Best of 2011 (as of mid-September)

So much awesome new music came out this month, so I'm doing this thingy here. These are in order. Well, sort of. Fluctuates a lot.

Kite Party - Baseball Season
Weatherbox - Follow The Rattle Of The Afghan Guitar
Cymbals Eat Guitars - Lenses Alien
Astronautalis - This Is Our Science
Pteradon - Viva!
Morning Teleportation - Expanding Anyway
Hey Rosetta! - Seeds
Bright Eyes - The People's Key
Mock Orange - Disguised as Ghosts
Summer People - Teamwork
Balance and Composure - Separation
Reverse The Curse - Hither & Yon
Laura Stevenson And The Cans - Sit Resist
Two Hand Fools - House Parts
All Get Out - The Season
Bridge And Tunnel - Rebuilding Year
Algernon Cadwallader - Parrot Flies
Andrew Jackson Jihad - Knife Man
Bomb The Music Industry! - Vacation
Aficionado - Aficionado
Crystal Antlers - Two-Way Mirror
Rise Against - Endgame
Samiam - Trips
The Horrible Crowes - Elsie
Vintage Kicks - King Geek
Polar Bear Club - Clash Battle Guilt Pride
Chuck Ragan - Covering Ground
Thrice - Major/Minor
Noman - Consonants And Sounds
Pygmy Lush - Old Friends
Tim Kasher - Bigamy
Dinosaur Bones - My Divider
The Rural Alberta Advantage - Departing
Crash of Rhinos - Distal
Title Fight - Shed
Joyce Manor - Joyce Manor
...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - Tao Of The Dead
Restorations - Restorations
Okkervil River - I Am Very Far
Manchester Orchestra - Simple Math
Grooms - Prom
Wye Oak - Civilian
Maritime - Human Hearts
White Wives - Happeners
For Serious This Time - Weird Life
By Surprise - Mountain Smashers
Cage The Elephant - Thank You Happy Birthday
Stephen Malkmus And The Jicks - Mirror Traffic
Mansions - Dig Up The Dead
31Knots - Trump Harm
Basement - I Wish I Could Stay Here
Banquets - Top Button, Bottom Shelf
Graham Wright - Shirts vs Skins
Hammer No More The Fingers - Black Shark
Prawn - You Can Just Leave It All
Small Brown Bike - Fell & Found
The Hotel Year - It Never Goes Out
An Horse - Walls
The Strokes - Angles
Vin Blanc - Chroma Key
WU LYF - Go Tell Fire To The Mountain
Only Thieves - Heartless Romantics
Broken Gold - Recovery Journal
Dave Hause - Resolutions
The Get Up Kids - There Are Rules
Frank Turner - England Keep My Bones
POPES - POPES II
Hightide Hotel - Nothing Was Missing, Except Me
Red City Radio - The Dangers of Standing Still
Yuck - Yuck
Taking Back Sunday - Taking Back Sunday
Rival Schools - Pedals
Max Bemis And The Painful Splits - Max Bemis And The Painful Splits 2
Lemuria - Pebble

Men Working In Trees - The Child Has Grown

This is a band from St. Louis whose new EP is up for free download on their Bandcamp page. You can find all their previous stuff there too, all for free. You have to download every track from "The Golden Age" individually though. Shouldn't be too hard to figure out. You can do it. I believe in you.

RIYL: Modest Mouse, Delta Spirit, Pomegranates (their words, not mine. seems fairly accurate though)

Stream/Download

Campaign - Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice!

Another excellent, free (though a donation is recommended) EP from the guys in Campaign. Go on and get it.

RIYL: The Draft, Hot Water Music, Polar Bear Club, gruff melodic (post-)hardcore

Download/Donate

Pteradon - ¡VIVA!

This. Album. Is. Amazing. I was sent a version of it in '08, put it on my year-end list in '09, and now it's finally seeing the light of day in '11. This should not be passed up. Donation-based download through Quote Unquote.

RIYL: Hard Girls, O Pioneers!!!, Bear vs. Shark, 'emorgcore'

Download/Donate

Note: Member(s) went on to help form Hard Girls, who rule too. I think they're putting out an album this year, so look out for that too.

Muldoon

POPES - POPES II

RIYL: Tigers Jaw, Superchunk, Saves the Day, Kind of Like Spitting

Stream/download

2010

Full-Lengths

1. Bars Of Gold - Of Gold
2. Tigers Jaw - Two Worlds
3. Titus Andronicus - The Monitor
4. The Library Is On Fire - Magic Windows, Magic Nights
5. Blunt Mechanic - World Record
6. Crime In Stereo - I Was Trying To Describe You To Someone
7. The Riot Before - Rebellion
8. Nana Grizol - Ruth
9. Eagle Scout - New Hands
10. Like Pioneers - Piecemeal
11. Tokyo Police Club - Champ
12. Tim Kasher - The Game of Monogamy
13. RVIVR - RVIVR
14. Summer People - Good Problems
15. Defiance, Ohio - Midwestern Minutes
16. The Tallest Man On Earth - The Wild Hunt
17. Frightened Rabbit - The Winter Of Mixed Drinks
18. The Xcerts - Scatterbrain
19. Run, Forever - The Devil, Death and Me
20. Smoke or Fire - The Speakeasy
21. Make Do And Mend - End Measured Mile
22. The Flatliners - Cavalcade
23. The Menzingers - Chamberlain Waits
24. Mimicking Birds - Mimicking Birds
25. Colour Revolt - The Cradle
26. Husband&Wife - Proud Flesh
27. Calculator. - These Roots Grow Deep
28. Gentle Ghost - Family
29. Dirty Tactics - It Is What It Is
30. Memory Map - Holiday Band
31. Rocky Votolato - True Devotion
32. River City Extension - The Unmistakable Man
33. imadethismistake - Bow And Quiver
34. The Thermals - Personal Life
35. Superchunk - Majesty Shredding
36. Grown Ups - More Songs
37. Various Artists - 180° South Soundtrack
38. Surfer Blood - Astro Coast
39. Andrew Cedermark - Moon Deluxe
40. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
41. Tin Horn Prayer - Get Busy Dying
42. Wintersleep - New Inheritors
43. Snowing - I Could Do Whatever I Wanted If I Wanted
44. Young Livers - Of Misery And Toil
45. Iron Chic - Not Like This
46. Joie De Vivre - The North End
47. Smile And Burn - Flight Attempt of the Kiwi
48. Paper Arms - Days Above Ground
49. Carpenter - Sea To Sky
50. Bad Books - Bad Books
51. The Gaslight Anthem - American Slang
52. Everyone Everywhere - Everyone Everywhere
53. Against Me! - White Crosses
54. None More Black - Icons
55. A Great Big Pile Of Leaves - Have You Seen My Prefontal Cortex?
56. Grim Fandango - Birthmark Blues
57. Max Bemis & The Painful Splits - Max Bemis & The Painful Splits
58. Fake Problems - Real Ghosts Caught On Tape
59. Sundowner - We Chase The Waves
60. Look Mexico - To Bed To Battle
61. Leatherface - The Stormy Petrel
62. Bedouin Soundclash - Light The Horizon
63. Transit - Keep This To Yourself
64. Animal Names - Let It Been
65. Band Of Horses - Infinite Arms
66. Auxes - Ichkannnichtmehr
67. Jay Malinowski - Bright Lights And Bruises
68. Alkaline Trio - This Addiction

EPs and stuff

1. Junior Astronomers - I Just Want To Make A Statement.
2. Glocca Morra - Split with The Greek Favourites
3. Bridge & Tunnel - Indoor Voices
4. Thousandaires - Million Dollar Move, Two Dollar Shot
5. Tigers Jaw - Split with Balance And Composure
6. Castevet - The Echo And The Light
7. Campaign - It Likes To Party
8. A Death In The Family - Origins
9. RVIVR - Dirty Water
10. Cattle Drums - The Boy Kisser Sessions
11. Annabel - Here We Are Tomorrow
12. Like Alaska - Insufficient Funds
13. Tigers Jaw - Acoustic Series 1 & 2
14. Weatherbox - Christpuncher
15. My Heart To Joy - Reasons To Be
16. Good Luck - Demonstration
17. Balance And Composure - Split with Tigers Jaw
18. Long Nights - demos/S-T
19. Make Do And Mend - Split With Touche Amore
20. Jamie Hay - Thieves
21. Paper Lions - Trophies
22. Caravela - Belvedere
23. Sundials - First Six Songs
24. LANTERNS. - Hale-Bopp
25. Restorations - Strange Behavior
26. TS & The Past Haunts - EP
27. Stay Ahead Of The Weather - We Better Get Goin' If We're Gonna
28. The World Is A Beautiful Place And I Am No Longer Afraid To Die - Formlessness
29. Castevet - Snack Town
30. Small Brown Bike - Composite, Vol. 2
31. Into It. Over It. - splits galore
32. Frank Turner - Rock & Roll
33. Big Kids - Hoop Dreams
34. Red City Radio - Spinning in Circles is a Gateway Drug
35. Joyce Manor - Constant Headache
36. Daylight - Dispirit
37. Little League - Frames
38. Nikolai The Coyote - The Dirt Marriage
39. Flower Flower - La Pina Mas Fina
40. You Blew It! - The Past In Present
41. Traveling By Sea - Light
42. We Were Promised Jetpacks - The Last Place You'll Look
43. 1994! - FCKYRHED
44. Princess Dinosaur - A Goldfish And His Friends
45. The Great Explainer - The Way Things Swell
46. Seahaven - Ghost
47. Bomb The Music Industry! - Adults!!!...
48. The Don Ramos Players - History And Geography
49. Jason Clackley - To The Few And Far Between
50. O Pioneers!!!/Junior Battles - Split
51. Smoke Or Fire - Prehistoric Knife Fight
52. Your Best Friend - (Re)mission
53. Senders - Recovery
54. What Hands Are For - ...Please Believe Me
55. Wax Phantom - Don't Fool With A Phantom