The Ten Best Songs of 2011 So Far

Is it mid-June already? Why yes it is. And since I know that you don’t have time to listen to all the great music that’s out there unless it’s your primary hobby (it’s mine!), here are the ten songs that 2011 has blessed us with so far.

#1 Fleet Foxes – “Grown Ocean”

It’s like suddenly all the amazing things Fleet Foxes has ever done came together in one track.

#2 The Strokes – “Machu Picchu”

Years after they were their biggest, and years after their most famous songs, they release their best song.

#3 Death Cab for Cutie – “You are a Tourist”

Death Cab gets uplifting, and show they can write a guitar hook too.

#4 Frank Ocean – “Strawberry Swing”

Would like to go back in time to tell myself “you will someday fall in love with a Coldplay ripoff song redone by a R&B crooner from a shock rap group”.

#5 The Antlers – “I Don’t Want Love”

It only takes one track into The Antlers new album to realize they are so much more than a lightning-in-a-bottle indie group.

#6 My Morning Jacket – “The Day is Coming”

Do you also fall in love with song right about the time he sings “Bang bang, at the door”?

#7 Chief – “Night & Day”

If only the rest of the album sounded nearly as good as this perfectly moody track.

#8 The National – “Think You Can Wait”

What do The National do when they aren’t busy making my favorite albums of the year? They release all-star tracks for low-budget Paul Giamatti films.

#9 Radiohead – “Codex”

Why do I love Radiohead? Just listen to Thom Yorke when he simply sings “dragonfly”.

#10 Bon Iver – “Calgary”

Three days until the release of his new album Justin Vernon and Bon Iver’s first single is already one of the year’s best.

Honorable Mentions (Because, hey, why hold out?):

Civil Wars – “Poison & Wine”, Augustana – “Just Stay Here Tonight” and “Wrong Side of Love”, Death Cab for Cutie – “Codes and Keys”, Fleet Foxes –“Montezuma”, “Loralei”, ”Sim Sala Bim”, “The Shrine/An Argument”, Iron & Wine – “Godless Brother in Love” and “Walking Far From Home”, Radio Dept – “David”, “Domestic Scene”, and “Never Follow Suit”, Radiohead – “Lotus Flower”, The Strokes – “Under Cover of Darkness”, Cass McCombs – “County Line”, Cold War Kids – “Skip the Charades”, Delphic – “Doubt”, Florence and the Machine – “Hurricane Drunk” and “Cosmic Love”, James Blake – “Limit to Your Love”, Kendal Johansonn – “Blue Moon”, Lost in the Trees – “Walk Around the Lake”, The Ruby Sun – “Closet Astrologer”, Mates of State – “My Only Offer”, Jars of Clay – “Shelter”, Wild Beats – “Albatross”, Panda Bear – “Last Night at the Jetty” and “Slow Motion”, William Fitzsimmons – “Beautiful Girl”, Sufjan Stevens – “I Walked”, “Futile Devices”, and “Age of Adz”, Other Lives – “Black Tables”, School of Seven Bells – “Bye Bye Bye”, and My Morning Jacket – “Wonderful (The Way I Feel)”