Yes, that's me as Cheech Marin (circa
Up In Smoke) with my buddy as Walter Sobchak (
Big Lebowski) this last Halloween. I'm not really sure why, but it seemed the most appropriate photo to head my Tasty Tunes of 2009 article, which seems to be nearing 'overdue' status. I have decided to forego any lengthy descriptions or rankings in an effort for expedience and honesty. Luckily, you, my fair readers, will realize that you now have some music shopping to do, since you obviously entrust me with the knowledge to give you the musical truth as to what to listen to.
Danny Norbury Light In August King of the Neo-Classical giants that ruled the contemplative forests of 2009.
Hildur Gudnadottir Without Sinking Queen of the Neo-Classical giants. Cello dominated 2009's horizons and skies at all points of vision.
Elm Nemcatacoa The third eye sits upon a temple guarded by wolves of the highest intelligence and patience. Psychedelic wonders!!
Elegi Varde Gloomy, gloomy drone and Classical shards strewn about the floorboards of a Norwegian attic, or is that the storm cellar?
Dakota Suite The End of Trying A broken heart can repeat itself into the darkest corners of a bed mounded in blankets and tears.
A Broken Consort Crow Autumn Part Two Richard Skelton plants the seed of sorrow in a mix of Neo-Classical, Ozark meditation and Field Recordings.
Richard Skelton Landings Skelton sows those seeds and grows a crop of tribute
.Black To Comm Alphabet 1968 Holy Shit!!
Anduin Abandone In Sleep Drone done like I like it. I can sleep to this record or sit and read.
Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto UTP_ I wish this record had come out before last Winter's snow storm so that I could drive around listening to it's dampened creepiness in the snow.
Klimek Movies Is Magic Soundtracks have rarely been cooler or more fitting (see
Fight Club), yet there's no movie to go with this soundtrack. Dope atmospherics!
Kreng L'Autopsie Phenomenale De Dieu When I first listened to Elegi's album, I thought it nearly impossible for music to get any creepier and haunting. Then this album came out and I've been scratching at the walls ever since.
Le Lendemain Fires More Danny Norbury and David Wenngren greatness. Don't fail to sit with "Lois" for some time.
David Wenngren Sleepless Nights The man behind Library Tapes continues to spew forth dream accompaniments with a deft touch.
Simon Scott Navigare The Drone and Neo-Classical hits just kept rolling in in 2009.
Wax Tailor In the Mood for Life French HipHop? Ya don't stop!
Rapoon Melancholic Songs of the Desert Loops of the world, unite!!
Paul White One Eye Open EP, The Punch Drummer EP, Strange Dreams of Paul White and Sounds from the Skylight Londonite Paul White dropped a whole sortie of funky HipHop bombs this last year. A sound of Jamaica, Southern California and England all dashed into this delectable stew of beats.
Nosaj Thing Drift The LA scene is hot right now and Jason Chung turned it up to blistering!
Nalepa Flatlands Also out of the LA scene, my boy Steve Nalepa rocks out the bubble bass and dub so clean, he could make a $3 suit look like it costs $300. No really, seriously.
Murcof La Sangre Iluminada I am in love with Fernando Corona. Now I just need to find a woman willing to have his babies
for me. Then, I wouldn't mind seeing the movie that this album soundtracks so elegantly.
Moderat Moderat Yes, I like to dance. I like to dance to German techno.
Lusine A Certain Distance Seattleite Jeff McIlwain ups the ante on smart dance music. Listening to it live in the Seattle Art Museum lobby was a smashing good time. Or was it that I got smashed that night?
Lukid Foma Wow. This album makes me wanna crawl inside some magical vortex between bong hits and sweaty, all-night sex. A real treasure.
Giuseppe Ielasi Aix Vertical stacks of sound like bottomless library shelves make for a rhythmically controlled galaxy.
Dak Standthis/Standthis (Otherside) Again and again and again, Los Angeles is punching cards to the new cool beatsmiths' club. Weird, esoteric and stoned to his eyelids, Dak makes beats for Buck Rogers.
DJ Signify Of Cities A fabulous rebound from a sub-par previous release.
And, in keeping with tradition from lists and years past, I like to give attention to releases
not from 2009, but that I discovered during the year. Artists like Onra and Populous have my devotion to their entire catalogue of releases and Aether's
Artifacts is a tasty little morsel. Also, in a direct evolutionary step from Poets of Rhythm, the Whitefield Brothers kick out some greasy, spacey Funk. Well, I'm gonna leave it at that. So here's to an equally awesome 2010, with Deru exploding minds and a rumored Boards of Canada album set to come out!! Giddy with anticipation.
This morning, the mailman stuffed a package from the UK into my mail slot, which means usually one of two things: BoomKat order or goodies from the lovely folks at Home Normal. As I ripped open the package, I was delighted with a slew of new Home Normal releases. The first disc I popped in was Opal Island by Konntinent. All I can say so far is that this Taylor Deupree produced album has a wonderful mix of elements that recall Radiohead, Jacaszek and even BJ Nilsen, all wrapped up in some Wild At Heart aesthetic. While it appears to be an album of highly emotional, and emotive, compositions, there is an immediate sense of brooding mixed in. Anthony Harrison (Konntinent) concocts a style that is much glitchier than Helios, but not driven by overly thumping rhythms like much of the 4/4 glitch and techno worlds.
Lately, I'm falling further and further down the rabbit hole into a staggering world of Neo-Classical and Ambient music. On a more traditional, yet still groundbreaking side of things, Danny Norbury plays the role of Dr. Dave Bowman to my black little heart's HAL 9000, yanking the heart strings out slowly with each bow of his cello. On the other side, lurking from the deepest recessions of the shadows, are artists like BJ Nilsen, Machinefabriek and Black to Comm re-programming circuits of the most tenebrous reaches of the human psyche. Now Otto Totland (Svarte Greiner's lesser known half of Deaf Center) and Huw Roberts combine their wonder-twin powers to activate the nearly loathsome luminescence that is Nest. Totland's piano takes center stage for much of Retold, but could not stand alone without the magnificent and creepy field recordings and electronics of Roberts doing. The reason I'm striving to employ so many dark descriptors here is to offset my usual propensity for romanticized language when it comes to music. And I am mostly doing this, because I don't feel a lot of 'lost-love melancholy' with this album; yes, there is sadness, but it seems more of a sadness from voluntary isolation in the cold. There is beauty aplenty on this record, but it has a bit of a sinister feel to it, as if you were being told how the motifs in your funeral march were to sound before your death could inspire the composer. I strongly recommend this album!
Yes, that's me as Cheech Marin (circa Up In Smoke) with my buddy as Walter Sobchak (Big Lebowski) this last Halloween. I'm not really sure why, but it seemed the most appropriate photo to head my Tasty Tunes of 2009 article, which seems to be nearing 'overdue' status. I have decided to forego any lengthy descriptions or rankings in an effort for expedience and honesty. Luckily, you, my fair readers, will realize that you now have some music shopping to do, since you obviously entrust me with the knowledge to give you the musical truth as to what to listen to.
