You're The Best

Music Editor Casey Jarmanâs 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.

15. Tony Ozier, BeatsGalore

14. Dolorean, The Unfazed

13. Talkdemonic,

Ruins

12. Starfucker,

Reptilians

11. Cloudy October,

The Metal Jerk

10. Unknown Mortal Orchestra

(self-titled)

9. AgesandAges,

Alright You Restless

8. Nurses,

Dracula

7. Serge Severe,

Back on My Rhymes

6. Typhoon,

A New Kind of House

5. Your Rival,

Seven Sparkling Children EP

4. Deelay Ceelay, Sunset Drumsets

After an extended hiatus, drum ânâ laptops duo Deelay Ceelay returned to drop an album just as colorful and explosive as its multimedia productions.

3. Radiation City, The Hands That Take You

2. St. Even,

Spirit Animal

The more time I spend with this gorgeous, whip-smart collection of puzzle songs from the vastly underrated Steve Hefter, the more I love it. âLong Distance Call,â in particular, is a generation-defining song.

1. Illmaculate and G_Force, The Green Tape

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.