If you’re reading this, chances are you still care about buying albums and CDs. And as we pass into the second half of 2011, here are my picks for the best albums of the year (so far) in alphabetical order.

Adele/21:  Unstoppable. People are discovering that Adele is the Real Deal. There’s little hype promoting this record. It’s selling exclusively on the strength of the songs.

Beastie Boys/Hot Sauce Committee Part Two: MCA, dude, that cancer thing really scared us. How did you guys crank out such a solid record while all that Big C stuff was going down?

Bon Iver/Bon Iver:  More divine melancholy music from the saddest man in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

The Dears/Degeneration Street:  In the business, they call this kind of CD “a career-defining release,” It’s made the Long List for the Polaris Music Prize.

EMA/Past Life of Martyred Saints:  South Dakotan Erika M. Anderson turns her noise-folk into something that PJ Harvey probably has in her iPod.

F-ed Up/David Comes to Life:  No one in this Toronto hardcore band can explain the libretto of this rock opera. No matter. The ride is satisfying enough.

Foo Fighters/Wasting Light:  This record is more proof that the Foos are as close to a perfectly constructed modern rock band as we’re ever going to see.

PJ Harvey/Let England Shake:  Harvey is a shape-and-genre shifter, with each album sounding completely different. Moving from woozy to fierce and back again, I hear something new each time I put on this CD.