I’ll never stop loving the beauty of a physical album. Everything gives meaning from the scent of a new vinyl, to the magic of reading the lyrics and seeing the images inside the insert, to the touch of the glossy, matte or recycled paper, and the most important factor — the cover art of the actual overall masterpiece.

Here are 25 of the best album covers of 2011. It’s easy to see in all of these artists, that there was an actual thought to the structure of not only their music but how it visually sounds. Enjoy!

Artist: The Antlers

Album: Burst Apart

Record Label: Transgression

Designer: Zan Goodman

Listen: I Don’t Want Love

Artist: Beastie Boys

Album: Hot Sauce Committee Part Two

Record Label: Capitol

Designer: Mike Mills

Listen: Don’t Play No Game That I Can’t Win (ft. Santigold)

Artist: Bill Callahan

Album: Apocalypse

Record Label: Drag City

Designer: Paul Ryan

Listen: Baby’s Breath

Artist: Bon Iver

Album: Bon Iver

Record Label: 4AD

Designer: Gregory Euclide

Listen: Perth

Artist: Braids

Album: Native Speaker

Record Label: Kanine

Designer: Marc Rimmer

Listen: Lemonade

Artist: Bright Eyes

Album: The People’s Key

Record Label: Saddle Creek

Designer: Zack Nipper

Listen: Shell Games

Artist: Coldplay

Album: Mylo Xyloto

Record Label: Capitol

Designer: Tappin Gofton

Listen: Every Tear Is A Waterfall

Artist: Cults

Album: Cults

Record Label: Columbia

Designer: Dave Bett and Jeannette Kaczorowski

Listen: Abducted

Artist: Cut Copy

Album: Zonoscope

Record Label: Modular

Designer: Alter

Listen: This Is All We’ve Got

Artist: DJ Shadow

Album: The Less You Know, The Better

Record Label: Island

Designer: Tony Papesh

Listen: Scale It Back

Artist: Explosions In The Sky

Album: Take Care, Take Care, Take Care

Record Label: Bella Union

Designer: Esteben Rey

Listen: Trembling Hands

Artist: Fleet Foxes

Album: Helplessness Blues

Record Label: Bella Union

Designer: Toby Liebowitz, Sean Pecknold and Dusty Summers

Listen: Grown Ocean

Artist: Friendly Fires

Album: Pala

Record Label: XL

Designer: Phil Lee

Listen: Blue Cassette

Artist: Gillian Welch

Album: The Harrow & The Harvest

Record Label: Acony

Designer: John Dyer Baizley

Listen: The Way It Goes

Artist: The Horrors

Album: Skying

Record Label: XL

Designer: The Horrors and Alison Fielding

Listen: Still Life

Artist: Iron and Wine

Album: Kiss Each other Clean

Record Label: 4AD

Designer: Sam Beam

Listen: Tree By The River

Artist: Jay-Z and Kanye West

Album: Watch the Throne

Record Label: Def Jam

Designer: Riccardo Tisci

Listen: Primetime

Artist: Kasabian

Album: Velociraptor!

Record Label: Columbia

Designer: Aitor Throup at A.T. Studio

Listen: Rewired

Artist: Liam Finn

Album: Fomo

Record Label: Transgressive

Designer: Sarah Larnach Design by Anna Taylor

Listen: Cold Feet

Artist: The Pains of Being Pure At Heart

Album: Belong

Record Label: PIAS/Slumberland

Designer: Winston Chmielinski

Listen: Heavens Gonna Happen Now

Artist: Radiohead

Album: The King of Limbs

Record Label: XL

Designer: Stanley Donwood

Listen: Codex

Artist: The Strokes

Album: Angles

Record Label: Rough Trade

Designer: Guy Pouppez

Listen: Machu Picchu

Artist: SBTRKT

Album: Young Turks

Record Label: Rough Trade

Designer: Matt de Jong

Listen: Hold On

Artist: Vetiver

Album: The Errant Charm

Record Label: Bella Union

Designer: Nathaniel Russell

Listen: Can’t You Tell

Artist: Washed Out

Album: Within and Without

Record Label: Domino

Designer: Ernest Greene and Jeff Kleinsmith

Listen: Amor Fati

DOWNLOAD ALL TRACKS (.ZIP)

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

running away from yourself

your body, your mind

all your life

with each place

it’s easy to keep wondering

what brings us there

and what we are expecting to find

so we create our own distractions,

to figure out who we are and where we are going

until it’s realized the past is over

and all that matters right now is the present.

listen :: fleet foxes :: mykonos

you go wherever you go

you go today

you go wherever you go

you go today

you go wherever you go

you go today

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

 
“Practice makes perfect,

but nobody’s perfect, so why practice?”

- Kurt Cobain -

 

 

Listen: Nirvana – Verse Chorus Verse

(from the No Alternative Compilation, 1991)

Photos of Frances Bean Cobain: Rocky Schenck

Related posts:

1. the covers of nirvana mixtape Remembering seventeen years ago, the legacy of Kurt Cobain lives...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Swerving in and out inside a deep spectrum of intensity is M83‘s new single “Midnight City,” soon to be featured on their upcoming 22 track release, Hurry Up We’re Dreaming. Drums pulsate like flickering traffic lights off and on while guitars meditate into silver electricity, rocketed within synthesizer sounds scratching the energy of a mesmerizing, exploding beat that keeps the track completely youthful and alive.

L I S T E N M83 – Midnight City (Hurry Up We’re Dreaming, 2011)

A R T W O R K Bec Winnel

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

happy new years eve! this is my own personal collection of my favorite songs of 2010. it was a tough decision to narrow down the best from out of 500 tracks, but the below addictions (in no particular order) seemed to take over my speakers for the most of this year. a collection of everything from indie rock, pop, r&b, soul, hip hop, electronica, and acoustics that made music in general feel good again. personally this year was a rollercoaster of happy emotions from moving to florida to starting a new line of jewelry to beginning new friendships to renewing a relationship with my own father, and sad feelings of my own health scares to feelings of uncertainty to an unfortunate loss of family members.  from the bottom of my heart, thank you to these artists who kept on inspiring the love of making and sharing beautiful sounds for those of us who truly needed it to get through this year. may 2011 bring us new special memories of music, art, love, light, and joy!

♥♥♥♥♥

artwork by natalie shau

be sure to check out some of these amazing 2010 lists: gvb, stg, mdm

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.