@denver - Some of their reviews get way too pretentious. I tend to skip them unless they rate it at least a 4 out of 5 (they give out way too many 3s). But I love how they deliver most of their music news with smart-assed commentary.
@Brighternow - That looks like a list I'm going to have to investigate more. Was Endless Falls really released this year? Seems like forever ago (I never got the whole thing). The Other Music list also really intrigues me. Geez, I can't remember the last time I was in OM...
-Seijaku, Mail From Fushitsusha
Experimental rock demi-god returns in epic three piece, futuristic psych-blues form
-Yellow Swans, Going Places
The best swan song (pun intended) of the year (sorry, SCG)
-Kemialliset Ystavat, Ulakkopalo
Laptop folk collage. As progressive as it gets.
-The Fun Years, God Was Like No
Sophomore proper album from the two realest bros in ambient music.
-Mi Ami, Steal Yr Face
Boredoms inspired free-moving, frenetic rock
-Kanye West, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Because this IS pop, broooo. Also, I'm counter-attacking the P4k 10.0 backlash so when this swings back into indie fashion I can say I always supported it.
-Flower-Corsano Duo, You'll Never Work In This Town Again
No duo is doing more cathartic free jazz/rock right now.
-The Dead C, Patience
It takes a little patience on this LP (pun-intended), but the New Zealand noise rock legends still got it.
-Sun City Girls, Funeral Mariachi
An amazing book end to the career of one of the greatest bands ever.
-Jailbreak, The Rocker
Two monsters of free improv actually playing with each other in mind. Visceral yet freeing.
-Bronze Horse, s/t
Sure to join the higher echelons of haunting Americana in private press-collecting circles years down the road.
-Messages, After Before
Organic drone reminiscent of the early days of the genre, not surprisingly, this is probably the best of the year in said genre.
-Vava Kitora, Spinning Song
Minimalist instrumentation, angelic vocal interplay reminiscent of an Arvo Part composition, reverential tones of Liz Harris, etc. Music to die to.
-Emeralds, Does It Look Like Im Here?
If it wouldve been four songs like Genetic it wouldve been my Album of the Year. Otherwise, I like that they are taking chances even if it doesnt fit my taste all the time.
-Thee Oh Sees, Warm Slime
The best in fuzzed out, psychedelic pop-hooks.
Others Receiving Consideration
Dead Luke, Cosmic Meltdown
Lussuria, Silk & Honey
Second Family Band, Veiled Gallery
MV & EE, Live Road
Warm Climate, Camouflage On The River Wretched
Bernardino Femminielli, La Montana del Capricornio
Dire Wolves, Jams and the Giant Peace
Bee Mask, Canzoni dal Laboratorio del Silenzio Cosmico
Sylvester Anfang II, Commune Cassetten
International Hello, S/T
Pospulenn, Sun People Sleepwalker
Infinite Body, Carve Out The Face of My God
Vibracathedral Orchestra, Joka Baya
Ulaan Khol, III
Drunk Driver, S/T
Elephant 9, Walk The Nile
Yusef Lateef & Adam Rudolph, Towards The Unknown
Isengrind, Modlitwenik
Psychedelic Horseshit, Acid Tape
Billy Bao, Urban Disease
Vatican Shadow, Byzantine Private CIA
Dual Identity, S/T
El Jesus De Magico, Ragtime Hors
Aural Fit, Mubomuso
Flaming Dragons of Middle Earth, Seed of Contempt
@Brighternow - finally a best of year list that actually includes a number of my favorites (Richter, loscil, The Sight Below, Brian McBride...and some I'm getting to, like the Hatakeyama disk) - looking at all these lists I was starting to think my tastes were just irredeemably contrarian.
Here are several that I would want to add that I am also not seeing in any of the published lists I've read so far (not necessarily in strict order):
Seaworthy & Matt Rösner - Two Lakes
(Simply the best melding of environmental recordings and ebow drones I've heard - love this album)
Jaga Jazzist - One Armed Bandit
(stunningly executed jazz/prog thing from Norway, streets ahead of what I've heard of their previous albums and full of verve)
Taylor Deupree - Shoals
(takes his recent preoccupation with actual acoustic sounds and integrates it back into his former emphasis on microsound and experimental composition, with warm, gentle results)
Ametsub - The Nothings of the North
(Great improvement on his debut - glitschy, jazzy, and musical - lots of repeat plays in this household; a staple in my car for a while (if you buy from emusic, avoid buying the last 2 tracks, which are just promotional))
Jonas Reinhardt - Powers of Audition
(retro analog synth stuff, for which I have a definite soft spot, and again to my ear streets ahead of their previous album)
Loren Dent - Anthropology Vol. 1
(Sweeping distorted drones, a bit in the vein of the stellar Xerrox 2 by Alva Noto; has some really stirring moments).
And, just barely,
Kangding Ray - Pruitt Igoe
(hits the spot when I want some Raster-Noton rhythmic minimalism.)
Near misses: Gotan Project, Tango 3.0 - like it, but Lunatico was better; Pjusk - Sval - again, like their sound a lot, but Sart was much better.
I love that Jonas Reinhardt album - had no clue that it was his second. Was in contention for my top 20 at one point. I got most of Jaga Jazzist's albums this year, great stuff. The rest looks like stuff I need to check out.
Phlow Magazine has a collection of best-ofs under the Creative Commons banner on its home page. Each day (as in an Advent calendar) a different netlabelist gives his best CC moments from the year. I can't speak of the quality of these lists, but I think it will be a great resource for exploring free music.
@thom Glad someone else loved Powers of Audition - I still put it on the car stereo fairly regularly. The earlier Jonas Reinhardt release was self-titled, see here. It's in similar vein but to my ear much less well composed - I've tried to like it but the songs feel more fragmentary and unfinished. Your mileage might vary. And I see from their band page that there is an iTunes EP also that I had not discovered - will have to check that out.
Jonas Reinhardt is apparently actually a band rather than a person, confusingly enough. Either that or it's the band leader's recording name (real name Jesse Reiner) and he has musicians with him. Even the All Music Guide reviewer seems very confused about this - see the incoherently shifting pronouns in the review on the album page in the first link above.
Edit: I see Powers of Audition is under $4 on emusic; both albums are $5 at bandcamp.
1. Yellow Swans - Going Places
2. Fenn O'Berg - In Stereo
3. Suum Cuique - Midden
4. VSS-30 - Brother Raven (possibly 2009? but 2010 to my stereo)
5. Emeralds - Does It Look Like I'm Here?
6. Forest Swords - Dagger Paths
7. Ikonika - Contact, Love, Want, Have
8. BJ Nilsen - the invisible city
9. Infinite body - Carve Out The Face Of My God
10. Beach House - Teen Dream
11>20 (alphabetically speaking)
Actress - Splazsh
Damien Jurado - Saint Bartlett
Demdike Stare - Various releases
Ensemble Economique - Physical
Mark McGuire - Tidings / Amethyst Waves
Megabats - in/out + Goes to a Lemon
oOoOO - oOoOO
Rene Hell - Porcelain Opera (album art work of the year)
The Radio Dept. - clinging to a scheme
loscil - Endless falls
Labels of the year 2010 (excluding any to which I am in any way associated)
1. Type
2. EMego
3. Not Not Fun
4. OESB
5. Touch
No Depressions lists. There are three different ones because of various different kinds of voting (the official vote was a widget which allowed unregistered persons to vote as many times as they wanted so naturally got ballot stuffed by eager fans. which still turned up a pretty good list)
Here is my 15 year old daughter's list, offered mainly as amusement, because it's so completely different from mine. To begin with, it's obviously songs, not albums, and the two lists have nothing at all in common. That's what they used to call a "generation gap." :-)
1. Robot Koch - Hard to Find
2. Opiou - King Prawn
3. An-Ten-Ae - Bang That
4. Mt Eden Dubstep - Escape
4. Buggz - Fast Car
5. Mt Eden Dubstep - Still Alive
6. Mt Eden Dubstep - Bat for Lashes: Daniel
7. Mt Eden Dubstep - Beautiful Lies
8. Emalkay - When I Look at You
9. Deadmau5 - Strobe
10. Deadmau5 - FML
11. Plan B. She Said (16 bit remix)
12. Sabrepulse - Horizons
13. Sabrepulse - Milotic
14. Bassnectar - Bass Head
15. Bassnectar - Teleport Massive
16. Fever Ray - When I Grow Up (Bassnectar Remix)
17. M.I.A. - Paperplanes (Bassnectar Remix)
18. Datsik - Southpaw
19. Downlink - Ignition
20. Booty Luv - Say It(Nero Remix)
Re No Depression lists: Those are real interesting--thanks. The trouble with other lists is that they make me want to begin second-guessing mine. No one can listen to and absorb everything, or at least I can't, so any list is not really "The Best" but "what I like best so far of what I've heard." Other lists bring up ideas I haven't heard. After looking at those No D. lists, for instance, I think, "Wait--Drive-By Truckers had another album? And Richard Thompson? Ray Wylie Hubbard?" And on and on. That's the fun of it, I guess.
Hilarious - your daughter's list contains only two artists I've ever even heard of (MIA and Fever Ray), and both of those are remixes by an unfamiliar dj. Funny.
The Home Normal label list (Greg Davis, Celer, Konntinent, Offthesky):
1.) The Humble Bee - Morning Music (Cotton Goods)
2.) Hummingbird - Our Fearful Symmetry (Fluid Audio)
3.) bvdub - The Art Of Dying Alone (Glacial Movements)
4.) Maps and Diagrams - Tintinnbulate (Audio Gourmet)
5.) Demdike Stare - Voices Of Dust / Forest of Evil / Liberation Through Hearing (Modern Love)
6.) Danny Saul - Kinison - Goldthwait (Hibernate)
7.) Part Timer - Real To Reel (Lost Tribe Sound)
8.) Andrew Hargreaves - Defragment (Lacies)
9.) Herzog - Small Loves (Audio Gourmet)
10.) Field Rotation - Acoustic Tales (Fluid Audio)
11.) Laura Gibson and Ethan Rose - Bridge Carols (Baskaru / Headz)
12.) Happenstance - Mobeer: 010 (Mobeer)
* 13.) Rafael Anton Irisarri - The North Bend (Room40)
14.) James McDougall - Mountain Upon A Phosphorescent Sky (Impulsive Habitat)
15.) Federico Durand - La Siesta Del Cipr
@Brighternow, FWIW I've been enjoying the Fehlmann - I like it better overall than Honigpumpe. Appropriately enough given its theme it has a very light airy feel.
With thanks to xtrev from whom I just belatedly learned about this blog on the blogs thread, this seems like a very useful way of streaming whole sample tracks of those things on the best-of-year lists that I'd like to know what they are but don;t know if I'd like them. BEST SONGS OF 2010
I owe a guy who used to be on the emu boards with the nick fatbastardspice for a tip about Tom Jones.
Cafreema, we are in the US. I showed my daughter this thread and she said, "That's because I'm cool!" She's completely contemptuous of mainstream pop & rap, and when Taylor Swift comes on TV I have to restrain her from smashing the screen. (Well, almost.) She has made a rapid evolution in a couple of years from Hannah Montana to Paramore to that kind of metal where the singer growls to all those acts, which she says are called dubstep. That's adolescence. Back when I was very into Cream/Hendrix/Doors etc. I just hated my parents' 78s of Jimmy & Tommy Dorsey and such.
Germanprof, this site will allow streaming of entire albums in their top 50 albums, songs, and artists. In previous years I think they hosted the albums themselves, but now they're using Grooveshark. Right now only albums 50-41 are up, but they'll do the rest in steps. As I recall that's what they did before, although they seem a little late.
She has made a rapid evolution in a couple of years from Hannah Montana to Paramore to that kind of metal where the singer growls to all those acts, which she says are called dubstep.
Still, it raises the question of what she thinks of the music you list (and listen to "in public", I assume). Does she consider it mainstream? Is she apathetic, or does she grimace?
She says that for some of it she's apathetic, but mostly she grimaces. It's de rigueur at that age. I think she can tolerate Janelle Monae, but she hates Forever Changes, which I play periodically.
I can tolerate the "dubstep" better than I can the growling metal. Each of us uses headphones a lot.
I won't be hard on her, since she's only 15, but it'll be funny in another 15 years when she starts grimacing at thoughts of this list. Of course in another couple of years she'll be even more sure that she knows what's cool.
Visualization of Pitchfork scores last year. Shows that outside of Kanye they really hold back on the high scores for anything that isn't already considered a "classic" - almost all of the top scores are for reissues.
Finally got around to checking out the No Depression lists - only took eight days, so how long in the calculus of my life will it take me to get around to listening to the four albums I found on there I've downloaded and not listened to yet? Or was it five?
Album of the Year:
1: Swans, "My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky"
7: Autechre, "Move of Ten"
8: The Legendary Pink Dots, "Seconds Late for the Brighton Line"
9: Philip Jeck, "An Ark For The Listener"
11: Pan Sonic, "Gravitoni"
18: Flying Lotus, "Cosmogramma"
33: Four Tet, "There Is Love in You"
34: Autechre, "Oversteps"
40: Max Richter, "Infra"
58: Xela, "The Divine"
62: BJ Nilsen, "The Invisible City"
99: Taylor Deupree, "Shoals"
Artist of the Year:
1.Current 93
2.Zola Jesus
3.Swans
4.Keith Fullerton Whitman
5.Emeralds
6.Grinderman
7.Sun City Girls
8.Nurse With Wound
9.Kevin Drumm
10.Autechre
Label of the Year:
1.Domino
2.Mute
3.Type
4.Important
5.Ectopic Ents
6.Thrill Jockey
7.Young God
8.Kranky
9.Warp
10.Touch
Worst Album:
1.Vampire Weekend, "Contra"
2.Smashing Pumpkins, "Teargarden By Kaleidyscope 1: Songs for a Sailor"
3.Titus Andronicus, "The Monitor"
4.Herbie Hancock, "The Imagine Project"
5.Wolf Parade, "Expo 86"
6.Hot Hot Heat, "Future Breeds"
7.Liz Phair, "Funstyle"
8.Squarepusher, "Shobaleader One: d'Demonstrator"
9.Dimitri From Paris, "Get Down With the Philly Sound"
10.Dr. Dog, "Shame Shame"
Comments
@Brighternow - That looks like a list I'm going to have to investigate more. Was Endless Falls really released this year? Seems like forever ago (I never got the whole thing). The Other Music list also really intrigues me. Geez, I can't remember the last time I was in OM...
top 2010 releases
The Quietus
Here are several that I would want to add that I am also not seeing in any of the published lists I've read so far (not necessarily in strict order):
Seaworthy & Matt Rösner - Two Lakes
(Simply the best melding of environmental recordings and ebow drones I've heard - love this album)
Jaga Jazzist - One Armed Bandit
(stunningly executed jazz/prog thing from Norway, streets ahead of what I've heard of their previous albums and full of verve)
Taylor Deupree - Shoals
(takes his recent preoccupation with actual acoustic sounds and integrates it back into his former emphasis on microsound and experimental composition, with warm, gentle results)
Ametsub - The Nothings of the North
(Great improvement on his debut - glitschy, jazzy, and musical - lots of repeat plays in this household; a staple in my car for a while (if you buy from emusic, avoid buying the last 2 tracks, which are just promotional))
Jonas Reinhardt - Powers of Audition
(retro analog synth stuff, for which I have a definite soft spot, and again to my ear streets ahead of their previous album)
Loren Dent - Anthropology Vol. 1
(Sweeping distorted drones, a bit in the vein of the stellar Xerrox 2 by Alva Noto; has some really stirring moments).
And, just barely,
Kangding Ray - Pruitt Igoe
(hits the spot when I want some Raster-Noton rhythmic minimalism.)
Near misses: Gotan Project, Tango 3.0 - like it, but Lunatico was better; Pjusk - Sval - again, like their sound a lot, but Sart was much better.
Jonas Reinhardt is apparently actually a band rather than a person, confusingly enough. Either that or it's the band leader's recording name (real name Jesse Reiner) and he has musicians with him. Even the All Music Guide reviewer seems very confused about this - see the incoherently shifting pronouns in the review on the album page in the first link above.
Edit: I see Powers of Audition is under $4 on emusic; both albums are $5 at bandcamp.
- According to the online netlabel magazine Phlow.
1>10
1. Yellow Swans - Going Places
2. Fenn O'Berg - In Stereo
3. Suum Cuique - Midden
4. VSS-30 - Brother Raven (possibly 2009? but 2010 to my stereo)
5. Emeralds - Does It Look Like I'm Here?
6. Forest Swords - Dagger Paths
7. Ikonika - Contact, Love, Want, Have
8. BJ Nilsen - the invisible city
9. Infinite body - Carve Out The Face Of My God
10. Beach House - Teen Dream
11>20 (alphabetically speaking)
Actress - Splazsh
Damien Jurado - Saint Bartlett
Demdike Stare - Various releases
Ensemble Economique - Physical
Mark McGuire - Tidings / Amethyst Waves
Megabats - in/out + Goes to a Lemon
oOoOO - oOoOO
Rene Hell - Porcelain Opera (album art work of the year)
The Radio Dept. - clinging to a scheme
loscil - Endless falls
Labels of the year 2010 (excluding any to which I am in any way associated)
1. Type
2. EMego
3. Not Not Fun
4. OESB
5. Touch
- More and 1 free track @ His blog.
http://seekingahomeland.typepad.com/seeking_a_homeland/2010/12/best-albums-of-2010-1.html
Here is my 15 year old daughter's list, offered mainly as amusement, because it's so completely different from mine. To begin with, it's obviously songs, not albums, and the two lists have nothing at all in common. That's what they used to call a "generation gap." :-)
1. Robot Koch - Hard to Find
2. Opiou - King Prawn
3. An-Ten-Ae - Bang That
4. Mt Eden Dubstep - Escape
4. Buggz - Fast Car
5. Mt Eden Dubstep - Still Alive
6. Mt Eden Dubstep - Bat for Lashes: Daniel
7. Mt Eden Dubstep - Beautiful Lies
8. Emalkay - When I Look at You
9. Deadmau5 - Strobe
10. Deadmau5 - FML
11. Plan B. She Said (16 bit remix)
12. Sabrepulse - Horizons
13. Sabrepulse - Milotic
14. Bassnectar - Bass Head
15. Bassnectar - Teleport Massive
16. Fever Ray - When I Grow Up (Bassnectar Remix)
17. M.I.A. - Paperplanes (Bassnectar Remix)
18. Datsik - Southpaw
19. Downlink - Ignition
20. Booty Luv - Say It(Nero Remix)
denver, you must be in the UK. I can't imagine a U.S. teen with a list like that.
Craig
1.) The Humble Bee - Morning Music (Cotton Goods)
2.) Hummingbird - Our Fearful Symmetry (Fluid Audio)
3.) bvdub - The Art Of Dying Alone (Glacial Movements)
4.) Maps and Diagrams - Tintinnbulate (Audio Gourmet)
5.) Demdike Stare - Voices Of Dust / Forest of Evil / Liberation Through Hearing (Modern Love)
6.) Danny Saul - Kinison - Goldthwait (Hibernate)
7.) Part Timer - Real To Reel (Lost Tribe Sound)
8.) Andrew Hargreaves - Defragment (Lacies)
9.) Herzog - Small Loves (Audio Gourmet)
10.) Field Rotation - Acoustic Tales (Fluid Audio)
11.) Laura Gibson and Ethan Rose - Bridge Carols (Baskaru / Headz)
12.) Happenstance - Mobeer: 010 (Mobeer)
* 13.) Rafael Anton Irisarri - The North Bend (Room40)
14.) James McDougall - Mountain Upon A Phosphorescent Sky (Impulsive Habitat)
15.) Federico Durand - La Siesta Del Cipr
Re: 25 Offthesky,
This is a sold out 3" CD, only available for streaming @ Bandcamp
(I knew I'd seen it somewhere)
BEST SONGS OF 2010
Cafreema, we are in the US. I showed my daughter this thread and she said, "That's because I'm cool!" She's completely contemptuous of mainstream pop & rap, and when Taylor Swift comes on TV I have to restrain her from smashing the screen. (Well, almost.) She has made a rapid evolution in a couple of years from Hannah Montana to Paramore to that kind of metal where the singer growls to all those acts, which she says are called dubstep. That's adolescence. Back when I was very into Cream/Hendrix/Doors etc. I just hated my parents' 78s of Jimmy & Tommy Dorsey and such.
Hype Machine: http://hypem.com/zeitgeist/2010/
I can tolerate the "dubstep" better than I can the growling metal. Each of us uses headphones a lot.
Craig
Ahh, to be young and naive again...
- Some highlights, as seen from my chair:
Album of the Year:
1: Swans, "My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky"
7: Autechre, "Move of Ten"
8: The Legendary Pink Dots, "Seconds Late for the Brighton Line"
9: Philip Jeck, "An Ark For The Listener"
11: Pan Sonic, "Gravitoni"
18: Flying Lotus, "Cosmogramma"
33: Four Tet, "There Is Love in You"
34: Autechre, "Oversteps"
40: Max Richter, "Infra"
58: Xela, "The Divine"
62: BJ Nilsen, "The Invisible City"
99: Taylor Deupree, "Shoals"
Artist of the Year:
1.Current 93
2.Zola Jesus
3.Swans
4.Keith Fullerton Whitman
5.Emeralds
6.Grinderman
7.Sun City Girls
8.Nurse With Wound
9.Kevin Drumm
10.Autechre
Label of the Year:
1.Domino
2.Mute
3.Type
4.Important
5.Ectopic Ents
6.Thrill Jockey
7.Young God
8.Kranky
9.Warp
10.Touch
Worst Album:
1.Vampire Weekend, "Contra"
2.Smashing Pumpkins, "Teargarden By Kaleidyscope 1: Songs for a Sailor"
3.Titus Andronicus, "The Monitor"
4.Herbie Hancock, "The Imagine Project"
5.Wolf Parade, "Expo 86"
6.Hot Hot Heat, "Future Breeds"
7.Liz Phair, "Funstyle"
8.Squarepusher, "Shobaleader One: d'Demonstrator"
9.Dimitri From Paris, "Get Down With the Philly Sound"
10.Dr. Dog, "Shame Shame"