Every year, we break it down for you — the best albums of the year. This year, I've kicked off the post with my Editor's Picks, and because opinions are entirely subjective (we don't all listen to the same music, I'm aware), I've also rounded up the CL Music Team's submissions for their favorite albums of 2011. Enjoy — and get ready to stock up your music library.

LEILANI

1. tUnE-YarDs, w h o k i l l (4AD)
I’ve been listening to this album relentlessly throughout the year. The music is delightfully quirked-out psychedelic art pop/avant Afro poptronica as crafted by New England native Merrill Garbus; tUnE yArDs is her solo project. Garbus creates percussive-intensive and propulsive drum loops, throws in ukulele, electric bass, glitter-washed sonics and the occasional blast of drunk-n-high horns, and as a final important touch, sets her crazy high vocals against it all, her multi-layered outbursts ranging from repetitive nonsensical utterances and exclamations to bird-like coos and cat-in-heat cries, to her fall-back wildly passionate wails. Garbus delivers lyrics in crushed together streams-of-consciousness, and throws out lines like "The worst thing about living a lie is wondering just when they'll find out" (from "My Country," a riff on the patriotic tune that diverges completely out into left field). Reminds me of Dirty Projectors, with less rock and more blissful electro-pop moments. Check out "Bizness" below; also one of my favorite videos this year.

2. MuteMath, Odd Soul (Teleprompt/Warner Bros.)
Seriously badass '70s-vibing prog-psyche rock with plenty of crunchy grinding guitars, fatty fuzzed-out bass and synthesizers, and some electro-groove moments to keep things from getting too overly throwback. "Blood Pressure" below.

3. TV on the Radio, Nine Types of Light (Interscope)
The buoyancy and sexiness of 2008’s Dear Science permeates the avant rock outfit’s fifth LP. Themes of love, society and politics are explored against dark, loop-and-horn-infused experimental sounds marked by elements of electro-rock, hip-hop, psyche-soul, funky R&B bounce and moments of melodic grooving pop. "Second Song" below.

4. Extra Classic, Your Light Like White Lightning, Your Light Like A Laserbeam (Manimal Vinyl)
San Francisco's Extra Classic offers up a mesmerizing, soulful, hazy-layered groove-and-psychedelia take on dub reggae. The sextet captured the sonic quality of old Jamaican recordings by laying it down all-analog, on 8-track tape, and using vintage recording equipment from the 1960s and '70s. It definitely has a very warm quality to it, as if the musicians are playing amid a hanging cloud of ganja smoke. Listen to "Congo Rebel" below.

5. Cloud Control, Bliss Release (WEA)
The first full-length from a new Aussie band radiates feel-good sunshine. Mellow, psyche-folk with surf rock and Afro/tribal percussive tendencies, vocals that range from ecstatic yelps and whoops to lovely multi-voice harmonies and straight-forward nasally singing, and plenty of unexpectedly catchy hooks. "Gold Canary" below.