Best albums of 2011, No 6: James Blake – James Blake

In a year in which we questioned our obsession with all things retro, James Blake pulled off the unthinkable, taking dubstep, soul and even barbershop to create a new musical languageThis year's most talked-about music tome was Simon Reynolds's Retromania, which examines the predominant nostalgia of today's music. Reynolds was right to point out artists mine previous generations for inspiration, and pastiche is everywhere. But can these influences coalesce to form something more than the sum of ...

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