Vixen's Mixens: Fave 100 of 2011

For my last playlist of the year I am going to jump on the year-end list bandwagon and give you guys my Fave 100 of 2011.

Overall I would say 2011 was pretty disappointing in terms of great albums. I would be hard pressed to name even 10 albums that I truly loved this year, start to finish. Ones I was really looking forward to ended up being pretty blah (I'm looking at you, Feist.) However, there were tons of great singles to be found amongst these otherwise underwhelming albums (even you, Feist.) I actually had to cut some tracks to keep it to a tidy 100 list (sorry Jonathan - Jlo's On the Floor was one of the casualties.)

The mix is definitely indie rock heavy (since that is my forte,) but pop, dance, country and hip-hop do make appearances throughout. I actually start the playlist with one of my top 5 tracks of the year, Childish Gambino's Heartbeat which is a kick ass hip-hop tune with a great pounding dance beat. His "Camp" album is one of the few standouts of the year, as is the sitcom he stars in, Community. Donald Glover (seen above) pretty much owned 2011 (at least from my point of view.)

If I had to pick a trend of 2011 I would have to say it is the year that indie acts went synth. There are so many cool lo-fi tunes with synthy danceable back beats on this playlist, including Is Tropical's South Pacific, Washed Out's Amor Fati, and (the Jonathan recommended) Crystal Castles' Baptism. There was also a lot of straight up awesome club tunes, most notable for me being David Guetta featuring (the amazeballs as always) Sia singing Titanium.

As stated earlier there were only about 10 albums I would say warranted repeat listens and mention on my year end list: (in no particular order) the aforementioned Childish Gambino's "Camp," the Kills' (pictured to the right) "Blood Pressures," the Head and the Heart's self-titled, My Morning Jacket's "Circuital," Decemberists' "The King Is Dead," Peter Bjorn & John's "Gimme Some," Lykke Li's "Wounded Rhymes," Raphael Saadiq's "Stone Rollin'," Foster the People's "Torches," and (just to throw you off) Oh Land's self titled.

I hope you enjoy this compilation. Although 2011 was a rough year for many people, myself included, the music was upbeat, fun and a great distraction. By the way, remember that my Hipster for the Holidays playlist is an excellent alternative group of tunes to listen to while celebrating the Christmas season. It is by far my most subscribed to playlist, with 142 and counting! Until next year!!!