This is first part of my special 2011 wrap-up, the ten best (in my humble opinion) Goth and Darkwave EPs of 2011. Stay tuned for these future features…

• December 11th: A Darker Shade of Pagan’s Top Ten of 2011
• December 18th: Top Twenty Goth/Darkwave Albums of 2011
• December 25th: Special Year-End Wrap-Up Forum on Dark Music featuring contributions from Mick Mercer, Uncle Nemesis, Martin Oldgoth, and Natasha Scharf.

A benefit, or perhaps consequence, of the digital era is the resurgence of the “EP” (extended play) single. Not quite an album, but more than a mere single, these releases can act as a low-cost introduction to a band, a victory lap for a successful album release, or an artistic statement all its own (or sometimes all three). 2011 saw so many EPs that I enjoyed that I felt I couldn’t simply ignore them in favor of full-length releases. So here are my ten favorites, feel free to share yours in the comments.

10. The March Violets - “Love Will Kill You”

Comebacks are often fraught with diminished returns, dodgy lineups, and disappointed fans, but The March Violets seem to have largely avoided these pitfalls and returned in 2011 with a strong EP of new songs, an appetizer for a forthcoming full-length release. If you wondered what well-aged second-wave Goth would sound like, especially since we many never hear such a thing from Sir Eldritch, here you go. Favorite track: “Dandelion King”.

09. Warm Ghost - “Uncut Diamond”

Warm Ghost set the stage for their excellent 2011 full-length release “Narrows” with their “Uncut Diamond” EP. The inclusion of a cover of The Cure’s “All Cats Are Grey” tells you much of what you need to know about this band’s sound and aesthetic. This is claustrophobic, blurry, often gray, synth-pop with vocals that are yearning and plaintive when they aren’t being surrounded with layers of sound. Favorite Track: “Let My Angst Unfold in the Water Like a Hound’s Tongue”.

08. The Changelings - “Echoes”

[Sorry! No videos from the new EP yet!]

Speaking of comebacks, here are The Changelings! Back after nine years away, this much-beloved ethereal Darkwave/Dream-pop band are back together and should have a new full-length out at the beginning of 2012. In the meantime, they’ve given us this three-track appetizer that sees the band at their prettiest, invoking tribal and Middle Eastern sounds, and, well, a bit of Enya if I’m being honest (not that there’s anything wrong with that). Adjectives to throw down here are: sumptuous, exotic, flowing, narcotic, and stately. I’m very much looking forward to seeing how this expands on their new album. Favorite Track: “Never Look Down”.

07. Soft Moon - “Total Decay”

After their rightly heralded self-titled debut in 2010, Soft Moon certainly earned a victory lap, and “Total Decay” serves us up more of the frenetic industrial post-punk that made us all love them so much. For those who’ve been sleeping on this band, tracks like “Alive” and “Total Decay” will certainly fill you in on what all the fuss has been about. This is dark, bleak, stuff, just how you like it. Think The Cure at their most spare and unforgiving mixed with a touch of early-period Skinny Puppy menace and you have an idea of where this stuff is going. Favorite Track: “Alive”

06. Exitmusic - “From Silence”

Dark post-punk influenced music isn’t too hard to find these days. With everyone crying “nu-goth” it can all get a bit confusing as what’s really going on. So let me simplify things: Exitmusic successfully takes elements from the last twenty years of emotive art-pop and creates something fresh and new with it. You can hear everything from Siouxsie to Sigur Ros here, and it all clicks together. There’s darkness and menace here, but there’s also sweeping tides of emotion that swell and ebb with each track. A strong introduction to a band that we’ll no doubt be hearing a lot about in 2012. Favorite Track: “The Sea”

05. Peter Murphy - “The Secret Bees of Ninth”

Long a fan of Peter Murphy’s solo work, and his legendary stint with Goth-innovators Bauhaus, I snapped up 2011’s new full-length “Ninth” as soon as it was released. While sporting some great tracks, “I Spit Roses,” “Seesaw Sway,” “Secret Silk Society,” etc, I felt the album as a whole didn’t quite gel, swinging between the “Cuts You Up” dynamic of earlier hits and rockier numbers that hearkened more to The Stooges than the Sufi-mystic-meets-Bowie of albums like “Dust”. So I was thrilled to listen to “The Secret Bees of Ninth” and see more of the Murphy I loved on new tracks like “Gaslit” and “Rose Hunter”. The new tracks, along with an extended “Secret Silk Society” and the latest single off “Ninth” (Seesaw Sway) create a strong reminder of why Murphy has endured as an artist. I think “The Secret Bees” should be seen as a completion of, rather than a companion to, “Ninth.” Considering the fact that you can (digitally) purchase both the album and the EP on Amazon for less than ten bucks, I say get both and consider it as a whole. Favorite Track: “Gaslit”

04. Light Asylum - “In Tension”

Simply put, “Dark Allies” off of Light Asylum’s debut EP “In Tension” was THE dark club anthem of 2011, or at least it should have been. Sadly, too many Goth DJs are stuck in a rut of playing singles from twenty years ago, or third-wave futurepop, instead of embracing this amazing band. Singer Shannon Funchess is a revelation, and she carries the dark, propulsive synths of Bruno Coviello to new heights. “In Tension” was self-released in 2010, and then re-released on the Mexican Summer label this year, I can only imagine 2012 will be the year Light Asylum take over the dance-floor. Favorite Track: “Dark Allies”

03. Monica Richards - “The Strange Familiar”

This appetizer EP for the forthcoming “Naiades” album showcases a shift from Richards’ first solo album “InfraWarrior” towards heavier guitars and faster tempos. This is partly due to the participation of Steven James and Marzia Rangel from the art-rock/deathrock band Christ vs. Warhol, and partly due to a hinted-at dramatic life shift. In addition to the three teaser tracks, we get a remix from her first album, and a beautiful impromptu live voice and violin piece recorded in a cave with Changelings violinist Paul Mercer. Fans of Richards’ work with Faith and The Muse should be in pleasingly familiar territory here, while those accustomed to the more tribal sound of her first solo album should find plenty to enjoy as well. Favorite Track: “Armistice”

02. Tropic of Cancer - “The Sorrow of Two Blooms”

Tropic of Cancer is, pardon my language, Goth As Fuck. Yes, you can hear the post-punk influences, the early-period 4AD sounds, but this is no pastiche, no rote regurgitation of fashionable styles, this sounds like a lost artifact, or proof of time travel. Mood music with a capital “M”. Somber, atmospheric, darkness that illustrates just how alluring these sounds can be. Favorite Track: “A Color”.

01. Esben and the Witch - “Hexagons”

Are Esben and the Witch Goth? All I Know is that the sound resonates with the very best of the 1990s Darkwave tradition, while being utterly singular, completely its own entity. You could easily hear them on the same bill as Lycia or Trance to the Sun in their prime, yet they are equally at home among today’s “nu-goth” contemporaries. Bottomless moods that both sink and soar, guided by the almost-proper singing of Rachel Davies, as though she’s narrating a Grimm fairytale for the 21st century set. “Hexagons” closed out a year that started with the debut album “Violet Cries” and shows them getting even more ambitious in scope and sound. This is an EP that moves beyond teaser or placeholder and instead gives us a suite of songs that reward attentive listening. Favorite Track: “Hexagons V: The Cast”.