Album of the Year

  1. Tim Hecker, ""Virgins"" (Kranky)
  2. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, ""Push the Sky Away"" (Kobalt)
  3. Boards of Canada, ""Tomorrow's Harvest"" (Warp)
  4. My Bloody Valentine, ""m b v"" (self-released)
  5. The Haxan Cloak, ""Excavation"" (TriAngle)
  6. Autechre, ""Exai"" (Warp)
  7. Grouper, ""The Man Who Died in His Boat"" (Kranky)
  8. William Basinski, ""Nocturnes"" (2062)
  9. The Legendary Pink Dots, ""The Gethsemane Option"" (Metropolis)
  10. Wire, ""Change Becomes Us"" (Pink Flag)
  11. Matmos, ""The Marriage of True Minds"" (Thrill Jockey)
  12. Locrian, ""Return to Annihilation"" (Relapse)
  13. Barn Owl, ""V"" (Thrill Jockey)
  14. Julia Holter, ""Loud City Song"" (Domino)
  15. Broadcast, ""Berberian Sound Studio"" (Warp)
  16. The Legendary Pink Dots, ""Code Noir"" (Beta-Lactam Ring)
  17. Oren Ambarchi, Jim O'Rourke and Keiji Haino, ""Now While It's Still Warm Let Us Pour in All the Mystery"" (Black Truffle)
  18. Chelsea Wolfe, ""Pain is Beauty"" (Sargent House)
  19. Bill Callahan, ""Dream River"" (Drag City)
  20. Tropic of Cancer, ""Restless Idyll"" (Blackest Ever Black)
  21. Carter Tutti, ""Coolicon"" (Conspiracy International)
  22. Mika Vainio, ""Kilo"" (Blast First Petite)
  23. Pan American, ""Cloud Room, Glass Room"" (Kranky)
  24. Wolf Eyes, ""No Answer: Lower Floors"" (De Stijl)
  25. Low, ""The Invisible Way"" (Sub Pop)
  26. Teho Teardo & Blixa Bargeld, ""Still Smiling"" (Specula)
  27. Colin Stetson, ""New History Warfare Vol. 3: To See More Light"" (Constellation)
  28. The Knife, ""Shaking the Habitual"" (Mute)
  29. Lustmord, ""The Word As Power"" (Blackest Ever Black)
  30. Mazzy Star, ""Seasons of Your Day"" (Rhymes Of An Hour)
  31. The Legendary Pink Dots, ""The Curse of Marie Antoinette"" (Rustblade)
  32. Forest Swords, ""Engravings"" (TriAngle)
  33. Rashad Becker, ""Traditional Music of Notional Species, Vol. I"" (PAN)
  34. Cindytalk, ""A Life Is Everywhere"" (Editions Mego)
  35. The Necks, ""Open"" (Northern Spy)
  36. Prurient, ""Through the Window"" (Blackest Ever Black)
  37. Body/Head, ""Coming Apart"" (matador)
  38. Julia Kent, ""Character"" (Leaf)
  39. Mogwai , ""Les Revenants Soundtrack"" (Rock Action)
  40. Wrekmeister Harmonies, ""You've Always Meant So Much To Me"" (Thrill Jockey)
  41. Dirty Beaches, ""Drifters/Love Is the Devil"" (Zoo Music)
  42. Master Musicians of Bukkake, ""Far West"" (Important)
  43. Oneohtrix Point Never, ""R Plus Seven"" (Warp)
  44. The Dead C, ""Armed Courage"" (Ba Da Bing!)
  45. Daniel Menche, ""Marriage of Metals"" (Editions Mego)
  46. Main, ""Ablation"" (Editions Mego)
  47. These New Puritans, ""Field of Reeds"" (Infectious)
  48. Factory Floor, ""Factory Floor"" (DFA)
  49. Föllakzoid, ""II"" (Sacred Bones)
  50. Laurel Halo, ""Chance of Rain"" (Hyperdub)
  51. Boduf Songs, ""Burnt Up On Re-Entry"" (Southern)
  52. Phill Niblock, ""Touch Five"" (Touch)
  53. Implodes, ""Recurring Dream"" (Kranky)
  54. Ensemble Pearl, ""Ensemble Pearl"" (Drag City)
  55. Emptyset, ""Recur"" (Raster-Noton)
  56. Julianna Barwick, ""Nepenthe"" (Dead Oceans)
  57. Pere Ubu, ""lady From Shangai"" (Fire Records)
  58. Benoit Pioulard, ""Hymnal"" (Kranky)
  59. Vatican Shadow, ""Remember Your Black Day"" (Hospital)
  60. Chris Watson, ""In St. Cuthbert's Time"" (Touch)
  61. Mohammad, ""Son Sakrifis"" (PAN)
  62. Steve Gunn, ""Time Off"" (Paradise of Bachelors)
  63. Noveller, ""No Dreams"" (important)
  64. CoH, ""Retro 2038"" (Editions Mego)
  65. Jesu, ""Everyday I Get Closer To The Light From Which I Came"" (Avalanche)
  66. Bardo Pond, ""Peace on Venus"" (Fire)
  67. Jasper TX, ""An Index of Failure"" (Handmade Birds)
  68. Svarte Greiner, ""Black Tie"" (Miasmah)
  69. Fire! Orchestra , ""Exit!"" (Rune Grammofon)
  70. *AR, ""Succession"" (Corbel Stone Press)
  71. Mountains, ""Centralia"" (Thrill Jockey)
  72. Roly Porter, ""Life Cycle of a Massive Star"" (Subtext)
  73. Bill Orcutt, ""A History of Every One"" (Editions Mego)
  74. Ryoji Ikeda, ""Supercodex"" (Raster-Noton)
  75. Black Boned Angel, ""The End"" (Handmade Birds)
  76. Date Palms, ""The Dusted Sessions"" (Thrill Jockey)
  77. Jacob Kirkegaard, ""Conversions"" (Touch)
  78. Matana Roberts, ""Coin Coin Chapter Two: Mississippi Moonchile"" (Constellation)
  79. Zola Jesus and JG Thirlwell, ""Version"" (Sacred Bones)
  80. Pharmakon, ""Abandon"" (Sacred Bones)
  81. Pet Shop Boys, ""Electric"" (x2)
  82. Aidan Baker, ""Already Drowning"" (Gizeh)
  83. The Legendary Pink Dots, ""Taos Hum"" (Trademark of Quantity)
  84. Demdike Stare , ""The Weight of Culture"" (No Label )
  85. Hacker Farm , ""UHF"" (Exotic Pylon)
  86. The Stranger, ""Watching Dead Empires In Decay"" (Modern Love)
  87. William Tyler, ""Impossible Truth"" (Merge)
  88. Gabriel Saloman, ""Soldier's Requiem"" (Miasmah)
  89. Wooden Wand, ""Blood Oaths of the New Blues"" (Fire)
  90. Paul Jebanasam, ""Rites"" (Subtext)
  91. Colleen, ""The Weighing of the Heart"" (Second Language)
  92. Matt Elliott, ""Only Myocardial Infarction Can Break Your Heart"" (Ici d'ailleurs)
  93. Basic House, ""Oats"" (Alter)
  94. Jenny Hval, ""Innocence is Kinky"" (Rune Grammofon)
  95. Bruce Gilbert & BAW, ""Diluvial"" (Touch)
  96. Daniel Menche, ""Vilke"" (Sige)
  97. Duane Pitre, ""Bridges"" (Important)
  98. Glenn Jones, ""My Garden State"" (Thrill Jockey)
  99. Kaboom Karavan, ""Hokus Fokus"" (Miasmah)
  100. The Silverman, ""Finisterre"" (Trademark of Quantity)

Single of the Year

  1. Autechre, ""L-Event"" (Warp)
  2. Burial, ""Rival Dealer"" (Hyperdub)
  3. Demdike Stare, ""Testpressings 4"" (self-released)
  4. ( r ), ""The House Of The Rising Sun"" (self-released)
  5. Larsen, ""Uncruel Cool Mouth"" (Zos Kia Sounds Recordings)
  6. Helm, ""Silencer"" (PAN/Alter)
  7. Vatican Shadow, ""When You Are Crawling"" (Hospital)
  8. Cut Hands, ""Damballah 58"" (Blackest Ever Black)
  9. Pete Swanson, ""Punk Authority"" (Software)
  10. Miles, ""Unsecured"" (Modern Love)
  11. Nurse With Wound/Graham Bowers, ""Diploid"" (Red Wharf)
  12. Khan Of Finland, ""Thin White Sinner"" (I'm Single)
  13. Pye Corner Audio, ""Conical Space"" (Dekorder)
  14. Songs:Ohia, ""Hecla & Griper"" (Secretly Canadian)
  15. Lee Noble, ""Ruiner"" (Bathetic)
  16. Pye Corner Audio, ""Superstitious Century"" (Boomkat)
  17. The Fall, ""The Remainderer"" (Cherry Red)
  18. Boduf Songs/Jessica Bailiff, ""Decapitation Blues / Lakeside Blues"" (Morc)
  19. Edward Ka-Spel, ""The Patriot"" (Unlimited Drift)
  20. Moin, ""EP"" (Blackest Ever Black)
  21. The Bug, ""Filthy"" (Ninja Tune)
  22. Al Cisneros, ""Ark Procession"" (Drag City)
  23. John Foxx and the Belbury Circle, ""Empty Avenues"" (Ghost Box)
  24. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, ""Needle Boy"" (Kobalt)
  25. Al Cisneros, ""Teresa Of Avila"" (Sinai)

Live album/vault recording/reissue (or otherwise not really a ""new full-length album"")

  1. Swans, ""Not Here/Not Now"" (Young God)
  2. Grouper, ""Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill"" (Kranky)
  3. Edward Artemiev, ""Solaris Original Soundtrack"" (Mirumir)
  4. Natural Snow Buildings / Isengrind / Twinsistermoon, ""The Snowbringer Cult"" (Ba Da Bing!)
  5. Songs:Ohia, ""The Magnolia Electric Co."" (Secretly Canadian)
  6. Bernard Parmegiani, ""De Natura Sonorum"" (Recollection GRM)
  7. Iannis Xenakis, ""GRM Works 1957-1962"" (Recollection GRM)
  8. Edward Artemiev, ""Stalker/The Mirror - Music From Andrey Tarkovsky's Motion Pictures"" (Mirumir)
  9. Four Tet, ""Rounds"" (Domino)
  10. Chrome, ""Half Machine from the Sun"" (self-released)
  11. Godflesh, ""Hymns"" (The End)
  12. Sandwell District, ""Fabric 69"" (Fabric)
  13. Edward Ka-Spel, ""A Pleasure Cruise Through 9 Dimensions"" (Trademark of Quantity)
  14. The Legendary Pink Dots, ""9 Lives to Wonder redux"" (Trademark of Quantity)
  15. Grails, ""Black Tar Prophecies Vol. 4, 5 & 6"" (Temporary Residence)
  16. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, ""Live from KCRW"" (Bad Seed Ltd.)
  17. Come, ""Eleven:Eleven"" (Matador)
  18. Peter Jeffries, ""The Last Great Challenge in a Dull World"" (De Stijl)
  19. The Legendary Pink Dots, ""Seconds Late for the Brighton Line redux"" (Trademark of Quantity)
  20. Alastair Galbraith, ""Cry"" (MIE)
  21. Roky Erickson, ""The Evil One"" (Light in the Attic)
  22. The Legendary Pink Dots, ""From Here You'll Watch the World Go By redux"" (Trademark of Quantity)
  23. Devo, ""Hardcore"" (Superior Viaduct)
  24. Drexciya, ""Journey Of The Deep Sea Dweller IV"" (Clone Classic Cuts )
  25. Horseback, ""A Plague of Knowing"" (Relapse)
  26. Robert Wyatt, ""68"" (Cuneiform)
  27. Dead Can Dance, ""In Concert"" (Play It Again Sam)
  28. Eliane Radigue, ""Opus 17"" (Alga Marghen)
  29. Ensemble Economique, ""The Vastness Is Bearable Only Through Love"" (Shelter Press)
  30. M. Geddes Gengras, ""Collected Works Vol. 1: The Moog Years"" (Umor Rex)
  31. Sun City Girls, ""Eye Mohini (Sun City Girls Singles Volume 3)"" (Abduction)
  32. Fluxion, ""Vibrant Forms"" (Type)
  33. Gnod, ""Chaudelande"" (Rocket)
  34. Loren Connors, ""The Departing of a Dream"" (Family Vineyard)
  35. The Legendary Pink Dots, ""Hallway of the Gods redux"" (Trademark of Quantity)
  36. Alberich, ""Machine Gun Nest: Cassette Works, Vol. 0"" (Hospital)
  37. Iancu Dumitrescu, ""Pierres Sacrees/Hazard and Tectonics"" (Ideologic Organ)
  38. Robbie Basho, ""Visions of the Country"" (Gnome Life)
  39. The Slaves, ""Ocean on Ocean"" (Helen Scarsdale)
  40. Codeine, ""What About the Lonely?"" (Numero Group)
  41. Robert Turman, ""Beyond Painting"" (Fabrica)
  42. Steve Hauschildt, ""S/H"" (Editions Mego)
  43. Craig Leon, ""Nommos"" (Superior Viaduct)
  44. Francois Bayle, ""Les couleurs de la nuit"" (Sub Rosa)
  45. Muslimgauze, ""Izlamic Songs"" (Staalplaat)
  46. Troum, ""Syzygie"" (Cold Spring)
  47. Fela Kuti, ""The Best of the Black President 2"" (Knitting Factory)
  48. Felicia Atkinson, ""Visions/Voices"" (Umor Rex)
  49. Loscil, ""Intervalo: Adaptations for Piano & Laptop"" (Frond)
  50. Piano Magic, ""Heart Machinery"" (Second Language)

Various Artist Collection of the Year

  1. ""Touch30"" (Touch)
  2. ""Metal Dance 2: Industrial, New Wave, and EBM Classics & Rarities 79-88"" (Strut)
  3. ""Mutazione: Italian Electronic & New Wave Underground 1980-1988"" (Strut)
  4. ""Deutsche Elektronische Musik 2"" (Soul Jazz)
  5. ""I Am The Center: Private Issue New Age Music in America 1950-1990"" (Light in the Attic)
  6. ""An Anthology of Noise and Electronic Music Vol. 7"" (Sub Rosa)
  7. ""After Dark 2"" (Italians Do It Better)
  8. ""Change the Beat: The Celluloid Records Story 1979-1987"" (Strut)
  9. ""L.I.E.S. Presents Music for Shut-Ins"" (L.I.E.S.)
  10. ""The Crying Princess: 78RPM Records from Burma"" (Sublime Frequencies)
  11. ""Afrobeat Airways 2: Return Flight to Ghana 1974-1983"" (Analog Africa)
  12. ""20 Jahre Kompakt/Kollektion 1"" (Kompakt)
  13. ""Choubi Choubi! Folk & Pop Songs from Iraq Vol. 2"" (Sublime Frequencies)
  14. ""Ethnic Minority Music of Southern China "" (Sublime Frequencies)
  15. ""Collision/Detection"" (Front & Follow)
  16. ""Kenya Special: Selected East African Recordings from the 1970s and '80s"" (Soundway)
  17. ""Purple Snow: Forecasting the Minneapolis Sound"" (Numero Group)
  18. ""Hassaniya Music from the Western Sahara and Mauritania"" (Sublime Frequencies)
  19. ""Livity Sound"" (Livity Sound)
  20. ""Halh: 20 Years of Downwards"" (Downwards)
  21. ""Down To The Silver Sea"" (Blank Workshop / Gecophonic Audio Systems)
  22. ""Feral Grind"" (Submit)
  23. ""20 Jahre Kompakt/Kollektion 2"" (Kompakt)
  24. ""Studio One Ska Fever!"" (Soul Jazz)
  25. ""Greek Rhapsody (Instrumental Music from Greece 1905-1956)"" (Dust-to-Digital)

 

Boxed Set

  1. Eliane Radigue, ""Adnos I-III"" (Important)
  2. Cabaret Voltaire, ""#8385 Collected Works (1983-1985)"" (Mute)
  3. Can, ""Can"" (Spoon)
  4. Natural Snow Buildings, ""Daughter of Darkness"" (Ba Da Bing!)
  5. Eleh, ""Homage"" (Taiga)
  6. Akos Rozmann, ""Images of the Dream and Death"" (Ideologic Organ)
  7. Skullflower, ""Kino I-IV"" (Dirter)
  8. The Hafler Trio, "" A Cure For Kenophobia-an Empowerment In 4 Easy Stages At Very Reasonable Rates; Recordings 87-99 "" (Vinyl On Demand)
  9. My Cat is an Alien, ""Psycho-System"" (Elliptical Noise)
  10. Red Temple Spirits, ""Dancing to Restore an Eclipsed Moon/If Tomorrow I Were Leaving for Lhasa, I Wouldn't Stay a Minute More... "" (Independent Project)
  11. Conny Plank, ""Who's That Man: A Tribute to Conny Plank"" (Grönland)
  12. Dennis Johnson, ""November"" (Penultimate Press)
  13. Greg Haines, ""2006-2012"" (Denovali)
  14. Half Japanese, ""1/2 Gentlemen/Not Beasts"" (Fire)
  15. Jandek, ""The Song of Morgan"" (Corwood)

 

Act of the Year




New Artist of the Year




Overlooked Staff Picks

 

Lifetime Achievement Recognition

 

Jason Molina

 

Worst Album of the Year

  1. Arcade Fire, ""Reflektor"" (Merge)
  2. Vampire Weekend, ""Modern Vampires of the City"" (XL)
  3. The Men, ""New Moon"" (Sacred Bones)
  4. !!!, ""THR!!!ER"" (Warp)
  5. Darkstar, ""News from Nowhere"" (4AD)
  6. Queens of the Stone Age, ""...Like Clockwork"" (Matador)
  7. Smith Westerns, ""Soft Will"" (Mom + Pop Music)
  8. Chvrches, ""The Bones of What You Believe"" (Glassnote)
  9. Cut Copy, ""Free Your Mind"" (Modular)
  10. Majical Cloudz, ""Impersonator"" (Matador)

 


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