2011 has been a strange but wonderful year for music. We have seen the musical world take a far more dark and gritty turn, with some artists pushing it to the limit with what the say and talk about in their music. Here is a list of the albums I have rated the best.
At number 10 we have Travis Barker’s debut album ‘Give The Drummer Some’. Being his debut album and taking a very different turn from Blink-182, it truly is a fantastic piece of work. Boasting lyrical guests from all genres and wrapped up in his almost impossibly skilled drum beats it is not an album to be missed.
Ranking in at number 9 we see Shwayze’s third studio album ‘Island In The Sun’. It is everything you would expect from a Shwayze album, but doesn’t really give the listener any real surprises, which was a bit of a disappointment for some. On the whole it is a great album, just lacks that certain oomph that their previous albums had.
Number 8 goes to Lupe Fiasco. Realising his phenomenal album ‘Lasers’, he dared to question what so few celebrities did, and did it all with an exceptional flow and rhyme. He has seemed to reinvent himself in his newest album and has directed his message more. A good change for him and music.
The Game released ‘The R.E.D. album’ in the later half of the year, personally I feel that this is his best effort so far. He went away for a while and even spoke of retiring, but he came back hard with this album. You can feel the hard work that has gone into each well placed beat and word in the CD. His album has earned himself the number 7 spot on the list.
Benjamin Francis Leftwich’s debut album ‘The Last Smoke Before The Snow Storm’ claims number 6 on top 10 albums of 2011. It is one of the most relaxing, chilled out albums you are likely to have heard this year. With every song adding to an entire story rather than a bunch of random songs complied together to create on album.
Mac Miller is probably one of the most inspiring artists out there today. Having self released his debut album ‘Blue Slide Park’ and having it go to number 1 in America is a great achievement by anyone’s standard; but doing it when your 19 is even a greater achievement. Taking the number 5 spot his album is filled with deep beats and lyrical content that makes you think he could be on the border of rhyming genius.
The number 4 spot goes to Funeral Party and their debut album ‘The Golden Age Of Knowhere’. They brought something new and fresh to the music scene and when listening to the album at times it almost feels exciting, like something is about to happen.
Funeral for a Friend are a band that have been around a while now and each album they produce is slightly different and yet still good, making this band one of the most fascinating post-hardcore band of today. Their newest album ‘Welcome Home Armageddon’ has combined all the previous elements spread out throughout their previous albums and seemed to combine them into one fantastic album giving them the number 3 spot.
One album that really stuck out this year was of a very different kind. It took the world by storm, and people either love or hate him with no in between. The artist himself is one of the most outrageous foul mouthed celebrities today and has made sure he has got under peoples skin. At number 2 it is none other then Tyler, The Creator with his astonishing ‘Goblin’ album.
This year has been shrouded in political and social unrest all over the world, with riots, assassinations and leaders stepping down scattered across the globe. Taking all this into account, the album that took the top spot of album of all albums in 2011 is The King Blues with their exceptional album ‘Punk & Poetry’. It is rich and full of all the angst and anti-establishment feeling the global society has felt this year. The music itself is a wonderful collection, varying from punk to dance music back to rock. Not to mention it is full of angry anti-government lyrics. What could make it better and more fitting for the best album of this year?
Happy 2012!
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