Record Geek Heaven’s Top 20 of 2011

Yuck

2011 turned out to be a pretty great year for music. Though it started off a bit slow, an impressive amount of new talent as well as seasoned songwriting vets emerged with stellar releases this year. In some cases, bands and artists returned with their strongest material in years. In others, emerging artists have given us some amazing things to look forward to for the future. And in others still, bands who have been kicking ass for a few years now are, well, still kicking ass. Here are Record Geek Heaven’s Top 20 Albums of 2011:

The Best of 2011: Part Three

Merge Records

East River Pipe – We Live in Rented Rooms

Fred Cornog’s output as East River Pipe has always had a downer vibe to it, but the depress-o nature of his music has never felt gratuitous. For instance, if you were listening to a Nine Inch Nails record, it’s likely that about 1/3 of the way through, you would say “Trent, how can you still be this angry after all this time? What sort of pain have you actually experienced other than your white boy guilt?” Cornog has lived it – he battled depression, alcoholism, drug addiction, and ended up homeless in a Hoboken train station.