Music Editor Casey Jarman’s top 15 local albums of the year.

This was the year Portland came face-to-face with its blossoming, narrowly defined international reputation for "keeping it weird." Portland then slouched, dropped its head and let out a long sigh of defeat. We're not all underemployed artisan cheesemakers who moonlight in tall-bike polo leagues, but damn if everybody's not in a band. And while the local indie-rock world's prevailing winds aren't too far off the national average—with many of our fine local groups producing rock of the dreamy, spacey, electronic variety—many of Portland's metal and experimental artists are gaining national acclaim for making masterful music that resides right on the edge of accessibility.

My tastes, however, run a bit palatable. I hope you find something you like here, but if not—try turning the page. Oh, and happy new year.

The Rest Of The Best Albums Of 2011

Well, we put our heads together, and this is what we came up with. Not a complete list, to be sure, but a collection of our favorite local and national music of the year.

By EMILEE BOOHER, NATHAN CARSON, DEVAN COOK, JONATHAN FROCHTZWAJG, ROBERT HAM, ARYA IMIG, REED JACKSON, CASEY JARMAN, AP KRYZA, MATTHEW P. SINGER, CHRIS STAMM, MARK STOCK, NIKKI VOLPICELLI.

Bryan John Appleby, Fire on the Vine

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