No links because no links. Some of the links are available somewhere in this blog. Some aren't.
1. Alberich - Psychology Of Love
Kris Lapke's Alberich project has been consistently releasing some of the best PE around over the last few years. Last year's 16-tape box set NATO Uniformen earned him a name ranking among the greats, but this year's Psychology Of Love LP proves that he is far from slowing down in quality and is improving with each release. On Psychology Of Love, Alberich's rhythmic industrial "beats" with grating noise and ambient melodies, along with pained, sometimes inhuman vocals, create a release that takes us to the heights of the most beautiful and most hideous ends of sound, all while leaving us in a nearly trance-like state from which it becomes hard to listen to much of anything else afterward. At the end of side B, I find myself usually just flipping back to side A again. Absolutely impeccable. I can't pick out a single flaw with this release.
2. Young Widows - In And Out Of Youth And Lightness
In 2011, Young Widows' In And Out Of Youth And Lightness took us beyond the Jesus Lizard worship of the first two albums and really saw the band coming into their own and releasing something completely original. Less balls-to-the-wall noise rock than it is refined and sometimes dramatic songwriting, the drawling vocals, steady rhythms, and guitars which fall somewhere between country-western and a strange sort of post-rock really make this, their most accessible work to date, also their strangest work to date- something you don't see very often, but it works.
3. Vatican Shadow - Washington Buries Al Qaeda Leader At Sea
Dominick Furnow's industrial project based on American involvement in the Middle East and Islam extremism explores a more ambient and melodic side on this release, and the results are beautiful (yes, one could argue VS has always had a more ambient and melodic side, and I would agree, but this is where it really reaches its full potential so far, I think). Mesmerising, repetetive, hypnotic, like the ocean waves against a US aircraft carrier. My personal favorite track is Bin Laden's Corpse, which, after a short introduction, seems to go on forever on the same melody- but for the careful listener, there are constant minor changes in the background which gradually change the piece completely. I haven't heard anything I didn't like from Vatican Shadow, but this release in particular wows me.
4. Various - White Eye Of Winter Watching (Hospital Productions compilation)
Anybody who follows noise/PE and doesn't know about this release probably has been in a coma. Soooo many great artists on this 2xcass release (Alberich, Deterge, Vatican Shadow, Genocide Organ, FFH, Whorebutcher, just to name about 0.5% of them). The mastering is absolutely beautiful, as well as the packaging and concept. It would take pages to really describe this release, though, so I'll sum it up simply by saying this is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
5. Tyler, The Creator - Goblin
This is the best hip hop album I've heard in a long time, maybe since MF Doom's Mm... Food. This album follows the concept of Tyler, The Creator going to therapy for misbehavior and for his depression; he ends up spilling all of his darkest innermost feelings on the therapist. It's dark, sarcastic, and conceptual enough to make this a serious album, but ridiculous, dirty, and hilarious enough that the album is still a fun listen. Just an all-around enjoyable release.
6. Tearoom Trade - Impersonal Sex In Public Places
Some of the lyrics on this abrasive, one-off PE release about homosexual encounters in public (I'm guessing inspired by the essay of the same name and subject) might sum it up a little better than I could: "What I need is a real man/To make mincemeat of my asshole." Or how about this: "Fuck me in all my orifices/I'm your whore/Nothing but a hole." Or maybe: "...My shitty job/And my brat kids/And my fat, ugly wife/Seem so fucking far away." If you can find this, GET THIS. This should be a requirement. Unbelievable live show, too.
7. Various - Anhedonia (Fusty Cunt Tapes compilation)
Fusty Cunt Tapes, a label run by Jim Haras (Deterge, Pyrrhic Thanatology Monger), put out a compilation last year on the theme of self-denial, asking the artists involved to work on that theme. What emerged was Anhedonia, a total wreck of fast-paced, crushing, and ugly PE and noise from artists like Nyodene D, Exploring Jezebel, Alberich, Teenybopper, and numerous others, with a booklet featuring art for each artist all wrapped in a diaper. It's a brutal and fantastic compilation.
8. Cold Cave - Cherish The Light Years
This does not sound like it came out in 2011, besides the crisp production- it sounds like it should have been released in the 1980s among all the other big artists of the synthpop/post-punk scene. Having a soft spot for that sort of sound, I really enjoyed this album; despite what it lacks in originality (obviously, this sound is nothing new), it still manages to be creative with it and do it extremely well.
9. The Residents - Lonely Teenager
The recent Talking Light tour (which, if you had the pleasure of seeing, was an absolutely amazing time) was interesting in the fact that it was not in support of any new release, but rather just a new way of playing their music mixed in with some brand new tracks in the form of ghost stories. After the tour, the Residents decided that it had been successful enough that they needed at least some sort of studio release- this became Lonely Teenager. Featuring some of their best Talking Light renditions of old classics such as Lizard Lady and Six More Miles To The Graveyard, as well as some of their ghost stories, Lonely Teenager is a completely successful and impressive studio release, ranking up there with some of their best.
10. Prurient - Bermuda Drain
Certainly the most divergent release in Prurient's catalogue, and one that sparked a lot of controversy and debate among noise fans and Fernow followers this year, Prurient's Bermuda Drain is less noise than it is, as Fernow himself considers it, "sound collaging". Some of the album is the most musical work Fernow has done, such as the fast-paced industrial track A Meal Can Be Made. Other tracks retain Prurient's classic angst and aggression in a barrage of rhythmic harsh noise, like Watch Silently. Most tracks remain somewhere in between, not quite music, not quite noise, a bit ambient, a bit agressive, really somewhat unplaceable. I thought this was an outstanding release, personally. Mr. Fernow has outdone himself again.
Honorable mention: Force Publique Congo - Rubber, Copper, And Witchcraft In Zandeland
This was a release I listened to over and over and over, and it probably would have been in the top 10 if there was more material on it. Side A is a gradually-building eerie, crackling, and ominous power electronics track while side B is harsh and hard-hitting lo-fi midrange noise. Excellent concept, excellent sounds, very creative... all with that classic Hospital Productions sound. Brilliant release.
Best reissue: Polar Moldmentous - Forbidden Recitation
This is probably my favorite Lust Vessel project, and this release has one of the darkest and most intensely opressive atmospheres I've heard on any noise release, well, ever. Beautiful in a really fucked up sort of way.
