voted for the one which was mine (and which will probably once again garner a single vote here).
― babe for the weekend (morrisp), Friday, 5 February 2021 20:22 (three years ago) link
You can listen to the Lauren Bousfield here: https://deathbombarc.bandcamp.com/album/palimpsest
(It was my vote so I've got to vote for it here too, <3 manic glitchy dream records)
― emil.y, Friday, 5 February 2021 20:33 (three years ago) link
kassa overall was my #1 so this is an easy poll for me
― tiwa-nty one savage (voodoo chili), Friday, 5 February 2021 20:33 (three years ago) link
The Windy & Carl one is mine. Follow and love them since the 90s, and if like me you did too, you'd be amazed that so many years down the line they still create this utterly engulfing, gorgeous music. 'Allegiance and Conviction' is what 'Double Negative' was for Low (even though the music is not that similar, beware). A statement, a zeitgeist-record for the ages.
― A Scampo Darkly (Le Bateau Ivre), Friday, 5 February 2021 20:44 (three years ago) link
pulse emitter. still going strong!
― brimstead, Friday, 5 February 2021 20:45 (three years ago) link
here's what i wrote about kassa overall on my personal blog:
1. Kassa Overall - I Think I’m Good: “I think I’m good”–a phrase that’s ran through my head throughout this shitstorm of a year. Sure, I postponed a wedding, cancelled trips, and saw my friends and family much less often than I would like, but I count myself among the lucky ones. Still breathing, still sane. Though it was recorded and released before the pandemic started, Kassa Overall’s I Think I’m Good became a lodestar of sorts for me. It’s a brilliantly introspective and deeply personal album about existing in enclosed spaces–whether a jail cell, an NYC subway car, or the inescapable prison of your own body.Kassa Overall made his name as a jazz drummer, touring with icons like Geri Allen, but his solo music incorporates elements of hip-hop, classical, and trap to create a wholly original milieu. The album features contributions from over 30 accomplished voices, ranging from luminary Vijay Iyer, to Kassa’s saxophonist brother Carlos Overall, to virtuosic pianist Sullivan Fortner, to venerated activist Angela Davis. But all the disparate elements come together in service of Kassa’s deeply personal and engrossing vision.Taking partial inspiration from Kassa’s struggle with manic depression, the music fluctuates between meditative calm and unbearable tension, mimicking the patter of an unquiet mind. Album opener “Visible Walls,” is a mesmerizing prayer for salvation soundtracked by fluttering harps, piercing woodwinds, and heartbeat percussion. “Find Me” buries a plea for help within a cacophony of sampled voices and rattling piano notes. Fortner’s piano guides us through the hauntingly devastating “Halfway House” and the Chopin-indebted “Darkness In Mind,” each highlighting a different stage of grief (despair and acceptance, respectively). The arc of I Think I’m Good concludes with the hopeful “Got Me A Plan” and “Was She Happy (For Geri Allen),” a Vijay Iyer-assisted tribute to his late friend and mentor. It’s ironic that an album that so deeply explores the feeling of isolation vibrates with such a collaborative spirit. I Think I’m Good feels like an answered prayer–a community coming together to check on a beloved friend who’s gone through a tough time: “You good, man?” “I think so.”
Kassa Overall made his name as a jazz drummer, touring with icons like Geri Allen, but his solo music incorporates elements of hip-hop, classical, and trap to create a wholly original milieu. The album features contributions from over 30 accomplished voices, ranging from luminary Vijay Iyer, to Kassa’s saxophonist brother Carlos Overall, to virtuosic pianist Sullivan Fortner, to venerated activist Angela Davis. But all the disparate elements come together in service of Kassa’s deeply personal and engrossing vision.
Taking partial inspiration from Kassa’s struggle with manic depression, the music fluctuates between meditative calm and unbearable tension, mimicking the patter of an unquiet mind. Album opener “Visible Walls,” is a mesmerizing prayer for salvation soundtracked by fluttering harps, piercing woodwinds, and heartbeat percussion. “Find Me” buries a plea for help within a cacophony of sampled voices and rattling piano notes. Fortner’s piano guides us through the hauntingly devastating “Halfway House” and the Chopin-indebted “Darkness In Mind,” each highlighting a different stage of grief (despair and acceptance, respectively). The arc of I Think I’m Good concludes with the hopeful “Got Me A Plan” and “Was She Happy (For Geri Allen),” a Vijay Iyer-assisted tribute to his late friend and mentor.
It’s ironic that an album that so deeply explores the feeling of isolation vibrates with such a collaborative spirit. I Think I’m Good feels like an answered prayer–a community coming together to check on a beloved friend who’s gone through a tough time: “You good, man?” “I think so.”
― tiwa-nty one savage (voodoo chili), Friday, 5 February 2021 20:47 (three years ago) link
One of these days I shall stop confusing Noveller and Novellist and stop thinking Windy and Carl are a 60s sunshine pop act
― Jeff W, Friday, 5 February 2021 21:12 (three years ago) link
Voted for the only one I bought, Exquisite Corpse
― I am using your worlds, Friday, 5 February 2021 21:23 (three years ago) link
Hey, I voted for Exquisite Corpse too, it was my #3! Did one of us not have their ballot counted?
― Tuomas, Friday, 5 February 2021 21:52 (three years ago) link
Oh, sorry, I guess you meant you voted EC in this poll, not in the EOY one?
― Tuomas, Friday, 5 February 2021 21:53 (three years ago) link
Anyway, for me the Exquisite Corpse album was the comeback of the year. Their first LP in 16 years, and they're still utterly unique in their odd brand of ritualistic art techno, I had to give ∀∃ high points. Some more discussion of it in this thread:
Psychick Warriors ov Gaia, Exquisite Corpse, and their odd brand of minimal & tribal trance-techno-ambient
― Tuomas, Friday, 5 February 2021 21:58 (three years ago) link
Short list this year. Hive mind must be growing in size and homogeneity?
― Long Tall Arsetee & the Shaker Intros (breastcrawl), Friday, 5 February 2021 22:30 (three years ago) link
Of course three of my votes are choices in this poll :)
― We’re Up All Night To Get Lochte (Raymond Cummings), Saturday, 6 February 2021 00:36 (three years ago) link
thought the Yuko Araki was interesting
― Dan S, Saturday, 6 February 2021 00:44 (three years ago) link
Yuko Araki - Live Recording 2019-2020 (1st) - https://gerpfastkolektif.bandcamp.com/album/live-recording-2019-2020
Marta Zapparoli - Sonata Per Eterna (2nd) - https://martazapparoli.bandcamp.com/track/sonata-per-eterna
Various Artists - Anthology of Experimental Music from Mexico (3rd) - https://unexplainedsoundsgroup.bandcamp.com/album/anthology-of-experimental-music-from-mexico
These are (obviously) deeply recommended by me. Will be most intriguing to those who like or are open to noise and experimental music.
― We’re Up All Night To Get Lochte (Raymond Cummings), Saturday, 6 February 2021 00:47 (three years ago) link
FYI I'll post up links + mini descriptions for all the links shortly
― octobeard, Saturday, 6 February 2021 00:53 (three years ago) link
for all the records I mean
― octobeard, Saturday, 6 February 2021 00:54 (three years ago) link
The Kassa record looks like it could be exciting
― We’re Up All Night To Get Lochte (Raymond Cummings), Saturday, 6 February 2021 00:55 (three years ago) link
Links + quick comments (written by others)
Anna Högberg Attack - Lena (1st) There are moments which feel as though the ensemble is as much punk band as it is jazz sextethttps://annahogberg.bandcamp.com/album/lena
Kassa Overall - I Think I'm Good (1st) The work of an artist whose voice has ripened to its own hard-earned, provocative conclusions, erasing the need to talk about dissolving barriers between hip hop and jazz because he has begun a new conversation.https://kassaoverall.bandcamp.com/album/i-think-im-good
Maria McKee - La vita nuova (1st) An homage to Dante’s opus on unrequited love. The production is orchestral and operatic and takes it cues from McKee’s lexicon of icons - John Cale, Scott Walker and David Bowie.https://mariamckee.bandcamp.com/album/la-vita-nuova
Nation of Language - Introduction, Presence (1st) perfectly captures the feeling of the German-influenced synth wave of the early 80s.https://nationoflanguage.bandcamp.com/album/introduction-presence
Pulse Emitter - Swirlings (1st) Ambient FM-style tones that swim around.https://pulseemitter.bandcamp.com/album/swirlings
Reuben Vaun Smith - Warm Nights (1st) The sound of warm nights, lapping oceans and a young man, in a Yorkshire shed, wrapping himself in layers of musical warmth and shimmering sonic landscapes.https://reubenvaunsmith.bandcamp.com/album/warm-nights
Yuko Araki - Live Recording 2019-2020 (1st) Harsh noise drones layered by analog synthesizers, cymbals and samples of Japanese traditional instruments creating abstract rhythms and dissonant harmonies that sound like a noise orchestra. https://gerpfastkolektif.bandcamp.com/album/live-recording-2019-2020
Lauren Bousfield - Palimpsest (2nd) Brings a new found expertise in orchestral arranging from her other work as a cinema composer, and puts vocals to the fronthttps://deathbombarc.bandcamp.com/album/palimpsest
Marta Zapparoli - Sonata Per Eterna (2nd) A composition for electromagnetic radiationshttps://glisteningexamples.bandcamp.com/album/sonata-per-eterna
Monetochka - Декоративно-прикладное искусство (2nd) (translated) Filled with allusions and highly social, satirical sketches of contemporary Russian life. Nevertheless, the album marks the transition from the electronic pop sound of Coloring Books for Adults to the musical aesthetics of 20th century Russian pop.https://lisamonetka.bandcamp.com/album/-
Summer Walker - Life on Earth EP (2nd) A couple sultry strip club joints, a couple guitar-led ballads, a playful reunion with PARTYNEXTDOORhttps://areyoulost.bandcamp.com/album/summer-walker-life-on-earth-ep-chopped-screwed
Windy & Carl - Allegiance and Conviction (2nd) Turning their atmospheric soft focus on everyday life, this is as close as the Detroit dream-pop duo has come to making a pop recordhttps://windyandcarl.bandcamp.com/album/allegiance-and-conviction
Exquisite Corpse - ∀∃ (3rd) A coherent document of the free-flowing experimentation and musical symbiosis shared between Robbert and Debbie. Created for each other, now to be shared.https://isla.bandcamp.com/album/xqst
Half Waif - The Caretaker (3rd) A ballsy pop record that often uses restraint and delayed payoff to create a deeper connectionhttps://halfwaif.bandcamp.com/album/the-caretaker
Jean Dawson - Pixel Bath (3rd) Touches on themes of belonging, power, and death. Be it garage rock delivery over 2000's alt-pop production, synthwave homages, or a brief foray into industrial raphttps://open.spotify.com/album/121Hqnfr9tMBdL0LJuIstL
Noveller - Arrow (3rd) Feels as if it is filled with dreamscapes and contemplation intersecting with tension and drama, a journey that plays out over it’s dynamic sequencehttps://noveller.bandcamp.com/album/arrow
Sightless Pit - Grave of a Dog (3rd) Perfectly binds the very best features of these three artists and crushes the resulting amalgamation of sound and structure into a sticky, icky doomy nectarhttps://sightlesspit.bandcamp.com/album/grave-of-a-dog
Sofie - Cult Survivor (3rd) Deceptively unassuming, yet nuanced and adult pop influenced by 60s, 70s and 80s pop and filled with staccato piano, warming analogue synths and languid guitarhttps://sofiefatouretchi.bandcamp.com/album/cult-survivor
Various Artists - Anthology of Experimental Music from Mexico (3rd) A secret place where the sound is deep, wide, and treated as a living entity; where live performances feel more like processions, liturgies, or mediums between this realm and the unknown, rather than simple entertainmenthttps://unexplainedsoundsgroup.bandcamp.com/album/anthology-of-experimental-music-from-mexico
― octobeard, Saturday, 6 February 2021 01:14 (three years ago) link
Sun Araw - Rock Sutra would have been my #1 if I had voted. I nominated it but see it didn't get any votes
― Dan S, Saturday, 6 February 2021 01:33 (three years ago) link
Some really interesting stuff here; I've narrowed down to Maria McKee, Pulse Emitter, Anthology of Experimental Music from Mexico, Half Waif, and Noveller. Sightless Pit is close behind but didn't quite stick as much as the rest did. Arrow was a surprise and out of nowhere beautiful. Captivated by McKee's lyrics and Bowie-isms. The Mexican anthology is also a huge surprise and something I'm happy I stumbled upon via this poll.
― octobeard, Monday, 8 February 2021 07:13 (three years ago) link
Half Waif sounds really ILM-friendly and I'd have believed it had placed at #34 or whatever if it had been casually inserted into the rollout.
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Monday, 8 February 2021 09:41 (three years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Friday, 19 February 2021 00:01 (three years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Saturday, 20 February 2021 00:01 (three years ago) link