It's never easy to take stock of a nation's musical health. This is especially true for Italy, where a thriving underground teems with artists and styles but lacks a clear outlet that would allow real excellence to stand out unambiguously: every niche has its own small-scale celebrities. It's therefore impossible to establish, in any definitive way, what has fared better or worse within our borders.

Still, we wanted to give our readers some kind of overview. Twelve of us have each put together a list of the Italian records that gave us the most satisfaction this year. We've collected them here, alongside a compilation featuring some of the most frequently mentioned names, and we'll try to take a closer look at them.

10 albums per writer, times 12 contributors, makes 120 nominated albums in total. Yet only 21 of them appear in more than one Top 10! Going by this figure, Italy (and our staff) show not only great stylistic variety, but also a scene where quality is spread fairly evenly across genres. In each of the many areas that make up our scene, someone managed to produce work of real quality — good enough to convince more than one insider to place it among this year's national elite.

Sticking just to the 21 multiply-nominated albums mentioned here, we find a bit of everything. Classic rock, in its traditional sense, takes several different shapes: the one blending pop structures with a psychedelic streak of Verdena, the more purely US-oriented one of Desert Motel, and, finally, the one leaning more toward pop, both in sound and in its adherence to the song format (Zen Circus). Pure pop, too, shows more than one side of itself, from the elegance of Egokid and Vegetable G to the freshness of Ex-Otago. Singer-songwriters, for their part, certainly haven't been sitting idle, with the rock imprint of Francesca Lago, the bittersweet vignettes of Brunori, and 33 Ore's drive to merge tradition with modernity.

Naturally, synths couldn't be left out either, and here too they're put to different uses depending on the album: from the delicacy of Walls to the disco/house leanings of Esperanza; from the techno echoes of Lucy to the sheer danceability of Tiger & Woods. And for those who prefer things on the more extreme side, 2011 hasn't been short of points of interest either: the postcore screamo of Raein, the sludge doom metal of Obake, the noise blues of Bancale.

Finally, fans of a certain strand of the Eighties, those devoted to dark/wave sounds, will find plenty to sink their teeth into with Mushy and Be Forest.

All the names just mentioned shouldn't be taken as a mere explanatory list, but rather as proof that in Italy there's always someone capable of excelling in every field. And that there's also someone else — the fans — able to appreciate and reward the work of those who prove themselves genuinely talented artists. Because, as it happens, these names haven't only gone down well here: search around the web for reviews of them and you'll find very few negative ones, and if you've caught one of their live shows, chances are you found yourself in a pretty packed room.

Precisely because it's worth looking beyond the names we personally liked most, it's only fair to also mention here other artists and bands who generally received a good deal of positive response from critics and fans alike. Starting with Vinicio Capossela, back in great form — good enough to earn him the Premio Tenco — and continuing with other well-received comebacks such as those of Dente, A Toys Orchestra, Giorgio Canali and Bud Spencer Blues Explosion, and wrapping up with two high-impact debuts: those of A Classic Education and I Cani.

Amid all this positivity, problems certainly aren't lacking. Alongside those who are rightly celebrated, there's on one hand someone who receives the same acclaim without deserving it, and on the other an entire universe of artists who fail to gain recognition despite having the qualities to earn much wider acclaim.

It's not easy to escape either of these two traps, but as for the second one, for a few months now we've been trying to do our part with the monthly column "Ten Little Italians". It's impossible, however, to cover the subject exhaustively: not for us, nor for any other national magazine or webzine.

The rundown that has taken up much of this piece, in any case, tries to show the substantially good health of more or less independent music in Italy. It's up to each of us to decide whether such widespread approval is actually a sign of leveling-down, dictated by excessive generosity and a bit of patriotism. What's certain is that, in 2011, a huge number of people were left satisfied by one or more records made in Italy, whatever musical genre they were into. That's no small achievement.

ONDAROCK MIX #0/3: ITALY 2011 SPECIAL

For a little over a month now, quietly, we've been offering our readers exclusive short mixes, collected on our brand-new 8-tracks channel. The previous two were dedicated to December's releases and the most interesting prog records of 2011. Those were test compilations, shared only through forums and social networks.

We thought we'd pair this special with one last "issue zero", finally landing on the actual site. In here you'll find a bit of everything: a good dose of pop, then dark, electronic and more straightforwardly rock sounds. And, to wrap things up, a lovely Blur cover…

Tracklist:

1. Brunori SAS – Rosa

2. Vegetable G – La filastrocca dei nove pianeti

3. I cani – Post-punk

4. Verdena – Attonito

5. Raein – Trasparenti oscure virtù

6. Be Forest – Florence

7. Esperanza – Aliante giallo

8. Tiger & Woods – Gin Nation

9. Lucy – Lav

10. Egokid – Ragazze + Ragazze

INDIVIDUAL TOP 10s

Claudio Fabretti

1. Vinicio Capossela – Marinai, profeti e balene

2. Mushy – Faded Heart

3. Francesca Lago – Siberian Dream Map

4. Alessandro Mannarino – Supersantos

5. El Santo Nada – Tuco

6. Verdena – Wow

7. Zen Circus – Nati per subire

8. Brunori Sas – Vol. 2 – Poveri Cristi

9. Patrizia Laquidara – Il canto dell'Anguana

10. Kirlian Camera – Nightglory

Marco Bercella

1. Zen Circus – Nati per subire

2. Vegetable G – L'almanacco terrestre

3. Egokid – Ecce Homo

4. Mezzala – Ritrovare il gol

5. Jang Senato – Lui ama me, lei ama te

6. Banjo Or Freakout – Banjo Or Freakout

7. Esperanza – Esperanza

8. Cristina Donà – Torno a casa a piedi

9. Brunori Sas – Vol. 2 – Poveri Cristi

10. Fabio Zuffanti – La foce del ladrone

Michele Saran

1. Unmade Bed – Mornaite Muntide

2. Hum Of Gnats – Purge the Weevil from Her Midst

3. Musica Per Bambini – Dei Nuovi Animali

4. Butcher Mind Collapse – Night Dress

5. Sense Of Akasha – Splendid Isolation

6. Aspec(t) – Waspnest

7. Luther Blissett – Bloody Sound

8. Sarah Schuster – Possibilities

9. N Sambo – Sofa Elettrico

10. Dani Male – La Mitomania

Francesco Nunziata

1. Butcher Mind Collapse – Night Dress

2. Tele.S.Therion – Tele.S.Therion

3. St.ride – Primitivo

4. Raein – On the horizon line between this life of mine and everyone else's

5. Bancale – Frontiera

6. Lucy – Wordplay for Working Bees

7. Stendeck – Scintilla

8. Antonio Marotta – Canti a dispetto

9. Daniele Brusaschetto – Fragranze Silenzio

10. Obake – Obake

Giuliano Delli Paoli

1. Esperanza – Esperanza

2. Brunori Sas – Vol. 2 – Poveri Cristi

3. Tiger&Woods – Through The Green

4. Gentlemen's Agreement – Carcarà

5. Lucy – Wordplay for Working Bees

6. Lo Stato Sociale – Amore ai tempi dell'Ikea

7. Umberto Palazzo – Canzoni delle notte e della controra

8. Carpacho! – La futura classe dirigente

9. Verdena – Wow

10. N Sambo – Sofa Elettrico

Francesco Giordani

1. Verdena – Wow

2. Egokid – Ecce Homo

3. Zabriski – Fortune Is Always Hiding

4. The Giornalisti – Vol. 1

5. Casa Del Mirto – The Nature

6. A Classic Education – Call It Blazing

7. Be Forest – Cold

8. Gentlemen's Agreement – Carcarà

9. Kruk – End It

10. Desert Motel – Yarn

Marco Sgrignoli

1. Musica per Bambini – Dei nuovi animali

2. Raein – On the horizon line between this life of mine and everyone else's

3. Brunori Sas – Volume 2 – Poveri Cristi

4. Aucan – Black Rainbow

5. Esperanza – Esperanza

6. The Death of Anna Karina – Lacrima/Pantera

7. D.u.n.e. – Marmo

8. Casa del mirto – 1979

9. Calomito – Cane di schiena

10. Sterbus – Iranian Doom

Alberto Asquini

1. Tiger & Woods – Through The Green

2. Verdena – Wow

3. Esperanza – Esperanza

4. Walls – Coracle

5. Vaghe Stelle – Le cose ferme

6. Lucy – Wordplay for Working Bees

7. 33 Ore – Ultimi errori del novecento

8. Mushy – Faded Heart

9. Ex-Otago – Mezze Stagioni

10. Lo Stato Sociale – Amore ai tempi dell'Ikea

Claudio Lancia

1. Verdena – Wow

2. Giorgio Canali – Rojo

3. Desert Motel – Yarn

4. One Dimensional Man – A Better Man

5. Umberto Palazzo – Canzoni delle notte e della controra

6. Bud Spencer Blues Explosion – Do It

7. Dellera – Colonna sonora originale

8. Valentina Lupi – Atto terzo

9. Paolo Benvegnù – Hermann

10. A Toys Orchestra – Midnight (R)Evolution

Stefano Bartolotta

1. Cesare Basile – Sette pietre per tenere il diavolo a bada

2. Francesca Lago – Siberian dream map

3. Verdena – Wow

4. News For Lulu – They know

5. Es – Tutti contro tutti portiere volante

6. Vegetable G – L'Almanacco Terrestre

7. Welcome Back Sailors – Yes/Sun

8. Ratafiamm – Low budget invasion

9. I Cani – The Surprising Debut Album by I Cani

10. Ex-Otago: Mezze Stagioni

Alberto Guidetti

1. 33 Ore – Ultimi errori del Novecento

2. Esperanza – Esperanza

3. Walls – Coracle

4. Vaghe Stelle – Le cose ferme

5. The Death Of Anna Karina – Lacrima/Pantera

6. Raein – On the horizon line between this life of mine and everyone else's

7. Gazebo Penguins – Legna

8. Casino Royale – Io e la mia ombra

9. Dargen D'Amico – Cd'

9. Tiger & Woods – Through The Green

10. Lucy – Wordplay for Working Bees

Massimiliano Mercurio

1. Mushy – Faded Heart

2. Bancale – Frontiera

3. Musica Da Cucina – Musica Da Cucina

4. Tele.S.Therion – Tele.S.Therion

5. Be Forest – Cold

6. Simon Balestrazzi – A Rainbow In My Mirror.

7. Gianni Giublena Rosacroce – La Piramide Di Sangue

8. Obake – Obake

9. Spettro Family – Candelora

10. Orfanado – Iter

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