Top 11 Albums of 2011
I am a music nut. I love music and buy way too much music so it only seems fitting to make a best of 2011 album countdown.
11. Noah & The Whale – Last Night On Earth
The first English musician to make the list (and not the last). This is just infectious indie pop music.
10. St. Vincent – Strange Mercy
Texas native that is making big waves every time she puts out a new album.
09. Florence + The Machine – Ceremonials
The next English musician on my chart. From the first album I was hooked and Ceremonials drew me even further in.
08. Fleet Foxes – Helpless Blues
In 2008 Fleet Foxes had the best album of the year and in 2011 they put out another instant classic. This whole albums just dances in your ears.
07. Feist – Metals
The only Canadian to make my chart (as far as I know) Feist is another one of those artists that seems to do no wrong. Just great music.
06. Civil Wars – Barton Hollow
I knew about the Civil Wars long before they had the mainstream success of the past year. Joy Williams has such an amazing voice and mixed with the stylings of John Paul White is pure magic.
05. Josh Garrels: Love & War & The Sea In Between
This album took a little while to grow on me. I kept reading blog’s and tweets about how great this album was. I kept listening and then one day it sunk in and has been a constant repeat.
04. Over The Rhine – The Long Surrender
My first introduction to this band was in college when I saw them in a small barn at Belmont University. I have been a fan ever since and have to say this new album is an instant classic. Haunting vocals and those lyrics…oh those lyrics.
03. Gungor – Ghosts Upon The Earth
To say I was excited about this album would be an understatement. When Beautiful Things came out in 2010 I listened to it non-stop for almost a month on end. Ghosts Upon The Earth was about the same play level. This album is a piece of art and should be listened to in order the build is amazing.
02. All Sons & Daughters – Brokenness Aside EP
Worship music is not really my thing but this EP just blew me away and humbled me. Amazingly raw lyrics and vocals with stripped down music makes this a pure masterpiece.
01. Katie Herzig – The Waking Sleep
When I started this countdown I knew this album would be number 1 on my list. There is no other place it could be. Quite simply the best album of 2011 in my opinion. From indie pop to orchestrated choirs — it has it all. Did I mention that she can write songs? Real songs that have meaning and wow just wow. This is my one must buy album of 2011.
Honorable Mentions English Musicians:
I listen to a lot of English musicians. So my chart would not be complete without a few of my favorites that did not make the list.
Birdy – Birdy
15 year old English singer – she is one to watch out for. Watch the video below and tell me she is not amazing…15 or not.
Adele -21
Everyone knows about Adele and the only reason this amazing album did not make my top 11.
Slow Moving Millie – Renditions
Another English singer who is absolutely amazing. I found this album later in the year or it would have been in my top 11.
Coldplay – Mylo Xyloto
Amazing album but such a huge mainstream success! But a 2011 list without this album would be incomplete.
Olly Murs – In Case You Didn’t Know
INFECTIOUS pop…not to mention he is very easy on the eyes to look at…very easy!
Honorable Mentions American:
Amy Stroup – The Other Side of Love Sessions
Switchfoot – Vice Verses
Need To Breathe – The Reckoning
Ellie Holcomb – Magnolia
Honorable Honorable Mentions:
These are albums that would have made the list any other year and they are amazing but just did not rank in my top 11.
- Lori McKenna – Lorraine
- The Low Anthem – Smart Flesh
- Sara Groves – Invisible Empires
- Mat Kearney- Young Love
- Bon Iver – Bon Iver
Did I miss any? Would you add anything?
Come Broken
I could not let this Christmas season escape without doing a few bokeh shots. Shot on my Nikon D7000 with my 50mm 1.8. I added some texture and color since my tree has all white lights. I was listening to Mary Chapin Carpenter’s Christmas album while editing and this song just spoke to me ‘Come Darkness, Come Light’. In a season of light remember it is the darkness that makes the lights shine so bright.
Christmas in your heart
The Bone House
The Bone House is the second book in the Bright Empires series by Steven Lawhead. The continuing adventures of Kit and Mina and a cast of other characters that span through time and universes. This book is an amazing read that if you have read ‘The Skin Map’ you should be reading ‘The Bone House’ NOW. Bone House is even faster paced than Skin Map.
Jumping from points in time Kit Livingstone uses Ley Lines to jump through points in time chased by the people who just killed his grandfather. Kit is saved by his girlfriend, Mina, from London who has been living in the past, quite happily. Mina has mastered ley travel and sends Kit on an adventure to find a part of the Skin Map. The Skin map is the ultimate refrence to Ley lines and if Kit does not find it then Burleigh (bag guy) will.
My only complaint about this book is that I have to wait till next year for the story to end. When I first read Skin Map last year I was sucked into this series and looking forward to seeing it end and where the adventure takes Kit and Mina next.
Buy it: amazon.com
Pushing Through
“Everything is raw material. Everything is relevant. Everything is usable. Everything feeds into my creativity. But without proper preparation, I cannot see it, retain it, and use it.” - Twyla Tharp
What does it take to step out in faith and do what scares us? For me, I feel like I live in fear. I want to be safe and I want to know there is something to catch me, but that is not faith. Living in certainty is the opposite of what we are called to do as Christian, as creators. Everything in our lives are just raw materials waiting to be created into something.
Painting, scrapbooking, photography, drawing, exercise, eating healthy, jogging….what have you started and never followed through because it got hard? If you are feeling resistance then push through. I am currently pushing myself to better health and with each step I take – I get stronger both physically and emotionally. I am pushing myself to do something I do not want to do and seeing the benefits of that. I am taking raw material (me) and molding it, using it and preparing it for more. But am I willing to take the same step with my art?
Push back….the resistance will become stronger. We have to be willing to push through everything to reach our goals. Pushing back is not something that comes easy and not something we can do by ourselves. With training I have the support of others in the group and my trainer. Maybe its time to see a creative trainer that can help encourage us when we need it and yell at us when we need it.
Steps – it is all about the steps we keep taking. Keep pushing through. Fight for what we want. It is how we grow.
What steps do you need to take to step out into creativity?
