2011 favorites at Soft Abuse HQ

Just like every year, 2011 saw a heap good records trickle out... In compiling this list of favorites I'm surely forgetting a few things that I really loved, but below is what I can recall at this moment, listed in no particular order.



Full-lengths

The UV Race - Homo (In the Red)
Blackout Beach - Fuck Death (Dead Oceans)
Stare Case - Lose Today (DeStijl)
Bill Callahan - Apocalypse (Drag City)
Cass McCombs - Wit's End (Domino)
Cass McCombs - Humor Risk (Domino)
Condominium - Warm Home (Condominium)
Tim Hecker - Ravedeath, 1972 (Kranky)
Zomes - Earth Grid (Thrill Jockey)
Stan Hubbs - Crystal (re, Companion)
Martin Newell - Songs for a Fallow Land (re, Fixed Identity)
Destroyer - Kaputt (Merge)
Juma Sultan's Aboriginal Music Society - Father of Origin (re, Eremite)
Various - Still Going in Offices (Savoury Days)
Der Teenage Panzerkorps - German Reggae (Holidays)
Horrid Red - Celestial Joy (Holidays/Brave Mysteries)
Angus Maclise / Tony Conrad - Dreamweapon III (re, Boo-Hooray)
Vernon Wray - Wasted (re, Sebastian Speaks)
Sic Alps - Napa Asylum (Drag City)
Jerusalem & the Starbaskets - Dost (DeStijl)
Grouper - A I A (Yellow Electric)
Jakob Olausson - Morning & Sunrise (DeStijl)
Matthew De Gennaro - Adversaria (TU-134)
The Axemen - Three Virgins, Three Versions, Three Visions (Siltbreeze)
Ryan Garbes - Sweet Hassle (Hello Sunshine)
Lighted - Queendom (Lighten-Up Sounds)
Papercuts - Fading Parade (Sub Pop)
Six Organs of Admittance - Asleep on the Floodplain (Drag City)
Total Control - Henge Beat (Iron Lung)
Kitchen's Floor - Look Forward to Nothing (Siltbreeze)
Various - Krypton Ten (Unwucht)
Belong - Common Era (Kranky)
KWJAZ - KWJAZ (Not Not Fun)
The Garbage & The Flowers - Stoned Rehearsal (re, Quemada)
Steven R. Smith - Old Skete (Worstward)
Myrrh - Myrrh (Self-Released)
Tinariwen - Tassili (Anti/V2)
Larry Marshall - Queer & Wonder (re, Rare Youth)
Bobb Trimble - Crippled Dog Band (re, Yoga)
Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring For My Halo (Matador)
Pigeons - No Shore (Sixteen Tambourines)
Slugfuckers - Three Feet Behind Glass / Instant Classic (re, Insolito)
Suspensers - FMLOL (Self-Released)
Peaking Lights - 936 (Not Not Fun)



Singles / EPs

Real Numbers - Tear it in Two (Florida's Dying)
Lower Dens - Deer Knives (Sub Pop)
Eddy Current Suppression Ring - Walking in Unison (Captcha)
Mad Nanna - Mad Nanna (Eggy)
Mad Nanna - I've Been Talking (Albert's Basement)
Jonathan Halper - Puce Moment (Bootleg)
Art Museums - S.H.O.P.P.I.N.G. (Dulcitone)
Grudge - When Christine Comes Around (re, Mighty Mouth)
The UV Race - Acid Trip (Sweet Rot)
The Mantles - Raspberry Thighs (SDZ)
Muura - Untitled (Albert's Basement)
Scrotum Poles- Revelation (re, Ducitone)
Just Urbain - Everybody Loves (re, 540)
Three Legged Race - Raining Order (NNA Tapes)
Cuffs - Privilege (Ride the Snake)
Lures - New Boy (Salvaged)
The Moondogs - Heads I Win (re, Sing Sing)
Gold-Bears - Something to Think About (Cloudberry)


Last but not least, a recap of all things Soft Abuse from 2011, listed chronologically --

Horrid Red - Pink Flowers EP
Primitive Motion - Certain Materials EP
Brute Heart - Lonely Hunter
Horrid Red - Silent Party EP
Julian Lynch - Music for How Mata Hari Lost Her Head and Found Her Body
Pumice - Pebbles (remastered LP)
Primitive Motion - By Arc or Chord
Pigeons - They Sweetheartstammers
Ulaan Khol - La Catacomb

& the above list, in playlist form -

Soft Abuse 2011 by Soft Abuse

Brute Heart rounds out a busy & stellar 2011 on a high note

Minneapolis' Brute Heart are ending 2011 on a high note thanks to some year-end nods. First there was the pizza party at Soft Abuse HQ (much-belated), then their profile as one of the best bands in Minneapolis from Lavender Magazine hit the newsstands / web ("...with a sound that’s like some kind of Middle-Eastern Velvet Underground"), and today their brilliant second album, Lonely Hunter, was named one of the best Minneapolis album of 2011 by City Pages.

2011 was a banner year for the band, with the arduous recording & massive release of Lonely Hunter, a tour of the west coast in the summer, a trip to NYC for CMJ in the fall, and dozens of gigs in-between. 2012 should be just as bright, with two singles imminent via M'lady's and Mississippi-offshoot imprint Water Wing, more touring & who-knows-what. Expect good things.