Our picks

Best labels of 2011

By Impose Automaton » Lots of tapes and no apes.

Cassette photo by Tyler White

We like our labels two ways. Either they are run by a few people with strong tastes who use their personal savings accounts to create merch for bands as a way to make friends, or they are mid-sized sedans, comfortable selling a few extra units, with at least one employee who has a good eye for high-stakes bets. In any case, you won't find any of the mega-indies or godforbid a major on here. Homegrown is all we've known and we're sticking to it.

However, you will notice that we have a tie for first. We couldn't decide! Do we like the special curative vision of NNA Tapes better than how Thrill Jockey uses its money (probably not as much as you'd think) to help out people we always love? NO! We don't like either of those things more thant the other. It's a tie. That's it.

20. Debacle

These Pac Northwesterners were a factory this year, churning out an average of two albums a month, majoring in the works of all american noise freaks with a taste for all that is synthesized and droneable, printed on the unassuming self-explained 'high quality 6-panel wallets' that belied the experiments on CD with an extra measure of slickness and class. For highlights, check out Cough Cool's Cough Cool, Expo '70's Blackout, and Domain's Crystal Hell Pool.

19. Tundra Dubs

The Bay Area's premiere one and only label devoted to keeping the alternative witch house-drag-hypnogogues alive and well. Giving us releases from ∆AIMON, Funerals, Zombelle and more; Ben Tundra and co. are saving us all from a blogosphere obsessed with Eccho the Dolophin screen captures and pop inspired by 90s fishtank screensavers. In short we would like to say thanks.

18. No Kings

Along with having the prettiest Tumblr for a record label, No Kings win extra distinction for elevating the art of cassette packaging to higher orders of elegance and class, with delicately embossed j-cards and effortlessly gorgeous prints. Nor were the accompanying audtiory slices chopped liver. With an eye to the Nashville and LA noise scenes from whence label founder Lee Noble springs, the releases were consistently uncompromising in their brand of noise and drone pedigrees, including Scott Martin's work as Hobbledeions and Je Suis Le Petit Chevalier's theorems on her “Discovering Mathematics 2” c42. (Hey, look, they're both sold out.)

17. Kranky

As labels come in and out of vogue in 5-year lifespans, Kranky's been putting out excellent releases for nearly two decades. You won't find any buzzbands here, and thank God for that – there's no room for transient, flavor-of-the-month artists on Kranky's roster. They carefully choose artists who've honed their craft for years, releasing experimental veterans Charalambides' 24th(?) album, Belong's long anticipated follow-up to their '06 full-length, Steve Hauschildt of Emeralds' solo album, and Tim Hecker's best work to date, Ravedeath, 1972.

16. Tri Angle

In pursuit of the perfect electronic jam to haunt your unconscious mind; we can thank the folks at Tri Angle for giving us Clams Casino, Water Borders, Balam Acab and one of the year's most impressive label showcases.

15. Bathetic

Look. It's the holidays. No one wants to write blurbs, especially not Jeremy Krinsley, who is the only one who really knows what's up with these people. No one else at Impose wants to appear uneducated, and we don't have any history on these guys and didn't feel like doing any reporting because, once again, we're all overfed pigs. So let's just say this: Bathetic released Cough Cool, William Cody Watson, and Zac Nelson this year. Those dudes are cool. That's all we know.

14. Hardly Art

A big year for Hardly Art with release from the The Beets, Hunx and His Punx, La Sera and we hear they have plans to release a solo Hunx record in February 2012.

13. Hippos in Tanks

Even if you're not a fan of HIT, you have to admit that the label has shown incredible foresight. They plucked Ford and Lopatin's Games project from obscurity early last year, picked up on Grimes before most, and are showing no signs of slowing down with a promising first full-length from Nguzunguzu next Spring. But the real reason that HIT kicked so much ass this year is that they continuously embrace artists that push boundaries. They started the year with the high brow/low brow deconstructed pop of Hype Williams, cast their greatest stride with the electronic genre-bending of Laurel Halo, and managed to piss off noise purists with James Ferraro's best/worst album yet, inspiring more interesting think pieces than pretty much anything written about Odd Future.

See also: Sleep Over

12. Ghostly International

Michigan's label has shown a devotion to only the most haunting and alluring sounds with an impressive output from Com Truise, HTRK, Jacaszek, Tycho, etc. Look out for their release of Matthew Dear's Headcage EP January 17.

11. Cascine

With an ear for international beats and ambience, Cascine gave us goodness from Chad Valley, Jensen Sportag, Pandr Eyez, Shine 2009, The Whendays and plenty more chill tunes that will remind you of the sweet taste of Tab soda.

10. Art Fag

With release from Bleached, Colleen Green, Heavy Hawaii, Psychic Dancehall and more; Art Fag Recordings kept the indie vibe cool all year.

9. Now & Again

The seminal international catalog label run by Stones Throw general manager Eothen Alapatt, aka Egon, had a banner year, releasing no less than 14 records of impeccable quality, research and production (often including hardcover-booked liner notes). Always shining a light on some of the best, and rare soul, funk, psych, and rock from the dark corners of the world.

Some highlights include: East of Underground, Hell Below box set, Kourosh Yaghmaei, Back From the Brink, Various, Those Shocking, Shaking Days: Indonesia Hard, Psychedelic, Progressive Rock and Funk: 1970-78, and the continuation of their Nigerian Fuzz Funk anthology.

8. Captured Tracks

Some days, it seems like every other release is on Captured Tracks. The Brooklyn label is run by Mike Sniper, and they released the first Dum Dum Girls ep in early 2009. Since then, they've released no fewer than 136 records, which means they release more than a record a week, mostly by bands that have never had a record label before. This is, of course, insanity. Sniper's roots are in Blank Dogs, a dark, shoegazey, new wave group (they refuse to be photographed without hoods) and the label mostly continues with that flavor of heavy satisfying brood.

7. Night People

The Iowa City heroes of the audio cassette have been perennial collaborators in the war on crap synth pop, the elevation of the total weirdo (see: The Savage Young Taterbug), and the discovery of you're latest favorite dude (say hi to Dirty Beaches' first cassette, a self-titled 2008 Night People release). Indeed, label-meister Shawn Reed is ever upping the ante towards a more damaged union of casio hooks and outsider vocal stylings with his own label house band Wet Hair. And as an early warning system to what other labels will discover in years to come, its pedigree remains impecible. Dirty Beach's Mr. Alex Zhang Hungtai threw some more gold into the Night-People mix with his split with Ela Orleans, while on the tape front, Bebe Fang made some of our favorite fractured synth excursions.

6. 100% Silk

As the slick proxy to its older bro label Not Not Fun, the newly bedazzled 100% Silk had its disco nose running after snorting off some of the sleaziest American dance jams of the year. (We're looking at you, Pharoahs.) And if the number of sold-out releases outnumbers the available ones by a four-to-one margin, you're probably doing something right. (We're looking at you, Ital, The Deeeep, Cuticle, Maria Minerva, Gillette, Xander Harris, Sir Stephen, Innergaze, Magic Touch, Octo Octa, and yeah, Pharoahs...

5. Goner

Goner is the second oldest record label on this list, and it turns out that we love them for the exact opposite reason that we love Thrill Jockey; Goner stays faithfully true to form. It helps that the aesthetic is one that may never truly go out of style; ripping garage guitars tied to lovable personalities, like Ty Segall, is one of the label's largest talking points, and they continue to show us new faces we'll love, like Mikal Cronin.

4. Sacred Bones

Before they were the label that put out Zola Jesus the crooner and Crystal Stilts the buzz band, Caleb Braaten's Brooklyn house of wonders was the label that put out Zola Jesus the bedroom sourceress and whatever the hell else it wanted (see: Children's Hospital). Luckily no one's sold out and Sacred Bones put out some of our favorites of the year, including Psychic Ills' Hazed Out, Amen Dunes' Through Donkey Jaw, Crystal Stilts' Radiant Door, The Men's Leave Home, and we could keep going but then we'd just be listing their discography.

3. Friends Records

It doesn't usually make much sense, especially in this day and age, to group a lot of bands by a geographical space. Yet the Baltimore of the past few years has definitely coagulated into one of the only "scenes" that's playing by the old rules – a bunch of smart weirdos all hang out with each other in communal spaces, and though their art has many different textures, some similar threads wind through. What sets Baltimore apart is a kind of wacky and tender togetherness, a shared sense of the bizarre, and a commitment to the analog. Tapes and vinyls and zines can still be cheaply created with sweat equity and this is a simple, no-nonsense ideal to uphold. "Make a nice thing, because why not?" This is where Friends Records comes in. Beautifully designed packaging wraps tapes and records by almost completely Baltimore-based bands. Simple idea, executed beautifully.

Some favorites: Microkingdom, Flock of Dimes, Moss of Aura, Co La, Witch Hat, Sri Aurobindo, Weekends, Oxes, End of the year compilation

2. RVNG Intl.

The Brooklyn label's run this year was phenomonal - by far the most exciting series of the year came from their ongoing Freakways series, which brought us, among other phenomena, a collaboration between Blues Control and Laraaji, a Psychic Ills 12-inch with collaborations from Hans-Joachim Irmler, Gibby Haynes, and fricking Juan Atkins, and a nasty 5-way synth yank starring James Ferraro, Dan Lopatin, Laurel Halo, Samuel Godin, and the great David Borden. Even if you left out that seminal fun, they put out the fantastic Blondes 12-inch series.