Agreeing with the Album of the Year critics

Perhaps I’m just paying a little bit more attention this year, but as I skim through the numerous "Albums of the Year" posts coming up from music critics, stores, and blogs, I’m seeing a lot of albums and bands that I picked up on during the year through recommendations, bumping into them at music festivals, or simply by working the beat and hitting the internet to find the music for the weekly Rock Show podcast.

NPR’s list looks incredibly mainstream (and I think it’s fair to say that I’m far from mainstream in my tastes), but there’s The Civil Wars’ Barton Hollow at #16.

Spin’s list have Rock Show alumni Deer Tick’s album Divine Providence.

How about Amazon’s Best Albums of 2011? Well, Barton Hollow is there at #5, but I’ve matches also with Sondre Lerche‘s self titled album (#49), The Naked and Famous (#57), Portugal The Man (#69), and Darwin Deez (#99). They’ve all been on The Rock Show this year, and I’ve previously featured bands like Noah and the Whale, and Admiral Fallow who also feature.

As for my Top Ten albums of the year? Bear with me, and I’ll post them during the week.