David Abravanel is one of the people who has shaped this site’s musical awareness over the years. In a year when we turn to music for meaning, I’m even more grateful for his annual picks. It’s an astonishing list, and makes some good listening homework for the start of the year. (Time to clean house/studio and sit back and listen!)
The more the years go by, the less I feel the need to ramble on these lists – or to restrict them. This was a year with a lot of struggle worldwide, and music is financially less and less secure while remaining more and more valuable (PSA: buy some downloads and physical releases and merch).
I used to give a favorite album, thinking that if pushed, I’d land on a particular shining star. But not this year – depending on the day, it might be As One’s spacey techno, Mr. G’s bassy inversions of soundsystem jams, Ka’s aching and unfortunately final statement, Meemo Comma’s haunting sounds of an irradiated Soviet wood, Pub’s return to prolific and eclectic releases, and on and on…
Please be kind to each other. And remember to listen.
Lists below (alphabetized as always):
Albums
Actress – Statik (Smalltown Supersound)
Alan Vega – Insurrection (In The Red)
Alva Noto – Xerrox Vol. 5 (Noton)
As One – Requiem (De:tuned)
ASC & Aural Imbalance – Duality (Spatial)
Beans – Zwaard (Tygr Rawwk)
Belong – Realistic IX (Kranky)
Ben Lukas Boysen – Alta Ripa (Erased Tapes)
Black Asteroid – Infinite Darkness (Artoffact)
Bodya Konakov – Scarby (шщц)
Brendon Moeller – Further (Samurai Music)
Bruno Pronsato – Rare Normal (Foom)
The Bug – Machines I – V (Relapse)
C.Lavender – Rupture In The Pure Realm (iDEAL)
Christian Kleine – Relic Memories (self-released)
Clinic Stars – Only Hinting (Kranky)
Cristian Vogel – NEL Adventures (EPM Music)
Donato Dozzy – Magda (Spazio Disponibile)
Drew Schlesinger – Lost Childhood Vol. 1 (Emika)
Dummy – Free Energy (Trouble in Mind)
Duran Duran Duran – Supernatural Beast City (Woodland Creatures)
Ekoplekz – Dirtbokz (Selvamancer)
Fennesz – Mosaic (Touch)
Fracture – SLOW860 (Astrophonica)
Gez Varley – MoonBase Alpha (self-released)
Ghost Dubs – Damaged (Pressure)
Hifi Sean & David McAlmont – DAYLIGHT (Plastique Recordings)
Hydroplane – Blox (Schematic)
Inkipak – Phokusd (Inkitrax)
Jason Priest – The Burning Years (Midnight Mannequin)
Jesus and Mary Chain – Glasgow Eyes (Fuzz Club)
Jlin – Akoma (Planet Mu)
Ka – The Thief Next To Jesus (Iron Works)
Kamashi Washington – Fearless Movement (Young)
Kim Deal – Nobody Loves You More (4AD)
Kim Gordon – The Collective (Matador)
Koltun – Sol (Purplish)
KRM & KMRU – Disconnected (Pressure)
L.B. Dub Corp – Saturn to Home (Dekmantel)
Meemo Comma – Decimation of I (Planet-Mu)
Mercury Rev – Born Horses (Bella Union)
Michael Vincent Waller – Moments – Remixes (Play Loud!)
Momus – Yikes! (Darla)
Monolake – Studio (Imbalance Computer Music)
Mr. G – The Fifth Chakra (Ambient Space Tek) (Phoenix G.)
Mulatu Astatke & Hoodna Orchestra – Tension (Batov)
Murcof – Twin Color (vol. 1) (InFiné)
Nate Mars – Dark Room Ghost (Complex Dubz)
Nicolas Bernier – Visions Couleurs (self-released)
The NRG – Warehouse Justice! (Surface Reality)
Perfume – Nebula Romance Part 1 (Polydor)
Pixies – The Night the Zombies Came (BMG)
Plant Cell – Botanical (Plant Cell)
Pub – Process The Wise (Ampoule)
Pub – Qwizard (Ampoule)
Ran Slavin – Oolong: Ambient Works (Mille Plateaux)
Rising Sun – The Eternal (Echochord)
Roma Zuckerman – Phenomenon of Provincial Mentality (Gost Zvuk)
ROMsets – Opt1zm (self-released)
Sedibus – Seti (Orbscure)
Seefeel – Everything Squared / Squared Roots (Warp)
Shed – The 030 Files (The Final Experiment)
Shellac – To All Trains (Touch and Go)
Shinichi Atobe – Discipline (DDS)
Skee Mask – Resort (Ilian Tape)
Sleater-Kinney – Little Rope (Loma Vista)
Taylor Deupree – Sti.ll (Greyfade)
Trentemøller – Dreamweaver (hfn)
The Black Dog – Other, Like Me (Dust Science)
The Jesus Lizard – Rack (Ipecac)
The Smile – Cutouts (XL)
Underworld – Strawberry Hotel (Smith Hyde Productions)
VA – DJ Kicks: Honey Dijon (!K7)
VA – It’s Elastic (Fever AM)
Wrecked Lightship – Antiposition (Peak Oil)
X – Smoke & Fiction (Fat Possum)
Xeno & Oaklander – VIA NEGATIVA (in the doorway light) (Dais)
µ-Ziq – Grush (Planet Mu)
EPs & Singles
Alex Kassian x Mad Professor – E2-E4 (MG.ART)
Burial/Kode9 – “Phoneglow” / “Eyes Go Blank”
Call to Saya – Cycles (CTS)
Chrissy – B2B Tools (Maximum Airtime)
Deepchild – “The First Queer Angels of Democracy Respond” (Suppuku)
Electro Music Union – I Love (Cold Blow)
Objekt – Chicken Garaage (Kapsela)
Sababa 5 & Inbar Nur Dekel – Bitter Moon – ירח מר (Batov)
Sieren – Serenity (Friends of Friends)
Speed Dealer Moms – Birth Control Pill (Planet Mu)
Temp-Illusion – Noxious Jaaam (EVEL)
Throbbing Gristle – The Last TG Single (Mute)
Reissues
A.R. Kane – 69 and “i” (Rocket Girl)
Aphex Twin – Selected Ambient Works Volume II (Warp)
As One – Reflections (Lapsus)
Butthole Surfers – Psychic…Powerless…Another Man’s Sac, Rembrandt Pussyhorse, Locust Abortion Technician, Hairway to Steven (Matador)
Dettinger – Intershop and Oasis (Kompakt)
Majesty Crush – Butterflies Don’t Go Away (Numero Group)
Microstoria – init ding + _snd (Thrill Jockey)
Mixmaster Morris, Jonah Sharp, Haruomi Hisono – Quiet Logic (WRWTFWW)
Orbital – Green Album (London Records)
Plastikman – Musik (Mute)
Roy Montgomery – Temple IV (Kranky)
Roots Manuva – Brand New Second Hand & Run Come Save Me (Ninja Tune)
Spiritualized – Amazing Grace and Songs in A&E (Fat Possum)
Squarepusher – Ultravisitor (20th Anniversary Edition) (Warp)
The Fall – The Real New Fall LP (Cherry Red)
The Residents – Demons Dance Alone (pREServed Edition) (Cherry Red)
VA – Virtual Dreams II – Ambient Explorations in the House and Techno Age, Japan 1993 – 1999 (Music From Memory)