The year-end albums list is the greatest challenge any music publication faces. It is not only an effort to encapsulate an entire year’s worth of music: it is an effort to convey the entire musical philosophy of a site in one rather gimmicky column.

Of course, it is also a lot of fun.  It allows the opportunity to go through our favorite music all over again; it provides for spirited debate between editors and staffers; and it is ultimately a lesson in compromise and inclusion.  Which is, of course, precisely the philosophy of this site: different people with different musical tastes avoiding snark and snobbery and making the effort to tell you, the reader, why it is that we like what we like, and why we think you should like it too.  So, without further ado, here are 50 albums we hope you’ll enjoy. They happen to be, to our ears, the year’s 50 best.

50. John Maus – We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves

John Maus – “Head for the Country”

49. Grouper – A I A: Alien Observer/A I A: Dream Loss

Grouper – “Atone”

48. Radiohead – The King of Limbs

Radiohead – “Bloom”

47. Panda Bear – Tomboy

Panda Bear – “Last Night At The Jetty”

46. Tennis – Cape Dory

Tennis – “Marathon”

45. Wilco – The Whole Love

Wilco – “One Sunday Morning”

44. Russian Circle – Empros

Russian Circles – “Schiphol”

43.  Real Estate – Days

Real Estate – “Green Aisles”

42. Owen – Ghost Town

Owen – “Too Many Moons”

41. Jay-Z & Kanye West – Watch The Throne

Jay-Z & Kanye West – “Otis”

40. Oneohtrix Point Never – Replica

I love music in all its many forms, and, perhaps even moreso, I enjoy sharing it. Of course, not all types of music are easy to sell, and, with the possible exception of black metal, the type of music made by Oneohtrix Point Never may be the most difficult.  A set of vocal-less electronic compositions built on a foundation of cut-up 80s television commercials, there are not many descriptors I can employ to convince you to put on Replica at your upcoming holiday party. But, if you’re feeling adventurous and looking for something unique and thought-provoking, I encourage you to reach for this record.  It will open your eyes.  -LVL

Oneohtrix Point Never – “Replica”

39. Tom Waits – Bad As Me

It’s not right to call Bad As Me a return to form, because Waits is a rare artist who is comfortable and successful in every stage of his career and sound. Basically said, if you like Tom Waits, you will like this disc. If you don’t, this may not be the best place to start, but it is still worth your time. -PTL

Tom Waits – “Talking At The Same Time”

38. David Bazan – Strange Negotiations

David Bazan turns his judgment cannon away from himself and has set his sights on capitalist America on the second album of his solo career. While the final product may be a little rushed and thinly conceived, Bazan finds compelling and personal ways to express his malcontent, this time with heavier distortion. In its core, Strange Negotiations is a document of middle class struggles, an issue that plagues millions of American families, including the Bazans. -PTL

David Bazan – “Wolves At The Door”

37. Gilian Welch – The Harrow and The Harvest

It’s been eight years since the last proper Gillian Welch release, three since the Dave Rawlings Machine release.The Harrow and the Harvest sounds as if absolutely no time has passed, and that’s a compliment. The Harrow and The Harvest is a full, consistent and entrancing release from one of the best folk songwriters of the generation. -PTL

Gillian Welch – “Dark Turn of Mind”

36. EMA – Past Life Martyred Saints

I’m staring at this screen and thinking “36?  How did I place this record that low?”  Erika M. Anderson’s solo debut is full of the kind of tortured, angsty lyrics and stripped-down rock that should appeal to all children of the 90s.  In its trend toward the fey and ironic, indie rock finds itself thirsting for real, charismatic rock stars, and EMA fills that role.  By going dark, Past Life Martyred Saints makes the future look pretty bright.  -LVL

EMA – “Grey Ship”

35. Thundercat – The Golden Age of Apocalypse

Smooth jazz gets a bad rap for good reason. Somehow, Stephen “Thundercat” Bruner make it work. The 25-year-old bass phenom moves like Charles Mingus, bumps like Bootsy Collins, jams like Jaco Pastorious, and wields his electric fencepost like a weapon of mass seduction. The album is a swanky throwback to 70’s fusion and 90’s acid jazz, soft rock swank with a hint of hip-hop heat. Along the way, Bruner appropriates aspects of acts in which he has played as a sideman: the soul of Erykah Badu, the ambience of Flying Lotus, and the fury of Suicidal Tendencies (which he joined at age 17). -KLM

Thundercat – “Fleer Ultra”

34. Bright Eyes – The People’s Key

Conor Oberst still sings with his signature angst, but his latest album with Bright Eyes is more of a musical quest for enlightenment, an apocalyptic meditation on the dialectic between faith and science. The record is filled with allusions to Christianity and Buddhism and populated by pilgrims and shamans alongside holograms, oscilloscopes, and Jumbotrons. Oberst even name checks Haile Selassie and calls himself “I and I,” a phrase he certainly didn’t learn in his native Nebraska. -KLM

Bright Eyes – “Haile Selassie”

33. Colin Stetson – New History Warfare, Vol. 2: Judges

If I couldn’t sell you on Oneohtrix Point Never, I’ll probably have difficulty selling you on this collection of solo saxophone stunners.  If you’ve ever picked up an instrument in your life, however, you owe it to yourself to sample Stetson’s work.  Recorded by one man almost exclusively in single takes, this record will leave you baffled, wondering how such feats are possible on a single reed.  Performance art hero LAurie Anderson adds credibility with her appearance on several tracks, but really, her presence is unnecessary: Stetson is a hero all his own.  -LVL

Colin Stetson – “The Righteous Wrath Of An Honorable Man”

32. Lykke Li – Wounded Rhymes

Lykke Li is a bit like Lisbeth Salander, the heroine of the late Stieg Larsson’s ubiquitous Millenium novels. Both young women are smart, sexy, and Swedish, sensitive souls who vacillate between vulnerability and toughness. Li’s second album is a portrait of pain that fuses pop, punk, blues, country, and doo-wop. With its analogue aesthetic and electronic edges, Wounded Rhymes blends the darkness of The Doors or Depeche Mode with the peppiness of a cheerleading squad or glee club. Back in February, “Get Some” helped our editors endure the winter. -KLM

Lykke Li – “Get Some”

31. DeVotchKa – 100 Lovers

DeVotchKa was a backing band for a burlesque act, then made a steady stream of albums over the last decade, including the Little Miss Sunshine soundtrack. The band has toured with Muse and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and makes music that is similarly epic and grandiose, bombastic and bittersweet. 100 Lovers is a frantic tour of world music, with aspects of polka, mariachi, tango, and flamenco, distilled into a dozen indie rock songs. Above the band floats the tortured tenor of lead singer Nick Urata, who also plays the bouzouki – a Greek cousin of the mandolin— and the theramin, that eerie electronic instrument popular in science fiction soundtracks and “Good Vibrations.” -KLM

DeVotchKa – “All the Sand In All the Sea”

Be sure to check in throughout the week for the rest of our Best 50 Albums of 2011 coountdown.  And, if you missed it, check out our Best 50 Songs of 2011.