Best 11 of 2011

Stacey Jay Cavaliere ranks the top albums from the past year.

By Stacey Jay Cavaliere

Top 11 of 2011

Eargasm columnist Stacey Jay Cavaliere ranks the top CDs from the past year

No. 1: Adele: 21

Adele 21 While 21 from British soul-singer Adele is the most critically successful release, it is also the best of 2011. Hands down. Adele's sophomore release has sold more than 12 million copies and spent 13 weeks atop the U.S. Billboard 200. It garnered six Grammy Awards nominations, including Song and Record of the Year for the smash single "Rolling in the Deep," as well as Album of the Year. The young woman has an old soul, and she channels her heartache, pain and life's unexpected ups-and-downs to perfection through every note. 21 has something for everyone — pop, soul, rhythm and blues, folk and even a touch of rock and roll. No matter what musical style you are into, there is no arguing that Adele's 2011 album 21 is the best album of the year.

No. 2: Austra: Feel It Break

Austra Feel it Break Toronto-based band Austra is perhaps the most exciting thing to come into the music industry in a long while. Led by vocalist Katie Stelmanis, the band made a stellar debut with its first full-length album. Austra's often dark, yet dreamy sound is unique, giving nods to Hercules and Love Affair, Fever Ray and even Nico. Stelmanis' voice is the main attraction, as she finds a way to fuse her operatic training with her love of electro-synth noise with precision and grace. Lyrical content includes love lost and found, sexual politics and struggling with one's identity, a theme Stelmani has been dealing as she comes into her own as an out lesbian artist. Stelmani has become a voice that turns heads for reaching those high octaves, both in the music, and in life.

No. 3: Tony Bennett: Duets II

Tony Bennett Duets 2 A "who's who" of the music world, the lineup on legend Tony Bennett's second album of duets is pure pleasure. Bennett surrounded himself with modern musical artists, including Norah Jones, John Mayer, Carrie Underwood and Mariah Carey. The crooner is still in top form vocally, restoring classic tunes with Lady Gaga, k.d. lang and Faith Hill. The best and most poignant of the tracks is "Body and Soul," the last full recording from the late musical genius Amy Winehouse. Recorded just four months before her tragic death, the sultry soul singer reveals her jazz and blues roots by channeling a Billie Holliday-like beauty with every painful note she sings. With Duets II, Bennnett proves that even at 85 years old, he is still supremely on top of his game.

No. 4: Radiohead: The King of Limbs

Radiohead King of Limbs Probably the most successful, yet un-derrated band today, British alternative group Radiohead took the world by storm with the release of The King of Limbs, their eighth full-length studio album. Ever-evolving and exploring, Radiohead takes a great turn on this album. The first single, "Lotus Flower" is an energetic and quirky song that garnered three Grammy nominations. The album is also nominated for Best Alternative Music Album. Lead singer and mastermind Thom Yorke and his band mates showcase their best work with this release — polished, perfected and precise. Although The King of Limbs has the shortest running time and track listing of any Radiohead album, it succeeds despite its length. With The King of Limbs, abstract art has never sounded so good.

No. 5: Florence + the Machine: Ceremonials

florence-ceremonials After a hugely successful 2009 debut with the album Lungs, and her remarkable performance at last year's Grammy Awards, singer Florence Welch and her indestructible "machine" have done it again with the release of Ceremonials. The album is both current and nostalgic. The sound is polished and perfected. And most of all, Welch's voice is distinguished and delightful. With lush instrumentation and impeccable flow, each song gracefully glides from one to the next, making the album as a whole a supreme success. Featuring haunting choir voices, amazing orchestration and complicated layered bells and gongs, the record is sublime. Welch sings with passion, professionalism and inspiration, better than ever before. This machine is finely tuned, well-oiled and sure to soar to even more amazing heights.

No. 6: Bjork: Biophilia

Bjork - Biophilia The Ice Queen has done it again with her outer space-inspired innovation, Biophilia. This ahead-of-our-time endeavor saw Bjork at her most creative as she charted the course for listeners to experience an out-of-this world exploration involving planetary orbits, cosmic exploration and celestial satisfaction. Intended to musically stimulate and educate, it's the first album to be released as a series of iPad and iPhone apps. The Icelandic genius employed the assistance of National Geographic, Apple and narrator Sir David Attenborough to compliment the beautiful music she created. She also commissioned an engineering company to create new instruments she calls "gravity harps" to make sounds that are reflective of the earth's gravitational pull in relation to kinetic energy. Bjork's Biophilia may not be a huge critical success, but it has set the tone, expectation and future of the way modern music is conceived, created and produced.

No. 7: Fleet Foxes: Helplessness Blues

Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues Possibly one of the best sophomore releases to be released in a long while from any band, Fleet Foxes' Helplessness Blues is awe-inspiring and triumphant. Both sweet and comforting, the album takes listeners on a melodic journey complimented by lead singer Robin Pecknold's amazing vocal capability, and the band's supreme and professional experience. With this release, Fleet Foxes have caught on like wildfire, making them a soon-to-be household name. The music sells itself with its beautiful and familiar sound, a breath of fresh air among today's pop saturated music industry. Nominated for a Grammy for Best Folk Album, this band will win the hearts of listeners. Helplessness Blues is neither helpless nor blue, but instead is one of the best albums of the year.

No. 8: Gotye: Making Mirrors

Gotye Making Mirrors You've probably never heard of Wally De Backer, the man behind Gotye, but he's someone you should become acquainted with. The Belgian-Australian multi-instrumental musician and singer-songwriter released his third studio album this year, to rave reviews. A hometown hero in his native Australia, Gotye is an artist who does things his own way by recording in his home studio with his hand on every single note, beat and lyric. The album's smash single, "Somebody That I Used To Know," is an addicting and beautiful ode to a love lost and the feelings that come afterward. Gotye's breathy vocals and genius lyrical skills are unique, comforting and haunting all at the same time. He's a unique and gifted artist.

No. 9: Tori Amos: Night of Hunters

Tori Amos' 12th studio album Night of Hunters is an outstanding release in which she switches gears a bit in her approach to songwriting and musical composition. Amos infuses more of a classical tradition in her new batch of songs, this time inspired by select classical pieces spanning the last 400 years. She tackles new themes while still paying tribute to the classic masters, turning the songs into a magical, whimsical and delightful journey and reinventing herself with every track. Amos confronts the battle of loss, love and the search to find herself once again. Amos has challenged her fans with a new sound and style, while remaining true to her blunt honesty and passion in each note she plays, and in every lyric that she sings.

No. 10: Active Child: You Are All I See

Active Child - You Are All I See Choirboy-turned-indie rocker Pat Grossi (under the moniker Active Child) released You Are All I See, his first full-length album, to critical acclaim. Using his classical training and experience singing in the Philadelphia Boys Choir, Grossi mixed the various sides of his puzzling personality to create a wonderfully gorgeous album. Fusing synthesizers, harp, dub-step beats and his pristine classical vocal style, the young artist has created a lush, complex soundscape that is best described as a mix of electronic, indie, pop, soul and choral sounds. Each track offers something rare and unique. His androgynous vocal ability highlights both his powerful tenor and falsetto vocal capabilities. Grossi is quickly becoming a darling among the indie music scene for his sneak peek of what modern music is heading toward.

No. 11: Bon Iver: Bon Iver

Bon Iver - Bon Iver After first listening to Bon Iver's self-titled sophomore release, you will be left wondering how Justin Vernon (founder and frontman) spent a majority of 2010 working closely with Kanye West on the hip-hop master's album My Dark Twisted Fantasy. Beyond their polar opposite sounds, however, there is a main commonality — their brutal honesty in their songwriting. Switching gears from their pensive and deeply emotional 2007 debut release For Emma, Forever Ago, this year's self-titled album is intricate in orchestration, mature in lyrical content and polished in Vernon's vocals. Poetic and pretty, the album is comforting and cozy. The success of Bon Iver has been met with four nominations at this year's Grammy Awards, sold-out shows and critical praise, which help prove that this band is one of the best to come onto the indie rock scene in a long time. -E