08 January 2017

Administrator

Albums and Singles

Richard Skelton was atypically quiet in 2016, as he and Autumn Richardson seemed to be focusing primarily upon their publishing ventures, poetry, visual art, and Skelton's esoteric and multifarious research projects.  Fortunately, however, the duo managed to release this EP in December to accompany a series of collages they completed during a month-long residency in the Orkneys.  While it only clocks in at a lean 20 minutes, Earth by Means of the Currents is one of the more focused and powerful releases in the duo’s collaborative oeuvre, featuring both a solid foray into their warmly beautiful drone comfort zone and a buzzing, gnarled plunge into its negative image.

Corbel Stone Press/Aeolian Editions

In classic Skelton fashion, the residency where this album was birthed was both hyper-specific and geological in nature, as this work is part of a commission for ØY, a "festival of island magnetism."  Since this EP is not a radical divergence from typical *AR fare, it is unclear how much that commission directly shaped the couple's musical decisions, though there are apparently field recordings from Papa Westray used throughout the album.  I suspect most of them are well-concealed and subtle textural touches, however, as I could only pick out the sound of waves washing up on a shore in the opening "The Primary Menstruum or Mother-Liquid."  Much more evident is the commission's impact on the song titles, as "primary menstruum" was Evan Hopkins' description of the ocean in his 1844 book On the Connexion of Geology with Terrestrial Magnetism.  That book was the subject of Skelton and Richardson’s collage series.

To the duo’s credit, "Primary Menstruum" certainly sounds appropriately oceanic, albeit far more like a calm and sun-dappled bay than a raging sea.  It is quite a simple and organically flowing piece structurally, built from warm and slow moving swells of strings embellished with a Siren-esque nimbus of Autumn’s hazy, wordless, and cooing vocals.  While it is a strong motif on its own, a lot of secondary appeal lies in the piece's nuances (such as sneakily massing harmonic overtones) and subtle dynamic shifts (the gently churning and throbbing undercurrent).  The undulating harmonic cloud that it leaves in its wake as it fades away is especially beautiful.  Beauty was presumably not the intention for the following "The Winding of a Galvanic Wire" though, which seems to be inspired by Hopkins' theories about the world being turned by a powerful current.  Naturally, the piece feels suitably like a deep and terrestrial electrical hum, as its core motif is a densely buzzing and oscillating bed of shifting drones from a tone generator.  There are a few ominous and cavernous sounds in the periphery and some twinkling, buried, and fried-sounding strings to give the piece a bit of an epic and massive feel, but the meat is primarily just the mass of thick, buzzing drones.  It is an enjoyable and effective piece as a counterbalance to "Primary Menstruum," but it would not stand with the pair's finest work on its own, as Skelton has previously channeled crushing elemental force far more viscerally on The Inward Circles' Nimrod is Lost in Orion and Osyris in the Doggestarre album.

Given that Earth by Means of the Currents was created to coincide with a series of visual works, it is probably not entirely fair to judge it as a stand-alone work.  However, that is presumably how most people are going to experience it, aside from those who snapped up the limited edition booklet. Happily, it holds up quite well to that unintended scrutiny: it is certainly a rather modest release, but quite a strong one too.  Both pieces flow nicely and feel like they have been painstakingly chiseled down to their clutter-free essence.  While "Galvanic Wire" is a bit of a departure, the stronger and more characteristic "Primary Menstruum" is the EP's true centerpiece.  As such, Earth by Means of the Currents unavoidably feels a bit like *AR treading water creatively and perfecting familiar themes between more substantial endeavors, but they certainly manage to do that beautifully: Skelton and Richardson's instincts, craftsmanship, and attention to detail remain in peak form.

Samples:

• The Primary Menstruum or Mother Liquid
• The Primary Menstruum or Mother Liquid (excerpt two)
• The Winding of a Galvanic Wire

 

07 January 2017

Administrator

Albums and Singles

Available for the first time since being issued privately as extremely limited vinyl, Dirter are pleased to announce the CD issue of the ultra rare 2014 two-track LP The Great Ecstasy of the Basic Corrupt. The additional track "Circles of Confusion" comes from the equally rare Silver Bromide LP.

Indulge yourself in these three immersive, ocean deep and intensely powerful tracks of sinister whimsy for the wretched. Yet another classic from the timeless and ever evolving Nurse With Wound.

More information can be found here.

07 January 2017

Administrator

Albums and Singles

World-renowned as one of experimental music's most vital and impressionistic composers of the past few decades, William Basinski’s tape loop works have been especially influential, particularly on the historic series, The Disintegration Loops, where distorted, orchestral tape samples burrow deep into the listener's psyche through meditative repetition. On his new album, A Shadow In Time, Basinski plunges deeper than ever for the plaintive, solitary eulogy to David Bowie, aptly titled "For David Robert Jones." Conversely, the title track, "A Shadow In Time," is a subtle, celestial escalation of melody and drone. The result is one of the most truly transcendent pieces of music he has ever committed to – or wrung from – tape.

More information can be found here.

06 January 2017

Administrator

Albums and Singles

Thanks again to everyone who participated in the Annual Brainwashed Readers Poll.

and now, the results:

Album of the Year

1. Swans, "The Glowing Man" (Young God)
   
   "The final album from this configuration of Swans saw them re-tread a lot of ground covered by the other reunion albums. Sure it rocked but I agree with Gira and company that this line-up has run its course. Swans have always been about breaking things down and starting again, The Glowing Man is a decent full stop to this period but for me it was swamped by a year of incredible career-capping albums where frontiers were pushed and explored (I don't need to name names here). The Glowing Man instead felt like more of the same by an artist known for avoiding familiar territory." - John Kealy
   
   "Can Swans do no wrong? I don't expect any band to be perfect, especially one that's been going this long, but I'm surprised that one of their middling albums would earn the top spot. There are other tried and true Brainwashed-esque bands on this list that did adventurous things in 2016 (Xiu Xiu's take on Twin Peaks seems like an obvious choice) and others that managed to pull out one of their best albums after 30 years (see the next entry). So what is it about Swans that keeps them at the top of the heap? They're a fantastic unit, but at this point they're not nearly so surprising as, for instance, Valerio Tricoli, Radian, or Jenny Hval. Maybe we should exempt them from the next poll, if only to give more space to the bands who can't count Thor as one of their members." - Lucas Schleicher
   
   "I suppose this line-up may have creatively run its course, but Swans still have a genius for making even their weaker songs feel convincingly epic.  More importantly, why aren't any of the Norman Westberg solo albums on this list?  Go sit in the corner and think about what you've done, readers." - Anthony D'Amico
   
   "I have to agree with John.  This was unquestionably a good album, but with the trilogy of this, The Seer, and To Be Kind, I think Gira and company have worked as much as they could with this approach.  The title song is definitely one of my favorites of this era, however." - Creaig Dunton
   
   "For an act that has announced that this is the 'end' of a phase, The Glowing Man certainly has an incredible amount of momentum. For 10 songs that stretch two hours, it moves along without dragging. Gira has changed his mind before and this certainly does not sound like the end of anything." - Jon Whitney
   
   
2. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, "Skeleton Tree" (Bad Seed Ltd)
   
   "In a year of heavy albums, Skeleton Tree might be the heaviest. Often sounding uneven and unfinished, there is a bare bones quality to these songs that make them relentlessly crushing. Paired with Andrew Dominik's documentary film, One More Time With Feeling, this album entirely breaks the mold for what to expect from Nick Cave or the Bad Seeds. His work has always incorporated the brutal and the beautiful with a wry and dramatic flair but Skeleton Tree comes from the heart, capturing grief in a way that is rare in music." - John Kealy
   
   "I haven't enjoyed a Nick Cave/Bad Seeds record so much since Blixa left. Push the Sky Away was very strong. Skeleton Tree, uneven as it may be, is outstanding. I like to complain and moan a lot in these year-end lists, but this is a pick that absolutely deserves to be in the top five spot. Name another band or a songwriter who has gone for 30-plus years and still has the imagination and work ethic necessary to release one of their strongest albums ever. The list is short, but I suppose that's to be expected. What's surprising is that Skeleton Tree feels like a natural continuation of what Cave has been doing the last decade. It's not a surprise return to form or an out-of-the-blue gem, it's just a product of what Nick Cave has always worked at. The man is a rock." - Lucas Schleicher
   
   
3. Lustmord, "Dark Matter" (Touch)
   
   "Man, you people sure liked this album a lot more than I did." - Anthony D'Amico
   
   
4. Loscil, "Monument Builders" (Kranky)
   
   "I have mixed feelings about this one, as I could have definitely done without the Philip Glass influence.  I like "Weeds" a lot though and I certainly appreciate the attempt to try something new.  And I probably would not have read John Gray's brilliant Straw Dogs if it had not been mentioned as one of the Scott Morgan's primary inspirations." - Anthony D'Amico
   
   "Dark but dense this album certainly isn't one of Morgan's happiest records. Brainwashed readers certainly like the dark stuff." - Jon Whitney
   
   
5. Tim Hecker, "Love Streams" (4AD)
   
   "For a long time, Tim Hecker could do no wrong for me. However, Love Streams was a chore to get through. Gone was the warmth and the human touch to his wonderful music and instead this felt like a commodification of what was once a good thing." - John Kealy
   
   "I was somewhat underwhelmed by Love Streams initially, as I could not help but compare it to the considerably more audacious and singular Virgins.  It has definitely grown on me a lot since then though, as "Music of the Air" and "Violet Monumental I" are easily two of the most beautiful pieces Hecker has ever recorded." - Anthony D'Amico 
   
   
6. Matmos, "Ultimate Care II" (Thrill Jockey)
   
   "In our house, I am the king of the washing machine. I have a system that I like to work with and there is an efficient and steady flow of dirty laundry rejuvenated into clean, fresh clothes for the week ahead. The only thing lacking from the process, is a suitable soundtrack and luckily Matmos have delivered. This is a terrific album that merges the best ideas of musique concrète and experimentation with a great idea and a genuine sense of adventure. It's good, clean fun!" - John Kealy
   
   "The only downside is that the parts aren't indexed. It kinda bothers me, but it's a great listen still." - Jon Whitney
   
   
7. Biosphere, "Departed Glories" (Smalltown Supersound)
   
   "I definitely did not expect such a gorgeous and revelatory reinvention of the Biosphere aesthetic this deep in Geir Jenssen's career.  While it is not quite a perfect album, the high points were beautiful and mysterious enough to decisively make this one of my favorite albums of the year." - Anthony D'Amico
   
   
8. Nurse With Wound, "Dark Fat" (United Jnana/United Dirtier)
   
   "Compiled from various concert recordings, this NWW could have been a redundant release given the numerous live albums that Steve Stapleton has already released. Instead, this feels like an entirely new entity that fits perfectly with some of NWW's murkier and sinister works. Matt Waldron's sculpting of the NWW live sound is impeccable, truly one of the best NWW in years (I seem to be always saying this, every year is always a good year to be a NWW fan)." - John Kealy
   
   "If you are going to release nothing but vault scrapings, this is definitely the most ingenious and satisfying way to do it." - Anthony D'Amico
   
   
9. The Body, "No One Deserves Happiness" (Thrill Jockey)
10. Puce Mary, "The Spiral" (Posh Isolation)
    
    "It is nice to see something hostile and ugly place so high up on the list.  You folks have warmed my black heart." - Anthony D'Amico
    
    
11. Benoît Pioulard, "The Benoît Pioulard Listening Matter" (Kranky)
12. Roy Montgomery, "R M H Q: Headquarters" (Grapefruit)
    
    "I am still trying to process this insanely ambitious mountain of new material.  There are certainly a lot of cool songs, but not four albums worth.  Maybe the next release could be winnowed down to just a double- or triple-album?" - Anthony D'Amico
    
    "Stunning. Each new listen reveals how brilliant some of these songs are. It's a warm, welcome return for Montgomery for me." - Jon Whitney 
    
    
13. Hypnopazūzu, "Create Christ, Sailor Boy" (House of Mythology)
    
    "This uneven collaboration with Youth seems to have creatively reinvigorated David Tibet, as it features some of his strongest performances in recent memory." - Anthony D'Amico
    
    
14. Blixa Bargeld & Teho Teardo, "Nerissimo" (Specula)
    
    "While I enjoyed this duo's first album, Still Smiling, this one feels like a step up. Poetic, delicate and full of beauty, Nerissimo proves that Teardo and Bargeld make for an intriguing duo. They make no attempts to be experimental for the sake of being experimental (neither artist needs to prove any such credentials at this point) but instead focus on the kind of songwriting that I feared would be lost along with Leonard Cohen." - John Kealy
    
    
15. Ian William Craig, "Centres" (FatCat)
    
    "All of Craig's many facets came together in perfect harmony for this lushly beautiful and woozily warped dream-pop masterpiece.  This is probably my personal favorite album of the year." - Anthony D'Amico
    
    
16. Demdike Stare, "Wonderland" (Modern Love)
17. Christian Fennesz & Jim O'Rourke, "It's Hard for Me to Say I'm Sorry" (Editions Mego)
18. Marissa Nadler, "Strangers" (Sacred Bones)
    
    "It felt like Nadler has been on a rocket for her career with each successive album reaching new heights, new regions of musical space. However, Strangers felt to me like she had eased off the accelerator pedal (do rockets have accelerator pedals?) after the sensational July. It's by no means a mis-step or a bad album but comes across a little like treading water after trailblazing for so many years." - John Kealy
    
    
19. Ulver, "Atgclvlsscap" (House Of Mythology)
20. Paul Jebanasam, "Continuum" (Subtext)
    
    "Easily one of the most impressively visceral and wildly ambitious albums of the year. This sounds like space exploding.  Or at least a black hole ripping apart an excellent drone album." - Anthony D'Amico
    
    
21. B/B/S/, "Palace" (Miasmah)
    
    "A perfect exercise in simmering tension and slow-burning intensity." - Anthony D'Amico
    
    
22. Oren Ambarchi, "Hubris" (Editions Mego)
    
    "I truly do not understand the appeal of Oren Ambarchi's rhythm-centric recent work at all.  The last few albums have just felt like a bunch of friends jamming on krautrock vamps to me." - Anthony D'Amico
    
    
23. Roly Porter, "Third Law" (Tri Angle)
    
    "Third Law feels like the Paul Jebanasam album re-envisioned as a complex and prog-damaged space opera during a coke binge.  That is mostly a compliment.  Both are quite stunning production achievements."  - Anthony D'Amico
    
    
24. Aethenor, "Hazel" (VHF)
    
    "I have listened to Hazel so many times and still cannot formulate a clear opinion on it at all.  Sometimes it seems plodding, indulgent, and meandering and other times it seems like Stephen O'Malley and company are successfully channeling Bitches Brew-era Miles Davis." - Anthony D'Amico
    
    
25. Scott Walker, "The Childhood of a Leader OST" (4AD)
    
    "This more than makes up for the lukewarm Soused. This is an absolute beast of an album." - John Kealy
    
    
26. Cindytalk, "The Labyrinth of the Straight Line" (Editions Mego)
    
    "I have admittedly not had a chance to delve too deeply into this one yet (it is currently in my review pile), but so far it is an impressive modern take on some of the earliest 1980s industrial sensibilities." - Creaig Dunton
    
    
27. Mamiffer, "The World Unseen" (Sige)
28. The Legendary Pink Dots, "Pages of Aquarius" (Metropolis)
    
    "One of the catchiest Dots full-length LP in years, it's full of some fantastic tunes and is an instant hook." - Jon Whitney
    
    
29. Aluk Todolo, "Voix" (Norma Evangelium Diaboli)
30. Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, "Ears" (Western Vinyl)
31. Brian Eno, "The Ship" (Warp)
32. Cavern Of Anti-Matter, "Void Beats/Invocation Trex" (Duophonic)
33. Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith & Suzanne Ciani, "FRKWYS Vol. 13 Sunergy" (Frkwys)
34. Ulaan Passerine, "The Great Unwinding" (Worstward)
    
    "Steven R. Smith is an inspiration. The man constantly puts out interesting music, switches styles with ease, and has a knack for interpretation to which anyone planning on covering a song should pay attention. If these year-end lists do any good for anyone, it will be because they urge people to go out and buy Smith's music, in whatever form. Both this and Moss Cathedral were highlights of 2016. If you're smart, you'll pay attention to Worstward and grab the physical editions released there while they're available. Smith often gives as much attention to the packaging as he does to the music, whether they're wrapped in cardstock or cloth. Only digital copies of The Great Unwinding remain, but there's sure to be lots more in 2017." - Lucas Schleicher 
    
    
35. Peder Mannerfelt, "Controlling Body" (Peder Mannerfelt Produktion)
36. Mika Vainio, "Mannerlaatta" (Ideal)
37. Oranssi Pazuzu, "Värähtelijä" (20 Buck Spin)
38. Surgeon, "From Farthest Known Objects" (Dynamic Tension)
39. Rashad Becker, "Traditional Music of Notional Species Vol. II" (PAN)
    
    "I've only listened to this a few times, but it seems every bit as deliciously unhinged as the first volume.  Rashad Becker is a goddamn visionary." - Anthony D'Amico
    
    
40. Silver Apples, "Clinging To A Dream" (Chicken Coop)
41. The Stargazer's Assistant, "Remoteness of Light" (House of Mythology)
    
    "I'm currently frowning at my mailbox waiting for this to arrive.  My annual obsessive plunge into end-of-the-year lists did not yield nearly as many surprises as usual, but I am delighted that my efforts at least turned me onto this." - Anthony D'Amico   
    
    
42. The Caretaker, "Everywhere at the end of time - Stage 1" (History Always Favours the Winners)
43. Controlled Bleeding, "Larva Lumps And Baby Bumps" (Artoffact)
    
    "A lengthy set, but one that does an admirable job of capturing the many (sometimes conflicting) facets of Paul Lemos' long standing project.  It is an "everything but the kitchen sink" approach to music, but it manages to actually work." - Creaig Dunton
    
    
44. Shackleton, "Devotional Songs" (Honest Jon's)
45. MJ Guider, "Precious Systems" (Kranky)
    
    "It's a fantastic introduction to MJ Guider, however I imagine future recordings may be more focused." - Jon Whitney
    
    
46. Natural Snow Buildings, "Aldebaran" (Vulpiano)
    
    "There are unquestionably some great songs strewn throughout this overwhelming tour de force, but it is going to take me months to absorb it all." - Anthony D'Amico
    
    
47. JK Flesh, "Rise Above" (Electric Deluxe)
48. The Legendary Pink Dots, "Chemical Playschool 19 & 20" (Beta-Lactam Ring)
49. The Body & Full Of Hell ‎, "One Day You Will Ache Like I Ache" (Neurot)
50. Pinkcourtesyphone, "Taking into Account Only a Portion of Your Emotions" (Editions Mego)
    
    "Richard Chartier may not have reinvented himself on this album, but it stands strong as a further refinement of this guise, and includes some of his best material to date." - Creaig Dunton
    
    
51. Shirley Collins, "Lodestar" (Domino)
    
    "I am probably a fraud and a cretin for not picking this up yet.  A new Shirley Collins album co-produced by Cyclobe sounds like something that could only exist in my dreams." - Anthony D'Amico
    
    
52. G.H., "Housebound Demigod" (Modern Love)
53. Rangda, "The Heretic's Bargain" (Drag City)
54. D.A.R.F.D.H.S., "Forensligandet" (Northern Electronics)
55. Steve Hauschildt, "Strands" (Kranky)
56. Hexa, "Factory Photographys" (Room40)
57. Vatican Shadow, "Media in the Service of Terror" (Hospital)
    
    "It's another Vatican Shadow tape.  It isn't different than the last ones." - Creaig Dunton
    
    "This project feels like it is on autopilot at this point." - Anthony D'Amico
    
    
58. Klara Lewis, "Too" (Editions Mego)
    
    "This understated and dreamlike album took a while to fully seep in, but its high points are among some of the most strange and beautiful music that I heard all year." - Anthony D'Amico
    
    
59. Pye Corner Audio, "Stasis" (Ghost Box)
60. Emma Ruth Rundle, "Marked For Death" (Sargent House)
61. Xiu Xiu, "Plays The Music Of Twin Peaks" (Polyvinyl)
    
    "I honestly don't know how much I like this, but give Xiu Xiu credit for tackling one of the most beloved soundtracks ever. It takes a little more than confidence to tackle Angelo Badalamenti, Julee Cruise, and David Lynch. Plus "Into the Night" sounded great, whatever you think of their treatment of Laura's theme, "Falling," and the rest of it." - Lucas Schleicher
    
    
62. The Dead C, "Trouble" (Ba Da Bing!)
    
    "A double album of gloriously messy, noise-guitar sprawl and absolutely no attempt to write anything resembling an actual song at all.  No one understands the pleasures of simmering entropy better than The Dead C." - Anthony D'Amico
    
    
63. Landing, "Third Sight" (El Paraiso)
64. And Also The Trees, "Born Into The Waves" (And Also The Trees)
65. Current 93, "The Moons at Your Door" (Current 93)
    
    "I've been struggling with the last few Current 93 albums but this pseudo-soundtrack to David Tibet's ghost story anthology of the same name was very nice. Recalling earlier "literary" works like Faust, I Have a Special Plan for this World and In a Foreign Town, In a Foreign Land, this is a strange and eerie soundscape that Tibet (and in this case Andrew Liles) does well. I would like more of this and another volume of ghost stories please!" - John Kealy
    
    "The book was wonderful.  I don't think it needed a soundtrack though." - Anthony D'Amico  
    
    
66. Landing, "Complekt" (These Are Not Records)
67. Plaid, "The Digging Remedy" (Warp)
68. Ulaan Passerine, "Moss Cathedral" (Worstward)
    
    "Have I mentioned that I love Steven R. Smith? This is one of two excellent albums he released as Ulaan Passerine in 2016. And if you weren't paying attention, you might have missed Salt at the end of 2015. There's no excuse for missing out now that so much of his work is available on Bandcamp. Get with it." - Lucas Schleicher
    
    
69. Croatian Amor, "Love Means Taking Action" (Posh Isolation/Alter)
    
    "This was one of the biggest surprises of the year for me, as Loke Rahbek's weirdly shifting and pornography-themed conceptual art project unexpectedly blossomed into a warm, sensuous, and oft-gorgeous suite of songs that lie somewhere between sexy dance music and This Mortal Coil.  I love this album." - Anthony D'Amico
    
    
70. Andy Stott, "Too Many Voices" (Modern Love)
    
    "This was quite an interesting detour, as Stott seemingly took everything wonderful about Luxury Problems and reprised it in considerably more drugged, ghostly, and fractured form.  I still like it, but Stott's aesthetic is a lot less immediately gratifying with all of his pop instincts drained away." - Anthony D'Amico
    
    
71. Sumac, "What One Becomes" (Thrill Jockey)
72. Gnod, "Mirror" (Rocket)
73. Valerio Tricoli, "Clonic Earth" (PAN)
74. CoH, "Music Vol." (Editions Mego)
75. Orphx, "Pitch Black Mirror" (Sonic Groove)
76. Yves De Mey, "Drawn With Shadow Pens" (Spectrum Spools)
77. John Carpenter, "Lost Themes II" (Sacred Bones)
78. Supersilent, "13" (Smalltown Supersound)
79. Kerridge, "Fatal Light Attraction" (Downwards)
80. Monolake, "VLSI" (Imbalance Computer Music)
81. Yves Tumor, "Serpent Music" (PAN)
82. Heron Oblivion, "Heron Oblivion" (Sub Pop)
83. Kemper Norton, "Toll" (Front & Follow)
84. Boris with Merzbow, "Gensho" (Relapse)
85. Claire M. Singer, "Solas" (Touch)
86. Glenn Jones, "Fleeting" (Thrill Jockey)
    
    "Barbecue Bob in Fishtown was my pick for album of the year in 2009 and Fleeting is very near my favorite album of 2016. I guess I have to get used to the fact that Brainwashed readers and I have parted ways somewhat in the last 10 years because there's no way this isn't a top ten album. Glenn's guitar playing keeps getting better, his songwriting continues to bend and flex in surprising ways, and his ability to work miracles with seemingly basic ingredients singles him out as a master of the instrument. I'll never not be excited about what he's doing next." - Lucas Schleicher
    
    
87. Radian, "On Dark Silent Off" (Thrill Jockey)
    
    "This was such a cool and inventive album.  It should not be this low on the list.  You people are making a mockery of democracy." - Anthony D'Amico
    
    
88. Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O., "Wake To A New Dawn Of Another Astro Era" (Important)
89. JG Thirlwell, "Music of the Venture Bros, Vol. 2" (Ectopic Ents)
90. Forma, "Physicalist" (Kranky)
91. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, "Pond Scum" (Domino)
    
    "This collection of BBC sessions is unfortunately woefully incomplete with one song from one of the sessions left off and with several other sessions left on the shelf that could have made for an immersive 2-3 LP set. Yet, the songs that did make it to press are a wonderful treat for Will Oldham fans, including a cover of "The Cross" by Prince to make you extra sad when listening to it now." - John Kealy
    
    "The best thing Will Oldham has released since The Letting Go. Everyone should hear what Will and Dave Heumann did with "Death to Everyone." The Prince cover is a nice surprise, but the rest of the album is superb and surprisingly coherent, especially considering the span it covers." - Lucas Schleicher
    
    
92. Horse Lords, "Interventions" (Northern Spy)
    
    "Rock band I most want to see live. Turn "Truthers" way up and get completely fucked up on their rhythmic trickery. This Heat fans will get a tingly feeling deep down inside." - Lucas Schleicher
    
    
93. 75 Dollars, "Wood/Metal/Plastic/Pattern/Rhythm/Rock" (Thin Wrist)
94. Alcest, "Kodama" (Prophecy)
95. Thalia Zedek Band, "Eve" (Thrill Jockey)
96. Not Waving, "Animals" (Diagonal)
97. Pita, "Get In" (Editions Mego)
98. Jenny Hval, "Blood Bitch" (Sacred Bones)
99. Ashtray Navigations, "To Make A Fool Ask & You Are The First" (Blackest Ever Black)
100. Dalek, "Asphalt For Eden" (Profound Lore)

Single of the Year

1. Fovea Hex, "The Salt Garden 1" (Headphone Dust/Die Stadt)
   
   "The first installment of a new series of Fovea Hex EPs is reason enough for 2016 to exist, given its awful reputation (the year, not the EP!). This is another startlingly beautiful gem from Clodagh Simonds, I look forward to hearing what 2017 brings." - John Kealy
   
   "I kind of feel like John said everything I was going to, because it is an amazing (if all too brief) collection of songs that has me eagerly awaiting the next release in this series." - Creaig Dunton
   
   "Both surprised and pleased to see this score so high. It's another beautiful piece in a flawless catalog and once again very promising for the following pieces of the series." - Jon Whitney
   
   
2. Wire, "Nocturnal Koreans" (Pink Flag)
3. Aphex Twin, "Cheetah EP" (Warp)
4. Lush, "Blind Spot" (Edamame)
   
   "I actually find this one somewhat depressing now, because it seemed like such an optimistic introduction for new Lush material, and then the band imploded again.  Especially because it was very good, with a sound more akin to the Split era rather than the Britpop catch up Lovelife stuff." - Creaig Dunton
   
   
5. Porter Ricks, "Shadow Boat" (Tresor)
   
   "I am thrilled that Porter Ricks has returned, but these three songs are not quite on the same level as Biokinetics." - Anthony D'Amico
   
   
6. The Legendary Pink Dots, "A Scented Candle" (Noise Noise Noise)
7. Loscil, "Suns" (self-released)
8. JK Flesh, "Nothing Is Free" (Downwards)
9. Container, "Vegetation" (Diagonal)
   
   "Pummeling, strange, and relentlessly kinetic.  Possibly the best Container release yet." - Anthony D'Amico
   
   
10. Carla dal Forno, "Fast Moving Cars" (Blackest Ever Black)
11. Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions, "Let Me Get There" (Tendril Tales)
12. Meat Beat Manifesto, "Tour EP 2016" (Flexidisc)
13. Marissa Nadler, "Bury Your Name" (Sacred Bones)
14. Giacinto Scelsi, Chris Watson, and Joe Browning, "Scelsi" (SN Variations)
15. Braids, "Companion" (Arbutus)
16. Ramleh, "Conquest Play/Clockwork" (Entropy)
    
    "Half electronic noise, half negative noise rock.  Essentially the full Ramleh experience in 15 minutes, and that's a great thing." - Creaig Dunton
    
    
17. Mark Ernestus’ Ndagga Rhythm Force, "Walo Walo" (Ndagga)
    
    "I didn't listen to this single much, but I played Yermande to death.  This improbable project (German techno producer teams up with drummers from Dakar) has been consistently wonderful." - Anthony D'Amico
    
    
18. Sleaford Mods, "T.C.R." (Rough Trade)
    
    "More of the same?  Yeah, pretty much.  But not necessarily a bad thing in my eyes, and the title track is one of the most catchy songs they've done to date." - Creaig Dunton
    
    
19. Essaie Pas, "Demain Est Une Autre Nuit" (DFA)
20. The Orb, "Alpine" (Kompakt)
21. Factory Floor, "Dial Me In" (DFA)
22. Surgeon, "Bland Ambition" (Bland Ambition)
23. Pinkcourtesyphone & Gwyneth Wentlink, "Elision" (Richard Chartier)
24. Luciernaga, "Sleeping/Wandering" (Fabrica)
    
    "I may be a bit biased since he's a friend of mine, but Joao Da Silva's ambient project Luciernaga does not get the attention it deserved.  This was a great introduction to his work, with two of his richest compositions to date." - Creaig Dunton
    
    
25. Peder Mannerfelt, "Transmissions from a Drainpipe" (Peder Mannerfelt Produktion)
26. Surgeon, "Search Deep Inside Yourself" (Blueprint)
27. Death In Vegas, "Consequences Of Love" (Drone)
28. Ultimate Painting / Woods, "Into The Darkness / Know Your Minute" (Woodsist)
29. Immersion, "Analogue Creatures" (Swim)
30. Immersion, "Living On Land" (Swim)
31. Cold Cave, "The Idea of Love/Rue the Day" (Heartworm)
    
    "This seemed like more of a throwback to the Cremation days of Cold Cave.  Which means while I enjoyed it, it was not overly memorable either." - Creaig Dunton
    
    
32. Simon Shreeve, "Healing Bowl" (Downwards)
33. Autumns, "A Product of 30 Years of Violence" (Clan Destine)
34. SΛRIN, "Current Conflict" (Aufnahme + Wiedergabe)
35. Simon Shreeve, "Lust Product" (Downwards)
36. Norin, "Reflektarar" (Posh Isolation)
37. Theologian / Ancient Methods, "La Saignée" (Metaphysik)
38. Iggy Pop / Tarwater / Alva Noto, "Leaves Of Grass" (Morr Music)
39. Grebenstein, "Strong, Proud, Stupid and Superior" (Downwards)
40. Shit Robot, "OB-8" (DFA)
41. Yally (Raime), "Burnt/Sudo" (Boomkat Editions)
    
    "Ok, let me get this straight: if I want to hear an album that sounds like Moin, I want Raime?  And if I want an album that sounds like Raime, I want Yally?  Do I have that right?  Sheesh.  You guys are killing me." - Anthony D'Amico
    
    
42. High Functioning Flesh, "Human Remains" (Dais)
    
    "The boys were a bit more dour and restrained on this single.  Less stompy and more moody, it still made for a great between-album teaser." - Creaig Dunton
    
    
43. Chrysta Bell and David Lynch, "Somewhere in the Nowhere" (Meta Hari)
44. Scheich in China, "Scheich in China" (V.I.S)
45. John Tejada, "Lakewood Drive" (Kompakt)
46. Minor Victories, "A Hundred Ropes/Scattered Ashes" (Fat Possum)
    
    "Scattered Ashes is easily one of my favorite songs of 2016. Too bad the album was nearly ruined by the appearance of Mark Kozelek." - Jon Whitney
    
    
47. Micachu, "Taz and May Vids" (DDS)
48. Alex Under, "Olas De Quila Quina" (Kompakt)
49. Better Person, "It's Only You" (Mansions and Millions)
50. Dave DK, "Val Maira Remixe" (Kompakt)

Vault/Reissue of the Year

1. Coil, "The Ape Of Naples" (Important)
2. Coil, "The New Backwards" (Important)
3. Coil, "Astral Disaster" (Prescription)
   
   "It goes without saying that having Coil back in print, especially on vinyl, warms my heart. The Ape of Naples and The New Backwards are, in retrospect, a muddled but moving effort at closing the door on Coil by Peter Christopherson but Astral Disaster reminds us of how potent Coil were at their (many) peak(s). Explorative, uncanny and utterly engaging, Astral Disaster is easily one of their finest works. This reissue of the original Prescription edition of the album is most welcome, seeing Coil recording with Gary Ramon in an old, sub-basement prison in London (formerly the studio of Iron Maiden). Bringing to mind their own work in the Moon's Milk seasonal EPs along with heavy Krautrock and Minimalist tendencies, this album still sounds like nothing else on earth." - John Kealy
   
   "I've come back to this a lot in the last few months for reasons I can't explain. I enjoyed the Threshold House version released on CD a lot, but I never got to hear the Prescription mix until a couple of years back. Why it didn't strike me the first time is a mystery. This combined with the CD version make for some of the best late-era Coil listening you can ask for. While I think The Ape of Naples is beautiful and moving, Astral Disaster is a masterpiece that ranks among their best work." - Lucas Schleicher
   
   
4. Suicide, "Suicide" (Superior Viaduct)
5. Dead Can Dance, "Within the Realm of a Dying Sun" (4AD)
6. Dead Can Dance, "Dead Can Dance" (4AD)
7. Dead Can Dance, "Spleen and Ideal" (4AD)
8. Bowery Electric, "Beat" (Kranky)
9. Dead Can Dance, "Toward the Within" (4AD)
   
   "There had better be more DCD reissues coming, as I cannot help but note the glaring lack of The Serpent's Egg.  Reissuing a live album before that feels like a hilarious prank aimed solely at me." - Anthony D'Amico
   
   
10. Suicide, "Suicide: Alan Vega · Martin Rev" (Superior Viaduct)
11. Dead Can Dance, "Into the Labyrinth" (4AD)
12. Nurse With Wound, "Spiral Insana/A Missing Sense" (Rotorelief)
13. Dead Can Dance, "Garden of Arcane Delights/Radio Sessions" (4AD)
14. Colin Newman, "A-Z" (Sentient Sonics)
15. Einsturzende Neubauten, "Greatest Hits" (Potomak)
    
    "Focusing on the latter half of their career, this "greatest hits" seems a bit lopsided in terms of telling the Neubauten story. Yet, it is this later period that seems to dismissed by the old guard despite it containing some of the group's most interesting and experimental work." - John Kealy
    
    
16. Pan Sonic, "Atomin Paluu" (Blast First Petite)
17. Bohren & Der Club of Gore, "Sunset Mission" (Wonder)
18. The Fall, "Hex Enduction Hour" (Superior Viaduct)
    
    "I imagine this is good.  I mean, it's the best Fall album in my opinion.  I just already own at least two copies of it." - Creaig Dunton
    
    
19. Manuel Göttsching, "E2-E4" (MG.ART)
    
    "This should be mandatory listening for anyone about to sit down to work with a synthesiser or a sequencer. Masterclass!" - John Kealy
    
    
20. The Fall, "Grotesque (After The Gramme)" (Superior Viaduct)
21. Abul Mogard, "Works" (Ecstatic)
22. Biosphere, "Cirque" (Biophon)
23. Colin Newman, "Provisionally Entitled the Singing Fish" (Sentient Sonics)
24. Colin Newman, "Not To" (Sentient Sonics)
25. Tony Conrad with Faust, "Outside the Dream Syndicate" (Superior Viaduct)
    
    "While the 1990s live recording between Conrad and Faust usurps this as the ultimate Minimalist recording, it is impossible not to understand the historic and musical Big Bang that happened with this album. The world is a far better place for this being recorded and again for it getting a lovely reissue. I hope Tony is up there playing in tune with the stars now." - John Kealy
    
    
26. The Fall, "Dragnet" (Superior Viaduct)
27. AMM, "AMMusic" (Black Truffle)
28. Whitehouse, "The Sound Of Being Alive" (Susan Lawly)
    
    "At first I thought this was totally unnecessary, but given that most of the material is out of print (it is essentially a greatest hits collection from 1998 to 2007), it is justified.  It also does capture some of their best moments from that era." - Creaig Dunton
    
    
29. Jack Rose, "I Do Play Rock and Roll" (Three-Lobed)
    
    "All of Jack Rose's albums should always be in print forever. I'm lucky enough to have an original, but big thanks to Three-Lobed for making this strange and engaging record available to anyone who didn't know about Jack when it came out. His mix of Hindustani or Indian classical music with Takoma-style playing, experimental sounds, and that distinct Rose style is unique in the world of the solo guitar record. If you like weird sounds and want a place to start with Jack, this is that place. Put "Sundogs" on first and breathe it in." - Lucas Schleicher
    
    
30. Biosphere, "Patashnik" (Biophon)
31. Camberwell Now, "The Ghost Trade" (Modern Classics)
32. The Fall, "Room To Live" (Superior Viaduct)
33. Pram, "The Stars Are So Big the Earth Is So Small... Stay As You Are" (Medical)
34. Loscil, "Plume" (Kranky)
35. La Monte Young & Marian Zazeela, "The Dream House" (Aguirre)
    
    "This had a very official looking release on a respectable label as part of a series of Shandar reissues. However, I wonder what is going on behind the scenes as further reissues are yet to materialise (aside from the Steve Reich album that came out at the same time). This is a fantastic (and affordable) reproduction of the Shandar original but knowing La Monte Young's reputation, I'm surprised this has seen the light of day. Hopefully, it is the sign that his archives will finally make it out into the world. At the very least, seeing the already released albums in print again should be a minimum." - John Kealy
    
    
36. Eleh, "Radiant Intervals" (Important)
37. Charlemagne Palestine, "Cathédrale De Strasbourg" (Erratum)
38. Pram, "Helium" (Medical)
39. Muslimgauze, "Jerusalaam" (Staalplaat)
    
    "If this was not an import that only came out a few weeks ago, I bet it would have placed much higher.  Definitely one of the better finds from the archive, despite a general unevenness.  One of the two "Black September" remixes is an absolute monster." - Anthony D'Amico
    
    
40. Yoshi Wada, "Off the Wall" (Saltern)
    
    "Unbelievable album. Why is this only number 40?" - John Kealy
    
    
41. The Legendary Pink Dots, "Festive" (The Legendary Pink Dots)
42. Bert Jansch, "Bert Jansch" (Superior Viaduct)
43. Bert Jansch, "It Don't Bother Me" (Superior Viaduct)
44. Arthur Russell, "Tower of Meaning" (Audika)
45. Mars, "Mars Archives Volume Two: 11000 Volts To Tunnel" (Feeding Tube)
46. Charlemagne Palestine, "Godbear" (Black Truffle)
47. Severed Heads, "Stretcher" (Medical)
    
    "This was so much better than I expected it to be.  "Blast Platter" instantly catapulted to the top of my favorite Severed Heads songs."  - Anthony D'Amico
    
    
48. The Fall, "Live At The Witch Trials" (Superior Viaduct)
49. William Burroughs, "Call Me Burroughs" (Superior Viaduct)
50. Muslimgauze, "Mohammad Ali Jinnah" (Staalplaat)

Various Artist Compilation of the Year

1. "Music Of Morocco, From The Library Of Congress" (Dust-to-digital)
2. "Space Echo: The Mystery Behind The Cosmic Sound of Cabo Verde" (Analog Africa)
3. "Sacred Flute Music From New Guinea: Madang / Windim Mabu" (Ideologic Organ)
4. "Punk 45 Chaos In The City Of Angels And Devils (Hollywood From X To Zero & Hardcore On The Beaches: Punk In Los Angeles 1977-81)" (Soul Jazz)
5. "ICR Thirty Five - We Still Couldn't Agree On A Title" (ICR)
   
   "While I was unable to make the event, the ICR 35th anniversary compilation at least serves as a decent stand-in. ICR remains a stallwart in electronic music, releasing things that reflect an open and exciting approach to music - even when it sounds like not much is happening. ICR reminds you to listen closer and hear the detail." - John Kealy
   
   
6. "Devon Folklore Tapes Volume V: Ornithology" (Folklore Tapes)
7. "LAFMS Box Box" (Box Editions)
8. "Andrei Tarkowsky: Another Kind of Language" (and/OAR)
9. "Wayfaring Strangers: Cosmic American Music" (Numero Group)
10. "Nigeria Soul Fever (Afro Funk, Disco And Boogie: West African Disco Mayhem!)" (Soul Jazz)
11. "Nothing Is Enough" (Full Of Nothing)
12. "Total 16" (Kompakt)
13. "Boogie Breakdown (South African Synth-Disco 1980-1984)" (Cultures of Soul)
14. "Dope-Guns-'N-Fucking In The Streets (Volume 1-11 • 1988-1998)" (Amphetamine Reptile)
15. "Kenya Special: Volume Two (Selected East African Recordings From The 1970s & '80s)" (Soundway)
16. "Killed By Deathrock Vol. 2" (Sacred Bones)
17. "Cold Waves of Color: Volume 3" (Color Disc)
18. "An Anthology of Turkish Experimental Music 1961-2014" (Sub Rosa)
19. "Radio Caliban: Blackest Ever Black "Singles" 2015" (Blackest Ever Black)
20. "Fractures" (A Year in the Country)

Boxed Set of the Year

1. Autechre, "Elseq 1-5" (Warp)
   
   "I still haven't had the chance to take it all in at once, but I love Autechre for making this happen. The way they approach their music now, putting out four-plus hours at a time makes perfect sense. Far from being disposable, their first all-digital release is one of their more exciting ideas. I'm not afraid of a 10-hour record, guys, just in case you're reading." - Lucas Schleicher
   
   
2. Gas, "Box" (Kompakt)
3. Cluster, "1971 - 1981" (Bureau B)
4. Harry Bertoia, "Sonambient" (Sonambient)
5. Front 242, "Geography" (Alfa Matrix)
   
   "Probably the least essential of this not-essential reissue campaign (considering the other two had unreleased CDs of live material included." - Creaig Dunton
   
   
6. Richard H. Kirk, "#7489" (Mute)
   
   "I'm very familiar with the Cabaret Voltaire discography, but for some reason I never delved too deeply into Kirk's solo work.  Good remastering job, good unreleased material, and also a great companion piece to the 80s CV sound." - Creaig Dunton
   
   
7. Tor Lundvall, "Nature Laughs as Time Slips By" (Dais)
   
   "Tor Lundvall has quietly and sneakily become one of my favorite artists over the last few years.  This set is perfect for binge-listening." - Anthony D'Amico
   
   
8. Front 242, "No Comment/Politics of Pressure" (Alfa Matrix)
   
   "Did I need to buy this?  Probably not.  But I have to concede that "Funkadafi" and "Commando Remix" sound extremely nice remastered here." - Creaig Dunton
   
   
9. Sandoz, "#9294" (Mute)
10. Lush, "Origami" (4AD)
11. Blonde Redhead, "Masculin Feminin" (Numero Group)
12. King Crimson, "On (and Off) the Road" (DGM)
    
    "King Crimson broke up in 1974 and never recorded another note after Red." - John Kealy
    
    "Well this band who stole the name did a pretty good job at making quirky prog tinged new wave.  It may not be "Starless", but it is still pretty good." - Creaig Dunton
    
    
13. The Scientists, "A Place Called Bad" (Numero Group)
14. Howard Stelzer, "Normal Bias" (Ballast)
    
    "Ok, this is an amazing set and Howie is one of the greatest, underappreciated noise artists working today.  But considering this was limited to like 50, and I have not even finished my review of it yet, I question the honesty of your votes, reader. :)" - Creaig Dunton
    
    
15. Alessandro Bosetti, "Stille Post. Radio Works: 2003 - 2011" (Monotype)

Artist of the Year

1. The Body
   
   "Not a big surprise given the amount of music both alone and in collaborations The Body have unearthed in 2016." - Jon Whitney
   
   
   
2. The Legendary Pink Dots
3. Swans
4. Loscil
5. Ian William Craig
6. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
7. Autechre
8. Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith
9. Lustmord
10. Nurse With Wound
11. Ulaan Passerine
12. Matmos
13. Biosphere
14. Puce Mary
15. Sarah Davachi

Label of the Year

1. Superior Viaduct
   
   "I did not see this victory coming, but Viaduct certainly seems to have unerring taste in what they choose to reissue." - Anthony D'Amico
   
   
2. 4AD
3. Important
4. Thrill Jockey
   
   "The strength of the top 3 is clearly in the popularity of their reissues, however Thrill Jockey impressively remains high with primarily all new releases well into their third decade." - Jon Whitney
   
   
5. Kranky
6. Editions Mego
7. Warp
8. Blackest Ever Black
9. House of Mythology
10. Medical
11. Kompakt
12. Sacred Bones
13. Touch
14. Drag City
15. Posh Isolation

New Artist of the Year

Carla dal Forno

"This category is almost always an interesting curveball and Carla dal Forno is a fine addition to that tradition: an Australian dream-pop chanteuse on a label best known for the bleak, heavy, and misanthropic sounds of Raime and Cut Hands.  With Tarcar and F Ingers, Carla has certainly dipped her toes into such fare herself, but her solo career is refreshingly different, hooky, and darkly sensuous, albeit in a rather stark and willfully bloodless way.  While her understated aesthetic makes some of her songs blur together a bit for me, an awful lot of people played the hell out of "What You Gonna Do Now?" this year (and for good reason)." - Anthony D'Amico

Lifetime Achievement Recognition

Pauline Oliveros

"Through her music, Pauline Oliveros not only challenged her audience with new sounds to listen to but also with new approaches to listening. Her music veered between the intense, visceral immersion of her early tape works, stark and complex scores for ensembles of various sizes and her truly transformative solo and group performances on accordion. Through her Deep Listening philosophy, she took the seeds sown by John Cage with 4'33" and let them bloom into fantastic, previously unknown blossoms. Through the Deep Listening Band, she took these concepts on the road and created some of the most beautiful music committed to the air. Her music was a deep intertwining of meditation and performance; where most artists use climax and crescendo as a mode of catharsis, Oliveros instead used a gentle and disarming wave of love. Deep Listening by implication lends itself to a more empathetic approach to sound and to interactions with others, it is sad to know she is gone but her legacy is a powerful one. Teach yourself to fly." - John Kealy

"One of the few few truly wonderful things about living in upstate NY was being around for EMPAC's prime and getting to have a beloved,accordion-wielding, and legitimately iconoclastic octogenarian as a hometown hero.  In fact, Oliveros's 80th birthday concert stands as one of the single most impressive events that I have attended (I believe there were like 20 drummers and the venue recreated the acoustics of the cistern where her 1989 masterpiece Deep Listening was recorded).  Significantly, that event highlighted something rather bizarre about Oliveros's career: everyone can agree that she is hugely influential, but I don't think most people are fully aware of the true depth and breadth of her vision, as no one has yet distilled her scattered recordings into anything resembling a comprehensive retrospective.   As much as I enjoyed Important's 12-CD Reverberations box, it stopped at 1970 and Oliveros was just getting started at that point, as far as I am concerned: much of her finest, most listenable, and most distinctive work was recorded decades later with the Deep Listening Band.  That period remains far too underheard for my liking.

While her passing leaves a large hole in the international experimental music community, her legacy is a hugely inspirational one.  Plenty of artists record one or two great albums, but very few manage to remain constantly evolving and relevant for their entire lives.  Also, by all accounts, she was quite a wonderful person.  I did not know her personally, but I did get a chance to see her attempt to save a Laurie Anderson concert that was plagued with technical difficulties and I know that she played at least one DIY show at Albany's small artspace with a handful of her students. I bet Luc Ferrari was not doing stuff like that in his 70s." - Anthony D'Amico

"On top of her lasting legacy as an electronic pioneer, she was an amazing person. I only met her a few times but she always came off as a friend. You could always feel like you belonged in her presence. So many losses in the music world of 2016 and Oliveros was another one who was still active until the moment her heart stopped beating, which is far more sad, to me, than an artist who hasn't created in years. She left behind a wealth of material to explore and I remain hopeful we will still be able to hear plenty of music yet to emerge." - Jon Whitney

Worst Album of the Year

1. Bon Iver, "22 A Million" (Jagjaguwar)
   
   "It can't be _that_ bad,... Oh, sorry, maybe it actually is." - Jon Whitney
   
   
2. Weyes Blood, "Front Row Seat To Earth" (Kemado)
   
   "What the fucking fuck? Weyes Blood is great and this album is strong, even if I prefer her first. Go see them live in 2017 and have your mind changed. "Do You Need My Love" bowled me over when I saw them in Los Angeles at the Echo. Seriously, what the fuck? Turn off your Swans records and get out of the house." - Lucas Schleicher
   
   
3. Wilco, "Schmilco" (dBpm)
4. Digitalism, "Mirage" (Magnetism)
5. Kate Jackson, "British Road Movies" (Hoo Ha)
6. Matthew Herbert, "A Nude (The Perfect Body)" (Accidental)
7. The Lemon Twigs, "Do Hollywood" (4AD)
8. MX-80 Sound, "So Funny" (Feeding Tube)
9. The Hotelier, "Goodness" (Tiny Engines)
10. Jute Gyte, "Perdurance" (Jeshimoth)

19 December 2016

Administrator

Albums and Singles

As a complement to 2014's Francisco Lopez curated audio-MAD, this is another work, compiling artists from his current home in the Netherlands (both permanent residents and those who were just spending time in the city) with the intent of giving lesser-known electronic artists a wider amount of exposure. However, for such a minimalist composer, Lopez has had a maximalist streak as far as presenting material as of late. The aforementioned audio-MAD (which compiled material from artists residing in Madrid) was a two data DVD compilation of 100 artists, and 12 hours of uncompressed audio. audio-DH (for Den Haag/The Hague) goes even further: issued on a custom USB card and is compilation of 190 artists and over 16 hours of audio. So a quick listen it is not, but it is a rich and unique compilation of many artists I had not been familiar with in the past, but now am most definitely interested in examining more closely.

Audio-DH (digital)/iii Editions (physical)

The largest proportion of these compositions (largely around five minutes in duration) is unsurprisingly focused on abstract and experimental electronic sounds.Something like Nicky Assmann and Joris Strijbos' "Echo's Under Sunset" is a clear example of this sort of thing.A pastiche of subtle electronics, the two composers emphasize the lower end frequencies of the spectrum to generate a sinister sounding piece of dungeon ambience.Ana Morán’s "One" comes from a similar sonic place:a combination of shimmering tones and rumbling electronics that is forceful, but not overbearing, and while a sparse mix overall, the work evolves and varies greatly.

Other artists focus on using electronics to create more organic sounding compositions.Ezequiel Menalled's unfortunately titled "Sonic Contribution Audio DH" does an excellent job of crafting natural sounding crunches and creaking textures that, while not groundbreaking, are an exceptional example of the style.Sara Pinheiro's "Elephant Whispers" has some similar sensibilities, giving a great bit of crackling space enshrouded in a nice fuzzy distortion.There is also a unique depth to the crispy, open spaces of Tom Tlalim's "Curtain Master" that results in a specifically outstanding work.

In any compilation of these sorts of artists, there is always some more aggressive, abrasive works to be found, and this is no exception."Cables from Hell", courtesy of Lucho Pelucho, is a mass of harsh, aggressive loops and crashing, banging chaos that could potentially be a lost Merzbow work from the mid 1990s.The brief contribution from Sohrab Motabar, "A Miniature for The Hague" is an erratic outburst of ugly electronics that stands out as appropriately uncomfortable.Francisco Lopez contributes a piece himself, "Untitled #340" that, while not overtly noisy, is a mass of uncomfortably low frequencies, resulting in more of a physical experience of sound pressure pressure than a listening experience.

A few contributions skirt the line between noise and music quite effectively as well.Center no Distractor (Stephanie Pan and Stelios Manousakis)'s piece for taiko drum and electronics, "That Which Melts is Exaggerating" is a dense, pummeling pastiche of rhythm that is reminiscent of late 1970s/early 1980s industrial projects.Cocopino's "Niks Te Zeggen" is all echoing synth pulses and a cheap drum machine that, with the addition of spoken word vocals, has a unique lounge/electro sound to it."DDR", courtesy of Grand Mal has a vaguely melodic and rhythmic sensibility to it, even though on the surface it is abstract sounding.Jeff Carey's "20160411.1101_16bit" drifts more into chaos, but in the form of an erratic, deconstructed form of electronic music.

Much like the audio-MAD compilation, this set also features additional "recombinant" performances courtesy of the HARING (Humanless Audio Recombinator for Infinite Novelty Generation) software, which is an additional suite of three works just short of an hour each.Not just a bionic DJ mix of the material, the software instead analyzes, compiles, and rebuilds a composition based upon the initial building blocks.While I feel the original compositions feel more conceptually strong and focused comparison, it still is a nice and unique edition to an already expansive compilation.

Given the length and depth of this project, it is not something that is easily taken in all at once.I personally chose to dive in and out of the material over a period of time, picking random songs each time and listening to them individually.With that approach, audio-DH is not nearly imposing and is instead a wonderfully deep well of music that I was able to come back to multiple times and find new and captivating works to enjoy at each and every visit.

samples:

• Ana Mor√°n - "One"
• Cocopino - "Niks Te Zeggen"
• Sara Pinheiro - "Elephant Whispers"

 

19 December 2016

Administrator

Albums and Singles

For the second part of the quadrilogy, the cage that composer David First decided to lock himself into is perhaps the most sonically diverse and flexible of the chosen cages: the venerable Korg MS-20 synthesizer. Compared to the previous work using an acoustic guitar, and the future two involving blues harp and sitar, the massive array of knobs and options almost seem not limiting enough, conceptually speaking. As a whole, First adheres to his staunchly ascetic approach to composition and delivers an appropriately focused meditation on the instrument.

Fabrica Records

The MS-20 is an excellent choice from both a conceptual and sonic standpoint:it has more flexibility and depth than the earlier analog units, but its semi-modular construction means it cannot go too crazy compared to true modular synthesizers.It also makes for an instrument that is well suited for hands-on improvisation, perhaps even more so than for conventional playing.There is a reason that everyone from indie hipsters to politically questionable European power electronic bands has favored this thing for a number years, and extra kudos to First for using the more recent mini reissue.

Even with the added flexibility of the instrument, First keeps things such as post-production and effects to a minimum, with most of the pieces being recorded simply in mono, and a few having only subtle accents added in the form of post production.The first side opens up with the sputtering electronics of "Dronemod2/ESP," locking into a rigid structure of repetition.First keeps the variations to a minimum to focus on the core sound, with only subtle changes being noticeable that may be either subtle tweaking of LFO effects on the filter or the generally unstable nature of analog electronics.

"S&H" is more commanding, patched into a 1980s video game like loop.The insistent pulse never changes for the piece's lengthy 12 minute duration, but his tweaking of the pitch knobs and filter effects makes it an overall diverse and dynamic experience.For the opener of the second side, "Bassdronemod", First eschews a more rhythmic approach to instead stay as a brittle, sustained bit of electronic noise.The composition ends up becoming crunchier and crunchier, and as a result it is one of the harshest and most intentionally abrasive pieces here.

For "Dronemod2," First goes back to a raygun like traditional synth pulse that never ceases, but for what seems so initially basic ends up being far more nuanced and expansive.By the end, the sound locks into an engine like chug that sounds more like a lawnmower than most synthesizers are able to.Comparably, "Pulse Filtering" is overall looser and more erratic, with a tremolo like dynamic that helps propel the weird shifting pitches.The final piece, "S&H-Switch-MW" is First opting for the most overly harsh noise sounding work here.With wet, sweeping noises scattering atop an unrelenting rhythmic throb, it could almost be a lost work from an Astro or CCCC album.The sci-fi tinged spacey depth, strong variation and diversity in sound comes together as a hyperactive, strongly varied recording that stands out as a high point on a very strong record overall.

Even with the diverse array of noises and sound that the MS-20 is capable of, David First keeps himself in check with these performances, which ensures that Solomonos for Analog Synthesizer stays within his self-imposed performance and compositional guidelines.I am personally expecting that this will end up being my favorite in the series, given my own affinity for the model of synthesizer, but I imagine that it will be an important piece of the overall series, even if it stands so distinctly on its own.

samples:

• S&H
• Dronemod1
• S&H-Switch-MW

 

19 December 2016

Administrator

Albums and Singles

Both Kinit Her and Wreathes are projects of the Wisconsin duo of Nathanial Ritter and Troy Schafer, and while there is clearly overlap in the two, there are also some distinctly different elements. The former is more deeply rooted in folk traditions, which an emphasis on medieval moods and esoteric concepts (but none of questionable politics), while the latter is almost a post-punk, electronic take on those stylistic flourishes. Both of these new releases are excellent, and present the duo taking both projects in increasingly varied and complex directions.

Kinit Her (Digital)/Wreathes (Digital)/Pesanta Urfolk

For The Blooming World, what stands out the most is the complexity and richness of the instrumental arrangements, especially for a form of music that is so often focused on simply acoustic guitar and vocals.This added depth is immediately apparent on the opening "Open Shadow" (which also features additional vocals from Worm Ouroborous/Barren Harvest's Jessica Way and Dani Schafer).Instrumentally, the duo work with layered strings and percussive elements primarily, but as a whole the piece is very dynamic with the subtle touches of electronics here and there.

This is also especially evident on the lengthy album closer "Key Granting Key," which includes contributions from Burial Hex's Clay Ruby.Multi-tracked vocals and cyclic guitar make for a loop-centric repetitive foundation, but Ritter, Schafer, and Ruby slowly add more things to the mix, like piano, bells, and some noisy electronics to come together in an intensely complex, diverse array of instrumentation that can be most easily appreciated in the instrumental closing minutes."The Blooming World" is another example of rich, dramatic arrangements with the blend of male and female voices, the former at times guttural, and impressive variation.

Both "Learning Conveyed in Daylight" and "Oppositions" stay more stripped down and focused on the acoustic guitar and vocal elements of the duo’s sound, but the former’s shifting tempos and the latter’s big, booming percussion keep either from stagnating or becoming too cliché. On most of these songs, both Schafer and Ritter deliver the vocals as a duet, and their exaggerated, dramatic delivery may be a bit of an acquired taste.For much of the album, the two use this to conjure an appropriately formal medieval-esque mood, but at times it does seem to become almost a bit too po-faced and melodramatic.

samples:

• Open Shadow
• The Blooming World
• Key Granting Key

As Wreathes on the EP The Gold Array, the two use a similar vocal style throughout the three songs, which is perhaps where the closest similarities to their work as Kinit Her lie.As a whole, however, there is more of a contemporary edge to instrumentation and performance.At first, "The Gold Array" chimes, piano and vocals sound very similar to the folky tendencies Kinit Her, but the overall mix and prominent drumming add an effective pseudo-death rock tinged sheen to the otherwise ancient sound.

On "It's Only Air," a strong bass guitar driven melody and an extremely well captured drum sound powerfully the piece, while on "We Defy," the rapid acoustic guitar is modernized via the electronic passages and big, booming drums. Once again this retains the traditionalist folk elements to the duo’s sound but with a modernized edge.

Both Troy Schafer and Nathaniel Ritter work separately in a multitude of other projects (and sometimes together as well), but I have always seen Kinit Her as their core project.I think it is this prolific nature that has been a great influence on these two bands, as it has continued to diversify the overall sound and mood without losing the original identity.Wreathes then stands apart as a true side project, but one that recontextualizes their staple sound into a more modernized element, resulting in a project that is an exceptional compliant to the duo’s primary outlet.

samples:

• The Gold Array
• It's Only Air
• We Defy

 

18 December 2016

Administrator

Albums and Singles

It has been an interesting couple of years for the former holy trinity of the UK’s blackened and gloom-shrouded post-industrial dance deconstructionists: Raime picked up guitars and turned into a post-hardcore band, Haxan Cloak started collaborating with Björk and composing film scores with NIN's Atticus Ross, and Demdike Stare doubled-down hard on their techno roots with a series of extremely beat-oriented 12" singles.  Sean Canty and Miles Whittaker’s latest full-length roughly picks up right where the extremely varied Testpressing series left off, leaving behind most of the duo's more indulgently bleak and bombastic tendencies for something considerably more visceral, pared-down, and propulsive.  While I almost always favor the more abstract/drone side of the spectrum to the dancefloor, Demdike Stare prove to be the rare exception to that rule, as they are a hell of lot more listenable when their darkness is more understated and spectral.  Some more melody admittedly would be nice, but Wonderland is quite a strong, striking, and beautifully focused work.

Modern Love

I have long had a complex and shifting relationship with Demdike Stare, as they can be quite bombastic and ponderous at times and their more club-themed material is very much a snapshot of this moment in dance music's evolution, presumably dooming it all to obsolescence within a few years.  Also, there is not any one Demdike Stare song or album that I can point to and say "this is brilliant."  Nevertheless, Canty and Whittaker seem to have unerring great taste and intuition.  Most obviously, that taste manifests itself in their excellent DDS imprint, but Demdike Stare's music (particularly recently) manages to seamlessly draw in inspiration from many disparate and cool sub-genres and spit it out into perfectly chiseled and visceral percussion work-outs that sound distinctly and recognizably their own. That is no simple feat with starkly beat-based music.  Though the most memorable part of the opening "Curzon" is the brooding synth crescendo, the real magic lies in the complexity and dynamic vibrancy of the groove.  There is nothing consciously ostentatious or virtuosic happening, but the beat makes many wonderfully shuffling and percolating transitions and they all feel beautifully organic and necessary.  The following "Animal Style" is even more rhythmically inspired, gradually transforming a fun and stuttering loop into something sounds like an off-kilter and wonderful skittering Muslimgauze at his most aggressively polyrhythmic.

Aside from being so single-mindedly propulsive and beat-based, the other real surprise with Wonderland is just how incredibly varied those beats can be.  For example, "Sourcer" sounds like clattering, off-kilter, and out-of-control drum n' bass mashed together with stuttering pitch-shifted snatches of reggae toasting.  Elsewhere, "FullEdge" feels like a maniacal futurist polka.  In general, however, Canty and Whittaker's primary aesthetic is still quite industrial-damaged, as the duo are clearly very fond of harsh metallic textures.  My favorite piece in that vein is "Airborne Latency," which sounds simultaneously blown-out, grinding, relentless, and weirdly Latin.  Also: quite precarious, as the beat has a wonderful tendency to seamlessly shift gears between simmering, explosive, and buried, as well as a penchant for fills and textural flourishes wild enough to threaten to derail the groove entirely.  Aside from that, the pieces that stand out the most are the ones where the duo take a break from their relentless momentum.  "Hardnoise," for example, unexpectedly dissolves into a cheerfully burbling and woozy synth coda.  The most significant and intriguing curveballs come at the end of the album though, as the brief "Fridge Challenge" eschews beats entirely for a densely squirming and warped synth motif and some amusing and disorienting field recordings of airport flight announcements. The closing "Overstaying" is yet another gem, as it unexpectedly kicks off with a strong and sexy hook, then perversely truncates and deconstructs it into a hissing, pulsing, and stumbling "locked groove" beat.

If Wonderland has a fault, it is only that Canty and Whittaker are master craftsmen and resourceful sonic magpies working within the somewhat rigid and ephemeral realm of contemporary dance music rather than legitimate visionaries.  Given the dearth of true visionaries around, it is hard to complain much about that.  Anyone well-versed in the UK dance underground can probably spot Demdike’s influences quite easily on this particular album, but that does not make these pieces any less visceral or sharply presented: Canty and Whittaker have a singular knack for vibrant, crisp, and inventively multilayered rhythms as well as a newfound talent for aggressively trimming away unnecessary clutter and fat.  While I suspect that Wonderland is too single-mindedly contemporary and beat-focused to have much longevity, it certainly sounds great for now.  Perhaps the next album will offer a bit more in the way of hooks, depth, and soul, but the duo's recent departure from brooding gloom is a very big step in the right direction: this feels like the work of a beautifully engineered and perfectly calibrated machine, which is fine by me.  While I have yet to fully process the Testpressing series, Wonderland sure as hell seems like a focused and concise distillation of those explorations, resulting in the most listenable and immediately gratifying album of Demdike Stare's career.

Samples:

• Animal Style
• Airborne Latency
• Fridge Challenge

 

 

18 December 2016

Administrator

Albums and Singles

It is rare for me to get very enthusiastic about tour-only releases, as I feel that artists generally want their best material to be heard by as many people as possible rather than just a handful of collectors.  This compilation of The Legendary Pink Dots’ ephemeral holiday EPs was an exception though, as it has always driven me slightly crazy that I had missed the boat on so many special one-off releases.  Also, Edward Ka-Spel always seemed like the rare artist who might be unpredictable and prolific enough to cheerfully release his best material in an incredibly limited edition.  Upon hearing the sprawling Festive, I can safely say that that was not the case, as a lot of LPD's holiday epics tend to be drifting, understated soundscapes or amusing experiments in twisting and tweaking samples, but a few pieces are legitimately striking and the cumulative effect of all this material at once is pleasantly overwhelming.  As such, this prolonged plunge into the benignly deranged holiday rabbit hole is strictly for fans of the Dots' more abstract and unrepentantly indulgent side.

Self-Released

Festive is wisely and deceptively frontloaded with 2015's "Hypothetical Angel," the closest thing to a single on the entire collection.  Even so, its tender and lilting balladry only lasts about three minutes before dissolving into eerie synth drift and something that sounds like a children's choir that has been digitized, stretched, and pixelated into a chorus of lethargic, drugged robots.  Then, of course, comes a delightful parade of chopped and collaged snatches of Christmas movies that is just the right balance of whimsy, darkness, and hallucination.  It may very well be the definitive phantasmagoric Christmas-themed mindfuck of all-time (I especially enjoyed the looping and cartoonish outro of "Christmas?  Bleh!").  Yet another highlight of the first disc comes from The Legendary Pink Dots Hallowe’en Special 2015 (I love how each release sounds like a variety show): "The Wall Street Spectre."  Opening with an appealingly sing-song vocal melody over a wobbly and heavily chorused arpeggio pattern, "Spectre" takes a page from "Angel" and dissolves into something far stranger and more abstract after just a few short minutes.  The crux of it all is a wry amusing and occult-tinged Ka-Spel monologue about "market forces" in the guise of a fellow named Hollow Ian.  Midway through that interlude, Ka-Spel's voice takes a turn for the demonic and the music becomes increasingly distorted and wrong-sounding.  Unfortunately, it does not quite hold together as well as "Angel," quickly degenerating into a disjointed and seemingly arbitrary flow of odd found-sound vignettes and snatches of music.

The rest of Festive is even less song-based, alternating between lengthy plunges into brooding ambiance and droning psychedelia and brief interludes of surreality.  For the most part, the interludes are interesting, but too short to make a strong impression.  "Pink," for example, is just a loop of Bing Crosby’s "White Christmas" that gradually morphs into "I'm dreaming of a pink solstice" as it becomes more distorted, echo-heavy, and obsessive.  Elsewhere, "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Decade" is a haunted bit of minor key chamber music that sometimes sounds like it being dragged into the pit of hell.  

Obviously, the longer pieces are considerably more substantial, but their flashes of inspiration are a bit more stretched and diluted.  "Pagan Place" is the most immediately gratifying of the lot, as its initial collage of woozy music box melodies and children singing is an unusual balance of warm and creepy.  Gradually, however, it gets more discordant and impressionistic and the children all disappear to be replaced by a groove that sounds somewhere between Eastern European folk music and prog rock being played backwards.  "The Witching Hour," on the other hand, dispatches with any attempt at a hook at all and plunges wholeheartedly in nearly 25 minutes of fragmented nightmare.  It feels like a mash-up of horror movie ambiance and cheap Halloween tapes heard through a heavy fog of drugs.  The remaining longform pieces are considerably less fractured though, opting instead to quietly sustain a dark mood.  In that regard, the quietly simmering and blearily hallucinatory "Seasonal Chill" is a dark horse contender for the real centerpiece of this collection, as it just eerily stretches out for nine minutes of focused and languorous disquiet.  The inscrutable closer "Purple" seems to attempt a similar feat, but is just too drifting and understated for its own good: it feels like being trapped instead a festive snow globe where everyone else is dead–initially disorienting and sinister, then increasingly dull and devoid of surprise.

Obviously, the big selling point for this collection is that it makes available five rarely heard and rather anomalous LPD releases.  In that regard, it serves its purpose beautifully, even if not all of those EPs quite captured the Dots at the peak of their game.  In fact, Festive would be a far better album if it had been aggressively condensed rather than comprehensive and complete.  As such, Festive is probably only for completists and fans in love with the band's more subdued, ambient side.  I personally like it, but it is definitely the sort of album that I would be rather hesitant to recommend to anyone: it is quite a diffuse and exhausting listening experience, as there are plenty of long and meandering lulls between the various flurries of activity.  Also, no one piece manages to stand out as particularly essential within the LPD canon, though there are plenty of cool ideas and flashes of humor strewn about in wait for patient listeners to happen upon them.  The emphasis was definitely on spontaneity, fun, and naked experimentation here rather than songcraft or editing.  As such, Festive is a perversely non-traditional album that celebrates holiday traditions, as it eschews hooks and cohesiveness and does not hold up well to attentive listening or scrutiny, but does a perfectly fine job of blurring and softening the edges of harsh reality for a couple of hours.

Samples:

• Hypothetical Angel
• The Wall Street Spectre
• Seasonal Chill

 

16 December 2016

Administrator

Albums and Singles

Many influential characters graced the stage of Max's Kansas City within the creative zeitgeist of New York City during the late 1970s, but one local native named Annie Bandez thrust herself into the downtown scene with her punk ensemble Annie and the Asexuals, establishing her nom de plume Annie Anxiety (later known as “Little Annie”) and colliding head-on with the social norms of contemporary punk culture entangling the city at that time.

After a couple years of disintegrated pursuits in New York, Annie relocated to England, finding herself at the doorstep of the famed anarchro-commune Dial House headed by activist Penny Rimbaud. It was here that Annie Anxiety established herself as a singular artist and voice with her debut 1981 single “Barbed Wire Halo” on seminal Crass Records and forging a creative alliance with Crass members Penny Rimbaud and Eve Libertine. As the landscape of punk in the United Kingdom was shifting towards a more diverse, multicultural focal point, artists such as Annie Anxiety found themselves exploring musical signatures in styles such as dub reggae and rocksteady.

In the summer of 1983, Annie began work at Southern Studios on what would be her first full length endeavor which encompassed all of her creative assets at that time.  Employing the expertise of legendary dub producer Adrian Sherwood to realize this vision, Annie pulled together members of Crass, Flux of Pink Indians, Family Fodder, African Head Charge, London Underground and Art Interface to record her groundbreaking dub industrial masterpiece.  Upon its initial release by the unofficial Crass off-shoot label Corpus Christi in 1984, Soul Possession started the avalanche of activity that would include dozens of releases and collaborations with Nurse With Wound, Coil, Current 93, Swans and Marc Almond.

Dais Records proudly reissues Soul Possession on vinyl for the first time in over 30 years in a limited edition pressing featuring the original artwork by Eve Libertine on January 6, 2017. Limited to 500 copies (400 black vinyl / 100 brown vinyl).