Best of 2014

[cleanzero]

Current 93 - I Am the Last of All the Field That Fell

worth noting that the pianist on this record, Reinier Van Houdt, is the one who is going to do a three disc set of Pisaro piano pieces for the new ErstClass label. how's that for range?

It's also on the homepage of his website. I already wrote it on Fb: very, very excited for ErstClass.

[Piano Mouth]

thought I'd chime in, cuz I remember the Berlin Boys too:

Best of 2014 for me:

1. Lana Del Rey - Ultraviolence*
2. Jurg Frey/Radu Malfatti - II
3. Michael Pisaro - Continuum Unbound
4. Tsunoda/Werder - Detour
5. Your Old Droog - S/T
6. Angharad Davies - Six Studies
7. Beck - Morning Phase
8. OoioO - Gamel
9. J Mascis - Tied to a Star
10. Michinori Toyota - Fuckin' Great view

*Or something...I had a really hard time trying to figure out what the best release was in 2014.

[marwill]

10 favorite albums

1) Morton Feldman - For Philip Guston (Atopos)
2) Michael Pisaro - Continuum Unbound (Gravitiy Wave)
3) Kevin Drumm / Jason Lescalleet - The Abyss (Erstwhile)
4) Tomas Korber - Musik Für Ein Feld (Cubus)
5) Vanessa Rossetto - Whole Stories (Kye)
6) Rudolf Eb.Er - Brainnectar (Schimpfluch Associates)
7) Toshiya Tsunoda / Manfred Werder - detour (Erstwhile)
8) Ju Sei / Utah Kawasaki - U as in Utah (Ftarri)
9) Jean-Luc Guionnet / Eric La Casa - Home : Handover (Potlach)
10) Peter Kutin - Burmese Days (Grünrekorder)

... plus 5 samplers, rereleases etc.

1) Luigi Nono - Seguente (Edition RZ)
2) Ftarri Collection (Ftarri)
3) Ferdinand Kriwet - Hörtexte 2 (Edition RZ)
4) Ákos Rózmann - 12 Stations / Tolv Stationer (1978-2001) (Ideologic Organ)
5) Music Made With Balloon And/Or Needle (Balloon & Needle)

[shirt]

It was an interesting year, personally notable for having a large amount of solid dance music LPs and animated films.

10 experimental albums (alphabetical):

Anne Guthrie - Codiaeum Variegatum (Students of Decay)
Jean-Luc Guionnet & Eric la Casa - Home: Handover (Potlatch)
Marc Baron - Hidden Tapes (Potlatch)
*Michael Pisaro - Continuum Unbound (Gravity Wave)* *aoty*
Michael Pisaro - White Metal (Dromos)
Moniek Darge/Graham Lambkin - Indian Soundies (Kye)
Nick Hennies - Work (Quakebasket)
Radio Cegeste - Three Inclements (The Ocean Does Not Mean to Be Listened to) (Consumer Waste)
Toshiya Tsunoda/Manfred Werder - Detour (Erstwhile)
Vanessa Rossetto - Whole Stories (Kye)

10 non-experimental albums (alphabetical):

2NE1 - Crush (YG Entertainment)
D'Angelo - Black Messiah (RCA)
Future - Honest (A1/Freebandz/Epic)
GFOTY - Secret Mix (PC Music)
HTRK - Psychic 9-5 Club (Ghostly International)
Mariah Carey - Me. I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse (Def Jam)
Real Estate - Atlas (Domino)
Rich Gang - Tha Tour Pt 1 (Cash Money Records)
Richard Dawson - Nothing Important (Weird World)
Spoon - They Want My Soul (Loma Vista)

10 dance albums (alphabetical):

Call Super - Suzi Ecto & Depicta/Acephale II (Houndstooth)
Head High - Megatrap (Power House)
Kassem Mosse - Workshop 19 (Workshop)
Leon Vynehall - Music for the Uninvited & Butterflies (3024 & Clone Royal Oak)
Lorenzo Senni - Superimpositions (Boomkat Editions)
Objekt - Flatland & Hypnagogia (PAN & Leisure System)
Shinochi Atobe - Butterfly Effect (DDS)
Traumprinz/DJ Metatron - All The Things & U'll Be The King Of The Stars (Giegling & Traumprinz)
Vril - Torus (Forum)
Yamaneko - Pixel Wave Embrace (Local Action)

10 films (alphabetical):

Boyhood (Linklater)
Coherence (Byrkit)
Gone Girl (Fincher)
*Hard to be a God (German)
Ida (Pawlikowski)
The Immigrant (Gray)
*Manakamana (Spray/Velez)
*The Strange Little Cat (Zürcher)
The Tale of Princess Kaguya (Takahata)
Two Days, One Night (Dardenne Bros)

*top 3

Still a lot to see, most notably Goodbye to Language 3D (coming to Chicago soon!!), Winter Sleep, Inherent Vice, Stray Dogs, Jauja, and the new Lav Diaz but it's already 2015 so why not.

[Jamest]

: Henry Caravan - Street Exotica From The Met (DL / umbrog.bandcamp.com)
:: Ora Clementi - Cover You Will Softer Me (LP / Penultimate Press)
::: Vindicatrix - Ruin Value O.S.T. (CS / Purge)
:::: Marc Baron - Hidden Tapes (CD / Potlatch)
::::: Radio Cegeste - three inclements (CD / Consumer Waste)
:::::: Part Wild Horses Mane On Both Sides - Aulos’ Second Reed (LP / Beniffer Editions)
::::::: The Tobacconists - A Secret Place (LP / Fabrica)
Plus --> another exemplary year of releases from Kye Records; the Rozmann 'Tolv Stationer' boxset from Editions Mego; and a special mention for Lauren Bon's 'Requiem For Water' durational sound installation (24h live streaming: http://www.kppglive.com).

[javier4w]

1.- Morton Feldman - Two pianos and other works 1953-1969 (Another Timbre)
2.- John Cage - One7/Four6 (Wergo)
3.- Martin Iddon - Pneuma (Another Timbre)
4.- Skogen - Despairs had governed me too long (Another Timbre)
5.- Klaus Lang - Sais. (World Edition)
6.- Michael Pisaro - Continuum unbound (Gravity Wave)
7.- Jürg Frey - Pianist, alone (Irritable Hedgehog)
8.- Nick Hennies - Work (Quakebasket)
9.- Morton Feldman - For Philip Guston (Atopos)
10.- Joseph Clayton Mills - The patient (Entr'acte)
11.- Tomas Korber - Musik für ein feld (Cubus)
12.- Eliane Radigue - Opus 17 (Alga Marghen)
13.- Anne Guthrie - Codiaeum variegatum (Students of Decay)
14.- Laurence Crane - Chamber works (Another Timbre)
15.- Christian Wolff - Pianist: pieces (Sub Rosa)
16.- Various Artists - West coast soundings (Wandelweiser)
17.- Andrea Belfi - Natura morta (Miasmah)
18.- Haptic - Excess of vision: unreleased recordings 2005-2014 (Notice)
19.- Vanessa Rossetto - Whole stories (Kye)
20.- Michael Francis Duch - Tomba Emmanuelle (Sofa)

[Hayao Yamaneko]

I don't think I listen to the volumes some of you listen to, and "best" always feels a weird word. These are probably the records I got the most out of in one way or another, posted in the spirit of "if you see a few you like on this list, you might like the others".


Seth Cooke - Sightseer
Thomas Ankersmit - Figueroa Terrace
Marc Baron Hidden Tapes
Ian Fraser - The Realness
Skogen - Despairs Had Governed Me Too Long
Michael Pisaro-White Metal (performed by Greg Stuart and Joe Panzner)
Nick Hennies - Work
Sunn o)) and Scott Walker - Soused
Music Blues - Things Haven't Gone Well (patchy, but gets a mention for the better bits and for rekindling my affection for Harvey Milk)


I'd have had Haptic-Abeyance, Eliane Radigue - Naldjorlak and Richard Glover - Logical Harmonies but it turns out they were all 2013

Performances -
Rie Nakajima @ Cafe Kino

Kev Nickels (Hakarl) string quartet at Spike Island Bristol (at Sarah Angliss show)

[ANU]

1 Laurence Crane - Chamber Works (1992-2009)
2 Tomas Korber & Konus Quartett - Musik Fur Ein Feld
3 Fire! Orchestra - Enter!
4 Jason Lescalleet - Much To My Demise
5 Vanessa Rossetto - Whole Stories
6 Radio Cegeste - Three Inclements
7 DNMF - s/t
8 Black Spirituals - Of Deconstruction
9 Ryoko Akama - Code of Silence
10 Joseph Clayton Mills - The Patient
11 Opéra Mort - Dédales
12 Oren Ambarchi - Quixotism
13 Michael Pisaro & Miguel Prado - White Metal
14 Valerio Tricoli - Miseri Lares

[Zeno Marx]

Muslimgauze - Chasing the Shadow of Bryn Jones, 1983–1988 box (it's too bad this wasn't an affordable CD box set)

I liked, but not deserving of a best of:
Clock DVA - Clock 2 (great sound and sounds; the Uwe Schmidt remix moves beautifully)
Hal Hutchinson - Wreckage Installations & Metalworks
Tehom - Lacrimae Mundi (interesting that some of this sounds like a Game of Thrones soundtrack)

I spent almost all of 2014 digging through the 80s and 90s for things I missed. It continues to surprise me how wealthy the 90s were for most musics.

[This is PRE]

Definitely a good year. Haven't heard the new Wall/Rodgers yet and I have a feeling it'd be a contender, otherwise my list'd go like this (top 2 spots are immutable, the rest are all pretty great in their own way) :

01 Paul Dolden: Who Has The Biggest Sound?
02 Secret Chiefs 3 (Ishraqiyun): Perichoresis
03 Kayo Dot: Coffins on Io
04 Orchestra of the Upper Atmosphere: Θ2
05 Alfred 23 Harth: China Collection
06 Zion80: Adramelech - Book of Angels 22
07 Bob Drake: Lawn Ornaments
08 Evan Parker/Nate Wooley/Jeremiah Cymerman: World of Objects
09 Keiji Haino/Jim O'Rourke/Oren Ambarchi: Only Wanting to Melt Beautifully Away Is It a Lack of Contentment That Stirs Affection for Those Things Said to Be as of Yet Unseen
10 Wold: Postsocial

Honorable mentions: Soused, and the two Pinhas records on Cuneiform...

[Piano Mouth]

Am really digging the Muslimgauze albums, thank you for the recommendation.

[drip]

I appreciate/enjoy all your lists as much as the next guy. But it would be nice to read a few lines about why/how these records (at least your top choices) affected you. I personally suck at doing lists, but love to explore them, so I'm aware it's a kinda selfish request….

[mono tony]

kevin drumm/jason lescalleet - the abyss (title track)

I dig the full dynamic range of it.. nearly inaudible at the start, a low-end dirge, vaguely tonal, roils and swells for the first ten minutes or so. A melody starts to take shape midway through. As its amplitude increases, the riff becomes more defined, with new harmonic qualities emerging and sustaining at parts. it resembles a deep, bowed bass. The slow churn eventually diminishes into a wash of harmonic resonances. The progression is very gradual and unhurried, and as such it's very relaxing.

The track gives an impression of a large, moving mass. It provides a sense of relief, roughly the opposite of the sensations Virgil 'Bud' Brigman may have experienced as he descended into the massive abyss, on his mission to recover the hastily deployed nuclear warhead. Unpleasant sensations, like the tremendous deep sea pressure, and the discomfort of breathing liquid, weighted down by a bulky suit. I play the track over and over, to put myself at ease. It sorta recalls "Ephraim" from the sperm whale album by Thrones.

for reference:

http://thrones106mm.bandcamp.com/album/sperm-whale

[Gil Sansón]

Terrible year in so many ways, and yet a great year for experimental music. Many outstanding records went unheard by these ears, so this list is nowhere near exhaustive. Two records were battling for the number one position (Rossetto and Guthrie) until I heard Pisaro's Continuum Unbound, a landmark record that impressed me the most this year. Similarly, Jason Lescalleet had a very prolific year with much music that went unheard by me. Another great year for another timbre, with many outstanding releases.

1.- Michael Pisaro, Continuum Unbound (gravity wave)
2.- Anne Guthrie, Codiaenum Variegatum (students of decay)
2.-Vanessa Rossetto, Whole Stories (Kye)
3.- Antoine Beuger, tschirtner tunings for twelve (another timbre)
4.-Jean-Luc Guionnet & Eric La Casa, Home: Handover (Potlach)
5.- Annette Krebs, rush! (another timbre)
6.- Michael Pisaro, with Joe Panzner & Greg Stuart, White Metal (Dromos/Makam)
7.- Skogen, Despairs have Governed me Too Long (another timbre)
8.- Jürg Frey, Radu Malfatti, ll (erstwhile)
9.- Radio Cegeste, Three Inclements (consumer waste)
10.- Nöel Akchoté, Gesualdo: Madrigals for Five Guitars (blue chopsticks)
11.- Jason Lescalleet, This is What I Do-Volume Two (glistening examples)
12.- Morton Feldman, Two Pianos and Other Pieces, 1953-1969 (another timbre)
13.- Jürg Frey, Pianist, Alone (irritable hedgehog)
14.- Angharad Davies, Four Studies (confront)
15.- Kenneth Kirschner, Imperfect Forms (tokafi)
16.- Hong Chulki/Ryu Hankil-Objets Infernaux (Erstwhile)
17.- Clément/Jones/Olsen/Ruhlmann- A Concert for Charles Cros (caduc)
18.- Tetuzi Akiyama/Jason Kahn/Toshimaru Nakamura, ihj/ftarri (winds measure)
19.- Catherine Lamb, matter/moving (winds measure)
20.- Jason Lescalleet, Much To My Demise (Kye)

In the metal/pop department (no order, though the new Swans somehow takes first place):

St. Vincent, St. Vincent (Republic)
Godflesh, A World Lit Only By Fire (Avalanche)
Swans, To Be Kind (Young God/Mute)
Grouper, Ruins (kranky)
Peter Hammill, ...all that might have been... (Fie!)

[bedouin]

AMM (Eddie Prévost, John Tilbury) - Place Sub. V. (Matchless)
Glue (Tom Arthurs, Miles Perkin, Yorgos Dimitriadis) - Chats With the Real McCoy (Creative Sources)
Jürg Schuster - Distanz und Nähe (oktaf.bandcamp.com)
Klaus Lang - Sais. (World Edition)
Morton Feldman (John Tilbury, Philip Thomas) - Two Pianos and other pieces (Another Timbre)
NG4 Quartet - A Quartet For Guitars (Mikroton)
Noé Cuéllar, Joseph Clayton Mills - LL (Another Timbre)
Telegraphy - Earth Stereo (Ionosonde)
Nicolas Bernier - frequencies (a _ fragments)_ (Line)
Pierre Gérard - Architect (Senufo Editions)
Rank Ensemble - Papilio Noblei (Leo Records)
Richard Ginns - In Float (richardginns.bandcamp.com)
Takahiro Kawaguchi, Tim Olive, Makoto Oshiro - Airs (845 Audio)
Tetuzi Akiyama, Anla Courtis - Naranja Songs (Public Eyesore)

reissue:
Deepchord Dc7-Dc16 (3CD, Echospace, first time on CD)

special mention:
Tyshawn Sorey - Koan (482 Music)
this is a few years old, but it's very impressive.

[Alastair]

I’ve been listening to music for pleasure less than I used to, and enjoying it less in general, but some things I first heard in 2014 and really enjoyed are (in no particular order):

Oren Ambarchi – Stacte Karaoke
Vanessa Rossetto – Whole Stories
Dinah Bird – A Box of 78s
Margo Guryan – Paint A Picture (from 1968)
Thomas Ankersmit – Figueroa Terrace
Anne Guthrie - Codiaeum Variegatum
Esther Venrooy – Shift Coordinate Points (from 2006)
Panos Alexiadis – Katabasis (side 2 only)
Robert Curgenven – Sirene
Dennis Johnson – November (from 2013)
Scott Walker/Sunn O))) – Soused
John Greaves/Peter Blegvad – Kew.Rhone. (from 1978)

[schiksalgemeinschaft]

Dinah Bird – A Box of 78s

was disappointed by this. the loopside is great, but totally impractical.
the other side wasn't what I expected it to be, maybe I just didn't like the narrating voice. the concept was maybe also too much a mere idea than something really thought out, e.g. the weather stuff seemed random and out of place.

also, listing to it, it made me decide to not buy 'Home: handover'.

[Alastair]

Well, there you go. I like the radio-documentary feel of it. The loops I've not really bothered with yet.

Heh, I've not heard Home:Handover but I think I'm likely to be more tolerant of one side of an LP over three CDs of that sort of stuff.

Speaking of 3CD extravaganzas, I've also not heard/bought Continuum Unbound but I will at some point.

[jon abbey]

bumping this...

As much as I love Detour, I have been pining for more information about it since its release.

in case you didn't see yet, two articles in the new 'surround' touch on detour, Michael Pisaro's epic Tsunoda piece and Marc Medwin's excursion through the ten 'ErstWand' releases to date:

http://surround.noquam.com/membrane-window-mirror/

http://surround.noquam.com/the-erstwand-series/