Ok, time for a few more lists.
Hivern Discs Top 11
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Justin van der Volgen - Clapping Song-
Kenton Slash Demon - Sun-
Delorean - Real Love (Pional Remix)-
Panda Bear - Arsatian Darn-
El Guincho - Bombay-
Gunnar Wendel - 587 (Omar S remix)-
Balam Accab - See Birds-
Moodymann - Old Dirty Vinyl-
Siriusmo - Einmal in der Woche schreien-
Teengirl Fantasy - 7am-
Caribou - Swim-------------------------
Versus Magazine Top 10
-Pional - In Another Room
-Tim Paris - Edges of Corrosion
-The XX (Four Tet remix) - VCR
-Art Department - Without You
-Audio Werner - Mean
-Autre Ne Veut - Drama cum drama
-WU LYF - Split It Concrete Like The Colden Sun God.
-Oh No Oh No - Eleanor Speaks (Caribou remix)
-Siriusmo - Einmal In Der Woche Schreien.
-Girl Unit - Wut
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I'd Rather Be Fat Than Be Confused Top 10 ambient/experimental/drone albums of the year.
1. Jefre Cantu-Ledesma - Love Is A Stream (Type)A beautiful mess of static waves, magical and strangely beautiful. An album that finally gave this man's solo pursuits the attention they have long since deserved.
2. The Fun Years - God Was Like, No (Barge)All too many bands have failed to follow up killer albums, and due to my own imperfections I almost always overly build up my anticipation of any new album from a band that I love as much as the Fun Years.
With God Was Like, No, The Fun Years did not disappoint. Nothing was too new but their own brand of gentle ambience mixed with the soft crackle of static is near enough perfect to reaffirm the old statement, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
3. Eleh - Location Momentum (Touch)At times no more than the hum of machinery left on standby, yet strangely fascinating, less was certainly more for the majority of this album. It carried the same kind of ability as Phill Niblock or Saito Koji of being able to evolve very slowly and yet never lose the listeners interest.
4. Counterspark - The Halpern Experiment (Resting Bell) Free downloadIn a year when my drone/experimental needs were mostly spent in anticipation of the release of the latest album by The Fun Years, which seemed to be put back month after month, Counterspark did a more than admirable job in catering for my needs with an album, a free one at that of sublime, warm and welcoming drones, not a million miles from The Fun Years, that begged to be listened to on headphones and played again and again.
5. Frank Bretschneider - EXP (Raster Noton)A new name to me but one I won't be forgetting in a hurry. Delightful miniatures of clicks, beats and sine waves. This won't be to everyone's taste, the songs are songs within songs but from 1:50 of "mass, blue: aluminate, ventilator" through to the end of "Lightweight, Satellite" four songs later, it simply went from strength to strength.
If you even remotely like this then you will absolutely adore his better still 2007 album rhythm.
6. Taylor Deupree - Snow (Dusk, Dawn) (12k)I'm still waiting for his long player Shoals, also from this year, to sink in. However the preceding single track to the album, Snow (Dusk, Dawn) was an instant hit, maybe bettering my favourite Deupree moment to date, that being Weather and Worn. 16 minutes of snow falling, crackling ambient elegance that was not a second too long.
7. Eluvium - Static Nocturne (Watership Sounds)I rarely have the patience to sit through a single track that clocks in at almost hour, even albums that last that long rarely capture my attention for their entire length, but then it a rare case that the quality is this high. I'd long since been a fan of Eluviums crisp piano opuses that I'd pretty much ignored his more experimental side, that being until I discovered Zerthis earlier this year. Static Nocturne takes a similar approach, as the title would suggest an instrumental compostion, dreamy and pensive in sound and full to the brim with wonderful wonderful static.
8. ibreathefur - Every Day You Look Different (Under The Spire)The Under The Spire lable seemed to take a back seat this year, or at least avoid the limelight it was given upon its launch in 2009, still the continued to fire out some great, sadly for th most case critically ignored, records.
The pick of the bunch was ibreathefur's Every Day You Look Different. Four songs of crunchy ambience and decay that were neither too long nor too short, basically, just right. Certainly an artist capable worth keeping an eye on.
9. Roll The Dice - Roll The DiceWhilst everyone got excited about Emeralds new sound and Oneohtrix Point Nevers never ending list of releases, dropping the word "Kosmiche" into every sentence, very few bands of such a trend really impressed me. Maybe the aforementioned artists albums will hit me next year like Jacaszek's Treny took a long long time to register.
I was however completely won over by the collaboration of Swedes Peder Mannerfelt and Malcolm Pardon, namely Roll the Dice, from the opening Arpeggios of The New Black, it was evident that their sound was filled with nostalgia and this is something that they delivered with great expertise. Axee and the aforementioned The New Black stand out.
10. BvDub - The Art of Dying AloneBvDub cemented his place in my heart last year topping my album of the year charts with both We Were The Sun and the much underrated A Prayer to False Gods.
This years not so positively entitled The Art of Dying Alone only served to further strengthen the already sturdy foundations. Nothing massively new except perhaps the more prominent presence of fragments of wordless vocals, particularly on the beautiful 19 minutes that are the closing eponymous track. A prime example of how beauty can be strectched out into near perfection. Truly Epic.
Also,
The Alainfinkielkrautrock Poll 2010 is good.Still got mine and another couple to come.
27 December 2010
I chose this not for blatant self promotion purposes (we sold out ages ago and we ain't going to repress it) But more because I enjoyed the whole process of making it. Brun is such a good mate of mine, but we hardly ever get to hang out - this was the perfect excuse to have lunch and go and see John at Loud Mastering to attend the cut. Unfortunately we had to get the record made three(!) times in the end to get it right, but Its something I'm keen to do again. Independent all the way, not a P&D. (look out for Mudkid & MJC vinyl soon. ish)
2) Tunng Live in Bristol
I have been speaking to Mike for a while now (keeping it casual, but I am a massive Tunng fan) I was supposed to go and see them with my partner but I left it too late to get tickets. Gutting. So we went out for a walk in the freezing rain at the opposite end of the Westcountry and Mike suddenly rang and said we could have two tickets that some bigwig record exec had dropped. bonus. Much driving later we got there in time to see the show. And it was fantastic.
The ultimate holiday LP. This makes the list for reminding me of the last days of summer, and about the most perfect days surfing i've ever had. 10ft, clean and scary/beautiful in equal measure. Evenings spent chillin' to this in a crappy caravan - eating pizza & supping fine wine. Never take your eye off of Ry. He got the chops, If you've never heard this hunt it down.
4) Mount Kimbie / James Blake - (just play any of it)
These guys can do no wrong for me. Beautifully crafted music that has emotion as well as outstanding studio style and finish. I have been playing plenty of their stuff on the GCW shows. It is so good to see proper underground producers having real success. Long may they continue to drop it like this. It just gets better & better.
Danny is a fine producer, and totally approachable. I think he is well under rated, and I put his stuff up there with the best of them. Not as 'dj famous bastard' as he could be, probably because he has no edge and just puts it out there, no bullshit.
As for Mr Sei A, I understand he is well rated (I don't know who is and who isnt, I leave all that stuff to Jamie, my radio partner in crime, he loves all that) I just know that I met him at Fabric one night, and we took the piss/took pity on a girl that looked like Robert Smith and kept falling over. This song just works. Played it outside under the stars, and inside at weird parties and it makes people smile/weep every time.
House Music that reminds me of Prince. That's a win win. In fact, Prince should remove his head from his ass and get Mr Teej in to produce his next album. This is a fantastic track that makes me smile and want to give it a bit of dad dancing in the corner (no lights on if possible, leave me to shuffle round in the fag ends - cheers)
You may have noticed by now that I like a Vocal. But its got to say something, not just bleat on about lost love, or booty shakin. The vocalist has got to MEAN what they are saying. This does that in all the right places. My Soul also weighs 1000Ibs...
(You can't just play vocals all night mind, you got to build up to it. I can spend four hours playing music to get me to the right point to play this. If you know what I mean)
So this is a record that I've only just heard.
I got hold of the craziness that is Tim (Discreet Unit) this summer. Having never met the dude before I invited him to play at one of our not strictly legal beach parties. he rocked up to find a Soundsystem not yet set up, and a group of Polish men shouting at him to turn the music on! He dutifully helped in the rig up and got on with it, no ego involved bless him. Other high lights of the night were said poles along with Mr Slater trying to blow his car up by managing to create a river of burning petrol on the dance floor. Anyway, I've seen him since and I blagged this record out of him after hearing Moodymann play it in that set he did in Manchester. I love anything that keeps the Westcountry love alive. Even if he is taking the piss!
This is such an unashamed concept album, and that alone makes it worth a listen. Its minimal (as in stripped back, not as in 'I've got loads of gear but don't really know how to use it) and beautiful, and unsettling and stands repeated listens (I hammered it for 2 weeks straight and didn't really listen to much else - and I still love it, that's RARE) plenty of people make oddball field recordings, plenty of people make 'minimal' but to get them to work together without sounding like pretentious shite is a clever trick.
Well put together Dub with something to say will always get traction with me. Aus Music have been solid this year, and this is the pick of the crop. Its a pleasure to see a label putting out music that not only crosses genres, but does so without compromising on the quality of any of it. I don't know how this went down in general, but it struck a note with me.
GCW
Great stuff. More to come.
