Guided By Voices

Let's Go Eat the Factory

By Paul Thompson

The reformed "classic-era" GBV have produced an album with the collagist careen of Bee Thousand and Propeller and but it ultimately comes up short in the songs department. The best moments come courtesy of Tobin Sprout.

The Internet

Purple Naked Ladies

By Carrie Battan

The debut LP from Odd Future DJ Syd tha Kid and her OFWGKTA cohort Matt Martians mixes neo-soul, experimental jazz, and funk but lacks the collective's usual take-no-prisoners confidence.

Brodinski

Fabriclive 60

By Andrew Gaerig

The French DJ/Justice remixer's fun, freewheeling second commercial mix is a collection of whinnying, vocally oriented dance tracks he meticulously bends to his will.

The Dø

Both Ways Open Jaws

By Marc Hogan

Finnish vocalist Olivia Merilahti and French multi-instrumentalist Dan Levy's sophomore album keeps up the genre-hopscotching whimsicality of their debut.

Vladislav Delay

Vantaa

By Eric Grandy

While Finnish producer Sasu Ripatti's Luomo project has evolved, his other best known alias has remained devoted to a singular vision of ambient techno and cold digital dub. This new collection plays out like a chilly landscape troubled only by the occasional moving figure.

The Weeknd

Echoes of Silence

By Andrew Ryce

Where the Weeknd's House of Balloons was a debut tour-de-force and Thursday an arduous journey into the internal turmoil of a self-loathing narcissist, the rising Toronto star's third release in nine months exudes a brazen, sexy confidence.

Young Jeezy

Thug Motivation 103: Hustlerz Ambition

By Jayson Greene

Though it's a solid effort, Young Jeezy's long-delayed fourth LP feels both airless and over-inflated, the sound of an artist trying to revisit something gone.

Sunn O))), Nurse With Wound

ØØ VOID / The Iron Soul of Nothing

By Grayson Currin

More than a decade after the release of Sunn O)))'s proper debut ØØ VOID, Southern Lord offers it again, packaged with a disc of remixes by Nurse With Wound. The same material's available via Stephen O'Malley's new imprint as 2xLP set The Iron Soul of Nothing.

Dimlite

Grimm Reality

By Nick Neyland

Moving from Krautrock to funk to candy-coated pop tones and new age, the Swiss producer Dimitri Grimm's third album features an ADD-infused freshness.

Steve Hauschildt

Tragedy & Geometry

By Marc Masters

For his first proper solo release, Emeralds member Steve Hauschildt uses a synthesizer to turn tiny sounds and gradual shifts into something larger.

Amy Winehouse

Lioness: Hidden Treasures

By Andrew Ryce

A collection of odds-and-sods cobbled together over the course of nine years, Lioness: Hidden Treasures presents a picture of a talented singer at her most restrained and polite.

Can

Tago Mago [40th Anniversary Edition]

By Douglas Wolk

Can's 1971 album Tago Mago, freshly reissued in a "40th Anniversary Edition," is a colossus, the product of a band that was thinking huge, pushing itself to its limits, and devoted to breaking open its own understanding of what rock music could be.

Darkside

Darkside EP

By Brian Howe

Nicolas Jaar's tight, three-song EP as Darkside, a collaboration with guitarist and bassist Dave Harrington, is at once sexy and frigid, cavernous and cramped.

The Strange Boys

Live Music

By Stephen M. Deusner

The Austin garage rockers continue tidying up their sound and refining their songwriting on their third LP, a collection that adds piano and politeness to the mix.

Mike G

The Award Tour EP

By Zach Kelly

On his new EP, Odd Future's Mike G creates the rare OF release that feels purposefully removed from the collective.

This Mortal Coil

HDCD Box Set

Best New Reissue
By Ned Raggett

4AD founder Ivo Watts-Russell's This Mortal Coil-- a band that never toured, that never really was a band at all-- is the subject of this comprehensive box set, one that offers remastered versions of their three LPs along with a fourth disc consisting of non-album tracks.

Emika

Emika

By Jeff Weiss

The Thom Yorke-endorsed British-born singer/electronic composer's self-titled debut illustrates her belief that dance music is fatally boring when you stick to a blueprint.

Mac Miller

Blue Slide Park

By Jordan Sargent

Mac Miller's debut is the first independently distributed debut album to go to No. 1 in 16 years, but the Pittsburgh rapper is mostly just a crushingly bland and intolerable version of Wiz Khalifa.

Various Artists

Bambara Mystic Soul: The Raw Sound of Burkina Faso 1974-1979

By Joe Tangari

Analog Africa's first foray into cataloging the music of the landlocked country Burkina Faso features 16 recordings from the 1970s. If you have any interest in West African funk forms, it's essential listening.

Kate Wax

Dust Collision

By Andrew Ryce

On the Swiss artist's second full-length release-- her first for James Holden's Border Community-- she buries herself in a dark, claustrophobic world then tries tunneling back with her elastic voice.

Throbbing Gristle

Second Annual Report / D.O.A. / 20 Jazz Funk Greats / Heathen Earth / Greatest Hits

Best New Reissue
By Drew Daniel

Five classic Throbbing Gristle albums have been beautifully remastered and lovingly repackaged in gatefolded 2xCD editions.

Charlotte Gainsbourg

Stage Whisper

By Joe Tangari

This 2xCD splits itself between live recordings of songs from the French singer's most recent LPs and unreleased studio tracks, including two songs with Beck.

Keep Shelly in Athens

Campus Martius

By Andrew Ryce

The Greek dream-pop duo opens its first Planet Mu EP with an excellent Solar Bears remix that sets up high expectations for the band's original material.

Wives

The Roy Tapes

By Aaron Leitko

Before No Age, Dean Spunt and Randy Randall played in Wives. Released on the 10th anniversary of Spunt's label, The Roy Tapes are seven songs recorded prior to the trio's first and final European tour.

Eddy Current Suppression Ring

So Many Things

By Evan Minsker

This compilation-- a document of four dudes having a good time over the course of six years-- teases out the Australian punk-loving rock band's trajectory through B-sides and singles.

Staff Lists

2011 Pitchfork Readers Poll

The results of our fourth annual Readers Poll include your picks for Top Albums, Top Tracks, Most Annoying Singles, Best New Artists, Most Underrated and Overrated Albums, Best Musician Twitters, and more.

The Top 50 Albums of 2011
Staff Lists

The Top 50 Albums of 2011

Our annual list of the LPs that had us coming back time and time again throughout the year, including records by Bon Iver, Liturgy, Real Estate, and Frank Ocean, to name a few.

My Year in Mixes
Staff Lists

My Year in Mixes

From M.I.A. to Blood Diamonds to Elite Gymnastics to Clams Casino, Carrie Battan surveys the free mixes and podcasts that shaped her listening in 2011.

The Top 100 Tracks of 2011
Staff Lists

The Top 100 Tracks of 2011

Our favorite songs from the last 12 months, including tracks from Wild Flag, Fucked Up, M83, Danny Brown, Kurt Vile, James Blake, Jay and Kanye, and many more.

?uestlove
Interviews

?uestlove

Following the release of the Roots' first-ever concept album, undun, we talk with drummer and band leader (and unabashed music geek) Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson about some of his favorite big-picture records.

The Top Music Videos of 2011
Staff Lists

The Top Music Videos of 2011

From Kreayshawn's Minnie Mouse headband to Mastodon's psychotic puppets to Tyler, the Creator's appetite for insects, here are our favorite videos of the year.

You Can Find This on the Internet: Overlooked Mixtapes
Staff Lists

You Can Find This on the Internet: Overlooked Mixtapes

David Drake and Jeff Weiss offer a picture of the worthy hip-hop artists and scenes that haven't gotten much coverage over the last 12 months.

Maximal Nation
Articles

Maximal Nation

Critic Simon Reynolds dissects electronic dance music's recent switch from minimal aesthetics to the more-is-more sounds of digital maximalists like Rustie, Flying Lotus, and Hudson Mohawke.

Take Me to the River
Poptimist

Take Me to the River

In this final Poptimist, Tom Ewing attempts to shift perspectives on the problematic nature of the online stream, thinking of it as a cultural form in its own right-- one with its own principles, virtues, and thrills.

The Top 40 Metal Albums of 2011
Show No Mercy

The Top 40 Metal Albums of 2011

Brandon Stosuy breaks down his favorite releases of the year, including Wolves in the Throne Room, Exhumed, Blut Aus Nord, Krallice, Autopsy, and Tombs.

Family