For the second time in as many years (funny that) Timber and Steel are following the trend and producing our albums of the year. Once again we’ve asked each of our contributors to come up with their top five folky albums from 2011 and once again they’ve managed to deliver lists that are so diverse it’s a wonder we’ve got anything in common at all. There’s been so much fine music released this year and these lists are only the tip of the iceberg – make sure you scroll through the Timber and Steel archives for everything we’ve been listening to.

But enough about us, let’s get to the music. Ladies and gentlefolk we are proud to present Timber and Steel’s Top Albums of 2011:

Aiden Quinn

1. The Crackling – Keep Full Ambitious
The Crackling were the main support for Dan Mangan on a few pre-glastonbury festival gigs he did in the UK (they both come from Canada). They played a gig I was helping out with and I was completely blown away. The lead vocalist, Kenton Loewen, has a raw rugged voice that is delicious, almost orgasmic, like rich dark chocolate. The album plays that to full effect. The layers of dark mystery, whiskey swilled woe and the feeling of being burnt. It’s an emotional ride, intense, unforgettable, and leaves you wondering what the hell just happened (but in a good way) -gripping stuff. Fave track for me on the album? 5. “Of deceit”.
2. Benjamin Folke Thomas – Rhythm and Blues
3. Ed Sheeran – +
4. Matt Cardle – Letters
5. Friska Vilijor – The Beginning of The Beginning of The End

Evan Hughes

1.The Decemberists – The King is Dead
When I first sat down and listened to The King is Dead in January 2011 the comment I made was that it was going to be tough to top as an album of the year. Twelve months and countless amazing releases later I haven’t found anything that’s topped this album. Colin Meloy has fully embraced the folky flavours of his music, incorporating traditional sounding melodies with his trademarked verbosity. With appearances by Gillian Welch and REMs Peter Buck, The King is Dead doesn’t just wear its influences on its sleeve, it actively includes them. With the folk, rock and indie worlds embracing this album The King is Dead truly is the crossover success of the year.
2. Bon Iver – Bon Iver
3. Boy & Bear – Moonfire
4. Laura Marling – A Creature I Don’t Know
5. Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues

JDX

1. King Creosote and Jon Hopkins – Diamond Mine
This is the very best that music can do. Every time I hear it, it feels like a revelation. It isn’t an easy one, but it is the truth, and what more could you ask for from folk songs? Jon Hopkins’ soft soundscapes dip and swell, punctuated by the sonorous chime of piano, the echoes of accordion, the awkward gait of paper turned into percussion – as strange and strangely real as anything I’ve ever heard. The spaces he leaves are like deep breaths – like the vast distance between big ideas and bitterness. There’s nothing romantic about this – but there is serenity. Kenny Anderson’s voice is a soft lilt surfacing from the depths of despair. It’s the only sure thing here, set against the crystalline fragility of the music. He sings these songs, written over the course of 20 years, with a weary kind of wisdom, but with that comes acceptance, and it’s gentle, mournful, beautiful.
2. Bon Iver – Bon Iver
3. Laura Marling – A Creature I Don’t Know
4. Mike Noga – The Balladeer Hunter
5. Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues

KT Bell

1. Lanie Lane – To the Horses
An impressive debut album from a performer who we’ve watched shoot in to the spotlight over the past 18 months. Her distinct voice matched with some of the more quirky themes we’ve seen in her singles this year, Lanie has managed to create an album which spans across and incorporates a multitude of genres in a record that grabs you, holds you and won’t let you go till you’re just a little bit sullied. I love it.
2. Boy & Bear – Moonfire
3. Seeker Lover Keeper – Seeker Lover Keeper
4. Wagons – Rumble Shake and Tumble
5. The Little Stevies – Attention Shoppers

Mackajay

1. Jack Carty – One Thousand Origami Birds
I could put albums by The Middle East here, or Boy & Bear or many, many other things … In the end it came down to what I chose to play most and I can honestly say that Jack Carty’s One Thousand Origami Birds was THE most frequently played album both on my iPhone and at home. A great mix of old fashioned stories and energetic performances that always left a warm fuzzy glow.
2. Seeker Lover Keeper – Seeker Lover Keeper
3. Holly Throsby – Team
4. Gillian Welch – The Harrow and the Harvest
5. Bon Iver – Bon Iver

Miladyred

1. Jack Carty – One Thousand Origami Birds
It takes a special album for me to knock off my long term favourites, the Mountain Goats, when they release a new album and Jack Carty’s “One Thousand Origami Birds” was that album. It’s the album I find I’m playing first thing in the morning, last thing at night and it always seems fresh. Crystal clear tunes and amazing wordsmithing, Australian music should be so very proud.
2. Mountain Goats – All Eternals Deck
3. Josh Pyke – Only Sparrows
4. Busby Marou – Busby Marou
5. The Little Stevies – Attention Shoppers

Serena Skye

1. Harry James Angus – Little Stories
Little Stories takes you in, from it’s first rolling tragedy of a love song, and holds you, through brilliant vocals and instrumentation all the way through to it’s gentle finish. Both humorous and saddening, each story is different yet equally important and well constructed. It’s certainly not what I expected from Harry as a solo artist, but, full of beautiful melodies and guitar work, it has fast become on of my favourite release of this year.
2. Georgia Fair – All through the Winter
3. Lucie Thorne – Bonfires In Silver city and Laura Marling – A Creature I Don’t Know (tied)
4. Jinja Safari – Locked By Land
5. Boy & Bear- Moonfire

Thom Owen Miles

1. The Felice Brothers – Celebration, Florida
This is an album I’ve been hoping someone would make for years. Personally, my awareness of indie folk from around the world has more or less been born out of an unrelenting search for an artists or band capable of bringing together the raw, poetic, organic essence of folk/blues/Americana with the wonderful innovative production typical of contemporary indie pop and rock. I’ve never heard an album so beautifully balanced on that fine line before and, to be honest, I wasn’t sure it could even be done.
2. The Low Anthem – Smart Flesh
3. Radical Face – The Family Tree: The Roots
4. Dan Mangan – Oh Fortune
5. Fionn Regan – 100 Acres of Sycamore