Top 11 in Music of 2011

I thought it would be a good idea to devote the final days of 2011 to a bit of reminiscing on what things 2011 has brought. The first post will be devoted to all things music related. I will list my favorite songs, my favorite albums AND my favorite concerts of the past year. I will link to posts if I wrote a post on this before. Let’s start the countdown!

Songs:

All songs listed below are songs I listened to on repeat in the past year. Not all of these were exactly released in 2011, but most of them were. It goes from rock to folk to loopy break beats and gloomy melancholic piano stuff and even some straight up pop. This is in no particular order.

Toro Y Moi – New Beat, Pete & the Pirates – Come to the Bar, De Staat – Sweatshop, I Blame Coco – No Smile, Pete Roe – Bellina, Peter Broderick – Pulling the Rain, Lady Gaga – Marry the Night, Warpaint – Undertow, Banjo or Freakout – Go Ahead (Tropics Remix), Gold Panda – Snow & Taxis, The Head & the Heart – Lost in my Mind, Frontier Ruckus – Nerves of the Night Mind, Bobby Long – Penance Fire Blues, Britney Spears – Selfish, Robert Pattinson – Songs from a Room, And So I Watch You From Afar – Set Guitars to Kill, Weirddough – Mint Sugar, The Kills – Pots & Pans, Hadouken – House is Falling, Does it Offend You Yeah – Yeah.

Albums:

At the start of 2011, I wrote this post about which albums I was looking forward to hearing that I knew would be released this year. I have heard all of these and loved all of them. The Britney Spears CD was quite bland but after giving it another listen I cannot but conclude that it is yet again filled with danceable upbeat songs, and sometimes, that is just what I like. All the other albums became favorites straight away and some have been bought and listened to on repeat many a time. Here are some honorable mentions that were not in my anticipated list, but still sum up 2011 in music quite nicely for me.

James Vincent McMorrow – Early in the Morning

Florence & the Machine – Ceremonials

Bobby Long – A Winter Tale

Pete & the Pirates – One Thousand Pictures

The Kills – Blood Pressures

Toro Y Moi – Underneath the Pine

The Head & the Heart – The Head & the Heart

Does It Offend You Yeah – Don’t Say We Didn’t Warn You

The Low Anthem – Smart Flesh

Alamo Race Track – Unicorn Loves Deer

Concerts:

I didn’t go to many concerts this year. For two reasons: one, there weren’t that many cool bands around and two, I was simply too busy as uni got crazier throughout the year. I was only able to go to see anything on weekends and that narrows things down quite drastically. But here are the concerts I went to and loved the most, which is also why I wrote about them.

Elbow, Justin Nozuka, Pete & the Pirates, Bobby Long, Warpaint, The Kills

As you can see, there’s quite a few names popping up in several categories. That is no surprise to me, as I usually start with a song or two, then like the album and then decide to go to a show if the band in question is touring while I am interested in them. So there you have it: my favorite music of 2011. What’s yours?