The Black Keys-El Camino (2011)

I was more than a little skeptical when I heard that The Black Keys's Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney had been able to record another album in just over a year after their phenomenal Brothers (2010).  Sure, The Beatles were able to harness that kind of energy in the 1960s and both The Roots and Kanye West have been able to produce quality work in a short period of time.  However, for every group that is able to pull off that manic work pace, there is a Mars Volta that seems to miss the target more and more with each hastily prepared album.  Thankfully, and this has been a damn strong year for music, Auerbach and Carney fall into the former category and their seventh record, El Camino (2011), is a hell of a ride.  

The Rapture-In the Grace of Your Love (2011)

The Rapture's latest album, In the Grace of Your Love (2011), sounds like it may have been produced by a different band when played along side the dance-punk rockers "Out of the Races and Onto the Tracks" and "House of Jealous Lovers."  That's bound to upset fans of the band's blend of the Cure and the Talking Heads that was highlighted by their early EP and their beloved album Echoes (2003).  It may not be as shiny sounding as the Danger Mouse co-produced album Pieces of the People We Love (2006), but it puts the majority of it's emphasis on the dance side of the dance-punk equation, making it a worthy, albeit lesser, aural companion of DFA labelmate LCD Soundsystem's This is Happening (2010).