As 2011 draws to a close, and the Nonesuch Journal takes a bit of a hiatus till the start of 2012, it's time to take a look back and remember all the great and diverse music made by Nonesuch artists this year. Many of these artists and their 2011 Nonesuch releases have made music critics' year-end best lists; several were nominated for Grammy Awards.

Here, in chronological order (more or less), is a look back:

JANUARY

The year began with the digital release of Amadou & Mariam's Remixes, a collection of favorite singles from the duo's best-selling albums Welcome to Mali and Dimanche à Bamako, along with several new versions, and some previously unreleased mixes, from across their catalog by what Pitchfork calls a "wonderfully random" group of collaborators.

Carolina Chocolate Drops followed up the 2010 release of their Grammy Award-winning Nonesuch debut album, Genuine Negro Jig, with a four-song EP released in January of this year showcasing a collaboration between the band and New York–based gypsy punk band Luminescent Orchestrii. The pairing was inspired by a spontaneous set together at the Folk Alliance festival in Memphis that Lumi guitarist Sxip Shirey described as “magic." Joining the bands on the EP is human beatboxer Adam Matta, who went on to tour with the Chocolate Drops all year. No Depression says "the good times are palpable on this disc, starting from the very first notes."

Both the Carolina Chocolate Drops / Luminescent Orchestrii EP and last year's Genuine Negro Jig landed on Billboard's list of the biggest bluegrass albums of 2011.

The Wisconsin State Journal includes the Carolina Chocolate Drops' April performance in Madison among the year's ten best concerts. The band "electrified the sold-out theater with light-footed, sizzling tunes that put a modern spin on traditional bluegrass and folk music," says the Journal's Rob Thomas. Stay tuned for more to come as the band resumes its tour in 2012. And stay tuned for news of a new album from the Carolina Chocolate Drops to come in the New Year.

Wanda Jackson, the legendary Queen of Rockabilly, now in her seventh decade, showed no sign of slowing down as she released her new album, The Party Ain’t Over, and sounding as wickedly charismatic as ever. The album, produced by Jack White, is a retro modern collection full of what the Boston Globe calls "delicious and unexpected delights." Vanity Fair calls it "inspired," the Times of London "extraordinary." The BBC find it "rich, warm, big-hearted and hilarious ... a sumptuous, brassy stew of country and blues."

Mojo magazine includes The Party Ain't Over on its list of the Best Americana Albums of 2011; the Mail on Sunday adds the album to its Perfect Playlist of 2011. Paste magazine includes Jackson's performance of Bob Dylan's "Thunder on the Mountain" on the album among the 20 Best Cover Songs of 2011; watch the video at nonesuch.com/media.

FEBRUARY

John Adams's 1987 opera Nixon in China received its Metropolitan Opera premiere in February, with the composer making his own Met debut as a conductor. To coincide with this momentous event, Nonesuch Records reissued its original cast recording of the opera.

Time Out New York's Amanda MacBlane includes the Met production on her list of the year's best events in classical music, saying that the near quarter-century that lapsed before Nixon in China had its Met debut "was well worth the wait," given the end result. MacBlane's Time Out colleague Steve Smith concurs, including it on his Top 10 list as well.

John Adams's latest Nonesuch album was released at the end of May, featuring Son of Chamber Symphony, which the Financial Times deemed "dangerously exhilarating," performed by the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), led by Adams, and his String Quartet, dubbed "a knockout" by the Philadelphia Inquirer, performed by the St. Lawrence String Quartet.

The Chicago Tribune's classical music critic John von Rhein includes the new album on his annual list of the year's best, among albums he considers "important, unusual, extraordinary or a combination of the above." Rhein writes: "The tongue-in-cheeky John Adams and the serious John Adams share an album of compelling recent works from an American master who continues to defy stylistic pigeonholing."

The early months of the new year also brought a new name to the Nonesuch artist roster, with the label debut album from Jessica Lea Mayfield, Tell Me, in February. The album was produced and engineered by The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, who also provides backing vocals as well as guitar and drum loops. Rolling Stone likens the album "to the anything-goes alternative country of Neko Case and Wilco." American Songwriter places Tell Me at No. 17 on its list of the Top 50 Albums of 2011; the Lexington Herald-Leader and NOW Toronto have it on their Top 10 lists. SPIN includes Tell Me among the 20 Best Country & Americana Albums of 2011

Mayfield, who was nominated for the 2011 Americana Music Award for New/Emerging Artist of the Year, spent much of 2011 on the road, headlining her own shows; playing at festivals like Bonnaroo, SXSW, and Hardly Strictly Bluegrass; and supporting the likes of the Avett Brothers, Drive-By Truckers, John Prine, and, most recently, Ryan Adams.

February also brought the first of three albums Brad Mehldau would release on Nonesuch in 2011, each showcasing a different aspect of the pianist/composer's performance. First up was Live in Marciac, a 2CD+DVD live album that captures a solo performance by Mehldau at the 2006 Jazz in Marciac festival in France and includes original tunes by Mehldau as well as interpretations of songs by Kurt Cobain, Lennon/McCartney, Cole Porter, Radiohead, and others. Mojo says it's "spellbinding," exclaiming that Mehldau's "technical command of the keyboard is utterly awe-inspiring." The Financial Times finds it "enthralling." The Independent calls it "a triumph of imagination and structure. Quite simply, he's on fire, inspired, out there, playing with the gods." It is included on the lists of the year's best albums from the Independent On Sunday and the Ottawa Citizen.

In September came the release Modern Music, a collaboration between Mehldau, fellow pianist Kevin Hays, and composer/arranger Patrick Zimmerli, all longtime friends. Modern Music features pieces written by each of the three musicians as well as works by Steve Reich, Ornette Coleman, and Philip Glass, performed by the two pianists in arrangements by Zimmerli. The Morton Report includes the album among the year's best, saying: "Brad Mehldau is one of the great players alive, and with Kevin Hays on dueling keyboard the sky's the limit." The Guardian calls it a "fascinating session" that's "full of surprises." The New York Times says the pianists bring "a high sheen to some choice material."

Earlier this month, Nonesuch released The Art of the Trio Recordings: 1996–2001, a seven-disc box set that includes the original Art of the Trio records by the Brad Mehldau Trio, featuring Jorge Rossy and Larry Grenadier, plus a disc of unreleased material from shows at the Village Vanguard. Repertoire includes interpretations of standard tunes and modern classics as well as original compositions. "The trio created a private world for their listeners to get lost in," says the Guardian, "and this is the definitive representation of it." This set, says All About Jazz, confirms Mehldau "as one of the most important pianists of any generation."

The year also brought another notable collaboration for Mehldau: a duo tour with label mate Joshua Redman. All About Jazz managing editor John Kelman includes their performance at the Ottawa International Jazz Festival among the Ten Best Live Shows of 2011. Mehldau will join Redman for a number of additional tour dates in 2012, including three in Australia. Before then, the Brad Mehldau Trio kicks off the new year in style with a week-long residency at the Village Vanguard in New York City, beginning January 3.

The Low Anthem released their second Nonesuch album, Smart Flesh, in February. The band recorded the majority of this follow-up to their label debut, Oh My God, Charlie Darwin, in a cavernous, vacant pasta sauce factory in their home state of Rhode Island, using an eclectic array of instruments, like jaw harp, musical saw, stylophone, antique pump organs, and oversized drum kits. The New York Times and Los Angeles Times both call the songs "gorgeous." NPR says it's "beautiful through and through."

The Guardian's Tom Lamont includes Smart Flesh on his list of the Best Albums of 2011, as does Clash Music. "Building on the modest majesty of Oh My God Charlie Darwin, this stunning folk record has lost none of its impact and still has the capacity to evoke tears and wonderment in equal measure," writes Clash's Gareth James in the year-end round-up. "The human condition set to music."

Paste magazine has Smart Flesh on its list of the year's best as well. "If you decide to give Smart Flesh your full attention (and you should), you’ll hear an album full of echoes, hushed vocals and stripped-down beauty," writes Paste's Bonnie Stiernberg. "You’ll be greeted by gorgeous harmonies. And most importantly, you’ll hear some great stories. It’s the lyrics that make Smart Flesh truly shine with richly developed characters ..."

The Low Anthem makes other year's best lists from Paste, with their take on George Carter's "Ghost Woman Blues" included among the 20 Best Cover Songs of 2011, and their performance of the song for the magazine among the 25 Best Paste Live Videos of 2011. The band "hauntingly let this George Carter original ease listeners into Smart Flesh," writes Paste's Max Blau, "paving the way for the stunning collection of songs that follow."

Smart Flesh also makes the Mojo and Uncut lists of the Best Americana Albums of 2011.

MARCH

In March, Norwegian Wood, director Tran Anh Hung’s film adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s bestselling novel, opened in theaters across the UK and with it came the Nonesuch release of the film's soundtrack, featuring an instrumental score by Jonny Greenwood performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra and the Emperor Quartet, as well as three tracks written and performed by '70s rockers Can. The Observer calls Greenwood's score "remarkable." Mojo includes the soundtrack among the year's ten best.

Norwegian Wood opens in the United States beginning January 6.

Jonny Greenwood's next Nonesuch release is a collaboration with Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki, due out sometime next year. Gramophone is already looking forward to it, calling it a highlight of the year ahead. Learn more about it in the Nonesuch Journal.

APRIL

k.d. lang returned in full force in April with a new album and a new band, the Siss Boom Bang, releasing Sing it Loud, her first record made entirely with a band of her own since the pair of albums with the Reclines that launched her career over 20 years ago. "The big, beautiful voice of k.d. lang swoops, purrs and soars" on the album, says the Los Angeles Times. USA Today says it "nods to lang's alt-country roots while reinforcing her reputation as a singer of genre-defying dexterity and beauty." The Ottawa Citizen calls it "a torch-and-twangtinged stunner."

The Boston Globe's James Reed chooses Sing it Loud as the Biggest Surprise of 2011. "Backed by a lean new band that knew how to frame and complement that big voice of hers," writes Reed, "lang returned to form with an album that easily ranks as her most memorable in at least a decade."

k.d. lang has just announced that she and the Siss Boom Bang will be back on the road starting next spring, including a stop at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in June.

April also saw the return of Emmylou Harris, with the release of Hard Bargain, 13 tracks, featuring 11 original songs by Harris, all "suffused with kindly intimacy," says the New York Times. Two songs look back at relationships that were central to Harris’ creative life—with Kate McGarrigle and Gram Parsons. USA Today calls the album "exquisite."

Los Angeles Times music critic Randy Lewis selects Hard Bargain as the No. 1 album of the year. "This exquisite collection from the woman who has been the conscience of progressive country music for more than three decades ranks with the best work she's done," raves Lewis. "Intelligent, empathetic and unflaggingly insightful about the depths to which humanity can sink as well as the pinnacles to which it can rise."

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel names Hard Bargain one of the year's ten best. Harris has "proven her mettle as a songwriter," writes the Journal Sentinel's Jon. M. Gilbertson. Her own songs on Hard Bargain "are by turns quietly charming, gently honest and softly devastating. Plus, she covers Ron Sexsmith’s title track so well that its failure to become a ubiquitous hit is our fault, not hers."

NPR listeners chose it as one of their favorite albums of the year, and Billboard placed it at No. 13 on its list of the year's biggest folk albums.

Hard Bargain has been nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Americana Album.

The final April release was the first album from James Farm, a collaborative band featuring saxophonist Joshua Redman, pianist Aaron Parks, bassist Matt Penman, and drummer Eric Harland. The group's self-titled debut album uses traditional acoustic jazz quartet instrumentation for its song-based approach to jazz and incorporates the members’ myriad influences: rock, soul, folk, classical, electronica. The New York Times calls it "a model of dazzling proficiency."

James Farm is named one of the Best Jazz Albums of 2011 by the Ottawa Citizen, Toledo Blade, and by NPR. "All contribute songs to the group's repertoire, and in doing so, they've clearly soaked up grooves and chord progressions from today's pop music without ever forcing the issue," says NPR's Patrick Jarenwattananon. "Then they worked out these textures and tunes on the road for a while before pressing record. The harvest feels unlike an all-star collective, and more like a homegrown band."

MAY

Another label debut came in May with the release of Irish composer Donnacha Dennehy's Grá agus Bás. The album includes the title piece, which was inspired by sean-nós "old style" Irish vocal music, as well as the composer’s song cycle That the Night Come, comprising six settings of poems by W.B. Yeats. The Dublin–based Crash Ensemble performs both works, conducted by Alan Pierson. Irish singer Iarla O’Lionáird is the soloist for Grá agus Bás; Dawn Upshaw is featured on That the Night Come.

NPR calls Grá agus Bás "a revelation" and chose it as a favorite album of 2011 in any genre. The album "is a compelling, meditative walk through time and terrain," says NPR. "It studies an Ireland rooted in reverence for its past, but which also brims with curiosity for its future."

May also saw the release of Kate & Anna McGarrigle's Tell My Sister, a three-disc set comprising newly remastered editions of the sisters' beloved 1976 self-titled debut and its equally praised 1977 follow-up, Dancer with Bruised Knees, plus a third disc of previously unreleased songs and demos—45 songs in all. Rolling Stone calls the debut album "idiosyncratically perfect." The Boston Globe calls it an "exhilarating ride," the demos a "real revelation," and the sisters' music "too enchanted, too singular to ever be forgotten." The Financial Times gives the new collection a perfect five stars.

Tell My Sister is named one of the year's best reissues by Uncut, fRoots, The Sun, and Rolling Stone. "The Canadian sisters' first albums," says Rolling Stone, "are gently probing treasures of the singer-songwriter boom. A third CD here of earlier demos gives the girlish shiver and frontier-mother spine of their voices extra room to glow."

Randy Newman fans were treated to two new albums from the singer/songwriter this year. The first, released in May, was the second volume in Newman's Songbook series, which began with his Nonesuch debut back in 2003. On Songbook Vol. 2, Newman takes a fresh look at both classic and more recent work in new solo takes on 16 of his celebrated songs, surveying 40 years of recordings. The album includes songs spanning from the 1968 album Randy Newman through Newman’s most recent, 2008’s Harps and Angels. The Philadelphia Daily News gives the album an A. MusicOMH calls it "an invigorating celebration of the power of music, and a delicate declaration of the power of one man and his piano."

While touring in support of Harps and Angels, Randy Newman performed a special concert at London’s intimate LSO St. Luke’s accompanied by the BBC Concert Orchestra led by Robert Ziegler. The program, featuring songs from throughout Newman’s career, was televised by the BBC and was made available for the first time on CD+DVD as Live in London, released on Nonesuch in November. The Sunday Times of London says: "Essential listening for anyone who cares about the art of songwriting." Sunday Times music critic Clive Davis chooses Live in London as one of the ten best albums of the year, calling it "magical."

Punch Brothers mandolinist Chris Thile and guitar maven Michael Daves made their duo debut with the May release of their album Sleep with One Eye Open. The album, recorded live to tape over four days at Jack White’s Third Man studio in Nashville, is a collection of 16 traditional tunes by bluegrass legends like The Monroe Brothers, The Louvin Brothers, Jimmy Martin, and Flatt & Scruggs. The duo makes for "a rip-roaring partnership," says the New York Times. "Bluegrass, in their hands, gets roughed up in the best possible way, with skill and fervor, and a touch of abandon."

Sleep with One Eye Open has been nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album and lands at No. 14 on the Billboard list of the year's biggest bluegrass albums. Paste magazine includes the duo's performance video for the magazine from this summer's Newport Folk Festival among the year's 25 Best Paste Live Videos, saying: "Chris Thile can do no wrong." Thile and Daves will perform together at Lincoln Center's Allen Room in New York as part of the American Songbook series on January 12.

JUNE

Senegalese Sufi musician Cheikh Lô returned with his first album first album in five years with the June release of Jamm, which means “peace” in his native Wolof. On the new album, Lô’s mbalax rhythms and signature blend of semi-acoustic flavors—West and Central African, funk, Cuban, flamenco—support his husky vocals, sung in four different languages, with help from his regular band, along with Tony Allen on drums and Pee Wee Ellis on sax. The Guardian says, “Cheikh Lô is back with an album that reconfirms his position as one of the finest, one of the most soulful singers in West Africa.” In a four-star review, Q calls it “true global music to make anyone feel better.”

Pat Metheny released the sequel to his Grammy-winning first solo baritone-guitar effort, One Quiet Night, with the June arrival of What's It All About. The album features classic tunes from songwriters like Paul Simon, Lennon & McCartney, Burt Bacharach, and Henry Mancini. The Boston Herald says: "Metheny’s thoughtful, loving approach elevates every tune he tackles to a realm of beauty." The New York City Jazz Record includes the album among the Best of 2011. What's It All About has been nominated for a Grammy Award for Best New Age Album and lands at No. 19 on Billboard's list of the year's biggest jazz albums.

There was more to come from Metheny when Nonesuch reissued his 1999 duo collaboration with Jim Hall, whom Metheny called the "father of modern guitar playing," in November. The album features 17 tracks reissued for the first time—original tunes from each guitarist, several improvisations captured in the studio, plus six tunes recorded live in concert, including Gershwin's "Summertime." "The excellence of the playing is the heart of the matter," says the Philadelphia Inquirer. "It's a privilege to listen in." The Los Angeles Times calls it "extraordinary."

AUGUST

Inspired by a news headline about the Wall Street bailout, Ry Cooder began work on Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down with the track “No Banker Left Behind,” an ode to the corrupt few spared from the financial crisis while most were left to fend for themselves. The song and the album, released in August, proved to be prophetic, coming just weeks before the launch of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Uncut calls Cooder's new album "one of his best albums ever ... an impassioned portrait of 21st century America and its injustices" in which he is "remade as a modern-day Woody Guthrie, fearless and funny, for like Guthrie he nails his targets with droll humour while empathising with society's underdogs." The BBC calls it "essential listening."

Cooder later released a follow-up single, "Wall Street Part of Town," in honor of Occupy Wall Street, as a free download available via the Nonesuch Journal.

Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down has been nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Americana Album and lands in the No. 1 spot on Philadelphia Inquirer music critic Dan Deluca's list of the Top Ten Albums of 2011. The Guardian's Robin Denselow places the album at No. 2 on his list of the Top 10 Albums of 2011 and "No Banker Left Behind" as one of the year's best songs. Bloomberg's Mark Beech includes it among the year's best and among Cooder's "finest work in years." Pull Up Some Dust also makes the best-of lists of Uncut, fRoots, The Word, Independent on Sunday, Country Music People, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, Albuquerque Journal, Knoxville News-Sentinel, and Philadelphia Citypaper.

Cooder's first-ever stand-alone written work, Los Angeles Stories, was also released this year, published by City Lights. The book is a collection of loosely linked tales that evoke a bygone era in one of America's most iconic cities. Rich with the essence and character of the times, suffused with patois of the city's underclass, these are stories about the common people of post-WW II L.A. and the strange things that happen to them. Los Angeles Stories landed on the bestseller lists of both the Los Angeles Times and the Southern California Indie Bookseller Association.

Also in August, Philip Selway released Running Blind, a four-song EP follow-up to his solo debut album, Familial, released exactly one year before. When Selway wrote the songs that formed Familial, he kept back a handful that he felt worked best as a separate piece of work; these comprise the Running Blind digital EP. The songs evolved during Selway’s live shows supporting Familial, and he subsequently returned to the studio to record them with his band. Running Blind includes those four songs plus a live session video of the title track.

SEPTEMBER

In September, the world paused to mark the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. That month, Nonesuch released Steve Reich's WTC 9/11, the composer's reflection on the tragedy. The piece is scored for three string quartets, performed by Kronos Quartet, and pre-recorded voices, including NORAD air traffic controllers, first responders, and women who kept vigil over the dead. The New Yorker says the piece is "indicative of the undiminished powers of a great American artist." The album also includes Reich’s Mallet Quartet, performed by Sō Percussion, and Dance Patterns, featuring members of Steve Reich and Musicians, plus a DVD with a live performance of Mallet Quartet.

NPR names the album as one of its Favorite Classical Albums of 2011. "WTC 9/11, played by the Kronos Quartet, is one of the most gripping, intense, intelligent, emotionally honest and artistically successful works to come out of the tragedy," exclaims NPR's Anastasia Tsioulcas. "But I'd also like to turn attention to the wonderful Mallet Quartet that appears on this album ... [and] possesses a quiet beauty that, almost despite its subtleties, demands to be heard."

The Washington Post's Anne Midgette includes Reich's WTC 9/11 among the year's Top 5 albums of the year, calling the title work a "poignant and beautiful new piece." The Boston Globe's classical music critic Jeremy Eichler also includes the album among classical music's Top Albums of 2011. "There were plenty of musical memorials this year for the 10th anniversary of 9/11," writes Eichler, "but Reich’s terse, potent work is the one that stays with you." The Baltimore City Paper includes the album in its Top 10 albums of the year in any genre. "There was one genre of music, only one, that got anything to do with Sept. 11 remotely right: modern classical music," writes the paper's Michael Byrne. "So much of 9/11-related music music on or just uses the event, mostly the latter, while Reich's WTC 9/11 exposes something about it." WTC 9/11 is also included among Gramophone's Critics’ Choice 2011.

Fatoumata Diawara made her North American debut with the September release of the digital EP Kanou. Inspired by Wassoulou tradition, jazz, and blues, Diawara has created her own unique contemporary folk sound, giving a distinctly African spin to the concept of the female singer-songwriter. "Like her mentor [Oumou] Sangaré," says the Financial Times, "Diawara combines feminist social conscience with effortless melodic charm." The Daily Telegraph calls her "the most beguiling talent to hit the world music scene in some time." Kanou, her debut EP, is available digitally and includes four tracks plus the video for the song "Bissa."

Her full-length album, Fatou, released in the UK on World Circuit, was named the Album of the Year by the Sunday Times's Clive Davis, comes in at No. 2 on the fRoots list, and makes the best-of lists from Mojo and Independent on Sunday.

OCTOBER

Björk unveiled her most ambitious and interdisciplinary project to date with the October release of Biophilia. The multimedia project, comprising a studio album, apps, custom-made musical instruments, live shows, and educational workshops, is an exploration of the universe and its physical forces—particularly those where music, nature, and technology meet—inspired by these relationships between musical structures and natural phenomena, from the atomic to the cosmic. The BBC raves: "An amazing, inventive and wholly unique eighth album from an artist without peer." NPR calls it "astounding." Also released as part of the Biophilia project was The Crystalline Series, four 12" vinyl releases featuring variations on the album's music by Matthew Herbert, Omar Souleyman, and Serban Ghenea.

The New York Times's Jon Pareles names the Biophilia track "Virus" to his list of Top Songs for the year. The album itself appears on countless year-end's best lists, including the Observer, Mojo, NME, Q, Uncut, Clash Music, MuiscOMH, Drowned in Sound, The Quietus, the Oakland Tribune, and a number of the Guardian critics. CMU names Björk an Artist of the Year.

Guardian music critics Ian Gittins and Michael Cragg both place Biophilia at No. 2 on their lists of the Top 10 albums of the year. His colleague Alex Needham places Biophilia at No. 4 on his Top 10 albums list, with "Crystalline" in on the list of the year's best tracks. Kitty Empire has it at No. 8 on her list. Caspar Llewellyn Smith chooses the Omar Souleyman remix of "Crystalline" on his Top 10.

The Daily Telegraph's Lucy Jones places Biophilia at No. 7 on her list of Favorite Albums of the year. "The icing on the cake for drum ‘n’ bass’s rise to commercial Valhalla must have been Björk’s breakcore moment in 'Crystalline,' the first single from Biophilia," writes Jones. "Totally unexpected and gloriously so, the coda crystallised her bold raison d'être and typical fearlessness."

Björk gave the premiere performances of her live Biophilia show over the summer during a residency at the Manchester International Festival. New York Times music critic Jon Pareles includes the performances among the Concert Highs of 2011. Björk went on to give a nine-show, fully sold-out residency at the brand-new Harpa Concert Hall in her hometown of Reykjavik following the album's release. The Wall Steet Journal's Jim Fusilli includes the show among the Best Concerts of 2011. "The music is phenomenal," writes Fusilli.

DECEMBER

The Black Keys, who began the year taking home four Grammy Awards for their 2010 album Brothers, closed out 2011 with a bang, when their new album, El Camino, debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Top 200 with sales of 206,000 units—far and away the band’s best single-week performance and their highest chart position to date. Produced by Danger Mouse and The Black Keys, the band's seventh studio album was recorded at singer/guitarist Dan Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound studio in the band’s new hometown of Nashville during the spring of 2011. "They sound like a band who think they've made the year's best rock 'n' roll album," says the Guardian, "probably because that's exactly what they've done." The Independent calls it "by some distance the most powerful, compelling rock album of the year."

El Camino, which earned high praise across the board upon its release earlier this month, has also made it to countless critics' Best of the Year lists, including Rolling Stone, SPIN, MTV, the Guardian, Independent, American Songwriter, Paste, Guitar World, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Lexington Herald-Leader, and many more.

"A stellar rock 'n' roll album is increasingly hard to find," writes Time's Claire Suddath, who includes El Camino in her Top 10 list. "So it's refreshing to hear the Black Keys avoid looped samples and other digital effects in favor of cool, classic rock music that places heavy emphasis on the guitar ... Front man Dan Auerbach possesses one of the finer voices in music today—the perfect blend of unpolished snarl and soulful croon that leaves you with goose bumps in all the right spots."

The Washington Post's Allison Stewart, who places the album at No. 4 on her Top 10 list, says, "They've never made a bad album before, and they're not about to start now."

The New Zealand Herald chose the video for "Lonely Boy," the first single off of El Camino, which Newsday includes among the year's ten best songs, as the No. 1 Best Music Video of 2011. Watch it again here:

AND MORE ...

There is, of course, more great music to come in 2012. Pre-orders are already available for Kronos Quartet's latest album, Music of Vladimir Martynov, and you can download the first song off the Punch Brothers' forthcoming album, Who's Feeling Young Now? from the Nonesuch Journal.

All of this year's albums can be purchased in the Nonesuch Store, where all CDs, LPs, and DVDs are 34% off suggested retail price—that's about 20% off the price listed on the site—through New Year's Day in celebration of the store's fourth anniversary.

Happy Holidays from everyone at Nonesuch Records!

Ed.: This article has been edited to include additional year-end best-of lists that were published following the December 22 publication of this article.