20 RECORDS YOU SHOULD BE LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW

It seems that every other music site in the blogopshere has been rolling out their mid-year Best of 2011 over the past couple of weeks. I understand the urge to engage in some pre-playoffs speculation, at the same time I feel like it is just a little too early in the year to start declaring "Best Ofs" (even if I am guilty of the same sin in individual reviews). Instead I'd like to take this opportunity to shine a spotlight on some albums that deserve more attention than I have been able to give them this year. Not that you likely care, but I have a full-time professional job, I have a family that more than deserves my attention, and unfortunately this year I have suffered two serious debilitating illnesses, so I haven't been able to give nearly as much attention to this blog or my reviews as I have wished. Call this a cop out, but I'm going to take this mid-year opportunity to showcase 20 albums that deserve glowing full-length reviews that I haven't been able to give them, and that you should totally be listening to right now, rather than ranking my best-ofs so far. I am listing these in no particular order, so please don't ascribe meaning to the numbers that appear next to them. #1 is no better than #20. They are all awesome and should be burning up your turntable stat.

#1 WILLIAM FOWLER COLLINS/GOG - Malpais (Utech)

William Fowler Collins and Gog, a/k/a Michael Bjella, have a couple of things in common; both live in the Southwest, America's desolate outskirt (Collins in New Mexico and Bjella in Arizona), and both create incredibly powerful blacked soundscapes that reflect the harshness of the land that surrounds them. So it is little surprise that their first collaboration would consist of mesmerizing blasted drones to soundtrack the 360 degree horizon of the desert, where life and death are separated by the thinnest of lines. The album's title, "Malpais," refers to an eroded landmass in an arid environment that is simply uninhabitable, it is what is commonly referred to as "badlands." This is music born of that geography, and operates in much the same way as Thomas Köner's seminal early dark ambient works did. The difference being that Köner's work was inspired by the ice of the Arctic, and Collins and Bjella are inspired by the more violent holocaust of the desert, making for a much harsher take on dark ambient, but one as equally epic.

#2 DEMONAZ - March Of The Norse (Nuclear Blast)

Demonaz is more metal than most - especially you. He was once the mind-boggling guitarist of one of the mightiest Norwegian black metal bands ever; Immortal. The thing is that he played so hard and so fast that he developed tendinitis. As a result he had to quit as the band's lead guitarist, but because he was so awesome, Abbath, (pretty much the greatest of the NBM personalities that didn't kill anyone) declared (because that is what Abbath does; he declares) that Demonaz was still a member of Immortal and would write the lyrics to all of their songs and continue to tour with them as a frost bitten road bro just for inspiration because he was that fucking cool and integral to the continued existence of Immortal (loyalty is a Viking value, after all). Of course Abbath was dead on right, and now Demonaz a/k/a Harald Nævdal has produced his first record outside of Immortal, and it is beyond reproach. Imagine Immortal playing with classic Iron Maiden and you might have an idea of how totally metal and totally great this record is. If you like metal, you will love this record. It is a no frills, non-ironic, traditional slab of the genre; the kind of which we do not hear often enough. It is also quickly worming its way up into my "best of" list for the year. Devil horns up.

#3 MELLOWHYPE - Blackendwhite (Fat Possum)

Tyler, the Creator made more than a splash this year as the first member of OFWGKTA to release an album that wasn't available for free on the Odd Future website. I'm not about to stoke the fires of an ongoing controversy about that record, except to say that I still think that "Goblin" is the best album of this year regardless of the complaints against it. Instead I want to focus on Hodgy Beats and Left Brain's utterly enjoyable mash up of west-coast east-coast back-packer DIY hip hop that is "Blackendwhite." If you hated Tyler, fine, but this isn't Tyler, this is a less bleak and more diverse album than "Goblin," despite the lead single "64" which sounds like a "Goblin" outtake. I can promise you that even if you don't dig on Tyler's meta psychology, Mellowhype will provide you with one of the most enjoyably offensive quasi-gangster records since Wu-Tang at their height.

#4 MAMALEEK - Kurdaitcha (Enemies List)

San Francisco's Mamaleek has been an enigma since their first underground kvlt classic "Fever Dream," which blew a few choice minds especially hard, mine included. Now the duo has returned with "Kurdaitcha," their second heaping of brilliant lo-fi bedroom black metal. Insanely beautiful slabs of experimental black metal comprise the monoliths of creativity that make up this utterly unique record. This sounds unlike anything before it, and likely anything after it, but to get in the general ballpark of descriptors I'm going to describe this as Jesu if Jesu were a lo-fi bedouin black metal act, which is pretty much my dream of the perfect music. Truth be told, Mamaleek is pretty close to that dream.

"My Body Rock Long Fever"

#5 LOCRIAN & HORSEBACK - New Dominions (Utech)

"New Dominions" is not a split between Locrian and Horseback, but rather a full-on collaboration that features members of both acts playing together on the record's two hauntingly bleak tracks. Not surprisingly the record is exactly what one would hope for from a collaboration between two of today's best blackened experimental artists. "The Gift" is the kind of cavernous dark soundworld that Locrian crafted on last year's "The Crystal World," while "Our Epitaph" is a doom dirge number that hypnotizes the listener, even as it marches them into an abyss of decay and demise. The only drawback to this record is that it leaves the listener needing more. Two songs of this sort of grim melancholia are simply not enough. Here is to hoping for another collaboration between these guys again, and soon.

#6 JON MUELLER - Alphabet of Movements (Type)

In 2010 percussionist extraordinaire Jon Mueller released "The Whole," which just happened to be the most criminally underappreciated record of last year. A masterpiece of percussion-based experimentalism, the record found Mueller exploring a wide array of tones and sounds, from the pensive to the expansively epic. If you missed out on that album, do yourself a huge favor and pick it up immediately. For his Type follow up Mueller has produced "Alphabet of Movements," a work consisting of two epic noise/drone pieces based solely on small gongs and a snare drum. As overtones and undertones begin to culminate from the repetitious playing of each instrument, Mueller constructs a sound greater than the sum of its parts. In the end a simple snare roll is turned into a buzzing cacophonous drone and the striking of gongs into a dizzying work that sounds like Steve Reich playing with Black Dice. Both pieces are a wonder to behold, making "Alphabet of Movements" a worthy successor to "The Whole."

Jon Mueller - Alphabet of Movements by _type

#7 SHABAZZ PALACES - Black Up (Sub Pop)

Shabazz Palaces is the amazing new project from Ishmael Butler, a/k/a Palaceer Lazaro, formerly of Digable Planets and Cherrywine. While there are slight, emphasis on slight, echos of both groups heard on "Black Up," this is a much darker, knottier affair. In fact, it does nothing to know where Lazaro came from, because Shabazz Palaces is one of the most original sounding hip hop acts to emerge in years. It is equally discordant and accessible, making for a heady mix of grooves and beats that is something far grander than standard backpacker fare. It's both claustrophobic and spacious, pulling industrial, IDM, psych, soul and jazz into it's gravitational pull. "Black Up" is not a record that you will entirely get on the first, or even the tenth, listen (although you'll love it regardless), but it is one that will continue to reward and has the potential to become a hip hop classic. Yes, it is that good. Expect this to be toward the top of many critics' "best of" lists at the end of the year.

"Swerve"

#8 JOHN MAUS - We Must Become The Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves (Ribbon)

It's impossible not to invoke the name Ariel Pink when describing John Maus, and for good cause. Maus shares former collaborator Pink's fascination with lo-fi synth pop, but whereas Pink is concerned with cool detachment, Maus approach is just plain chilly. Like Cold Cave, Maus is steeped in the sound of 80s precursors to goth like Joy Division, Bauhaus and Sisters of Mercy. If there were ever an album to typify modern dark wave, this is it. Like Cold Cave, Maus knows how to move bodies as well as salve tortured souls, and like Cold Cave, it's more than just a little addictive. The album's strength is in the seemingly sincere delivery of ridiculously overwrought dance goth, making it one of the few successfully serious ironic records I've heard. Although who knows, maybe Maus really is this goth, and I'm the asshole for making fun of it, either way it's a record that can be enjoyed as both serious art or as a bit of a piss taking, neither of which are mutually exclusive.

Some live samples of Maus and his explanation of why I am wrong to think he is taking a piss...

#9 ICEAGE - New Brigade (What's Your Rupture?)

A group of teenagers from Denmark sound like they stepped straight out of the early 80s with the masters from a long lost post-punk classic under their arms and subsequently are hailed as the "next big thing" by the music press, even though their sound was the next big thing 30 years ago. Anyway, hype and backlash aside, "New Brigade" really is a fantastic record and is kind of mind boggling in how authentically post-punk it all sounds. It's like these guys have never listened to anything other than This Heat and Wire, which is perfectly fine by me. Frankly I hope these guys really are the next big thing, because I haven't heard a record sound this urgent in years.

"White Rune"

#10 ZOMBI - Escape Velocity (Relapse Records)

There have been a slew of electronic artists cashing in on 80's horror soundtrack mayhem recently. Umberto, Xander Harris and Gatekeeper are just a few of the synth driven artists currently re-soundtracking b-movie Zombie flicks and Italian gorefests. Well before Goblin and John Carpenter became the lodestone for so many young musicians, Zombi were dusting off their Dario Argento soundtracks and creating retro-horror soundscapes as the remnants of post-rock burnt down around them. At the time of their first recordings in the mid-aughts it was genuinely unique for a band to traffic in instrumental music that wasn't indebted to Godspeed You Black Emperor or Mogwai. It was even more aberrant for an instrumental band to rock synthesizers instead of guitars. Much has changed since then, now that a glut of retro synth acts have overrun our current musical landscape (although truth be told I am enjoying much of it). Yet even with so many imitators and competitors, Zombi remains at the head of the class when it comes to this stuff. Equal parts krautrock and synth-horror, "Escape Velocity" is their sleekest and most hypnotic record yet, and easily their best since the groundbreaking "Surface To Air."

"DE3"

#11 PLANKS - The Darkests of Grays/Solicit To Fall (Southern Lord)

Southern Lord has been in love with crust and hardcore of late, recently putting out a series of limited releases from within the punk-metal scene. Of the lot, Planks is by far my favorite. Although German, the band sounds as American as apple pie, Dischord, So-Cal punk and the trash it inspired. The band plays with an emotionality that is immediately accessible. Yet just when you think things might get a little too emo, they bludgeon you with a riff the size of Sabbath. Make no mistake about it, these guys are heavy as fuck, but their onslaught is more cathartic than just simple headbanging. Imagine a more metal classic-era Helmet, and you will have a good idea of what this sounds like. This is intense, melodic and brutal stuff. Thanks to Southern Lord for making this more widely available, hopefully there will be more to come from these guys, because this fucking kills.

"Sacred & Secret" live

#12 BARN OWL - Shadowland (Thrill Jockey)

Barn Owl are known for producing some of the finest doom drone work this side of Southern Lord. Last year's cinematic "Ancestral Star" was easily one of the year's best. For "Shadowland" the band returns with an ep that may actually be the duo's best work to date. Even though echos of Popul Vuh and Earth break through these three dense and desolate pieces, this is the band's most unique and original sounding recording so far. Also, whereas in the past nearly every Barn Owl record seemed to soundtrack blasted apocalyptic western landscapes, "Shadowland" has an almost cosmic vibe, like a soundtrack to a sci-fi film set in outer space that is full of existential dread. The only drawback here is that once the ep comes to a close you will wish the group had developed this into a full album, as it leaves you wanting more time in deep space.

"Void And Devotion"