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Songs of Norway is the duo of Aaron Moore and Nick Mott of Volcano TheBear. The two musicians actually formed six months before the formationof the Bear in 1995, though they have just now gotten around toreleasing their first album. For their debut LP Despite the Cloakon the Beta-Lactam Ring label, Moore and Mott employ their intuitionfor improvisation across seven tracks of minimal free music, utilizingguitar, violin, trumpet and assorted percussion. "Good Morning GreatLegend" is filled with atonal pulls of the bow which bend, curve andswoop unpredictably while randomly struck gongs and drums form apercussive response, of sorts. On "Miles of Beef," the mosquito buzz ofthe violin flits ponderously over Moore's senseless drums, until thetrack takes a sharp left turn into primitive scrapings and tumblingfound percussion. This willfully messy non-formula continues for theduration of the album. Sometimes, as on "Would I Witness CrustaceanEvolve," the players seem genuinely collaborative and theirconversations yield interesting results, but the overwhelming majorityof Despite the Cloak sounds disparate, as if the Moore and Mottwere completely ignoring each other, each trying to voice their ownseparate agendas. "Leopard Hairs" adds weird esoteric textures with oddwhispers and the vibrating aumgns of guest Stewart Brackley, who alsocontributes double bass and trumpet to a few other tracks. DanielPadden's clarinet adds interest to "Inner Arms and Necks" which takes afew minutes to get anywhere, and when it does finally arrive, I wasforced to ask myself if the wait was really worth it. "PartridgeCarnival" ends the disc with Aaron Moore's high-speed drumming, whichrolls energetically while Nick Mott attempts to coax some DerekBailey-isms out of his strings. While Despite the Cloak mightappeal to hardcore improv enthusiasts, I couldn't be more indifferentabout it. I realize that free playing has a built-in defense againstaccusations that it lacks melody or harmonic sense, but Songs ofNorway's purposeful unpredictability is all too predictable. As a duo,Moore and Mott lack that essential spark of collaborative energy anddramatic compositional intuition that makes Volcano The Bear's music soimpressive. It's the same problem that I find in a lot of new musicgoing under the banner of "free music" or "free folk" — groups such asSunburned Hand of the Man, No Neck Blues Band and Jackie-O Motherfucker— I sometimes get the nagging sensation that these musicians justaren't trying very hard. Read More
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Guignol is French for "puppet," and the word is often used to connote aclassical theater form involving large marionettes enacting heroic orcomic tales. It's a name that perfectly describes the music on Angela, David & The Great Neapolitan Road Issue,which is vaguely theatrical, strangely comic, and largely informed byan odd concept involving French instrumentation and dadaist lyricaltactics. Lest we forget, surrealism as an aesthetic, theatrical andliterary movement began in France in the early 1900's, and Guignol'smusic, though modern, seems a bit stuck in this time and place, perhapsbecause it was recorded over a summer in the French countryside. Thegroup is comprised of Jeremy Barnes (of Bablicon), Aaron Moore andLaurence Coleman (both from Volcano The Bear). Assisting on a fewtracks is Aaron Moore's VTB and Songs of Norway cohort Nick Mott, andKorena Pang. It's a mysterious little enigma of an album, seeming atonce intimate and detached. Much of the album seems primitivelyrecorded and loosely improvised, but the beauty and intimacy of Moore'svocals on the opening track "Of Houses and Canals" recalls thefragility of Robert Wyatt's on Rock Bottom. The lyrics aredisjointed and surreal, bringing to mind the spaced-out whimsicality ofsolo Syd Barrett. Much of the instrumentation is minimal, withclattering percussion and warm organ tones. Its idiosyncrasies arebeguiling, and much of the album washes over like a gentle afternoonhallucination. Even the occasional areas of tension and noise seemoddly pastoral. Jeremy Barnes brings with him that same intuition forseemingly accidental psychedelia that has made every Bablicon album soengaging. "Angela and David" and "Discover Guignol's Band" are the sametrack, repeated twice, one after the other, and as strange as thatsounds, it seems rather charming in context. The spare production andcarefully chosen instrumentation lends many of the tracks theatmosphere of medieval France, enhancing the music's anachronistictendencies. Though its charms are ephemeral, Guignol's album is anenticing ambiguity. Read More
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There's nothing more refreshing than being deceived by music. I thoughtit was going to be an electronic-fueled record of funked up rhythms andsome glitched guitar; but it, like a chameleon, slowly changed intoother creatures. There are only two musicians in this band and thereare no overdubs or machines that makes all the fabulous noises. Chromeis a live album of bone-annihilating rhythms, sharp and preciseplaying, and spaced out jams that would make Can and Neu! quite proud."Look, You're On TV" and "Cold Sweat Part XVI" start the album out withsome snappy drum chops and drugged-up guitar playing that fallssomewhere between firmly psychedelic and absolutely jarring. Whatfollows gyrates between cavernous soundscapes and mathematicallydesigned metal screams. It's in the middle, where the drums sound likea steam engine chugging down the line and the strings hum like massivebells, that Nice Nice is most captivating. Sure, there are a widevariety of sounds here and it's amazing that just two guys are capableof doing it all in a live environment, but they both have a knack formelody and rhythmic tension that make jam sessions like "Nein" and "OnNeon" so unrelentingly beautiful. Where Nice Nice stick closest totheir melody and their sense of beauty, they succeed the most. That'snot to say it isn't fun as hell to have my head beat into my shouldersby their wild changes in style, but their ability to craft narcoticmelodies and hypnotic rhythms (see "We Go Towards," especially) standout as their best trait. That being said, Chrome comes awayfeeling like an amazing treat. There's a variety of music here thatfits together well as a record; it's a cohesive experience withoutfeeling dull or repetitive and yet it manages to move between sonicallyopposite poles. If two people can make such a variety of music on thesame record without sounding too scattered, it leaves me wondering whatall these other duos are doing with their silly guitar solos andamateurish rhythmic capabilities. Read More
- Taylor McLaren
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Genre names obviously come to stand for different things over time,usually by becoming broader and broader as they go. What happens,though, when they start to encompass sounds that are pretty muchantithetical to their own roots? It's hard to know what to make of Mostfor exactly that reason: this bunch of 40-something musicians is waytoo good at playing its instruments to really carry the amateur charmof old punk rock, but it can also belt out throat-shredding bulldozersongs like "Shikaku" (from their self-titled first album) on a moment'snotice. Curiously, now that they're specifically identifying theirmusic as "punk," key and tempo changes and other conspicuous signs ofcapable musicianship have started creeping into the works, and thereare even a couple of choruses on Most Mostthat could have been lifted from a Blondie album. (Now that I thinkabout it, that probably says something about how Most fits under thepunk umbrella, too.) The results of my distracted first listening keeptelling me to say that Most Most is a mellower affair than itspredecessor, but it really isn't: it just isn't compressed to hell andmastered at the same ear-splitting levels. Phew manages to rip it upfar better than she ever did as a star of the '70s Japanese punk scene;twenty-five years on, she's given up the dorky beret while keeping thehowling just enough under control that she doesn't sound like an agingmember of some therapeutic drum circle. She's far deadlier and morefocused than Debbie Harry now, and while she'll never exude death likePatti Smith always has, Most have become more than just impressive...they're almost inspiring now. Read More
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Strange that Z'EV, probably the most recognizeable name in theavant-garde solo-percussionist ranks, with a relatively extensivestring of records behind him, felt the need, in 2003, to release a 3"disc of live recordings from 1993. If nothing else, Live 1993is a lovingly recorded document, captured by friend, collaborator andbrilliant musician in his own right, Fast Forward, at the PerformingGarage New York City. The disc is two tracks, each featuring Z'EVbeating on a variety of objects, ranging from sheets of metal to whatsound like large industrial canisters. Both pieces are dominated byringing metallic hits, with the drummer's complex overlays creating anequally elaborate lattice of quivering drones, the negative spacesurrounding each action nicely accented and enlivened. Z'EV's skills asa polyrhythmist and a composer are apparent here, as on all hisreleases; each track is a concise and expertly controlled example ofhis unique tribal-industrial sound. For a solo performance, thefocused, hypnotic effect achieved is very impressive; however, I see noreason why this music couldn't have been left in the heads of those inattendance. In the context of Z'EV's output thus far, this disc isbeyond inessential; as a 3" disc, it is not long enough to successfullyapproximate the live experience, something that, for an artist likethis, is nearly impossible anyway. New listeners could do better withone of Z'EV's many studio full-lengths, chances to see him workingnon-percussive instruments into his always-interesting sonic palette.Read More
- Taylor McLaren
- Albums and Singles
This is one of those albums that is bound to prompt a zillion reviewsthat tell the big story of its history: how it was recorded over tenyears ago, how the artist (in this case, the MC, Charizma) died beforeit could be released, and how a friend (the DJ and label founder,Peanut Butter Wolf) eventually put it out as a memorial. It's a nicestory, and there's really no way around it, because there's no otherway of explaining the sound: Big Shots sounds old, and The Arsenio Hall Showcan almost be heard bleeding out of the speakers when it's on, which isa good thing, because it conjures up warm memories of the time rightbefore most rap got stupid. There's no gun-waving or bitch-slappinggoing on here; instead, there's a photo of the title big shots eatingcookies in someone's kitchen, and the lyrics match it. Charizmapractically sits you down on the front steps of his house to tell youabout all of the amazing -stuff- he's seen: ice cream trucks, theneighbourhood drug-dealer getting what's coming to him, the datingscene...! (Yes, an MC that goes out on dates!) Ten years on, the worlddoesn't seem nearly as friendly as it did, and albums as wide-eyed andenthusiastic as I Wish My Brother George Was Here are in shortsupply, making this bright, kind-hearted tribute to a good friend allthe more timely; the fact that the deckwork is fun and the vocals aredeft (Charizma got around the fact that "Explicit Lyrics" stickersstill meant something in '92 by cutting his own curses off mid-wordwithout breaking flow) just seems like a bonus. PS: There are plenty of other samples at the Stones Throw site.Read More
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Troum's final part in their Tjukurrpa series comes with its own warning right in the title. Those familiar (and fond of) the powerful drones this German duo is famed for might be taken aback by the prominence of both rhythms and pulsations all over the record.Transgredient
From the opening "Ignis Sacer," the percussion takes the center stage, with a harsh and abrasive loop. Throughout the disc, the rhythmic loops get decreasingly harsh, lending more to the open drones the group is known for. Like the first two in the trilogy, part three was recorded over a period of time, which may account for somewhat of an uneven sound between tracks in comparison to last year's Siquan.
The firt two tracks go on painfully long and are sadly lacking in a depth I have come to expect from Troum due to a sound that is primarily in mono. By track three, "Saiwala," the rhythms have become less piercing but provided by pounding drums in a very Non/Death In June vein. However, at least Boyd and Doug knew how to end a song quickly (at this time the tracks are going on way too long).
It isn't until the fourth song, "W√°ian / Moys," that the music truly connects with me by the inclusion of faint vocals by a girl named Nina and a motioned progression that is quite the opposite from the somewhat painful first three tracks. It's at this point a good stereo separation also takes place. Slight pitch bends and thunderous echoes are hypnotic and warmly welcomed. Time seems to stand completely frozen.
True melodic movement comes through in the haunting follower "Reigen Taumelnder Geister," the reverse rhythms of "Wheaio," and mystical moonlit midnight music of "Airpeins." Perhaps some of the Eastern themes present could be a nod to Muslimgauze or Rapoon, or the group is getting ready to score an epic. Either way, for a disc whose opening half I completely hated, it surprisingly goes out fantastically well.
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There is a point where sound collages become something else. Dronesstop being merely drones and the cinematic passing of sounds build intoan architecture without shape or form. Christina Sealey, Richard Oddie,and Mark Spybey have consecrated the air about my ears and formedaround it a liquid curtain of sudden memories and vague communicationsfrom the mystical side of dreams. SOSisn't a drone record and it isn't just a collage of sounds, it feelsmore like a movie meant to convey some central ideas. Drowning bells,all-knowing monks, and the enchantment of sirens act as a thematicmarker by which ventures into the unknown take place. The sounds arenever reduced to a pure humming, nor are there any moments where theflooding of sound meshes into an unidentifiable mass. Sounds act asindividual instruments; whether it's the beat of a heart or therotation of blades on an enormous fan, there's always a sense ofgeneral organization between sounds. The group isn't afraid to includefamiliar sounds in their landscape of the strange. Everything fromdistorted radio signals and the cold delivery of a news anchor's voiceto what might be a digeridoo can be found somewhere in the haze ofsonic manipulation. Melodies unfold for small portions of time andrhythm can be picked out of certain pieces, but nothing on SOSrelies on either. I'm incredibly taken by this disc because I find itto be more than impossible to catergorize. Noise, drone, ambient, blah,blah, blah; none of it fits this disc in any way conceivable. Callingit a sound collage ignores the precise way the sequence of tracksplayed with my head and provided at least an illusion of structure andinsight. I wouldn't say this is something drastically new or unique;considering Spybey's long history with sound, I doubt that there aren'tsome familiar themes or ideas at work here, but the entire recordsounds and feels fresh. It deserves and, by way of mystical suggestion,demands repeat listens.Read More
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No doubt in response to the reception of last year's Tasheyana Compost, Infrasound has reissued USAISAMONSTER's previous two vinyl releases on a single disc. Anyone pleased with Compost'smuddy conglomerate of duo-blasted noise rock and prog-metal will feelequally at home in the arms of this beast, the lager-soaked pilgrim toits successor's war-weary Cherokee. The slick guitar chops are stillthere, each song still a many-armed mini-epic, but Citizenspreserves every piece of fudged riffage, every rhythmic stumble, andevery indulgent stomp-a-long bit, imbuing each with uncorruptedconviction, a metalhead's glee. It's not that these early releases showthe group in crude or undeveloped form (they are tighter than ever), oreven that their newer full-length represents a "softening" of theirsound; Citizens merely proves that these guys were thrashing tothe SST catalog long before they discovered Hawkwind. The disc offersthe more accurate and more thrilling picture of a band whose reputationhas rightfully developed around a blaring, overblown live event. Theguitars are a little less likely to dip into the angular jazz-istpatterns scattered throughout Compost, preferring close-croppedriffs and assaulting repetition, breakdowns occurring only when thetension and release of the figures buckles under the speed of eachsong. Songs themselves cater less to the wayward theatrics of thesucceeding album, and while some acoustic troubadouring does crop up,these songs (especially those from 2001's Citizens of the Universe)are more like spliced chains of 2-min. thrash anthems, worked togetherwith the occasional staggered metallic breather. I feel comfortablesaying that if Compost was not your air-drums record of the year, this surely will be. For all of its force, Citizens stays fun throughout and should be welcomed by new fans who were dismayed to find the original records unavailable. Read More
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Rising from the brittle crust of the same Northeastern coast thatbirthed labelmates USAISAMONSTER, Eloe Omoe is a duo of considerablyless refinement. While their aesthetic is likely to find support in theRuins/Lightning Bolt camp, the band comes off sounding so elementalthat I worry they have compromised themselves by cutting a record atall. This 12", their first release, contains five live tracks: meresnippets or little windows into what seem less like a few scatteredshows between '99 and '01 than random stops along an un-halting,nomadic traversal of New England, powered by a vaguely primitiveimpulse, unseen, unknown, and nearly lost on these recordings. Themusic is a tumbling, thoroughly abstract mess of effected bass rumble,draped with drum parts that descend, deconstruct, and fall apart toinvisible cues. All five pieces sound improvised, the two playersrarely coming together for anything "thematic" to emerge; the onlyclear indications that they are not playing in different rooms are afew abrupt stops and a unified effort to keep the songs in a kind ofperpetual collapse. The recording is understandably of poor quality,and, while bands like Lightning Bolt and USAISAMONSTER might haverigorous structures or goofy posturing to compensate, Eloe Omoe suffersmore openly. Theirs is really more of a jazzist take on the noise rockgame, and as such, the music's visceral, performative nature becomes alarge part of its appeal, lost on such a recording. Again, fans of agrassroots noise aesthetic will appreciate the record, Sam Rowell'ssqualling bass in particular, though I'd be interested to see how alittle studio tweaking would effect the group's sound, for better orworse. Read More
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So we tried a new way of doing things for the 7th year in a row! Actually, we think this is probably closest to accurate so far. Every entry got scored according to how readers voted. The score went up higher the more positive the reaction was and went down the more negative. Winners in the Band of the Year, Label of the Year, and Best New Artist categories were awarded due to cumulative scores and not voted for directly. Additionally, the Lifetime Achievement recognition was chosen exclusively by the Brain Staff.
Unfortunately, as is with all readers polls, everything eventually turns into a popularity contest. Rather than scrap it all in frustration, we keep the polls going from year to year. It presents a snapshot to look back and reflect upon to see what people were listening to and paying attention to at this time. It is by no means a measure of talent or greatness, nor is it even an accurate account of taste or opinion, as people will have a tendency to vote favorably/against an artist they like/dislike regardless if they've heard the record or not. Comments are included from the staff in each category. Thanks to everybody who honestly participated.
album of the year
- Fennesz, "Venice"
- Devendra Banhart, "Rejoicing in the Hands"
- Sonic Youth, "Sonic Nurse"
- Coil, "Black Antlers"
- Animal Collective, "Sung Tongs"
- Devendra Banhart, "Nino Rojo"
- Einst?zende Neubauten, "Perpetuum Mobile"
- Tom Waits, "Real Gone"
- Pan Sonic, "Kesto"
- Bj?k, "Medulla"
- Pan•American, "Quiet City"
- The Dead Texan, "The Dead Texan"
- Coil, "ANS"
- Joanna Newsom, "The Milk-Eyed Mender"
- Nurse With Wound, "Angry Eelectric Finger (Spitch'cock One)"
- Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, "Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus"
- Brian Wilson, "Smile"
- MíQ, "Summer Make Good"
- Wolf Eyes, "Burned Mind"
- The Legendary Pink Dots, "The Whispering Wall"
- Black Dice, "Creature Comforts"
- Nurse With Wound, "Shipwreck Radio Volume One: Seven Sonic Structures from Utvaer"
- The Arcade Fire, "Funeral"
- Stereolab, "Margerine Eclipse"
- Ghost, "Hypnotic Underworld"
- Comets On Fire, "Blue Cathedral"
- Michael Gira, "I Am Singing to You from My Room"
- Xiu Xiu, "Fabulous Muscles"
- The Legendary Pink Dots, "Poppy Variations"
- Sunn O))), "White2"
- Sufjan Stevens, "Seven Swans"
- Squarepusher, "Ultravisitor"
- Deerhoof, "Milk Man"
- Le Fly Pan Am, "N'ecoutez Pas"
- Clouddead, "Ten"
- Skinny Puppy, "The Greater Wrong of the Right"
- Iron & Wine, "Our Endless Numbered Days"
- Tim Hecker, "Mirages"
- Liars, "They Were Wrong, So We Drowned"
- !!!, "Louden Up Now"
- Madvillain, "Madvillainy"
- Acid Mothers Temple, "Mantra of Love"
- Mouse On Mars, "Radical Connector"
- The Soft Pink Truth, "Do You Want New Wave Or Do You Want the Soft Pink Truth?"
- Tortoise, "It's All Around You"
- Loscil, "First Narrows"
- Boredoms, "Seadrum/House of Sun"
- Faust Vs. Dälek, "Derbe Respect, Alder"
- Mono, "Walking Cloud and Deep Red Sky, Flag Fluttered and the Sun Shined"
- TV on the Radio, "Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes"
Comments
Pan Sonic's Kesto is an ambitious piece of work that deconstructs everything about Pan Sonic into four distinct discs so that you don't have to! - Matthew Jeanes
Absolutely amazing rock albums like Ghost's Hypnotic Underworld and Comets on Fire's Blue Cathedral languish at number 25 and 26 while I can't shake the feeling that it's become a bit of knee-jerk reaction to list albums by veterans like Sonic Youth, Neubauten, Tom Waits, Nick Cave and Bjork in these year-end lists, whether or not people really think their recent albums were really up to par. - Jonathan Dean
ANS cost like $80. People didn't buy it. Hell, I'd venture to say that people who bought it didn't even listen to it! - Gary Suarez
Everybody thinks Sufjan Stevens' next album is going to be another state, but I wouldn't be surprised if Six Geese were to follow Seven Swans. - Jon Whitney
It's strange that the Boredoms masterpiece Seadrum/House of Sun is at #47, while Sonic Youth is at #3. I see Boredoms as a forward-thinking, constantly evolving, futuristic unit. I am baffled year after year as Sonic Youth consistently places in the top five (or better) of certain adventurous magazines year end lists. Without denying them credit for their past achievements, and while recognizing that their current work does have merit, it hardly seems to me that, with all of the exciting music being created, Sonic Youth post-1990 is making the best albums of the year, every year. - Jim Siegel
I knew it; names have a strange way of carrying so-so music to undeserved streams of acclaim. The Fennesz record is a prime example of this. !!!, Devendra Banhart, and Pan American all released amazing records this year, but I suppose the names aren't quite large enough at this time to appeal to people still aching for something "different" and "experimental." - Lucas Schleicher
Madvilliany is one of the best hip hop releases in recent history. MF Doom and Madlib had never collaborated before, and I don't even know if they had met prior to writing and recording the album. That's f'n amazing. MF Doom's bizarre lyrical couplets and slick obscure references almost steal the show had it not been for the (here it is) finest instrumentals ever done courtesy of Madlib. Hip hop finally becomes high art? Yes, I would contend I felt (as my art teacher used to say) "the evocation of the sublime." Record of the year. Danger Mouse deserves at least a nod or maybe a high five for the Grey Album. I can't stand Jay-Z, so to not only find his played raps tolerable but enjoyable speaks volumes for the music Danger Mouse was able to come up with. And he did it with the unlikeliest of source materials - a frickin BEATLES album??! He basically set himself up for utter failure and came through like the Red Sox. Hands down the coolest contraband of the year too (next to Canadian Viagra, of course). - Chris Roberts
single/ep of the year
- Animal Collective, "Who Could Win a Rabbit?"
- Devendra Banhart, "Little Yellow Spider"
- Four Tet, "My Angel Rocks Back and Forth"
- Wolf Eyes, "Stabbed In the Face"
- Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, "There She Goes My Beautiful World / Breathless"
- Antony and the Johnsons, "The Lake"
- Black Dice, "Miles of Smiles"
- Joanna Newsom, "Sprout and the Bean"
- Clouddead, "Dead Dogs Two"
- Thee Silver Mountain Reveries, "Pretty Little Lightning Paw"
- Keith Fullerton Whitman, "Antithesis"
- Bj?k, "Who Is It?"
- Throbbing Gristle, "TG Now"
- Squarepusher, "Square Window"
- MíQ, "Nightly Cares"
- Squarepusher, "Venus No. 17"
- Sigur Ros, "Ba Ba Ti Ki Di Do"
- Thighpaulsandra, "Rape Scene"
- !!!, "Pardon My Freedom"
- Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, "Nature Boy"
- Interpol, "Slow Hands"
- Mouse On Mars, "Wipe That Sound"
- Liars, "There's Always Room on the Broom"
- LCD Soundsystem, "Yeah"
- Nurse With Wound, "Having Fun With the Prince of Darkness"
Comments
What a relief it was to see TG Now make it into the Top 25 in this category! Throbbing Gristle's reunion was truly impressive, as was their restraint with disseminating this new material. Though some people might have groaned over the exclusivity of this EP, these intimate recordings demanded an audience that would not simply listen passively. These dissonant four songs, much like their early work, were not meant for mass consumption by trend whores (*cough* Coil fans *cough*) and one-upping music geeks. Anyone who has spent some time with this release has been exposed to a rare experience, with four legends returning to the studio and coming together after spending years apart making very different music. TG Now is a return to form as well as a dramatic update, essentially raising the proverbial bar to a point where many musicians would do best to avoid this release rather than attempt to top it. - Gary Suarez
It's hard to believe everybody who voted for this winner actually own a 7" only release. It's also hard to believe it beat out the mindblowing TG Now, 27's jaw-dropping Let the Light In, and a Four Tet single that comes with his entire collection of music videos on an accompanying DVD! Additionally, none of Battles's three fantastic EPs cracked the top 25 but mind you, they will surely be on everybodys lists this time next year once you-know-who has released their album and made them even more buzzworthy. Then you'll be recalling me saying this just like I said about Sigur Ros, Dresden Dolls, and !!!, but did you listen then? No. - Jon Whitney
Can Dirty Water get an honorable mention? - Chris Roberts
best various artist compilation
- "Kompilation" (Kranky)"
- "Kompakt 100" (Kompakt)"
- "Golden Apples of the Sun" (Bastet)"
- "Broken-Hearted Dragonflies: Insect Electronica From Southeast Asia" (Sublime Frequencies)"
- "Cambodian Cassette Archives Khmer Folk and Pop Music, Vol. 1" (Sublime Frequencies)"
- "Radio India: The Eternal Dream of Sound" (Sublime Frequencies)"
- "Split Series 9-16" (Fat Cat)"
- "Compilation 2" (DFA)"
- "Thank You" (Temporary Residence)"
- "Left of the Dial: Dispatches From the '80s Underground" (Rhino)"
- "Matador At Fifteen" (Matador)"
- "Haunted Weather" (Staubgold)"
- "Old Enough To Know Better: 15 Years of Merge" (Merge)"
- "Song of the Silent Land" (Constellation)"
- "Shockout Vol. 1" (Shockout)"
- "Moog Movie Soundtrack" (Hollywood)"
- "Death's Last Life's Breath" (Beta-Lactam Ring)"
- "Shotgun Wedding Vol 3: Kid606 Vs. Cex" (Violent Turd)"
- "Children of Mu" (Planet µ)"
- "Manhunt Soundtrack" (Rephlex)"
- "Speicher Cd 2" (Kompakt Extra)"
- "Amunition" (Planet µ)"
- "Neurot Recordings I" (Neurot)"
- "Rock Action Presents Vol. 1" (Rock Action)"
- "Zen Rmx" (Ninja Tune)"
Comments
Kranky set a standard this year that all other record labels are going to have to try and measure up to. The compilation itself was gorgeous, cheap, and full of some of the best music to grace any recorded format. I won't argue against Mute or any other label on the lists, but this year belonged to Kranky in my mind. - Luke Schleicher
Maybe not the most impressive musically, but as for unexpected and historically important you couldn't go wrong with Stones Throw's The Third Unheard. Who knew that an urban musical genre that dominates popular music today had roots in suburban 1979 Connecticut? I didn't. - Chris Roberts
It's nice to see a kompilation of current music beating out some (stellar) compilations of archive material and newly re-discovered oddities. It brings hope for the new year that a label such as Kranky is still releasing challenging contemporary music. The Charalambides reissue program, the addition of Greg Davis to the roster, consistently rewarding releases by Keith Fullerton Whitman and the wonderfully difficult music of Brent Gutzeit all show that Kranky has moved bravely forward into the new millenium. It gives me a renewed sense of faith in listeners to see that these developments have been recognized and rewarded. - Jim Siegel
Kwite a koincidence that the number one and two spots on the kompilation kountdown were both taken by kute misspellings of kommon words. Daft kunts. - Jonathan Dean
reissue/vault/collection album of the year
- Can, "Tago Mago"
- Can, "Ege Bamyasi"
- Nurse With Wound, "Soliloquoy for Lilith"
- Brian Eno, "Ambient 1: Music for Airports"
- Brian Eno, "Here Come the Warm Jets"
- Current 93, "Thunder Perfect Mind"
- Einst?zende Neubauten, "Tabula Rasa"
- Can, "Monster Movie"
- Brian Eno, "Ambient 4: On Land"
- Brian Eno, "Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)"
- Brian Eno, "Discreet Music"
- William Basinski, "Disintegration Loops 1-4"
- Nurse With Wound, "She and Me Fall Together In Free Death"
- Pavement, "Crooked Rain Crooked Rain - La's Desert Origins"
- The Legendary Pink Dots, "9 Lives to Wonder"
- Low, "A Lifetime of Temporary Relief"
- Antony and the Johnsons, "Antony and the Johnsons"
- Can, "Soundtracks"
- Einst?zende Neubauten, "Kalte Sterne: Early Recordings"
- Slowdive, "Catch the Breeze"
- Current 93, "Sixsixsix: Sicksicksick"
- The Clash, "London Calling 25th Anniversary"
- Glenn Branca, "The Ascension"
- Six Organs of Admittance, "The Manifestation"
- Brian Eno, "Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror"
Comments
Tago Mago is a fantastic record. Perhaps in my top 20 favorite records of all time, but once again, I wonder if this many people have actually heard the reissue and can honestly compare the SA CD to the original version. Big time efforts like the Virgin Prunes reissue campaign didn't even crack the top 25 and Low put out an astounding 3xCD/1xDVD (double sided even) set and that doesn't crack the top 15. The Deathprod box and the Squirrel Bait box are criminally underrepresented. Maybe it's time to re-expand this category for boxed/multiple sets. - Jon Whitney
When are we going to get a remastered Tonight's the Night? Instead Neil Young gives us a half-baked, unnecessary Greatest Hits release? Please. The world is in dire need of a Tonight's the Night Sessions boxed set. A mere repackaged CD wouldn't do the album justice. Next summer, maybe? Maybe I'm getting swept up in all the media hype, but Nirvana's With the Lights Out has all the trappings of an essential compilation, if a wee bit sprawling. Especially for those who couldn't find/afford all the Outcesticide releases... even if it did help fund the constant trainwreck that is CL. - Chris Roberts
I'm happy to see that Slowdive still has a place in people's hearts. Unlike so much other "shoegazer" music from the early 1990s, Slowdive's three albums still sound wonderful to me today. Their final LP, Pygmalion, is a massively underappreciated avant-whatever classic. It presents the work of a group obviously unconcerned with remaining true to genre rules. It's too bad they didn't explore this direction further. Hopefully the interest that this compilation stirs up will encourage someone to reissue the long out-of-print Pygmalion. - Jim Siegel
It would have been nice to posthumously honor Arthur Russell—a guy who spent most of his short life toiling away in obscurity, quietly influencing a generation of artists. I find it disheartening he wasn't able to crack the top 25, in a year that three superlative reissues of his uniquely ingenious music were released. - Jonathan Dean
label of the year
- Mute
- Kranky
- Young God
- Fat Cat
- Sub Pop
- Touch
- Warp
- Drag City
- Touch and Go
- DFA
- Important
- Threshold House
- Matador
- Alien8
- Nonesuch
- Thrill Jockey
- Constellation
- Domino
- One Little Indian
- Anti
- Beta-Lactam Ring
- Durtro/Jnana
- Ipecac
- Sonig
- Merge
Comments
It was a very ambitious year for Mute with tons of amazing reissues and some good new albums too. Now where's that Nitzer Ebb collection you've been promising? - Jon Whitney
For the most part, Mute had an impressive year, especially on the reissue front with double disc sets from Richard Kirk / Sandoz and Suicide. With the label's continued commitment to quality acts like Diamanda Galas, Einsturzende Neubauten, and Pan Sonic, we can forgive its misguided attempts with the far-less talented Client, Miss Kittin, and M83. - Gary Suarez
Call me a one trick pony, but you can't deny Stones Throw's contributions this year. Best hip hop release in recent memory (Madvillian), Gary Wilson's first new record since the 1970s, a vitally important compilation (the Connecticut hip hop V/A) on top of their other releases AND the funk/soul rereleases on Now Again, the label's rereleasing machine aka subsidiary. Not to mention the DVD that they put out in the Fall. It made me say "holla." - Chris Roberts
Excuse me, Touch and Warp in the top 10 of the year? Touch records has become the ultimate namecheck label for boring beard strokers, and I seriously doubt anyone actually listens to 99% of their output before shelving it next to the other releases on their CD rack. And I shouldn't have to say anything about the embarassing Warp roster. This was truly their worst year in a run of bad years for the label. - Jonathan Dean
artist of the year
- Devendra Banhart
- Coil
- Nurse With Wound
- Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
- Animal Collective
- MíQ
- Squarepusher
- Wolf Eyes
- !!!
- Bj?k
- Acid Mothers Temple
- Liars
- The Hafler Trio
- The Legendary Pink Dots
- Joanna Newsom
- Fennesz
- Black Dice
- Sonic Youth
- Clouddead
- Einst?zende Neubauten
- Mouse On Mars
- Tom Waits
- Keith Fullerton Whitman
- Pan Sonic
- Madvillain
Comments
Two full-length releases, a couple singles, endless touring, and an army of completely freakish insane fans who could rival the creepiness of Bjork or Godspeed nutters. It's a well-earned recognition for Devendra, a talented individual and a great guy. - Jon Whitney
best new artist
Joanna Newsom
Comments
One of Newsom's main strengths may be that she polarizes opinion. She is either loved or hated. She produces a strong reaction in listeners, for better or for worse. From seeing her perform live I gathered that she is a genuine artist, translating the world as she sees it into sound. While many "outsider" artists seem to operate by a set of unwritten conduct laws for weirdos, Newsom seems to be simply blessed with a unique voice and talent to boot. - Jim Siegel
2004 wasn't a huge year for new bands/artists. Looking at the list of newbies, many of them have histories in other groups. Battles had three stellar EPs; Autistic Daughters and Trapist were birthed from the incestuous blood that spawned Dean Roberts and Radian; The Dead Texan's debut was pleasing for fans of Badalamenti and Stars of the Lid; and Arcade Fire are just a glorified recycling of Pulp's music with the tone deaf (but oh so hip) vocal style a'la Interpol. Rachel Goswell of Slowdive/Mojave 3 finally released her long anticipated debut and Fridge's Adem stepped up to the microphone, churned out an impressive debut album, few singles, assembled a tight group, and toured like a madman. - Jon Whitney
lifetime achievement
John Peel
The year of 2004 was full of a number of significant losses. From the passing of friends like John Balance, the passing of a distributor and financier of a number of our favorite groups, and ending with the most catastrophic loss in modern history. This year's Lifetime Achievement recognition was debated with the Brain Staff and in the end, it wasn't given to a musician at all, but to somebody who has truly had a full lifetime of achievement.
Comments
I used to go to record shops when I was young and naive and wonder why so many artists had CDs called "The Peel Sessions." Years later I grew to know the influence the man who was responsible for these recordings had on not just those artists, but music in general. He was a legend, and another reminder that there have been losses. - Rob Devlin
The first time I stumbled upon the name John Peel was during my adolescence in a random gift shop. There were two cassettes with greyish silver packaging, each featuring a different New Order session, 1981 and 1982 respectively. The eight memorable songs on these tapes opened me up to that formative period in the life of a band struggling with the suicide of their former singer and friend. Much like Pink Floyd's work post-Syd Barrett, this reverent music evoked the essence of their former collaborator while inching towards a unique new direction. Though not every Peel Session was as remarkable as these, it's hard to argue against John Peel's significance in modern music. - Gary Suarez
Since I live on the other side of the Atlantic, I can't say that I was a regular Peel listener. Aside from a couple of tapes sent to me by pen-pals back in the 80s and listening to the online feed a few times in recent years, I never heard much of his program. But ever since I bought my first Peel Sessions record (Gary Numan & Tubeway Army, I think it was), I've recognized his influence on the music that I loved. I can only hope that I have even a fraction of the passion he had for music when I reach 65. - Greg Clow
I can't even name one American radio DJ. Does Rick Dees count? These days, DJs are recruited from the stand up comedy circuit and from pools of failed actors, jugglers, magicians, and faceless entertainers. Music is programmed by corporations being bought by the labels or by enthusiastic but under-prepared college students who are the target of just as much payola. But from the time I was 14, I knew the name John Peel and knew that those silver and black cassettes meant new music, weird music, damaged music, and dangerous music. Nearly everything I got into in my formative years can be traced back to a Peel Session. Peel set an uncompromising standard for major market radio programming that will surely—sadly, never be duplicated. - Matthew Jeanes
Theres a serious problem with radio in the entire "free" world, and it's effecting the music industry globally. There are plenty of people all over the world including much of our readers, all of our staff, and most of the people at other publications who keep in touch with new music who would make fantastic DJs. However, DJs don't get to choose music any more - the job of choosing music is up to "programmers" who listen to what industry people say much more than they listen to music itself. John Peel could easily have been the last true DJ for a major radio station. Bringing in guests to perform special sets, always shopping the record stores, never easily satisfied with the drivel that most labels release in excess. Take this as a note to all the replacable so-and-sos in the big major markets who bow to the major machine: you will never be a fraction of a percent as important as John Peel was. - Jon Whitney
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