I listened to 112 albums from 2011. The following are my top 50 albums of the year.  It’s a personal list based on my tastes and preferences and it should be noted that the rankings are inspired by my song ratings on each album and their cumulative valuation. #nerdalert

You can play a select mix of 50 songs from each of the 50 albums by clicking on the image to the right.

My 50 Best Albums Of 2011

	ARTIST		ALBUM
#1 -	Bon Iver		Bon Iver, Bon Iver
#2 -	Other Lives		Tamer Animals
#3 -	Wye Oak		Civilian
#4 -	Beirut		The Rip Tide
#5 -	Dawes		Nothing Is Wrong
#6 -	The Weeknd		House Of Balloons
#7 -	Youth Lagoon		The Year Of Hibernation
#8 -	Treefight For Sunlight		A Collection Of Vibrations For Your Skull
#9 -	The Antlers		Burst Apart
#10 -	Caveman		CoCo Beware
#11 -	City And Colour		Little Hell
#12 -	Saigon		The Greatest Story Never Told
#13 -	tUnE-yArDs		W H O K I L L
#14 -	Lykke Li		Wounded Rhymes
#15 -	Active Child		You Are All I See
#16 -	Radiohead		The King Of Limbs
#17 -	Incubus		If Not Now, When?
#18 -	M83		Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming.
#19 -	Switchfoot		Vice Verses
#20 -	Seryn		This Is Where We Are
#21 -	The Milk Carton Kids		Prologue
#22 -	Fleet Foxes		Helplessness Blues
#23 -	Slow Club		Paradise
#24 -	Laura Marling		A Creature I Don’t Know
#25 -	Lia Ices		Grown Unknown

Click to reveal #26-50!

Clearly, I listen to mostly indie music, followed by a fair mix of Folk, Rock, Pop, Urban, and Electronic styles.  Here is a breakdown of the albums I listen to by genre.

Of the 112 albums I listened to:

42% were Indie.     13% were Folk.     13% were Rock.     12% were Pop or Urban.     7% were Electronic.     6% were Rap. 5% were Indie Electronic.     1% were Soundtrack.

My 50 Best Albums Of 2011 are made up of:

44% Indie  [22 albums].     14% Folk  [7 albums].     12% Rock  [6].     12% Pop or Urban  [6].     8% Rap  [4].     6% Indie Electronic  [3].     2% Electronic  [1].     2% Soundtrack  [1].

Top 5 Albums By Genre

My Top 5 Electronic Albums Of 2011:

#1 -	Rustie		Glass Swords
#2 -	Tycho		Dive
#3 -	Apparat		The Devil’s Walk
#4 -	Björk		Biophilia
#5 -	Sun Glitters		Everything Could Be Fine

My Top 5 Indie Electronic Albums Of 2011:

#1 -	Active Child		You Are All I See
#2 -	M83		Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming.
#3 -	Neon Indian		Era Extraña
#4 -	Class Actress		Rapprocher
#5 -	Cut Copy		Zonoscope

My Top 5 Rap Albums Of 2011:

#1 -	Saigon		The Greatest Story Never Told
#2 -	The Throne		Watch The Throne
#3 -	Wale		Ambition
#4 -	Lupe Fiasco		Lasers
#5 -	The Roots		undun

My Top 5 Pop / Urban Albums Of 2011:

#1 -	The Weeknd		House Of Balloons
#2 -	Kevin Cossom		By Any Means [Mixtape]
#3 -	Rihanna		Talk That Talk
#4 -	Adele		21
#5 -	Mariah McManus		Nice To Meet You

My Top 5 Rock Albums Of 2011:

#1 -	City And Colour		Little Hell
#2 -	Radiohead		King Of Limbs
#3 -	Incubus		If Not Now, When?
#4 -	Switchfoot		Vice Verses
#5 -	My Morning Jacket		Circuital

My Top 5 Folk Albums Of 2011:

#1 -	Dawes		Nothing Is Wrong
#2 -	The Milk Carton Kids		Prologue
#3 -	Fleet Foxes		Helplessness Blues
#4 -	Laura Marling		A Creature I Don’t Know
#5 -	Middle Brother		Middle Brother

My Top 5 Indie Albums Of 2011:

#1 -	Bon Iver		Bon Iver, Bon Iver
#2 -	Other Lives		Tamer Animals
#3 -	Wye Oak		Civilian
#4 -	Beirut		The Rip Tide
#5 -	Youth Lagoon		The Year Of Hibernation

Notable exclusions from my top 50 albums of 2011:

(I listened to these, but they didn’t make the cut for one reason or another…)

PJ Harvey – Let England Shake

St. Vincent – Strange Mercy

James Blake – James Blake

Wild Beasts – Smother

Drake – Take Care

Wilco – The Whole Love

Nicolas Jaar – Space Is Only Noise

Foo Fighters – Wasting Light

Florence + The Machine – Ceremonials

Wye Oak are an outstanding indie band from Baltimore and have been kind enough to provide me with the lyrics to their album via email correspondence.  These are the official lyrics to Wye Oak’s Civilian.  Thank you Andy and Jenn!  And please support the band by finding them on tour or buying their music via wyeoakmusic.com.

Click through for the lyrics…

The August ’11 Sampler is here!  You can snag individual songs or the whole sampler if you like.  Think of it as a your soundtrack for the month.

August ’11 A Fire In The Attic Sampler

1.  Gym Class Heroes – Stereo Hearts (ft. Adam Levine)

2.  DJ Khaled – I’m On One (ft. Drake, Rick Ross, & Lil Wayne)

3.  Tyga – Far Away (ft. Chris Richardson)

4.  Gavin DeGraw – Not Over You

5.  Adele – Turning Tables

6.  TV On The Radio – Will Do

7.  Bon Iver – Holocene

8.  tUnE-yArDs – Bizness

9.  The Head And The Heart – Down In The Valley

10. Dawes – Time Spend In Los Angeles

11. City And Colour – Little Hell

12. Biffy Clyro – Many Of Horror

13. Telekinesis – Please Ask For Help

14. The Antlers – Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out

15. Beastie Boys – Nonstop Disco Powerpack

16. Seryn – We Will All Be Changed

17. Wye Oak – Two Small Deaths

18. The Dear Hunter – Filth And Squalor

19. Marc Broussard – Cruel

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The July ’11 Sampler is here!  You can snag individual songs or the whole sampler if you like.  Think of it as a your soundtrack for the month.

July ’11 A Fire In The Attic Sampler

1.  Jason Derülo – Don’t Wanna Go Home

2.  Maroon 5 – Moves Like Jagger (ft. Christina Aguilera)

3.  Coldplay – Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall

4.  Bad Meets Evil – Fast Lane

5.  Avril Lavigne – Smile

6.  Cee-Lo Green – Bright Lights Bigger City

7.  Wiz Khalifa – On My Level (ft. Too $hort)

8.  Paramore – Monster

9.  Keri Hilson – Lose Control (ft. Nelly)

10. Beastie Boys – Make Some Noise

11. OneRepublic – Good Life [Remix] (ft. B.o.B)

12. Foo Fighters – Bridge Burning

13. Fleet Foxes – Someone You’d Admire

14. Explosions In The Sky – Let Me Back In

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Each month I make a playlist of some of the best tracks from the radio.  The list is compiled based on airwave dominance and personal preference.  Here are some of my favorites from airplay in June 2011.  Below is a link for the complete 56-song playlist in iTunes.

Paramore – Monster

Maroon 5 – Moves Like Jagger (ft. Christina Aguilera)

OneRepublic – Good Life [Remix] (ft. B.o.B)

Keri Hilson – Lose Control (ft. Nelly)

Beastie Boys – Make Some Noise

Coldplay – Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall

Jason Derülo – Don’t Wanna Go Home

Wiz Khalifa – On My Level (ft. Too $hort)

Chris Brown – She Ain’t You

Britney Spears – Till The World Ends [The Femme Fatale Remix] (ft. Nicki Minaj & Ke$ha)

Florence + The Machine – You’ve Got The Love

Rihanna – Man Down

Foo Fighters – Walk

Katy Perry – Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)

Avril Lavigne – Smile

Cee-Lo Green – Bright Lights Bigger City

The complete list in the iTunes store:  June 2011 Airplay

What was your favorite song in June?  Comment below.

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There’s a new monthly feature on AFireInTheAttic.com!

I will be making monthly sampler discs for your enjoyment that can be downloaded through iTunes.  You can snag individual songs or the whole sampler if you like.  These playlists serve as a snapshot of my current favorite songs.  Think of it as a soundtrack for the upcoming month.

In this post I’ve included links to the sampler for June as well as last month’s sampler.  Have at it.

 

June ’11 A Fire In The Attic Sampler

 

May ’11 A Fire In The Attic Sampler

 
 
 
 
 
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Each month I make a playlist of some of the best tracks from the radio.  The list is compiled based on airwave dominance and personal preference.  Here are some of my favorites from airplay in May 2011.  Below is a link for the complete 39-song playlist in iTunes.

Lupe Fiasco – Out Of My Head (ft. Trey Songz)

Chris Brown – She Ain’t You

Chris Brown – Next To You (ft. Justin Bieber)

Diddy-Dirty Money – Your Love [Explicit] (ft. Trey Songz)

Gwyneth Paltrow – Me And Tennessee (ft. Tim McGraw)

Jason Derülo – Don’t Wanna Go Home

Jennifer Lopez – I’m Into You (ft. Lil Wayne)

Kelly Rowland – Motivation

Owl City – Alligator Sky [Adam Young Version]; Alligator Sky (ft. Shawn Crystopher)

Pitbull – Give Me Everything (ft. Ne-Yo, Afrojack, & Nayer)

Wiz Khalifa – Roll Up

YC – Racks

What was your favorite song in May?  Comment below.

The complete list in the iTunes store:  May 2011 Airplay

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Another shout out to one of the best in the biz: K.C.!  On his most recent mixtape By Any Means, Kevin Cossom remixed Kanye West’s “Runaway” with all new verses and choruses.  In fact the only thing that ties the C-O-S-S-O-M remix to the Ye one is the instrumental as well as some melodic similarities.  I think that K.C.’s version needed a little flavor by way of spoken word so I’ve taken the liberty of re-mixing Kanye’s raps back into the song.  Here is my exclusive remix of Kevin Cossom’s “Runaway” featuring Kanye West (…explicit lyrics).

Kevin Cossom – Runaway [Remix] ft. Kanye West

I’m a huge fan of urban singer/songwriter Kevin Cossom so I took the time to transcribe the lyrics from his latest mixtape By Any Means to the best of my ability.  There are a few spots that I couldn’t make out, but you will find this is the most complete collection of lyrics from the album available.  Leave a comment if you think you know the parts I missed.

Click through for the lyrics…