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The Bay Area absolutely smashed it in 2011, with some of our favorite artists releasing amazing albums, EPs and cassettes that we’ve been listening to endlessly this year. It was incredibly difficult to cull the past 12 months to our favorite 15 releases, but we did it anyway. Check them out below and let us know what you think in the comments.

15 The Sandwitches // Mrs. Jones’ Cookie

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14 Bare Wires // Cheap Perfume

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13 King Lollipop // Woodland Whoopee Songs

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12 Pamela // Pamela is Hungover

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11 Weekend // Red

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10 Wet Illustrated // Wet Illustrated

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09 Ty Segall // Goodbye Bread

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08 Swiftumz // Swiftumz

Hunx collaborator Christopher McVicker managed to release one of the most understated albums of the year under the moniker Swiftumz. “Don’t Trip” is an immersive collection of hazy, moving jams that transcends the limits of bedroom pop.

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07 Rank Xerox // Rank Xerox

Rank/Xerox // “Sterile Regions”


Rank/Xerox // “Nausea”

06 Blasted Canyons // Blasted Canyons

Never before has an ode to weed and ice cream sounded so raw, explosive and all-together effortless.

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05 White Fence // Is Growing Faith

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04 Ty Segall // Singles 2007-2010

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03 Wax Idols // No Future

The debut LP by Wax Idols features singer/songwriter Hether Fortune elevating the charming pop sensibilities found on her earlier work to a complete full-length, with lyrics veering from the lovesick to the macabre.

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02 Mikal Cronin // Mikal Cronin

This scuzzed-out compilation of pop songs marked a solid debut album from Moonhearts/Ty Segall collaborator Mikal Cronin. Unexpectedly wistful and incredibly catchy, this is a record we’ve been spinning endlessly.

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01 Thee Oh Sees // Carrion Crawler/The Dream

Thee Oh Sees scorched through 2011, releasing two mind-blowing full-length albums and a singles only double-LP all while maintaining a frenetic touring schedule that recently concluded (with Total Control). Carrion Crawler/The Dream was announced only a few weeks after Castlemania, and proved to be the “pummeling” record John Dwyer promised it to be. An instant classic and our unequivocal favorite record of 2011.

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NME recently put together a “” of music makers and shakers for 2011; GorillavsBear did a and perhaps pointed out the obvious in stating that making “” Nevertheless, here’s our Bay Area version. Let us know what you hate in the comments.

10 Shiv Mehra // Creepers

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09 Corey Cunningham // Terry Malts

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08 Lars Finberg // Thee Oh Sees

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07 Mikal Cronin

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06 Mark Tester // BURNT ONES

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05 Robbie Simon // Wet Illustrated

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04 Tim Presley // White Fence

03 Blasted Canyons

02 Chris McVicker // Swiftumz

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01 Mike Donovan // Sic Alps

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Here are our top 10 favorite artist - our favorite source of high-quality streamable music - all of which we have written about before. Let us know if we’ve missed anything:

1. Features: Free download(s); full-album stream; extensive discography.

2. Features: Full-album streams; extensive discography; memories.