The 50 Most Important Albums of 2011

By CoS Staff on January 10th, 2011 in CoS Exclusive Features, Editorial, Hot

We may have picked the Top 100 Albums of last year, but there were countless other efforts that were begging for the attention of your ever-so-precious ears. This year won’t be any different, and there are already loads of artists competing for a listen in the first quarter alone, so we here at CoS have already spent an inhuman amount of time on the interwebs researching and writing about some of the biggest releases of the year 2K+11.

We’ve picked 50 albums slated for release this year, and while some of them already have concrete release dates, others are merely rumored. Nevertheless, every single one of them bring questions and are worthy of your open ears. Will Kanye and Jay-Z score a huge commercial hit with their joint LP, Watch The Throne? Is there anything scarier than a Fame Monster? Did Lupe Fiasco’s Lasers get stale after sitting on a shelf for all these years? We examine those questions in our 2011 Album Preview, but there are a few things that we already know for sure.

PJ Harvey wants to “shake” things up, The Decemberists’ Colin Meloy has stripped it down, and the Get Up Kids aren’t kids anymore. The Cold War Kids, on the other hand, have grown up and might be having kids of their own soon. U2 hooked up with Danger Mouse and have up to four albums in the bank. Dave Grohl un-Vultured and is Foo Fighting again, and a slew of up-and-comers are putting out new music.

There’s also news on possible new ones from Rage Against the Machine, The White Stripes, The Shins, and a John Frusciante-less Red Hot Chili Peppers. Throw in the chances of Daft Punk releasing an album as The Third Twin, and what you’ve got below is required reading. We’ve included audio on more than a few of the albums, so grab a drink, plug in your headphones, and decide whether or not you’ll be tuning in.

-Ray Roa
Senior Staff Writer

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  • Camileonn

    Este disco esta para Mayo de 2012… entre el 15 y el 21. Asi que a estar pendiente de la info…Sin embargo si esta el disco de Maynard James, con Puscifer. Se lanzó en Junio Julio de 2011.Aunque no cuenta con amplia difusión, es un gran trabajo experimental de guitarras y baterias electronicas, acompañado de la increible voz y composiciones de Maynard. Saludos… ;)

  • Simone Bianco

    You should check out Dope Stars Inc. Their cd has been featured on the front page of the pirate bay for three consecutive days (historic event). It’s free to download and share.

  • Kiefer

     yeah… daft punk and the third twin are two different sets of people. so daft punk will not be releasing an album “under” that lol