i've had a great year, musically. there's a lot of stuff i'm omitting here simply because it didn't reach my stereo enough (dial records stuff, guillemont + the contu dumonts, etc) rather than any feelings about its quality.
as opposed to last year, where i went clubbing quite a lot and had many 'live' musical epiphanies, this year has been much more home listening orientated, which is probably reflected in all of this. anyway... sorry, this is going to go on and on and on and on and on.
non-'electronic' albums:
Grouper - Cover the Windows and the Walls (Root Strata)
reverb coated blown-out solo female dream-pop. amazing atmosphere, great songs. a perfect release for me, leagues above her earlier releases and i loved those too. very excited for her new album on type next year, which apparently is set to be much less effects heavy.
Meg Baird - Dear Companion (Drag City)
lead singer of espers. mainly covers. very understated, just guitar/banjo and her vocals (often double tracked). touches me in a way so little modern folk does. heart rendingly beautiful (especially her version of 'do what you gotta do', and love the 70s style cover.
Cherry Blossoms LP (Apostasy, a bunch of others)
the most joyful record of the year. a bunch of 50 somethings from tennessee who make slightly unhinged 'americana'. they have an enviable 'new weird america' contact book, built up entirely through the strength of their songs and joy of their performance. not prententious in the slightest. totally charming.
Emeralds - Allegory of Allergies (Gods of Tundra)
Cloaks - A Crystal Skull In Peru (Atheists Are Gods)
two fine ambient records by new american faces. the emeralds is a cs 120 (!) channelling popol vuh and fripp/eno, it's much better than you'd except. the cloaks is incredible... extended (30 mins) pieces for bells and piano. floods any room with colour. reminds me of hototogisu's peerless floating japanese oof! gardens of the 21st century, and alice coltrane (c. journey in...)
Sapat - Mortoise and Tenon (Siltbreeze)
southern-fried krautrock.
Ed Yazijian - Six Ways To Avoid The Evil Eye (Gladtree)
sometime sun city girl violinist. but not like tony conrad. he's a turkish academic. think angus maclaise. a heavily percussive bent here.
Hala Strana - Heave the Gambrel Roof (Music Fellowship)
Family Elan LP (Locust)
two nice eastern european folk influenced records from basically solo musicians. insturmentation as diverse as you'd expect. the hala strana first edition (which i'm lucky enough to own a copy of) has the best packaging of the year: the beautiful cover art etched on an album cover sized wooden block plus a 12 page chapbook/accompanying short story. wonderful.
Loren Connors - The Hymn of the North Star (Family Vineyard)
Stars of the Lid - And their Refinement of the Decline (Kranky)
Andrew Chalk - Time of Hayfield (Faraway Press)
Meursault - Sleeping Debris (Students Of Decay)
no comment necessary on the top three. more of the same, and in these guys' case, the same is fucking excellent. i've thrown in the mersault because fans of the others would be well advised to check it out. a 22 year old guy from Glasgow who's vaguely involved in the CD-R scene, but completely avoids trends. timeless ambience, and a name to watch for sure.
Blues Control - Puff (Woodsist)
where do you go after harmonia? side B of this lp. very unique. cheap toyshop sounding synth bliss. i'm greatly looking forward to their 'new age' incarnation watersports' lp next year.
Son Of Earth - Pet (Apostasy)
finally released. low volume level, barely there, drones. shares a toyshop type quality w/ the blues control above.
Panda Bear - Person Pitch (Paw Tracks)
natch.
DUBSTEP:
Mala - Alicia (no label) / Forgive (Deep Medi) / Bury Da Bwoy / Learn (both DMZ)
Burial - Untrue (Hyperdub)
Simian Mobile Disco Club - Hustler [Shackleton remix] (Wichita) / Shackleton - You Bring Me Down (Skull Disco) / Pole - Achterbahn [Shackleton remix] (~scape)
the heavy hitters keep on hitting...
Peverelist - The Grind / Roll with the Punches / Die Brucke (all Punch Drunk) / Pole -
Winkelstreben [Peverelist remix] (~scape)
Martyn - Velvet / Twenty Four (3024)
Appleblim - Vansan (Skull Disco)
2562 - Channel Two (Tectonic)
loving this techno 'crossover' vein. especially the peverelist and martyn releases, which don't seem forced at all. but are barely dubstep... rather some kind of blissed, bassy trancestep...
'DUB TECHNO':
Tony Allen - Ole [Moritz Von Oswald remix] (Honest Jons)
Echospace - The Coldest Season (Modern Love)
cv313 - Dimensional Space (Echospace [detroit])
Luke Hess - Real To Real (FXHE)
Substance and Vainqueur - Reverberate / Libration (both Scion Versions)
T++ - Allied / Worn Down (no label)
Jichael Mackson - The Grass is Always Greener (Musique Risquee)
real glut of this stuff this year, most of it instantly forgettable. this whole genre is quite silly when you think about it, almost strictly for nerdy fanboys (sigh). an extended love letter to forefathers who did it better. speaking of which, von oswald's remix of tony allen TOWERS over everything else on this list. my favourite single track of the year. sublime organic house (so not really dub techno at all, but whatever).
i'm very suspicious of echospace's intentions and quality control. the album is good but it's all you need by them. (and it's not as good as modell's tribal ambient funk releases with spectral network last year, in my opinion). the cv313 is classic deepchord, and by far the best on their own label (again the only thing you need in my opinion).
t++ and jichael mackson both point a way out of the dub techno rut. t++'s stuff sounds like nothing else around; some kind of bizarre breakbeat techno fusion. real epics, especially the worn down 12" with its ambient intros and outtros. the JM isn't my favourite by him, but come on, it's a fucking reversioning of M5 with 'Wicked Game' stuck over the top, what's not to like?
CLASSICISM RETURNS:
Sven Weisemann - Cabana Fever (Mojuba) / Spheric Wave (Meanwhile) / Revoltec (Styrax Leaves)
Oracy - Mind Dance (Mojuba)
Nick Solé - World Dubbing (Mojuba)
Mike Huckaby - My Life With The Wave (Synth)
Bovill - Differential (Meanwhile)
Microworld - This Is My Friend (Styrax Leaves)
ERP - Alorsan (Frantic Flowers)
Arne Weinberg - Leviathan (AW Recordings)
another big trend the past couple of years, revivalism of classic detroit album techno (think deep space, metaphor) and dub tinged house (main street, prescription, woebot's 'mauve house'). these guys/labels all love their history, and they've provided some quality reissues this year too (Mojuba's rereleasing of Rene and Gaston is especially key...)
DETROIT HOUSE:
Marcellus Pittman - There's Somebody Out There (Unirhythm)
Theo Parrish - Soul Control (Sound Signature)
Omar-S + Theo Parrish - The Grand Son of Detroit Techno! (FXHE)
Moodymann - Technologystolemyvinyl (KDJ)
still the weirdest guys around: the omar-s and marcellus pittman tracks are particularly whacked. the theo is my favourite of his lp and is just a great song... so maybe not that weird.
... AND ITS SPAWN:
Various - Unity Kollabo (Underground Quality)
DJ Qu & David S - To Eaches Own EP / DJ Qu - Passing States EP (both Strength Music)
Kai Alce - Hi Lee Teched Off (Real Soon)
Scott Ferguson - A Walk In The Park [Sascha Dive's Walk In The Park remix] (Deep Vibes)
Move D - Workshop 02 EP (Workshop)
Lerosa - Seeker (Enclave) / Much Later (Uzuri)
Ra.H - Fall Of Justice (Morphine Doser)
Newworldaquarium - The Dead Bears (NWAQ)
i can't get enough of this stuff. nothing original to see here... but all fucking great.
'NEW' HOUSE:
STL - Homework / Night Grooves (both Something)
Cassy - Somelightuntothenight (Beatstreet)
two totally lovable outcasts. stl makes bent slightly cheap sounding US style house; think theo parrish meets ark. cassy is a goddess, this is possibly her best track yet, definitely her best for the dancefloor: an extended, warped piano house workout.
Melchior Productions - No Disco Future / Don Juan (both Perlon)
Soul Capsule - Waiting 4 A Way (Perlon)
2007 seems to have been melchior's year. i'm happy he's getting the recognition.
Half Hawaii - Out Of You (Perlon) / Mir Nichts (Hello? Repeat)
Audio Werner - Before (Hello? Repeat)
Bruno Pronsato - At Home I'm A Tourist / There's Galaxies Better [Melchior Productions remix] (both Hello? Repeat)
hello? repeat is the new perlon. such a good label. very excited for bruno's album next year.
David Labeij - Alpine Scenic (Sushitech Purple)
Luciano - Fourges Et Sabres (Perlon)
these two are of a piece for me. beautifully extended endlessly refracting melodies.
RICARDO:
Ricardo Villalobos - Sei Es Drum (Sei Es Drum) / Enfants (Cadenza, upcoming)
Shackleton - Blood On My Hands [Ricardo Apocalypso Now mix] (Skull Disco)
Beck - Cell Phone's Dead [Ricardo Villalobos Entlebuch remix] (Bpitch Control)
Chica and the Folder - Angelus Novus [Ricardo Villalobos Ritus mix] (Monika)
continuing and perfecting his post-achso move to more simplicity/linearity in production and an emphasis on dancefloor halting ideas. basically, everything he's released in the past year has been a DJ tool for his own sets. if you've seen him DJ in the past couple of years in a proper setting (where he's got 4+ hours to do his stuff), at least 1/4 of what you've heard will have been his own tracks. still leagues above, in my mind.
phew.