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05 January 2010

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Albums and Singles

It’s been about 22 years since I grooved to my first AfrikaBambaataa record, and it makes me almost giddy that I can pick up a newrecord today and bounce to it in the same way. Ellen Allien may come tothe party by way of minimalist German techno and dub, but I can’t helpbut think she’d be welcome in the Zulu Nation any time.

Bpitch Control

Ellen Allien’s latest is a darkly playful slab of good, old-fashionedelectro, and that’s a good thing. Early electro was some of the firstmusic I fell in love with as a kid. I had no cultural reference pointfor it, and I knew nothing at the time of the bizarre trans-Atlanticintercourse between German techno pioneers and New York funk producers,but somehow the music just worked for me. Everything that was inventedor came to prominence in the early 1980’s is enjoying a comeback now,but I’m happy to say that Ellen Allien’s newest, Thrills is more homage than rehash. There’s no irony in the mechanical rhythms and icy electronic atmospheres on Thrills.The record isn’t a tongue-in-cheek throwback to bad hair and pants withmore than one zipper. Instead, it’s the latest in a long line ofproductions from underground dance producers who never let the electrovibe fade.

Somewhere along the way electro melted into faster, less funky techno,but Ellen Allien is doing her part to bring back the funk, albeit inthat stiff, Kraftwerkian way. The few tracks with vocals on Thrillscould have given the record more depth, but might have also steered itoff course. Luckily the vocals are repetitive and mostly monotone andjust work like a sample might instead of taking control of tracks thatare otherwise pumping along just fine without a voice. “Down” featureslots of breathy “ahhs” laid over the album’s most rollerskate-appropriate jam, while “Ghost Trian” spits out a beautiful,sputtering melody over some low end drones and a simple disco loop.“Cloudy City,” which is only one letter away from being a great StarWars reference, shows off Ellen Allien’s knack for catchy, rubbery basslines. All of this music is motorik and repetition is the key to makingthis sort of stuff work, but dance music can easily wear out itswelcome outside of a club setting. Thrills keeps this in mind by never letting any of the tracks go on much past the six minute mark. That’s what remixes are for!

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03 January 2010

Administrator

Albums and Singles

For the 12th year Brainwashed Readers have voiced their opinion on the best and worst music of the year. While some of the results shouldn't come as a surprise, there are, as always, plenty of anomalies. Brainwashed Readers have once again, and probably moreso than any other previous year, distanced themselves from the mainstream. Thanks to all who took part. As always, the Brainwashed Staff have added their comments.

Album of the Year:

Sunn O))), "Monoliths & Dimensions"

"Their best album by a country mile. I get the feeling their collaborators have a lot to do with that fact as the arrangements on this album are a big reason for its greatness. Songs like "Big Church" and "Alice" are direct and concentrated and eschew altogether SunnO)))'s more absurd and ridiculous qualities. Instead of goofy metal gimmicks, Anderson and O'Malley created a careful, well-paced, well-written, and superbly recorded album with honest-to-God songs. "Alice" might be one of the best songs of the year." - Lucas Schleicher

"It is unusual for a great band to suddenly become much greater, but that is exactly what happened here. This easily could've been a self-indulgent mess, but turned out to be their most rewarding release yet." - Anthony D'Amico

"Sunn always manage to avoid being a one-note gimmick, but this album is really new ground for them. "Alice" is not only worthy tribute to the Coltrane style but a highlight in the band's career overall." - Matt Spencer

"It may lack the primal caveman thunder of their early albums but their more diverse approach to their music has paid off big time. The vast structures and stellar supporting cast mark this album out as a milestone in Sunn O)))'s career where their gut wrenching metal and absorption of countless influences have wholly merged into something that the album's title only hints at." - John Kealy

"Part of me wanted to not like this, since such a niche band started getting so much mainstream press, but it won me over. Less metal than their previous work, it mixes in the right amount of jazz, classical, and avant garde with the normal drone metal sludge. For a band painted as being so repetitious, the tracks on here (especially "Alice") display some wonderful transitions throughout." - Creaig Dunton
Current 93, "Aleph At Hallucinatory Mountain"

"David Tibet is clearly at the mercy of his poetic imagination. I love it when he sings in Coptic. The amazing percussion on this album perfectly compliments the lyrical furnace blasts of fiery invective." - Justin Patrick

"I still can't believe that one of the heaviest rock masterpieces of the year is by Current 93. My mother hates it which is praise of the highest order." - John Kealy

"Still apocalyptic, still essential. I could listen to David Tibet read a grocery list." - Anthony D'Amico

"Current 93 finally make good on that Black Sabbath imitation they did back on Lucifer Over London." - Lucas Schleicher
Tim Hecker, "An Imaginary Country"
Om, "God Is Good"

"After an incalculable loss to the band, I expected a bit of a mess. Instead they recorded a virtually perfect album. God is good, Om is great." - John Kealy

"Not exactly surprised to see this album rank so highly as much as I'm disappointed by its undeserved placement. A couple months back, I won free tickets to see Om on tour, and it tied with Pelican's latest go-round with the most boring live concert experience of 2009. Shrinebuilder, Cisneros' doomy star-studded side-project, put out a way better record than this." - Gary Suarez

"It's their best record because it's brief and layered with new instruments. Seeing Robert A.A. Lowe from Lichens play with them was a revelation; I like Om, but they sound much better with an additional musician and a little sonic diversity." - Lucas Schleicher

"I'm certainly thrilled that Om is back and "Thebes" was one of my favorite songs this year, but...really? One great song does not equal a great album (even if it is a very long one)." - Anthony D'Amico
Six Organs of Admittance, "Luminous Night"

"An intense and emotional album, Ben Chasny played my heartstrings as deftly as those on his guitar." - John Kealy

"Ben Chasny reveals his inner workings in a series of perfectly arranged melancholic songs. They show off a new maturity in his already impressive skill as a guitarist and songwriter. There is a little bit for everyone here: noisy soundscapes, ballads, and expert finger picking." - Justin Patrick

"Ben Chasny channels his inner Jethro Tull with very communal results. Loss of clothing, more body hair, and flower power pseudonyms were quick to follow." - Justin Spicer

"I still struggle with this record. Chasny's instrumentation and song-writing are at their best on this one and Eyvind Kang proves once again that he is a valuable member for any band playing with its sound but I can't adjust to Ben's vocals this time around. I think he sounded so much better on Shelter from the Ash and School of the Flower. I know his voice has never been the main attraction, but they're distracting on Luminous Night." - Lucas Schleicher
Emeralds, "What Happened"

"I'll tell you what happened, these guys put out an album of intense psychedelic synth and guitar jams which made my brain short circuit." - John Kealy

"The Cleveland trio separated themselves from the synthesized fossils of Ash Ra Tempel and Tangerine Dream. What Happened is a darker foray, echoing the economic downturn of Ohio's dankest city, while maintaining the infinite expanses of space and the positive future it nurtures." - Justin Spicer

"Emeralds followed up the excellent Solar Bridge with an even better album. I'm pretty sure this is out of print, though - I'm willing to bet MP3s have a lot to do with why this album is so popular. I'd love to see a pretty vinyl reissue. Please?" - Lucas Schleicher

"Their second full length takes another wide step toward the horizon." - Henry Smith

"They contort new sounds out of the seemingly exhausted sources. For breadth of vision and sharpness in detail, this album really does deserve to be called 'cosmic.'" - Matt Spencer
Nurse With Wound, "The Surveillance Lounge"

"In a very good year for Nurse With Wound, this new album stood out as being one of the best albums that Steven Stapleton has ever done. Capturing the dark heart of his early music and transplanting it into the barely warm corpse of a F.W. Murnau film is an alchemeic act of immense power." - John Kealy
Antony & the Johnsons, "The Crying Light"

"Antony expresses a kind of bravery unheard elsewhere. Tapping into the hopes and fears of mankind he does the world a great service. Seeing the band play live when they were on tour for this album was definitely one of the highlights of my year. His friendly chatter in between songs at the concert show Antony to be quite humorous as well." - Justin Patrick

"I am still not sure about this. I like it but not sure if it will stand the test of time like his previous works. One of the best album covers of the year though." - John Kealy
Fever Ray, "Fever Ray"
Nurse With Wound, "The Memory Surface"

"Bolstering The Surveillance Lounge, this charted the development of that album like some weird laboratory experiment by scientists who lost the plot years ago." - John Kealy
James Blackshaw, "The Glass Bead Game"

"I've always liked Blackshaw's work, but I am very happy to see that he is aggressively expanding his sonic palette. "Cross" is brilliant." - Anthony D'Amico

"An astounding achievement for Blackshaw and one of my top picks of the year." - Jon Whitney

""Cross" and "Arc" are amazing. Since reviewing the album I've taken issue with its middle part, but the opening and closing songs alone are enough to make The Glass Bead Game great. I think I'm in love with Lavinia Blackwall's voice." - Lucas Schleicher
A Place To Bury Strangers, "Exploding Head"

"I can't wait to hear their next record. I like Exploding Head plenty, but I think the first album was superior. What APTBS did with this record is prove that they're here to stay. Loved hearing The Cure and New Order influences more strongly this time around, though, and "In Your Heart" kicked a lot of ass. This and Death provided me with almost all my rock needs in 2009." - Lucas Schleicher

"Exploding ears." - John Kealy

"I can't think of a better rock band currently producing music." - Michael Barrett
Nurse With Wound, "Space Music"

"In space, no one can hear you hum along." - John Kealy
Cold Cave, "Love Comes Close"

"There has been an unforgivable dearth of danceable misery in recent years. Cold Cave have filled that void admirably." - Anthony D'Amico

"Although it veers close to "trying too hard", the result is a catchy set of faux new wave pop tracks that do a wonderful early Depeche Mode impression." - Creaig Dunton

"Really disapointing when compared to thier previous singles." - Michael Barrett

"I liked this for approximately 20 minutes the first time I heard it. After that the charm and novelty wore off." - Lucas Schleicher
Emeralds, "Emeralds"

"This LP is undoubtedly my album of the year as Emeralds again blow my mind with their frankly untouchable music. Transcendental is a term that's thrown around a lot but in this case, I can think of no other word that comes close to describing this album." - John Kealy

"Third full length and the group's clearest statement yet. All hands on deck here." - Henry Smith
Zola Jesus, "The Spoils"

"I like this, but I refuse to accept that there is now a genre called Hypnagogic Pop." - Anthony D'Amico
Throbbing Gristle, "The Third Mind Movements"

"A top heavy recording, yes, but at it's best moments Third Mind Movements feeds my fetishtic needs for dense abract electronics oh so delightfully." - Michael Barrett

"After the rather disappointing Part Two: The Endless Not, I was delighted to hear TG back in fine form with this unfortunately limited edition CD. The amorphous sonic bleed that drew me to them is present again, The Third Mind Movements sounds like the kind of album the young TG would have made if they had today's technology." - John Kealy
Jim O'Rourke, "The Visitor"

"After 8 years of little communique, Jim O'Rourke emerged from his cocoon to deliver an album as rich and textured as his previous 'pop' albums. What The Visitor lacks in ingenuity it more than makes up for in style." - Justin Spicer
Ben Frost, "By The Throat"
This Immortal Coil, "The Dark Age of Love"

"This was not at all what I was expecting, but it still yielded a handful of mesmerizing interpretations. Will Oldham's "Ostia" makes my blood run cold." - Anthony D'Amico

"I've always been critical of tribute albums as being cynical cash-ins but This Immortal Coil do John and Sleazy proud with these touching and reverent covers of Coil classics." - John Kealy

"Amazing renditions of classic Coil tracks bring new enjoyment to the songs I've listened to over and over again. It's fun to hear them reinterpreted and played in a new light by musicians who know what they are doing." - Justin Patrick
William Basinski, "92982"
Fuck Buttons, "Tarot Sport"

"I don't get this one. What I hear is over-produced teeny-bopper hardcore masquerading as avant-garde techno. A style built on unabashed trend hopping." - Matt Spencer
Leyland Kirby, "Sadly, the Future is no Longer what it Once Was"

"I just don't get it at all." - Anthony D'Amico

"One of two amazing triple-disc albums released this year. This was the better one. It's ambitious and gorgeous and totally self-indulgent, but so carefully and lovingly assembled. I can't get enough of it." - Lucas Schleicher
Pan•American, "White Bird Release"

"The most beautiful music to come out in 2009, this has become my favorite Pan•American album out of all of them." - John Kealy
Tom Waits, "Glitter and Doom Live"
Dinosaur Jr., "Farm"

"Dinosaur Jr. sound really like the Foo Fighters on this album. But a good Foo Fighters. One without Dave Grohl." - John Kealy

"Dinosaur Jr.'s reemergence may be coinciding with the slight return of the '90s alternative scene in fashion and mainstream music but the point remains that Dinosaur Jr. continue to riff on the college and grunge rock they were so conveniently wrapped in during those heady, lazy days of '90s alterna-journalism." - Justin Spicer

"Barlow, Mascis, and Murph outdid themselves with this one. A logical progression from 2007's Beyond, this record proves that a band that's been around for over 20 years can stay true to itself without having to stagnate or engage in embarassingly ill-informed experiments, all the while sounding as hungry and vital as ever. Kurt Vile, Jay Reatard, and the rest of those in the current crop of indie rock darlings should be humbled by every single track on Farm." - Gary Suarez

"Surprise of the year for me. I was never a Dinosaur Jr. fan, but this record caught my ear. It also gave me incentive to go back over their discography, which is way better than I remembered it being." - Lucas Schleicher
JG Thirlwell, "The Venture Bros. Soundtrack"

"Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. This is the best thing Jim Thirlwell's done since Gash, and undoubtedly his most lucrative. This already great cartoon is one hundred fifty three percent more awesome thanks to Thirlwell's kitschy, whimsical scoring." - Gary Suarez

"Exhilarating soundtrack music whose mammoth production doesn't weigh down the cartoonish buoyancy of the material a bit." - Henry Smith

"I've never seen the show but this is one fun album." - John Kealy

"An incredible record from one of the most talented composers still standing. I hope this achievement will serve as an appropriate intro to any cinematic producer as I will gladly see any Hollywood blockbuster film that this genius scores." - Jon Whitney
Marissa Nadler, "Little Hells"
Sonic Youth, "The Eternal"

"I had high hopes for the first proper Sonic Youth album on an indie since the 1980s. To quote Colin Newman, I should have known better. Since 1995's Washing Machine, the band has put out meandering self-indulgent records marred by inconsistency and boasting one or two gems. The Eternal fits this profile, with "Malibu Gas Station" and "What We Know" its sole highlights. Let's face it: Sonic Youth are Gen-X's Rolling Stones, and we'll be lucky if we get a Voodoo Lounge out of them, let alone a Steel Wheels." - Gary Suarez

"While not a bad album, I was expecting more from Sonic Youth now that they were "free" from the claws of the major labels but it appears the scars run deeper than I thought." - John Kealy
Sun Araw, "Heavy Deeds"

"It's not as good as 2008's Beach Head, but Sun Araw has got his approach down to a hazy science. Cruise-worthy to the max." - Henry Smith
Lightning Bolt, "Earthly Delights"

"Lightning Bolt are incapable of making a bad album." - Michael Barrett
Mount Eerie, "Wind's Poem"

"Phil Elverum continues to reinvent himself without ever doing more than being himself. Wind's Poem is a fierce, yet strikingly soft testament to Elverum's versatility as both an artist and a road-weary musician." - Justin Spicer

"Almost maintains the standard of his collaboration with Julie Doiron." - Duncan Edwards
Dälek, "Gutter Tactics"
Kevin Drumm, "Imperial Horizon"
Blues Control, "Local Flavor"

"They take the sappiest aspects of rock and ambient music (blues licks, pan-pipes, saxophone solos) and manage to make something both clever and serious." - Matt Spencer

"The duo do it again with super focused instrumental jams that never meander. Avoids all the trappings of what it could be by simply honing in, and the result is something akin to Popol Vuh in the 21st century." - Henry Smith
Irr. App. (Ext.), "Kreiselwelle"

"Bewildering. Bemusing. Bewitching." - John Kealy
Six Organs Of Admittance, "Empty The Sun"
Zola Jesus, "Amsterdam"

"Excellent studio material and a great live set recorded for WNYU. Hopefully this release will see vinyl in 2010." - Michael Barrett
Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words, "Lost In Reflections"

"Eerie scratches in a forgotten language. Somewhere between cave painting and morse code." - Duncan Edwards

"Yes! This is my favorite of the Killer Pimp records released this year. Thomas Ekelund's dark world of buried memories and decaying structures totally captured my imagination this year. He turned the beautiful city of Boston into a sad and dying landscape several times" - Lucas Schleicher

"A gem of an album." - John Kealy
Soisong, "xAj3z"

"As unique as a snowflake and warmer than the hug of a lover, I want to marry this album." - John Kealy
The Field, "Yesterday & Today"
Alva Noto, "Xerrox, Vol. 2"

"This was a bit more abrasive than I'm used to hearing from the venerable label, but it definitely works well, with contributions for Stephen O'Malley and Ryuichi Sakamoto, among others. Great combo of noise and atmospheres." - Creaig Dunton

"This is what film soundtracks would sound like in a perfect world." - Anthony D'Amico
Bill Callahan, "Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle"

"Callahan may be soaking in bourbon by this point in his career but that Kentucky musk is as effervescent as it was during his parenthetical days." - Justin Spicer
Jack Rose & the Black Twig Pickers, "Jack Rose & the Black Twig Pickers"
Nudge, "As Good As Gone"

"These guys are quickly becoming one of my favorite bands. As Good As Gone is a chamelion of a record: it's incredibly dynamic, but it grooves hard in so many places and has so many great hooks. I thought it was pretty sexy, too." - Lucas Schleicher
Oneida, "Rated O"
Moritz Von Oswald Trio, "Vertical Ascent"
Oneohtrix Point Never, "Rifts"

"Daniel Lopatin's busy 2009 is neatly summed up on Rifts and though the double album may seem daunting to those new to the synth-laced underground, it also serves as an essential release from a year when synthesizer music transcended its underground past to become a unique and playful scene all its own." - Justin Spicer
Mono, "Hymn to the Immortal Wind"
Pocahaunted, "Passages"

"This was decidedly underwhelming." - Anthony D'Amico
To Kill a Petty Bourgeoisie, "Marlone"

"The idea of noir expressed in musical form seems a far-fetched one but To Kill a Petty Bourgeoisie nailed it with Marlone. The album is intoxicating, as wafts of femme fatale perfume and gumshoe cigar smoke infuse the moody music with a classic quality only Bogart and Bergman can capture." - Justin Spicer
Hildur Gusnadóttir, "Without Sinking"
Bonnie "Prince" Billy, "Beware"

"This album didn't excite or move me the way I thought would. Perhaps it's because he leans much closer to a pure country western style than he has on other releases. His natural talent is still something to be reckoned with but this didn't get put into the player as much as I had anticipated." - Justin Patrick

"Not his strongest album by any measure but a satisfying and content album which gets better with each time I play it." - John Kealy

"This was one of the biggest disappointments of the year. About half the record is great and the rest is just plain mediocre. After releasing albums like The Letting Go and I See a Darkness I expect Will Oldham to write better lyrics than the stuff on Beware. Lots of people say it's an improvement on Lie Down in the Light, but that isn't saying much and I'm not entirely sure it's true. On the other hand, seeing Oldham and company play these songs live made a big difference. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy put on one of the better concerts in Boston in 2009." - Lucas Schleicher
Faust, "C'est Com...Com...Compliqué"

"Sounding like a bunch of kids who have never heard music before but had it described to them, Faust are the Peter Pan of krautrock. Forever forging paths in places where I didn't know there was solid ground, C'est Com... Com... Compliqué sits up there with anything else they've done." - John Kealy

"A huge disappointment. I refuse to accept this is Faust." - Duncan Edwards
Khanate, "Clean Hands Go Foul"

"It's very obviously the counterpart to Capture and Release because there's not a lot of variety between the two albums. The painfully sparse and slow "Every Goddamn Thing" is the perfect death knell for the band." - Creaig Dunton

"A disappointing post-mortem release from the most vital heavy band since Swans. It has its moments but overall has left me cold. Part of me thinks this was the point." - John Kealy
Lustmord, "The Dark Places Of The Earth"
Nadja, "When I See the Sun Always Shines On TV"

"Never has a band made other people's songs so their own." - John Kealy

"My biggest beef with this is the fact that the covers of The Cure and Slayer sound quite similar to one another. That's not right." - Creaig Dunton
Tortoise, "Beacons of Ancestorship"
White Rainbow, "New Clouds"

"Some albums are dizzying to listen to and this is one of them. Though the kaleidoscopic music here is a treat as opposed to the cloying faux-psychedelica of Animal Collective (see below)." - John Kealy
Black to Comm, "Alphabet 1968"

"This was inarguably one of the best albums of the year. You guys are deaf." - Anthony D'Amico
DOOM, "Born Like This"
Espers, "III"
Phill Niblock, "Touch Strings"

"Minimalist in every sense of the word, the compositions for both classical and modern stringed instruments, the latter courtesy of Robert Poss and Susan Stenger, are brilliant studies in texture." - Creaig Dunton

"Shatteringly heavy, Niblock again shows all the kids who is king of over amplified drones. This fills the room like tear gas and leaves me just as incapacitated." - John Kealy
Rameses III, "I Could Not Love You More"

"The English trio are the quiet masters of soothing lullabies that stay with you well into slumber." - Justin Spicer
Cluster, "Qua"
Converge, "Axe To Fall"

"These metallic hardcore heroes made their best record since 2001's Jane Doe. Cacophonous and cathartic, this will be the soundtrack to our secret wars in Yemen." - Gary Suarez
SND, "Atavism"

"Wonderfully sterile techno-electro stuff, it's reminiscent of old school Autechre. You know, before they discovered the "make random sounds" button on their laptops." - Creaig Dunton
The Tear Garden, "Have a Nice Trip"
Yellow Swans, "Mort Aux Vaches"

"Great packaging but potentially unplayable depending on how unforgiving your CD player is. It's fantastic once it meets a CD player it likes." - John Kealy
Black Dice, "Repo"

"I don't get this one either. They make remixing trashy pop-music a turgid exercise, which is inexcusable." - Matt Spencer

"Someone listened to this all the way through more than once?" - Lucas Schleicher
Ducktails, "Ducktails"

"Matt Mondanile had a big year with his own project as well as Real Estate. This is where I like his stuff best though. Restrained jams for the Corona-minded." - Henry Smith

"This compilation of last year's tapes and singles is great, fantastic even. Unfortunately lead-man Matt Mondanile's subsequent material both as Ducktails and Real Estate has upped the yawn factor to 11." - Michael Barrett
Helena Espvall & Masaki Batoh, "Overloaded Ark"

"This album was my very favorite this year. Batoh & Espvall are quite a pair. Mixing traditional songs from across the centuries with tunes of their own creation, they show themselves off as both clever interpreters and innovative composers. Overflowing with psychedelic effects, Overloaded Ark is a masterful fusion of studio technique and the pure talent of highly practiced instrumentalists. The fact that Helena has stunning voice doesn't hurt any either." - Justin Patrick
Lustmord, "Beyond"
Svarte Greiner, "Kappa"
Evangelista, "Prince of Truth"
Sir Richard Bishop, "The Freak of Araby"
Steven R. Smith, "Cities"

"When will an enterprising director discover Steven R. Smith and realize how perfect his music is for film?" - Lucas Schleicher
Vic Chesnutt, "At the Cut"

"A devastating and sad album to finish on, At the Cut contains everything that made Vic Chesnutt into the wonderful artist that he was. He will be dearly missed." - John Kealy

"I bought this at the tail-end of the year, but it quickly became one of my most-played (and loved) records. Only Glenn Jones' album got more plays from me." - Lucas Schleicher
Diana Rogerson & Andrew Liles, "No Birds Do Sing"

"The most dangerous album of the year, this nearly caused me to drive my car off the road. Five stars." - John Kealy
Mountains, "Choral"

"This record deserves to be way higher on the list. The songs here are both dynamic, evocative, and ethereal. They make great use of acoustic instruments and arrangements. It's digital music with a human face." - Matt Spencer
Natural Snow Buildings, "Shadow Kingdom"
Richard Youngs, "Under Stellar Stream"
Shrinebuilder, "Shrinebuilder"

"Truth be told, this admittedly solid album felt like a prologue to something bigger, something better. However, with all the hype generated about this band, it was always going to be tough to live up to the legend. Yet based on this album, there is a spark there waiting to light the fuse." - John Kealy
Aluk Todolo, "Finsternis"

"You got your black metal in my krautrock! You got your krautrock in my black metal! " - Creaig Dunton
Andrew Chalk, "The Cable House"
Lisa Germano, "Magic Neighbor"

"A new album from Lisa Germano is always a wonderful thing, but this was not one of her better releases (aside from "Snow", which is four minutes of pure heaven)." - Anthony D'Amico
Rapoon, "Melancholic Songs of the Desert"
Shackleton, "Three EPs"
Bardo Pond, "Peri"

"The sister album of last year's Batholith, Peri is another uppercut from the swift hands of Bardo Pond. Glass jaws and lightweights need not apply." - Justin Spicer
Edward Ka-Spel, "Dream Loops"
OOIOO, "Arminico Hewa"
Atlas Sound, "Logos"
Bill Orcutt, "A New Way to Pay Old Debts"

"Harry Pussy guitarist reemerges for an album of acoustic guitar improvisations that rip. Beyond technique, these numbers soar whether aided by Orcutt's grumbles or not. Total immersion into an internal logic that's way more exciting than most insides ever get ya. Criminal that it's not higher on the list, one of the best things put out this year." - Henry Smith
Cave, "Psychic Psummer"

"A groover of a disc whose momentum and sound slide right off the palette and on to the wall." - Henry Smith
Do Make Say Think, "Other Truths"
Flower-Corsano Duo, "The Four Aims"

"Both are masters of their respective instrument and the fury with which they play surpasses the sounds of power to hit the heart of talent." - Justin Spicer

"Sublime. Nothing else, just sublime" - John Kealy

"Everyone knows these dudes can play, and play they do, only with a resiliency usually afforded only to jazz players." - Henry Smith
Gregg Kowalsky, "Tape Chants"

"Neat premise, but a cool process does not always yield a compelling album. Almost never, actually." - Anthony D'Amico
Isis, "Wavering Radiant"
Locrian, "Drenched Lands"

"This synth and guitar band definitely leans more on the experimental than the metal side of things, channeling electronic textures and post-rock elements along with the pained vocals and heavy guitar sludge. While this album has the added bonus of a 30 minute live track, their more recent works show an even more diverse approach to their sound." - Creaig Dunton

"Dark deep doom drone whose textural sensitivity speaks to a healthy alternative from the more demonically minded." - Henry Smith
Nadja, "Under the Jaguar Sun"

Single/EP:

Broadcast & The Focus Group, "...Investigate with Cults of the Radio Age"

"This one took a while to grow on me, but that's because its "experimental" in the the risk taking sense of the term. This EP expands their repertoire of sounds and structures while still preserving the great pop-songwriting of the band." - Matt Spencer
This Immortal Coil, "Tattooed Man/Chaostrophy"
Emeralds, "Fresh Air"

"If I say anything else about how great Emeralds are I figure everyone is going to think they're paying me. And yes, this is another firm favorite from 2009." - John Kealy
Jesu, "Opiate Sun"

"It's probably the most unadulterated "rock" release Justin Broadrick has ever done, but the guitar soloing and harmonized vocals give it an earworm quality that kept it in my CD player for a while." - Creaig Dunton
A Place To Bury Strangers, "Keep Slipping Away"
Deerhunter, "Rainwater Cassette Exchange"
Burial + Four Tet, "Moth/Wolf Club"

"These guys compliment each other perfectly. Moth/Wolf Club is superb and leaves me wanting more from these two. It's far too good to have been so limited." - Lucas Schleicher
Broadcast, "Mother is the Milky Way"
Wolves in the Throne Room, "Malevolent Grain"

""A Looming Resonance" is one of the most perfectly devastating balances of beauty and violence that I have yet heard. " - Anthony D'Amico
Bohren & Der Club of Gore, "Mitleid Lady"

"Ridiculously brief but indescribably beautiful, Bohren continue to captivate me." - John Kealy
Fennesz and Sparklehorse, "In the Fishtank 15"
Antony & the Johnsons, "Aeon"
Philip Jeck, "Spool"
King Midas Sound, "Dub Heavy - Hearts & Ghosts"
Boduf Songs, "On The Brink Wall Of All We Hate"
A Place To Bury Strangers, "In Your Heart"

"The dance remix was not this band's best idea." - Michael Barrett
Benoit Pioulard, "Flocks"
Kode9, "Black Sun"
Boredoms, "Super Roots 10"

"This EP is not a refinement of their sound, but a clue that the band is in a creative holding pattern. They could have made this record ten years ago." - Matt Spencer
Mika Vanio, "Vandal"
Monolake, "Atlas"
Nadja, "Clinging to the Edge of the Sky"

"Channelling the essence of Bohren & Der Club of Gore, this EP was such a shock for me. I like Nadja but I never expected something so wonderful and unreal from them." - John Kealy
Washed Out, "Life Of Liesure"
Deathspell Omega, "Veritas Diaboli Manet In Aeternum: Chaining The Kacheton"
Greymachine, "Vultures Descend"

"I pre-ordered the full-length and got this on cassingle. CASSINGLE!" - Gary Suarez

"A great hybrid of classic Godflesh and Techno Animal, it's like the dissonance and anger that Godflesh had (and that Jesu doesn't) is distilled and compressed into pure industrial chaos." - Creaig Dunton

Vault/Reissue:

Nick Cave, "Your Funeral...My Trial"

"After years of being so poorly mastered on CD, it is great to finally hear this album in all its glory." - John Kealy
Nurse With Wound, "Chance Meeting on a Dissecting Table of a Sewing Machine and an Umbrella"

"This came in the nick of time as my disc rot ridden CD copy appears to be on its way out." - John Kealy

"It's about damn time." - Anthony D'Amico

"Again, really? Nice job on the cover art, though" - Michael Barrett
Six Organs of Admittance, "RTZ"

"Comparing this to this year's new Six Organs album, it is amazing to hear both how far Chasny's come with his music but also how so many elements and themes have been there from the start." - John Kealy

"I think I liked this more than the new Six Organs album. I love it when Chasny goes out as far as he can go. Seek out a copy of the triple-LP. The music is gorgeous and worth taking with you everywhere you go, but the artwork for this thing is crazy and looks best on a nice big fold-out record sleeve." - Lucas Schleicher
Loop, "A Gilded Eternity"

"It's great to hear their most fully realized and polished album receive new life, and the addition of demo tracks and one of my all time favorite Peel Sessions on the bonus disc make this a winner." - Creaig Dunton
Einstürzende Neubauten, "Ende Neu"

"Personally, I have always found Ende Neu to be a weaker than usual album for Neubauten. This is probably due to the difficult recording (the band nearly completely disintegrating during the sessions) but strangely, it contains some of the best songs of their career on it. Re-evaluating it now, my problem is how the album is put together rather than the music itself as each song on its own is practically perfect." - John Kealy
Cluster & Eno, "Cluster & Eno"

"The classic gets reprinted and proves to be, well, classic." - Henry Smith

"While Cluster without Eno would always be my preference, this album shows a pivotal moment in rock when Eno met the krautrockers and everything changed for him afterwards." - John Kealy
Nirvana, "Bleach"

"When Nevermind hit in 1992, I was 13 and always preferred Bleach and Incesticide. Seventeen years later I feel the same way. Considering how murky the sound was intended to be, the polishing of this sonic turd was very well done, and the bonus live material is great." - Creaig Dunton

"It's like 9th grade all over again, but with out the misery of High School. Good job, Subpop." - Michael Barrett

"Nirvana's popularity should not obscure their achievements. The notion that a couple of burnouts from a depressed logging town could change popular music is invigorating and essential." - Matt Spencer

"This album changed by life back in the early 1990s. Jack Endino and Krist Novoselic have done a fine job with the remaster, and the inclusion of an unreleased live concert was a nice touch. I'm a little miffed that the studio version of "Spank Thru" wasn't included, but I can overlook that, I suppose. On a related note, I'm amazed that Sub Pop's reissues of the first two Sunny Day Real Estate albums didn't make the cut." - Gary Suarez
Current 93, "Live at Bar Maldoror"

"This older Current 93 material never really did anything for me but Andrew Liles' remix is worth the price alone." - John Kealy
The Monks, "Black Monk Time"

"This record is snotty and intense enough to put any contemporary rocker to shame." - Matt Spencer

"Garage never got better. And yeah, I know it's the one on Nuggets, but "Complication" still rules harder than anything on here." - Henry Smith
Current 93, "In Menstrual Night"

"See Live at Bar Maldoror." - John Kealy
Jim O'Rourke, "I'm Happy, and I'm Singing, and a 1,2,3,4"

"This deserves to be put up there with Endless Summer and Music has a Right to Children as one of the most innovative electronic albums of the last twenty years" - Matt Spencer

"Few artists are as adept at both somber beauty and chaotic mischief as Jim O'Rourke. This is an essential album, but I could've done without the bonus tracks." - Anthony D'Amico
Lydia Lunch, "Queen of Siam"

"This sounds like a cabaret of the damned." - Anthony D'Amico
Current 93, "Dawn"

"This is the only early Current 93 album that really works for me but again it is eclipsed by Andrew Liles' stunning remix." - John Kealy
Godflesh, "Pure/Cold World/Slavestate"

"Budget boxed set without remastering. Earache is just half trying. But if you missed out on Godflesh before, you can catch up now. Abso-fucking-lutely essential." - Michael Barrett

"Ok, this stinks of Earache cashing in, but the material reissued is so great I can't really complain. Pure was always a bit too metal for me, but the dour Cold World is a great foreshadowing of Jesu, and the mechanized death of Slavestate still warms my heart." - Creaig Dunton

"Why did this rank? It's another shoddy Earache Records repackaging of shit that wasn't out-of-print to begin with. Justin Broadrick is apparently eager to do some deluxe remastered reissues, but the label seems content bilking fans rather than putting together something of real value." - Gary Suarez
Harmonia '76, "Tracks and Traces"

"I wonder if this was the birth of post-rock." - Duncan Edwards
Loop, "The World In Your Eyes"
Tony Wakeford/Steven Stapleton, "Revenge of the Selfish Shellfish"

"Perfect reissue. Gorgeous packaging, great album and fantastic additional material." - John Kealy
Cold Cave, "Cremations"

"While about half of this feels like demos that may have been best served staying unheard, the other half is really good pop influenced synth experiments. I didn't think they were going to go as pop as they did on Love Comes Close, but the tracks leading up to it are anything but." - Creaig Dunton

"I think I prefer Cold Cave's early menacing nihilism to their current sound, but Love Comes Close has much better songs." - Anthony D'Amico
Eno Moebious Roedelius, "After the Heat"

"A poor man's Cluster." - John Kealy
Eliane Radigue, "Triptych"
Foetus, "Limb"

"A surprisingly varied compilation of early works by J.G. Thirlwell, I could not believe how much of this sounded like what he is doing now with Manorexia and on The Venture Brothers. If ever I needed more proof as to how awesome he is, I've got it." - John Kealy

"I strongly feel that this deserves a much higher place on the list. J.G. Thirlwell released two very solid records in 2009, and this one came with both great music and a great video documentary. Anyone that cares about Foetus, or even Nurse with Wound, Coil, Swans, or Einstürzende Neubauten would do well to re-visit this. Thirlwell isn't just a genius, he has to be one of the hardest working guys in the business. That fact shines through on this compilation. Limb also shows just how forward thinking Thirlwell has always been." - Lucas Schleicher
Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, "White Lunar"
Gavin Bryars Ensemble, "The Sinking of the Titanic"

"No review can do justice to this testament to the persistence of humanity. Magnificent." - Duncan Edwards

"Tears well up in my eyes just thinking of this piece and this recording is no exception." - John Kealy

"I am curious about how many versions of this piece I will accumulate over the course of my life." - Anthony D'Amico
Arthur Russell, "Love Is Overtaking Me"
Death, "...For the Whole World to See"

"ROCK! Putting on the Death record made me feel like an 11-year old kid that had just discovered punk and hard rock again." - Lucas Schleicher

Music video:

Antony & the Johnsons, "Epilepsy is Dancing"

"When pagan rituals, nudity, and animated butterflies collide, everyone wins." - Anthony D'Amico

"It's amazing to have Johanna Constantine back with Antony & the Johnsons both for this amazing video and the tour dates she was on. I do get nostalgic when thinking about the awesome shows with Dr. Yasuda opening in morse code and the big ensemble of the Johnsons." - Jon Whitney
To Kill a Petty Bourgeoisie, "The Needle"

"Creepy and wonderful. I wish more bands would embrace German Expressionist Horror." - Anthony D'Amico

"I didn't fully appreciate this until I saw it projected onto a huge screen with a sound-system that did the song justice (i.e., it was really loud). TKAPB are another band that mesh naturally with the video medium; their music begs for a visual accompaniment." - Lucas Schleicher
Fever Ray, "When I Grow Up"

"Definitely the most compellingly bizarre video ever made with just a camera and a suburban pool." - Anthony D'Amico
Depeche Mode, "Wrong"

"You don't have to be an obsessive Depeche Mode fan (yes, that's oxymoronic) to appreciate this chilling video for the single off Sounds of the Universe. A man, bound and gagged, is trapped behind the wheel of a moving vehicle desperate to extricate himself from the situation without dying. Given the typically bleak nature of Martin Gore's lyrics and Dave Gahan's drug-addled past, the metaphor fits." - Gary Suarez

"A brilliant nightmare in 3 minutes." - Jon Whitney
Sonic Youth, "Sacred Trickster"
Boduf Songs, "Quiet When Group"
Tortoise, "Prepare Your Coffin"
Kid 606, "Mr. Wobbles Nightmare"
A Place To Bury Strangers, "In Your Heart"
Marissa Nadler, "River of Dirt"
Black Dice, "Glazin"
Ulterior, "15"

"Appropriately stark and jittery." - Anthony D'Amico
The New Year, "Seven Days"
Mission of Burma, "1,2,3, Partyy!"
El Perro Del Mar, "Change Of Heart"

"This video is so weird and entrancing that it is easy to forget that there is even a song playing." - Anthony D'Amico

"I'm in awe of the subjects strength and stamina. It's one of those things you can't take your eyes off." - Jon Whitney

Various Artist Compilation:

Five Years of Hyperdub
Nigeria Special: Modern Highlife, Afro Sounds, Ghanaian Blues 1968-1981
Shadow Music of Thailand

"Some of the most strange and improbable surf music ever." - Anthony D'Amico

"Makes the best case for cultural globalization that I have ever heard. These bands make music that is often more groovy than any occidental surf music." - Matt Spencer
1970s Algerian Proto-Rai Underground

"I was totally caught off guard by how raucous this album was." - Anthony D'Amico

"The music pales compared to the cover art." - Duncan Edwards

"Blistering and beautiful, I wish I had a time machine to sample this music as it happened." - John Kealy
Ghana Special: Modern Highlife, Afro-Sounds & Ghanian Blues 1968-81

"Swell collection of jams that'll have you bounding around the room. A vast collection that gets to the heart of the matter with this material." - Henry Smith

"This is one of the best things that Soundway has ever put out." - Anthony D'Amico
Ød Lot
Panama! 2: Latin Sounds, Cumbia Tropical & Calypso Funk on the Isthmus 1967-77

"Alternately sexy, fun, and ridiculous and never very far from my stereo." - Anthony D'Amico
Can You Dig It? Music and Politics of Black Action Films: 1968-1975

"Souljazz is damn near infallible when it comes to compilations. I wish I lived in England." - Anthony D'Amico
Forge Your Own Chains: Heavy Psychedelic Ballads And Dirges 1968-1974
Siamese Soul: Thai Pop Spectacular 1960s-1980s Vol. 2

"Contains the funk canon's most definitive works on the subjects of frogs and breast milk." - Anthony D'Amico
An Anthology of Chinese Experimental Music: 1992 - 2008

"I'm glad Sub Rosa saw fit to compile this set of noise and experimental material from an isolated population, which displays nothing if not that making noise is fun, regardless of where you're from." - Creaig Dunton

"Astounding in its breadth and quality, this has been a very welcome release for anyone trying to find out more about China's new music." - John Kealy
Legends of Benin

"This isn't quite as strong as some of the other Analog Africa compilations, but Gnossas Pedro's "La Musica en Verite" should not be missed." - Anthony D'Amico
Open Strings: 1920s Middle Eastern Recordings - New Responses

"An album to unravel over several years. Worth it for the Six Organs track alone." - Duncan Edwards

"I did not like the "New Responses" disc at all. Bad, bad idea." - Anthony D'Amico
Strings Of Pearls: International 78s
The World is Shaking: Cubanismo from the Congo, 1954-1955

"Raw, sultry, and damn good." - Anthony D'Amico
Tumbele: Biguine, Afro & Latin Sounds from the French Caribbean, 1963-1974
Loving Takes This Course: A Tribute to the Songs of Kath Bloom

"I think I probably could've done without the cover album, but this definitely got me into Kath Bloom in a major way." - Anthony D'Amico
Marvellous Boy: Calypso From West Africa

"After being consigned to the ghetto of "old man" music, Calypso seems to be gaining more credibility. This comp demonstrates how essential the style is to 20th century pop and folk styles." - Matt Spencer

"Sheer, unbridled joy." - Duncan Edwards
Plantation Gold: The Mad Genius Of Shelby S. Singleton and Plantation/SSS Records 1967-1976
Scott Walker: 30 Century Man

Boxed set:

Kraftwerk, "The Catalogue"

"Each year around this time I like to treat myself to a box set of an artist that I've only had a passing experience with, and this year it was Kraftwerk. Shamefully having heard very little of their work prior, I must say that I definitely missed out. Not only is the sound as amazing as one would hope, it's so beautifully packaged it can't help but be loved." - Creaig Dunton

"Now that it's finally out I can't afford it. Thanks Kraftwerk." - John Kealy

"I'm really disappointed with this. The updated mastering sucks the soul and humor right out of these songs." - Matt Spencer

"Sure, the packaging is pretty, the music can't be disputed, and the remasters are okay but what really needs remastering attention is the material before Autobahn as well as a decent collection of non-LP singles/mixes and a DVD of all the music videos over the years. The albums in this set have been reissued and reissued and reissued so many times now." - Jon Whitney
Pere Ubu, "Datapanik in the Year Zero"

"Makes the case that the leading edge of the punk avant-garde was in Cleveland, not London or New York." - Matt Spencer

"Missing the live CD from its original release but at such a low budget price, this is a lot of bang for your buck." - John Kealy
Nurse With Wound, "Flawed Existence"

"The motherload of NWW goodies presented in the fanciest way possible. This made my year." - John Kealy
Luc Ferrari, "L'Oeuvre Électronique"

"I could not believe my eyes and I didn't trust my French when I first read about this box on a French website but once I had it in my hands I realised it wasn't a dream. 10 CDs of undiluted genius gave me weeks of entertainment and awe. Unfortunately distribution on this box appears to be poor so hopefully in 2010 this might make its way out into more stereos across the world as Luc Ferrari is an artist unparalleled in 20th century music." - John Kealy
Big Star, "Keep An Eye On The Sky"
13th Floor Elevators, "Sign of the 3 Eyed Men"
Eluvium, "Life Through Bombardment"
Bobby Beausoleil, "The Lucifer Rising Suite"
Incapacitants, "Box Is Stupid"

"Intense and overwhelming." - Michael Barrett

"It's 10 hours of the best noise band out of Japan (and possibly in the world). What's not to love?" - Creaig Dunton

"Box is deafening." - John Kealy
Merzbow, "13 Japanese Birds"

"Boxed sets are Masami's new format of choice. Pretty well-rounded series." - Michael Barrett

Artist of the year:

Nurse With Wound
Current 93
Six Organs of Admittance
Emeralds
Sunn O)))
Fever Ray
Antony & the Johnsons
A Place To Bury Strangers
Aidan Baker
Jim O'Rourke

Label of the year:

Drag City

"Drag City often releases albums that I actively dislike, but they always do it for the right reasons." - Anthony D'Amico
Mute
Kranky
Southern Lord
Important
Bureau B

"Bureau B seems to be single-handedly keeping the krautrock canon in print these days, but they released a lot of other great and eclectic lost albums this year too. I fear they may be way cooler and well-informed than I am." - Anthony D'Amico
Dirter
Beta-lactam Ring

"Whenever I listen to a BLR podcast, I am always floored by at least one album." - Anthony D'Amico
Secretly Canadian

"Yeah, fine. But then why isn't the new Magnolia Electric Co. record on the "best of" list?!" - Lucas Schleicher
Type

"Between Richard Skelton and Black to Comm, I have become a serious Type enthusiast in 2009." - Anthony D'Amico

New artist of the year:

Zola Jesus

"My favorite artist of the year. Everything Zola Jesus has produced has surpassed her previous release. Comparisons to Diamanda, Siouxie and Kate Bush are not unfounded. I expect really big things to come from this midwestern banshee." - Michael Barrett

Lifetime Achievement Recognition:

Throbbing Gristle

"Throbbing Gristle have never seemed so important or relevent to me as they do now. I wasn't even born by the time they terminated the mission originally but today, in a political, economic and environmentally turbulant time they have proven to be not only relevant but inspiring. Driving through desolate areas where shops have closed down and the queues to collect jobseeker's allowance grow longer and longer, the ghostly pulse of their music haunts me more than ever." - John Kealy

"The reunion concerts were criminally underwhelming and The Third Mind Movements did even less for me than P-Orridge's horrendous last two Psychic TV albums. At least I got my vinyl copy of Heathen Earth signed by all four members at their Brooklyn Masonic Temple gig." - Gary Suarez

"I never listened to Throbbing Gristle a ton. The first time I heard them, I was sure that I hated them. Actually, I couldn't imagine anyone liking them at all. Over time I became familiar with them and somehow they seeped into my veins. I still don't listen to them on a regular basis and I still can't say that I love them, but I don't think I can imagine music without them. It was because of some Throbbing Gristle tapes I was given when I was pretty young that I came to listen to so much weird music. They pushed me over the edge and compelled me to seek out more strange music. If there were a group of people capable of making and listening to music like Throbbing Gristle, then what else could be waiting for me? They certainly made all the popular so-called "industrial" bands look weak and silly by comparison. Throbbing Gristle were exciting, even as I disliked them. Turns out that they influenced so many of the bands I do enjoy and listen to on a regular basis. Go figure." - Lucas Schleicher

"Gen has lost it. That is obvious. The fact the the rest of the band can come out and still slay like they did in the '70s, even better with updated technology, is a testiment to true artistic validity and genius. Just make your releases more democratically available and affordable, OK?" - Michael Barrett

"I saw Gristle perform two sets this year: one that was completely mesmerizing and another that was an embarrassing fiasco. That is exactly how it should be. It's like they never left." - Anthony D'Amico

Worst Album:

KMFDM, "Blitz"

"I haven't heard any KMFDM since Adios. Sounds like I haven't missed anything." - Creaig Dunton

"The fact that people still get excited about this band makes me very perturbed." - Michael Barrett

"Few bands have aged less gracefully than KMFDM." - Anthony D'Amico

"Brainwashed readers are a buncha haters. I bet most people who panned this record haven't even listened to it. (I probably wouldn't like it either but that doesn't mean I vote against it!)" - Jon Whitney
Grizzly Bear, "Veckatimest"
Genocide Organ, "Live in Japan"
Job For A Cowboy, "Ruination"
The Horrors, "Primary Colours"

"Full disclosure: I fucking loved The Horrors' first album Strange House for its devotional update on sleazy garage rock. But this new one? God awful. Lux Interior is rolling in his grave." - Gary Suarez
Dying Fetus, "Descend Into Depravity"
Boys Noize, "Power"
Boy In Static, "Candy Cigarette"

"Oh come on, people. This wasn't SO bad. OK maybe it was..." - Gary Suarez
Animal Collective, "Merriweather Post Pavilion"

"This album can only be bad in the sense that the group sets bad trends rather than follows them. They may be to blame for a lot of the hippy-dippy music put out in the last few years, but they're still the best in the game. Breaking into the pop charts with something so willfully unusual should be lauded, not dismissed." - Matt Spencer

"It's one thing to convince some people that you aren't naked. It's quite another thing to spend time ripping up rather average clothes and reassembling them into something much duller than the original, and then parade around in the fucking mess. The worst record Animal Collective have yet made." - Duncan Edwards

"I'm not sure Animal Collective quite deserve to be "worst album" candidates, but I'd certainly be happy if I never, ever heard their name mentioned ever again. " - Anthony D'Amico

"I think it's probably better on drugs? Maybe?" - Lucas Schleicher
Bellini, "The Precious Prize of Gravity"

"All I remember about this album is that I put it on for a couple minutes, shrugged, and turned it off." - Anthony D'Amico

20 December 2009

Administrator

Albums and Singles

This ambitiously sprawling triple album marks the beginning of a third phase in James Kirby's career. The haunted murkiness of his previous work as The Caretaker remains intact, but Kirby has recently made the bold (and possibly ill-conceived) move of playing everything himself and entirely avoiding samples. The result is certainly quite strange and difficult, but it is also a gutsy rejection of all prevailing trends in contemporary music.

History Always Favours the Winners

The most immediately apparent thing about Sadly, The Future is No Longer What It Was is its sheer, impenetrable immensity. There’s over three hours of material and I have tried and failed for several months to make it through the entire thing in one sitting. The futility of that endeavor was compounded by the album’s other noteworthy attribute: all the tracks all blur together in a gray fog of gloom and emptiness. That is not entirely a failing, which is where things get complicated. As a listener, I am definitely bored by the lack of “hooks” or differentiating characteristics and feel very strongly that one album could have conveyed everything here without anything being lost. However, it seems like Kirby set out to create an overwhelming and elephantine void of loss, hopelessness, and alienation: an artistic goal that he seems to have met with a stunning degree of success. This album is not enjoyable or engaging at all and probably never will be, but it might be years ahead of its time. This is post-everything; nothingness made extreme: the sort of music that I can only envision being listened to in a dreary futuristic dystopia populated by soulless automatons.

Obviously, this is a rather singular (perhaps even crazily self-indulgent) work, but Kirby does overtly allude to some influence from others. The most obvious touchstones are the early ambient works of Brian Eno and Harold Budd, manifested most strongly in the watery, quavering tones of Kirby’s synths. The atmosphere here is a grotesque parody of the pastoral minimalism of albums like Music for Airports, as all the familiar elements are there but sound mildewed and soaked with despair. The other apparent inspiration seems to be Angelo Badalamenti, though that may be entirely accidental. While most of the album is vast ocean of rumbling, soft-focus murk, occasionally there are bursts of cheesy, dated-sounding synthesizer melodrama that would not sound at all out of place during a poignant scene in Twin Peaks. Utter blankness and creepy sentimentality make odd bedfellows, but I have no doubt that Kirby acted deliberately (albeit mystifyingly). On a related note, that propensity for melodrama has also infested the song titles, which read like Victorian poetry—an oddly pretentious move for a former V/VM member. They seem weirdly appropriate though, as they add to the sense of dislocation from the present and give the works a vague narrative thread. The titles almost make the album seem like a series of aural paintings.

It took me a very long time to form a lasting opinion of this album, as my initial gut reaction was “this is absolutely awful,” but my fascination with some of Kirby’s previous work gave me a nagging suspicion that something great was happening that I was too dumb or insensitive to appreciate (I have mostly overcome it though). This demands a hell of a lot from a listener and gives proportionally little back in return. In fact, it is hard to imagine this record making any impact at all if an unknown musician had released it. There certainly are some genuinely eerie moments here, such as the creepy carousel music of “And Nothing Comes Between the Sadness and the Screams,” but they have to be listened to both actively and loudly to be appreciated. When I listen to the album at a normal volume, it is merely a droning, vitality-sapping hum that leaves me longing for respite from its edgeless, formless, artificial-sounding enormity. As far as musicality and accessibility are concerned, this is substantial regression for Kirby. As an artistic statement, however, it may actually be kind of brilliant—in its own way, Sadly, The Future is No Longer What It Was might be one of the most uncompromising and non-commercial albums ever made. This probably isn’t a black hole very many people will want to descend into, but it is nevertheless an effort that commands grudging respect.

Samples:

20 December 2009

Albums and Singles

20 December 2009

Administrator

Albums and Singles

Long-time Chicago based sound artist Blake Edwards has developed an impressive resume in the experimental and noise scenes over the years, and this newest full length album is no different. Here he focuses on the manipulation and treatment of sounds recorded some 31 years ago, and the result is, for better or worse, a static gray wall of dour sounds that has its high points, but not as many as one would hope.

Crippled Intellect Productions

The first thing I thought immediately upon hearing the opening track "Invocation" was the late 1990s movement of dark, glacial sound art, much of which was sparked by Lustmord’s Heresy album. The track uses the same deep, subterranean ringing textures, like ancient sounds arising from a newly unearthed tomb. The ringing sounds are allowed to fully return to the surface, appearing sharp and metallic around the otherwise cavernous rock.

"Compression (False Limbs)" keeps the deep ringing but adds flanged croaks and other textures, creating an entire microscopic universe that is being observed sonically. The piece is mostly understated, but hollow noisy ambience infringes on that dynamic as the track comes to its close.

The long "High Silence Into The Earth" begins much more expansive, with deep, low register thuds and tiny sounds deep in the distance. It is a track with microscopic changes, which are almost too small: the variations are so far apart that it unfortunately fades into the background more often than it should. The same with the quiet, tortured sounds of "Jackal," which, even with the high frequency intrusions remains too overly dour to be compelling.

The stuttering, panned samples and hollow ding of "Breath of Corruption" at times is reminiscent of harsher noise being played at a lower volume, but with a swirling, almost psychedelic quality to it, helping it stand apart from the otherwise snowy sound field. The closing "High Silence Into the Winds" acts as a reprise to the long "High Silence Into the Earth", but allows almost musical loops to be heard through the reverberations and audio grime.

This is not a bad album by any means, but to me it is simply too monochromatic in approach and calls to mind a past genre of music that I personally burnt myself out on a number of years back. There are some unique sounds to be found here, but unfortunately they are few and far between, there is simply too much hollow reverb and processed samples here as filler that obscures the best moments.

samples:

20 December 2009

Administrator

Albums and Singles

Having kept both Githead and Wire active in the past couple of years, it is unsurprising that there has been some cross-pollination of style due to Colin Newman’s presence in both bands. Last year’s Object 47 pushed out some of the more aggressive elements from Wire Mk. 3’s sound and instead embraced a more ethereal pop sound parallel to that project’s classic A Bell is a Cup album. Similarly, this new full length from Githead retains Wire’s sharp and dynamic rhythm section, but brings in a greater pop sensibility along with Newman’s unabashedly wonderful angularity.

Swim~

From the opening of "Faster," Githead channels both other projects and their contemporaries: the sharp drums and bass that open the track, later met with some post-punk influenced guitar chords could very well be the precision of Githead tackling Mission of Burma’s Vs. "Take Off” continues this early 1980s by way of 2000s electronic sense but adds in disconnected vocals courtesy of Malka Spigel that gives the perfect balance of nostalgia and progression, with guitars by Newman and Robin Rimbaud.

Other points of reference abound in the ten tracks that make up this album, but never do they feel lazy or out of place, instead they just simply work. The heavier riffs and snotty, agitated vocals of "Over The Limit" put it in a place where it could be a lost out-take from Wire’s Send, though the lighter, ambient production colors it differently than the digital aggression that permeated that disc. Similarly, the drum ‘n’ bass tinged rhythm section and heavily processed vocals of "Displacement & Time" puts it in league with some of Newman’s late 1990s work, though filtered through a real live band rather than a battery of sequencers and synths.

It wouldn’t be Githead without a significant amount of unexpected turns, of course. The title track has the propulsion of bar band blues rock, but the gentle textures and effects on Spigel’s vocals are much more shoegazy in nature. Immediately following is the jazz of "Ride", which cruises along on a beatnik coffee shop bassline and sparse percussion, the vocals alternating between singing and spoken word, before collapsing into a more traditional "rock" motif.

The overarching theme is unabashed pop music, which has been a frequent modus operandi of Newman’s since the beginning, "Lightswimmer" is all lush, digital guitars and thick electronic production, while never sounding overtly electronic, the presence of machines is definitely felt. The simple "From My Perspective" is a short little piece that is pure ear-worm pop, the kind of song that at first seems too sparse, yet sticks around in one’s brain much longer than the song’s duration.

The closing "Transmission Tower" in some ways could be the "sore thumb" I lamented not being present on Object 47. Clocking in at nearly eight minutes, it is a pensive, melancholy track that channels the best moments of late 1980s/early 1990s alternative rock, but in an entirely different, modernized framework. It uses its longer duration to its fullest, shifting from sparse sadness to aggressive, raw sounds and closes with a storm of heavy guitar textures. Its complexity and diversity make it stand out compared to the other tracks, but in a totally wonderful way.

Unsurprisingly, given their lineage, Githead has produced another album of complex pop music that is both comfortable and inviting, but confounding and obtuse beneath the surface. Listening to the album again as I complete this review during a cold North Eastern US weekend, the warmth and familiar atmosphere of the album mixed with the innovative elements could not come at a better time. Few bands are able to wrap up such a complex enigma in such a beautiful, infectious package.

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20 December 2009

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Albums and Singles

After six years of being just a title on the Beta-lactam Ring Records website, I was losing hope of this album ever materialising. There was the danger that if it did ever arrive on earth that it would be an anticlimax but thankfully I can report that it is one of the best realised Nurse With Wound albums yet. Steven Stapleton and his crew, including first mate Andrew Liles and chief of engineering Colin Potter, voyage through the outer limits of The Outer Limits and Sun Ra's most cosmic offerings. Influenced by those haunting electronic soundtracks of vintage Sci-Fi, Stapleton guides the U.S.S. Nurse With Wound through the furthest regions of the universe, documenting spatial anomalies and creating some of the best sounds audible in the Milky Way.

Beta-lactam Ring Records

The incidental sounds that permeate B-movies and those weird LPs of electronic music that attempt to evoke the sounds of the cosmos are the main points of reference for Space Music. Beginning with what sounds like asteroids hammering off each other, it promises to be an exciting and violent piece but after these few minutes of activity, the calm of an infinite void sets in and Space Music proves to be a predominantly low key piece that lends itself beautifully to deep (space) listening. The kind of sounds that I imagine the scientists at CERN long to hear coming from their machines emanate from the stereo like some interdimensional transmission in a format that we have no idea how to pick up with our primitive technology. Cold, metallic tones ring out into the vast infinitum of space like God’s tinnitus from the big bang. This is quantum music for quantum people and I need an equation to fully describe it.

Leaving behind the cosmic analogies and metaphors, Space Music is more than just another genre work by Nurse With Wound. This album sits perfectly well alongside other “ambient” works in Stapleton’s repertoire like Soliloquy for Lilith and Salt Marie Celeste but just as there is no tangible link between those two albums, Space Music also sits out there on its own. I find both those older albums to be difficult listens in that I find them incredibly unnerving (although that is part of their appeal for me) yet in the case of Space Music I feel like the Star-Child from 2001: A Space Odyssey; the embryonic brine of the womb replaced with a calming, god-like light. The liner notes mention that subliminal effects are used throughout the album and I wonder if these have anything to do with its strangely calming ambience.

Listening to this, it makes me wonder why people point radio receivers at the heavens when such unearthly sounds are being generated on earth. Space Music is, along with Jack Dangers’ Music for Planetarium, almost unique in being cosmic music that truly sounds like it is from the gaps between the stars. All those years of tinkering have paid off and Space Music caps off both a productive year and decade in the ongoing adventures of Nurse With Wound. Perhaps the next ten years will bring us that hip hop album we always wanted.

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20 December 2009

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Albums and Singles

Celebrating 30 years of Nurse With Wound and inspired by Faust's 49p album, The Faust Tapes, categories strain, crack and sometimes break under their burden as Steven Stapleton and company step out of the space provided to create a best of compilation like no other. Featuring loads of familiar music but all in a totally new context this “party mix” is great fun; surprise juxtapositions of material and trying to identify the sources of the various sounds make for a nerdy but highly enjoyable hour of listening.

United Dirter

At only 99p (check your local currency), Paranoia in Hi-Fi is great value for money as long as you can find a shop that stocks it. Intended to encourage Internet shoppers to leave their laptops, venture out into the fresh air down and visit their local independent record store; things have not quite gone to plan with many shops having (or saying they are having) difficulties getting it in. Larger chain stores seem to have had more success stocking it which kind of undermines the sentiments behind this release. Although the appearance of Paranoia in Hi-Fi on auction sites for inflated prices is particularly distasteful; give some people an inch and they take a mile.

Paranoia in Hi-Fi is a good studio approximation of the Nurse With Wound live experience but here the focus is more on the fun side of the music than the intense experiences of the concert hall. Those familiar with Matt Waldron’s Possible Nurse Mix for Sun and Moon Ensemble should know what to expect; instantly recognizable bits of Nurse sounds re-arranged and massaged into a new piece by Stapleton and Andrew Liles. Stapleton’s entire back catalogue has been trawled to make Paranoia in Hi-Fi, taking in the obvious “greatest hits” like “Rock’n Roll Station,” “Two Mock Projections,” and “Salt Marie Celeste.” “Two Shaves and a Shine” makes an appearance but it is the awful disco remix from the 2006 reissue of An Awkward Pause. Yet as bad as that remix seemed plonked in between the other fantastic bonus tracks on that album, on Paranoia in Hi-Fi it works far better. I still do not particularly like it but it at least brought a smile to my face this time.

There is some new material peppered throughout the album but it is unclear whether these are going to be unique to Paranoia in Hi-Fi or are works in progress for forthcoming releases. Each new bit is tantalising in that they seem to be completely at odds with a lot of the recent NWW releases. There is some reference to the lounge feel of Huffin’ Rag Blues but there is also some great guitar bits including one that mutates the main riff from Black Sabbath’s eponymous song and transplants it into the body of a Max Ernst painting. Later what sounds like a strange marimba and bell combo play a disjointed rhythm as strange toy animals sounds groan in the foreground. If these are sneak previews for next year’s releases then it sounds like another good year for NWW fans.

As fun as Paranoia in Hi-Fi is, you get what you pay for. If this was a normally priced CD I would definitely be coming away more than a little disappointed (although not as disappointed as I was with the similarly minded but badly executed Great in the Small by Current 93). However, for 99p I am getting a lot more bang for my buck and the sentiments behind this release are genuine; Nurse With Wound was borne out of record stores as like-minded friends scoured the racks for oddities so it is nice to see them try and get people back into the shops to discover new things by chance instead of the dreary quotidian experience of online ordering (or worse, downloading). Stapleton and Liles’ plan worked for me as it took me three cities to track my copy down (despite the local store ordering it ages ago for me, still waiting on the order to come in) but I found a lot of cool little releases that I would have missed had I not been on the hunt.

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20 December 2009

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Albums and Singles

The latest from Leyland James Kirby is not only his best album to date, it's one of the best ambient albums I've heard in the past decade. It is both the culmination of Kirby's past efforts as The Stranger and The Caretaker and also his point of departure from those projects. Sadly, the Future Is No Longer What It Was takes everything I love about Kirby's previous work and infuses it with a greater diversity of ideas, moods, and colors.

History Always Favours the Winners

Musically, Sadly is pretty mind-blowing stuff. On the one hand, much of it is familiar in one way or another. We've heard Kirby playing with these sounds his entire career, whether he was goofing off or producing truly haunting audio. On the other hand, Sadly features honest-to-God songs and comes across as a total refinement of everything he has done in the past. What distinguishes this album from Kirby's past efforts isn't necessarily his technique, but his method. Everything on each of the three albums belongs to James. He played the piano and synthesizers the make up most of the record and he is, of course, repsonsible for all the digital effects, production, and editing. Only the artwork (which is superb, by the way) is the product of someone else's labor. By utilizing his own performances instead of relying on samples, Leyland James Kirby had the chance to express himself before chopping things up and processing them.

The result is undoubtedly his best record. In addition to producing bigger and more obvious melodies, James pulls finer textures and a better sense of continuity from his own performances than he ever has from someone else's. I also think that this change in method afforded James the chance to sound a little less dark and dense than he usually does. Sadly isn't necessarily a happy record, but there are points where it explodes with joy and optimism. He retains some of the haunting qualities I associate more with The Stranger or The Caretaker, but he balances those out with something from the happier side of existence. With the ability to create sounds where he needed them, James went all out and crafted his brightest and most enjoyable record to date, even with the dread and gloom that permeate its darker and more uncertain corners.

Waiting beneath the fuzz and drone of these songs is a conceptual scheme that Kirby has elaborated upon in various interviews. I've been wrestling with this album since before it was released, in part because it is such an ambitious and demanding recording, but also because James has put so much of himself and so many of his thoughts into the music. It is impossible to talk about these aspects of Sadly... without first mentioning just how massive an undertaking it is: three double-LPs of new music from the man responsible for V/Vm, The Stranger, and The Caretaker. But, I do not want to spend too much time dwelling on the album's self-indulgent qualities. I think they're obvious enough to everyone and, what's more, Mr. Kirby has tested such deep waters in the past. We are, after all, talking about the same person responsible for the 6-CD Theoretically Pure Anterograde Amnesia boxset. That project stretched its audience's memory and patience to Béla Tarr-ian limits with a never-ending parade of foggy melodies, distorted dream sounds, and fractured distortion. I've always thought it was designed to replicate the same amnesia for which it is named, so that no definite memories of the album could ever form. On Sadly, however, Leyland James Kirby wants his audience to remember.

Along with the album title, many of the songs refer to memory in a general way, and more than a few suggest that Kirby is interested in sharing his own personal memories and thoughts with everyone. Interviews bear this suggestion out, but memories aren't Sadly's only theme. Fear and hope are two more and so is uncertainty about the digital era and all that it has given us. In some ways, Sadly is the perfect album for 2009. All three records can be put on an MP3 player and listened to seamlessly, which is to say that Sadly is a perfect example of how digital media can come to our musical rescue. While there will never be a good replacement for handling a piece of wax, a project of this size and kind (i.e., ambient music) benefits from non-stop playback and lack of surface noise, something a record player will never be able to give us. At the same time, James has also chosen to release this project in the form of three double-LP albums. I think everyone can agree that setting an MP3 player to random and enjoying a few tunes on the way to work will never replace sitting in front of a record player, handling the sleeves, and reading the liner notes (not to mention the better audio quality home systems provide). When handling a record, rarely can it be mistaken for just another piece of music or another thoughtlessly acquired hour of sound.

So, with James' distrust and distaste for modern media made apparent in his interviews, it was odd to see a digital release available at all. But, Mr. Kirby is clearly confident about his work and what it means. Sadly's size and scope force the on-the-go MP3-loving train hopper (me) to slow down, listen carefully, and to treat the digital file like something more than a commodity. In a way, it wouldn't be going too far to call Sadly one of the first truly modern albums of the digital era. While casting a leery glance at the recent past, James also sets his sights firmly on what the future might bring. But, instead of dystopian chaos and emotionless, machine-like repetition, Kirby offers up something more hopeful and breath-taking. The soulless commoditization of music isn't the only possible outcome of the digital revolution; there are other more positive possibilities. Learning how to live with these new mediums is obviously something Kirby is mulling over. These are confusing times, he might say, but the world is what we make it.

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20 December 2009

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Albums and Singles

Richard Skelton has been quietly amassing a small but deeply devoted following for the last five years with a series of beautifully packaged self-released albums under a constantly changing series of guises (the best-known of which being A Broken Consort). With this, his second release for Type Records under his own name, he seems poised for much wider recognition as one of the most vital and singular artists in underground music. This is one of the most beautiful and essential albums that I’ve heard this year.

Type

Richard Skelton occupies an unusual stylistic niche somewhere between classical music and drone, as Landings seems to be largely the product of unspecified bowed instruments and a looping pedal. I suppose Marielle Jakobsons’ Darwinsbitch project is something of a kindred spirit, though Skelton’s work is meditative and profoundly melancholy, whereas Jakobsons’ Ore is intense and harrowing. However, they both conjure almost supernaturally powerful, haunting, and enigmatic aural monoliths from mere wood, steel, and horsehair. Both are lucky that the witchcraze is a distant memory.

For the most part, Landings is built around achingly beautiful and impossibly sad beds of strings. That is not especially novel on its own, but no one else that I’ve heard has done it in such a visceral and vibrant way. The magic lies in the details, such as the squirming, shuddering bow-work in “Noon River Woods.” These 12 songs are all superficially gentle and hypnotically repeating, but they invariably crackle with creaks, bow scrapes, harmonics, echoes, moans, chirping birds, and all sorts of other evocative elements that are tangental to the central themes. The songs themselves, while gorgeous, seem to be merely a foundation for the mesmerizing, shimmering nimbus around them.

The album has a very timeless and organic feeling to it, which is likely a direct consequence of Skelton’s unusual recording techniques. The bulk of the material included here was improvised live over a period of four years in various remote locations throughout Northern England: on hillsides, along streams and rivers, in deep forests, etc. Moors, however, seem to be a particular favorite haunt: the now sold-out version of the album released through Skelton’s Sustain-Release imprint included a book of his writings on the West Pennine Moors of Lancashire, a place that has been of considerable import and inspiration for Richard in the past. Thankfully, he is not entirely a process purist, as the raw beauty captured during those excursions is later sculpted and augmented with overdubbing. As a result, many of the pieces manage to sound simultaneously alive and flowing, yet deliberate and artfully layered (no easy feat). At times I think the production might be a little cleaner than it should be, but I suspect that may be a necessity for capturing every single little nuance, which is an essential element of Skelton’s work.

Landings definitely sounds like the sort of album that takes four years to make: there is nothing weak or half-conceived here. While it might be his best work yet, it is by no means a dramatic leap forward, as the few other albums that I’ve heard exhibit much of the same ineffable sadness and focused intensity. There are several obvious standout moments, such as the echoing and lurching divinity of “Undertow” or the spectral pulsing of “Voice of the Book,” but Landings is one of those albums where my favorite song is destined to be in a constant state of flux. This is a thoroughly complex, visionary, and unique work. (The CD and MP3 versions of Landings on Type will not be released until 1/19/10, but the limited edition double LP is out now (with a bonus disc that I have not heard yet).

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13 December 2009

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Albums and Singles

This reissue of their sixth album (not including those done with Brian Eno) is a most welcome sight. Often overlooked in favor of their '70s output (understandably considering how good those albums are), Curiosum remains a curiosity in the Cluster back catalogue. It is quite different to their earlier works, less serious sounding than previous albums. However, the variation of styles and approaches on this album means it comes across as more of a compilation than a fully fleshed out album. Yet, I argue that its disparate nature is part of its charm.

Bureau B

Curiosum kicks off with “Oh Odessa,” which harks back to the playful sounds of Zuckerzeit but it does not repeat what Cluser have already done on that album. “Oh Odessa” instead sounds like the theme tune to a children’s TV show about science: that mix of wonder and joy that gets lost as we grow older captured forever in synthesiser. “Proantipro” goes in a completely different direction to the rest of the album, sounding like a Throbbing Gristle outtake. The trembling menace and queasy electronic pulses create feelings of paranoia and unease, squelching and whirring background sounds filling out the atmosphere brilliantly.

Changing mood dramatically yet again, “Helle Melange” has the air of an old folk song but as imagined by the inhabitants of some future society where only the scantest records of the past remain. Elsewhere, the wonky rhythms of “Tristan in Der Bar” might be that future society’s pop music; its somewhat alien structure is quite unlike anything in Cluster’s back catalogue and represents a strand of music that they unfortunately never returned to. The same can be said of “Seltsame Gegend” which pre-empts the sound of Autechre by a good decade. As if the world needed more proof that Cluster were far ahead of their time, here’s another prime example.

Curiosum is not the best Cluster album by any means but the fact that it remains an obscurity rather than the peculiar brother to their classic albums is a crime. Granted some of the pieces may sound like unfinished sketches but there is so much charm permeating the music on this album that it is impossible to not fall in love with it. In addition, the fact that none of the pieces seem to fit together pays testament to the creativity of Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius. It always confused me as to how Cluster would remain inactive for so long after this album when the music here showed so much promise to redefine electronic music in the '80s like they had already done in the '70s. Curiosum now has the chance to be rediscovered and given its proper place along with Roedelius and Moebius’ other works.

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Page 401 of 852

Podcast Episodes 717-720 are live!

Ellen Allien, "Thrills"

2009 Readers Poll - The Results

Album of the Year:

Single/EP:

Vault/Reissue:

Music video:

Various Artist Compilation:

Boxed set:

Artist of the year:

Label of the year:

New artist of the year:

Lifetime Achievement Recognition:

Worst Album:

Leyland James Kirby, "Sadly, The Future Is No Longer What It Was"

Leyland James Kirby, "Sadly, The Future Is No Longer What It Was"

Vertonen, "We Had a Few Sprinkles Today, But Not Enough to Help Out in the Garden"

Githead, "Landing"

Nurse With Wound, "Space Music"

Nurse With Wound, "Paranoia in Hi-Fi"

Leyland James Kirby, "Sadly, the Future Is No Longer What It Was"

Richard Skelton, "Landings"

Cluster, "Curiosum"

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