Friends Of Indie Music Filter: Best Of 2011

best of 2011

While trying to figure out my favourite songs and albums of the year, I decided to poll a bunch of music supervisors that I know, asking them to send me their top 5 albums of the year, plus their favourite song.  Here’s what a few of them came up with.

Season Kent (Clear Songs, @Season_Kent)
Albums: (in order)
M83 – Hurry Up We’re Dreaming
Youth Lagoon – The Year of Hibernation
Gillian Welch – The Harrow & The Harvest
Friendly Fires – Pala
Middle Brother – Middle Brother
Song:
M83 – “Midnight City”


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Meg Currier (Search Party Music, @croquetseason)
Albums: (in no particular order)
Shabazz Palaces – “black up”
bon iver – “bon iver”
st. vincent – “strange mercy”
james blake – “james blake”
jacuzzi boys – “glazin”
Song:
Class Actress – “Weekend”


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Sanaz Lavaedian (Mocean LA, @VirgoNamedSanaz)
Albums:
The Rosebuds- Loud Planes Fly Low
Doomtree- No Kings
Gardens & Villa- Gardens & villa
Bon Iver- Bon Iver
Other Lives- Tamer Animals
Song:
The Rosebuds- “Woods”


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Rebecca Rienks (E! Entertainment, @BuhbeccaBinks)
Top 5 Albums/Songs: (in no particular order)
Watch the Throne/”H*A*M” – Watch the Throne
Out of Love/”Reggae Pie” – Mister Heavenly
Anna Calvi/”Suzanne and I” – Anna Calvi
21/”Someone Like You” – Adele
Moody, Standard and Poor/”I Want Results” – Obits
Honorable Mention: No Time for Dreaming/”The World (Is Going Up In Flames)” – Charles Bradley & The Menahan Street Band


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Greg Danylyshyn (Go Big Entertainment, @GoBigEnt)
Albums:
Emile Millar / Neighbors
Gotye /  Making Mirrors (half of the record)
Vetiver / The Errant Charm
Desert Noises / Mountain Sea
The Spits / The Spits V
Song:
Best Song:   “Lucky Now” – Ryan Adams
Worst Song: “Beth/ Rest” – Bon Iver


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Scottie Diablo (MTV, @plasticpizza)
Albums:
Ramsay Midwood – Larry Buys A Lighter
Bowery Beasts – Heavy You
Heavy Young Heathens – Scavengers
Diego Garcia – Laura
JEFF the Brotherhood – We Are the Champions
Song:
White Denim “Street Joy”


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Jennifer Taunton (Level Two Music, @Leveltwomusic)
Albums:
1. Sbtrkt – Sbtrkt
2. Other Lives – Tamer Animals
3. Wye Oak – Civillian
4. James Blake – James Blake
5. Ghoul – Dunks
Song:
“212” – Azaelia Banks ft Lazy Jay


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Markus Bergkvist (Music Super Circus)
Albums: (Swedish Artists)
Deportees “Islands and shores”
Tingsek “Tingsek & The Vindla String Quartet feat. Måns Mernsten”
Syket “With love”
Serenades “Criminal heaven”
Little Dragon “Ritual union”
Song: (Swedish Artists)
Serenades “Birds”
(with a special mention to the song “Goods” by Edda Magnason)


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David Hayman (Vapor Music, @davidhueyhayman)
Albums:
1. HANNI EL KHATIB – Will The Guns Come Out (Innovative Leisure 2011)
2. THE BARR BROTHERS – The Barr Brothers (Secret City 2011)
3. WAR ON DRUGS – Slave Ambient (Secretly Canadian 2011)
4. FUCKED UP – David Comes To Life (Matador 2011)
5. HOLY GHOST! – Holy Ghost! (DFA 2011)
Song(s):
(from David) My song of the year is “Some Children” by Holy Ghost featuring Michael McDonald. Fucking mind-blowingly-perfect collaboration out of left field. Sick video too.
Runner up is Someone Like You by Adele because that song will be relevant till humans seize to walk this earth.


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Amine Ramer (States Of Sound)
Albums:
Hanni El khatib,-Will The Guns Come Out
Gardens & Villa-Secretly Canadian
Starfucker – Reptilians
SBTRKT – SBTRKT
Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr – Horse Power EP
Song:
Arthur Russell- “Calling out of Context” (re-issue from domino)

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Heather Adamo (Vapor Music, @heatheradamo)
Albums: (in no particular order)
M83 ‘Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming’ [Mute, 2011]
Adele ’21’ [Columbia/XL, 2011]
Bon Iver ‘Bon Iver’ [4AD / Jagjaguwar, 2011]
Mother Mother ‘Eureka’ [Last Gang Records, 2011]
Austra ‘Feel It Break’ [Paper Bag Records, 2011]
Song(s):
1. “Rolling In The Deep” [Jamie XX Shuffle] by Adele
Runner up: “Flaws” by Bastille
Runner up: “Houdini” (RAC Remix) by Foster The People


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Carly Evans (@carlyevansla)
Albums: (descending order)
Tune-Yards – Whokill
SBTRKT – SBTRKT
Washed Out – Within and Without
Frank Ocean – Nostalgia/Ultra
Nicolas Jaar – Space is Only Noise
Song:
“ Bright Lights” by Gary Clark Jr.


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Lou Rigolli (Music Mill, @lousmusicsoup)
Albums:
PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
Cat’s Eyes – Cat’s Eyes
Kitty Daisy & Lewis – Smoking In Heaven
Gil Scott Heron and Jamie XX – We’re New Here


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Joel High (Creative Control, @cre8ve_ctrl)
Albums:
Fucked-Up  – “David Comes To Life”
Jay-Z and Kanye West – “Watch The Throne”
The Weeknd – “House Of Balloons”
Abbe May – “Design Desire”
Cerebral Ballzy – “Cerebral Ballzy”
Drive – soundtrack


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John Katovsich (Fuel TV)
Albums:
M83-Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
Black Lips-Arabia Mountain
Guards-Guards ep
Waters-Out in the Light
Girls-Father Son Holy Ghost
Song:
“Whirring”-The Joy Formidable