Top Five Albums of 2011

1. Drake – Take Care

Pretty obvious choice if you know me at all, but damn is this a good album. Drake’s most polished, most mature release to date that’s full of infinitely listenable club hits but also introspective tracks like “Marvin’s Room”. Sort of like last year’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, I could not stop listening to Take Care. And that reworking of “Back That Ass Up” in “Practice”? Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn.

2. M83 – Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming

SYNTHS! I love the unbridled enthusiasm on this thing. And that track with the little girl talking about a magical frog? How fucking charming is that? The most charming, is the answer. Releasing a double album is always a risky measure. Usually, there’s a fair amount of filler and what you’re left with is a half of a great album. Not the case here.

3. We Were Promised Jetpacks – In the Pit of the Stomach

Momentum. That’s how I’d describe We Were Promised Jetpacks. Every song, even the slower stuff, has such a great sense of forward motion to it. In a year without a new release from Frightened Rabbit (though that EP was great), I turned to my other favorite Scottish band’s sophomore release and it does not disappoint. I just wish I knew what they were saying about telescopes at the end of “Circles and Squares”.

4. The Joy Formidable – The Big Roar

My friend Mike introduced me to these guys after catching them at Coachella this year, one of those happy discoveries that often happen at music festivals. Lead singer Ritzy Bryan (great name!) has an infectious voice that I find refreshing in an era where every female singer is just doing a bad Feist impression. No offense to Feist, but we already have a Feist, you know?

5. Jay-Z and Kanye West – Watch the Throne

OK, this album is cheesy as hell and pretty tone-deaf to the plight of the average American. That being said, it’s great to see two of hip-hop’s greatest MC’s going head to head across 16 tracks. I have to assume the day this leaked everyone else at the gym (yeah, I work out. #ladies) was bumpin’ “Niggas in Paris” too. That beat is unimpeachable.

-SRD