Anyway, chillwave consists of more than just those three artists, but they're the best ones, and the stuff they put out in 2009 makes for the easiest way to define the sound and what set it apart. And it is noticeably different from what other recent synth-pop-type bands like Cut Copy and Delorean have been doing so it makes sense that someone would invent a label for them and lump together as a separate thing.

I agree about micro-genres and such especially as applied to electronic music. They can make a convenient shorthand description for something when you don't want to run through the same generic cluster of adjectives that's been written thousands of times by thousands of other people or feel like trying to come up with your own clever wording. But they're useless when they're confusing and hard to distinguish from each other.

I think it mostly got on my nerves when I used to visit one particular record store that had subdivided their electronic music section into these miniature genres and when I wanted to check if they had something I was left floundering around searching 12 different slots before I felt confident it really wasn't there, not just filed somewhere I didn't think about.

That and my general belief that this sort of thing leads to people listening to an increasingly homogeneous selection of music as opposed to broad categories if you must have them where people may accidentally hear something outside their increasingly specific sonic tastes.

#55.
Grouper – A I A: Alien Observer
This is the prettier, more polished, and more recently-made part of Grouper's two-part A I A thing. I suppose what Grouper does is somewhat similar to Julianna Barwick, but I find Grouper a lot more palatable. (Mmmm... Grouper.) Barwick's stuff is much more dominated by her banshee-like voice, and it can be a little bit much for me at times, but Grouper's voice just kind of weaves in and out very subtly and is generally very soothing. And the music is just warm and fuzzy enough with generally just enough melody to keep it from feeling too ethereal. And as far as how this compares to the other part of A I A, it's just kind of better in every way, more fully realized and more memorable. 7.5/10

#54.
Liturgy – Aesthethica
I love how pissed some serious metal dudes have gotten about this band. They've been broadly dismissed and derided by a wide variety of people, actually, just because of how ridiculously art school the lead singer sounds in interviews. But people just like having something to ridicule. This is a good band with a unique sound, and as far as I'm concerned, pissing off genre purists is never a band thing. In fact, it's generally a good sign that someone is actually doing something different and taking a few chances. So Liturgy have created a sort of irreverent permutation of black metal that fuses it with different strains of post-rock to emphasize a sort of catharsis or transcendence, and they call it Transcendental Black Metal. You could call that pretentious, and maybe you'd be right. But they also pull it off pretty well. It's an intense listen, maybe a little overwhelming or even a tad monotonous or even a little goofy at worst ("Glass Earth"), but it definitely isn't just black metal. It's actually a pretty unique-sounding rock record which isn't something you hear every day, especially not one as heavy and heady as this. My favorite track, "Generation", actually reminds me a little of Lightning Bolt if they were a little tighter and obviously fleshed out more into a full band with a real vocalist. And yeah, the vocals here aren't great (and could stand a little more variation), but the dudes in this band can really play. It's a pretty entertaining listen overall. 7.5/10

#53.
PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
I hadn't really cared too much about PJ Harvey for a long time prior to this album, and I'm sure I wasn't alone. You could argue that she had been on a gradual (maybe not steady) downhill trajectory ever since To Bring You My Love or even Rid of Me. That finally hit an uncomfortably low point with White Chalk, and so it's great that she was able to turn things around with this album. She got back to her strengths and made a gritty, satirical, nuanced, smart rock record. The production is great, and I like pretty much all of the songs. It's easily her best since Stories from the City, if not better. 7.5/10

#52.
Yuck – s/t
"The Wall" has been another of my favorite songs of 2011. It's pretty straightforward, fuzzed-out indie guitar rock, but it manages to successfully recapture the magic of a lot of the best '90s stuff. A lot of this album comes pretty close to that, too, even though most of it doesn't rock quite as hard. They've got a lot of good songs to go with a great (if unoriginal) sound, and this is just a really solid little record all around. 7.5/10

#51.
Destroyer – Kaputt
I've never been a fan of Dan Bejar. I probably sold my copy of The New Pornographers' Mass Romantic just because I disliked his songs on it so much, and generally his presence felt like a blemish on that band's following records (which already weren't things I was really into). But I guess as the persistent praise for his albums as Destroyer has been accumulating over the years, I've been feeling like maybe I should give one of them a shot. I intended to but never managed to give any time to Rubies, but when this one came around, I decided it was finally time to jump on board. And I do really like it. I still don't really feel like I'm part of his audience, that his lyrics - always a focal point - don't really speak to me, but musically this is pretty cool. It's definitely an album of the early 2010s, utilizing a lot of popular sonic motifs from the past few years, but it does so in a very classy, tasteful, and also kind of fun and playful way. I still wouldn't call myself a fan, but I've been won over, somewhat. 7.5/10

Reading reviews of that Liturgy record from people not familiar with Black Metal is pretty funny.

Thanks for staying in character and playing the part of the purist/"genre expert" snob.

I completely agree about Destroyer and mostly about PJ Harvey, though I think Stories from the City is her best*, so I wouldn't say it's been a downward trajectory since To Bring You My Love. Either way, though, her last two were ungood.

* I often use it as a rare example of a new album from an artist I already liked displacing my previous favorite from that artist.

no problem.

what you see as 'doing something different and taking a few chances', snobs such as myself, that have been following Black Metal ritualistically since it's inception, sense a real lack of integrity.

Elaborate on "lack of integrity".

OK, Top 50. If I'd just gone ahead and posted my best-of list, this is where the cutoff would probably be.

#50.
Wild Beasts – Smother
This band has evolved really nicely from an almost obnoxiously flamboyant near-novelty act to a very sophisticated and nuanced guitar pop band with a very distinct personality and recognizable sound. This album offers a lot of subtle refinements over their previous one, Two Dancers, and it feels a little more low key and somber. The raucousness feels almost totally gone, like it's been subdued by inevitable maturity. So what we have is a very fluid, rippling sort of sound with plaintive rather than provocative vocals. It might seem like a drastic change on paper, but somehow it doesn't really sound like one. It feels like a really natural development. It kind of makes the record easy to overlook and sort of unexciting, but while it may not necessarily be better than Two Dancers, it's another finely crafted pop record that has proved rewarding and endearing with repeated listens. 7.5/10

#49.
Thundercat – The Golden Age of Apocalypse
So I first heard of Thundercat - and I guess a lot of people did - from the song "MmmHmm" on the last Flying Lotus album. From that I just thought he was the vocalist (and an unremarkable one) and didn't see why he was given "Featuring" credit on the song. But now, as this album makes abundantly clear, I know that he is in fact an excellent bass player, sort of in the Jaco Pastorius vein of jazz/funk/soul fusion, but a more modern version. Squarepusher without the breakneck breakbeats, not as weird or aggressive, generally brighter and warmer. Since this is co-produced by Flying Lotus, this album feels like a continuation of their collaboration on "MmmHmm" and is almost uniformly of that same quality. It's soulful and funky and yet complex and heady. It's a really charming record 7.5/10

#48.
White Denim – D
This White Denim album has a lot of the same strengths as that Thundercat one although in a more down-home, Southern indie rock vein. The have the friendly ease of (older) My Morning Jacket but with a playful virtuosity of a prog band like Gentle Giant. I think Gentle Giant makes a particularly good comparison because this isn't really all that "jammy" to my ears. It's complex and sort of jazzy at times, but it doesn't feel pompous or grandiose like prog rock has a reputation for being, either. So it's neither that much like the Grateful Dead or that much like Genesis, Yes, or other prog bands prone to longer, more exploratory or dramatic compositions. The songs here are short and focused but with a progressive rock slant. It's a really fun listen with a lot going on. It could be just because this was my introduction to this band (I still haven't heard what they sounded like before), but I liked this immediately. They've hit on a winning formula with this and their EP from last year, and I hope they continue along with it. 7.5/10

#47.
Vladislav Delay Quartet – s/t
At some point during the latter half of last year I started looking around to see what new noise albums people were into. This one came up as one of the more highly regarded and became one of only a few that I ended up listening to. It's not entirely a noise record, though. It starts out that way, but then by the second track it mutates more into jazz with recognizable instruments emerging, playing somewhat rhythmically and even coming close to a melody here and there. It is kind of a dark, foreboding record overall, though, even when it isn't particularly noisy. I have to say I've never heard anything quite like it, and it finds a certain sweet spot between avant-garde (but not really "free") jazz and outright noise. I mean I'm sure there are other things in this general area (and I'm sure I've heard some), but this album really does a great job of keeping it interesting, varying things up and packing in a few surprises. I flows very comfortably from one extreme to the other, even venturing into a more beat-driven track near the end. Apparently the person behind this also makes electronic music as Luomo and more ambient music just as Vladislav Delay, and this is his first album with his "Quartet". I've never heard any of his other music, but this has me intrigued. 7.5/10

#46.
The Dodos – No Color
The Dodos have taken an interesting path to get where they are. They seemed to have garnered the most attention for their 2008 album Visiter, a record they made as a duo that frankly sounded pretty naive and unfocused and wore their influences a little too obviously on their sleeves. I'm in the minority in thinking that, I guess, and especially in thinking that Time to Die was a great improvement and maturation from that record. I even liked their somewhat bizarre addition of a vibraphonist to make them into a trio. Well apparently that album wasn't so well received so they decided to get back to basics and are a duo again, and they've created a record that's closer in sound to Visiter. But they can't take back their maturity and everything they've learned in the past few years so thankfully this is also better than that album - if not better than Time to Die - and they now clearly have a sound that is theirs. They still carry that Animal Collective influence, but their music is more defined by the playing of these two musicians. At this point, I think these guys are a good enough band that whatever they do is pretty much going to work. 7.5/10

Vladislav Delay is one of my favorite electronic artists..."The Four Quarters" (2005) is one of the best minimal/noise works ever, IMHO. He also records as Uusitalo.

This "Quartet" keeps getting better...I love listening under the mechanical noise to hear the acoustic instrucments as "source documents."

Love your list... lost of similarities in titles with mine, although relative placement and verbal descriptions not similar.

And the "lack of integrity" because an artist experiments with new sound? Jeez.. Dylan at Newport.

I'm sure the "lack of integrity" comment just has to do with them being flannel-wearing indie kids from Brooklyn rather than REAL METAL DUDES, not because they're experimenting or trying something different. There are plenty of other artists experimenting with black metal in different ways and pushing/playing around with it, but I haven't seen any of them draw the kind of ire that Liturgy has. It has a lot more to do with their perceived image than their actual music, but some people can't or aren't willing to make the distinction.

Yep.

It's hilarious to me how serious some people are about black metal.

well, this pretty much sums it up...

It's on songs like "Sun of Light," "Returner," and the kick-drum-crutched "Generation" where the band's lofty claims of metallic innovation reveal themselves to be utterly fallacious. While that palpable Krallice influence persistently lurks (instant cred, correct?), Liturgy's glaring lack of heft is their death sentence. With each repititous sqawk, it becomes obvious that the band isn't drawing from the context of heavy metal's history; Aesthethica is void of the bloodied roots, battle scars, and charred remains of our past struggles. This isn't due to a conscious rejection of the tenets laid by their forebears. It's due to an complete lack of conceptual knowledge. There's no grit, no fire, no power; Aesthethica is hollow, dessicated, and almost translucent.

It's like you're proving my point without even realizing it.

#45.
Ty Segall – Goodbye Bread
I somehow missed out on Ty Segall until pretty recently, actually until after I'd been listening to Mikal Cronin for a while and had seen their two names mentioned together a lot. So this album was my jumping-on point, and I still haven't moved very far beyond it (just on the singles comp and the Ty Rex EP). Anyway, I like him. Considering that I've liked a fair amount of other recent lo-fi revivalists, it makes sense that I would. He isn't a straight throwback, either. Much like Jay Reatard, Thee Oh Sees, and of course Mikal Cronin, he puts enough of himself into the music that he makes it his own. It's not some kind of put-on, either, but it's more just a natural manifestation of slacker rock. My one qualm with Segall is that maybe he's a tad too slack. Not Sic Alps sloppy and apathetic, but, not as sharp and focused as, say, Mikal Cronin. He doesn't have any really punchy, super-catchy songs on here that I just can't get enough of, but he has this nice crunchy, kind of off-kilter sound that sometimes reminds me of early-90s GBV, especially Segall's occasional classic-rock-hero, pseudo-British vocal affectations. 7.5/10

#44.
Roly Porter – Aftertime
This is sort of a noise/ambient record that has some really beautiful moments and some really ugly, menacing ones. It's really nicely varied and detailed and makes for quite an interesting journey from start to finish. Also, all of the tracks are apparently named after things from Dune so maybe this was in some ways inspired by that or meant as a soundtrack to Roly Porter's own imaginary film version of the book(s). Whatever the case, it's a cool record, and props to nobody to bringing it to my/our attention in the NP thread. 7.5/10

#43.
Andy Stott – Passed Me By
So this is the other of Andy Stott's two 2011 releases, the "full-length" one. The other one is #7 on my EP list, and as I mentioned on that one, there's really very little difference in length - or sound for that matter - between the two. Bass music, "post-dubstep" I guess? Crackling, earthy, and primal, but evoking bleak, rainy city streets more than rainforests. Urban jungle music in a fairly literal sense. 7.5/10

#42.
Neon Indian – Era Extraña
And here's another really nice album cover. Also another chillwave album. Neon Indian made my favorite of the original batch of chillwave records in 2009 with Psychic Chasms. It was the most fun and playful of the bunch, the brightest and most colorful. True to his name, Washed Out's music can feel faded and grey, but Neon Indian is a little more dayglo and quirky. But just like Washed Out he's moved a little more toward regular synth pop with his follow-up record, and he's lost a little of his character in the process. It's still a pretty accomplished electronic pop record, though, and I like all of the sunny little flourishes that are peppered throughout. Sometimes it's just little beeps and laser noises, but they really help evoke the more fun and innocent side of vintage synth pop. And in some ways I think he even does smooth and sexy better than Washed Out. My favorite track here is probably "Future Sick" where he melds the quirkier sounds to a more wistful song and backs it with a pretty killer rhythm track. 7.5/10

#41.
Battles – Gloss Drop
A lot of people have said - more or less - that Battles is really missing Tyondai Braxton's melodic sense since his departure. I'm not so sure. I'm certain that he did add a great deal to the band, but I'm not so sure about his "great" melodic sense after spending some time with his solo record Central Market. Whether or not this Battles album is an inferior follow-up to Mirrored, or if it's maybe a little on the obnoxious side, it certainly isn't due to the absence of Tyondai. This is definitely a good bit less cloying than Central Market. Anyway, this is a really good, fun record. It's maybe a little long, and I could particularly do without "Sundome" going on quite as long as it does. Nobody sounds like Battles, though, and no one else can give us quite this same kind of nutty musical adventure. It's clearly a very labored-over project by some really smart, really talented people, and it never eschews fun in favor of exploration or showing off. 7.5/10

I've been wanting to check out that Ty. Your review is pushing me moreso.

I need to give Neon Indian another shot. It seems a little more straightforward and less tripped out/schizo as the first one, which turned me off a bit. I remember Future Sick as seeming the most accessible on this, relatively.

Yeah, the Neon Indian is definitely more straightforward. The whole thing's pretty accessible, I think.

#40.
Cymbals Eat Guitars – Lenses Alien
This one seems to have either been mostly ignored or forgotten about. I've hardly seen any mention of it anywhere. I suppose I can see why as the band is kind of getting more ambitious and building their own intricate little world that doesn't have a whole lot to do with whatever else in going on currently in music. And maybe this was kind of a disappointing successor to Why There Are Mountains to a lot of people. It's not quite as dramatic or immediately striking, but I think they've done a good job of honing in on their own sound. I don't hear their '90s influences as much as I did on the previous one. That one was a slow grower for me, though, so maybe I've given this one a lot more benefit of the doubt, feeling that it will only get better with repeated listens. So far it has. Their music has a sprawling, concept-album feel to it, and so it can take a little while to absorb. They're sort of like Titus Andronicus, I guess, but I like CEG's vocals a lot more and don't find them to be as overly, forcibly dramatic. 8/10

#39.
Dope Body – Nupping
Some good old noise rock, but this time with a nod to early '90s rap rock. It's not all that overt, but I detect just a little bit of Faith No More here. Rage Against the Machine has actually been cited as an influence, but fortunately I don't so much hear that. There are elements of some of the math-y-er sides of guitar rock from the past decade or so, too, so it's not like this is just some '90s redux. The lead guitar actually isn't dissimilar to Deerhoof - very bright and upper register with crackling distortion. The rhythm section is kind of Jesus Lizard-ish, and the vocals probably sound more like Ian MacKaye shout-singing than any rap-rock guy. And really there are just a lot of things about this band that sound really unique. It's great to hear someone take up the noise rock torch and really go somewhere different and unexpected with it. 8/10

#38.
Low – C'mon
This is a nice return to form after the ultimately unsatisfying Drums and Guns. They've thankfully embraced their prettier side again and left behind the louder, more compressed Dave Fridmann sound of the last two records. This one was recorded in a church, and it has the openness and acoustic warmth of their best records. It has some killer Low songs on it, too. The opening trio is excellent, even if I can't figure out what the hell "Witches" is about (or what Sparhawk means by "guys tryin' to act like Al Green"). "Nightengale" sounds like something right off of Secret Name or Things We Lost in the Fire, and the closer "Something's Turning Over" is about as hopeful and uplifting a song as they've ever made. Really great to have these guys back in top form. 8/10

#37.
Deerhoof – Deerhoof Vs. Evil
To be honest, I really don't know what it would take for me to consider a Deerhoof album "bad". A lot of people don't seem to like this one, but I've listened to it plenty of times and think it's just fine. I've just come to really love how these guys play music, and as musicians they never disappoint. As songwriters I'm sure a lot of people would consider them questionable, but there are songs on all of their albums, including this one, that I absolutely love. "I Did Crimes for You" and "Super Duper Rescue Heads !" are probably my favorites here (yeah, even with the goofy titles), and I get them stuck in my head fairly regularly to positive effect. There are some directions they head in or hint at on this album that I'll admit I'm not crazy about, but I feel like I just can't help but like whatever they put out. As people, as musicians, and as a creative force, I just feel like they're coming from all the right places, and I'll probably always root for them and look forward to whatever they do next. 8/10

#36.
Panda Bear – Tomboy
This one was also apparently pretty disappointing to a lot of people coming after Person Pitch and Merriweather Post Pavilion. Personally, I don't think Person Pitch is on the same level as any of Animal Collective's best albums (including MPP), and I'd kinda gotten a little tired of it. I didn't really have especially high expectations for this, but I've actually found it to be a really endearing album. While I'm not crazy about his voice, I think Panda Bear's production skills have only gotten better. I think that this is as rich and deep as Person Pitch, and it may even fare better over repeated listens. I think with that album the "newness" (novelty, maybe?) of his sound was what really wowed everybody, and this time around it's all much more familiar. In some ways this is a little quieter and more meditative, too. "Afterburner" is almost a dance track, though, and I find myself hoping that he'll do more stuff like that in the future. In all I think it continues AC's winning streak (I liked last year's Avey Tare album a lot, too), and I know it's something I'll be coming back to. 8/10

I didn't expect that Dope Body to be ranked as high as it was. I'm kinda bummed I missed them a couple months back.

#35.
Fucked Up – David Comes to Life
This band never seemed to me like something I'd really like. I guess cursory listens to songs here and there gave me the impression that they were "just hardcore" or something, and I've honestly never been the biggest hardcore fan. They're definitely doing something a little different, though, at least on this album. Bright, melodic guitars and just one energetic, hooky, anthemic song after another. The screamed hardcore vocals actually seem to fit with the enthusiasm and widescreen scope of the album, and they're countered nicely by touches of regular, sung female vocals here and there. I haven't yet really dug into the story/concept behind the album, but I've been really enjoying the ride just based on the sound and feeling of the whole thing. 8/10

#34.
tUnE-yArDs – W H O K I L L
This band has made for a really easy target for all kinds of people in need of something easy to poke fun at. There are certainly a lot of superficially annoying things about them, from the capitalization of their name to the way they look/act in videos to even their sound itself. When I sampled tracks from this, they never sounded appealing, but I guess somewhere, at some point, I must have heard "Bizness" without seeing the annoying video and realized that I really liked it. Ultimately the playfulness, fearlessness, and just plain catchiness of this album won me over. I don't care about all the peripheral stuff, how these people look, or what they talk about in interviews. This is, at its core, a really good record, and it's lot more fun to enjoy it than ridicule it. 8/10

#33.
Matana Roberts – Coin Coin Chapter One: Gens De Couleur Libres
I don't hear many new jazz records, maybe one or two a year. This may be the only one from 2011 that I've heard unless you count the Vladislav Delay Quartet album as jazz. This got a lot of acclaim from some people, and it is probably the best new jazz record I've heard in a really, really long time. It's more or less in the same style of '70s spiritual/avant-garde jazz, with a little bit of a political/historical bent in Matana Roberts' spoken word and singing. I still kind of have mixed feelings about some of those vocals (more the spoken than the sung stuff), but the playing is fantastic. Think maybe Archie Shepp and Albert Ayler, maybe a touch of Pharoah Sanders. It's a very cool record, and with the (mostly good) vocals, it's probably even pretty accessible to people who aren't necessarily into jazz.8/10

#32.
Ponytail – Do Whatever You Want All the Time
This is certainly a bittersweet release. Rumors of Ponytail's possible break up preceded this album, and a lot of people were surprised that it actually came out. There was very little build up to its release and no tour scheduled after it. Even though I think these recordings were made after their last record, they have somrt of a leftover, pieced-together feel. Not that this isn't a really coherent record or a worthy follow-up. It just has a more edited and produced feeling where Ice Cream Spiritual really sounded like a band just playing together. Whatever the case, I'm glad to at least have this because I love this band. They're somewhere in between Deerhoof and late-'90s Boredoms, and their music is just this joyous, ecstatic bursting of energy. This album does make a great companion to their previous one, but I just wish we could have more. I also kind of wish they hadn't given it such a hideous cover. 8/10

#31.
Balam Acab – Wander / Wonder
I think Balam Acab was initially sort of lumped in with witch house, one of the more embarrassing recent mini-fads of a micro-genre to not really happen. That's really unfortunate because this really couldn't be much further from something like Salem. This isn't some hackneyed, "spooky", crackhead hip-hop derivative. Balam Acab is actually a producer of really pretty, downtempo electronic music. Both this and his See Birds EP have an overtly "aquatic" aesthetic - there are lots of gurgly, watery sounds and a generally deep, submersed feeling. He's got something here, though. I find myself more drawn to this than most electronic records I've heard over the past several years. 8/10

Yeah, I bet they would have been a lot of fun. And I was pleasantly surprised that the album has stood up as well as it has. Initially I thought I'd get tired of it pretty quickly.

#30.
The Feelies – Here Before
I only just started listening to The Feelies pretty recently when their first two albums were reissued. To be honest, I'm not as crazy about the post-punk-johnny-come-lately sound of Crazy Rhythms, but I really love the blatant Lou Reed aping that they settled into on The Good Earth and Only Life. And here, hot on the heels of those reissues and renewed interest in the band, we have a reunion album. Awesomely enough, it seems to pick up right where they left off (well, as far as I know considering that I still haven't heard Time for a Witness), and they even sort of winking-ly acknowledge their own questionable position of returning after twenty years off on the opening track. So, hey, it's another Feelies album, and I think it holds up just fine. It's a comfortable, confident, relaxed record, not the herky-jerky-ness ofCrazy Rhythms, but I wouldn't have wanted that anyway. 8/10

#29.
YOB – Atma
There's kind of a muffled sound to this record that was initially a little off-putting, especially coupled with the thick, decayed kind of doom metal these guys play. It's ugly and uninviting, and nothing really leaps out to grab your attention or pull you in. Once I did get into it, though, I found that the murky atmosphere started to hold me there, and I started to find the corroded, sludgy riffs to be kind of hypnotizing after a while. They just have a great guitar tone, and they kind of end up sounding like a zombie version of Neurosis or something. It's been slow to grow on me, but I've found more and more I like about it with each listen. 8/10

#28.
Tom Waits – Bad as Me
I'd say this is easily Tom Waits best album since Mule Variations. What more should I say? Real Gone and Alice both had a tendency to drag. Orphans wasn't really a proper album, but even with so many songs, none of its high points were really any better than anything here. Blood Money was really good and probably the closest to this in quality, but ultimately this wins out for feeling a little leaner (and just being shorter) and not sounding so pirate-y. After over twenty years of packing CDs full of songs for each album, Tom Waits finally gets the benefit of leaving people wanting more, both in the overall album and in the shorter songs themselves. And aside from just being a short, there are some truly great songs, like "Chicago", "Pay Me", and the title track. There's no reason why any Tom Waits fan shouldn't have this unless you're one of those people that only likes the '70s stuff or something. 8/10

#27.
Snowman – Absence
This is apparently the final album (and the only one I've heard) by this Australian band. Their sound is maybe somewhere between Gang Gang Dance and Bear in Heaven, a sort of dark, futuristic, electronic pop with a little bit of an Eastern bent. It's a great-sounding record. Too bad they're not around anymore, but there's certainly something to be said for ending on a high note. 8/10

#26.
Mike Watt – Hyphenated-Man
Who doesn't love Mike Watt? Maybe not everyone loves his music, and his solo stuff can certainly be an acquired taste. He just seems like the best guy, though, and I think that does come through in his music. Like he creates heady, unique, actual art that never seems pretentious or too self-important or self-serious. This is just a great, fun, weird record with kind of a strange theme (something about making a song about every character in a Hieronymus Bosch painting) that it's fully committed to. It feels maybe a little more like the Minutemen than his other solo records which is, of course, awesome, but it's also its own totally different, bizarre thing. What's not to like? 8/10

#25.
Tombs – Path of Totality
I love Neurosis, and this sounds kind of like them. Neurosis, but more metal. It's generally more uptempo and rocks more, without all the long segues and atmospheric passages. I like those things about Neurosis, but having an album with their same general sound that requires less patience and is more instantly gratifying is nice. I mean, these guys are super tight, and this is some excellent heavy rock with just enough mood, menace, and atmosphere. It's probably the best straight metal album I heard from 2011. 8/10

#24.
Youth Lagoon – Year of Hibernation
This is a good old emotional, homespun indie bedroom record. It's memorable simply because it's songs are. All that sweeping emotion and longing is carried along by some great melodies. And the production reveals itself to be fuller on repeat listens than it may seem at first. The vocals seem distorted and distant, but when all the instruments kick in on the many song climaxes, it can be almost overwhelming. This guy is working in a crowded field, but it makes it that much more impressive that he's able to stand out. 8/10

#23.
Racebannon – Six Sik Sisters
Racebannon is my favorite heavy rock band. Are they metal? Are they "grindcore" or something-else-core? I don't care. I certainly think they've been getting more "metal" on their past couple of albums. They still don't really fit anywhere, though, and that's part of what I love about them. The singer's manic yelps and speak-singing aren't exactly the screams of metalcore (or whatevercore) bands so thankfully I wouldn't lump them in alongside bands like Converge. There's always been something warped and weird about them, and the fact that they (excellently) covered Captain Beefheart's "Electricity" on one of their early records is a pretty good indicator of where they're coming from. My only complaint about them these days is that their albums are a little short on songs and just short in general. I could always use more Racebannon. 8/10

#22.
Unknown Mortal Orchestra – s/t
I don't know how to describe this band. There's maybe something a little similar to the funkier side or early '90s Britpop with the shuffling beats and a scratchy, sampled feel to some of it. It's a fuzzy, lo-fi pop record with some serious grooves. 8/10

#21.
Toro Y Moi – Underneath the Pine
I never imagined Toro Y Moi would make an album this good. I've had pretty modest expectations of all of the chillwave alumni, but Toro Y Moi in particular never seemed like the kind of artist that could make a record I really cared about. Causers of This was just so bland and forgettable. This album is legitimately funky, catchy, fun, and unique. Sometimes it feels like his sound is skewing closer to Ariel Pink's last album, and sometimes it almost sounds like Stereolab (the three-song stretch from "Got Blinded" to "Light Black" in particular). In spirit this is closer to Neon Indian's Psychic Chasms than Neon Indian's own album from 2011 was. And I think this may even surpass that album as the best thing so far to come out of the whole chillwave thing. 8/10

#22 I've never heard of before, but allmusic clips and your description have my intrigued.

#20.
Chad Vangaalen – Diaper Island
In lieu of ever having any more new music from Women, I can take solace in knowing that their producer - and solid songwriter and generally cool guy all around* - Chad Vangaalen is going to keep putting out records. Several of the more rocking songs on this record, particularly "Peace on the Rise" and "Burning Photographs", really have a similar sound to Women's records, not just in the production but in the actual playing and style. The bulk of this album, though, is just typical Chad Vangaalen. That's not a bad thing at all. In fact, he's become one of my favorite singer-songwriter guys lately. Aside from this I've only heard his previous album Soft Airplane, and I'd say this is an all-around improvement over that. His voice could be a little shrill a little too often on that album, and the songs felt just a little too self-consciously quirky overall. I think this benefits from being just a little more straightforward and grounded and for generally rocking more. The closing track might be the only thing that keeps it from being a homerun, but my opinion on that varies from listen to listen. 8/10
"Burning Photographs":

*He creates all of his album art and videos himself, including the one posted above, which is also one of my favorite songs on the record.


#19.
Woods – Sun and Shade
Woods have been making modest improvements in their music since I first became aware of them a couple of albums ago with Songs of Shame. They followed that rougher and more rambling album up with a tighter and more melodic set of somewhat more standard-sounding folk rock. And now they've managed to bring back a little bit of the jammy, groovy side just enough to inject a little life back into their music while keeping the prettier sound of At Echo Lake. The result may be their best record, but it's not the kind of thing that'll blow your socks off. It's just a quietly - almost sneakily - rewarding and endearing record whose solid construction belies its somewhat shabby exterior. On "Any Other Day" they've crafter their best pop song and one of the best songs of the year. "Out of the Eye" and "Sol y Sombra" are engaging Krautrock-inspired jams that don't just drone on like "September with Pete" from Songs of Shame. They're proving to be more versatile and more focused, and I'm looking forward to what they do next. 8/10
"Out of the Eye":



#18.
The Men – Leave Home
The Men mean business. They are as their name suggests, manly, and this is some mean, testosterone-fueled rock. It's a wild mix of hardcore, post-punk, metal, noise rock, and just all out noise, and it's loud and fast and in your face. It's powerful and aggressive but not without bringing the tunes and the riffs. Vocal duties are shared by the three non-drummers, but they're pretty much all a variation of punk-rock shouting. They have a great grasp on the wide variations of sound that heavy, abrasive rock can cover, though, and no two tracks on this record sound alike. What they have in common is their boundless energy, enthusiasm, and confidence, and it makes for an inspiring listen. It makes me want to get out there and do stuff. Leave home. Be a man. 8/10
"Bataille":



#17.
Wye Oak – Civilian
For me this is like 2011's version of Lower Dens, an album/band that sort of flew under my radar for most of the year but became an instant favorite in late fall/early winter. Their sound is kind of similar, too. A female-fronted, sort of mellow rock band with a really great guitar tone. It's a pretty safe and conventional record, really, but it's just perfectly done. They're sort of like The Walkmen, in a way, in that they're music that sounds both contemporary and timeless. It's immediately accessible, but it isn't all about immediacy. It's full of nuance and subtlety, rich textures and perfectly-suited arrangements. It's a comfort-food type of album, not so much a challenging or innovative one, but it's almost essential in that aspect. It's a sound I could find myself fiending for, and I think I'm beginning to, the more I listen to it. 8/10
"Civilian":