I would like to express my utmost gratitude to all the people who made this possible, not just my close friends and collaborators but also anonymous unknown people I will never meet who are busy recording, composing, marketing, budgeting, pressings discs in a factory, you name it—thanks, y’all. Without further ado, here’s my list.
1. Janel & Anthony - Where Is Home (Cuneiform)
DC’s dynamic cello-guitar duo spans a wide range of sounds and moods and somehow subsumes it all under their own unique style. You can hear anything from abstract drone to lush jazz-folk to vibrant raga-rock, but Janel Leppin and Anthony Pirog make sure it’s all a cohesive experience. Incredible, unparalleled virtuosity and compositional candor.
2. Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Psychedelic Pill (Reprise)
NEIL. He’s back. Oh wait, he was already back with the Horse earlier this year, but now they’ve brought us a sprawling double-album of original tunes. Not just any original tunes, mind you—their longest songs yet, epic blistering rock’n’roll sagas of anguish, nostalgia, and redemption. “Driftin’ Back” drifts along over nearly half an hour. “Walk Like A Giant” is just monolithic, monumental, musical apotheosis. It’ll destroy your world and rebuild it in a single explosive chord. “Rock and roll will never die” indeed.
3. Swans - The Seer (Young God)
Speaking of magnum opuses, who expected Michael Gira to sum up his entire career in just one (again, massive) album, while developing his style more intriguingly than ever before? Well, he and Swans have done it. This album is thoughtful, dark, and disturbing in ways you could never imagine. And as far as epic album closers go, “The Apostate” is just about the best bang for your buck—possibly ever? You’re on a ladder to gooood….
4. Fire! With Oren Ambarchi - In the Mouth - A Hand (Rune Grammofon)
Oren Ambarchi can do no wrong, it seems, but until this year it appeared that he only proved that to be the case in drone (see: Sunn O))) collaborations) or ambient minimalism (see: most of his solo albums). Then out of the blue he gets together with Norwegian free-jazz trio Fire!, and goddamn if the result is anything but bombastic. The album’s centerpiece, the scorching rapidfire rocker “He Sleeps In A Dream” is five times more intense than Ambarchi’s other recent foray into jazz-rock, the sprawling fusion epic “Knots” on his solo album Audience Of One.
5. Evan Caminiti - Night Dust (Immune)
Does Jim Jarmusch need another awesome soundtrack anytime soon? I keep saying it, but Barn Owl’s more prolific half is the heir to the throne of Neil Young’s Dead Man soundtrack. But unlike Neil, Caminiti crafts immaculate compositions of astounding depth, combining subaquatic synth washes with sparse guitar moods. Utterly, bleakly beautiful. This isn’t even his only solo release of the year, but to my ear, it’s his most focused.
6. Gunn-Truscinski Duo - Ocean Parkway (Three Lobed)
Another damn-near-perfect collaboration that the world needs to hear is the Gunn-Truscinski Duo, comprised of guitarist Steve Gunn and percussionist John Truscinski. Gunn’s raga-folk meanderings are subtle and nuanced, harnessing the melodic breadth of his open tunings for some entrancing results, while Truscinski’s assorted drums and cymbals create a hypnotic, throbbing pulse. The duo’s first LP Sand City led me to expect more plaintive, solemn fingerpickings the next time around; but as soon as the opening eponymous track starts us off, we know we’re in for something fresh and different. A bright jazz-rock motif emerges from the swirling raga haze, and soon we’re nodding our heads along to an infectious (dare-I-call-it-a) hook that serves as a strong foundation for Gunn’s modal improvisation. The rest of the album is as diverse as one could expect from a mere five songs, with modes ranging from quasi-Asian to semi-blues in flavor. You need this album.
7. Deep Listening Band - Great Howl At Town Haul (Important)
The great benefit of exploring experimental music is that you come across sounds that your wildest daydreams could never have conjured. This is the case par excellence on Deep Listening Band’s latest testament, a live recording made possible by a grant from UW. As far as “academic” avant-garde goes, this is more intriguing and accessible than almost any of it; Pauline Oliveros is a master of timbre, arranging her accordion musings to match up perfectly with bandmates Stuart Dempster and the late David Gamper. The real star of this recording, however, is the EIS (Expanded Instrument System), a feedback system devised by Oliveros that plays back loops of sound for the musicians on a special speaker array, effectively “spatializing” the temporality of the music.
8. Pretty Lightning - There Are Witches In The Woods (Fonal)
These psychedelic blues licks saunter slow and sticky out of the deep backwoods of… Germany? There is a bit of a Teutonic, Medieval feel to some of these tunes, but overall the guitar & drums duo plods along like a pair of Mississippi Delta sharecroppers at the end of a long, humid day. If they had a bass player, some of the riffs would qualify as straight-up Sabbath-worshipping doom metal, but there’s a dark garage-rock restraint keeping it all just short of metal—and I ain’t complainin’. Finnish label Fonal’s first foray outside of their homeland is a fruitful one indeed, and I can’t wait to hear more.
9. Hisko Detria – Static Raw Power Kraut (self)
Speaking of Finland—er, Germany, I mean—oh, one of those—Hisko Detria was originally a German outfit, playing just as krautrock exploded in the early ‘70s. Led by notorious radical Andreas Baader, the band briefly recruited ten year-old Klaus Löpöti to play with them; they dissolved shortly thereafter, leaving zero recordings for posterity… But then Klaus, now living in Finland, decided to form his own band, in the spirit of krautrock’s heyday, and boom—Hisko Detria was reborn. As “retro” as they might seem from the title of this self-released demo, the music itself is tight and throbbing with new, unpredictable energy. The 7/8 pulse that emerges from the hazy drone in the opener “Nothing Happens” charges along unrepentantly, and though we get a variety of groove stylings, from “motorik” to balls-out blues-rock, the freewheelin’ spirit of these Finns remains genuine throughout. Also, you can download this demo for free!
10. Vertonen At Jennie Richie – Leaving Ocean For Land (Debacle)
This album is a dream. Seriously, listening to it is the closest any music has come to evoking the surreal experience of hypnagogic hallucinations. Over an uninterrupted 46 minutes, the single eponymous track squirms and writhes through various layers of your cortex, activating all sorts of bizarre assiciations with cavernous found-sound drone and industrial static sonatas.
11. Insect Factory - Broadcast Rain (Zero Moon)
Another free release y’all need to check out comes from my hometown of Silver Spring, MD. I thought it was just a forgotten suburb of DC full of snotty teenagers and amazing Ethiopian / Jamaican / Burmese / [etc.] food, but lately I’ve been turned on to the bubbling experimental scene in the area. Jeff Barsky crafts some lush, ethereal ambient with just a guitar and countless effects pedals. This is definitely Eno-esque in its minimalism, but a unique and humbling listening experience nonetheless. Download it!
12. Samothrace - Reverence To Stone (20 Buck Spin)
Heavier than an African elephant doing the Charleston on your testicles, I wouldn’t be terribly upset if doom metal ceased to exist after this perfect slab of wax. We were all waiting to see just how epic their follow-up to the skullcrushing debut Life’s Trade would be, and these two songs deliver. ‘Nuff said.
13. Panopticon – Kentucky (Pagan Flames)
Bluegrass and black metal? They are two of my favorite genres, but… No, it couldn’t happen—oh wait, it did, and Appalachian anarcho-environmentalist Austin Lunn didn’t just do it for shits and giggles. This is a cohesive concept album full of poignant resentment about the plight of Kentucky coal miners. We are told quite explicitly by sampled interviews and speeches that the coal mining industry’s exploitation of people and the land is Sauron-like in scope, but the bravery and tenacity or ordinary folk can make a difference. But this isn’t mere entertainment with political rhetoric thrown in—Lunn demands to know, accompanied by stomping hillbilly banjos, “Which Side Are You On?”
14. Plante – Harvest (Fedora Corpse)
I can’t extol the virtues of this little record enough. An unassuming lime-green slab of vinyl contains four captivating post-rock / drone mini-epics, all crafted solely by guitar genius Andrew Plante. You may not agree with my use of the word “genius” here, but you must admit that it takes a special caliber of musical talent to craft something wholly unique within a form that can be so derivative. The riffs sound not unlike those we’ve heard on early Earth and Sunn O))) releases, with a bit of black metal tremolo thrown in, but their mood is unmistakably honest and melancholy, somehow intimately personal and enigmatic at the same time. This record is like that ex you just can’t get over, and you keep mulling over every moment, hoping to extract some hidden meaning from it—except this record is painless, bleak joy.
15. Locrian & Cristoph Heemann – s/t (Handmade Birds)
Okay, so I didn’t buy into the hype over Locrian back when it was being pushed by the Baltimore-based elitist snobs at Fan Death Records. (Seriously, they’re a great, dedicated label, but they need to get off their high horse and stop hating on DC…) So when I saw that they had collaborated with the German collage artist Christoph Heeman, I wasn’t expecting much, mostly because I’m ignorant and had never heard of Heeman. But goddamn is this some gorgeous, hauntingly gothic, subliminal soundtrack ambience. If Werner Herzog ever makes a film adaptation of Kafka’s “In the Penal Colony,” this match made in heaven should be in charge of the score.
16. Terry Malts - Killing Time (Slumberland)
Perfect power pop. Ramones with razor blades. I don’t believe in true love, but make out with me while this album is playing and I might change my mind.
17. Carlton Melton - Photos Of Photos (Agitated)
Iommi worship with just a touch of Tangerine Dream flavored kraut synth dreaminess. I imagine the genesis of this Bay Area band occurring like this: Carlton: say, man, you ever heard of this band Black Sabbath? Melton: duuuuuude, totally. Carlton: you wanna smoke some top-shelf medical ganj and listen to their 45s on 33? Melton: that sounds cool, but I also got these Orange amps just sitting around… Carlton: woah man, what a great coincidence—I’ve got this Moog gathering dust… Melton: duuuuude….. But of course, this is a five-piece line-up, and none of them are named Carlton or Melton as far as I know.
18. Melvins - Freak Puke / The Bulls & The Bees EP (Ipecac / Scion AV)
The EP has two drummers. The album is the “Lite” lineup with just one drummer, but Trevor Dunn on bass. Why aren’t the Melvins the biggest band in the planet? Oh, and the EP is free.
19. Zac Nelson - Improv(e) (Goldtimers)
Zac Nelson has been a busy man lately, releasing a baffling psych-pop LP on Debacle Records this year to much acclaim. While that record merits much praise, I think it would be a crime to not give even more praise to this cassette quietly released by the boutique tape label Goldtimers, a label that never ceases to amaze. Here we get two sides with some untitled pieces that swim through uncharted layers of mystery. I’m a big fan of the mysterious experimental (dare-I-call-it-a) genre that I have dubbed “underwater jungle psych” that seems be found only on cassettes released in limited quantities. If I could compile a comprehensive guide to this style of weirdness, Zac Nelson would stand head-and-shoulders above competitors such as Plankton Wat or Sun Araw. This cassette is the soundtrack to some sort of secret Inca ritual that summons the gods of potatoes.20. Daniel Bachman - Seven Pines (Tompkins Square)
I’ve had a soft spot for Appalachia ever since I spent a miserable rainy week backpacking in West Virginia when I was in seventh grade. Sure, I was soaking wet and exhausted and had to wipe my ass with wet leaves, but the grandeur of the autumn foliage in this area is incomparably beautiful. Daniel Bachman channels this beauty into his vibrant guitar playing, his fingers picking at his dreadnought like a young Jack Rose hopped up on Irish coffee. Stylistically, this isn’t as diverse as his previous effort “Oh Be Joyful” (reissued this year by Debacle – a must-have), in which we saw him exploring trance-like raga and old-timey bluegrass alike, but here we see him at the height of his compositional confidence. I can’t wait to hear what this guy does next.
Honorable Mentions: For whatever reason, the following didn’t make the cut, but should have:
1. Rez Abbasi Trio – Continuous Beat
Rez Abbasi is an incredibly talented jazz guitarist. This trio is tight, slick, and groovy—their rendition of Keith Jarrett’s “The Cure” is nothing short of spectacular. Unfortunately, that’s the only track I’ve heard, and I haven’t had a chance to purchase this album and listen to it in its entirety.
2. Mark Bradley / No Mind Meditation – split cassette (Goldtimers) The Mark Bradley side of this tape is one of the most interesting things I’ve heard in my life. It ranges from blurred acid-techno to 8-bit jauntiness to swirling ambient synth with no regard for cohesion. Pure brilliance. Unfortunately, the No Mind Meditation feels a bit lacking, especially given how incredible their double-cassette release Molecular Clock was (pretty much the definition of “bubbly,” as it were.)
3. various artists – Music For Restrooms (Sonic Circuits)
I wasn’t sure about including compilations on this thing, but Sonic Circuits’ compilation is one of the best I’ve ever heard. We’ve got a collection of music culled from the soundtrack for the freakin’ bathroom at this year’s Sonic Circuits Festival (which fate has prevented me from attending ever since I heard about it).
4. Human Food – The First Magnum Opus of Human Food EP
I met this kid after he performed at the Pyramid Atlantic recently, and I was beyond impressed by his set. Not only was it some of the most intriguing noise music I’ve witnessed recently, the kid is a high schooler. I think. I mean, he looks about that age, and I asked him, “how does it feel to be the coolest kid in your age group?”—to which he replied, poignancy veiled by sarcasm, “everyone my age is like, ‘man, I thought you said you made music?” You should download his album so he can get the praise he deserves—far more than so many dime-a-dozen noise amateurs twice his age.
5. The Funkees - Dancing Time: The Best of Eastern Nigeria's Afro Rock Exponents 1973-1977
Nigeria's answer to Funkadelic, made during a time when they most certainly were not one nation under a groove. This is pretty much the most crucial collection of stuff I had never heard of before.
P.S. I'll be in Santiago, Chile for the first three months of next year. I won't be doing a radio show, but you can be damn sure that I'll still be seeking out new music anywhere I can find it.
