"Love & War & The Sea Between" - by Josh Garrels (top 11 of '11 - 2)

Another album I heard about through NoiseTrade.  If I got stuck on an island with only a handful of albums to keep with me, this would be one of them. Always.
("White Owl" - stunningly beautiful; & the video was done incredibly well, too
"The Resistance" - fantastically well done)
Josh Garrels is from Pontiac, MI, but now resides in Portland, OR.  Born 1980, Mr. Garrels has since released a collection of albums - 2 of them (starting in 2002) before he set up his own label - Small Voice Recordings - in 2006 alongside his 3rd album "Over Oceans".  3 more LP's have come since, & all through it all, he has maintained the position of the main producer, engineer, writer, & distributor on all his works (however, he is not completely alone as his wife & some others also helps with producing & graphic design for album covers & the like).
"Love & War & The Sea Between" was released on June 15th, 2011 on his Small Voice Recordings.  Through fan-based funding, he was able to raise enough funds to pay for the album as an advance, & in return, he is giving the entire album away for free - you can read a bit more about his decision here - in an interview NoiseTrade did with Mr. Garrels (& here's another cool write-up about where he has come from & about the album).  The album has been noticed by many, & has received album of the year in multiple lists (& kinda has in mine; it's only #2 because I need to have some sort of order to do something like this; it shares the top spot in this floating twilight zone of amazingness), & is nothing short of amazing.

I honestly don't know what more to say about the album other than every single part of it fits & flows so wonderfully - the lyrics, the melodies, the music, the honesty & authenticity...  You really shouldn't miss out on this album if you can help it...
Some other (of the many) highlights: "Flood Waters"; "Farther Along"; "Ulysses" (<-- you can listen to all the tracks on BandCamp....

& concerning the album being FREE!, it's only for a year - so you have until June 2012 to pick it up for free.  But, as always, donations will always be accepted, & if you want to tip for the album, you can do that too.  You can get the album from a few different places:
Josh Garrels' BandCamp
on NoiseTrade (where you can add a tip)
on CDBaby
on iTunes (if that's your style)