
I have no interest in writing as a critic. Critics certainly have their place amongst the arts – dissecting and analyzing the details that cast greatness, but a critic’s opinion is only a shade of the experience they critique because it – by definition – is objective. What makes creation and the arts so powerful is what we bring to it – a key that unlocks a door to a world that only we can know. Music meets us where we stand, walk, drive, dance and weep. For me, it is these intimate experiences that define the “best” albums of a year. These are the albums that are inseparable from my memories from 2011.
5. Blitzen Trapper

American Goldwing
Love The Way You Walk Away
I took this album to Spokane, Washington during Thanksgiving this year. Most, if not all, of my friends in Seattle have some connection with this city – therefore, most of my friends also share a love/hate relationship with the place. It was their college town – a place with so much history, but only short-term memory. Worn, familiar and stagnant. My love/hate relationship was with a town called Elgin, Illinois – a college town of similar endearment. This brokenhearted album found its home here, amongst the faded memories that drift along forgotten streets and pale golden hills.
Favorites include: Love The Way You Walk Away, Astronaut, Stranger In A Strange Town.
Buy > American Goldwing
4. The Antlers

Burst Apart
Rolled Together
This album found me long after I first heard it. I caught them when they came to The Neptune in Seattle and witnessed the entire album live. Their patient set built upon tension and layered falsettos until the space was transformed to the surreal. The lush noise washed over us and – for a submerged moment – we forgot the ground upon which we stood. Since then, it has become a reliable album for entering into a creative, emotive space while designing. The moment his vocals pierce the silence, I’m submerged once again.
Favorites include: I Don’t Want Love, Rolled Together, Hounds.
Buy > Burst Apart
3. Boy & Bear

Moonfire
Part Time Believer
Summer brought rooftop parties, crabbing trips and mountain expeditions – and none of it would have been the same without the jubilant, stampeding harmonies of Australia’s Boy & Bear. Part Time Believer, in particular, brings smiles as its nostalgia meets us where we are – invoking memories of America’s A Horse With No Name and sun-worn summer days. I have great hopes for this young band and can’t wait to see what becomes of them in the near future.
Favorites include: Lordy May, Feeding Line, Part Time Believer.
Buy > Moonfire
2. Dawes

Nothing is Wrong
Time Spent In Los Angeles
It should be no surprise to those who know me that Dawes should be featured in this list. It’s been a long time since I could claim to have a “favorite” band, but lately Dawes has fit that category for me. And it isn’t so much any particular detail of their craft that finds me so enchanted, but something in between. Somewhere between Taylor’s songwriting and impassioned delivery and their classic Americana sound and flawlessly flawed production – a spark is lit within me. I was blessed to witness them live two more times this year, sharing my love for a band with friends that agreed to come along. There’s something to their music that tells me that I’m exactly where I belong. Earlier this year, I was beaten down by hardships at work and loneliness. My friends banded together and threw me a surprise party to lift my spirits. When I walked in the door to our apartment, I was greeted with a room filled with smiling faces shouting SURPRISE… and Nothing Is Wrong spinning on the turntable. I am exactly where I belong.
Favorites include: Time Spent In Los Angeles, So Well, My Way Back Home.
Buy > Nothing Is Wrong
1. Fleet Foxes

Helplessness Blues
Helplessness Blues
This album and it’s anthem found most of us exactly where we stood this Spring. Thematically and aesthetically, Helplessness Blues felt timeless the first time it played. Since then, we’ve taken it everywhere this year and it’s rung true every play – seemingly gaining gravity with each listen. This Summer I brought it on a trip to the Rockies. My family always took our vacations in Colorado, so I was very familiar with Rocky Mountain National Park. This time, however, for the very first time, got to drive through it. Everything about Estes Park seemed smaller, but those mountains kept their majesty intact. I was returning to this place as a man, but I felt my eyes looking at those mountains once again as a child. Soaring down the mountainside, hugging the cliff with every turn, Helplessness Blues resonated from the open windows of my car. It was a surreal moment that felt as if it was not chained to time. I had found Heaven.
Favorites include: Montezuma, Helplessness Blues, The Cascades.
Buy > Helplessness Blues