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Steve
I fully expect to love this album, but I haven't gotten it yet, seeing as I'm a law abiding citizen.

Noah
I'll have you know that I purchased it this morning. Okay, Kim -- bring us home. I think she finally fell asleep.

Kim
Before I make the final pick, I have to say that I'm surprised to say that...a lot of the albums on my draft board are still available. I think that speaks to the diversity of this group. My last pick is Alina Simone's Make Your Own Danger. It's a raw, genre-bending, evocative album that is even a little surprising, using chamber instruments to layer on top of rock. Simone's haunting vocals leave indelible images dancing through my head. I can't get enough.

Steve
I too am surprised at the diversity represented here. I got to pick my top four albums.

Noah
As did I.

Andrew
Almost.

Kim
Me too. I had a general list, but those were the four I had singled out at the top.

Reagen
Steve grabbed one of mine plus a couple of my honourable mentions.

Reagen
I'm sure Andrew had to be just crossing his fingers that some of his would still be there.

Andrew
Haha. Well, Noah did get Radiohead.

Noah
Did I ever! Well, thanks everybody. This was fun and will produce a truly headscratching array of albums.





Andrew
That's the fun part right?

Noah
For sure.

Andrew
Hey, who's Alina Simone?

Steve
Thanks alot for making this happen guys.

Kim
Thanks for inviting us, YCHIOTR! Good night!

Noah
Let's do this again at the end of the year.

Steve
For the record, here's YCHIOTR's top-20 albums of the year so far. It's not a list I could have put together on my own, and that was the entire point. One of the good things about this kind of discussion at the halfway point of the year is that it identifies albums you might have missed - I know this exercise did that for me. If you're intrigued by what you've read here check these titles out at your local purveyor of fine music.

1) Cults - Cults
2) Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
3) The Rural Alberta Advantage - Departing
4) James Blake - James Blake
5) Iron and Wine - Kiss Each Other Clean
6) Adele - 21
7) Fucked Up - David Comes to Life
8) Foo Fighters - Wasting Light
9) The Decemberists - The King is Dead
10) The Mountain Goats - All Eternals Deck
11) The Antlers - Burst Apart
12) Radiohead - The King of Limbs
13) The Kills - Blood Pressures
14) The Weeknd - House of Balloons
15) Death Cab for Cutie - Codes and Keys
16) Peter, Bjorn, and John - Gimme Some
17) Anna Calvi - Anna Calvi
18) Danger Mouse and Danielle Luppi - Rome
19) The Handsome Furs - Sound Kapital
20) Alina Simone - Make Your Own Danger

What are some of your favorite albums from the first half of 2011?

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