Rather than keeping a "top albums of 2011" list going on, I'm just going to list all the albums I've listened to this year thus far, along with the rating I associate with it based on my subjective sentiments and criticisms. It's a way to disseminate recommendations and show just how much time I've wasted- or gained?- on obsessing over music this year. I would include some short comments but I'm not that dedicated to the cause- too much time investment. Word.

Recommendations are most appreciated.

★★★★★- Perfection, all-time classic
★★★★½- Excellence, recommended to anyone
★★★★- Great, recommended to most…

A standard "my 100 favorite albums of…" list for the 1980s. I was only alive for little over a year during the 1980s, so my choices here may be relatively typical.

1. Steve Roach- Structures From Silence (1984) and Dreamtime Return (1988)
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll166/Omega_Switch/140540-1.jpg

2. The Cure- Disintegration (1989)
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll166/Omega_Switch/324-1.jpg

3. Harold Budd & Brian Eno- Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror (1980) and The Pearl (1984)
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll166/Omega_Switch/54744-1.jpg

4. Bathory- Blood Fire Death (1988)
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll166/Omega_Switch/4114-1.jpg

5. Glenn Branca- The Ascension (1980)
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll166/Omega_Switch/23310.jpg

6. Morbid Angel- Altars of Madness (1989)
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll166/Omega_Switch/12690-1.jpg

7. Swans- Children of…

Another compilation of the albums that I discovered in Sept. 2010 that I thoroughly enjoyed or left a lasting impression of me. I've included subjective ratings for each, most of which will fall between 7 and 9.

Access to Arasaka- Void(); (2010, idm, 8)
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll166/Omega_Switch/2938045.jpg

Amebix- Arise! (1985, crust punk/crossover thrash, 7.5)
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll166/Omega_Switch/23583.jpg

Amorphis- Magic & Mayhem: Tales From the Early Years (2010, progressive metal, melodic death/doom metal, folk metal, 8)
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll166/Omega_Switch/2973248.jpg

Anathema- We're Here Because We're Here (progressive/alternative rock, 8)
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll166/Omega_Switch/1572925.jpg

The Black Heart Procession- 2 (1999, indie rock/slowcore, 8)
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll166/Omega_Switch/14632.jpg

Burzum- Aske…

This is certainly not the first black metal list I've made, but this is the first that I have decided to use a different format. Rather than listing all my favorite black metal albums in order of preference, I'm listing these albums in groups, which are split according to subjective preference and how essential they are to the genre. Think of this as an overview of black metal, rather than a favorites list. If time allows, I'll add some mini-reviews and album covers in the future.

Comments and recommendations would be appreciated! I'm posting this not only as a guide…

The albums of 2009 that made the year worthwhile.

Full list here: http://rateyourmusic.com/list/Omega_Switch/2009__the_good (just in case you're wondering where SunnO))), Raekwon and Candlemass are).

The Good (7.5-8)
50. Eluder- Drift EP
49. Converge- Axe to Fall
48. Ólafur Arnalds- Found Songs EP
47. Between the Buried and Me- The Great Misdirect
46. Lifelover- Dekadens EP
45. The Morningside- Moving Crosscurrent of Time
44. Squarepusher- Numbers Lucent
43. The Twilight Sad- Forget the Night Ahead
42. The Chasm- Farseeing the Paranormal Abysm
41. Krallice- Dimensional Bleedthrough
40. Rome- Flowers…

So this is my attempt at making a list of my 100 favorite albums of the past decade. You know the drill. Hopefully the albums here can make up for the predictability of the list…

You can find the full list (with 50 more albums, an explanation of the list and will hopefully include mini-reviews soon): here

1. Agalloch- The Mantle
2. maudlin of the Well- Leaving Your Body Map
3. Steve Roach- Mystic Chords & Sacred Spaces
4. Boards of Canada- Geogaddi
5. Drudkh- Autumn Aurora
6. Stars of the Lid- The Tired…

So I decided to reset my charts… again (after about 23,000 scrobbles). Here are my top artists and albums from early January up until late November. It seems I can't go more than 25k scrobbles without resetting… I would probably have over 100,000 scrobbles if I never reset my charts (combined with my scrobbles from my old account).

1. Steve Roach- 504
2. Boards of Canada- 490
3. Agalloch- 377
4. maudlin of the Well- 343
5. Autechre- 324

6. Mayhem- 273
7. Bethlehem- 269
8. The Prodigy- 259
9. Organized Konfusion…

I know, I know… these journals are all over the place here. But I decided to jump on the bandwagon to look back at 20,000 scrobbles since my list reset. Why not?

omega_switch22b's top albums (overall)

1. Bethlehem - Sardonischer Untergang Im Zeichen Irrelioser (243)

2. Agalloch - The Mantle (239)

http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/1589/11846669.jpg http://covers.nmstudio.pl/spacer.gif

3. The Prodigy - Music For The Jilted Genertion (232)

4. Boards of Canada - Geogaddi (230)

http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/940/36070077.jpg http://covers.nmstudio.pl/spacer.gif

5. Organized Konfusion - Stress: The Extinction Agenda (221)

http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/465/29372385.jpg http://covers.nmstudio.pl/spacer.gif

6. maudlin of the Well - Leaving Your Body Map (198)

http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/1208/20658233.jpg http://covers.nmstudio.pl/spacer.gif

7. Slowdive - Souvlaki…

Music. It’s what part of what inspires the continuance of my existence, and it has sown into the very core of my being. Why must I yearn for these structured sounds, these heavenly chords, these reverberations that are used in expressing human emotion? This is a question that has troubled me for quite some time, as I have continued to consume in my brain thousands of albums, countless tunes and atmospheres. These sounds trigger in my mind something that seems unfamiliar with most other people. The majority of individuals I have encountered view music as a form of entertainment, something…

Hello, I come to you bearing gifts of droning ambient sounds. I've just released two new EPs (To Bliss and Hell and Withered Landscapes and Troubled Souls). These two EPs are both drone-based. The first EP consists of two tracks, both which differ relatively so in terms of atmosphere- one having a lighter and more pleasant sound, the other being darker and more oppressive. These two tracks were originally meant to be part of an LP- with two other tracks-, but I decided to cut off those two missing tracks- due to major incoherence when combined with the…