Each year, we’ve posted our top ten albums of the previous year. 2011 was an intriguing year.  The best albums were fantastic, but it felt like their was a dearth of great new bands.  Bands that put out great singles in 2010, tended to follow up with mediocre albums in 2011.  You’ll certainly want to check out our list of Top 10 EP’s of 2011, as we think there’s still a few bands with great promise on the horizon.  Thanks to the bands, the labels, the promoters and most of all….the readers. Over the next week, we’ll also be bringing you the top ten lists of some great musicians, writers and music industry folks for you to peruse. Check back soon!

This year we’re presenting individual lists from the three main contributors to the site. Each brings their own tastes and we hope you’ll enjoy them all.

Special thanks to our friends at Rdio, who’ve helped us to embed virtually every album on our top ten lists, so that you can listen to them in their entirety.   Enjoy!

Todd- Editor/Writer

01  We Are Augustines- Rise Ye Sunken Ships

02  The Duke Spirit- Bruiser

03  Apteka- Gargoyle Days

Striking Violet by apteka
Listen on Spotify: Apteka – Gargoyle Days

04  Adele- 21

05  Dum Dum Girls- Only In Dreams

06  Cerebral Ballzy- Cerebral Ballzy

07  The Black Keys- El Camino

08  Libyans- A Common Place

09  The Field- Looping State of Mind

10  Johnny Foreigner- Johhny Foreigner vs. Everything

Amy- Writer

01  Adele- 21

02  Lykke Li- Wounded Rhymes

03  Cults- Cults

04  Panda Bear- Tomboy

05  The Decemberists- The King Is Dead

06  The Antlers- Burst Apart

07  Fleet Foxes- Helplessness Blues

08  Jay-Z and Kanye West- Watch The Throne

09  Active Child- You Are All I See

10  EMA- Past Life Martyred Saints

Sania- Writer

01  The Horrors- Skying

02  Black Lips- Arabia Mountain

03  The Black Keys- El Camino

04  The Duke Spirit- Bruiser

05  Night Beats- Night Beats

Night Beats – Puppet On A String by BurgerRecords
Listen on Spotify: spotify:album:2bKHbnyTpfVWyQDen9Pgg0

06  Bass Drum of Death- GB City

07  Battles- Gloss Drop

08  Dirty Beaches- Badlands

Listen on Spotify: spotify:album:2vW79BiE5ngvlFe7JMcBAx

09  Psychic Ills- Hazed Dream

Listen on Spotify: spotify:track:0QncJR9cLt5SgFrq7qGxO9

10  Ringo Deathstarr- Colour Trip

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Each year, we’ve posted our top ten albums of the previous year.  2010 was a particularly good year for music and for TDOA.  Thanks to the bands, the labels, the promoters and most of all….the readers.

This year we’re presenting individual lists from the three main contributors to the site. Each brings their own tastes and we think you’ll enjoy each of them.

Todd- Editor/Writer

01  Sleigh Bells- Treats

Purchase it via iTunes or Amazon

02  Home Video- The Automatic Process

Interviewed here
Purchase it via iTunes or Amazon

03   Blood Red Shoes- Fire Like This

Interviewed here
Purchase it via iTunes or Amazon

04   Les Savy Fav- Root For Ruin

Interviewed here
Purchase it via iTunes or Amazon

05   The Prids- Chronosynclastic

Interviewed here
Purchase it via iTunes or Amazon

06   Jamaica- No Problem

Interviewed here
Purchase it via iTunes or Amazon

07   Ten Million Lights- Ten Million Lights

Fast Asleep by Ten Million Lights

Purchase it via iTunes or Amazon

08   For a Minor Reflection- Höldum í átt að óreiðu

Interviewed here
Purchase it via iTunes or Amazon

09   Anais Mitchell- Hadestown

Interviewed here
Purchase it via iTunes or Amazon

10   Whole Sky Monitor- Twisted Little Piggies

Interviewed here
Purchase it via iTunes or Amazon

Amy- Writer

1  Arcade Fire – The Suburbs

2  Anais Mitchell – Hadestown

3  Sleigh Bells – Treats

4  Best Coast- Crazy For You

5 Gayngs- Relayted

Interviewed Here.

6 Twin Shadow – Forget

Interviewed Here.

7 Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti

Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Round & Round from Delo Creative on Vimeo.

8 Joanna Newsom – Have One On Me

9 Mumford and Sons – Sigh No More

10 Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest

Sania- Writer

1  Black Rebel Motorcycle Club- Beat The Devils Tattoo

2  Delta Spirit- History From Below

3   The Black Angels- Phosphene Dream

4 Klaxons – Surfing the Void

5  Sonoio- Sonoio

sonoio2 from Alessandro Cortini on Vimeo.

6  Prospect- Honest Lies

7 The Black Keys – Brothers

8  Crocodiles- Sleep Forever

Interviewed Here.

9  Autolux- Transit Transit

10   Holy Fuck- Latin

View our picks for #21-30 here.
View our picks for #11-20 here.

Compiling a list of this magnitude is a daunting task, so we’re going to start with a disclaimer. This is “our” favorite albums of the decade and we make no claims that this is the defining, music snob list that you should bow before as you read it. While we shunned the concept initially, we’ve been disappointed to see a lot of our favorite albums being ignored by the likes of Pitchfork and others. Obviously, there will some overlap (how many Radiohead albums does your list have?), but in general we think this list gives you a taste of what The Dumbing of America has been listening to for the last decade.
Each Wednesday, we’ll present you with a new list for you to peruse. We’ve done everything we can to make it easy for you to listen to and purchase each of these records. And with that…..

40) Longview- Mercury (2004)
Recommended Track: Further

39) Ida Maria- Fortress ‘Round My Heart (Released in Europe in 2008. Please make fun of anyone that puts this on their 2009 ‘Best of’ list)
Recommended Track: Oh My God

38) Longwave- The Strangest Things (2003)
Recommended Track: Everywhere You Turn

37) The Futureheads- S/T (2004)
Recommended Track: Decent Days and Nights

36) The Electric Soft Parade- Holes In The Wall (2002)
Recommended Track: There’s A Silence
Not available from Lala or iTunes. Click on the Amazon link to listen and order.
The Electric Soft Parade- Holes in the Wall

35) Iron & Wine- Our Endless Numbered Days (2004)
Recommended Track: Naked As We Came

34) Division of Laura Lee- Black City (2002)
Recommended Track: Pretty Electric

33) The Distillers- Coral Fang (2003)
Recommended Track: Drain The Blood

32) The Black Keys- Thickfreakness (2003)
Recommended Track: Set You Free

31) The Distillers- S/T (2000)
Recommended Track: Oh Serena

Comments? Predictions of the #1 album? Questions on why our list doesn’t look anything like Pitchfork? Leave a comment!

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ED NOTE: View our picks for #’s 21 thru 30 here.

Here’s the list I published on January 1 of this year.

1) The Duke Spirit- Neptune (Both of their albums have been my number 1 for their respective year.  Clearly, the most under-rated band on the planet)

2) The Virgins- Self-Titled (Still a good pop record, but fading fast in my memory)

3) Darker My Love- 2 (Despite mailing it in when they were interviewed by me, this album still packs a wallop.)

4) Steve Malkmus- Real Emotional Trash (As with many Pavement records, it continues to grow on me.  Such a great songwriter.)

5 thru 10 were occupied by albums that I still like, but have quickly faded from my frequently played list: The Kooks (Konk), The Late Greats (Life Without Balloons), The Pigeon Detectives (Emergency), Fujiya & Miyagi (Lightbulbs), We Are Scientists (Brain Thrust Mastery), The Bronx (3)

So, with apologies to those I originally forgot, here’s the revised Best Albums of 2008…with a little perspective:

I’m efforting to post some videos that haven’t been shown here before.  With bands like TDS, it’s hard because we’ve written them up so many times.  But I’m pretty proud of these brand spankin new videos.

1) The Duke Spirit- Neptune

2) The Black Box Revelation- Set Your Head On Fire

3) The Black Keys- Attack and Release

4) Ida Maria- Fortress ‘Round My Heart

5) Darker My Love- 2

6) Jaydiohead- Jaydiohead: What?  I can’t put a mashup album on my list?  Well, this is the best mashup I’ve ever heard and deserves to be on this list.

7) Steve Malkmus- Real Emotional Trash

Division of Laura Lee- Violence Is Timeless

9) The Pigeon Detectives- Emergency

10) The Virgins- The Virgins

What do you think?  What albums did you miss the first time around in 2008, that you’re loving now?

Having said that, lord (am I supposed to capitalize that?  I’ll have to find a book on that…)knows I try.  I “bought” over 100 albums that were released last year.  I’m constantly reading blogs, listening to my Pandora, trying to find new music.  I say all this as a backdrop to my “discovery” of the Black Keys.  I knew they were out there, but for some reason I missed ‘em.  Problem is that the Pitchfork’s and Stereogum’s of the world latch on to some crap bands sometimes (how’d that Vampire Weekend thing work out for ya?), so being touted by them sometimes earns a pass from me.

There’s nothing worse than finding one of these bands too late.  I don’t mean so late that they’ve broken up.  I’m not that far behind!  It’s when you find the band shortly before they release their worst album and their inevitable decline (I’m sorry Spoon.  You’re good, but I would sacrifice my adorable dog and mediocre fish to have seen you tour with Telefono).  So I hear “I’ll Be Your Man” by Black Keys, fall in love, research and discover the album came out in 2002.  Uh oh.  I discover they released an album in 2008.  I listen to “Strange Times” (I miss Mark Burgess, btw) and love it.  I download the entire discography.  Perfection.  What’ll happen next?  They’ll either break up so I can never see them live or the next album will resemble the Foo Fighters (in which case I’ll drown the dog…..I may have issues with my dog.).

Today’s lesson? Stay vigilant.  Don’t get complacent.  Exile on Main Street was not the last great rock record.  Keep up.

Enjoy the greatness that is The Black Keys.