Stephen Bolen

Wow. Amazing posters. This Hüsker Dü poster is one of my favorites.

I always seem to start these posts and never finish them. Well, NO MORE, I say. Rather than writing a bunch of witty banter, I’ll cut right to the quick: Here are my favorite albums of 2011.

And, a little disclosure: I’ve embedded affiliate links to Amazon MP3 for you to purchase these albums. 

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. – It’s a Corporate World

This album is magnificent. I’m not sure what else I can say about it… you need to buy this. Badly.

tUnE-yArDs – W H O K I L L

Merrill Garbus is a genius. Support her genius. Buy W H O K I L L from Amazon MP3 for FIVE BUCKS. Seriously. FIVE DOLLARS.

Das Racist – Relax

It’s so hard to follow two pretty amazing mixtapes (Shut up, Dude and Sit Down, Man) with a full-length, but somehow, Das Racist managed to do it, and do it very well with Relax. Amazon MP3 has this for FIVE DOLLARS. Maybe you should buy it, you should probably buuuuy it.

Fucked Up – David Comes to Life

I’m not really sure what to write here. Fucked Up usually isn’t my cup of tea, but goddamn, this album is smoking. It’s totally worth dropping $10 at Amazon MP3.

Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks – Mirror Traffic

I love Pavement. Ergo, I love Stephen Malkmus. Mirror Traffic is probably my favorite post-Pavement Stephen Malkmus album. Here’s an Amazon MP3 link to purchase this gem for under $10.

Tom Waits – Bad As Me

One of my favorite concert experiences was seeing Tom Waits at the Fox Theatre in St. Louis. I had 3rd row seats and was officially sweat on by Mr. Waits. I thought Orphans was a good album. But Bad As Me blows that three-disc set outta the water. Bonus: Get it from Amazon MP3 and save some coin.

No big whoop:

Sound waves 57 octaves lower than middle-C are rumbling away from a supermassive black hole in
the Perseus cluster.

The last time I bought a Guided by Voices album, I physically walked into a store and paid cash.

This go-round, I downloaded the album straight to my iPhone from the iTunes App.