There’s a vast difference between this year’s Best Of list and 2010’s. For one, it’s shorter by more than half. There was a lot of great stuff I listened to this year, including The Death Set’s sleazy punky sophomore LP Michel Poiccard, Grouper’s lovely and haunting AIA, and basically all the stuff Tonetta released. But for the sake of brevity, I decided 25 was certainly enough.

Darker, more aggressive sounds have infested my ears since fall began, which is sort of normal for me anyway. I have spent a good chunk of the gray months listening to Coil and Dead Can Dance a lot as well, but credit where credit is due: 2011 itself was just pretty damn dark. Not the witchy 808-addled dark of 2010, this is darkness rooted in brooding and intensity. Even some of the biggest pop stars in the world got the gloom; Drake’s Take Care for example was the mainstream approach to the melancholic and introspective attitude that’s taken over a lot of underground R&B, but there’s no way in hell it needs to be in this list. It’s good and you should hear it but there are more deserving artists who need your attention. Here they are.

25. Angels in America - Narrow Road To The Interior (Ehse)

24. Shearing Pinx - Night Danger (Divorce)

23. Julia Holter - Ekstasis (RVNG)

22. TEETH - Whatever (Moshi Moshi)

21. Haus Arafna - New York Rhapsody (Galakthorrö)

20. Bestial Mouths - Hissing Veil (DAIS)

19. The Soft Moon - Total Decay EP (Captured Tracks)

18. Gnaw Their Tongues - Per Flagellum Sanguemque, Tenebras Veneramus (Crucial Blast)

17. Reliq - Reliq (self-released)

16. SSION - Bent (self-released)

15. Jaws - Stress Test (Hundebiss)

14. Pictureplane - Thee Physical (Lovepump United)

13. EMA - Past Life Martyred Saints (Souterrain Transmissions)

12. ASAP Rocky - Live. Love. ASAP. (self-released)

11. Death Grips - Exmilitary (self-released)

10. Ash Borer - Ash Borer (Flenser)

An absolutely gorgeous debut, if grim, epic fucking black metal can ever be called gorgeous. I think it can.

09. The Weeknd - House of Balloons (self-released)

Pretty sure this is on most lists, and rightly so. It’s basically the starting point for anyone interested in weirdo R&B. Also beautiful for how many goths that Siouxsie pseudo-cover has annoyed.

08. John Maus - We Must Become The Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves (Domino)

Maus’ latest LP is probably one of the catchiest, loveliest synth-pop albums in the world right now. From cop killing to love songs about the moon, it’s underground pop perfection.

07. Deathface - Fall Of Man EP (Trouble & Bass)

I’ve become a sucker for all things Deathface-related. Grinding, hard-hitting beats mixed with shrieks and shredding guitars. This is pure ragerave.

06. Holy Other - With U EP (Tri Angle)

I can’t count how many times I played this during the hot summer nights. Throbbing, sparkling beauty condensed into pitch-shifted snippets of post-whatever glory.

05. Sewn Leather - Sikknastafari Slash Crasstafari (Hundebiss)

Seeing this dude live was a revelation. It’s punk that destroys what punk means, an oozing messy beast of shambling synths and cold synths around barely-contained fury. It’s chaos and bliss and it made me love thrashing again.

04. Chelsea Wolfe - Apokalypsis (Pendu)

2011 was the year where every darkly-inclined female singer got compared to Siouxsie at some point, and Chelsea Wolfe more than most. Yes, it’s retarded, but if anyone deserves such a powerful comparison, it’s Wolfe. Apokalypsis is certainly one of the most powerful records you’ll hear all year.

03. Water Borders - Harbored Mantras (Tri Angle)

If Sewn Leather destroys punk by being punk, Water Borders do the same to goth. And Harbored Mantras IS quite goth; in fact, I believe it’s the best goth album in the last 20 years. No, I don’t mean the tired, cripple thing goth has become; Water Borders make goth music as it might have evolved if it wasn’t for goths: a sleek combination of brooding post-punk and industrial entwined with elements of tribal world music, UK Garage, house, hip-hop and post-dubstep production. It’s a sound that acknowledges the duo’s influences while staying firmly Now: dark, clever and razor-sharp.

2. Austra - Feel It Break (Domino)

Beautiful, danceable and perpetually replayable, Feel It Break is the rare album that I’ve played over and over and never grown tired of. It makes me dance and sing along and basically spazz. It is, more or less, perfect. Not as perfect, however, as

1. Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact (4AD)

Well, DUH.