04 January 2016

Administrator

Albums and Singles

Once again thanks to everybody who participated in the 18th Annual Brainwashed Readers Poll. It's an honor to be able to do this every year and we appreciate everyone who contributed to the nominations and voted.

All the best wishes for 2016.

Album of the Year

1. Carter Tutti Void, "f(x)" (Industrial)
   
   I liked this album, but it is an odd choice for album of the year.  Is everyone belatedly trying to make amends for not liking Transverse enough back in 2012?  - Anthony D'Amico
   
   Not the typical album of the year winner, however nobody could disagree that they enjoyed this album... a lot! Myself included. - Jon Whitney
   
   
2. Sunn O))), "Kannon" (Southern Lord)
   
   I think in many ways Sunn O))) became a victim of their own hype back when Monoliths & Dimensions came out, so people were quick to disregard this stripped down, back to their roots record.  The fact of the matter is Kannon is a much deeper record than it may seem on the surface, and with its excellent production, comes together as one of their strongest offerings overall. - Creaig Dunton
   
   This was such a massive regression.  I honestly don't know how anyone can love Kannon after hearing Monoliths & Dimensions.  I suppose I could probably convince myself that this is an expertly crafted plunge into an amorphous black void if I wanted to, but it mostly just sounds like a couple of guys in cloaks playing a bunch of interchangeable power chords for half an hour.  - Anthony D'Amico
   
   Regression isn't necessarily a bad thing. Kannon is the closest thing yet to the live sound of Sunn O))) (more so than any of their live albums) and felt like a return home after their excursions with Ulver and Scott Walker. - John Kealy
   
   Still wrestling with this one. I don't know that regression is the right word. Some other bands have stripped their sound back and won people over because they sounded "rawer" or "more focused." This is just one of the sounds Sunn O))) can make. Maybe not as florid as Soused or Monoliths and Dimensions, but then why would going backwards be any better than burrowing inwards? - Lucas Schleicher
   
   
3. Drew McDowall, "Collapse" (Dais)
   
   After years of various projects such as Screwtape and Captain Sons and Daughters, McDowall finally has presented the album everybody has been impatiently awaiting, and the results are well worth the wait. With the surfacing of a cassette-only release this year and numerous live dates, let's keep our fingers crossed with hope that the productivity continues to flourish. - Jon Whitney
   
   
4. Swans, "The Gate" (Young God)
   
   I look forward to these Swans live/demo albums almost as much as the "proper" studio albums. As great as the finished products are, hearing the group whittling the pieces down (or extending them to the stars) is a thrilling experience. There is a bittersweet feeling to this knowing that this iteration of Swans is coming to a close but I'm delighted that not only did I get to experience this work live but that there are such great documents of their live sound to cherish. - John Kealy
   
   
5. Benoit Pioulard, "Sonnet" (Kranky)
   
   This was the album that finally made me a Thomas Meluch fan in a big way (especially the last several songs).  Some of my happiest memories of the last year are of wandering around cities alone at night listening to this or one of the similarly fine Stanza albums.  - Anthony D'Amico
   
   
6. Christina Vantzou, "No. 3" (Kranky)
   
   A brilliant mix of the big and the small, the epic and the intimate.  Vantzou's melding of synthesizer textures and lush, orchestral arrangements blends together seamlessly into a powerful, yet delicate ambient record that stands out as extremely unique.  - Creaig Dunton
   
   I'm pleased and pleasantly surprised this scored this high with Brainwashed's readers, given the album has not received the wide-scale recognition it deserves. However, it is at the top of my personal list for albums of 2015. - Jon Whitney
   
   
7. William Basinski, "Cascade" (2062)
   
   I am delighted that so many other people preferred this to Deluge as well.  Both are great, but the loop here is truly so wonderful that Basinski didn't need to do anything else to it. I suspect that he released the more composed Deluge solely because he felt bad that it had been so effortless for him to make a perfect album.  - Anthony D'Amico
   
   
8. Thighpaulsandra, "The Golden Communion" (Editions Mego)
   
   This should be at number one and for me as it is the definitive album of the year. Considering it has been worked on for so long, it is amazing that it still sounds as forward-thinking and mind-bendingly current as it does. Like his earlier albums and EPs, there is so much going on here that it will keep me guessing and listening carefully for years. - John Kealy
   
   This record should come as no surprise to anyone following his solo career beginning with I, Thighpaulsandra. The album plays like a film composed of a variety of scenes depicting the various stages of the life of Mr. Lewis, all which take the form of songs which pay tribute to a number of his favorite genres while maintaining a solid forward momentum. It can be thick at times but it is very rewarding. - Jon Whitney
   
   Definitely the most ambitious record of the year.  - Anthony D'Amico
   
   
9. William Basinski, "The Deluge" (Temporary Residence)
10. Prurient, "Frozen Niagara Falls" (Profound Lore)
    
    Yeah, yeah, Tony D'Amico and I are probably the only Fernow apologists left, but I thought this was a well done, if bloated record.  It didn't rock my world by any means, but I enjoyed much of it. - Creaig Dunton
    
    I guess now is as good a time as any to ask for that reissue of Pleasure Ground. It's become an annual event. Never could get into Fernow's synth-pop-noise thing and this just seems like more of the same. - Lucas Schleicher
    
    
11. Wolf Eyes, "I Am A Problem: Mind in Pieces" (Third Man)
12. Beach House, "Depression Cherry" (Sub Pop)
13. Jim O'Rourke, "Simple Songs" (Drag City)
    
    I couldn’t wait for this album to come out, but was never able to fully warm to it when it finally did.  It sounds weirdly like a Jim O’Rourke album that was focus-grouped, then punched-up to have more mass appeal.  Too muscular and purposeful?  I don’t know.  Something is off.  The songs are good, but the magic is just not there.  - Anthony D’Amico
    
    I like about half of this record. The coldness of the whole thing, the pretense of "simple songs," the stylistic jumps, it all feels like an O'Rourke rock record with the subtext turned up to 11. Unfortunately, the pretense and jumpiness work against it too. Cut it in half and put a little space between the songs and most of the spottiness washes away. - Lucas Schleicher
    
    
14. Low, "Ones and Sixes" (Sub Pop)
    
    With every new Low album it feels like most people dismiss it as not being as good as their peak but no one can agree what their peak is. Like any of their albums in the past decade, Ones and Sixes initially feels lighter and less adventurous than the ones before but with every listen, I fall further and further under its spell. It's disarmingly beautiful and they continue to be one of my favorite bands. - John Kealy
    
    Another one where about half the record worked for me and the other half didn't. Low is one of my favorite bands though, so hearing the bits that don't work is just as interesting to me. Ones and Sixes opens with three gorgeous songs, then floats off aimlessly in an uncharacteristically uninteresting Mimi track (is "Congregation" her first meh production? I love the instrumentation but could do without the chorus). And then there's "No End," which sounds like it belongs on a new Low Christmas record. Things kind of go nutty from there, with a mish-mash of solid, familiar songs and weird, not quite polished experiments. Maybe that's why people didn't like this one as much as Trust or whatever they claim the best Low album is: the band is still screwing around with what they can do instead of getting complacent. And for the record, Mimi is still one of my favorite vocalists, whether she wrote "Congregation" or not. - Lucas Schleicher
    
    This is another slow builder from Low. I wasn't crazy about it at first but it keeps drawing me back. My only complaint is a technical one: with the resurgence of vinyl, can you please not force us to flip the record after only 3 songs? Jeebuz make the 4th side blank or something if the album's not long enough! - Jon Whitney
    
    
15. Chelsea Wolfe, "Abyss" (Sargent House)
16. Alva Noto, "Xerrox Vol. 3" (Raster-Noton)
17. Colin Stetson & Sarah Neufeld, "Never Were the Way She Was" (Constellation)
18. Disappears, "Irreal" (Kranky)
    
    Easily my favorite cover artwork of the year. - Jon Whitney
    
    Disappears are on a serious hot streak the last few years. -Anthony D'Amico
    
    
19. Godspeed You! Black Emperor, "Asunder, Sweet and Other" (Constellation)
    
    This material definitely worked better live but they don't slack in the studio either. It's not as immediate as Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend! or as deep as their classic albums but they still pack a punch. It would be great to hear them explore new grounds rather than just go for the anvil and hammer approach but I'll take what I get. - John Kealy
    
    I still haven't heard this one. I want to feel energized by a Godspeed record, but I can't make myself put this on over basically anything of theirs recorded before 2012. - Lucas Schleicher
    
    
20. Lightning Bolt, "Fantasy Empire" (Thrill Jockey)
21. Nurse With Wound/Graham Bowers, "Mutation ...The Lunatics Are Running The Asylum..." (Red Wharf)
    
    It was immensely sad to lose Graham Bowers this year to motor neuron disease. Mutation was a fitting finish to his career, uncompromising and utterly wonderful. His run of collaborations with Nurse With Wound are by far and away some of the most exciting music I have heard in recent years, giving me the same sense of surprise and joy that I got from the first time I heard many of my favourite artists. - John Kealy
    
    
22. Rafael Anton Irisarri, "A Fragile Geography" (Room40)
23. Wire, "Wire" (Pink Flag)
    
    Wire sans Bruce Gilbert is unlikely to reach the same highs they did for me in their original quartet line-up, but this self titled record edged closer to their peak moments than most of theirs have in recent years.  - Creaig Dunton
    
    
24. Alessandro Cortini, "Risveglio" (Hospital Productions)
25. Helm, "Olympic Mess" (Pan)
26. Sarah Davachi, "Barons Court" (Students of Decay)
    
    To label this a synth or drone album is an insult. Davachi has created an incredibly robust soundtrack full of textures and melodies by modern and classical instrumentation which move, breathe, and are full of life. - Jon Whitney
    
    
27. Robert A. A. Lowe & Ariel Kalma, "(We Know Each Other Somehow" (rvng intl.)
28. The Necks, "Vertigo" (ReR Megacorp/Northern Spy)
29. Boduf Songs, "Stench of Exist" (The Flenser)
    
    "Modern Orbita" and "My Continuing Battle with Material Reality" are easily two of the best songs that anyone released this year.  -Anthony D'Amico
    
    
30. Vainio & Vigroux, "Peau Froide, Leger Soliel" (Cosmo Rhythmatic)
31. Evan Caminiti, "Meridian" (Thrill Jockey)
32. Locrian, "Infinite Dissolution" (Relapse)
    
    Return to Annihilation was not an easy record to top, coming together at the time as the fullest realization of the trio's career to date, but this one ups the ante even more, a progressive suite of songs that conveys their influences but retains their own distinct identity. - Creaig Dunton
    
    
33. Natural Snow Buildings, "Terror's Horns" (Ba Da Bing!)
    
    This was quite a bold reinvention of Mehdi & Solange's aesthetic, resembling Alejandro Jodorowsky and Ennio Morricone collaborating on a Western soundtrack while besieged by a series of relentless, vibrant nightmares.  I loved it.  –Anthony D’Amico
    
    
34. Norman Westberg, "13" (Room40)
    
    Surprised 13 isn't higher on the list. Anyone who voted for William Basinski or Christina Vantzou (or Swans) would love this record. Granted, top 50 isn't exactly a poor turn out, but Norman's work is beautiful and unsettling and a nice step away from the sounds with which he is usually associated. - Lucas Schleicher
    
    
35. Stephen O'Malley, "Éternelle Idole" (Shelter Press)
36. The Legendary Pink Dots, "Five Days" (self-released)
37. Anna Von Hausswolff, "The Miraculous" (City Slang)
38. Ramleh, "Circular Time" (Crucial Blast)
    
    The return of "rock" Ramleh was an event I was extremely excited for, yet still held a bit of skepticism that they could truly capture that era almost two decades later.  Thankfully my cynicism was unnecessary, as Circular Time was a sprawling, yet gripping two hours of the blackened psychedelic sound that only they (and in a similar way, Skullflower) can do. - Creaig Dunton
    
    
39. Stephen O'Malley, "Gruidés" (DDS)
    
    This was much, much better than the Sunn O))) album.  -Anthony D'Amico
    
    
40. William Basinski + Richard Chartier, "Aurora Liminalis" (Line)
41. William Basinski + Richard Chartier, "Divertissement" (Important)
    
    Both of these records albums do an exceptional job at showcasing Basinski's ear for unconventional sonic beauty, with Chartier's nuanced, clinically precise electronics complementing brilliantly.  - Creaig Dunton
    
    
42. Container, "LP (3)" (Editions Mego)
    
    I love the punishing, no-frills single-mindedness of this project. -Anthony D'Amico
    
    
43. Daniel Menche and Mamiffer, "Crater" (Sige)
    
    Menche has turned down the loudness in recent years, but his well developed ear for natural field recordings shines through here, and with production and musical assistance by Faith Coloccia and Aaron Turner of Mamiffer, the results are exquisite. - Creaig Dunton
    
    
44. Esmerine, "Lost Voices" (Constellation)
45. Follakzoid, "III" (Sacred Bones)
46. Nils Frahm, "Solo" (Erased Tapes)
47. Philip Jeck, "Cardinal" (Touch)
48. Pye Corner Audio, "Prowler" (More Than Human)
49. 23 Skidoo, "Beyond Time" (Les Disques Du Crepuscule)
50. Alessandro Cortini, "Forse 3" (Important)
51. Four Tet, "Morning/Evening" (Text)
52. Hox, "Duke of York" (Editions Mego)
    
    Extending from his solo albums from last year, Graham Lewis again does his experimental, off-kilter electronic pop thing with Andreas Karperyd with amazing results.  Few people can put together such unconventional and bizarre noises, yet make them catchy, earworm laden songs, and for that Lewis deserves eternal respect.  - Creaig Dunton
    
    
53. John Carpenter, "Lost Themes" (Sacred Bones)
54. Land, "Anoxia" (Important)
    
    This was such a radical and unexpected evolution from Night Within.  I love viscerally pummeling surprises.  This should have placed much higher.  –Anthony D’Amico 
    
    This is in my top list of albums of the year. It's an magnificent record. - Jon Whitney
    
    
55. Oren Ambarchi, "Live Knots" (Pan)
56. Tom Carter, "Long Time Underground" (Three Lobed Recordings)
57. A Place To Bury Strangers, "Transfixiation" (Dead Oceans)
    
    "Supermaster" and "Now It's Over" are seriously bad-ass songs. -Anthony D'Amico
    
    
58. Beach House, "Thank Your Lucky Stars" (Sub Pop)
59. Bill Fay, "Who Is The Sender?" (Dead Oceans)
60. Death & Vanilla, "To Where the Wild Things Are" (Fire)
61. Flying Saucer Attack, "Instrumentals 2015" (Drag City)
62. Helen, "The Original Faces" (Kranky)
    
    Derivative as hell in all the right ways. -Anthony D'Amico
    
    
63. Julia Kent, "Asperities" (Leaf)
64. King Midas Sound/Fennesz, "Edition 1" (Ninja Tune)
65. Laura Cannell, "Beneath Swooping Talons" (Front & Follow)
66. Matana Roberts, "Coin Coin Chapter Three: River Run Thee" (Constellation)
67. Sufjan Stevens, "Carrie & Lowell" (Asthmatic Kitty)
68. The Inward Circles, "Belated Movements for an Unsanctioned Exhumation August 1st 1984" (Corbel Stone Press)
69. Ekoplekz, "Reflekzionz" (Planet Mu)
    
    There's scarcely any room left in electronic music nowadays for a record like this, save of course for those who were around and integral to IDM's glory days. Yet here Ekoplekz managed to nudge forward a once forward-thinking sound that had otherwise grown ironically stagnant. Sometimes a nudge is all it takes. - Gary Suarez
    
    
70. Julia Holter, "Have You in My Wilderness" (Domino)
71. Oren Ambarchi/Jim O'Rourke, "Behold" (Editions Mego)
72. Panda Bear, "Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper" (Domino)
73. Shit and Shine, "54 Synth-Brass, 38 Metal Guitar, 65 Cathedral" (Rocket Recordings)
74. Steve Hauschildt, "Where All Is Fled" (Kranky)
75. The Body & Thou, "You, Whom I Have Always Hated" (Thrill Jockey)
76. The Legendary Pink Dots, "Five Days Instrumentals" (self-released)
    
    This is here on name-recognition alone.  You guys should feel deeply ashamed of yourselves for liking inessential LPD outtakes so goddamn much.  This is why democracy does not work.  - Anthony D'Amico
    
    
77. Viet Cong, "Viet Cong" (Jagjaguwar)
    
    Concern trolling and armchair outrage over the name aside, the main thing I took from this record was how a bit of controversy can still trick people into liking middling indie rock. - Gary Suarez
    
    
78. Andrew Liles, "Cover Girls" (Dirter Promotions)
79. Blanck Mass, "Dumb Flesh" (Sacred Bones)
80. Consumer Electronics, "Dollhouse Songs" (Harbinger)
    
    As a grizzled fan of the old confrontational days of Whitehouse, it's a relief that Phil Best continues William Bennett's nasty work in his absence. Admittedly, this isn't quite as strong as some prior Consumer Electronics releases, it does the job nobody else cares to do nowadays. - Gary Suarez
    
    
81. Felicia Atkinson, "A Readymade Ceremony" (Shelter Press)
82. In Gowan Ring, "The Serpent and the Dove" (Les Disques du 7eme Ciel)
83. Jenny Hval, "Apocalypse, Girl" (Sacred Bones)
84. Ken Camden, "Dream Memory" (Kranky)
85. Mike Cooper, "Fratello Mare" (Room40)
86. Perils, "s/t" (Desire Path)
87. Pinkcourtesyphone, "Sentimental Something" (Important)
    
    Richard Chartier has been more active on this side project than the work under his own name, and likely because of that Pinkcourtesyphone's sound has evolved rather quickly.  No one else does a sonic Valium and wine cocktail with the same gripping ennui as he can. - Creaig Dunton
    
    
88. Wrekmeister Harmonies, "Night of Your Ascension" (Thrill Jockey)
    
    I can always rely on J.R. Robinson to compose fascinating, macabre, thoughtful, complex, and ambitious albums, but it is starting to seem like it is also always a variation of the same thing.  This the least of his three Thrill Jockey releases.  -Anthony D'Amico
    
    
89. *AR, "Memorious Earth" (Corbel Stone Press)
    
    This is a goddamn masterpiece that absolutely belongs in the top ten.  -Anthony D'Amico
    
    
90. Anthony Child, "Electronic Recordings From Maui Jungle Vol 1" (Editions Mego)
91. Celer, "How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Loved You When You Know I've Been A Liar All My Life" (Two Acorns)
92. Christopher Bissonnette, "Pitch, Paper & Foil" (Kranky)
93. Fossil Aerosol Mining Project, "The Day 1982 Contaminated 1971" (Helen Scarsdale)
94. Johann Johannsson with Hildur Gudnadottir & Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe, "End of Summer" (Sonic Pieces)
95. Kid606, "Recollected Ambient Works Vol. 1: Bored Of Excitement" (Tigerbeat6)
96. Robert Haigh, "The Silence Of Ghosts" (Siren)
    
    Stunning as always. - Jon Whitney
    
    
97. Shit and Shine, "Everybody's a Fuckin' Expert" (Editions Mego)
98. Six Organs of Admittance, "Hexadic" (Drag City)
    
    I pre-ordered this one based on the merits of the prior Six Organs album from 2012, which took the band into groovy psych rock. This one was rougher around the edges, and not quite as enjoyable. - Gary Suarez
    
    I definitely prefer older Six Organs albums as well, but Hexadic was still quite a cool experiment.  It was a delight to hear Chasny totally ripping it up on "Wax Chance." -Anthony D'Amico
    
    
99. Strategy, "Noise Tape Self" (Further)
100. Valet, "Nature" (Kranky)
     
     One of the best albums on this list turns up at the bottom. I was totally blown away by Nature, in part because I assumed Valet was done for and in part because I had no idea they would sound like this if they ever decided to record again. This one got play all year long, pretty much any time I wanted to hear a good song and was sick of playing the United Bible Studies or Low albums. The Miracles Club was a fun excursion, but I sure would be happy if Valet just kept working at what they do, whether it's psychedelic or sunny or shoegazy or whatever strikes their fancy next. - Lucas Schleicher
     
     I don't have anything to say about Valet, but I would like to note that we have reached the end of the list and Heather Leigh and Jasmine Guffond are not on it.  That makes me want to scream.  -Anthony D'Amico
     
     

Single of the Year

1. Tropic Of Cancer, "Stop Suffering" (Blackest Ever Black)
2. Loop, "Array 1" (ATP)
   
   Loop in 2015 sounded exactly like I hoped they would.  Even though Robert Hampson amassed a new band, they came together on these four songs in a way that is remarkably consistent with where they left off with A Gilded Eternity.  - Creaig Dunton
   
   
3. *AR, "Diagrams for the Summoning of Wolves" (Corbel Stone Press)
   
   A solid, but unexceptional addition to Richard Skelton's oft-brilliant oeuvre.  I'd like it a lot more if it at least summoned wolves.  -Anthony D'Amico
   
   
4. Demdike Stare, "Testpressing #007" (Modern Love)
5. ANOHNI (fka Antony Hegarty), "4 Degrees" (Secretly Canadian)
   
   Recalling ANOHNI's early connections with apocalypse folkster David Tibet, this global warming culture jam fuses the personal with the political in a rather jarring way. Much of that has to do with the bombastic maximalism of its producers Oneohtrix Point Never and Hudson Mohawke, though the lyrics are distressing and bold. I've got it on repeat. - Gary Suarez
   
   
6. Loscil, "For Greta" (self-released)
   
   Loscil does no wrong. Ever. - Lucas Schleicher
   
   
7. Meat Beat Manifesto, "Kasm02" (Skam)
   
   Not nearly enough fuss was made over Jack Dangers' return to the dancefloor. Even less fanfare went to Skam itself, for putting out several very interesting records in 2015 and starting the Kasm series. - Gary Suarez
   
   
8. The Legendary Pink Dots, "Christmas Special 2015" (self-released)
9. Pye Corner Audio, "Stars Shine Like Eyes" (Death Waltz Originals)
10. Aphex Twin, "Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments pt2" (Warp) 
    
    When Syro dropped in 2014 my biggest gripe with it was its reliance on old rave notions and dated dance forms. This one somehow made me miss Syro. - Gary Suarez
    
    
11. Ulaan Passerine, "Light in Dust" (Worstward)
    
    Steven R. Smith also does no wrong. I listened to a ton of his music this year thanks to the Worstward Bandcamp site and was blown away by how consistent he's always been (I sort of half-knew this based on the albums of his I already had, but now I can confirm it with even more more material). I managed to snag a copy of Salt just before the year ended, but somehow missed Light in Dust. Looks like I will have to correct that immediately. - Lucas Schleicher
    
    
12. Edward Ka-Spel, "The Space Station Chapel" (self-released)
13. Boduf Songs, "The Witch Cradle" (The Flenser)
14. Emptyset, "Signal" (Subtext)
15. Errorsmith & Mark Fell, "Protogravity" (Pan)
16. Colder, "Turn Your Back" (Bataille)
    
    Colder's return is a lot more subtle than where Marc left off. I was hoping for something a bit more bombastic but I was still quite pleased. - Jon Whitney
    
    
17. The Inward Circles, "I Have Heard a Music and It Is Delirious" (Corbel Stone Press)
18. Youth Code, "Anagnorisis" (Dais)
19. Black Zone Myth Chant, "Mane Thecel Phares" (Editions Gravats)
20. Father Murphy, "Lamentations" (Backwards)
21. Amnesia Scanner, "Angels Rig Hook" (Gum Artefacts)
22. Benoit Pioulard, "Noyaux" (Morr)
23. Broken English Club, "Scars" (Cititrax)
24. Cavern of Anti-Matter, "Other Voices 06" (Ghost Box)
25. Jane Weaver / Suzanne Ciani / Andy Votel / Sean Canty, "Neotantrik Globes" (Self-Released)
26. Josh Mason, "Alone in the Kingdom" (Sunshine Ltd.)
27. Laetitia Sadier, "Dry Fruit" (Drag City)
    
    This one packed so much into its engrossing two minutes. May it keep Stereolab fans content for at least twice as long. - Gary Suarez
    
    
28. Laurel Halo, "In Situ" (Honest Jon's Records)
29. Personable, "New Lines" (Peak Oii)
30. Pye Corner Audio, "Other Voices 05" (Ghost Box)

Vault/Reissue of the Year

1. Carter Tutti, "Plays Chris & Cosey" (Conspiracy International)
2. Nurse With Wound, "The Sylvie and Babs Hi-Fi Companion (with bonus bits)" (United Dirter)
   
   Long overdue, it is disappointing that this didn't get the vinyl treatment but it was great to get the second disc of extra material even if most of it is available elsewhere. - John Kealy
   
   
3. Ride, "Nowhere (25th Anniversary edition)" (Ride Music)
4. Bourbonese Qualk, "Bourbonese Qualk 1983-1987" (Mannequin)
   
   This launched me on an epic Bourbonese Qualk bender this year and for that I am thankful.  Most of their best work came after the period that this compilation covers, but this is certainly an enjoyable overview. -Anthony D'Amico
   
   
5. Severed Heads, "City Slab Horror" (Medical Records)
   
   Medical Records absolutely killed it this year with reissues.  I am amazed that Laika and Bal Paré are absent from this list. -Anthony D'Amico
   
   
6. Steven Stapleton & Christoph Heemann, "Painting with Priests" (Robot)
   
   Understated and cavernous, just as I expected it would be. Not the highlight of either artist's career but a satisfying meeting of minds. - John Kealy
   
   
7. William S. Burroughs, "Nothing Here Now But the Recordings" (Dais)
   
   One of the highlights of 2015 was my trip to Lawrence, Kansas, where I made it a point to see William S. Burroughs' house. It sits on a quaintly pretty albeit unremarkable street and it doesn't look like the sort of place befitting the man who conjured up Interzone and its shady subhuman denizens. But the experience sent me back into the various audio reissues of his work, including these mesmeric tape experiments. - Gary Suarez
   
   
8. Aine O'Dwyer, "Music for Church Cleaners Vol. I & II" (MIE Music)
   
   I had no idea who Aine O'Dwyer was before October, but now I can't get enough of her music. Music for Church Cleaners is superb and her performances on The Ale's What Cures Ye are also beautiful. She's someone I'll be anxious to hear more from in 2016. - Lucas Schleicher
   
   This is currently #1 on my personal "Albums That I Stupidly Slept On and Need to Get Immediately" list. -Anthony D'Amico
   
   
9. Etant Donnes, "Aurore" (Penultimate Press)
10. Rose McDowall, "Cut With The Cake Knife" (Sacred Bones)
    
    There's something amazing in the purity of these recordings. It's probably for the better these songs weren't recorded with a bloated synth production and have remained untouched. - Jon Whitney
    
    
11. Muslimgauze, "Izlamaphobia" (Staalplaat)
    
    One of the few truly essential Muslimgauze releases. -Anthony D'Amico
    
    
12. Nature And Organisation, "Snow Leopard Messiah" (Trisol)
    
    I miss Michael Cashmore.  That guy really needs to start making albums again.- Anthony D'Amico
    
    
13. Severed Heads, "Since The Accident" (Medical Records)
14. Giancarlo Toniutti, "La mutazione" (Black Truffle)
15. Vatican Shadow, "Death Is Unity With God" (Modern Love)
    
    My opinion of Frozen Niagara Falls pretty much applies here too.  There were moments where Fernow regressed nicely back to the rawer elements that he began with as Vatican Shadow as opposed to the overly techno Garageband loops, but at around three hours it definitely dragged at times. - Creaig Dunton
    
    I bet I'd like this if I someday heard it, but I could never make it past that first 25-minute song.  I've tried several times and it seems highly unlikely that I will ever succeed. - Anthony D'Amico
    
    
16. Arthur Russell, "Corn" (Audika)
    
    Although I had expected more out of this release, I accept that the best parts of the original scrapped Corn album made up Calling Out of Context. Perhaps the title is a misnomer. - Jon Whitney
    
    "Keeping Up" is great.  I could easily do without the rest though.  -Anthony D'Amico 
    
    
17. Peter Christophersson, "Live at L' Etrange Festival 2004: The Art of Mirrors (Homage to Derek Jarman)" (Black Mass Rising)
    
    This live recording bridges the gaps between Sleazy's work in Coil (as evidenced by the use of the same source material in some sections) and where he would go later with The Threshold HouseBoys Choir and SoiSong. It's more interesting than a lot of his post-Balance Coil releases even if it lacks the stylistic experimentation of his subsequent work. - John Kealy
    
    
18. Tom Ellard, "80s Cheesecake" (Dark Entries)
19. Current 93, "This Ain't the Summer of Love" (The Spheres)
20. Regis, "Manbait" (Blackest Ever Black)
21. Six Organs of Admittance, "Dust and Chimes" (Holy Mountain)
22. Egisto Macchi, "Il Deserto" (Cinedelic)
23. Muslimgauze, "Zilver/Feel The Hiss" (Staalplaat)
    
    I liked this album a lot, but I am dismayed that I have to start paying attention to Muslimgauze vault releases again.  I was enjoying the blissful indifference of thinking that there was no longer anything particularly good lying around unreleased in Bryn Jones' back catalog.  -Anthony D'Amico
    
    
24. Renaldo & The Loaf, "Arabic Yodelling / Grain by Grain (For Accuracy)" (Klanggalerie)
25. The Legendary Pink Dots, "The Wednesday Mass" (self-released)

Various Artist Collection of the Year

1. "In a Moment... Ghost Box" (Ghost Box)
2. "My Heart's In My Hand, And My Hand Is Pierced, And My Hand's In The Bag, And The Bag Is Shut, And My Heart Is Caught." (Nero Collins)
3. "Bollywood Bloodbath: The B-Music of the Indian Horror Film Industry" (Finders Keepers)
4. "Cease and Desist: DIY Cult Classics From the Post-Punk Era 1978-82" (Optimo)
   
   Optimo did some truly stellar digging for this compilation, finding lots of wonderful and deep obscurities that are probably familiar to absolutely no one.  Tesco Bomber's "Break the Ice at Parties" is my new anthem. -Anthony D'Amico
   
   
5. "Wandering II Compilation" (Silent Season)
6. "Strategies Against The Body: A Contemporary Survey" (DKA)
   
   Other than current EBM darlings High-Functioning Flesh, many of the artists on this compilation have a relatively low profile, yet any one of them have the potential to be the next big thing.  The DKA label has done an exceptional job in their small catalog with curating amazing work from current industrial and synth pop artists, and this is yet another testament to that. - Creaig Dunton
   
   
7. "Hanoi Masters: War is a Wound, Peace is a Scar" (Glitterbeat)
8. "Songs of the Humpback Whale" (Important)
9. "Calendar Customs Vol. III: Mid-Winter Rites and Revelries" (Folklore Tapes)
10. "La Musique Dans Le Film D'Alain Resnais" (Doxy Cinematic)
11. "The Strange Colour of Your Body's Tears Re-Score" (Death Waltz Originals)
12. "This Record Belongs To ________" (Light in the Attic)
    
    How is this NOT #1? It came with a record player! - Jon Whitney
    
    
13. "Calendar Customs Vol. II: Merry May" (Folklore Tapes)
14. "Remembering Mountains: Unheard Songs by Karen Dalton" (Thompkins Square)
15. "Total 15" (Kompakt)
16. "Ork Records: The Complete Singles" (Numero Group)
17. "Coxsone's Music: The First Recordings Of Sir Coxsone The Downbeat 1960-62" (Soul Jazz)
18. "Music Of Tanzania" (Sublime Frequencies)
19. "Punk 45: Burn Rubber City Burn! Akron, Ohio : Punk And The Decline Of The Mid West 1975 - 80" (Soul Jazz)
20. "Punk 45: Extermination Nights In The Sixth City! Cleveland, Ohio : Punk And The Decline Of The Mid West 1975 - 82" (Soul Jazz)
21. "Thai Pop Spectacular (1960s - 1980s)" (Sublime Frequencies)
22. "Nostra signora delle tenebre" (Backwards)
23. "Cumbias Chichadélicas: Peruvian Psychedelic Chicha" (Pharaway Sounds)
24. "Disco 2 (A Further Fine Selection Of Independent Disco, Modern Soul & Boogie 1976-80)" (Soul Jazz)
25. "Radio Vietnam" (Sublime Frequencies)

Boxed Set of the Year

1. Swans, "White Light/Love of Life" (Young God)
   
   These two records have held an odd place in Swans' discography ever since their release, yet some twenty-plus years later, a major portion of the sound Michael Gira and crew have been working with in recent years can be heard here in its embryonic form.  While the bonus disc may be lacking for the longer-term Swans fan, having these two albums in their original forms after all these years is what's most important. - Creaig Dunton
   
   Even if I already own most of the music included in this set, this reissue was worth it alone for restoring the magnificent cover art by Deryk Thomas to its former glory. - John Kealy
   
   More bunnies! Seriously, guys, couldn't you have just included Omniscience as a bonus with all that bunny artwork and left the Skin stuff to the Skin albums? - Jon Whitney
   
   
2. Harmonia, "Complete Works" (Grönland)
3. Nurse With Wound/Blind Cave Salamander, "Cabbalism I, II, & III" (ICR)
   
   This has been one of my favourite NWW-related releases ever, so to see a 3CD expansion of it so soon after its initial release is fantastic. While the material on all three discs covers very similar ground, instead of becoming tedious it becomes even more immersive. - John Kealy
   
   
4. Volcano the Bear, "Commencing" (Miasmah)
   
   A massive set, meticulously assembled, lovingly packaged. This is truly what boxed set dreams are made of. - Jon Whitney
   
   This totally made me a Volcano The Bear fan.  The perfect summation of a singularly prickly, unhinged, brilliant, and uncategorizable band.  -Anthony D'Amico
   
   
5. Eleh, "Homage" (Important)
6. Goblin, "Profondo Russo/Deep Red Original Soundtrack" (Rustblade)
7. Red House Painters, "Red House Painters" (4AD)
   
   I did not buy this because I already have all of these albums and have been playing them to death for roughly twenty years now. -Anthony D'Amico
   
   
8. Lush, "Chorus" (4AD)
   
   The major criticism of this set is one that I echo, namely that the sizable bonus material appended to the band's three albums and two compilations seems to have been haphazardly applied simply to maximize the amount of material per disc, making for awkward listening.  However, the improved mastering and aforementioned additional songs outshine this limitation by far. - Creaig Dunton
   
   
9. Surgeon, "Tresor 97-99" (Tresor)
   
   I owned most of this material back when Tresor was still a prevailing techno imprint alongside Force Inc. and a few others of note. It's great to see these records get reissue treatment given how influential Surgeon turned out to be. - Gary Suarez
   
   
10. The Necks, "Necks Box" (ReR Megacorp)
11. Unwound, "Empire" (Numero Group)
12. Mogwai, "Central Belters" (Rock Action)
13. Richard Youngs, "No Fans Compendium" (VHF)
14. Dungen, "Ta Det Lugnt" (Subliminal Sounds)
15. Half Japanese, "Volume Three: 1990-1995" (Fire Records)

Artist of the Year

1. Nurse With Wound  
   
   With few exceptions, this could be the exact same list as we had 15 years ago, in more or less the same order. It's actually pretty distressing that this list fixates primarily on artists with decades of experience under their belts. Have Brainwashed reader tastes stagnated, or are younger artists not delivering what these geezers did? I suspect the former. - Gary Suarez
   
   I suspect there will eventually be a year where Steven Stapleton does not release anything new at all and still manages to win this category from the comfort of his couch. - Anthony D'Amico
   
   There are so many artists who could and probably should be here instead. I doubt it's worth getting into, and yes, Steven Stapleton makes some cool music, but I suspect people's tastes freeze after a time and they just vote for what's familiar. Greg Stuart had just an unbelievable year in 2015, as did Joseph Clayton Mills, Jason Lescalleet, Kevin Drumm, Steven R. Smith, Ryoko Akama, Michael Pisaro, Coppice, Graham Lambkin, Olivia Block... the list goes on. Now I'm just a cranky old man I guess, but how did these names not pop up at all? - Lucas Schleicher
   
   To answer your question, it's just a matter of numbers and points awarded by the amount of reader votes. - Jon Whitney
   
   
2. Swans
   
   Ditto for Michael Gira, obviously.  -Anthony D'Amico
   
   
3. Carter Tutti
4. William Basinski
5. The Legendary Pink Dots
6. Benoit Pioulard
7. Sunn O)))
8. Drew McDowall
9. Severed Heads
   
   I suspect that Tom Ellard would be hugely amused to learn that he was one of the hottest artists of 2015. - Anthony D'Amico
   
   
10. Current 93

Label of the Year

1. Important
   
   And to think the massive Harry Bertoia box didn't even surface in 2015 yet. - Jon Whitney
   
   
2. Kranky
3. Editions Mego
   
   Incredibly, Mego's endurance as an experimental imprint transcends its pre-2006 incarnation, with a new generation of avant garde types both listening to and recording for it. Chalk that up to great partnerships and a willingness to explore a wide range of innovative sonics. - Gary Suarez
   
   
4. Young God
5. Room40
6. Sacred Bones
7. Dais
   
   I am hugely impressed with number of fringe niches that Dais manage to find crucial releases in.  The Burroughs and Drew McDowall albums by themselves would make this a great year, but there are at least four other albums that I still need to check out.  -Anthony D'Amico
   
   
8. Thrill Jockey
   
   This was a banner year for Thrill Jockey. Dommengang, Golden Void, Dave Heumann, Holy Sons, and Wreckmeister Harmonies released some of the best albums of 2015. That Gagakiriseye record was aces too. - Gary Suarez
   
   
9. Drag City
10. Pan
    
    Pan is probably the label that best succeeds in making me feel uncool, as roughly half of everything Bill Kouligas puts out is both well worth hearing and totally new to me. -Anthony D'Amico

New Artist of the Year

Sarah Davachi

Despite being under 30, Vancouver's Sarah Davachi has the musical pedigree of someone twice her age, as she has a master's degree in electronic music from the famed Mills College, a history of residencies all over the world, and a successful career as an archivist and music researcher.  Of course, none of that would matter much if her music was not good, but Davachi's full-length debut on Students of Decay expertly and assuredly blends her love of vintage modular synthesizers with a host of organic instruments (cello, harmonium, oboe, etc.) to forge something quite timeless and distinctive. - Anthony D'Amico

In the span of only a limited amount of recordings, she has created a distinct identity. Threading the organic with the synthetic isn't revolutionary, however Davachi's academic discipline and achievements in composition and sound creation is apparent. This is the high quality stuff. Both of this year's releases are dedicated and focused but they are also vibrant and thematic. She has managed to make serious music enjoyable. - Jon Whitney

Lifetime Achievement Recognition

Chris Carter & Cosey Fanni Tutti

They have already got a (virtual) gong from their service to music with Throbbing Gristle but they truly deserve recognition separately from their early work. Either together as Chris & Cosey/Carter Tutti or solo, they continue to create new soundworlds and new experiences for listeners. Re-visiting their older material could have been the sign that they were through with new ideas but the end result proved otherwise as they persist in challenging conventions. - John Kealy

33 Chris & Cosey albums + 16 CTI albums + 6 Carter Tutti albums (without counting singles, collaborations, collections, live albums, solo records, etc) = a massive contribution to music (even without including TG!). For four decades, the duo has not taken a break from recording and performing, all the while evolving, destroying expectations and establishments, and transcending trends gracefully. 2015 was another active year for the duo with multiple releases and live shows, and with the re-invention of Industrial Records, there is no sign of slowing down yet.  - Jon Whitney

Chris & Cosey started out as pioneers and ended up as living legends. That they're still making gripping new music sets them apart from all the new wave goons still riding the '80s wave on the retro circuit. Fortunately the majority of their discography is currently available digitally, which means there's no excuse for anyone to overlook their catalog at this stage. - Gary Suarez

Worst Album of the Year

1. Slayer, "Repentless" (Nuclear Blast)
   
   Say what you will, but no one is more fiercely loyal to Dave Lombardo and the late Jeff Hanneman than the Brainwashed electorate. – Anthony D’Amico
   
   
2. Arca, "Mutant" (Mute)
   
   Dear Arca, please go back to making albums with FKA Twigs. God, I love that album so much and there was nothing in 2015 that even came close to hitting those notes. - Lucas Schleicher
   
   
3. Father John Misty, "I Love You Honeybear" (Sub Pop)
   
   Not Liking Father John Misty is the new Liking Father John Misty. - Gary Suarez
   
   Was there an "Oh oh oh, oh oh oh" chorus on this one too? - Lucas Schleicher
   
   
4. Future Brown, "Future Brown" (Warp)
5. Hot Chip, "Why Make Sense?" (Domino)
   
   I keep trying to like an album of theirs from start to finish and I can't. There's always 1 great song surrounded by tons of forgettable filler. - Jon Whitney
   
   
6. Purity Ring, "another eternity" (4AD)
7. Sleater-Kinney, "No Cities to Love" (Sub Pop)
8. Hudson Mohawke, "Lantern" (Warp)
   
   I fiercely disagree with those whose snobbery and inability to enjoy themselves landed this highly entertaining record on this list. The only people who should have found Lantern polarizing are rap fans expecting more Kanye West and Pusha T bangers. - Gary Suarez
   
   
9. Jam City, "Dream A Garden" (Night Slugs)
10. James Blackshaw, "Summoning Suns" (Important)
    
    Wow-I never expected to see James Blackshaw on this list.  This album was a bit of a mess, but I still think the good songs outweighed the bad.  – Anthony D’Amico
    
    Thanks. I will always remember this as the year that James Blackshaw ended up in the "worst" bucket, but somehow Fernow and Beach House broke the top 20. I am officially as out of touch as I have ever been. - Lucas Schleicher

24 December 2015

Administrator

Albums and Singles

New single by Nad Spiro :

“ORGASM FORMULA “(according to Wilhelm Reich)

21 December 2015

Administrator

Albums and Singles

The culmination of two years of work and employing synthesizers, other electronics, and a 15 piece classical ensemble; N°3 is an ambitious and expansive work that is completely congruent with Vantzou’s aspirations. Lush and complex, the bulk of these pieces lie between epic drama and quiet intimacy, but are never anything but beautiful and compelling.

Kranky

Throughout much of N°3, Vantzou employs a hybrid of both classical and electronic elements blended together into gliding, rich tones.Occasionally, some of the specific instrumentation comes to the forefront, most notably the bowed strings of a cello and the twinkling notes of a piano (or synthetically derived equivalent), but for the most part neither dominate the mix but instead are weaved together by Vantzou into a glistening tapestry of sound and tones.

On pieces such as the opening "Valley Drone" and "Entanglements," she places the orchestral elements more significantly in the spotlight.On the former, the bowed strings are utilized to create both gentle drones and dissonant, rattling and doomy passages of sound, intertwined with one another.The lighter ambient space that is generated by the electronics is contrasted by the infrequent but effective heavy drum thuds, resulting in an odd yet exceptionally strong balance.

The back-to-back sequenced "Moon Drone" and "Shadow Sun" both complement each other, unsurprising given their thematically linked titles.On both she places emphasis on piano sounds, combined with lush and gorgeous electronics.The former has an appropriately darker, colder quality to its structure, with electronics echoing from a dark cavern, while the latter has a more open, airy mix and glassy, music box like notes resonating outward.

Most of N°3 is consistent with Vantzou's previous compositional strategy of working from largely improvised and unstructured material, creating beautiful order from what could otherwise be chaos.The three "Pillar" pieces, however, mark a new development in which she composes based on more rigid, mathematically based structures.Even with the more specific structural underpinning, the songs fit in brilliantly with the remainder of the album.That is not to say they are indistinguishable from the other songs, exemplified by the mysterious, varied textures throughout "Pillar 3," and the more commanding, creaky strings-heavy "Pillar 1."

The aforementioned "Entanglements" is mostly defined by the layered electronic drones and strings, but moments of digital flute accompaniment come dangerously close to the Windham Hill new age bargain bin clichés (I blame it on a Yamaha DX7).Not quite as blatant are the 1970s sci fi modular synthesizer twitters and bleeps that appear on "Laurie Spiegel" and "Robert Earl," but those bits of electronic noodling simply stand out too blatantly compared to the rest of the compositions.

These moments are very much isolated incidents amongst the 14 compositions that make up N°3.On the whole, it is a beautiful record that draws from orchestral and electronic worlds and features Christina Vantzou adeptly borrowing from these differing sounds and threading them together seamlessly.This is such a multifaceted record, one that features such beautiful natural and treated instrumentation to excellent effect, and despite a few odd moments, one that does not drags during its 71 minute duration.

samples:

• Valley Drone
• Entanglements
• Pillar 1

 

14 December 2015

Administrator

Albums and Singles

After seeing it performed by Phillip Bush, Greg Stuart, and Joe Panzner at the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater in downtown Los Angeles, the complexity in Michael Pisaro’s A Mist Is a Collection of Points cracked open. Scored for piano, percussion, and sine tones, the recorded version of A Mist presents itself transparently as a three-part composition with clear melodies and sharp edges. The piano is prominent, the sine tones thin and exact, the cymbals and crotales metallic, concentrated, centered. Their sounds are, in some ways, measured and containable, the opposite of a mist, which slips past the senses and confuses them. But watching Greg Stuart bow his crotales in the first section, seeing him react to Phillip Bush’s playing in the third, and searching for the places where the sine tones began and the acoustic resonance ended—that displaced and de-centered the entire piece. It turned its apparently fixed points into movable objects and transformed the music into a suspension of atoms and waves, detectable, though masked, in the superbly recorded and mastered document released by New World Records.

New World Records

Attendance of a live performance isn’t a prerequisite for enjoying A Mist, but visualizing it doesn’t hurt. The November 18th Los Angeles debut looked like this: Phillip Bush sat stage right and away from the audience, his grand piano open for inside manipulation. At stage left was a vibraphone, also set back from the audience. Front and center were four cymbals placed on the ground atop newspapers, a set of crotales, one of which hung from a string, and a pair of music stands laid flat to hold two containers of rice.

Stuart started the concert there, seated with a bow that he used to tease the crotales. Judging by the recording alone, the sine waves might as well have come from the stage too. They are omnipresent and omni-directional, originating from nowhere in particular and cutting across every aspect of the piece. Live, they were generated by Joe Panzner (who mastered this album) and projected from speakers throughout the theater. He was seated behind the audience, emphasizing the ubiquity and anonymity of the resonance that is one of the works’ central features.

As the music begins and Bush strikes the piano’s keys and strings, a series of high-pitched sine tones arise. Stuart selects a crotale and bows it. When he does, the sine waves wobble in the air. It seems obvious that Greg is affecting their sound, playing a tone very close to the one generated by the computer off stage. Yet, as he returns the crotale back to the table, further interference undulates throughout the room. Greg selects another, larger crotale. He bows that one, the sine waves change again, and again he stops only to reveal that the sine waves are still teetering between frequencies, beating and becoming more unstable. Are the sine waves changing and multiplying of their own accord, or is Stuart responsible for their instability?

During this interplay, Bush is steadily building a drone, holding the sustain pedal down and playing one melody after another. The attack of the hammers on the strings are definite and strong, the ensuing hum a layer of rhythm pulsing against the pronounced percussive character of the piano. These two streams bleed together and the two central points on the stage, Phillip and Greg, slowly lose their place. As in a mist, where locations and details become fuzzy, the musicians themselves lose their locality.

From time to time during the show, Stuart appeared to bow his instruments without creating a sound. His actions were subsumed into the points of harmony and reflection shimmering around him. These interactions are there on the recording too, clear as can be once one knows to look for them. The difficulty in recognizing them has more to do with the identity of the instruments, with their construction, than anything else. The piano has a sharp attack throughout. The crotale splashes at the end of the first section are clear-cut, as are the voices of the vibraphones and cymbals in the second and third sections. None of them are placed in one channel or the other, nor should they be, but the visual sense of position helps to recalibrate the ears for the effects they produce together. With Joe missing, with Greg getting lost in the exchange of what Jennie Gottschalk’s excellent liner notes call shadow tones, and with Phillip’s subtle distortion of time and space at the keyboard, orientation and confusion slowly gain significance, replacing that feeling of solidity and definiteness.

The second and third parts emphasize that turbulence in different ways, with lyrical phrases, instrumental mirroring, and with a dramatic finale that sees Greg dropping rice onto cymbals, first in heavy streams, then in slow, uneven bursts, until one by one, the piano, sine waves, and percussion take shape, just on the edge of silence. They haven’t exactly disentangled, it’s more like the music offers a brief image of them before they float away with the mist. The forces that hold A Mist together inhere the decisions the performers make, not necessarily in the score, which only suggests the possibility of coherence. There is a symmetry in the way the audience responds as well. Making sense of the confusion necessitates careful listening and navigating the piece’s many collisions as they drift, drawing patterns and disorder into the same space.

samples:

• Part I
• Part II
• Part III

 

14 December 2015

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Albums and Singles

Originally released in 1987 and first reissued in the mid 1990s on CD, Ecobondage is one of Merzbow’s seminal works, and also one of my earliest experiences with his vast discography. Presented as a double LP reissue (with included CD), the album feels like an appropriately deluxe edition that captures a high point of Masami Akita's too often overlooked, but superior junk noise era.

Menstrual

As I have surely mentioned in previous reviews of his albums, my first exposure to Akita's work was Venereology.Like many a suburban teenager, my curiosity was piqued by the claim of it being "the most extreme album you’ll ever own" that Relapse used for marketing purposes.I was underwhelmed once I heard it, however, and while I have developed more of an appreciation for the album now, it still pales compared to others.But not long after that first exposure, I found a copy of Ecobondage on the shelves of a record store and gave Merzbow a second chance.Revisiting the album nearly 20 years after first hearing it (and a more sizable chunk of his catalog), it still makes for a high water mark of his work.

The two 30 minute-plus pieces are split in half for the vinyl portion of the release, and presented as unbroken compositions on the CD.The points in which they are split are rather insignificant, as both parts are dynamic, ever shifting collages.A mix offound sounds, junk rhythms, and tape manipulations jump around rapidly from minute to minute, making any discernible divisions a moot point.Even now, I am not exactly sure where Part 1's "Ecobondage" ends and "Prison of Takaou" begins, nor do I feel that I really need to.

The first part (including "Ecobondage," "Prison of Takaou," and "Blow Up") immediately encapsulates what Masami Akita circa 1987 sounded like.Opening with scraping sheets of metal and rumbling, heavy electronics (possibly the credited contributions of then-frequent collaborator Kiyoshi Mizutani), the mix soon has Akita introducing recordings of dogs barking and clattering, junky tape loops.The piece heavily features lo-fi treated found sounds, taped and manipulated music, and other elements that are even more difficult to pin down.During its duration, it becomes a wall of cavernous metal banging and crunchy undulating patterns, transitioning from chaos to pseudo-rhythmic structures and back again.

The second portion (made up of "Ha Ha Ho Bari (Mari)," "Balloon," "Contraction," and "Ending")follows a similar blueprint:a dizzying array of what seems to be randomness but is anything but.At first it is comparably more abrasive:squeaking, shrill noises, covered in reverb and laser-gun like synthesizer passages.Even with this harshness, the variation and depth of the sounds employed by Akita keep it from becoming too dull or unpleasant.As it continues, undulating heavy bass slips into tumbling metallic chaos, like a rampant bull in a metal factory.The closing moments become more percussive and rhythmic, constructed from what resembles an improvised gamelan and random metal objects.

The presentation of Ecobondage is worth noting, too.While I am not usually one to unnecessarily extol the virtues of analog over digital presentations, the sound benefits from the vinyl presentation, which captures the warmth of the original analog source material better than the CD, which sometimes becomes a bit too sharp and harsh.Similarly, the record's visual presentation is strong as well:not only does it revert back to the original LP artwork (which was not included on the original CD reissue), the sleeve is stuffed with inserts (some reproduced from the first version of the record) and flyers that hearken back to those early noise releases that I am rather fond of.But no matter how it looks, the familiar yet unrecognizable noises captivate in their complexity and variation, culminating in a record that has an undeniable depth and breadth, and is just as great as I remember it from 20 years ago.

samples:

• Part 1 (Excerpt 1)
• Part 1 (Excerpt 2)
• Part 2

 

13 December 2015

Administrator

Albums and Singles

Illinois trio Oakeater has been active for the past decade, but Aquarius is only their second full length release, with most of their other work being splits, collaborations, and mini-album releases. This diverse array of release have allowed them to hone a distinctively dark, yet diverse array of sounds that draw from most of the expected places (metal, noise, dark ambient, etc.), work those elements in their own way to create a unique, if bleak, suite of songs.

SIGE

The band, consisting of Alex Barnett, Jeremiah Fisher, and Seth Sher, are all rather well known for their other projects:Barnett as a solo artist and frequent collaborator with Faith Coloccia, Fisher as part of Panicsville, and Sher as a member of Coughs.Their work together as Oakeater stands entirely on its own, however, and is decidedly different as a sum of its parts.

Opener "Wishful Beginnings" presents the project’s influences rather clearly.The distant unsettling rhythms and slowly shuffling malignance instantly calls to mind the more ambient moments of SPK’s Leichenschrei with a bit of TG's "Hamburger Lady" to ensure the creep factor is off the charts.The short "Hatchet" sounds like it is built around a rhythm created from clattering aluminum cans, but with an exceptionally dark cello-like bass drone to increase tension.

"Maps" is another piece of dark, creaking ambience and low, lurking rumbles that would not be out of place on a horror film score.Expanding synthesizer passages and occasional outbursts of heavily processed voice flesh out the piece, coming together with an undeniable, but hard to pin down sense of eeriness."All that is Sacred" would be the closest the trio comes to pure noise on Aquarius.Sweeping layers of electronics and subtle percussion are mixed with shimmering cymbals and odd found sounds.With the inhuman voices added in, the trio pushes the piece brilliantly between space and dense dissonance.

The album closes on a strong pairing of songs, ones that capture the Oakeater sound exceptionally well."Aquarius" immediately stands out with its oddly treated, multifaceted rhythm that propels the piece throughout.Swells of darkness are weaved in and out by the trio, as screamed, almost black metal styled vocals cut through like a dull, rusty knife.The song builds tension brilliantly, with the band adding more percussion and soaring guitar towards its dramatic conclusion."Respite", however, ends the album on a restrained, yet menacing note.Bizarre percussion and distant metallic bashing pierce through the funeral synthesizers.Eventually the synthetic rhythms become more aggressive and rapid-fire, leading to an abrupt and jarring end to the record.

One of Aquarius' strongest assets is the fact that it sounds like no one else in recent memory.The touchstones are rather clear:the chaos of harsh noise, the bleak darkness of early industrial, and the pained, inhuman vocals of heavy metal, but Oakeater use these standard features in anything but standard ways.It makes for an impenetrably bleak, yet not at all cliché record of sinister music, with a healthy dose of ambiguity that contributes to an unsettling, at times uncomfortable, but always powerful piece of music.

samples:

• Wishful Beginnings
• Maps
• Aquarius

 

13 December 2015

Administrator

Albums and Singles

Composed as part of a 2012 installation at a former East German prison, it should come as no surprise that Isolation is at times an intentionally off-putting, disturbing, and unpleasant piece of music. The prison, housing political prisoners and using more than questionable methods of interrogation, was in operation from 1956 to 1989, and stands as a testament to the darkness that pervaded Eastern Germany during the Cold War. Bretschneider’s work is an attempt to capture the sense of isolation and disorientation caused by the prison in audio form, and it is a resounding success.

LINE

Bretschneider utilizes a variety of compositional techniques in these five pieces to symbolize the multitude of experiences that lengthy incarceration and state sponsored "enhanced interrogations" could generate.On the opening to "White Light," he does this via extreme frequencies and their associated psycho-acoustic properties.The first few minutes are a tinnitus-like buzz that could induce migraines at a loud enough volume, and mixed with a low frequency rumble that gives just the right amount of uncomfortable physical vibration.

"Cycle/Circle" also features extreme sub bass that, on a loudspeaker set-up are more easily felt than heard, and via headphones lead to an odd sensation that is almost akin to dizziness.But I should be clear that, even though Bretschneider is using these heavy frequencies to convey physical sensations, these are still pieces that bear the mark of a true composer.Even though "Cycle/Circle" is all heavy vibrations and physical sensations, he weaves in understated tones and sounds that add a distinctly cold and austere sense of beauty.

Another technique he utilizes to great effect is passages of silence or near silence that enhance the titular sense of isolation, such as the hushed first half of "Neon Night" that, while not empty, it is extremely sparse.The 11-minute "Vertical Time" conjures the timeless monotony of incarceration via subtle hums and mechanical drones that result in an intentionally mundane, yet complex bit of repeated tones and vibrations.The concluding "Oscillation/Feedback" is completely descriptive in its title, with the first half being shimmering oscillations of high-pitched noise similar to that of "White Light".The concluding minute and a half, however, is a blast of pure digital noise that sputters apart brilliantly, akin to the final moments of insanity that could precede this sort of solitude.

Frank Bretschneider's Isolation is intended to be a disquieting, at times disturbing, piece of sonic art, and he accomplishes this wonderfully.Not in the sense of being a harsh noise endurance test, but something far more conceptual and composed.When listening (as recommended) via headphones, the work does an exceptional job at conveying the unpleasant experiences of a lengthy incarceration via repetition and unpleasant frequencies, at least as well as a CD possibly could.

samples:

• White Light
• Cycle/Circle
• Oscillation/Feedback

 

13 December 2015

Administrator

Albums and Singles

Sound sculptures and gongs by Harry Bertoia unite the sides of this split LP from Tara Jane O'Neil and Eleh. Packaged in deluxe letterpress printed jackets in an edition of 800. The first 300 copies are on metallic gold vinyl.

O'Neil's composition was commissioned by Venessa Renwick for her Medusa Smack video installation (originally screened in 2012 at the Oregon Biennial). The piece is partially comprised of sounds recorded by Harry Bertoia on his own Sonambient sound sculptures, as well as a recording Tara made of Athanasius Kircher's Bell Wheel at the Museum of Jurassic Technology.

Eleh's side consists of 100 gongs synthesized on a Serge modular system to honor the centennial of Bertoia's birth in 2015.

More information can be found here.

13 December 2015

Administrator

Albums and Singles

This has been a very perplexing and curious year for the historically prolific Dots, as they have maintained a constant stream of updates about new releases without ever quite releasing anything substantial–just an endless flow of live vault releases, outtakes, cryptic collaborations, cryptic solo albums, digital-only holiday surprises, teasers for upcoming albums, and a few extremely limited (and instantly vanished) records on small European labels.  It was starting to feel a lot like I was receiving ghost transmissions from a dead planet, but before I became completely convinced that the Dots were either dead or had never actually existed in the first place, they unexpectedly produced the deeply abstract, surreal, and fragmented Five Days.  While a bit too amorphous and diffuse to rank among their best work, it is certainly complex and hallucinatory enough to temporarily sate my hunger for new material.

Self-Released

To my credit, I am not nearly obsessive enough of an LPD fan to try to figure out if there is any link between Five Days and 1990’s Four Days, though the link could easily be something as simple as just another prosaic statement about how long it took to record.  I am also not obsessive enough to try to figure out if the narrative thread that runs throughout this album ties into any other albums within the multifarious Edward Ka-Spel-verse, but I am absolutely certain that the storyline is enough of a kaleidoscopic fever dream that it would not matter at all if it did.  While it is ostensibly a concept album with plot and characters, those elements seem to exist primarily just to give some structure to an otherwise totally disorienting and lysergic trip down the rabbit hole of Ka-Spel's mind. In fact, I wonder how knowingly involved the rest of the band even was (there are no credits), as Five Days sounds like it could easily be a mountain of unrelated studio scraps weaved together as the backdrop for a phantasmagoric, fitfully narrated plunge into abstract experimentation to fill the time between more substantial projects.

Regardless of how Five Days was created, there is no denying that Ka-Spel knows how to collage together an impressively crafted and distinctive vision.  This album is basically a mirage built on shifting sands, as I am never quite clear what is happening nor do I ever fully remember what has happened before, as there are no hooks, grooves, or noticeable recurring themes (or much in the way of human warmth or recognizable instruments): the only real thread holding all of the endlessly morphing electronic fantasia together is Ka-Spel’s voice.  Almost everything else seems completely fleeting and illusory.  The beauty of that approach, however, is that occasionally strong themes surface to surprise and captivate me, most notably Ka-Spel's languorously sing-song and menacing pronouncements in "In Search of the Golden Crest" ("Bad news, friend: you failed the test").  Another highlight is the brief interlude in "Shades of Sorrow/The Oxygen Tent" where the piece briefly blossoms into a chattering hum of overlapping voices.  I also quite enjoyed the blearily queasy poetry of "Thou Shalt Not Grow Old," and the drugged and hazy chamber music of "The First World Flag."

If Five Days has any serious faults, the primary one is that it is just not a memorable album, though that is at least partially by design.  The other is the omnipresent brooding synths and half-spoken/half-sung storytelling sounds extremely familiar at this point.  It is not entirely fair to critique Legendary Pink Dots for sounding exactly like themselves, but they have already recorded a mountain of material in a very similar vein, so the only parts that make my ears perk up at this point are those that depart somewhat from business-as-usual.  There is admittedly a healthy amount of such moments strewn throughout Five Days, but it is still not quite enough to warrant excitement on my end.  There is quite a lot of water-treading happening here–not exactly filler, but nevertheless a lot of waiting for something transcendent to emerge from the numbing familiarity.  While I personally prefer this abstract/experimental side of LPD's aesthetic to their more song-based material, it has definitely been better done elsewhere (and often), so this will probably not be an album that I go back to very often.  Given that Ka-Spel and his bandmates have been treading this territory for more than 30 years now, it is hardly a surprise that they occasionally find themselves in a holding pattern rather than in the midst of a major creative breakthrough.  Completists and die-hard fans will probably still find plenty to enjoy, I imagine, but Five Days is at best a solid and mostly unexceptional entry into the LPD oeuvre.

Note: Curiously, there is an instrumental companion EP available for this already mostly instrumental album (Five Days - The Instrumentals).  It feels mostly like additional material that was not quite good enough to make the proper album rather than like anything resembling alternate versions.  It is far from essential, though the 16-minute centerpiece "Weekend" has some impressive flashes of inspiration near the end.

• All About Control
• In Search of the Golden Crest
• The First World Flag

 

13 December 2015

Administrator

Albums and Singles

I have to admit that I was quite a bit apprehensive about the idea of a Volcano The Bear boxed set, as few bands are less synonymous with consistency or quality control than Leicester's erstwhile free-form experimentalists and I was never a big fan at all, despite admiring a good portion of Daniel Padden’s non-VTB work.  It was easy for me to envision Commencing as over four hours of migraine-inducing absurdist theater, random gibbering and clattering, kazoo solos, and/or someone chasing around a duck with a microphone or dropping a pumpkin into a toilet.  Or possibly all of those things within the same song.  Thankfully, I was mostly (and spectacularly) wrong, as Commencing makes a very strong case that VTB was actually one of the most inventive and compelling bands of the last two decades.  Granted, there is certainly some wince-inducing juvenilia scattered amidst all the gems, but Miasmah has done an amazing job at filtering, presenting, and contextualizing VTB's vast body of work in a form that enables a skeptic like me to finally understand why someone would want to put out a Volcano The Bear box set in the first place.

Miasmah

In the book that accompanies Commencing, Miasmah head Erik K. Skodvin recounts how he first discovered Volcano The Bear while flipping through records at Staalplaat on a school trip to Berlin back in 2004.  His eye was caught by the artwork for The Idea of Wood ("it looked like some bizarre nightmare dreamt up by a mental institution inmate"), so he decided to give the album a chance and was pleased to discover that the music within was every bit as unique and deranged as the cover.  After witnessing a few similarly bizarre and memorable performances by various incarnations of the band, Erik eventually struck up a friendship with Aaron Moore and half-jokingly suggested a VTB retrospective box set.  That quixotic idea became an earnest endeavor about six months later and the next two years or so were then devoted to the Herculean task of shifting through VTB's sprawling discography of cassettes and CD-Rs and distilling it into a coherent overview of one of the most uncategorizable and restlessly shape-shifting bands around.

Amusingly, the Volcano The Bear story starts out almost exactly as I would have expected it to: Aaron Moore was frustrated with the band he was in and decided to start an anti-band with his flatmate Nick Mott.  There were drugs involved.  They enlisted a handful of their weirder friends.  One had a bunch of studio equipment that was set-up in their parents’ house, which also happened to be near an extremely cool record store.  That mixture of unlimited home studio time, a constant influx of strange new records, a disdain for anything conventional, and a willingness to try absolutely anything laid the perfect groundwork for a truly strange band.  Admittedly, they often sounded exactly like a bunch of stoners with too much free time and a singular zeal (and patience) for messing around with speeds on a dictaphone, but there were some moments of true inspiration early on as well, such as the slurred, melancholy sea-shanty "Yak Folks Y’Are" or the pummeling and obsessive tape experiment "Pretty Flower" (both from 1995).  Those early years are best (and most amusingly) summarized by a set list included in the book.  One song is described vaguely as "play guitar nick – I will play along – Loz says he’ll do something."  Yet another potential hit is broken down as "toothbrush/thumb piano solo?  out of which Dan starts a fight with…6+ minutes??"  In short, Volcano The Bear started off sounding a lot like art students that I would want to hurl a bottle at.

Somehow along the way, however, they alchemically transformed into something much, much better.  Apparently, a policy of "everything we do is art and therefore of value" starts to yield significant dividends if it is adhered to long enough and with a rigorous enough aversion to the mundane.  While it is not chronologically arranged, Commencing reaches its zenith on the fourth LP, which is culled primarily from material spanning from 2004 to 2010, albeit with a few wonderful outliers thrown in (the tenderly warped piano interlude of 2001's "Curly Robot" is especially sublime).  Aside from the quality, the other most striking aspect of the later material is how effortlessly (yet distinctively) the band was able to transform from song to song.  For example, "Baltic" sounds like an avant-garde classical take on traditional folk music, while elsewhere VTB make nods to jazz, Faust, Zappa, Nurse With Wound, and probably like ten other cool bands that I have never heard of.  On the other hand, there is also some material from the same era included on the fifth LP that just sounds like someone shouting about biscuits while pounding a floor tom.  The bizarre and amazing thing is that it all sounds equally at home somehow.  No matter what Volcano did, they did it with a very endearingly ramshackle, organic, and anything-goes charm; an unwavering humanity; and an unrelentingly perverse (if sometimes impenetrable) sense of humor.

Commencing's lack of chronological order was an inspired move sequence-wise, as there are plenty of wonderful early songs seamlessly mixed in with the later pieces.  That nicely serves to illustrate that Volcano The Bear were fitfully always a great band–they just happened to be a wildly over-documented great band, cheerfully releasing every inside joke and misstep with the same importance as their genuine moments of great inspiration.  I am glad that some of the less-than-amazing material is included though, as it combines with the book to tell quite an inspiring and unlikely story: Volcano basically came from nowhere and devoted themselves wholeheartedly to amusing themselves and tirelessly pushing forward into new fringes of outsider expression and fresh vistas of lunacy.  They did not waste time worrying about whether something would find an audience or whether it was good enough, they just set about to do something different, unwaveringly stuck to that path for two decades, and it all worked out just fine: they found a discerning audience that values them and they are unlike any other band on the planet.  That is an improbably great legacy for a band this uncompromising, prickly, and fundamentally difificult to like.  I guess the lesson here is that you should wholeheartedly devote yourself to following your muse to whatever bizarre places it takes you and that if you do it long enough, someone will eventually realize that you are brilliant and heroically attempt to shape your messy, unwieldy oeuvre into something people can actually wrap their heads around.  Volcano The Bear were certainly hit-or-miss as a band, but their hits are essential listening and Commencing is the best overview of them that anyone could possible hope for.

• Pretty Flower
• Aflame
• Baltic