Buying One Record Reviewed in The Wire Each Month

[subvert47]

...is a project I started in April 2013. It involves checking out a load of records in each issue of The Wire and then choosing one "to buy". It was basically an impetus to myself to check out new music, stuff I'd wouldn't always bother with in the ordinary sort of way.

I've been documenting this on the Subvert Central forum, but that went down at midnight last night. (There was virtually no one there anymore, so it wasn't worth paying the hosting fees.) Although I turned the project into a blog in 2020, I still want somewhere to post shortlists and shit. Dissensus has drawn the short straw – at least until this forum goes down as well.

Record of the years so far:
2013 – Samuel Vriezen / Tom Johnson - The Chord Catalogue / Within Fourths / Within Fifths (Edition Wandelweiser)
2014 – Mamoru Fujieda / Sarah Cahill - Patterns of Plants (Pinna)
2015 – André O. Möller & Hans Eberhard Maldfeld - In Memory of James Tenney (Edition Wandelweiser)
2016 – Moor Mother - Fetish Bones (Don Giovanni)
2017 – Bill Orcutt - Bill Orcutt (Palilalia)
2018 – Angélique Kidjo - Remain in Light (Kravenworks)
2019 – 9T Antiope & Siavash Amini - Harmistice (Hallow Ground)
2020 – Witch ‘n’ Monk - Witch ‘n’ Monk (Tzadik)
2021 – Phew - New Decade (Mute)
2022 – Joy Guidry - Radical Acceptance (Whited Sepulchre)
2023 – Ryuichi Sakamoto - 12 (Milan / Sony)
2024 – Patricia Brennan Septet - Breaking Stretch (Pyroclastic)

I'm currently working through The Wire #495 (one behind the current issue). Expect a shortlist for you all to ignore shortly.

 

[0bleak]

sad your forum went down - i lurked there a lot and I got that Subvert Central Vol 3 back when it first got released
i also liked reading your "Buying One Record Reviewed in The Wire Each Month" - I just didn't have anything worth reading to say in response

 

[subvert47]

sad your forum went down - i lurked there a lot and I got that Subvert Central Vol 3 back when it first got released

thank you ❤️

i also liked reading your "Buying One Record Reviewed in The Wire Each Month" - I just didn't have anything worth reading to say in response

now you can not say anything here instead

 

[0bleak]

a post of yours here did inspire something musical from me, but I'm afraid to say what it is lest I getting accused of spamming so i'll message you direct

 

[william_kent]

I'm working my way through your wire blog - I'm curious if you've kept all the purchases or if any of them failed to live up to the expectations set by the review?

 

[subvert47]

I'm working my way through your wire blog - I'm curious if you've kept all the purchases or if any of them failed to live up to the expectations set by the review?

I still have them all. I don't buy anything without listening to at least some of it first. Whether I'd feel quite as positive about each of them if I was choosing again today, I don't know. Likely not. The records of the year are all great though.

 

[william_kent]

I was intrigued about who was the most persuasive reviewer - here's a pointless list:

Top reviewers by total count:

Julian Cowley: 15 (appeared in 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024)
Phil Freeman: 9 (appeared in 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2021, 2023)
Louise Gray: 7 (appeared in 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022)
Daniel Spicer: 6 (appeared in 2013, 2014, 2016, 2019, 2021)
Andy Hamilton: 6 (appeared in 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022)
Bill Meyer: 5 (appeared in 2013, 2015, 2023, 2024)
Stewart Smith: 5 (appeared in 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024)
Antonio Poscic: 5 (appeared in 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023)

However, Andy Hamilton has the highest hit rate with 2 albums of the year ( 2013, 2015 )

 

[subvert47]

I was intrigued about who was the most persuasive reviewer - here's a pointless list:

Top reviewers by total count:

Julian Cowley: 15 (appeared in 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024)
Phil Freeman: 9 (appeared in 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2021, 2023)
Louise Gray: 7 (appeared in 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022)
Daniel Spicer: 6 (appeared in 2013, 2014, 2016, 2019, 2021)
Andy Hamilton: 6 (appeared in 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022)
Bill Meyer: 5 (appeared in 2013, 2015, 2023, 2024)
Stewart Smith: 5 (appeared in 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024)
Antonio Poscic: 5 (appeared in 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023)

However, Andy Hamilton has the highest hit rate with 2 albums of the year ( 2013, 2015 )

I've actually done this pointless list myself for my own interest

Phil Freeman: 11 (2013, 2014x3, 2016, 2017x2, 2020x2, 2021, 2023)
Stewart Smith: 6 (2016x2, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2024)

also:
Neil Kulkarni: 5 (2020x3, 2023, 2024)
Louis Pattison: 5 (2016, 2018x2, 2022, 2024)

Julian Cowley is at the top because he does the Modern Composition column, which is my sort of default area

 

[william_kent]

I've actually done this pointless list myself for my own interest

Phil Freeman: 11 (2013, 2014x3, 2016, 2017x2, 2020x2, 2021, 2023)
Stewart Smith: 6 (2016x2, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2024)

also:
Neil Kulkarni: 5 (2020x3, 2023, 2024)
Louis Pattison: 5 (2016, 2018x2, 2022, 2024)

Julian Cowley is at the top because he does the Modern Composition column, which is my sort of default area

ah, my script needs some work - it seems to have missed some people if they appeared more than once in a year...

 

[Walt Thizzny]

thank you ❤️



now you can not say anything here instead

i liked subvert central too + am always happy to see you here ❤️

 

[shakahislop]

i saw an interview with tim reaper the other day and he was going on about subvert central

 

[Corpsey]

2014 – Mamoru Fujieda / Sarah Cahill - Patterns of Plants (Pinna)

I'm listening to this now, thanks. The second track on it is beautiful

Mamoru Fujieda: Patterns of Plants | Sarah Cahill, piano

Patterns of Plants, composed between 1996 and 2011, is Mamoru Fujieda’s magnum opus. Working with the “Plantron,” a device created by botanist and artist Yūji Dōgane, the composer measured electrical fluctuations on the surface of the leaves of plants, and converted the data thus obtained into...

www.pinnarecords.com