The end of the year has come again & with that brings another installment of my ‘Best Of’ lists. Below I’ve posted a list of my 50 favorite albums of the year, 10 favorite singles of the year, & my 30 favorite songs of the year (with my favorite lyric from each of the 30 songs as well). As always, this is my personal opinion. My list reflects how much I personally enjoyed a song or CD. As always, feel free to leave comments with your thoughts on my lists and/or your own personal lists, letting me know your favorite albums/songs/singles of 2011. Cheers & here’s to hoping 2012 has some great music for our ears, hearts, minds, & souls. Much love, Maas

Best CDs Of 2011:

50.Dredg’s “Chuckles And Mr. Squeezy”

49.Kay Kay And His Weathered Underground’s “Introducing: Kay Kay And His Weathered Underground”

48.Sainthood Reps’ “Monoculture”

47.Coldplay’s “Mylo Xyloto”

46.Protest The Hero’s “Scurrilous”

45.Funeral For A Friend’s “Welcome Home Armageddon”

44.Lydia’s “Paint It Golden”

43.The Mighty Mighty Bosstones’ “The Magic Of Youth” 

42.Rise Against’s “Endgame”

41.The Get Up Kids’ “There Are Rules” 

40.Emery’s “We Do What We Want”

39.Four Year Strong’s “In Some Way, Shape Or Form”

38.Death Cab For Cutie’s “Codes And Keys”

37.Mock Orange’s “Disguised As Ghosts”

36.Transit’s “Listen And Forgive”

35.Mansions’ “Dig Up The Dead”

34.The Builders And The Butchers’ “Dead Reckoning”

33.Deas Vail’s “Deas Vail”

32.Iron And Wine’s “Kiss Each Other Clean”

31.Set Your Goals’ “Burning At Both Ends”

30.Yellowcard’s “When You’re Through Thinking, Say Yes”

29.Blink-182’s “Neighborhoods”

28.Augustana’s “Augustana”

27.The Wonder Years’ “Suburbia I’ve Given You All And Now I’m Nothing”

26.Fleet Foxes’ Helplessness Blues”

25.Astronautalis’ “This Is Our Science”

24.The Swellers’ “Good for Me”

23.Kevin Devine’s “Between The Concrete And Clouds”

22.Butch Walker’s “The Spade”

21.Thursday’s “No Devolución”

20.Foo Fighters’ “Wasting Light”

19.Taking Back Sunday’s “Taking Back Sunday”

18. Mute Math’s “Odd Soul”

17.Incubus’ “If Not Now, When?”

16.New Found Glory’s “Radiosurgery” 

15.Bayside’s “Killing Time”

14.MC Lars’ “Lars Attacks”

13.City And Colour’s “Little Hell” 

12.The Horrible Crowes’ “Elsie”

11.Bright Eyes’ “The People’s Key” 

10.The Dangerous Summer’s “War Paint”

9.Portugal. The Man’s “In The Mountain In The Cloud”

8.I Am The Avalanche’s “Avalanche United”

 7.Jack’s Mannequin’s “People And Things”

 6.Bon Iver’s “Bon Iver, Bon Iver”

 5.Saves the Day’s “Daybreak”

 4.Thrice’s “Major/Minor”

 3.Eisley’s “The Valley”

 2.States’ “Room To Run”

 1.Manchester Orchestra’s “Simple Math”

Best Songs:

30.”With You Around” by Yellowcard

‘All I can think about is you & me driving with a Saves The Day record on. We were singing til our voices were gone & I was falling hard, you were barely hanging on & now I wanna chase forever down, with you around.’

29.”Teardrops In The Well” by Lovedrug

‘Close your eyes, we’ve got to get out of here. Let our old lives fade away.’

28.”St. Peter’s Cathedral” by Death Cab For Cutie

‘When the candle in the tunnel, is flickering & sputters & fading faster, it’s only then that you will know what lies above or down below or if these fictions only prove how much you’ve really got to lose.’

27.”Summer Camp Love (Is So In Tents)” by MC Lars

‘She’s the type of girl I’d ask to wear my onion ring.’

26.”Measure The Globe” by Astronautalis

‘I know what you dream of, I dream of it too. Of roads that are endless and rooms that are huge. Are these visions of Heaven or nightmares I’m living? All I know, is that I’m scared of the truth.’

25.”Local Man Ruins Everything” by The Wonder Years

‘I’m not a self help book, I’m just a fucked up kid.’

24.”Exit Summer” by Set Your Goals

‘Conviction came when no one else believed in us.’

23.”Sad Savior” by Taking Back Sunday

‘You don’t have to pretend to be an orphan anymore.’

22.”Trainwreck” by New Found Glory

‘Falling in love is like a trainwreck, if you make it out alive, you still haven’t made it.’

21.”The Wrong Way” by Bayside

‘Some day you’ll find something, that makes you feel okay, until then you make your own way.’

20.”Shell Games” by Bright Eyes

‘If I could change my mind, change the paradigm. Prepare myself for another life, forgive myself for the many times I was cruel to something helpless & weak.’

19.”Everyone Left” by The Dangerous Summer

‘I’ll live alone & find my peace.’

18.”Pensacola” by Manchester Orchestra

‘I am the greatest man that never lived & now I never sleep. I never lost a fight, but never knew I started one the same. I never knew how capable I would become.’

17.”Natives” by Blink-182

‘I am the prodigal son, a shameful prodigy too. I am the love of your life, battering ram & confused. I turn each day into night, I stand there waiting for you. There is desire to fight, but I have nothing to prove. With the crowd & some lights, I start to feel things move. Do you have something to hide? Cuz I think that we all do. I am a child inside, back up & give me some room.’

16.”Isadore” by Incubus

‘Blinded by their unbridled height, our lovers turned dissolute.’

15.”Minnesota,WI” by Bon Iver

‘So carry on my dear, what is clear up in the daylight is we’re hung here. Fall is coming soon, a new year for the moon & the Hmong here. Never gonna break.’

14.”Between The Concrete And Clouds” by Kevin Devine

‘To settle your debts you took a dozen steps or started on the path. Kept falling off when faced with righteousness, you couldn’t work the math. God in the wood, the words, the coffee pot. It wasn’t adding up. At war with yourself, afraid of everyone. You said, “Enough’s enough.”’

13.”Empty Glass” by Thursday

‘Sold my wedding ring to another man, who was drunk in lust far away from home. Now I’m waking up with an empty hand, trying to buy something to take me away. The page I’ve written, I’ll sleep in the space where no one’s breathing. We’ll trade all our memories for forgetting.’

12.”Go Tell Everybody” by The Horrible Crowes

‘I’ve got miles on my shoes that your brothers can’t buy. I’ve got more than your man, more than even what he wants. I carry each & every ghost of my lovers at once.’

11.”Allies” by Mute Math

‘Somehow this war is out of control. We never find our enemy, we’re gunning down whatever breathes.’

10.”Little Hell” by City And Colour

‘There’s a degree of difficulty in dealing with me. From my haunted past, comes a daunting task of living through memories. If we could just hang a mirror on the bedroom wall, stare into the past & forget it all’

9.”Can’t Explain” by States

‘At first, there comes a rushing heat, then all the little feelings start to gather at my feet & now I know that I’m sounding crazy,but I guess, oh well. I can’t explain but feel like I’m under a spell so, are you bewitching?’

8.”Arlandria” by Foo Fighters

‘I wanna see if you can shake.I want to keep all I can take, I feel much better now.Use me up, spit me out, let me be your hand-me-down.’

7.”Brooklyn Dodgers” by I Am The Avalanche

‘Whatever happened to all the New York gentlemen?’

6.”Ambulance” by Eisley

‘Is it really safe to say that we’re made that way? Made to brave the pain.’

5.”Release Me” by Jack’s Mannequin

‘I’ve been known to take a big chance, but I can’t waste another shot at redemption. Oh, I’m ready don’t let me go passing through the wrong hands, wrong hands. My confidence is in crisis mode, your fingertips, well they know the code.’

4.”1984” by Saves The Day

‘I need you, I need your love. I’m trying, to rise above. I want you, to bring me back to life.’

3.”Head Is A Flame (Cool With It)” by Portugal. The Man

‘Well we all get strange & we know it, but we’re cool with it & we all get a little bit older, in this day & age, but we deal with it.’

2.”Emphasis” by Sleeping At Last

‘The smartest thing I’ve ever learned is that I don’t have all the answers.’

1.”Words In The Water” by Thrice

‘With water in my eyes, the words began to rise from their place.They were beautiful & dread, I reached for them & fed on each phrase.They were honey on my lips, then a bitter twist in my side.I knew they’d lay me in my grave. “Is there no one who could save me?” I cried.’

Best Singles:

10.”Promises” by Thrice

9.”Shell Games” by Bright Eyes

8.”Smarter” by Eisley

7.”Timebomb” by States

6.”The Best I Ever Had” by The Swellers

5.”War Paint” by The Dangerous Summer

4.”Anthem For The Unwanted” by New Found Glory

3.”Sixteen” by Deas Vail

2.”Simple Math” by Manchester Orchestra

1.”Brooklyn Dodgers” by I Am The Avalanche

Best Sets:

10.MC Lars at Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre

9.Anberlin at Pop’s

8.Story Of The Year at The Pageant

7.Circa Survive at Pop’s

6.Jack’s Mannequin at Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre

5.Manchester Orchestra at The Pageant

4.Bright Eyes at The Pageant

3.The Graduate at The Hilton

2.Jimmy Eat World at The Pageant

1.Less Than Jake at Pop’s