Best of 09
"Listen to the space in the room. If you can't do something more
beautiful than that, shut the f--k up." – Bill Dixon
1. Emeralds - S/T (Gneiss Things)
2. Bill Dixon/Aaron Siegal/Ben Hall - Weight/Counterweight (Brokenresearch)
3. Neokarma Jooklo Trio - Memories from the Age of the Dragon (Qbico)
4. Outer Space - Gemini Half (Wagon)
5. Greg Kelley/Alexander Neilson - Passport to Satori (Golden Lab)
6. Red Horse - S/T (rel)
7. Masayuki Takayanagi - Archive 1 (Jinya)
8. J.D. Emmanuel - Solid Dawn (Kvist)
9. ATOM™ - Liedgut (Raster-Noton)
10. Julian Lynch - Orange You Glad (Olde English Spelling Bee)
11. Rice屎Corpse - Mrs. Rice (Dual Plover)
12. Alan Licht - YMCA (Family Vineyard)
13. Oneohtrix Point Never - Betrayed in the Octagon (No Fun)
14. Stellar Om Source - Crusader/Alliance/Ocean Woman Trilogy (self-released)
15. Leo Coomans - Basement Recordings 1978-1982 (Ultra Eczema)
16. Bill Orcutt - A New Way to Pay Old Debts (Palilalia)
17. Black to Comm - Alphabet 1968 (Type)
18. Claudio Rocchi - Suoni di Frontiera (Die Schachtel)
19. Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe - Fazo IV La Kvatlito de Speguloj (Rainbow Body)
20. Robert Beatty - Solos (What the...?)
21. Oren Ambarchi – Intermission 2000-2008 (Touch)
22. Incapacitants - Lon Guy (Harbinger)
23. Peter Kowald - Bass Solo (Qbico)
24. Various Artists - La Bamba (Ultra Eczema)
25. Various Artists - rrr1000 Lock Groove (rrr)
26. MV & EE - Road Trips: Live Road 2002-2009 (Blackest Rainbow)
27. Ata Ebtekar & The Iranian Orchestra for New Music - Performing
Works of Alireza Mashayekhi 'Ornamental' (Isounderscore)
28. Kawabata Makoto - Rainbow Of Love (Blackest Rainbow)
29. Mos Def - Ecstatic (Downtown)
30. Lawrence English - It’s Up to Us to Live (Sirr)
Honorable mentions/reissues:
• Various Artists - Institute of Sonology 1959-1969
• Charlie Nothing - The Psychedelic Saxophone of Charlie Nothing
• Mauricio Bianchi – Armageddon
• Matrix Metals – Flamingo Breeze
• Mark Lord – Blair House Nosebleed
• Mark McGuire – Tidings II
• Eliane Radigue – Triptych
• Blood Stereo – Your Snakelike King
• Hallicrafters, Inc. - 10 poke 54272+int(rnd(1)*25),int(rnd(1)*256) goto 10
• Idea Fire Company – Beauty School
• C. Spencer Yeh - Solo Voice & Electronics: Memories Of Murder/Always Been A Storm
• Oren Ambarchi – Destinationless Desire
• Chris Corsano – Another Dull Dawn
• Flower – Corsano Duo – Chocolate Cities
• Radio People – S/T
• Willie Lane - Known Quantity• C. Spencer Yeh - Solo Voice & Electronics: Memories Of Murder/Always Been A Storm
• Oren Ambarchi – Destinationless Desire
• Chris Corsano – Another Dull Dawn
• Flower – Corsano Duo – Chocolate Cities
• Radio People – S/T
• Bill Dixon – Tapestries for Small Orchestra
• Tatsuhisa Yamamoto & Muneomi Senju - A Thousand Mountains (Acoustic & Synthesized Drums and Percussions)
Here's to next year!! Please post more end-of-year lists if you feel so inclined.
Cheers!
Nice list man. I'm going to go back and listen to some of these again and also check the ones I never heard. For some reason no matter how good the production (Madlib can do no wrong) is I can never get into Mos Def. His whole image just seems a little forced and ultra-indie. But then again I like my hip hop a little more mindless I guess. I thought the 2 best hip hop albums this year were the new Juvenile and that DJ Quik & Kurupt album...so what do I know? ;)
ReplyDeleteI don't listen to a ton of hip-hop, so I'll check out that Juvenile and DJ Quik. I just have certain artists that I keep up with from back in the day. I've liked Mos Def since his Black Star days when I was in college. So, I decided to give his new one a listen this year and really liked it. Other than MF Doom and Anti-pop, I haven't listened to any other hip-hop this entire year.
ReplyDeleteI just listened to the Mos Def album again today and, at first listen, I thought the rhymes were the best thing about Ecstatic. However, the beats are so good, they keep the lyrics in check. Without these beats, the album wouldn't have been so successful. Madlib is a genius. I usually prefer the indie stuff to the commercialized rap, but I don't know if I would call this indie only because I actually heard this shit playing in Urban Outfitters the last time I was in there. If they are promoting this album, it's probably a pretty commercial record. Maybe not, I dunno. I still liked it for the time and the place in 2009 when it hit me.
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