It begins: Best of 2011 albums coming in

First Paste Magazine:

1) Bon Iver - Bon Iver
2) Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
3) My Morning Jacket - Circuitual
4) Tune-Yards - whokill
5) Middle Brother - Middle Brother
6) Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. - It's a Corporate World
7) Wilco - The Whole Love
8) Dawes - Nothing is Wrong
9) M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
10) The Decemberists - The King is Dead
11) St. Vincent - Strange Mercy
12) Iron and Wine - Kiss Each Other Clean
13) Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost/Radiohead - The King of Limbs
14) Adele - 21
15) Deer Tick - Divine Providence
16) Yuck - Yuck
17) The Civil Wars - Barton Hollow
18) Wye Oak - Civilian
19) Cults - Cults
20) Beirut - The Rip Tide

And Rolling Stone:

1) Adele - 21
2) Jay-Z and Kanye West - Watch the Throne
3) Paul Simon - So Beautiful or So What
4) Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
5) Radiohead - The King of Limbs
6) Lady Gaga - Born This Way
7) The Decemberists - The King is Dead
8) Wilco - The Whole Love
9) Wild Flag - Wild Flag
10) Robbie Robertson - How to Become Clairvoyant
11) My Morning Jacket - Circuitual
12) The Black Keys - El Camino
13) Tune-Yards - whokill
14) Beastie Boys - Hot Sauce Committee Pt. Two
15) Cage the Elephant - Thank You Happy Birthday
16) R.E.M. - Collapse Into Now
17) TV on the Radio - Nine Types of Light
18) Feist - Metals
19) Eric Church - Cheif
20) Foo Fighters - Wasting Light

Comments: This year's music seems like a weak crop to me. It seems it's the year of the brooding hipster neo-folky, with the Top 3 in Paste's list falling into that category and even more beneath it. I'm surprised to see that Iron and Wine album on any list. I thought it was one of the most disappointing albums of the year. Bon Iver is decent, but very overhyped. No way it deserves to be anywhere near #1. The Rolling Stone list is predictably stacked with buzz-worthy acts and old bands that trotted out new albums, which only a few challenging picks (Wild Flag and Tune-Yards are nice to see in the Top 20). They had Bon Iver at #21. Proving that Rolling Stone loves old time rock, no matter how bland it is, they had Superheavy at #34. This is a collaboration between Mick Jagger, Damien Parley, Joss Stone and A.R. Rahman, which sounds great in theory, but turns into a sleeping pill on CD.