A I A : Alien Observer
by Grouper

Album
A I A : Alien Observer by Grouper
Year: 2011
Release date: 2011-04-11
Overall rank: 1,901st   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
80/100 (from 123 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 2011 (44th)
Award Top albums of of the 2010s (306th)
Award Best albums of all time (1,901st)

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Grouper bestography

A I A : Alien Observer is ranked 2nd best out of 14 albums by Liz Harris on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Liz Harris is Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill which is ranked number 1628 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 1,053.

Grouper album bestography « Higher ranked (1,628th)
Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill This album (1,901st)
A I A : Alien Observer Lower ranked (2,144th) »
Ruins

(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).

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A I A : Alien Observer track list

  Track ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 83 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

Sort Sort by
#
Track
Rating/Comments
1.
Moon Is Sharp
Average Rating: 83 (32 votes)Comments: View 0
2.
Track pick (850 - 38 votes)
Alien Observer
Average Rating: 85 (38 votes)Comments: View 0
3.
Track pick (850 - 35 votes)
Vapor Trails
Average Rating: 85 (35 votes)Comments: View 0
4.
She Loves Me That Way (Second Heart Tone)
Average Rating: 82 (25 votes)Comments: View 0
5.
Mary, On The Wall (For Bette Jackson)
Average Rating: 80 (22 votes)Comments: View 0
6.
Come Softly (For Daniel Dalzell)
Average Rating: 85 (31 votes)Comments: View 1

Track pick (1000 - 100 votes) Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.

A I A : Alien Observer rankings

A I A : Alien Observer rankings summary
Overall rank: 1,901st | 2010s rank: 306th | 2011 rank: 44th  Overall chart history
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings).Help Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 6 hours ago)

A I A : Alien Observer collection

A I A : Alien Observer ratings

Average Rating: 
80/100 (from 123 votes)
  Ratings distribution Help Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.

Showing latest 3 ratings for this album.  | Show all 123 ratings for this album.

Sort Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
80/100
 !		07/01/2026 18:00 Exist-en-ciel  Ratings distribution  16,02370/100
 
95/100
 !		05/16/2026 18:58 CharlieBarley  Ratings distribution  3,27180/100
 
35/100
 !		04/11/2026 19:06 Piotr  Ratings distribution  2280/100

Rating metrics: Help Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album is rated in the top 1% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 79.7/100, a mean average of 79.5/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 80.3/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.4.


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A I A : Alien Observer favourites

Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite  | Show all 24 members

Exist-en-ciel
Ilovesuicide
seb7
avi1000
flanderized
LosWochos
koiyuki
CharlieBarley
IanHKatz
CellarDoor

A I A : Alien Observer forum mentions

This album has been referenced 20 times on the forums, Explore the wider forum discussion to see what members have said about it.
From BestEverAlbums 09/01/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5422): By CharlieBarley
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by CharlieBarley () 1. by (1975) 2. by (1970) 3. by (1978) 5. by (1971) 6. (1982) 7. by (1975) 8. (1989) 9. by (1968) 10. by (1965) 11. by by (1977) 13. by (1969) 14. by (1993) 15. by (1970) 16. by (1971) 17. by (1986) 18. by (1969) 19. (1970)…”
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From BestEverAlbums 07/27/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5386): By Antonio-Pedro
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by ) 1. by (2019) 2. (1999) 3. by (2000) 4. by (2013) 6. by (2007) 7. by (1989) 8. by (2011) 9. by (2014) 10. by (1998) 11. by by by (1996) 14. (2012) 15. (2012) 16. by (1997) 17. by (2019) 18. by (2022) 19. by by by (2003) 22. (1991) 23. by…”
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From BestEverAlbums 07/12/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5371): By seb7
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by ) 1. by (1998) 2. (1968) 3. by by (2016) 5. (1976) 6. by (1970) 7. by (1995) 8. (1999) 9. by (2002) 10. by (2016) 11. (2021) 12. by (1985) 13. by (2022) 14. by (1996) 15. by (1983) 16. by (1959) 17. by by (2006) 19. by (1971) 20. by (2003)…”
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View all forum mentions

A I A : Alien Observer comments

Showing all 5 comments |
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Showing comments with any number of votes. Manage Profile)
Rating:  
95/100
From 06/03/2018 14:39 | #216084 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Not only do I need this in my collection, I really need to listen to Grouper. Beautiful music. Will be in my top 10 of 2011 and hopefully be in my decade chart. Can't believe we are almost done with this decade. (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 1
Reply
Rating:  
95/100
From 07/23/2021 20:41 | #271884 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
superb sonic listening experience
haunting and ethereal
takes you into outer space (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 1
Reply
Rating:  
95/100
From 01/22/2018 00:10 | #206254 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Haunting and surreal
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 1
Reply
Rating:  
85/100
From 02/03/2021 00:46 | #265623 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Beautiful environment, unique experience, love it
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 0
Reply
Rating:  
100/100
From 05/17/2018 03:30 | #214971 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Inhuman and Soft
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 0
Reply
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