best of 2013

[schiksalgemeinschaft]

carcass surgical steel

sad to say this just sounds more and more like painting by numbers on each listening to me. it's very, very well made, sure, but it lacks originality or even authenticity.

[mono tony]

sup w/the dudes in the I Hate Sports forum... they're just here to talk sports, or do they "hate" music, too? any 2013 picks? what's the deal?

[misengarde]

carcass surgical steel

sad to say this just sounds more and more like painting by numbers on each listening to me. it's very, very well made, sure, but it lacks originality or even authenticity.

could be, but when my ear my brain my heart are walking the same path i only have to follow them

[grisha]

i didn't realize it's so late in the year

[jon abbey]

sup w/the dudes in the I Hate Sports forum... they're just here to talk sports, or do they "hate" music, too? any 2013 picks? what's the deal?

not sure why you're asking this here, but the IHS section largely consists of a small group of people who talked sports at the old Jazz Corner and who needed a new home, so we moved it here a while back. they have mostly never felt too comfortable posting much in the main forum, despite occasional encouragement.

[grisha]

oh, and i think:

Graham Lambkin / Jason Lescalleet - Photographs
Keith Rowe / Graham Lambkin ‎– Making A
and all the stuff on EAU so far, but especially Anne Guthrie / Richard Kamerman ‎– Sinter, which is probably my favourite record of the year so far.

there might be more but i don't really keep track of what came out when.

[jon abbey]

AEU!

[grisha]

definitely the most important thing is that we understand each other :)

[mono tony]

sup w/the dudes in the I Hate Sports forum... they're just here to talk sports, or do they "hate" music, too? any 2013 picks? what's the deal?

not sure why you're asking this here, but the IHS section largely consists of a small group of people who talked sports at the old Jazz Corner and who needed a new home, so we moved it here a while back. they have mostly never felt too comfortable posting much in the main forum, despite occasional encouragement.

maybe the IHS section would've been a more appropriate place for the inquiry... I was unaware of their history, just looking for a more outsider perspective, within the IHM community.

[mpisaro]

I know this is too many from me - but, sticking with things not yet mentioned: Live in Saritote, Taku Sugimoto & Moe Kamura. Would be remiss in not mentioning that, since I played it so many times. (I think it is one of the great Sugimoto albums.)

[fslmy]

top 3

Anne Guthrie/Richard Kamerman - Sinter
Klaus Filip/Toshimaru Nakamura/Andrea Neumann/Ivan Palacký - Messier Objects (edit, oh this is late 2012 ah well)
Michael Pisaro - the punishment of the tribe by its elders

[jon abbey]

maybe the IHS section would've been a more appropriate place for the inquiry... I was unaware of their history, just looking for a more outsider perspective, within the IHM community.

two first-time posters with nice posts here already, it's still just late november.

[Gil Sansón]

Rather than making one post with all the favorites and a short explanation to each one, which I kind of find too cumbersome to be any fun, I lan on posting two or three records at a time, and do so on a whim until the actual end of the year. Not suprisingly, most of my choices will reflect my own practice...

Keith Rowe/Graham Lambkin- Making A: the spirit of Cardew's Schooltime Compositions and The Scrath Orchestra actualized for a fascinating and quite intimate listening. Not sonically innovative, yet feels as an unavoidable statement.

Darkthrone- The Underground Resistance: Impossible to be cynical about the greatest example of defiance in underground metal, this band now carries a huge torch, that of underground metal as a whole. Still not touring despite economic pressure and what's got to be some quite tempting offers to do so, they stick to making records and that's it.

Antoine Beuger- Cantor Quartets: All the drama of a single pitch of extended duration adds to the pleasure of knowing that
what the ear may take for chance encounters and serendipity is in fact the result of very strict canonic form (albeit free from a beat and relying on pulse).

[MRS]

I know this is too many from me - but, sticking with things not yet mentioned: Live in Saritote, Taku Sugimoto & Moe Kimura. Would be remiss in not mentioning that, since I played it so many times. (I think it is one of the great Sugimoto albums.)

Agreed, sublime again and again, great driving to work on overcast Monday music. For a wildcard I'll add Cave's Threace, stark naked guitar drum rock vamps on repeat almost to the point of annoyance.

[Matt Wuethrich]

I concur with many of the choices here already, particularly November (my pick for record of the year on the list I submitted to The Wire), the 2013 Erstwhiles (Photographs, Making A and this place / is love) and the AEU discs.

I would add these three, at least:

Marginal Consort - Instal. Glasgow 2008 (PAN): For a four-hour performance, this improvisation holds up really well. The overall feel is more mechanical and acoustic, not very electric at all, which helps it stand out and makes it really dynamic. Cells of activity that coalesce and disperse organically, not schematically.

Various Artists - Greek Rhapsody (Dust-to-Digital): Smoking instrumental music from the 1920s to the 1940s. The book that comes with two CDs is a mini-history of early 20th century Greek history, instrument building and popular culture.

Kyle Bruckmann - Technological Music Vol. 1 (Entr’acte): A sideways take on early electronic music. Like EKG but much more pulse based. Ranges from raunchy, Industrial timbres to more textured, nuanced passages, sometimes simultaneously.

[presquepartout]

i'm not posting a list till the end of december, but live in saritote will be number one.

[This is PRE]

Tops for me is To Live and Shave in L.A.: The Grief that Shrieked to Multiply (monotype) -- as a longtime fan of the band, this tops off their career well, and there's so much to unpack... a monumental tour de force.

I also loved Anthony Braxton's Echo Echo Mirror House (Victo), I was at the concert where this was recorded and being flooded with this maximalist approach still works for me, though I remember most in the audience being rather baffled.

Notable: The Expats (Kendra Steiner Editions), a grouping of Alfred Harth, Carl Stone, Sam Bennett, and Kazuhisa Uchihashi that's all over the place but very fun. Daxophone! (among many other things.)

[Tanner]

I just wanted to say this has been very helpful, and that I'm slowly compiling a list of more inclusive stuff than my metal one I already posted in the metal thread. Keep them up!

[GerCoffey]

Since I returned to college this year, my record buying has been limited, and with 2013 releases being a subsection of that, this year was scarce for me, but there were still some real stand outs.

Iancu Dumitrescu - Pierres Sacrees / Hazard and Tectonics (Editions Mego)
- not new in terms of the compositions but a new release and my first experience of them, plus Dumitrescu on vinyl is rare as far as I'm aware. The two pieces are incredible. I came to his music as a big Xenakis fan and find that I spend a lot more time with Dumitrescu, his music gives me an incredibly claustrophobic feeling and the tension is so addictive.

Bernard Parmegiani - De Natura Sonorum (Editions Mego)
- On a similar note I have been trying to get as many of the Recollection GRM records as I can manage. Of the releases from this year, this one has been a particular highlight.

Two other very notable releases for me were
Matana Roberts - Coin Coin Chapter Two: Mississippi Moonchile (Constellation)
Richard Youngs - South Voyager (Atonal)

* Also a real highlight was finally getting Sweet Sister Ray, which has become a fairly permanent post-library spin.

** Worth noting that the Yume No Kippuuri No KMR cassette by Kito Mizukumi Rouber on Chocolate Monk is in the post on it's way to me at the moment, and there is a possibility that the above list and everything else I own could be forgotten about for a while. They are for me the most exciting band around at the moment. I like to imagine that it's what people must have felt like when Captain Beefheart first emerged.

[misengarde]

i forgot the best 2013 single: sleaford mods 'donkey' (http://youtu.be/nehcDX3XqDs)