Best Sellers of 2011
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Listening to Bon Iver's self-titled second album—three years in the coming and undoubtedly the most hotly anticipated album of 2011 so far—it's fair to wonder if it was him lending cred to Kanye We...read more
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The long-awaited album No. 2 from Seattle new-folkies Fleet Foxes is aglow with everything the band's cult of fans love -- namely harmonies, harmonies and more gorgeous harmonies. But despite...read more
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Prince of dudes Kurt Vile is growing up fast. His second Matador album is—well, let's not say "mature," but it is a definitively refined version of the affectingly unkempt rock he's been turning ou...read more
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Nine Types of Light begins (typically) cryptically -- for one thing, the opening tune is called "Second Song" -- but unmistakably positive, signaling a more emotionally upbeat TV on the Radio on it...read more
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With its flute and fiddle,
guest spots by Jonathan Meiburg (Shearwater, ex-Okkervil River) on piano and organ, and epic
droning grooves, Bill Callahan's new and strongly '70s-flavored album has a b...read more
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"My country 'tis of thee / Sweet land of liberty" sings Merrill Garbus, a.k.a. Tune-Yards, leaning into the last word to show just how different her idea is than that of our founders. On her second...read more
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The long-awaited (it really means something this time!) new album from Zach Condon and his co-conspirators is a joyously stately affair. That said, the sound of Beirut is so unique that no one woul...read more
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Quite possibly the album of the year. On their sophomore LP, the Bay Area
duo Girls have delivered a genuine rarity: a bold and ambitious indie-rock album that not only delivers all the goods but ...read more
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Annie Clark's first album not to star her delightful chin on the cover compensates wonderfully in other ways -- specifically, the vigorously talented artist's most diverse set of songs yet. Darting...read more
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The much-anticipated debut from the all-female supergroup Wild Flag
(with members of Sleater-Kinney, Helium and the Minders) is here,
and it delivers. Carrie Brownstein and Mary Timony blend thei...read more
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Just another typical Wilco album. By which, of course, I mean a two-record sprawl that encompasses so many forms of pop -- rootsy, alternative (whatever that means), orchestrated and borderline exp...read more
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One of the most remarkably thought-out and heartful rock records of the year will probably be skipped over by a lot of people for either the band's name or its frontman's perpetually shouted vocals...read more
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Bradford Cox is so ably advancing so many different narratives at the same time that he should be like, really well-known and widely admired. He is? Well, good. The Deerhunter capo's latest as Atla...read more
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Here's how you know Beck's a great producer: A few minutes into Thurston Moore's gorgeous new "solo" album, you've forgotten that he twiddled knobs on Demolished Thoughts. Despite the violence in i...read more
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This stuff is smooth as fitted sheets. Which is good enough reason to also commend the sexy cover art, in which bedsheets are, shall we say, quite actively rumpled. Chillwave vanguardist Washed Out...read more
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Perpetual buzz band Real Estate's second album is so coolly understated that it's hard to make a ginormous fuss about their move to ginormous indie Domino for Days. From one song to the next, this ...read more
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Okkervil River's sixth album is the band's most musically ambitious to
date, produced by singer Will Sheff and bursting with grand, stirring
arrangements. "The Valley" and "Wake and Be Fine" are ...read more
Tags:
70s
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80s
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acoustic
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anthemic
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art-rock
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awesome
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balkan
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brooklyn
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exuberant
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female vocal
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folk
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folk-rock
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girl-band
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guitar
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hardcore
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indie
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pop
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punk
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retro
,
rock
,
roots
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singer-songwriter
,
synth-pop
