#brighde chaimbeul

[zmijowka]

Illustrations for the Supersonic 2024 Review by Women of Noise

Brìghde Chaimbeul, Dis Fig, Agriculture, Matana Roberts, Melt Banana

[dustedmagazine]

Ian Mathers’ 2023: J'suis fatiguée tu sais pas c'que j'suis fatiguée

a picture of Mandy, Indiana by Chris Hogge

It has been, if you’ll pardon the language, a stupid fucking year (or maybe it’s just, as Yo La Tengo correctly diagnosed, this stupid world). On any number of levels: for me, personally; in terms of international politics (although “stupid” is treating multiple ongoing genocides with a bit too much flippancy); the endless buffoonery of local politics; the people we’ve lost, even as the now pretty totally unchecked global progress of COVID thrashes peoples’ immune systems if not taking them out itself; and all of this means I barely have any energy these days to worry about our imminent environmental collapse (remember?). It’s been a grind, but as always music is one of the things that make life worthwhile, despite it all.

Even musically, I felt a bit adrift at times in 2023; one of my longstanding methods of music discovery, the esteemed group review site The Singles Jukebox, called it quits in 2022. And except for one last round of our traditional year-end Amnesty picks (where each writer gets to pick one song for coverage with none of the normal criteria for selection), that very much appeared to be that. And then a stray Discord comment late this year led to getting the band back together, and starting in late November the Jukebox has made a pretty amazing (temporary!) return. As always, that led to me encountering a ton of stuff I simply never would have heard of otherwise (and some new discoveries even slipped onto the lists below, just one more reason the practice most places have of running year end stuff early December makes me wince). It didn’t shift my existing favourites from 2023 much, nor did I expect it to, but it did make me feel like I had more context on the year as a whole, across more places and scenes and genres than I did before (but still incomplete, always incomplete).

This in turn feels tied to a change in my year-end list methodology. At this point I feel like I’m never going to settle on a consistent format forever and ever amen; different years pull different things out of me (both in terms of listening and in terms of sharing), and there’s also a bit of a pendulum-swing effect. For the past two years I’ve gone expansive, 40+ records, various other lists to get more things in. This was me chafing at (entirely self-imposed!) restrictions from years past, and it gave me a sense of freedom, even relief. I still stand by those lists (as much as I stand by any part of my past self). But this year looking at my account of what I’d listened to, realizing my shortlist was around 50 LPs and that if I was applying the kind of criteria I’d used recently I could easily include them all… I could feel myself wanting to go in the other direction. It took me a lot longer than I expected to pare that shortlist down to 20 albums (still an arbitrary number!), and I found the process oddly satisfying. Trying to decide what made those last couple of spots had me thinking harder about what I currently value and what my year has been like (and what my differing experiences with all these pieces of music were like) than I’d had to in a while.

Those longer lists have virtues this one doesn’t, of course; I have an even keener than normal feeling of leaving things out, of failing to adequately represent myself or music or… something. So while it’s true every year that there are records I loved that I don’t represent in any list, I feel the need to re-emphasize that truth here, specifically. Sometimes what made the cut over the days I spent putting this together surprised me; there are albums I wrote positive things about that I fully expected to be here that are hovering just out of sight in the 21-25 range. Some of them are represented in the accompanying list of songs that either don’t have albums or just stood out from their surroundings (and as last year I’ve tried to track down music videos, a form I still love, for all of those). From past experience, some of those standouts will wind up representing albums that, if I’d gotten more time with them this year, could have made it onto the main list. I also couldn’t let go of one of my secondary lists; I just really love EPs, and I wish more people made them (even if one of the entrants this year is long enough I’d normally consider it an album, if not for the band themselves dubbing it an EP).

As always these lists are alphabetical instead of ranked (and where I wrote about them, I’ve linked to it here); as I said, just narrowing them down was hard enough. I have no idea how to assess the relative merits of (say) L’Rain’s playfully, kaleidoscopically deep I Killed Your Dog versus a.s.o.’s self-titled, lush trip hop throwback versus the Drin’s gnomic, garage-bound bad vibes. They’re all great. But I did have two that felt like albums of my year, in different ways. The first of the National’s two 2023 records, First Two Pages of Frankenstein, was already a favourite when some of the personal stuff I alluded to above made me profoundly grateful that they’d put out this record, about mental health and the ends of things and mixed feelings, in this particular year (and then they put out a second record, which is not here because nobody gets to double dip, but it’s also good). I had a less specifically autobiographical resonance with Mandy, Indiana’s incredible debut i’ve seen a way but it did blow me away on purely sonic grounds in a way few bands have in the last decade or so. The greatness of that record to me is in more than just how stunningly different it felt the first few times I played it (although that was an experience I loved); as I said when I made their “Pinking Shears” my Amnesty pick for the Jukebox this year, it felt like a second miracle when the album did cohere into a set of songs that they wound up being some of my favourite songs of the year. Despite all the other ways I’ve been tired in 2023, it’s never been with music, and artists like the following (and the prospect of whatever I’ll encounter next year) are the reason why.

20 LPS

a.s.o. — a.s.o. (Low Lying Records)

ALL HANDS_MAKE LIGHT — “Darling the Dawn” (Constellation)

Avalon Emerson — & the Charm (Another Dove)

Brìghde Chaimbeul — Carry Them With Us (tak:til)

Carly Rae Jepsen — The Loveliest Time (Interscope)

Chappell Roan — The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess (Island)

The Drin — Today My Friend You Drunk the Venom (Feel It)

Eluvium — (Whirring Marvels In) Consensus Reality (Temporary Residence Limited)

Ghost Marrow — earth + death (The Garotte)

The Hives — The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons (Disques Hives)

L’Rain — I Killed Your Dog (Mexican Summer)

Ladytron — Time’s Arrow (Cooking Vinyl)

Mandy, Indiana — i’ve seen a way (Fire Talk)

Mute Duo — Migrant Flocks (American Dreams)

The National — First Two Pages of Frankenstein (4AD)

Pearly Drops — A Little Disaster (Cascine)

Spanish Love Songs — No Joy (Pure Noise)

Tacoma Park — Tacoma Park (Self Released)

Tørrfall — Tørrfall (De Pene Inngang)

Yo La Tengo — This Stupid World (Matador)

5 EPS

Babygirl — Be Still My Heart (Sandlot)

Death of Heather — Forever (Big Romantic)

hkmori — forever (Self Released)

Tara Clerkin Trio — On the Turning Ground (World of Echo)

Weaklung — We Bring About Our Own Demise (Self Released)

20 MORE SONGS

100 gecs — “Hollywood Baby”

Blur — “Barbaric”

boygenius — “Not Strong Enough”

Caroline Polachek — “Dang”

Dua Lipa — “Houdini”

Eslabon Armado y Peso Pluma — "Ella Baila Sola"

Jiraya Uai & MC Tarapi — “Hoje Tem Rodeio, Baile De Favela”

Kesha — “Eat the Acid”

Lexie Liu — “delulu”

Maria BC — “Mercury”

Mitski — “My Love Mine All Mine”

Olivia Rodrigo — “bad idea right?”

Picastro — “Earthseed”

Raye ft. 070 Shake — “Escapism.”

Sho Madjozi — “Chale”

Tinashe — “Needs”

Tyla — “Water”

Troye Sivan — “Rush”

Victoria Monét — “On My Mama”

Water From Your Eyes — “Barley”

Ian Mathers

[imathers]

Top 20: Brìghde Chaimbeul — Carry Them With Us

[PLEASE NOTE: Again, there are some flashing lights in this video! I really like it, but if that sort of thing messes with you, there's a different video if you click through to my Dusted review FYI.]

For the first time on this alphabetical list we've hit a record I've written about at Dusted. I won't repeat anything from there here (so click through if you want to know what instrument she's playing, how to pronounce her name, what Colin Stetson is doing here, etc).

I forget any exact percentages, but when relatives have done genealogical research on our family it seems that a significant brace of ancestors come from Scotland (especially on my dad's side, although on either it's all pretty entirely from the UK and Ireland). To the extent that we paid attention to our heritage growing up, it's certainly the Scottish part I was aware of. I mean, my middle name is Sutherland and I grew up in a (Canadian) town named Kincardine, I have a red beard and every Saturday in the summer there was a bagpipe and drum band marching down the main street around sunset (to say nothing of the yearly Scottish Festival). All of this is to say that when I play this album or certain other things involving bagpipes and it feels like it resonates with something deep in the core of me, I suspect it has more to do with many, many childhood experiences listening to bagpipes and not some mystical/genetic/heritage-based connection to the music of my people, or whatever. But it feels like it's something I have a deeper connection to, and I like that too (the same way I liked visiting Scotland and finding out it's one of the few places I've been where I instantly felt at home; if that feeling was partly socialization or confirmation bias or what have you... fine!). But while I was in some sense predisposed to like Chaimbeul's work, my love for Carry Them With Us is in no way explained by or reducible to childhood nostalgia. It's a beautiful record.

[sinceileftyoublog]

Oren Ambarchi, Johan Berthling and Andreas Werliin Interview: Winning Concepts

Photo by Thobias Fäldt

BY JORDAN MAINZER

Well, that didn't take nearly as long. A mere two years after releasing the once dormant and eventually critically acclaimed Ghosted, Oren Ambarchi, Johan Berthling, and Andreas Werliin are releasing its follow-up on Friday via Drag City. The trio returned to Studio Rymden in Stockholm last June, with years of performing together under their belt, and laid down the tracks for Ghosted II in a mere two days. Like its predecessor, Ghosted II delves into jazz and drone music, has numerical track titles, and features guitar from Ambarchi that sounds like an organ, album art by Pål Dybwik, and video art by Cédrick Eymenier. Less like its predecessor (though not wholly unlike it), Ghosted II plays with dynamics, is more improvised with minimal overdubs, and roots itself in everything from ambient music to funk. Oh, and its numerical track titles are in Swedish instead of Roman numerals.

Seriously, Ambarchi, Berthling, and Werliin could follow the same four-track formula with the same featured artists every time and I would be more excited with every release. That's how potent Ghosted II is. “en” sports brilliant textural contrasts, pattering drums, scraggly guitar, and barely-there bass, but nonetheless wears a zesty groove. “två” I can most aptly describe as chrome lounge jazz, rife with repeated bass, slow hand percussion, and cold, warbling guitars that pulsate at constantly changing speeds. “tre” is where we first truly hear those inexorable Ambarchi guitar sounds, whirring and shapeshifting with a light chirp and glitch as Werliin's percussion circumvents Berthling's bass. The song sounds like it's traveling through a prickly continuum. And “fyra” ends the set with shimmering ambiance, syncopated bass and drums steady until Werliin jumps into a clattering groove, eventually letting Ambarchi take front and center before the three descend into silence. Ghosted II is the type of album as easy to listen to as it is heady and complex, an achievement that should further this trio's welcome emergence in the experimental music realm.

Oh, and I forgot to mention another similarity to Ghosted: Ambarchi, Berthling, and Werliin once again were willing to answer some questions from me over email about the album. Read their responses below, edited for clarity, including some can't-miss music recommendations.

Since I Left You: How would you say Ghosted II is different from the first record, and how is it a continuation of what you were doing on Ghosted? Oren Ambarchi: I would say that it's a continuation from the first one. The approach in the studio was very similar: We simply got together and improvised with little discussion beforehand. It was recorded very quickly--from memory, all the pieces are first takes, and there was minimal overdubbing.

SILY: How did playing live as a trio inform Ghosted II? When you went in to the recording, did you think of it like a live concert with no audience? OA: Playing live has been really great, as we've been developing our language as a trio from show to show, and this definitely impacted the new one. Like the first trio recording, the vibe in the studio was very relaxed. It was like playing together in someone's lounge room. Personally I tried to approach the new one with newer guitar sounds, many of which I discovered in real-time whilst we were recording. I was hoping my playing would be a little different to the playing on the first record. I didn't want to repeat myself, and I'm sure the others felt the same way regarding how they approached the recording. So the new album is, on the one hand, a continuation from the first album, but on the other hand, it's an exciting new development for all of us. Johan Berthling: I think playing live has merged our sounds together quite a bit. We know each other's playing a lot better. When recording the first album, we had nothing. Now, we have a sound and a foundation we can continue to build on. For me, the studio (could be) a magical environment where all is possible. The live situation has so many parameters that are not controllable, so I want to keep them apart. I never look at recording as a live performance. Andreas Werliin: Playing live in front of an audience is very different from being in a studio recording session.[It has] different energy. It’s weird: The great live shows rarely transform into a good recording. It’s usually too much information. What we experienced when playing live was that we could use much more dynamics than on our albums. In a studio recording, you can use the room and vibe to play less and still keep it interesting, making small changes instead of the big movements we do live.

SILY: Is there something unique about Studio Rymden that fosters creative collaboration? OA: It feels super relaxed recording there, which really suits our vibe and somehow enhances what we are going for. I think we are all inspired by the room at Rymden and play off of the space. JB: It has a really nice living room atmosphere and has all the equipment we need. Daniel [Bengtson], who runs it, is also a great and knowledgeable guy making everyone feel at ease. AW: [It's] a good sounding, very relaxed place. [It] feels like being at a home party.

SILY: Why was it important for you to have continuity between the two albums' visual identities (cover art, music videos)? JB: Why change a winning concept? :) AW: These days, things are moving so fast. Everything and everybody has to change all the time to not lose the audience's attention, both visually and musically. We took the opportunity to go against that movement, I guess.

SILY: What inspired the track titles this time around? OA: Laziness. It's 1/2/3/4 in Swedish. Maybe we'll pick another language when we do another release.

SILY: How did the songs on the first record end up evolving live? Do you foresee these songs having a similar live evolution? OA: Absolutely. It's been really fun expanding on the pieces on the first album in a live context. Those pieces have really gone places. Some live versions of the pieces have lasted 30-40 minutes each. We've already been playing some of the new pieces live, too, and they are already morphing into new explorations that are quite different from the recorded versions.

AW: We developed a new form and used more improvisation and a lot more dynamics.

SILY: What's next? OA: We have some shows coming up as a trio which I'm really looking forward to. I really love playing with Johan and Andreas. My next big show...is a new piece titled "Sous Vide" with conductor Ilan Volkov and the Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra. I'm also hoping to start on a new solo record later this year. AW: I'm excited to release [Ghosted II]. We’re all pretty busy with other projects and family life, so [I'm] just hoping for peace, love, and understanding in general, I guess.

SILY: Is there anything you've been listening to, watching, or reading lately that you've enjoyed or that's inspired you? AW: I would highly recommend Brighde Chaimbeul's album The Reeling (River Lea). She will play live in our village on the west coast of Sweden on July 7th in an incredible church. Much welcome. JB: Lately, I’ve been listening a lot to Howlin' Wolf's Message to the Young and John Lee Hooker and Canned Heat's Hooker 'n Heat. Live, I recently saw a fantastic performance by Evan Parker and Alexander Hawkins in Germany!

OA: [I've been] listening to plenty non-stop, but here's a few recent things that come to mind:

James Rushford's Turzets

An unreleased 1974 live recording of Salamat Ali Khan from Berlin

ML Buch's Suntub (15 love)

Tyshawn Sorey's Continuing (Pi)

Ahmir Khan's Khayal By Ustad Ahmir Khan

RLW's When freezing air stings like ice I shall breathe again (Drag City)

Lenny Breau's Quietude

Eduardo Mateo

Glenn Gould's version of Brahms: 10 Intermezzi

Mikel Rouse Broken Consort

Tirzah

Weather Report's Live & Unreleased

I also just picked up an amazing new remaster of Genesis' The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, which I've been playing endlessly.

I recently watched Dog Day Afternoon with my 16-year-old last night. It was good to revisit that one. I also recently saw a great UK documentary on Cornelius Cardew with footage of the Scratch Orchestra and AMM. Other than that, it's always Law & Order before bed.

Reading:

Scott McClanahan's The Sarah Book Ian Penman's Fassbinder Thousands of Mirrors Adrian Sinclair & Allan Kozinn's The McCartney Legacy Henry Threadgill & Brent Hayes Edwards' Easily Slip Into Another World Dorothy B. Hughes' The Expendable Man

[nonesuchrecords]

Sam Amidon, who is currently touring the US, is on the latest episode of BBC World Service’s Music Life along with Brìghde Chaimbeul, Rhodri Davies, and Linda Buckley. They discuss the roles of tradition and place in music, and what they might think about when performing. You can hear their conversation here.

[lemonpoppyseedmuffin]

Let’s all try to feel something beautiful on this Sunday morning

[donjuaninhell]

Favourite Music 2013-2023

As part of attempting to recover/reconstruct my blog here in the event that my old account is not restored, I'm reposting some old things that I've pieced together from Internet Archive scrapes of my old blog, personal files, and cross-postings elsewhere. A tradition I maintained on that blog over its ten year span was putting out a list of my favourite music releases at the end of every year.

I make it a goal to listen to fifty new releases every year, and I frequently manage over seventy or more, occasionally hitting one hundred. At the end of the year I distill all that listening down into a list of thirty-odd releases that I really enjoyed.

I've never much liked numbered and ranked lists so the lists are unranked and have been from the beginning. They are, however, partitioned into three categories. Two of these categories are self explanatory "Favourite Music" and "Favourite Reissues, Compilations, Soundtracks and Live Albums" while the third "Honourable Mentions" acts as a holding tank for things that I either liked "fine enough alright" or which I was/am still digesting. I have not gone back and edited these lists in any way (except to alphabetize earliest ones), as that would be cheating. I wanted these lists to be a document of a moment in time, a personal record of what I was listening to in any given year. Consequently, the further back you go, the more likely it is my opinions have changed. Some albums and artists that were favourites fell out of my rotation entirely, a few honourable mentions graduated to favourites while others slipped off, but a good half or more stayed right where I placed them. Some lists are longer than others. I was more discriminating in the first few years and left a great many things off.

I'm posting this mostly for myself, but please, take a look if you're looking for something to listen to, there are hundreds of recommendations below, something for everyone. My favourites from 2023 are directly below, and 2013-2022 are below the "read more" in reverse chronological order.

Favourite Music 2023:

Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad — Jazz is Dead 16

Algiers — Shook

Anjumile — The King

Annelies Monseré — Mares

ANOHNI — My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross

Brighde Chaimbeul — Carry Them With Us

Chris Watson & Philip Jeck — Oxmardyke

Colin Stetson — When We Were That What Wept for the Sea

Danny Brown — Quaranta

The Drin — Today My Friend You Drunk the Venom

The Inward Circles — Before WE Lie Down in Darknesse

Jaimie Brand — Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war))

Kahil El’Zabar's Ethnic Heritage Ensemble ft. Dwight Trible & David Ornette Cherry — Spirit Gatherer: Tribute to Don Cherry

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard — The Silver Cord

La Baracande — La Baracande

Lankum — False Lankum

Meatraffle — Base and Superstructure

Oxbow — Love's Holiday

ØXN — CYRM

PJ Harvey — I Inside the Old Year Dying

Protomartyr — Formal Growth in the Desert

Squid — O Monolith

Tim Arnold — Super Connected

Tyvek — Overground

Yossari Baby — Inferiority Complex

Water From Your Eyes — Everyone's Crushed

Honourable Mentions 2023:

Gazelle Twin — Black Dog

Lonnie Holley — Oh Me, Oh My

Matmos — Return to Archive

The Mountain Goats — Jenny from Thebes

Mozart Estate — Pop-Up! Ker-Ching! And the Possibilities of Modern Shopping

The Murder Capital — Gigi's Recovery

Neil Young — Before and After

Peter Gabriel — i/o

The Pigeons — Bird Brain Gang

PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS — Land of Sleeper

Shame — Food for Worms

Sparks — The Girl is Crying in Her Latte

Stuck — Freak Frequency

Favourite Reissues, Compilations, Soundtracks and Live Albums 2023:

Alkemie — Pentiment (Original Game Soundtrack)

The Beatles — 1962-1966

The Beatles — 1967-1970

Black Country, New Road — Live at Bush Hall

Devo — Art Devo 1973-1977

John Coltrane — Evenings at the Village Gate: John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy

Lingua Ignota — The End: Live at Islington Assembly Hall

Neil Young — Chrome Dreams

Nervous Gender — Music from Hell

The Replacements — Tim (Let It Bleed Edition)

Shizuka (静香) — Heavenly Persona 天界のペルソナ

Sonic Youth — Live in Brooklyn 2011

Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 — These Things Remain Unassigned (Singles, Compilation Tracks, Rarities & Unreleased Recordings)

Various Artists — Happy Land: A Compendium of Alternative Electronic Music from the British Isles 1993-1996

Various Artists — The NID Tapes: Electronic Music from India 1969-1972

Favourite Music 2022:

Alison Cotton — The Portrait You Painted of Me

Bill Orcutt — Music for Four Guitars

Black Country, New Road — Ants from Up There

black midi — Hellfire

Cate le Bon — Pompeii

Decius — Decius Vol. 1

Diamanda Galás — Broken Gargoyles

Extra Life — Secular Works, Vol. 2

Fontaines D.C. — Skinty Fia

Gnod — Hexen Valley

Hercules and Love Affair ft. Anhoni — In Amber

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard — Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava; Omnium Gatherum

Magma — Kãrtëhl

Moundabout — Flowers Rot, Bring Me Stones

One More Grain — Beans on Toast with Pythagoras

Richard Dawson — The Ruby Cord

Sam Slater — I do not wish to be known as a Vandal

Sault — 151; Air; Earth; Today & Tomorrow; UNTITLED(GOD)

SCUDFM — INNIT

Shovel Dance Collective — Water Is The Shovel of the Shore

Special Interest — Endure

Viagra Boys — Cave World

Honourable Mentions 2022:

The Chats — Get Fucked

Lady Neptune — Noz

Omertà — Collection particulière

Suede — Autofiction

Trupa Trupa — B flat A

Weak Signal — War&War

Yard Act — The Overload

Yoo Doo Right — A Murmur, Boundless to the East

Favourite Reissues, Compilations, Soundtracks & Live Albums 2022:

The Beatles — Get Back: the Rooftop Performance; Revolver Super Deluxe Edition

Bog-Shed — The Official Bog-Set

David Bowie — Divine Symmetry

Diamanda Galás — The Divine Punishment

Iannis Xenakis — Electroacoustic Works

Norma Tanega — I’m the Sky: Studio and Demo Recordings, 1964–1971

Oliver Coates — The Stranger

Oxbow & Peter Br​ö​tzmann — An Eternal Reminder Of Not Today: Live At Moers

Sonic Youth — In/Out/In

Tomasz Stańko Quintet — Wooden Music I

Valentina Goncharova — Ocean: Symphony for Electric Violin and Other Instruments in 10+ Parts

Favourite Music 2021:

Ärabrot — Norwegian Gothic

black midi — Cavalcade

Richard Dawson & Circle — Henki

Desperate Journalist — Maximum Sorrow!

Dry Cleaning — New Long Leg

Gnod — La Mort Du Sens

Greg Coates — Witch Egg

Hawthonn — Earth Mirror

Hedvig Mollestad Trio — Ding Dong. You're Dead

Iceage — Seek Shelter

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard — L.W.

Pharoah Sanders & the London Symphony Orchestra — Promises

LoneLady — Former Things

Low — HEY WHAT

Marissa Nadler — The Path of the Clouds

Mirage — Mirage

Nick Cave & Warren Willis — Carnage

Nyx & Gazelle Twin — Deep England

Oliver Leath and Explorer Ensemble — 'Me Hollywood'

Parquet Courts — Sympathy for Life

SAULT — Nine

shame — Drunk Tank Pink

Shortparis — Яблонный сад

Sleaford Mods — Spare Ribs

Snapped Ankles — Forest of Your Problems

Sons of Kemet — Black to the Future

Squid — Bright Green Field

Taqbir — Taqbir (Victory Belongs to Those Who Fight For a Right Cause)

Viagra Boys — Welfare Jazz

William Parker — Mayan Space Station

Favourite Reissues, Compilations, Soundtracks & Live Albums 2021:

Can — Live in Brighton 1975

Can — Live in Stuttgart 1975

Coil — Love's Secret Domain 30th Anniversary Edition

Faust — 1971-1974

Gang of Four — 77-81

John Coltrane — A Love Supreme: Live in Seattle

The KLF — The White Room (The KLF Director's Cut)

Magma — Simples

Suburban Lawns — Suburban Lawns

Van der Graaf Generator — The Charisma Years 1970-1978

Various Artists — Do You Have the Force? (Jon Savage's Alternate History of Electronica 1978-1982)

Various Artists — Cameroon Garage Funk

Willie Dunn — Creation Never Sleeps, Creation Never Dies: the Willie Dunn Anthology

Favourite Music 2020:

Aksak Maboul — Figures

All diese Gewalt — Andere

Baxter Dury — The Night Chancers

Bill Fay — Countless Branches

Bob Dylan — Rough and Rowdy Ways

The Chats — High Risk Behaviour

Cold Meat — Hot and Flustered

Crack Cloud — Pain Olympics

Duma — DuMa

Einstürzende Neubauten — Alles in Allem

The Heliocentrics — Infinity of Now

Hen Ogledd — Free Humans

Hey Colossus — Dances/Curses

Idris Ackamor and the Pyramids — Shaman!

Jeff Parker — Suite for Max Brown

Jennifer Walshe — A Late Anthology of Early Music, Vol. 1: Ancient to Renaissance

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard — K.G.

Lonnie Holley — National Freedom

Nadine Shah — Kitchen Sink

Oranssi Pazuzu — Mestarin kynsi

Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs — Viscerals

Protomartyr — Ultimate Success Today

Róisín Murphy — Róisín Machine

Sault — Untitled (Black Is); Untitled (Rise)

Shirley Collins — Heart’s Ease

The Sorcerers — In Search of the Lost City of the Monkey God

Wilma Archer — A Western Circular

Young Knives — Barbarians

Honourable Mentions 2020:

Algiers — There Is No Year

Christine and the Queens — La vita nuova

Fontaines D.C. — A Hero’s Death

fra fra — Funeral Songs

Idles — Ultra Mono

Pharoah Overlord — 6

Richard Skelton — These Charms May Be Sung Over a Wound

Sex Swing — Type II

Sparks — A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip

Thundercat — It Is What It Is

Torres — Silver Tongue

Wire — Mind Hive

Favourite Reissues, Compilations, Soundtracks and Live Albums 2020:

Beverly Glenn-Copeland — Transmissions: The Music of Beverly Glenn-Copeland

Black Sabbath — Paranoid Super Deluxe Box Set

Coil — The Gay Man’s Guide to Safer Sex

David Bowie — I’m Only Dancing (The Soul Tour ‘74); Ouvrez Le Chien (Live Dallas '95)

Fela Kuti — Perambulator

The Heshoo Beshoo Group — Armitage Road

The Jimi Hendrix Experience — Live In Maui

Neil Young — Homegrown

Pylon — Pylon Box

The Sun Ra Arkestra — Swirling

Sun Ra — Live Egypt 1971

Theotis Taylor — Brother Theotis Taylor

Uranium Club — Live for the Very First Time (In Italy)

Various Artists — Join The Future: UK Bleep & Bass 1988 - 1991

Various Artists — Interstellar Funk Presents Artificial Dancers: Waves Of Synth

Various Artists — Deutsche Elektronische Musik 4: Experimental German Rock And Electronic Music 1971 – 1983

Favourite Music 2019:

Alexander Tucker — Guild of the Asbestos Weaver

Ana Roxanne — ~~~

Årabrot — Die Nibelungen

BATS — Alter Nature

Beverly Glenn-Copeland — Primal Prayer

black midi — Schlagenheim

Cosey Fanni Tutti — Tutti

Damon Locks/Black Monument Ensemble — Where Future Unfolds

Drenge — Strange Creatures

Fat White Family — Serfs Up!

Holly Herndon — Proto

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard — Infest the Rats’ Nest

King Midas Sound — Solitude

Lingua Ignota — Caligula

MEATRAFFLE — Bastard Music

The Mekons — Deserted

Michael Kiwanuka — Kiwanuka

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds — Ghosteen

Priests — The Seduction of Kansas

Purple Mountains — Purple Mountains

Richard Dawson — 2020

shortparis — Так закалялась сталь

Sleaford Mods — Eton Alive

Snapped Ankles — Stunning Luxury

Test Dept. — Disturbance

Vanishing Twin — The Age of Immunology

Honourable Mentions 2019

Angel Olson — All Mirrors

Cate Le Bon — Reward

Caterina Barbieri — Ecstatic Computation

CHAI — PUNK

Earth — Full Upon Her Burning Lips

Jenny Hval — The Practice of Love

Kim Gordon — No Home Record

Leonard Cohen — Thanks for the Dance

The Murder Capital — When I Have Fears

Pharmakon — Devour

Richard Skelton — Border Ballads

Sudan Archives — Athena

Swans — Leaving Meaning

Favourite Reissues, Compilations, Soundtracks and Live Albums 2019:

The Beatles — Abbey Road Super Deluxe Edition

Can — Live Rockpalast 1970

David Bowie — Conversation Piece

The Deontic Miracle; Catherine Christer Hennix — Selections from 100 Models of Hegikan Roku

Hildur Guðnadóttir — Chernobyl (Music From the Original TV Series)

His Name Is Alive — All the Mirrors in the House (Early Recordings 1979 - 1986)

Mort Garson — Mother Earth’s Plantasia

Patrick Cowley — Mechanical Fantasy Box

Various Artists — Nigeria 70: No Wahala: Highlife, Afro-Funk & Juju 1973-1987

Various Artists — Tarantismo: Odyssey of an Italian Ritual

Various Artists — Third Noise Principle: Formative North American Electronica 1975-1984

Various Artists — Further Perspectives & Distortion: An Encyclopedia of British Experimental and Avant‐Garde Music 1976–1984

Favourite Music 2018:

Ärabrot — Who Do You Love

Capitol K — Goatherder

The Caretaker — Everywhere At The End of Time, Stage IV; Everywhere At The End of Time, Stage V

Chris Carter — Chemistry Lessons Volume 1

Daughters — You Won’t Get What You Want

Die Nerven — Fake

Lonnie Holley — MITH

The Ex — 27 Passports

Gazelle Twin — Pastoral

Gnod — Chapel Perilous

Hen Ogledd — Mogic

Hawthonn — Red Goddess (Of This Men Shall Know Nothing)

Julia Holter — Aviary

Hot Snakes — Jericho Sirens

Idris Ackamoor and the Pyramids — An Angel Fell

ILL — We Are Ill

Insecure Men — Insecure Men

Idles — Joy As An Act Of Resistance

KELD — You Are Wolf

Laibach — The Sound of Music

Lonker See — One Eye Sees Red

Low — Double Negative

Mamuthones — Fear on the Corner

Parquet Courts — Wide Awake!

Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs — King of Cowards

Protomartyr — Consolation EP

Pusha T — Daytona

Richard Skelton — Front Variations (I & II)

Rival Consoles — Persona

Simian Mobile Disco — Murmurations

Sons of Kemet — Your Queen Is A Reptile

Szun Waves — New Hymn to Freedom

Tropical Fuck Storm — A Laughing Death in Meatspace

Yves Tumor — Safe In The Hands Of Love

Honourable Mentions 2018:

Amen Dunes — Freedom

Amyl and the Sniffers — Big Attraction & Giddy Up

The Cavemen — Nuke Earth

Death and the Maiden — Wisteria

The Dirty Nil — Master Volume

Here Lies Man — You Will Know Nothing

Hop Along — Bark Your Head Off, Dog

Iceage — Beyondless

The Limiñanas — Shadow People

Lucy Dacus — Historian

The Messthetics — The Messthetics

Mitski — Be The Cowboy

Nine Inch Nails — Bad Witch

Ought — Room Inside the World

Sarah Louise — Deeper Woods

Scourge of Women — To End It All

Thou — Magus

U.S. Girls — In a Poem Unlimited

Tπc9 — Sekundenschlaf

Favourite Reissues, Compilations, Soundtracks and Live Albums 2018:

Art Ensemble of Chicago — Les Stances a Sophie

Austin Wintory — The Banner Saga 3 OST

Colin Stetson — Hereditary OST

Holger Czukay — Cinema

Holger Czukay & David Sylvian — Plight & Premonition/Flux & Mutability

Neil Young — Songs for Judy

Throbbing Gristle — Mission Of Dead Souls

Ursula K. Le Guin & Todd Barton — Music and Poetry of the Kesh

Various Artists — Uneven Paths: Deviant Pop from Europe 1980-1991

Various Artists — Deutsche Elektronische Musik 3: Experimental German Music 1971-1981

Various Artists — Onda de Amor: Synthesized Brazilian Hits That Never Were, 1984-1994

Various Artists — Venezuela 70 Vol. 2: Cosmic Visions Of A Latin American Earth: Venezuelan Experimental Rock In The 1970s & Beyond

Various Artists — Soul Of A Nation 2: Jazz Is The Teacher, Funk Is The Preacher

Various Artists — African Scream Contest Volume 2: Benin 1963 - 1980

Favourite Music 2017:

Algiers — Underside of Power

Atlantik Wall — Atlantik Wall

Charlotte Gainsbourg — Rest

Circle — Terminal

Colin Stetson — All This I Do For Glory

Gnod — Just Say No to the Psycho Right-Wing Capitalist Fascist Industrial Death Machine

Here Lies Man — Here Lies Man

Idles — Brutalism

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith — The Kid

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard — Flying Microtonal Banana; Murder of the Universe; Polygondwanaland; Sketches of Brunswick East

The Moonlandingz — Interplanetary Class Classics

Nadine Shah — Holiday Destination

Oxbow — Thin Black Duke

Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs — Feed the Rats

Protomartyr — Relatives in Descent

Rainforest Spiritual Enslavement — Ambient Black Magic

Richard Dawson — Peasant

Thundercat — Drunk

Waxahatchee — Out in the Storm

William Basinski — A Shadow in Time

The Yossarians — Fabric of Time

Zola Jesus — Okovi

Honourable Mentions 2017:

All Them Witches — Sleeping Through the War

The Caretaker — Everywhere at the End of Time (Stage 2); Everywhere at the End of Time (Stage 3)

The Chats — Get This In Ya

Chelsea Wolfe — Hiss Spun

The Dumpies — The Dumpies

Electric Wizard — Wizard Bloody Wizard

EMA — Exile in the Outer Ring

The Fall — New Facts Emerge

French Vanilla — French Vanilla

Game Theory — Supercalifragile

Japan Blues — Sells His Record Collection

Moon Duo — Occult Architecture Vol. 1; Occult Architecture Vol. 2

NSRD — The Workshop for the Restoration of Unfelt Feelings

Onus — Ratsickles

Priests — Nothing Feels Natural

St. Vincent — MASSEDUCATION

Torres — Three Futures

UUUU — UUUU

Wire — Silver/Lead

Favourite Reissues, Compilations, Soundtracks and Live Albums 2017:

Black Sabbath — The Ten Year War

The Fall — Singles 1978-2016

German Oak — Down In The Bunker

Husker Dü — Savage Young Dü

Midori Takada — Through The Looking Glass

Patrick Cowley — Afternooners

The Pentangle — The Albums

Pep Llopis — Poiemusia La Nau Dels Argonautes

Various Artists — Music From Saharan Cellphones Vol. 1

Various Artists — N.E.E.T (Not in Education Employment or Training)

Various Artists — Noise Reduction System: Formative European Electronica 1974-1984

Various Artists — Silhouettes and Shadows: A Gothic Revolution 1978-1986

Favourite Music 2016:

All diese Gewalt — Welt in Klammern

ANOHNI — HOPELESSNESS

Årabrot — Gospel

Car Seat Headrest — Teens of Denial

Cheena — Spend the Night With…

Controlled Bleeding — Larva Lumps and Baby Bumps

David Bowie — Blackstar

The Dwarves of East Agouza — Bes

Exploded View — Exploded View

Fat White Family — Songs for Our Mothers

Fear of Men — Fall Forever

Hedvig Mollestad Trio — Black Stabat Mater

Jozef van Wissem — When Shall This Bright Day Begin

The KVB — Of Desire

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard — Nonagon Infinity

Leonard Cohen — You Want It Darker

The Mekons — Existentialism

Mélanie De Biasio — Blackened Cities

The Minneapolis Uranium Club — Human Exploration; All of Them Naturals

Moor Mother — Fetish Bones

Mütterlein — Orphans of the Black Sun

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds — Skeleton Tree

Parquet Courts — Human Performance

Savages — Adore Life

SHXCXCHCXSH — SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSs

True Widow — Avvolgere

White Lung — Paradise

Honourable Mentions 2016:

The Caretaker — Everywhere at the End of Time

Diminished Men — Vision in Crime

Dinosaur Jr. — Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not

Future of the Left — The Peace and Truce of Future of the Left

Hen Ogledd — Bronze

Jenny Hval — Blood Bitch

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith & Suzanne Ciani — Sunergy

The Limiñanas — Malamore

Marissa Nadler — Strangers

PJ Harvey — The Hope Six Demolition Project

Radiohead — A Moon Shaped Pool

Rangda — The Heretic’s Bargain

SubRosa — For This We Fought the Battle of Ages

Swans — The Glowing Man

Wrekmeister Harmonies — Light Falls

Wire — Nocturnal Koreans

Favourite Reissues, Compilations, Soundtracks and Live Albums 2016:

Big Star — The Complete Third

Cluster — 1971-1981

Nine Inch Nails — The Fragile: Deviations 1

Pere Ubu — Architecture of Language 1979-1982

Scott Walker — The Childhood of a Leader (OST)

Sun Ra — Singles: The Definitive 45's Collection 1952-1991

Various Artists — Close to the Noise Floor: Formative UK Electronica 1975-1984

Various Artists — Killed By Deathrock Vol. 2

Various Artists — Wake You Up! Vol. 1: The Rise and Fall of Nigerian Rock Music 1972-1977

Various Artists — Wake You Up! Vol. 2: The Rise and Fall of Nigerian Rock Music 1972-1977

Favourite Music 2015:

Bad Guys — Bad Guynaecology

Baron — Torpor

The Body & Thou — You, Whom I Have Always Hated

Chelsea Wolfe — Abyss

Circuit des Yeux — In Plain Speech

Couch Slut — My Life As a Woman

Die Nerven — Out

The Eccetronic Research Council — Johnny Rocket, Narcissist & Music Machine…I’m Your Biggest Fan

Feu! Chatterton — Ici le jour (a tout enseveli)

Ghold — Of Ruin

The Inward Circles — Belated Movements For An Unsanctioned Exhumation August 1st 1984

Institute — Catharsis

Jenny Hval — Apocalypse, Girl

Low — Ones and Sixes

MEATRAFFLE — Hi Fi Classics

The Mekons — Jura

Men I Trust — Headroom

Negative Scanner — Negative Scanner

Protomartyr — The Agent Intellect

Pyramids — A Northern Meadow

Thundercat — The Beyond/Where the Giants Roam

Torres — Sprinter

U.S Girls — Half Free

Viet Cong — Viet Cong

Honourable Mentions 2015:

Alessandro Cortini — Risveglio

Bell Witch — Four Phantoms

Container — LP

Gnaw Their Tongues — Abyss of Longing Throats

J.C. Satàn — J.C. Satàn

Księżyc — Rabbit Eclipse

LoneLady — Hinterland

Nadine Shah — Fast Food

Spectres — Dying

Titus Andronicus — The Most Lamentable Tragedy

Tropic of Cancer — Stop Suffering

Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats — The Night Creeper

Favourite Reissues, Compilations, Soundtracks and Live Albums 2015:

Coil — Backwards

Harmonia — Complete Works

Patrick Cowley — Muscle Up

Peter Christopherson — Live At L'Étrange Festival 2004

Rose McDowall — Cut With the Cake Knife

Sun Ra And His Arkestra — To Those Of Earth… And Other Worlds

Swans — The Gate

Swans — White Light from the Mouth of Infinity/Love of Life

Van der Graaf Generator — After the Flood: At the BBC 1968-77

Various Artists — [Cease & Desist] DIY (Cult Classics from the Post-Punk Era 1978-82)

Various Artists — Next Stop Soweto: Zulu Rock, Afro-Disco and Mbaqanga 1975-1985 Vol. 4

Various Arists — Small Town Country, Vol. 1

Favourite Music 2014:

Angel Olsen — Burn Your Fire for No Witness

Ben Frost — A U R O R A

The Body — I Shall Die Here

Burial Hex — The Hierophant 

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

Die Nerven — Fun

Einstürzende Neubauten — Lament

English Heretic — The Underground Service

Fear of Men — Loom

Feu! Chatterton — Feu! Chatterton

Grouper — Ruins

Hedvig Mollestad Trio — Enfant Terrible

Inga Copeland — Because I'm Worth It

The Inward Circles — Nimrod Is Lost in Orion and Osyris in the Doggestarre

Leonard Cohen — Popular Problems

Pharmakon — Bestial Burden

The Proper Ornaments — Wooden Head

Protomartyr — Under Color of Official Right

Pye Corner Audio & Not Waving — Intercepts

Richard Dawson — Nothing Important

Scott Walker & Sunn O))) — Soused

Silo — Work

Swans — To Be Kind

Thou — Heathen

White Lung — Deep Fantasy

Honourable Mentions 2014:

The Antlers — Familiars

Cult of Youth — Final Days

Earth — Primitive and Deadly

East India Youth — Total Strife Forever

EMA — The Future’s Void

Flying Lotus — You’re Dead!

Gazelle Twin — Unflesh

Iceage — Plowing Into The Field Of Love

Off — Wasted Years

Slim Twig — A Hound at the Hem

Sd Laika — That's Harakiri

Somali Yacht Club — The Sun

St. Vincent — St. Vincent

Tindersticks — Ypres

Ty Segall — Manipulator

White Fence — For the Recently Found Innocent

Wovenhand — Refractory Obdurate

Favourite Reissues, Compilations, Soundtracks and Live Albums 2014:

Austin Wintory — The Banner Saga (OST)

Jack Ruby — Hit and Run

John Coltrane — Offering: Live at Temple University

King Crimson — Starless

The Spies — The Battle of Bosworth Terrace

Various Artists — Native North America, Vol 1.: Aboriginal Folk, Rock, and Country 1966-1985

Various Artists — Sombras: Spanish Post-Punk and Dark Pop 1981-1986

Favourite Music 2013:

Chelsea Wolfe — Pain Is Beauty

David Bowie — The Next Day

Dawn of Midi — Dysnomia

Destruction Unit —Deep Trip; Void

The Devil — The Devil

The Dowland Project — Night Sessions

The Fall — Remainderer EP

Fat White Family — Champagne Holocaust

Iceage — You’re Nothing

Industrial Park — Cold White

Jozef Van Wissem — Nihil Obstat

Low — The Invisible Way

New War — New War

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds — Push the Sky Away

Pharmakon — Abandon

Protomartyr — No Technique, All Passion; Colpi Probiti EP

SubRosa — More Constant Than The Gods

Savages — Silence Yourself

True Widow — Circumambulation

Veronica Falls — Waiting for Something to Happen

Wire — Change Becomes Us

Honourable Mentions 2013:

Catholic Spray — Amazon Hunt

Darkside — Psychic

Diarrhea Planet — I'm rich beyond your wildest dreams

Jenny Hval — Innocence Is Kinky

The Limiñanas — Costa Blanca

Mark Mulcahy — Dear Mark J. Mulcahy, I Love You

Merchandise — Totale Night

My Bloody Valentine — m b v

Nadine Shah — Love You Dum and Mad

Nine Inch Nails — Hesitation Marks

Suede — Bloodsports

Tropic of Cancer — Restless Idylls

Ty Segall — Sleeper

Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats — Mind Control

Unknown Mortal Orchestra — II

Favourite Reissues, Compilations, Soundtracks and Live Albums 2013:

Bob Dylan — Another Self Portrait (1969-1970): The Bootleg Series Vol. 10

The Conet Project — Recordings of Shortwave Numbers Stations

Earth Dies Burning — Songs from the Valley of the Bored Teenager 1981-1984

Jozef Van Wissem & SQÜRL — Only Lovers Left Alive (OST)

King Crimson — The Road to Red

Neil Young — Live At The Cellar Door 1970

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds — Live From KCRW

Patrick Cowley — School Daze

Swans — Not Here/Not Now

Various Artists — Deutsche Elektronische Musik 2: Experimental German Rock And Electronic Musik 1971-83

Various Arists — Everything's Coming Up Profits: The Golden Age of Industrial Musicals

Various Artists — Scared to Get Happy: A Story of Indie-Pop 1980-1989

Various Artists — Sorrow Come Pass Me Around: A Survey of Rural Black Religious Music

[innervoiceart]

Ross Ainslie is one of Scotland’s finest traditional musicians and composers, playing pipes, whistles and cittern. He is renowned for his highly acclaimed solo material, and as a skilled performer and prolific collaborator who performs regularly with bands Treacherous Orchestra, Salsa Celtica, Dougie Maclean, Ali Hutton, Jarlath Henderson, Charlie Mckerron, Tim Edey, Hamish Napier, Brighde Chaimbeul, Duncan Chisholm, India Alba and has performed with Kate Rusby, Blue Rose Code, Zakir Hussain, Trilok Gurtu, Capercaillie, Shooglenifty, Carl Barat, Papon, Karsh Kale, Flook, Breabach, Soumik Datta and Patsy Reid.

Born in Perthshire in 1983, Ross began his career as a member of the Perth and District Pipe Band, before joining the Vale of Atholl Pipe Band, where he was mentored by piper Gordon Duncan. Hugely influenced by Gordon’s fearlessly innovative spirit and groundbreaking compositions, Ross began exploring his own abilities as a composer and writing his own tunes, and in 2002 he was a finalist in the prestigious BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year competition.

[dustedmagazine]

Various Artists — Creiriau Y Delyn Rawn / Relics of the Horsehair Harp (Amgen)

Imagining new music is nothing new. Individually or collectively, spontaneously or through painstaking craft, research, and development, legions of music-makers have tried to come up with something sufficiently novel out of sounds and (sometimes) words that it hooks listeners’ attention. You can be sure that someone’s at it right now. But you probably won’t lose the farm if you bet it on the notion that the sequential imagining that went into the conception and execution of Creiriau Y Delyn Rawn is an unprecedented process that has yielded a remarkable outcome.

The Welsh language title translates into English as Relics Of The Horsehair Harp. It was produced by harpist Rhodri Davies as a companion to Telyn Rawn, a solo album that he released on his Amgen label. Telyn Rawn is named after the instrument that it introduced, a horsehair harp that Davies commissioned to be made by a couple harp makers and a leatherworker. Harps have a particular cultural resonance in Wales, since despite the instrument’s popularity, the art of making them nearly died out before making a comeback as part of a larger resurgence of Welsh culture. The original telyn rawn was made from wood and equine byproducts. After the sturdier Italian triple harp made it to the British Isles in the 1600s, it replaced the telyn rawn so thoroughly that for a couple centuries the triple harp was actually known as the Welsh harp (it was replaced by the pedal harp in the 20th century) while its predecessor was practically forgotten. When Davies, whose wide-ranging music encompasses free improvisation, modern composition, Konono-inspired junkyard noise, and rock and roll, got curious about those early harps, no one knew how to make one. The instrument on Telyn Rawn was designed using descriptions in early Welsh poetry and a couple pages addressing harp-tuning practices in a 17th century manuscript by Robert ap Huw.

When Davies finally set about playing the thing, he did not revive antique repertoire; he improvised short pieces equally informed both by his research and his own practice of playing freely, alone and with musicians like John Butcher, Andrew Leslie Hooker and the trio IST. Intricately plucked or vigorously bowed, some of the album’s eighteen tracks hinted at folkloric models, while others undid dense knots of sound that burst with harmonics and radiated overtones. Telyn Rawn came out during that first COVID summer, which was bad for many things, but was not so bad for spending some of that time that one wasn’t gigging cooking up new ideas. After its release, Davies reached out to friends and associates with this request: “I asked each contributor to imagine that the musical material improvised in 2020 was an ancient musical form that had fully existed in the medieval period, and that each of their responses were to have happened centuries after the imagined formation of the Telyn Rawn pieces.”

Such a brief can be taken in many directions, depending on the respondent’s experiences, equipment, and willingness to dig a new network out of someone else’s wormhole. Sixteen participants gave a response to one or two specific tracks from Telyn Rawn. Laura Cannell’s  opening piece, “The Tattered Skies Above,”  wastes little effort on interpreting Davies’ “Penriwh.” Instead, she constructs a fanfare from overdubbed recorders whose jolting sonorities and processional air establishes a through line linking a span of fantasized centuries. Next up, Orphy Robinson makes like a free-bopping jazz man. On “Nude, Lewd, Rude, Mood Food” he transfers bits of Davies’ intricate “Gorchan Sali” to a salaciously bulbous-sounding marimba, accelerates the tempo and lets it rip. Jem Finer plays “Y Geseg Fedi” pretty faithfully, simply transposing bowed harp to hurdy-gurdy; guitarist C. Joynes is similarly respectful to “”Dygan tro’r Ebill.” Credited as playing computer and mouse, “C. Spencer Yeh” visits a cut-and-splice surgical strike upon Davies’ recording of “Afon “Dewi Fawr;” Pat Thomas might do something similar on the turbulent electronic eruption, “Maddad.”

Not only does Davies have a strong musical personality that transcends the particular harp he plays and the century his head’s in; he has picked his emissaries wisely. Despite the disparity of instrumentation and approach exhibited by the sixteen contributing musicians, Creiriau Y Delyn Rawn feels pretty cohesive as it carves out an imaginary timeline of musical evolution.

Bill Meyer

[zaphmann]

In Memory of John Peel Show 220826 Podcast & Playlist

In Memory of John Peel Show 220826 Podcast & Playlist

Katharina Nuttall A show for those still engaged with a passion for new music >> the best new music, independent of the industry system – back this show on patreon Paypal to zaph@zaphmann.com heard in over 90 countries via independent stations (RSS)Pod-Subscribe for free here or Embed/listen at podomatic – itunes Apple, Audacity, Google Podcasts, Gaana, Boomplay, Amazon Music. Audible, Player…

[therandombanjo]

Songs From 2019 (one per artist)

Another mixed bag of stuff i either enjoyed a lot, thought was excellent or interesting (regardless of taste… sort of), emerging artists to maybe look out for, and generally music that for whatever reason connected with me in some way, including the odd earworm i just couldn’t shake. Some artists are left off just to vary a little more from some other popular lists. Hope you enjoy some of this too and find something new to be taken by. Please do buy their music if you can and hopefully from a local independent record store if possible to support their work. There’s a spotify playlist (below) for easier listening but I’ve also posted a few links to extra things on some of them if you want to check them out.  Spotify:

(As ever…. as i don’t tumblr or blog or anything (besides this list), this won’t be seen by many (if any?) people so if you like it or think it’s of any worth in any way, please do share this along)

In Alphabetical order:

A.A. Bondy - Killers 3 Abdallah Oumbadougou - Thingalene Alasdair Roberts - Common Clay Alex Rex - Latest Regret Andy Shauf - Try Again Angel Bat Dawid - We Are Starzz Angel Olsen - All Mirrors        bonus. her collab with Mark Ronson “True Blue” Anne Müller - Solo? Repeat! Antoinette Konan - Kokoloko Tani Arthur Russell - Words Of Love Asmâa Hamzaoui and Bnat Timbouktou - Sandia Baby Rose - All To Myself BCI - Grateful Bedouine - When You’re Gone Benny The Butcher - Crowns For Kings      ft. Black Thought Ben Walker - Afon Better Oblivion Community Center - Chesapeake Beverly Glenn-Copeland - A Little Talk     (from a reissue of her 2004 record Primal Prayer) Bibio - Curls The Big Moon - It’s Easy Then Big Thief - a. Not    b. Cattails    (from 2 excellent albums released in the same year: “U.F.O.F” and “Two Hands”) Bill Callahan - a. What Comes After Certainty    b. The Ballad Of The Hulk Bill Fay - Filled With Wonder Once Again Bill Orcutt - Odds Against Tomorrow billy woods - a. Spongebob w/ Kenny Segal     b. Western Education Is Forbidden    ft. Fielded        (From 2 excellent records this year: “Hiding Places” with Kenny Segal, and “Terror Management”) Black Country, New Road - Sunglasses Blu & Oh No - The Lost Angels Anthem    ft. Kezia Bon Iver - Hey, Ma Bonnie “Prince” Billy - Beast For Thee Bonny Light Horseman - Bonny Light Horseman      (”supergroup” of the great Anaïs Mitchell, Eric D Johnson & Josh Kaufman) Brent Cobb & Jade Bird - Feet Off The Ground Brighde Chaimbeul -  O Chiadain an Lo Brigyn - Oer Brittany Howard - Stay High    (the video for this, with Terry Crews, is a delight) Bruce Hornsby - Voyager One    ft. yMusic Burd Ellen - Sweet Lemany Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh and Thomas Bartlett - Kestrel Caribou - You and I Caroline Polachek - Door Cate Le Bon - Daylight Matters Caterina Barbieri - Arrows Of Time Clairo - Bags Cochemea - Mitote comfort - Not Passing The Cool Greenhouse - Cardboard Man    (a pretty hilarious song about David Cameron) CRAC - You Can’t Turn Your Back On Me    (Unreleased old track from ‘76) Cross Record - PYSOL My Castle CZ Wang and Neo Image - Just Off Wave Damon Locks / Black Monument Ensemble - a. Rebuild a Nation   b. Power Daniel Norgren - The Flow Danny Brown - Dirty Laundry Daphni - Sizzling    ft. Paradise Daughter Of Swords - Fellows      (Mountain Man member Alexandra Sauser-Monnig’s 1st solo record) Dave - Psycho David Kilgour - Smoke You Right Out Of Here David Thomas Broughton - Ambiguity     (from the 15th anniversary reissue of his remarkable debut album, The Complete Guide To Insufficiency) Denzel Curry - RICKY Destroyer - Crimson Tide Dry Cleaning - Dog Proposal Dubi Dolczek - Do The Gloop Durand Jones & The Indications - Long Way Home Ela Orleans - The Season      (From 2012 but on a career retrospective, Movies For Ears, put out this year) Elkhorn - Song Of The Son Emile Mosseri - a. The Last Black Man In San Francisco b. San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair)    ft. Mike Marshall         (both from the wonderful score for the wonderful film The Last Black Man In San Francisco, the latter a cover of an old song sung here by the guy who sang “I Got 5 On It”!!) Erland Cooper - Haar Ernest Hood - Saturday Morning Doze        (from a re-issue of his “self-released proto-ambient masterpiece” in ‘75) Fat White Family - Feet Faye Webster - Room Temperature Fennesz - In My Room Fernando Falcão -  As 7 Filhas Da Rainha Sumaia     (reissue from ‘87) FKA twigs - cellophane Florist - Shadow Bloom Flowdan - Welcome To London Fontaines D.C. - Roy’s Tune Four Tet / KH - Only Human French Vanilla - All The Time Gang Starr - Family and Loyalty   ft. J. Cole Georgia - About Work The Dancefloor Girl Band - Shoulderblades The Good Ones - Will You Be My Protector?   (of Rwanda) Grand Veymont - Les Rapides Bleus       (of France) Gyedu-Blay Ambolley - Sunkwa     (of Ghana) Hailaker - Not Much HAIM - Summer GIrl Hana Vu - Actress Hand Habits - placeholder Hannah Cohen - Get In Line The Harlem Gospel Travellers - If You Can’t Make It Through A Storm Hayden Thorpe - Diviner     (Former Wild Beasts frontman’s debut solo record) Helado Negro - Running The Highwomen - Redesigning Women Hiss Golden Messenger - I Need A Teacher Holly Herndon - Frontier Homeboy Sandman - Far Out Hoops - They Say Hotel Neon & Blurstem - Language Of Loss House and Land - Rainbow ‘Mid Life’s Willows Ibibio Sound Machine - Wanna Come Down IDER - Saddest Generation The Innocence Mission - On Your Side International Teachers Of Pop - I Stole Yer Plimsoles    ft. Jason Williamson (of Sleaford Mods) Jacken Elswyth - The Banks Of Green Williow Jaimie Branch - nuevo roquero estéreo Jake Xerxes Fussell - The River St. Johns Jamila Woods - ZORA Jayda G - Leave Room 2 Breathe Jenny Hval - Ashes To Ashes       Jenny Lewis - Red Bull and Hennessy Jesca Hoop - Outside of Eden     ft. Kate Stables (of This Is The Kit) and Jesca’s 12 year-old nephew Justis. This live performance is so sweet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUPmE_hU7Ss Jessica Pratt - As The World Turns Joanna Sternberg - This Is Not Who I Want To Be Joan Shelley - Cycle John Blek - North Star Lady Jordan Rakei - Say Something        bonus. under his DJ pseudonym: Dan Kye - Focus Jo Schornikow - Incomplete Joseph Shabason - West of Heaven Julianna Barwick - evening Junius Paul - Baker’s Dozen Kali Malone - Spectacle Of Ritual Kate Teague - Sweetheart Kate Tempest - a. Firesmoke    b. People’s Faces Kelly Moran - Halogen (Una Corda)       (from a record full of all the bare piano parts she played for her prior record before all the editing and processing) Kim Gordon - Air BnB Kindness - Hard To Believe     ft. Jazmine Sullivan KOKOKO! - Buka Dansa     (Congolese collective upcycling discarded materials to make their instruments) Konradsen - Baby Hallelujah     (of Norway) Lambchop - Everything For You Laura Cannell - a. Sing As The Crow Flies     b. Flaxen Fields Laura Stevenson - Lay Back, Arms Out Le Groupe Obscur -  Planète Ténèbres Leonard Cohen - Happens To The Heart Leo Svirsky - River Without Banks Little Simz - 101 FM Lizzo - Tempo   ft. Missy Elliot Loren Conors & Daniel Carter - Departing Lou Roy - Bite Low Chord - Walkk Lower Dens - Galapagos Mahalia - What You Did    ft. Ella Mai Majja - Black James Dean Maria Somerville - This Way Maria Usbeck - Amor Anciano Mary Halvorson & John Dieterich - Vega’s Array      (Mary the recipient of the MacArthur “Genius” Grant this year, because she is) Mary Lattimore & Mac McCaughan - IV Matana Roberts - As Far As The Eye Can See Meitei - Ike Melanie Charles - Trill Suite, No. 1 (Daydreaming/Skylark) The Menzingers - Anna Messiahs Of Glory - No Other Love      (from a collection of rare black gospel from the Midwest between ‘65-’78 put out on Tompkins Square) Mica Levi - a. Hosting     b. Lobo y Lady (from the excellent Colombian film Monos) Michael Abels - a. I Got 5 On It (Tethered Mix)    b. Pas De Deux (both from the terrific score to the excellent Jordan Peele film, Us) Michael Kiwanuka - Living In Denial Michael Nau - Poor Condition Mike Adams At His Honest Weight - Wonderful To Love Minor Pieces - Rothko      (duo of Ian William Craig & newcomer Missy Donaldson) Modern Nature - Footsteps Molly Sarlé - Twisted      (Mountain Man member’s 1st solo record) Moodymann - I’ll Provide Moon Duo - Stars Are The Light Moor Mother - After Images Moses Boyd - Stranger Than Fiction Moses Sumney - Polly Mount Eerie & Julie Doiron - Love Without Possession MSYLMA - Inqirad (Rihab-U Dhakir)     (Saudi Arabia) The Murder Capital - Don’t Cling To Life Nardeydey - Freefalling The National - Rylan   ft. Kate Stables (of This Is The Kit) The New Pornographers - Falling Down The Stairs Of Your Smile Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - a. Waiting For You   b. Bright Horses   c. Night Raid Nivhek - After Its Own Death: Side A    (Liz Harris of Grouper) Noname - Song 32 Octo Octa - Move Your Body ODD OKODDO - Auma      (Kenyan/German duo) Øyvind Torvund - Starry Night      (Norwegian composer) Pet Shop Boys - Burning The Heather Petter Eldh - Fanfarum for Komarum II Porridge Radio - Give/Take PREGOBLIN - Combustion Purple Mountains - a. Snow Is Falling In Manhattan    b. All My Happiness Is Gone   c. That’s Just The Way That I Feel Quelle Chris - Obamacare Quinie - Whas At The Windy Rapsody - Ibtihaj   ft. D’Angelo & GZA Reb Fountain - Faster Rian Treanor - ATAXIA_A1 Richard Dawson - Two Halves Robert Stillman - All Are Welcome Róisín Murphy - Incapable Rosalía - Milionària Rosenau & Sanborn - Saturday Rozi Plain - Symmetrical Ruth Garbus - Strash Sam Lee - The Moon Shines Bright   ft. Elizabeth Fraser (of Cocteau Twins) Sam Wilkes - Run Sandro Perri - Soft Landing SAULT - Smile and Go Seabuckthorn - To Which The Rest Were Dreamt serpentwithfeet - Receipts    ft. Ty Dolla $ign Sessa - Flor do Real         (of Brazil) Sheer Mag - Hardly To Blame Shit and Shine - No No No No Sinead O Brien - A Thing You Call Joy Siobhan Wilson - Plastic Grave Six Organs Of Admittance - Two Forms Moving Sleaford Mods - Kebab Spider Slow Meadow - Artificial Algorithm Snowy - EFFED    ft. Jason Williamson (of Sleaford Mods) SOAK - Knock Me Off My Feet Solange - Binz Sophie Crawford - A Miner’s Life Squid - Houseplants         bonus. Their cover of Robert Wyatt’s  “PIgs..... In There at End of the Road Festival) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DktZtQbo-YU Stella Donnelly - Old Man SUSS - Ursa Major Swamp Dogg - Sleeping Without You Is A Dragg   ft. Justin Vernon & Jenny Lewis Tami T - Birthday  Tenesha The Wordsmith - Why White Folks Can’t Call Me Nigga Theon Cross - Activate     ft. Moses Boyd & Nubya Garcia Thom Yorke - Dawn Chorus Tierra Whack - Wasteland Tim Hecker - That World Tiny Leaves - Respair Toya Delazy - Funani         (of South Africa) Twain - Death (Or S.F.?) Twin Peaks - Dance Through It Tyler Childers - All Your’n Vagabon - Water Me Down Vampire Weekend - This Life Vanishing Twin - Magicians Success Velvet Negroni - Confetti Vendredi Sur Mer - Chewing-Gum      (of France) Victoria Monét - Ass Like That Vieo Abiungo - Cobble Together Visible Cloaks - Stratum      ft. Yoshio Ojima & Satsuki Shibano Warmduscher - Midnight Dipper Weyes Blood - Andromeda Wilco - Love Is Everywhere (Beware) William Tyler - Our Lady Of The Desert Willie Scott & The Birmingham Spirituals - Keep Your Faith To The Sky     (from a collection of obscure 70′s era gospel on Luaka Bop, “The Time For Peace Is Now - Gospel Music About Us”) Xylouris White - Tree Song Ye Vagabonds - The Foggy Dew Zsela - Noise

[caitlin-chescoe]

Piper Brighde Chaimbeul for The Wire magazine.

[biglisbonnews]

Bagpipe bliss: meet the musician laying pipe on Caroline Polachek’s album We chat to Brìghde Chaimbeul about her big bagpipe break, and why the misunderstood instrument isn’t just for kilted men in marching bands https://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/58369/1/brighde-chaimbeul-musician-bagpipe-on-caroline-polacheks-album?utm_source=Link&utm_medium=Link&utm_campaign=RSSFeed&utm_term=bagpipe-bliss-meet-the-musician-laying-pipe-on-caroline-polachek-s-album