Under the Radar's Top 50 Albums of 2011

Under the Radar's Top 50 Albums of 2011

Original Source →

50.

September 7, 2011
Critic Score
73
30 reviews

Era Extrana radiates with enough passion to make life more than a little woozy.

49.

March 8, 2011
Critic Score
70
33 reviews
Here, the 51-year-old is comfortable in his role as an elder statesman, as are guitarist Peter Buck and bassist Mike Mills on their most self-aware record since the departure of drummer Bill Berry in 1998.

46.

September 27, 2011
Critic Score
71
8 reviews

45.

February 18, 2011
Critic Score
75
41 reviews

There are surely treasures to be found in The King of Limbs, as the listens pile up ... However, the initial awe is simply not there, and the love-at-first-listen isn’t either.

44.

October 4, 2011
Critic Score
75
12 reviews

42.

January 18, 2011
Critic Score
78
32 reviews

41.

September 27, 2011
Critic Score
81
37 reviews
Some of the album's most arresting moments come as the dust settles.

39.

June 7, 2011
Critic Score
82
31 reviews
Even if you can't quite make out all the words to David's story, it still plays like a thriller.

37.

November 8, 2011
Critic Score
76
20 reviews

34.

February 4, 2011
Critic Score
82
37 reviews

The highs are notable. The problem is, Blake has put himself in a tight box, and when he strays out of it the material wavers.

31.

Hooray for Earth - True Loves
June 7, 2011
Critic Score
72
15 reviews

30.

April 11, 2011
Critic Score
79
35 reviews

It's with Nine Types that they've taken their longest step toward highlighting the influence of Bowie's late '70s/early '80s work and weaving it into a current context.

29.

October 18, 2011
Critic Score
75
32 reviews
Once the album finishes, the feeling is of a consistently pleasing spell, but one without many memorable moments.

28.

February 4, 2011
Critic Score
72
35 reviews
Owing a debt of gratitude to every 1970s police show theme song in existence, Cut Copy blends all their influences into a multi-movement haze of electronics, creating a perfect album send-off. Hit repeat and keep the good times rolling.

27.

May 9, 2011
Critic Score
81
33 reviews

As Wild Beasts records tend to go, Smother is par for the course in terms of its opulent eccentricities and its magnificently polished arrangements. This time around, though, the Beasts have been tamed. Frankly, that's a disappointment.

25.

September 13, 2011
Critic Score
78
15 reviews

24.

January 25, 2011
Critic Score
85
30 reviews
Sure it's a little pretentious, but poetic license feels more like a savage gift in Bejar's hands.

23.

September 13, 2011
Critic Score
81
29 reviews

22.

April 19, 2011
Critic Score
85
33 reviews
It's truly peerless music. And though Garbus sometimes teeters on the brink of musical bombast, her imagination propels it all forward while avoiding the quicksand of self-indulgence.

21.

June 28, 2011
Critic Score
73
19 reviews
He’s crafted a singular art piece rife with joy, sadness, regret, and redemption on what is certainly one of the finest LPs of 2011 thus far.

20.

August 30, 2011
Critic Score
75
28 reviews

19.

February 22, 2011
Critic Score
75
29 reviews

18.

May 17, 2011
Critic Score
75
11 reviews

17.

September 27, 2011
Critic Score
77
22 reviews

The Year of Hibernation occupies many spaces at once, a seeming contradiction that makes better use of its incongruous pieces than most records do of its complimentary pieces. The result is both mournful and joyful, but totally enjoyable.

16.

April 12, 2011
Critic Score
82
28 reviews
The emotional pallet may be lightened, but once again Elbow still manages to break hearts, even as their own remain intact.

14.

June 28, 2011
Critic Score
77
26 reviews

13.

October 28, 2011
Critic Score
76
35 reviews

On the lofty Ceremonials, even a bad boyfriend can be an epiphany from on high.

12.

August 23, 2011
Critic Score
71
18 reviews

11.

August 16, 2011
Critic Score
78
31 reviews

This fully delivers on the potential that 2008’s Wagonwheel Blues hinted at, a swath of nostalgia in a storm of mind-bending audio. This is boss-gaze, and—sorry, old dudes and purity chasers—it’s stupendous.

10.

January 14, 2011
Critic Score
78
22 reviews

9.

July 12, 2011
Critic Score
71
37 reviews
Washed Out, despite the label and increasing popularity, still feels like a secret, a hallmark of the best bedroom pop.

8.

February 15, 2011
Critic Score
75
34 reviews
Yuck have managed to craft a surprisingly accomplished album for a band that's only a little more than a year old

7.

February 14, 2011
Critic Score
89
44 reviews

If there's an underlying motif that guides Let England Shake, it's one of being utterly enraged with the seemingly endless cycle of war and violence, while simultaneously being captivated by the mythology of one's home nation.

5.

July 26, 2011
Critic Score
81
33 reviews

The songs on Skying are dense, towering, and occasionally overstuffed.

4.

May 3, 2011
Critic Score
83
40 reviews

Far from that folksy, laid-back image, Helplessness Blues confirms Fleet Foxes' place as one of the most exacting, creative, and straight-up best bands making music in 2011.

3.

June 21, 2011
Critic Score
85
41 reviews

It's a logical progression from Emma, and one that few artists have been able to make. Most try to return to their wallowing, to mine the same material that connected them with their audience in the first place. But Vernon deserves tremendous credit for wanting to express his hope and his joy.

2.

October 18, 2011
Critic Score
75
40 reviews
A remarkable accomplishment.

1.

September 12, 2011
Critic Score
86
37 reviews

Where Clark previously impressed through the sheer audacity of her strengths as a songwriter and arranger, here she has stopped trying to impress and simply made an album assembled through feel and intuition, and, taken as a whole, it feels perfect.

Original Source: http://www.undertheradarmag.com/lists/under_the_radars_top_80_albums_of_2011/
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