http://thefoxisblack.com/blogimages//116.jpg

 

Yes, I am doing one of these. I told myself I wouldn't but it's HAPPENED ok? Who am I to resist a good old RATE anyway (consisting only of myself, the best kind)

 

So my album tally for this year has been 73 and I will be counting down my top 50 of those right here over an undetermined period of time. When I can be bothered.

 

For those of you who are interested, here are the 23 who missed out (albums I still deem to be good are in bold)

 

Arctic Monkeys - Suck It And See

The Black Keys - El Camino

Cage The Elephant - Thank You Happy Birthday

Clare Maguire - Light After Dark

Does It Offend You Yeah? - Don't Say We Didn't Warn You

Foo Fighters - Wasting Light

Gotye - Making Mirrors

Handsome Furs - Sound Kapital

I Heart Sharks - Summer

Is Tropical - Native To

John Maus - We Must Become The Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves

The Joy Formidable - The Big Roar

Lupe Fiasco - Lasers

Martin Solveig - Smash

Mona - Mona

Nicola Roberts - Cinderella's Eyes

Noah And The Whale - Last Night On Earth

Rizzle Kicks - Stereo Typical

S.C.U.M - Again Into Eyes

SebastiAn - Total

Taking Back Sunday - Taking Back Sunday

Tapage - Overgrown

Work Drugs - Aurora Lies

 

SEE YOU LATER

 

Edited January 3, 201213 yr by 152chris

The Black Keys and Nicola Roberts missing out? BOOOO.

 

Still, I'm v interested in the countdown, expecting it to be quite similar to mine (if I ever get round to doing one).

Skying, Pala, Born This Way, Biophilia & You Are All I See for the top 50 please.

Cremeyyy The Black Keys would almost definitely have been in but it's far too recent and I've hardly listened to it so I couldn't squeeze it in yet :(

 

Skying, Pala, Born This Way, Biophilia & You Are All I See for the top 50 please.

 

Ha! Pretty sure you're not going to be disappointed

COMMENTS WILL BE FEW AND FAR BETWEEN. SOZ.

 

50-46

 

 

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50. Kate Bush - 50 Words For Snow

Wild Man, 50 Words For Snow

It may be nothing magnificent, but this album just does exactly what it says and does it well. Christmas music how it should be (yes I'm talking to you MARIAH)

 

 

http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lvy9wbRlSz1qgpm9co1_500.jpg

49. Zola Jesus - Conatus

Vessel, Skin, Collapse

Nothing on this album is as good as the M83 Intro BUT I do love her a little bit nonetheless, it's just not really a big step forward from her. Disappointing but still GOOD.

 

 

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48. Funeral Party - The Golden Age of Knowhere

NYC Moves To The Sound of LA, Where Did It Go Wrong, Golden Age Of Knowhere

NYC-LA was an absolute TRIUMPH of a song, pretty much my jam of the summer. The rest doesn't really match up but the album does kinda work. I really want to see them live :(

 

 

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47. Battles - Gloss Drop

Africastle, Inchworm, Sweetie & Shag

As a band, they REALLY irritate me, but as an album this is actually really good. Ice Cream is probably to worst on there for me (mainly because I have to look at them in the video) but the rest is pretty damn amazing.

 

 

http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lwb5ryiAFW1qh9r2mo1_500.jpg

46. Florence and the Machine - Ceremonials

Lover To Lover, No Light, No Light, Spectrum

It is disappointing, but there is no denying that Florence is pretty much the best thing in popular music right now. And despite the fact she just made an album she THINKS we wanted and miscalculated entirely, there are still a fair few gems to be found!

 

 

Edited December 17, 201113 yr by 152chris

Looking forward to this one. Pretty much feel the same about Zola, it's nice enough but 'Stridulum' is so recent I just want to go back to that whenever I listen, not old enough for me to be 'over' it. 'Lungs' was an album that surprised me how much I like, not really into that kind of thing, and I like 'What The Water....' as much as anything she's released, but I still have precious little desire to listen to the new one.

Yeahhh get it Kate!

 

Still need to listen to some of these but I'm sure they'll be good considering the company they're in.

45-41

 

 

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45. Kele - The Hunter EP

Devotion, Love As A Weapon, You Belong To Someone Else

Oh Kele. I love you and everything but What Did I Do? is just a bit of a terrible song and really put me off this album (sort of). Devotion is a tune though and I do love it as a whole. NOW MORE BLOC PARTY PLEASE

 

 

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44. Bombay Bicycle Club - A Different Kind of Fix

Shuffle, Lights Out, Words Gone

ANOTHER disappointment compared to their debut so I lost a bit of interest in them this year. THAT was until I saw them live this summer and was totally blown away, they just had so much energy and got the crowd going so much more than I expected. Also Lucy Rose was there, can only be a good thing!

 

 

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43. Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact

Mindkilla, Glass Jar, Sacer

There's not really a huge amount I can say about this really, its just SO mental and SO good. No words. Insanee

 

 

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42. Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes

I Follw Rivers, Sadness Is A Blessing, Youth Knows No Pain

I love herrrr. But I do feel that this album starts to just plod along at times, beautiful in parts but just a bit too much of the same thing when you know she's capable of so much more.

 

 

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41. Flashguns - Passions Of A Different Kind

Passions Of A Different Kind, Racing Race

FIRST AND LAST studio album from Flashguns as they've only gone and split up before they've even properly started... A really old find of mine and I only realised a few weeks ago that they'd gone and released an album this summer and I was PLEASANTLY SURPRISED. Shameshameshame.

 

 

Does It Offend You Yeah? - Don't Say We Didn't Warn You

 

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the fact you don't deem this album good makes me lose faith in you chris.

It's OKAY but I played the first album to death and it just doesn't come anywhere near it! Perhaps more listens are required as I did abandon it rather early. Also I saw them live this year and the difference between the new and old songs was SO noticeable that it made half of the gig almost unenjoyable!

It's OKAY but I played the first album to death and it just doesn't come anywhere near it! Perhaps more listens are required as I did abandon it rather early. Also I saw them live this year and the difference between the new and old songs was SO noticeable that it made half of the gig almost unenjoyable!

 

really, I saw them twice this year and it didn't affect me. That said maybe hometown shows have a bit of a different vibe.

GROUPS OF TEN NOW

 

40-31

 

 

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40. The Vaccines - What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?

Norgaard, If You Wanna, Wreckin' Bar (Ra Ra Ra)

 

 

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39. Cults - Cults

Go Outside, Abducted, Rave On

 

 

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38. Rihanna - Talk That Talk

We Found Love, Where Have You Been?, Talk That Talk

 

 

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37. Hooray For Earth - True Loves

No Love, Sails, True Loves

 

 

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36. Justice - Audio, Video, Disco

Civilisation, Horsepower, Helix

 

 

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35. Chase & Status - No More Idols

Brixton Briefcase, Hitz, Hypest Hype, Time, End Credits, Heavy, Let You Go

 

 

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34. Toro Y Moi - Under The Pine

New Beat, Still Sound, Elise

 

 

http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lgb2aa3OPi1qgj75do1_500.jpg

33. Cocknbullkid - Adulthood

Yellow, Hold On To Your Misery, Bellyache

 

 

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32. Tom Vek - Leisure Seizure

Aroused, Someone Loves You, A Chore

 

 

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31. Bjork - Biophilia

Crystalline, Moon, Cosmogony

 

SO HERE WE HAVE an overrated yet very good debut, the most fun record of the year, an album with PEAKS and TROUGHS, my favourite song of the year and 9 others that just can't match up, Justice by numbers, the greatest run of singles (and potentially more) of the year, the least disappointing of the disappointing comebacks, a 3am radio 1 discovery, SMOKING MADE COOL and an album that really is a lot better than most people like to make out.

 

AM I RIGHT?

 

Edited December 21, 201113 yr by 152chris

SHORT INTERVAL from all this raging discussion for my top 10 singles of 2011 (a proper list of singles is FAR too much effort so this will have to dooo)

 

01. Jamie xx - Far Nearer

02. Hooray For Earth - No Love

03. M83 - Midnight City

04. Bon Iver - Holocene

05. Calvin Harris - Feel So Close

06. Azealia Banks - 212

07. The Weeknd - The Birds Part 1

08. Lana Del Rey - Born To Die

09. Jay-Z and Kanye West - Niggas In Paris

10. Martin Solveig ft. Kele - Ready 2 Go

 

(I KNOW I just said that No Love (eternal love to Dandy*) was my favourite song of oheleven but that was before I remembered the 7 minute steel drum WONDER of Far Nearer which just pips it to the post) I guess 2011 wasn't THAT bad. If you pretend half of it didn't happen.

Edited December 23, 201113 yr by 152chris

WHOOPS wrong version went in there.

Oh I completely missed this until now. Much love for much love for No Love. :D

 

Lots to like in here so far, especially Florence (grown on me no end), Hooray For Earth, Björk, Lykke Li, Zola Jesus and Gang Gang Dance. I really NEED to get on with compiling mine but motivation is escaping me, although I'm sure watching Mark's & your countdowns will be more than enough fun for one end of year.

SHORT INTERVAL from all this raging discussion for my top 10 singles of 2011 (a proper list of singles is FAR too much effort so this will have to dooo)

 

01. Jamie xx - Far Nearer

02. Hooray For Earth - No Love

03. M83 - Midnight City

04. Bon Iver - Holocene

05. Calvin Harris - Feel So Close

06. Azealia Banks - 212

07. The Weeknd - The Birds Part 1

08. Lana Del Rey - Born To Die

09. Jay-Z and Kanye West - Niggas In Paris

10. Martin Solveig ft. Kele - Ready 2 Go

 

(I KNOW I just said that No Love (eternal love to Dandy*) was my favourite song of oheleven but that was before I remembered the 7 minute steel drum WONDER of Far Nearer which just pips it to the post) I guess 2011 wasn't THAT bad. If you pretend half of it didn't happen.

Loving ALL of these. Incredible :wub: All but Ready 2 Go and probably No Love will be in my Top 50

 

Gang Gang Dance :wub:

I'd have hoped/expected Ready 2 Go would be in yours pavel! :(

 

Movin on to the big boys now

 

 

30-26

 

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30. Beirut - The Rip Tide

Santa Fe, A Candle's Fire, East Harlem

 

 

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29. The Strokes - Angles

Machu Picchu, Under Cover of Darkness, Taken For A Fool

 

 

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28. Feist - Metals

A Commotion, Comfort Me, Anti-Pioneer

 

 

27. Wild Beasts - Smother

Bed Of Nails, Albatross, Lion's Share

 

 

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26. Katy B - On A Mission

Katy On A Mission, Witches' Brew, Lights On, Easy Please Me

 

 

Wild Beasts looks so CRIMINALLY low here but it just goes to show how much I love the albums that are to come. Beirut and The Strokes are two albums that keep going out of favour but I ALWAYS return to eventually not knowing why I ever left them. The Rip Tide is just so infectiously good and Angles has its fair share of great songs (including my favourite to date in Machu Picchu). Katy B is someone who I never expected to like but her voice/the songs themselves add a depth to the shameless, increasingly common in da club vibe that lmfao/pitbull/whoever can only DREAM of (Mark shush it's amazing) and Feist has an album that took its time to grow on me but I could sit and listen to for HOURS now. Amazing group. 25 MORE TO COME.

 

 

P.S. Dandy get on itttt! Need to see your list.

Edited December 24, 201113 yr by 152chris

Katy B is someone who I never expected to like but her voice/the songs themselves add a depth to the shameless, increasingly common in da club vibe that lmfao/pitbull/whoever can only DREAM of (Mark shush it's amazing)

 

:D

 

It's dance music to fall asleep to! :P

 

Only two of your top 10 singles made my top 100! :( Although I don't really dislike the rest, the only two I don't are The Weeknd who I just can't get into, I don't get it at all, and I never thought that much of the Jamie xx song, felt it went on for too long!

I'm loving most of these. 'Talk That Talk' making your top fifty is unforgivable though!

The Joy Formidable - The Big Roar

This album deserve more listens... ^_^