Gorilla vs Bear's Top 30 Albums of 2011: Hipster Overdose?

by Jordan Yerman | December 5, 2011 at 03:45 pm

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Gorilla vs Bear's 2011 Top 30 Albums: Obscure and Varied

We'll get started early with the "Best of 2011" action, beginning with Gorilla vs Bear's rundown of their favorite records of 2011.

As one would expect from GvB, the word "hipster" could be used as both noun and adjective when looking at most of these entries. The top ten appear below, as well as some playable tracks.

To be fair, Gorilla vs Bear did a great job in controlling for musical style in their Best of 2011: everything from hip-hop to folk is included, along with some albums that I've actually heard.

Here are the top 10 from Gorilla vs Bear's Top 30 Albums of 2011:

Shabazz Palaces: Black Up
Peaking Lights: 936 (Kind of a weird name for an album, but if Prince can go with 3121, then 936 is acceptable, too)
Panda Bear: Tomboy
White Denim: D (Because using whole words in album names is played out)
A$AP Rocky: LIVELOVEA$AP
Korallreven: An Album By Korallreven (It is what it is)
araabMUZIK: Electronic Dream
Real Estate: Days
Julianna Barwick: The Magic Place
Puro Instinct: Headbangers in Ecstasy

Washed Out's superb Within and Without is only #17, and Toro y Moi's Freaking Out barely makes it into the top 20. You'll either find this list hotly debatable, or find yourself wondering who the hell these bands are.

Also (and this is pretty cool), each of the top 30 acts got to select their own top pick for the year. Don't sit back with your arms crossed and dis the hipsters. Take this as an opportunity to explore some new music.