alternative" rock was actually a legit sound. - GR 26 (tie). Radiohead - The King of Limbs (4 votes, 89 points) Radiohead's name-your-own-price approach to their previous album, In Rainbows, spoiled me. I listened to a few cuts from this album, but didn't buy it. - AC

If you like Radiohead, worth a listen. - TN Radiohead was overdue for a dud. - dw

A solid "meh." - GR Boooooring. -CD

I bought the newspaper album edition and while The King of Limbs is no OK Computer or Amnesiac it's an interesting, experimental record. I still enjoyed it. - JG 26 (tie). Laura Marling - A Creature I Don't Know (2 votes, 89 points) I'm really torn on Laura Marling. She's an immense talent, a once a generation folk singer. On the other hand, she still sounds 21 and immature, and she's still not fully translated that immense talent into what she could be. I hate to say she's the Ryan Adams of British music, but I have the same "this is good, now show me great" feeling about her albums. In fact, I wonder what it'd sound like to have them in the same room... oh wait, they have been! - dw

What Dylan fails to mention is that Ryan Adams feels it's the opposite. Disregarding the fact that DW says Ryan Adams is "good but not great" – okay, not disregarding it... Ryan Adams has the respect of a ridiculously large body of legendary musicians and producers, recorded with Elton John, produced a Willie Nelson album, has his music known all over the world even if people still ask "Bryan Adams???", and puts on one of the greatest live shows I've ever seen... has DW listened to Heartbreaker? Or Pneumonia? /rant – at 21 Laura Marling sounds a helluva lot more mature than someone like Adele, writing some of the most haunting heart wrenching songs I've heard from anyone at any age. So much so that Ryan Adams scrapped his nearly finished record to re-record Ashes & Fire because he didn't feel his songwriting compared to Marling's. If anything I would argue that Marling showed us great in 2010's I Speak Because I Can and this year she has given us really good. A Creature I Don't Know is a more than solid record with 3 or 4 pure gold songs like Sophia, Salinas, and All My Rage. If you don't appreciate folk, you won't appreciate this album. And though I don't believe it is her most exciting work, it was the best album – complete album – I heard this year. - JG

26 (tie). Ben Folds - The Best Imitation of Myself: A Retrospective (2 votes, 89 points)

I don't count retrospectives on own my year-end list, but everything Ben does is solid. - TN This went high on my list because there's a ton of value here, and a ton of stuff you haven't heard. Three-disc retrospective done right. -CD

I was so glad I wasn't alone in including this album. Sure, we've heard much of this before, but this is a great collection for Ben Folds fans. - AW

It seems like we spent an inordinate amount of time in 2011 talking about 1991, and I think that hurt our view of 2011 music offerings. 1991 was a true watershed year in music -- not just Nirvana bringing the world Nevermind but Achtung Baby, Loveless, The Low End Theory, Bandwagonesque, Green Mind, Blue Lines... all immense influences on music in 2011. I think it's part of what drove the popularity of Yuck's self-titled debut this year -- a certain nostalgia for the days when flannel shirts and swirling guitars ruled music. 2011, on the other hand, is just another year in transition for music. There were some high points, some low points, but meanwhile record sales keep right on declining in the face of a global recession and online music. So when you look at the two years side-by-side, you start asking what has become of modern music. Where's the innovation? Where's the new and different? It's still there. It's just waiting to bubble up into the mainstream, just as we all waiting for the moment college/indie rock would finally break through and be seen as legitimate, and then came these kids from the Northwest with the album with the baby in the pool on the cover. Here's my best of list for 2011.

Let England Shake, PJ Harvey. I get the sense I'm going to be one of the few who rates Let England Shake as highly as I do (much less even put it on their top 10 list), and yes, it is a very British record from a mercurial woman who would make an entire album played on spoons and a washboard if she could. But like a good, old single malt, you have to know what you're drinking to appreciate, and if you know what you're drinking, you're going to know what's great and what's brown liquor. And you have to tolerate a certain amount of peat and smoke to understand what's great. Polly Jean Harvey makes albums about being British. And being British means confronting their recent wars, the grief over what was lost in the Great War and what has been lost in Iraq and Afghanistan, and really, what does being British mean? Her words are at times grotesque (Soliders falling like lumps of meat, e.g.), but every word is sincere. Much as how The Suburbs was less about "here's what's wrong with the suburbs" and more about "these are stories from the suburbs," this is an album about being British, not about how horrible the British are. And in the hands of one of the greatest women rockers in history, it's a beautiful declaration of ugly, lovely love for England. 

Strange Mercy, St. Vincent. Strange Mercy marks the moment when Annie Clark transitioned from being an ingenue singer/songwriter/guitarist into the best singer/songwriter/guitarist in indie rock, period. The songs are confessional, the guitar playing aggressive and soulful, and the singing, well, she still has one of the prettiest voices in hipsterdom. I was transfixed by this record from the first play.

Bon Iver, Bon Iver. One of the interesting notes about Bon Iver is that while it got the most votes of all the reviewers, it failed to garner a single first place vote. It didn't finish first on my ballot (settling for third) because I felt the two albums ahead of it were better technically and more daring. That said... this is miles ahead of For Emma. I've gone back to Bon Iver over and over again all year long and found something new every time amid the melancholy. It's about the only album that makes me stop what I'm doing just to listen to it. Yes, "Beth/Rest" is the Howard Jones/Kenny G collaboration that thankfully never really happened, but the rest of the album is quiet genius.

Helplessness Blues, Fleet Foxes. Right after Fleet Foxes' eponymous album came out, I was at a Seattle bloggers event and talking music to, among many, folk music writer Kim Ruehl. "I think Fleet Foxes sounds like the second coming of Fairport Convention," I said. Kim gave me this look like I'd just suggested that George W. Bush was the second coming of Abraham Lincoln. But Helplessness Blues, I think, reinforces that idea -- it really does sound like a throwback to those heady, glorious days of British folk in the early 70s, but with their own American twists. They're better than Mumford and Sons. I just wish the rest of the world would finally acknowledge it.

The King Is Dead, Decemberists. R.E.M. (on their way to breaking up) made their best album in years. The Decemberists, though, made the best R.E.M. album in years.

Civilian, Wye Oak. Jenn Wasner is a great songwriter, a great singer, and a great guitarist. The result is almost magical.  I cannot say enough about how talented Jenn Wasner is and how much "Holy Holy" makes me stop and listen every time it comes on.

House of Balloons, The Weeknd. This was a rap mixtape that floated around earlier this year from an Ethiopian-Canadian singer named Abel Tesfaye, and I think it's the best piece of hip-hop I've heard all year. It's downtempo stuff, strangely weary for a kid who's barely 21, but it's poignant and quiet -- things you don't often hear about modern R&B. 

WHOKILL, tUnE-yArDs. Honestly, this is the funnest music I've heard all year. Merrill Garbus creates a great mashup of musical styles -- Afrobeat, R&B, indie rock -- that transcends the usual "white kid thinks he's Paul Simon with Warby Parker glasses" sound to something, well, fun. Intensely soulful. Yes, there's a message, but unlike some heavy folk singer hammering the point home, she mixes it into the music.

Go Tell Fire To The Mountain, Wu Lyf. Who are these guys? Where did they come from? Are they a bunch of guys from Manchester who recorded this album in a church, or are they space aliens who heard Dave Mathews and thought, "Oh, we can do better than THAT" and broadcast it back to us? Regardless, this album is equally parts strange and beautiful. "We Bros" sounds like a frat anthem... if the frat you were in was Sigma Alpha Fleet Foxes.

Cults, Cults. I can't get enough of Madeline Follin's voice, personally.

The next ten: James Blake, James Blake; A Creature I Don't Know, Laura Marling; Father Son Holy Ghost, Girls; Wild Flag, Wild Flag; The Whole Love, Wilco; Torches, Foster The People; Metals, Feist; Era Extrana, Neon Indian; Hurry Up We're Dreaming, M83; Watch The Throne, Kanye West/Jay-Z.

I usually list a top ten favorite songs of 2011, but I don't know if I can get up the motivation to rank them (it took me two weeks to do the albums!) So, here's a list of some of my favorite songs of 2011 in alphabetical order (with Spotify links -- here's the whole playlist):

Tune-Yards – Bizness The Go! Team – Buy Nothing Day The Decemberists – Calamity Song St. Vincent – Cruel The National – Exile Vilify (From the Game Portal 2) WILD FLAG – Future Crimes The Kills – Future Starts Slow Tune-Yards – Gangsta Yuck – Georgia Fleet Foxes – Grown Ocean Foster The People – Helena Beat Bon Iver – Holocene Wye Oak – Holy Holy Girls – Honey Bunny Real Estate – It's Real Fleet Foxes – Lorelai M83 – Midnight City PJ Harvey – On Battleship Hill Jessica Lea Mayfield – Our Hearts Are Wrong Little Dragon – Ritual Union Adele – Rolling In The Deep Beirut – Santa Fe Florence + The Machine – Shake It Out James Blake – The Wilhelm Scream

Worst Album of the Year: Lulu, Metallica and Lou Reed. Heck, I think we can go ahead and close the competition for Worst Of The Decade right now. This is so unlistenable I'm not even sure if this is real or just some elaborate joke they're playing on us. Imagine if you took Reed's Metal Machine Music and Metallica's St. Anger and put them in a blender. That sound -- of the blender ripping the two albums to pieces -- would be more melodic and listenable than Lulu. One More Thing: I've become a junkie for the AV Undercover series, where the AV Club asks bands to cover songs from a reader-selected list. (Admittedly, I'm just a junkie for covers.) It can be a big crap shoot -- just stay away from the Hold Steady's abysmal cover of "The Power Of Love" -- but when the stars align, it's glorious stuff. For example, Scandinavian hipster rockers Peter, Bjorn, and John just tearing up the Otis Redding classic "Try A Little Tenderness."