Lots of great music this year. I usually don’t go beyond just a best-of metal list, but I’ve been listening to an awful lot of music from across all genres this year, so here’s my best-of in each general category.
Best of 2011 – Hip-hop
1. Hail Mary Mallon – Are You Going to Eat That?
2. The Roots - Undun
3. Blu – Open
4. Pharoahe Monch – W.A.R. (We Are Renegades)
5. Saigon – The Greatest Story Never Told
6. Pusha T – Fear of God II: Let Us Pray
7. Smif-N-Wessun & Pete Rock - Monumental
8. Mellow Hype - BlackenedWhite
9. Shabazz Palaces - Black Up
10 Kendrick Lamar – Section.80
Best of 2011 – Non-Metal
1. Thrice – Major/Minor
2. Tommy Stinson – One Man Mutiny
3. Mount Moriah – Mount Moriah
4. Feist – Metals
5. The Decemberists - The King Is Dead & Long Live The King
6. Los Campesinos! - Hello Sadness
7. Polar Bear Club - Clash Battle Guilt Pride
8. EMA - Past Life Martyred Saint
9. Girls – Father, Son, Holy Ghost
10. Tie: Zola Jesus – Conatus & Laura Marling – A Creature I Don’t Know
Best of 2011 – Metal
1. Subrosa – No Help For the Mighty Ones
2. Deafheaven – Roads to Judah
3. 40 Watt Sun – The Inside Room
4. Liturgy - Aesthetica
5. Ulcerate - The Destroyers of All
6. Maruta - Forward Into Regression
7. Batillus – Furnace
8. Title Fight - Shed
9. Obscura - Omnivium
10. Anaal Nathrakh - Passion
