Following Q and Uncut, MOJO is the third major British rock magazine to reveal its year-end list of its top 50 albums, and a pattern is emerging. British critics love the shit out of PJ Harvey's Let England Shake; it topped the Uncut list, and it tops this one as well. And given MOJO's rep as a flame-keeper for various boomer-friendly strands of old music, it's hard to find a lot of fault with their #1, or with the rest of their list. The MOJO by is dominated with dark, heavy themes and weird sounds; the Horrors, Kate Bush, White Denim, Josh T. Pearson, and King Creosote & Jon Hopkins all do very well for themselves. And this is the first list I've seen that recognizes my own personal #1, EMA's Past Life Martyred Saints, which it's about goddam time. It's a bit weird when Shabazz Palaces is the sole rap entry in a top-50 list, though. Check it out below.
50 Joe Henry - Revere
49 Frank Ocean - Nostalgia, Ultra
48 Wire - Red Barked Tree
47 Radiohead: The King Of Limbs
46 Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds
45 tUnE-yArDs - w h o k i l l
44 Glen Campbell - Ghost On The Canvas
43 Gwilym Simcock - Good Days At Scholss Elmau
42 Booker T. Jones - The Road From Memphis
41 Destroyer - Kaputt
40 Charles Bradley - No Time For Dreaming
39 Arctic Monkeys - Suck It And See
38 The Sand Bag - All Through The Night
37 Duane Eddy - Road Trip
36 Shabazz Palaces - Black Up
35 Tinariwen - Tassili
34 Gillian Welch - The Harrow & The Harvest
33 Glenn Jones - The Wanting
32 Björk - Biophilia
31 Nick Lowe - That Old Magic
30 Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost
29 Wilco - The Whole Love
28 Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes
27 Arbouretum - The Gathering
26 Drive-By Truckers - Go-Go Boots
25 The Stepkids - The Stepkids
24 EMA - Past Life Martyred Saints
23 Bill Callahan - Apocalypse
22 Beirut - The Rip Tide
21 The War On Drugs - Slave Ambient
20 My Morning Jacket - Circuital
19 James Blake - James Blake
18 Thurston Moore - Demolished Thoughts
17 Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat - Everything's Getting Older
16 Bon Iver - Bon Iver, Bon Iver
15 Paul Simon - So Beautiful Or So What
14 King Creosote & Jon Hopkins - Diamond Mine
13 Cat's Eyes - Cat's Eyes
12 Kurt Vile - Smoke Rings For My Halo
11 Laura Marling - A Creature I Don't Know
10 Wild Beasts - Smother
09 Tom Waits - Bad As Me
08 Anna Calvi - Anna Calvi
07 Josh T Pearson - Last Of The Country Gentlemen
06 White Denim - D
05 Kate Bush - 50 Words For Snow
04 Jonathan Wilson - Gentle Spirit
03 Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
02 The Horrors - Skying
01 PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
You can check out Stereogum's Top 50 Albums Of 2011 list here.
