Slant Magazine's 25 Best Albums of 2011

It so effectively hits you warm in the gut with distortion and stick-to-your-ribs melodies that you won't just wish you were 20 again; you'll realize there's no subscribed age qualification for that wonderful feeling you get while listening to this record. 

For much of Bon Iver, Vernon takes his cues from Volcano Choir, using an array of disparate instrumentation and looping effects to beautifully eerie effect.

Clark’s bare, sedate St. Vincent persona is the highlight of Strange Mercy, reflecting all the terror, beauty, and allure of her music more effectively than any cantakerous narrator could muster.

The combination of Wounded Rhymes’s noisy factory ambience and Li’s frayed persona is subtle yet striking, building slowly and purposefully without ever reaching heavy-handed bombast.