Yeah, I'm aware this was somewhat belated, but none the less, voila! We capped the year off triumphantly with the Eyesorestopperwithoutaface Fundraiser & Box Social, which was awesome and bizarre in equal measure, as well as Vicemaker's set at the Soymbomb New Years Party , which was expectedly rowdy and drunken, and the release of tig.erve nom's debut EP. Naturally, however, this is only the beginning, and 2012 promises to well and truly be the year of the briefcase. I have decided to ask a handful of friends and associates to toss me a year-end list for this posts, to provide a contrast with my own rambling anal-retentive contributions, but first off, some acknowledgements/statements...

First off, I'd like to thank everyone we've worked with and all of the bands we've gotten to know and do stuff with over the past year. We've gotten a whole bunch of music out there, played/promoted some great gigs and made some good friends, none of which would have been possible without the help of a dedicated group of supporters, so thank you again. There are too many of you to name by name, but rest assured, if you think you are one of these people, you probably are.

Secondly, stay tuned in the coming weeks, as this page will be updated MUCH more frequently with articles, interviews, show information and release schedules for all affiliated artists within the coming months. In a couple of days we will be making some big-ish announcements so don't fuck around and miss out on all the craziness.

Now, without further ado, here is my comprehensive year-end list, followed by some others from people at least as nerdy about their tunes as I am. See you all soon!

- Max

MAX DENEAU (Briefcase Show, Inc., Eyeswithoutaface, Vicemaker, Homolka)

  METAL/HARDCORE

01.  Capsule – No Ghost (Rorschach) 02. Mournful Congregation - The Book of Kings (Weird Truth) 03. Animals As Leaders – Weightless (Prosthetic) 04. Esoteric – Paragon of Dissonance (Season of Mist) 05. KEN Mode – Venerable (Profound Lore) 06. Kosmograd – Kosmograd (Briefcase Show, Inc.) 07. Column of Heaven – Ecstatically Embracing All That We Habitually Suppress (N/A) 08. Gridlink – Orphan (Hydra Head) 09. Morne – Asylum (Profound Lore) 10. Hate Eternal – Phoenix Amongst The Ashes (Metal Blade) 11. Rotten Sound – Cursed (Relapse) 12. Absu – Abzu (Candlelight) 13. Disma – Towards the Megalith (Profound Lore) 14. Yob – Atma (Profound Lore) 15. Nader Sadek - In the Flesh (Season of Mist) 16. Tombs – Path of Totality (Relapse) 17. The Devin Townsend Project - Deconstruction (HevyDevy) 18. Corrupted – Garten Der Unbewusstheit (Nostalgia Blackrain) 19. Azarath – Blasphemer’s Malediction (Witching Hour) 20. Origin – Entity (Relapse) 21. Brutal Truth – Endtime (Relapse) 22. Ulcerate - The Destroyers of All (Willowtip) 23. 40 Watt Sun – The Inside Room (Cyclone Empire) 24. Subrosa – No Help For The Mighty Ones (Profound Lore) 25. Vallenfyre – A Fragile King (Century Media) 26. Autopsy - Macabre Eternal (Peaceville) 27. Negative Plane – Stained Glass Revelations (AJNA Offensive) 28. Aosoth - III (Agonia) 28. Godstopper – Empty Crawlspace (N/A) 29. Gride - Zaskuby Chaosu (Insane Society) 30. Sulaco - Build and Burn (Handshake Inc.)

Runner-ups would include Fucked Up, Amebix, Needful Things, Blut Aus Nord, Opeth, Birds in Row, Junius, Loss, Anaal Nathrakh, Fen, Deicide, Omnium Gatherum, Burzum, etc.

HIP HOP

01. Saigon – The Greatest Story Never Told (Suburban Noize) 02. Pharoahe Monch – W.A.R. [We Are Renegades] (Duckdown) 03. J-Live – S.P.T.A. [Said Person of That Ability] (Triple Threat} 04. Jay-Z & Kanye West – Watch The Throne (Def Jam) 05. Cunninlynguists – Oneirology (Rbc) 06. The Roots – Undun (Def Jam) 07. Blu – No York! (Independent) 08. Raekwon – Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang (Ice H20/EMI) 09. Apathy – Honkey Kong (Dirty Version) 10. Phonte – Charity Starts At Home (HBD) 11. Shabazz Palaces – Black Up (Sub Pop) 12. Reks – Rhythmatic Eternal King Supreme (Brick/Showoff) 13. Blue Sky Black Death – Noir (Fake Four Inc.) 14. Matlock – 2117 (Fly Pig) 15. Kool G Rap – Riches, Royalty & Respect (Fatbeats) 16. Action Bronson & Statik Selektah – Well Done (DCide) 17. Jedi Mind Tricks – Violence Begets Violence (Enemy Soil) 18. Random Axe – Random Axe (Duckdown) 19. Yelawolf – Radioactive (Shady/Interscope) 20. Childish Gambino – Camp (Glass Note) 21. Verbal Kent – Save Yourself (Rapmechanics) 22. Danny Brown & Black Milk – Black & Brown (Fatbeats) 23. Action Bronson – Dr. Lecter (Fine Fabric Delegates) 24. CF – Storm Mode (Independent) 25. Ill Bill & Vinnie Paz – Heavy Metal Kings (Enemy Soil) 26. Kendrick Lamar – Section.80 (N/A) 27. Game – The R.E.D. Album (Aftermath/Interscope) 28. Lateef the Truthspeaker – Firewire (Quannum) 29. Classified – Handshakes & Middle Fingers (Sony) 30. Hail Mary Mallon – Are You Gonna Eat That? (Rhymesayers)

Runner-ups would include Talib Kweli, Touch, Joel Ortiz, Beastie Boys, Royce Da 5’9, Bad Meets Evil, Qwazaar & Batsauce, Evidence, MC Esoteric, Travis Barker, Snoop Dogg, and Atmosphere.

Some albums that don’t fit on this list but deserve a mention:

Cold Cave – Cherish the Light Years Fair to Midland – Arrows & Anchors PJ Harvey – Let England Shake Young Widows – In and Out of Youth and Lightness Bon Iver - Bon Iver, Bon Iver

Albums that probably would have made this list had I listened to them thoroughly enough: Thantifaxath, Sortilegia, Vast Aire, Slaughterhouse, Drugs of Faith, Full of Hell, Caina, Lock Up, Wolves in the Throne Room, All Else Failed, Forgotten Tomb, KRS-One & Bumpy Knuckles, Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, Tom Waits, Danny Brown.

ERIC KING (Column of Heaven, Slaughter Strike, The Endless Blockade, Urine Cop)

Dead Language - S/T Tomhet – Fulländad Sfäraförintning I En Onaturliger Skepneskrud Av Pestilenta Djwr Ride for Revenge - Under The Eye Undor / Ride For Revenge - Split Kumiko Takara / Massimo Pupillo / Paal Nilssen-Love - Raids On The Unspeakable Death Grips - Exmilitary Mixtape Big Sean – Finally Famous Mixtape Condominium live at Siesta Nouvoux Gas Chamber - Corpse With Levity Departure Chandelier - The Black Crest Of Death, The Gold Wreath Of War

ANDREW NOLAN (Column of Heaven, The Endless Blockade, Shank)

Ten records and tapes Thantifaxath – 2011 tape Hexvessel – Dawnbearer LP Rot in Hell – As Pearls Before Swine LP Blut aus nord – 777 Sects LP Execration – Odes of the Occult LP Integrity – Detonate VVorlds Plague 12” Dead Language LP Chelsea Wolf - Ἀποκάλυψις LP Ride for Revenge – Under the Eye LP Unholy Majesty – 2011 tape Ten bands I saw live Purity Control at Soy Bomb/ Not Dead Yet Iron Lung at Hard Luck Drop Dead at Hard Luck/ Not Dead Yet Pick Your Side at Hard Luck/ Not Dead Yet Antediluvian at some divebar, i forget. Thantifaxath at Soy Bomb Thou at Soy Bomb. Godstopper at Sneaky Dees. Raw Nerve at Siesta Nouveaux. Condominium at Siesta Nouveaux. Five books (read in 2011, published earlier) Shawn Wilson – Research is Ceremony Linda Tuhiwai Smith – Decolonizing Methodologies Peter Temple – The Broken Shore Mattias Gardel - Gods of the Blood: The Pagan Revival and White Separatism Raymond Williams – Culture and Materialism

MATT CUTHBERT (A Mountain Far… Productions, Foxmoulder, The Veil)

Bruce Peninsula - Open Flames Mahria - self titled Animal Faces - Analytical Dreaming Beau Navire - Hours Cloud Mouth - Keep Well the Bronzed Chorus - Gleaming Suffix / Beau Navire split This Will Destroy You - Tunnel Blanket Creeper - Exhaustion Ampere - Like Shadows

TUKA SHAHIDI (Eyeswithoutaface, Homolka, Extreme Noise Terrible, Syntaqst Error, The Chainsaw Stunt Double)

Top 10 in no order: Triac- Always Meant To Hurt You Anal Cunt - Wearing Out Our Welcome Thantifaxath - self titled Defeatist- Tyranny Of Decay Column Of Heaven - Ecstatically Embracing all that we Habitually Suppress Kosmograd - self-titled Ulcerate - The Destroyers of All Bastard Noise - Skulldozer Godstopper - Empty Crawlspace Despise you / ANB - Split lp

GRAHAM CHRISTIAN (Teethmarks, Black Faxes)

WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 23RD

@SNEAKY DEE'S

BLACK SKIES (blackskies.bandcamp.com) Psychedelic sludge trio from North Carolina.