The Top 50 Albums Of 2011: #20-#11

#20
Florence & The Machine
‘Ceremonials’
(Island)
So spiritual is the vibe of ‘Ceremonials’ that we can almost imagine Flo and producer Paul Epworth spending the duration of the recording process wearing matching headdresses, burning candles and ritually sacrificing small mammals. As its title suggests, the record brims with celestial imagery, incandescent light and foreboding dark; the brash ‘What The Water Gave Me’ edging Flo closer to Stevie Nicks’ territory, whilst ‘No Light, No Light’ hosts her most overwhelmingly bracing chorus to date. Creeping into 2011’s closing chapter, ‘Ceremonials’ gives the year a brazen send-off.
Harriet Gibsone

#19
Veronica Falls
‘Veronica Falls’
(Bella Union)
Just a few short years ago, the very idea of a C86- referencing indie revival would have been greeted with derisive snorts – and yet here we are, surrounded by earnest shamblers and lo-fi popsters. Veronica Falls were among the best of ‘em; if it took a while for the London-based quartet’s debut LP to drop, it was worth the wait. An uncomplicated pleasure, sure, yet totally justified by the elegant warmth of ‘Stephen’ and ‘Found Love In A Graveyard’’s wry faux-gothery.
Will Fitzpatrick

#18
James Blake    
‘James Blake’ 
(ATLAS/A&M)
2011 might be when the mainstream finally thought it had got to grips with dubstep, but it probably hadn’t reckoned on taking on board vivisected soul, a fuzzy annihilation of the modern-day folk fetish,and bowel-brutalising sub-bass. Still, that wasn’t going to stop James Blake delivering master classes in all of those and more on a debut that was simultaneously unhinged and unassuming, led to loads of this year’s most poorly-thought-through dancing, and was unarguably the 21st century’s most dazzlingly original chart success.
Iain Moffat

#17 
Bon Iver
‘Bon Iver’ 
(Secretly Canadian/4AD) 
While the follow-up to 2007’s incredible debut, ‘For Emma, Forever Ago’, is less immediate than its predecessor, it’s nevertheless nevertheless another product of astounding beauty from Justin Vernon. Perhaps because of his work with Kanye West, this collection of songs is just as fragile as the first lot, but is significantly more ambitious and experimental. More than that, it leaves the door open for the future, suggesting that Vernon, behind his Bon Iver moniker, could be one of the most important artists around in years to come.
Mischa Pearlman

#16
Washed Out  
‘Within And Without’ 
(Weird World Records) 
He survived the pigeonholing and hype that the “chillwave” tag drenched him with. Then, battling accusations of deliberately pioneering the nostalgia-heavy genre before anyone could say “Pitchfork”, he made a glistening debut album, heavy with yearning, kaleidoscopic melodies and heart-rending sentiment, that marked his card as a genuine electronic innovator. That he did it whilst battling insecurities, personal upheaval and confidence-shattering expectation is all the more impressive. Congratulations to then, to Ernest Greene, for being well and truly all chilled out.
Ben Homewood

#15
Anna Calvi
‘Anna Calvi’
(Domino Recording Co.) 
Anna Calvi has proved tough to pin down. Her debut – part-mentored by Brian Eno, no less – is a work of heightened drama; tales of obsessive love (‘Susanne And I’) and obsessive lust (‘Desire’) that are grandiose without being overblown, delivered with a spectacular, shimmering, chic. Though the Mercury panel understood, she seems to have confused the public – too edgy for Florence fans, not edgy enough for PJ devotees. More’s the pity, as ‘Anna Calvi’ is as classy a debut as it’s possible to make.
JJ Dunning

#14
Friendly Fires
‘Pala’
(XL Recordings)
How to survive the collapse of new rave? Simples: record the best song written about old rave since ‘Weak Become Heroes’, and get EVEN!MORE! TECHNI COLOR! Truly, ‘Pala’’s games were of the thoroughly playful variety, with ‘Hawaiian Air’ boomeranging beatifically, ‘Blue Cassette’ proving all Daft Punky and craftily funky, ‘Helpless’ surfing a sly summer-starting cascade, and ‘Hurting’concealing its bruises beneath a shattering pop sheen. Sure, the ashes might’ve come a-knocking, but, instead, Friendly Fires positively lit up the entire year.
Iain Moffat

#13
Yuck
‘Yuck’
(Pharmacy) 
Not many teenagers are capable of turning those insecure bedroom hours spent bemoaning all around them into something productive. Praise be to Daniel Blumberg and Max Bloom then, because their teenage introspection emerged as a spiky, lovelorn and endlessly loveable hulk of an indie-rock album that grabbed 2011 by the scruff of the neck. Teaming adorable nervousness with bottomless knowledge of their scruffy, distorted forbears, Daniel, Max, Johnny and Mariko took us on one of 2011’s most engaging journeys.
Ben Homewood

#12   
Radiohead
‘The King Of Limbs’
(XL Recordings)
While its snap-release didn’t catch us quite as off balance as its predecessor ‘In Rainbows’ did, the eight shards of bleak electronica that comprised Radiohead’s eighth album, ‘The King Of Limbs’, were notaltogether predictable.Heavily rhythmic and packed with eerie loops, this was the sound of a band once again obscuring and recalibrating their own image. In ‘Lotus Flower’, however, they found the link-way between ‘In Rainbows’’ triumphant serenity and this abrasive new landscape.
JJ Dunning

#11
Kurt Vile
‘Smoke Ring For My Halo’
(Matador)
Proving that acoustic finger picking isn’t the sacred preserve of worthy singer-songwriter types, Philadelphia’s Kurt Vile turned in a hazy, deadbeat collection that borrows equally from towering songwriters(Dylan, Springsteen), slacker pop heroes (The Lemonheads) and sheer noiseniks (Dinosaur Jr, Sonic Youth). Cleaner in sound than his previous work, it’s classic American rock for the Occupy Wall Street era –downtrodden, damaged and delicate but still in love with the romance of the American dream. In short, it’s the year’s best comedown album.
Dan Stubbs

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