Year-End Critics' Polls 2014

49 Life Without Buildings - Any Other City (Tugboat / Rough Trade)

not that I disagree but reissues on a 2014 list?

the last three on that list are all reissues or comps of old stuff so maybe they reserve the tail end of the poll for that purpose or something? idk

I just want to post this description, if the NPR classical album of the year (which is also in my top five)

John Luther Adams - Become Ocean
This is the piece of classical music of 2014 that has crossed over to a mainstream audience, and rightly so. Put it on speakers and people will stop what they're doing to say, "What is this? I love it!" Written as a meditation on rising — and ultimately all-consuming — tides, Adams has created a work that is both an orchestral showpiece (written, actually, for three juxtaposed mini-orchestras) and a completely haunting inner journey. The Seattle Symphony should be hugely proud of having commissioned Become Ocean and their stellar performance under conductor Ludovic Morlot. — Anastasia Tsioulcas

I like the unranked Aquarium Drunkard list:
http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/2014/12/15/aquarium-drunkard-2014-year-in-review/#more-42763

yes, that is really really beautiful xp

volcanic tongue best of 2014 (in no particular order)

The Spies - The Battle Of Bosworth Terrace LP Siltbreeze
Peter Brotzmann/Jason Adasiewicz - Mollie’s In The Mood LP Bro Records
Village Of Spaces – Welcome In LP Turned Word Records
Big Blood - Unlikely Mothers 2xLP Blackest Rainbow
Mad Nanna – In Glasgow (Live At Volcanic Tongue) LP Golden Lab Records
Tralala Blip - Aussie Dream LP Disembraining
Fourth World Magazine Vol. 2 - Pinhead In Fantasia LP + Magazine Pacific City Sound Visions
HR Giger's Studiolo 2xCass Pacific City Sound Visions
Mark Alexander McIntyre – Grapes LP One Kind Favor
Roy Montgomery - 324 E. 13th Street #7 2xLP Yellow Electric
Samara Lubelski – String Cycle LP Ultra Eczema
Fushitsusha - Nothing Changes/No One Can Change Anything/I Am Ever-Changing/Only You Can Change Yourself 3xCD Utech
Alien City - Cathode Rays Are On OVERLOAD LP
Les Rallizes Denudes - Electric Pure Land 2xLP
MV & EE - Alpha Lyrae LP Child Of Microtones
Eye – Winterwork LP Nyali Recordings
Drowning Is Easy/Sarah Richards/The Chance/Ritchie Venus - The Christchurch Quartet LP + 12” + 10” + 7” + bonus 7” Unwucht
Richard Youngs - Red Alphabet In The Snow LP Preserved Sound
The Dead C - The Twelfth Spectacle 4xLP Grapefruit
Nazoranai - The Most Painful Time Happens Only Once It Has Arrived Already...? Ideologic Organ
Sanity Muffin cassettes – we loved them all!
Arnold Dreyblatt – Choice LP Choose Records
The Terminals - Singles And Sundries LP Ba Da Bing Records
English Heretic - The Underworld Service CD + Book
Hiiragi Fukuda - My Turntable Is Sloow LP Selection Records
Sadahiro Yamada - OK To Exist Doing Nothing LP Selection Records
Toilet Roll Dolls - Live At Real Bad CD-R Breakdance The Dawn
Pretty much all the Superior Viaduct reissues, particularly Alice Coltrane, Crime, Peter Jefferies, Flesheaters and Mirror/Stalker
Jojo Hiroshige/Tamio Shiraishi - Enka Mood Collection 10”
75 Dollar Bill - Olives In The Ears cassette
Spacemen 3 - Live At The New Morning, Geneva, Switzerland, 18/5/89 LP Mental Groove Records
Nord - NG Tapes LP PCP Records
Bill Orcutt private press cassettes
Cyclobe - Sulphur-Tarot-Garden LP/CD Phantomcode
Angus MacLise - New York Electronic 1965 LP Sub Rosa
The Pheromoans - Hearts Of Gold LP Upset The Rhythm
Simon Finn - Pass The Distance LP Little Big Chief Records
Charcoal Owls - Tin Roof LP Night School
Matthew Shaw – Lamorna CD Apollolaan Recordings
Jack Kerouac - The Northport Tapes Cassette Counter Culture Chronicles
Timothy Leary - The Radicalization Of Timothy Leary Cassette Counter Culture Chronicles
Sacred Product - s/t LP Heinous Anus Records
Various Artists (The Chills, Sneaky Feelings, The Stones, Verlaines) - Dunedin Double 2xLP Flying Nun
The Flexibles - Cities Of The Narrow Universe 7” Nyali Recordings
La Morte Young - s/t LP Up Against The Wall Motherfucker!
Orphan Fairytale - My Favourite Fairytale 2xLP Aguirre Records
Matthew 'Doc' Dunn - All Is LP Cosmic Range
Stone Angel - s/t LP Acme
Small Cruel Party - Unroof The House Of The Fishes LP Harbinger Sound
Kitchen Cynics private press CD-Rs
Handful Of Dust - Topology Of A Phantom City Cassette Ba Da Bing Records
Mary Millington - Come Play With Me & other tales 10” 10,000 Productions
Heitkotter - Black Orckid 2xLP Now Again Records

I have heard 0 of those - anyone see somthing they recommend?

Haha the only one I know is the Simon Finn, which is old right?

i've heard the angus maclise, nazoranai, and fushitsusha -- all recommended if you like that sort of thing.

Pretty much all the Superior Viaduct reissues, particularly Alice Coltrane, Crime, Peter Jefferies, Flesheaters and Mirror/Stalker

that peter jefferies album is a fantastic NZ underground classic with with a strong eno and cale vibe. this song is all-time imo, and you might know this one from the cat power cover version

at least 60% of these are reissues btw afaict

pretty rich of them to be listing bootlegs that they were essentially the only vendor for

i've heard + liked Orphan Fairytale - My Favourite Fairytale

the Fourth World Magazine Vol 2 - Pinhead in Fantasia is Spencer Clark under his Monopoly Child Star Searchers moniker, from (his label?) Pacific City Sound Visions

There is so much music in the world :)

Textura Top 40
http://www.textura.org/reviews/2104top10s.htm

01. Julia Wolfe: Steel Hammer (Cantaloupe Music)
02. Maria Schneider Featuring Dawn Upshaw: Winter Morning Walks (Artistshare)
03. Lenzman: Looking At The Stars (Metalheadz)
04. Brooklyn Rider: The Brooklyn Rider Almanac (Mercury Classics)
05. CYNE: All My Angles Are Right (Hometapes)
06. Vicky Chow: Tristan Perich: Surface Image (New Amsterdam Records)
07. David Lang: Love Fail (Cantaloupe Music)
08. yMusic: Balance Problems (New Amsterdam Records)
09. Maya Beiser: Uncovered (Innova Records)
10. Wadada Leo Smith: The Great Lakes Suites (Tum Records)
11. Michael Nyman: Symphony No 11: Hillsborough Memorial (Mn Records)
12. Christopher Tignor: Thunder Lay Down In The Heart (Western Vinyl)
13. Michael Robinson: Lucknow Shimmer / Hummingbird Canyon (Azure Miles Records)
14. Alexander Turnquist: Flying Fantasy (Western Vinyl)
15. Jane Ira Bloom: Sixteen Sunsets (Outline)
16. Marvin Ayres: Ultraradian Rhythms (Wall Of Waves / Market Square)
17. Brock Van Wey: Home (Echospace Detroit)
18. Octet Ensemble: Scatter My Ashes (Belarca Records)
19. Hammock: Oblivion Hymns (Hammock Music)
20. Emilia Martensson: Ana (Babel)
21. Stein Urheim: Stein Urheim (Hubro)
22. Death Blues: Ensemble ( Rhythmplex )
23. Ken Thomson: Thaw (Cantaloupe Music)
24. Bruno Sanfilippo: ClarOscuro (Ad21)
25. Mary Halvorson: Reverse Blue (Relative Pitch Records)
26. Nicole Mitchell's Black Earth Ensemble: Intergalactic Beings (FPE Records)
27. 36: Dream Tempest (3six Recordings)
28. Maxwell August Croy And Sean Mccann: I (Students Of Decay)
29. Robert Hood: M-Print: 20 Years Of M-Plant Music (M-Plant)
30. Ken Thomson And Slow/Fast: Settle (NCM East Records)
31. Dday One: Dialogue With Life (The Content (L)Abel)
32. Mark Lomax Trio: Isis And Osiris (Inarhyme Records)
33. P.J. Philipson: Peaks (Little Cracked Rabbit)
34. Ian William Craig: A Turn Of Breath (Recital)
35. Mark Templeton + Kyle Armstrong: Extensions (Graphical)
36. Grouper: Ruins (Kranky)
37. Neil Leonard: For Kounellis (Gasp Records)
38. Girma Yifrashewa: Love And Peace (Unseen Worlds)
39. Carl Hultgren: Tomorrow (Blue Flea)
40. David Pritchard: Among The Missing (Morphic Resonance)

― millmeister, Tuesday, December 2, 2014 12:07 PM (2 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Can someone give me their favorite album from this list for me to check out that isn't Hammock or Grouper (both favorites)?

My fave on that list is the girma yifrashewa

I went through the entire Textura list (or as much of it was on Spotify). My favorites, roughly in order:

Ian William Craig: A Turn of Breath
Vicky Chow: Tristan Perich, Surface Image
Death Blues: Ensemble
36: Dream Tempest
Marvin Ayers: Ultradian Rhythms

That said, my tastes run more toward ambient/electronic. There are a lot of modern composers on here who had some good stuff--pieces I'd like to see in a theater setting but not anything I'd listen to on my home stereo.

pfunkboy recommended that ian william craig thing to me

maybe i have just downloaded too many albums recently but the prospect of downloading an album with such an anonymous title by someone with the most anonymous anglo name has not been enough, in and of itself

maybe am i just downloading albums in order to have an interesting looking set of directories rather than because of their intrinsic merits

The Ian William Craig album has shown up on a few lists besides Textura. Most notably I think it rated highly on Ben Ratliff's list for the New York Times (if memory serves. It's all voice and tape loops, or at least I think that's it. I've only listened a few times but of all the new-to-me albums I've held onto for further investigation due to these lists, this one is probably highest on my list.

this from the boomkat list is interesting

http://vimeo.com/105840481

the Wadada Leo Smith one is worth checking out, based on my limited investigation

That julia wolfe album is spectacular, highly recommended

The Stein Urheim album is gorgeous - one of my most played CDs of the year.

Extensive best of album covers list: http://www.redefinemag.com/2014/album-covers-of-the-year-2014-interviews/

pretty rich of them to be listing bootlegs that they were essentially the only vendor for

This is Classic Keenan. "The underground is dead, now buy this grey-market repro of a long-lost Eastern European noise classik for £80 (+£15 shipping, natch) from my shoppe - I'm the only vendor and I raved it in The Wire, guv."

man, i found a really good bit of dk ridiculousness the other day, lemme find it...

ahhh...

I am allergic to ordinariness and I can’t understand people who don’t let art and music affect them to the point that their very existence is permanently re-formatted. Otherwise what’s the point? But I find I don’t have much in common with many music writers or authors in general. I like to look good, I like to keep in good shape, I like to fight, I box every week, I’ve been boxing for years, I like to look after myself, I love beautiful women and stylish men, I like good food and good beer, I like fine things, I like to smell good. I find that people involved in underground or alternative culture – on the whole - are simply buying into yet another orthodoxy or way of being where there are certain standards and rules of behaviour and political suppositions and interests and looks, even. I am not into that at all and can’t relate to it. That is why I am most attracted to unique people, to one-offs, to extraordinary lives. That’s what I most want to capture in my profiles, the personality of the artists, the way they live their lives as a total artwork, voracious artists like Peter Brotzmann and Derek Bailey. But I also find extraordinary people in all walks of life, which is why I also like to move in fighting circles and drinking circles and fashion circles and wilderness circles and magickal circles and astronomy circles. Anything that isn’t ordinary and that might attract extraordinary people. Otherwise I need to get the hell away from it.

His wikipedia page is hilarious.

https://www.google.co.uk/#safe=off&q=david+keenan

that photo is of a different David Keenan, right?

i dunno, looks like a fine smelling man to me

and yes, that wiki page is definitely very thorough

I am allergic to ordinariness and I canI have a large penis’t let art and music affect them to the point that their very existence is permanently re-formatted. Otherwise what’s the point? But I find I don’t have much in common with many music writers or authors in general. I like to lI have a large penisep in good shape, I like tI have a large penisht, I box every week, I’ve been boxing for years, I like to look after myself, I love beautiful women and stylish men, I like good food and good beer, I likI have a large penise to smell good. I find that I have a large penisinvolved in underground or alternative culture – on the I have a large penisng into yet another orthodoxy or way of being where there are certain standards and rules of behaviour and politI have a large peniss and interests and looks, even. I am not into that at all and can’t relate to it. That is why I amI have a large penisacted to unique people, to one-offs, to extraordinary lives. That’s what I most want to capture I have a large penise personality of the artists, the way they live their lives as a total artwork, voracious artists like Peter Brotzmann and Derek Bailey. But I also find extraordinary people in all walks of life, which is why I also like to move in fighting circles and drinking circles and fashion circles and wilderness circleI have a large penis Anything that isn’t ordinary and that might attract extraordinary people. Otherwise I need to get the hell away from it.

otm. bullshit machismo mixed with the self-regarding swagger of someone who really knows their way round the cheese counter at sainsbury's

anyhow... best discovery for me so far off the boomkat lists is the arne deforce & mika vainio album 'hephaestus', deforce being a cellist with a background in feldman and xenakis etc. there are a couple of broiling noise workouts, but also some subtler stuff they explore more brooding atmospheres and the whole thing has the most horrible toxic sheen to it, it's just great stuff

biggest disappointment is EVOL's 'Rave Synthesis Approximations of György Ligeti's Continuum, Part III', whose title promises much but... can anyone listen to more than three minutes of this?

yeah that deforce/vainio album is awesome

can anyone listen to more than three minutes of this?

― Ottbot jr (NickB), Sunday, 21 December 2014 22:47 (6 minutes ago)

sure

its better than 'acid in the style of david tudor'

it has a bit of a HPSCHD sort of ambience about it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_hTxJpWITw

but that has a much deeper texture, the evol track is like the pc music rewrite

györgy liQT if you will

ban NickB

that may or may not be so, just because it is not unlistenable doesn't mean it is of any great value; evol is one of the least interesting mego artists

some of the more minor late ligeti is his own pc music

talking of mego, i still have to hear that one ambarchi record

are you doing a noisy list this year whiney?

ambarchi's quixotism is definitely worth hearing

are you doing a noisy list this year whiney?

― Ottbot jr (NickB), Sunday, December 21, 2014 6:16 PM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yah almost done, prolly posting between Christmas and New Years!

oh good man!

was just looking at the blurb for 'quixotism' and this credit is the best:

Thomas Brinkmann - computable drums with an application to the Entscheidungsproblem (Parts 1-5)

haven't got a clue wtf it means but i'm in