2011 has been a good year for music. It was a good year to launch our Squealing endeavour, and December has been a good month for starting plans for bigger, bolder and brighter projects for 2012. So good, in fact, that we neglected this important rite of passage for music journalism until a relatively late point in the month.

So, part 1 of our staff end of year lists (stay tuned for the rest of the writers’ picks):

1 - Popol Vuh - Herzog scores [reissue]

2 - Kuedo - Severant

Ant City by Kuedo

3 - Colin Stetson - New History Warfare

Colin Stetson - Judges by CornFedCritic

4 - Mrs Magician - Pity Party Animal

THERE IS NO GOD by mrs.magician

5 - Mike Shiflet - Sufferers

Sufferers by _type

6 - Zulus - Kills Gemini Dead

Zulus - Illiterate Eyes by Squealer Mag

7 - Grouper - Alien Observer

GROUPER - Alien Observer by ZDBmuzique

8 - Com Truise - Galactic Melt

Cathode Girls by Com Truise

9 - Liturgy - Aethethica

Selections from Liturgy - Aesthethica by brooklynvegan

10 - Ice Age - New Brigade

Iceage - New Brigade by What’s Your Rupture?