2011 was a good year for music. There were a lot of releases by many different artists. Here’s a reflective selection of the albums I found myself returning to the most. Enjoy!

Wishing you all a magickal 2012.

Peace.

Radiohead – The King of Limbs

Radiohead returns with their shortest album to date, a collection of 8 songs clocking in at just under 38 minutes. It’s a beautiful collection of tracks, with great production, emphasis on texture, and Fela Kuti-inspired African rhythms underlying Thom Yorke’s haunting vocals. Radiohead also comissioned some of the world’s top producers to remix The King of Limbs, which were released throughout the year, culminating in a TKOL remix album a couple of months later.

Björk – Biophilia

Björk’s latest offering is an ambitous multimedia project inspired by the wonder of nature. Released initially as an iPod/iPhone/iPad app and debuting at Manchester International Festival as a full audio visual multimedia experience, the album itself consists of fresh production, magickal melodies and some of Björk’s deepest lyrics, with her singing about the creation of the universe, crystals, beings of light, the dance of the atom, the formation of the cosmos, and everything in between.

Modeselektor – Monkeytown

Berlin’s Modeselektor return with Monkeytown, an eclectic mix of tracks, ranging from hip-hop, to R&B, to Flying Lotus inspired melodic collages, to Kraftwerk-inspired electro, to straightforward 4/4 dance music, with distinct synth bass and beats to remind you that you’re listening to Modeselektor. Monkeytown is fresh and futuristic, and with contributions from Busdriver, Thom Yorke, Otto von Schirach, Miss Platinum, PVT and Anti-Pop Consortium, this is definitely an album worth sinking your teeth into.

Daedelus – Bespoke

Los Angeles producer Daedelus’ latest album is his debut release on British label Ninja Tune, and is quite possibly his best release to date. More cohesive than his previous offerings, Bespoke is playful, eccentric and accessible. Highlights include the melodic yet menacing Penny Loafers, featuring Inara George singing about getting her buttons pushed, the funky What Can You Do? featuring soulful vocals by rapper Busdriver, and the ominous post-dubstep of Overwhelmed, featuring haunting vocal textures courtesy of Bilal.

Rustie – Glass Swords

Rustie’s debut album Glass Swords is almost uncategorizable as far as genre goes. Rustie is one of those producers who seems to do whatever he feels like doing, and does it well. Glass Swords opens with melodic synths which quickly morph into rock guitar, and before you know it, you are in the midst of an eclectic collage of electronic sounds, vocal snippets, textures and melodies that could be described as Flying Lotus meets Joy Orbison on the dancefloor, with the occasional hint of dubstep. An impressive debut, it’ll be interesting to see where Rustie evolves to from here.

Lykke Li – Wounded Rhymes

Lykke Li returns with her second album, which is deeper and darker than her 2008 debut, Youth Novels. From the Stooges-inspired post-punk of Get Some, to the 60′s shoo wop of Unrequited Love, to the stripped down ballad I Know Places, Wounded Rhymes displays Lykke Li’s musical diversity. Although less playful than her previous album, it seems like Lykke Li has come of age.

Roots Manuva – 4everevolution

British rapper and producer Roots Manuva returns from the studio with an album that is his most eclectic release to date. With 17 tracks consisting of beats varying from hip-hop to electro to trip-hop to dub to dancehall to disco and vocals that are just as varied, Roots Manuva proves that he is still a powerful musical force to be reckoned with. This may just be his best album yet.

Shabazz Palaces – Black Up

Seattle duo Shabazz Palaces follow up their Shabazz Palaces and Of Light EPs with their debut full-length album, Black Up. Black Up is one of the most original sounding hip-hop albums to emerge in a long time, with forward thinking production and mind bending flows and lyrics. A departure from the boom clap that signifies most modern hip-hop, these beats are almost downtempo IDM with subtle synth and jazzy licks that create a perfect sonic platform for the MC known as Palaceer Lazaro aka Ishmael “Butterfly” Butler (the former Digable Planets frontman), to glide along to with his original flows.

Thundercat – The Golden Age of Apocalypse

The Golden Age of Apocalypse is Los Angeles bassist Thundercat’s debut album, and he propels electronic jazz into the 21st century with this progressive release. Along with his prolific experimental bass style, Thundercat displays his musical versatility by performing vocals on this album, which gives it a soulful edge. Produced by fellow Los Angeles based beatmaker Flying lotus, who incidentally is the nephew of jazz legend John Coltrane, this album forges new ground with its rich sonic landscape.

Welder – Florescence

Better known by his alter ego Eskmo, Welder dons his mask and brings us Florescence, a beautiful and melodic musical journey with a vast tapestry of ambient textures. Where Eskmo’s music is more beat and bass heavy, Welder’s focus is more on melody and harmony. This album is playful, ambient and introspective with many different sounds and instruments, and subtleties that will reward the listener with each repeated listen.

SBTRKT – SBTRKT

SBTRKT follows up a string of great remixes and singles with his self-titled debut full length album. This album displays diversity as it covers the full spectrum of bass music, from the post-dubstep of Wildfire featuring Little Dragon’s Yukimi Nagano to the house grooves of Pharaohs, and includes everything in between. Soulful and funky, this is a good album to dance to or to chill to, and is a solid debut album from a prolific producer.

St. Vincent – Strange Mercy

St. Vincent returns with her third album, Stange Mercy, which features crunchy guitars juxtaposed with her melodic vocals. This stripped down rock influenced album has catchy grooves and melodic soundscapes that form a sublime texture to compliment St. Vincents introspective lyrics and strong vocal delivery.

Little Dragon – Ritual Union

Little Dragon’s third studio album brings us more of their distinct and unique style, with catchy melodies, chunky synths and fresh beats which form a bouncy lanching pad for vocalist Yukimi Nagano’s soulful R&B styled vocals. Ritual Union is sexy, futuristic, stylish and moody, and showcases some of the best music that Little Dragon has released so far.

 

James Blake – James Blake

Prolific producer James Blake’s self-titled debut album is a departure from his more dubstep styled previous releases. This album is stripped down to its bare essentials, and showcases James Blake’s talent as a singer and songwriter. Highlights of the album include the minimal yet progressive Wilhelm’s Scream and a haunting cover of Feist’s Limit to Your Love.

Amon Tobin – ISAM

Amon Tobin’s ISAM is ambitious, melodic, atmospheric and abstract. This album is a collage of melodies with a distinct emphasis on texture that is a departure from Amon Tobin’s previous beat based releases. It has its moments of heavy beats and bass, and these moments serve more as punctuation than backbone, to showcase the ethereal sonic landscape that is ISAM. Amon Tobin has performed ISAM live as part of a full multimedia art installation, to create a full audio visual experience of his latest expression.

Atlas Sound – Parallax

Parallax is the third studio album from Atlas Sound (who is also known as Bradford Cox, the singer and guitarist from Deerhunter). Parallax is a well produced, restrained, singer songwriter album that is haunting, beautiful and melodic, with introspective lyrics. There are many subtleties on this album that make it one of those albums that appear minimal at first, but becomes richer with each listen.

Dangermouse & Daniele Luppi – Rome

Dangermouse and Daniele Luppi collaborate with Jack White and Norah Jones for an ambitious concept album that comes across like a soundtrack to a film that was never made. Dark, cinematic and moody, Dangermouse and Luppi’s compositions compliment White and Jones’ vocals exquisitely to tell a story that captures the essence of what you might imagine the movie Rome to be about.

Jamie Woon – Mirrorwriting

Jamie Woon presents us with a soulful, loungey house-influenced singer songwriter album, with influences of dubstep, funk and R&B. With Mirrorwriting, Jamie Woon forges his own direction and gives us a fresh take on UK bass music and infuses it with a slick, soulful edge.

Mogwai – Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will

Mogwai’s latest release brings us more of the textured, ambient, layered post-punk that they are best known for. This album is progressive and atmospheric, with a couple of vocal tracks, some anthemic sounding themes, and mysterious soundscapes that give it enough diversity to listen to repeatedly.

Zomby – Dedication

Zomby continues his mission to bring jungle back with his latest full length album, Dedication. This album is eclectic and diverse, and combines 8-bit video game melodies with dubstep, garage and dancehall, with an undercurrent of early 90′s jungle, which continues the theme of his 2009 release, Where Were You In ’92. These tracks are simultaneously cute and ominous, bouncy and spooky. Zomby’s knack for melody, his eclecticism, and his forward thinking production make his releases unique in that they can take clichéd musical styles and make them fresh again to give them a new lease on life.