Foo Fighters – Wasting Light
PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
Bon Iver – Bon Iver, Bon Iver
Big K.R.I.T. – Return Of 4eva
Arctic Monkeys – Suck It And See
Beastie Boys – Hot Sauce Committee Part Two
James Blake – James Blake
Adele – 21
Fucked Up – David Comes To Life
Elbow – Build A Rocket Boys!
TV On The Radio – Nine Types Of Light
DJ Quik – The Book Of David
Kurt Vile – Smoke Ring For My Halo
tUnE-yArDs – w h o k i l l
The Strokes – Angles
Lykke Li – Wounded Rhymes
Smith Westerns – Dye It Blonde
Panda Bear – Tomboy
Lady Gaga – Born This Way
The Weeknd – House Of Balloons
EMA – Past Life Martyred Saints
Yuck – Yuck
Alela Diane – Alela Diane& Wild Divine
G-Side – The ONE … COHESIVE
Comment: This is Spin's best of 2011 at around the half way mark (July 4th). I've heard 21 of the albums. One of them, Tomboy, will make my list, two others, Tune-Yards and PJs albums, might. Nothing else is all that as far as I'm concerned.
Which leads me to wonder what drugs these guys are on. In the end, these lists aren't really about the best albums being released, they are about the best albums for a target demo being released. Is Angles really better than Femme Fatale? or Dye It Blonde or the Gaga woofer, for that matter? Americans In France released an excellent album this year, Crawling… Apparently that was too underground.
Forget AIF, how about Dolly Parton? She released a classic Parton album earlier this year. Why isn't she here? Is she too old to count. Sure looks this way, I know never trust anyone over 30, but never listen to any one over 30???
For a band to make it here they have to be cusp, a mix of hard hip hop and major indie. Don't expect anybody to really search out any fresh stuff: they are all re-writing Girlie Action PR releases, and they move as a herd annointing the blessed bands, a Yuck here, a Fucked Up there.
This half time result is just what you'd expect of Spin. Unfortunately.