These two defined the year.

The most explosive, mind expanding and game changing pieces of music I heard all year.  These two have gravity, reeling me back over and over, no matter my infatuation with other frontiers.  They are albums that I was excited to get up and listen to first thing in the morning.  Again and again.  Each took my impression of the artist to another level – and my appreciation for new realms of sound with it.  No matter what I may pick up down the road, these two albums are going to be powerful beacons of what music was to me in 2010.

Flying Lotus – Cosmogramma

Having written extensively on this one the day it released, I’ll refer you there for the long story.  Short story:  this one is a true thriller, a total banger, and a far flung odyssey.  Nothing invigorated me, buzzing up and down my spine with every percussive shuffle and harp glissando, more than Cosmogramma.  This left the entire “beat” genre collective below as it blasted off towards uncharted jazz nirvana.  If you haven’t been immersed yet, you’re missing out on one of the most significant albums of an era.

[buy it at Bleep]

Oneohtrix Point Never – Returnal

Returnal not only blows minds and melts cogent thought, blurring time and physical sensation; it’s an otherworldly gorgeous journey lasting far beyond its 42 minute span.  I spent the summer bug-eye intrigued, cycling with this; an autumn listening on the floor in sheer awe; and a burgeoning winter nestled warm inside the beating heart of its graceful heft.  It takes experience to truly grasp the center of what makes Returnal so boldly transcendent.  Not simply a perfect example of a ‘grower,’ the album refracts perspective so fully that repeat listening is necessary to get a grip on how exactly this behemoth is so devastating.  The beatific grin creeping across your lips when centerpiece combo Pelham Island Road and Where Does Time Go? takes over is a clear sign of arrival.

[buy it at Boomkat, preferably on vinyl]

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NEXT: The Absolute Stunners

These inhabited my mind for a significant amount of the year and with it, my memory of the time.  Each album here would be at the top spot notwithstanding each other and my twin favories.  Each one is an incredible, substantial release deserving of a place on everyone’s playlist, and will undoubtedly stand strong as we look back at 2010.

Dimlite – Prismic Tops

With enough hype covering the beat world from Los Angeles to London to go around twice, it’s a sad omission that Dimlite rarely earns much discussion, much less the wild acclaim he deserves.  Being far left of field  and even less beholden to strict beats than the vast sum of his peers, the Swiss producer stands somewhat understandably apart.  Another is the pure depth and range of his recordings.  The spectrum of color and detail isn’t merely for show.  Dmitri Grimm exudes a fundamental understanding of the interplay of sound, snapping unlikely pieces together in an elastic environment where every microbial aspect has been warped and fine tuned.  Beamed from outer space on the epic scale of a prime Sun Ra transmission, it’s understandable that heads don’t flock to him.  It’s a crime that the wider world hasn’t picked up on Dimlite yet.

[buy this from Stones Throw Records]

Actress – SPLAZSH

This was and still is one of the most surprising albums of the year.  More than 6 months after hearing it, I’m still left with questions and curiosities.  I’m still scratching around certain edges of Splazsh, trying to divine its purpose.  Some things I know for certain:  it is resolutely not dubstep.  More interested in exploring nearly every other tangent of current and legacy electronic music than the prevailing winds, there aren’t many other single releases covering so much ground this year or any. Built with hypnotic dub pulsing through electro and house and funk like they were Lego pieces, every single track brings something new to the game.  Preternaturally adept at every style he flaunts, the tracks (certainly not “songs”) take full advantage of their separate nature, firing in myriad directions at once.  At first, trying to get a handle on the work as an album, this is a challenge.  And then it sinks in:  Actress is actually creating a work of singular power through sheer force of will.  What seems an arbitrary track listing and progression at first, slowly turns into an environment to live in.  There’s enough sustenance here to thrive on indefinitely.

[buy it straight from Honest Jon’s Records]

Mount Kimbie – Crooks & Lovers

This one tried so hard to sneak by my radar.  From its understated complexity and tidy elegance to the short running time and  (almost) workaday visual artwork, Crooks & Lovers goes out of its way to not promise a revelatory experience.  Then it delivers hard on any and all potential earlier releases hinted at.  I shared about this in August and stand by those words, so heed them before any overbaked praise I may lay out here.  I’ll quote myself to sum this up:  Imagine the deaf hearing for the first time, the immense clarity of glass breaking or water droplets; how even a handshake cracks like thunder. Mount Kimbie renders each moment in a high definition embrace.  Close listening is naturally rewarded with exponential returns. This thing comes in with a delicate demeanor, sliding into tactile bliss while going straight for the emotional jugular.

[buy it at Boomkat]

Swans – My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky

Swans were dead.  This year Swans rose anew.  They kept rising.  Is this really an instance of a re-formed band making a progressive and artistically satisfying work in their second iteration?  Yes, it is.  In fact, this is one  of the best albums Michael Gira and Co. have released.  Opening with tubular bells chiming to announce a slow motion lightning bolt’s unfurling over the next 9 minutes, the album is relentless in making every second count.  This monster knows how close to apocalyptic our modern day feels.  It breathes in the ashes of our present’s future and blasts out paeans for humanity.  This stuff is as warm and lived in as a Cormac McCarthy novel, matched and reflected in an edge sharp as anything Swans have brandished in their harshest moments.  The opening cacophony slides into a martial stomp before giving way to something more starkly direct, akin to White Light From The Mouth Of Infinity’s heavy folk.  The album basically vacillates between every end of the band’s stylistic oeuvre with a hot-shit vigor nobody would have expected.  It’s aggressive, urgent, earnest, fierce, and deeply affecting.  There’s also a bonus CD if you get the special edition from Young God – a largely instrumental collage of album elements mutated into a giant single piece which heaves and pulls with a tidal force – like the album proper, but thoroughly unhinged.  Some fans have even cited its preference.  I’m certainly thankful to own it.  If you’re adventurous enough (or want to be even more blown away), check that edition out.  Plus, Mr. Gira himself signs every copy!

[buy this or the incredible 2cd edition from Young God]

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TOTAL STANDOUTS:

These hold a specific, bright and loud place in the year, each a significant landmark in its own way.

Daedelus – Righteous Fists of Harmony

The Los Angeles based beatmaker’s best album.  At only 26 minutes, it covers more ground than nearly anyone in the game, in their whole career, including the mutton chop festooned Daedelus himself.  Structured as a meta narrative ostensibly about the boxer rebellion, it’s got this rollercoaster feeling that few albums this year (much less EP length ones) even approach.  Its centerpiece is wife Laura Darlington’s best vocal turn ever, on spiritual lament Order of the Golden Dawn.  Like some ornate puzzle, this brief release is flush with delicately unfolding pleasures.

[vinyl or mp3 only. you know which to get at Boomkat]

Rhys Chatham – The Bern Project

Holy hot pot of coffee.  This is a tidal wave of an album.  Swimming into a wall of kraut momentum, a school of blaring brass, abused drum sets and stretched guitar strings spill over the top of anyone hitting ‘play’ on one of the most explosive albums this year.  Despite Chatham’s decades of experience this release feels – if anything – more fresh than most of the artists young enough to be his offspring.  It’s a frantic blast of energy, of feeling.  Conjuring righteous anger and exuberance side by side, it’s an anthem and a celebration in one.  Hitting a high drone stride with percussive Boredoms underpinning, this one blows back everyone exposed to its massive minimal structure.

[buy this at Cargo Records or even at Boomkat]

The Durutti Column – A Paeon To Wilson

This is the best and most ambitious thing Vini Reilly and co. have released in years.  Moving about the usual fields of post-punk, shoegaze, dub and more which this virtuoso guitarist finds himself in, he manages to string everything together in an inviting, intriguing post-modern blend reminiscent of an accomplished DJ set or classic Underworld album, flowing spotlessly between set pieces.  The CD version comes with a bonus Heaven Sent disc of stunning acoustic performances.

[buy this from Norman Records or even Amazon]

Gonjasufi – A Sufi and a Killer

For someone holding equal affection for ragged 60’s psych rock a la The United States Of America or Amon Düül II and the modern beat-centric world of post-hiphop electronic music, the idea of this album is more than immediately apparent.  Coiled tight with swaggering beats and scratchy atmosphere, all the instruments available at Woodstock pounding out a laconic rhythm for Gonjasufi to unspool his loose flow over, it’s a strangely appealing galactic intersection.

[get it from Bleep now]

Caribou – Swim

Caribou defied my expectations to release his most vital work since (as Manitoba) 2002’s Up In Flames, which was a psychedelic electro-acoustic pop masterpiece.   Since weaving through kraut-inflected electro and Stereolab-esque 60’s pop experiments, the man didn’t appear poised to make me gasp.  But this one did.  Primitive, cyclical, relentless and rejoicing, this one felt like a lighter-than-air dance pop vision of the effect Boredoms’ Vision Creation Newsun has on listeners.

[found at Merge Records or Amazon]

Emeralds – Does It Look Like I’m Here?

What can be said about the most directly appealing member of the synth-drone community?   This stuff will hit home immediately for anyone born in the 80’s and/or in possession of an affinity for the tones and tropes of the time.  It starts off like the best Zelda adventure ever, gets lost in a Korg hurricane, wades through a Michael Mann thriller’s ‘downer’ scene and exalts through breathless fantasy stirrings by its finale.  That cover art is truly evocative of its sound for once.

[like I did, get this on superb 2LP from Forced Exposure]

Eleven Tigers – Clouds Are Mountains

Eleven Tigers has to be the biggest out-of-nowhere triumph in a long time.  A kid from Lithuania hears Burial and gets excited about music, moving to London to study and make beats.  Then he drops this gorgeous bombshell several steps beyond his influences.  Since I was gushing about this months ago,  I’ll quote myself again: From taffy-stretched drone tunnels bridging propulsive house and dub techno beats to the clipped channels of unknown conversation forming a preamble to fractured fairy tale dream pop vocals, every lush moment drips with a heart of wanderlust and a propulsive kick in its step. This album is almost a doppelgänger for Actress’ fractured post-everything take on electronic music.  Instead of laying out every separate piece in his arsenal, Eleven Tigers fuses the wide range of sounds and styles into a fluid unrelenting slide.  If Actress is for thinking, this is for daydreaming.  Hear it streaming free here.

[purchase at his Bandcamp page or at Boomkat]

Bvdub – The Art Of Dying Alone

Speaking of evocative cover art…  Bvdub came to my attention after his ‘solo’ release last year as Brock Van Wey – shared on optimistic underground and returned to his ambient dub persona with not just a few new tricks.  Mountains of wordless vocals rise from the depths of pulsing dub seas, entire flocks of harp and violin soar aloft, barely tied down by minor piano chords echoing through the canyons of empty space he leaves this music to grow in.  It’s all done so imperceptibly huge that a full 80 minute listen can wash clean the conscious mind.  It’s hard to remember details when not playing the album, and it’s hard to pick them out at low volume.  So play often, and play loud.  Or on some decent headphones, alone.  The art may evoke some depressing concepts – catch the title yet? – but the gorgeous power of its creation is more than life affirming.  This is comedown enlightenment.

[order from Glacial Movements or at Norman Records]

Teebs – Ardour

In September I called this album utopian.  I stand by that proclamation, even more so after living with it for some time.  This is a set of pure bliss from beginning to end.  Nestled in a twinkling, gently strummed world of airy strings, primitive island bells & percussion, it set the tone for a celestial set of heaven-bound melodies intertwining, realizing an album in an entirely new realm of understanding.  Before Ardour, I was unaware debut albums had any right to be this arresting.

[buy this via Brainfeeder]

A Sunny Day In Glasgow – Autumn, Again

Since dropping one of the best dream pop albums in… ever, last year, A Sunny Day In Glasgow weren’t expected to gift us with another gorgeous set of thoughtful tunes.  But they did. And gift is the operative word:  this thing was released completely free of charge.  Normally that would scream “outtakes!” but nearly the opposite is true.  Autumn Again is filled to bursting with earworm melodies and the same syrupy atmosphere conjured on their last masterpiece (see Best of 2009), in less sprawling, more digestible fashion.

[FREE at Autumn Again or get the vinyl for only $14]

Darkstar – North

So everyone went ape shit over Aidy’s Girl Is A Computer a while back, and the hype for Darkstar’s debut went through the roof.  Apparently the weight was too much for this duo as they purportedly scrapped a whole album and started over.  For those of us with open minds and ears, nothing could have been better.  Mostly eschewing the Hyperdub template they helped create, North wanders back in time, returning like a dark mystic cousin of The Human League in their prime.  Vocals fight through, work in harmony with, and rarely rise above a glitched out synthscape – everything is chopped and reprocessed almost to the point of abstraction, but the band holds back just enough to keep this an open-arms invitation for anyone interested.  Check out that single and then leave expectations behind.  This is not dubstep.

[check it at Boomkat]

Joanna Newsom – Have One On Me

I wasn’t prepared to like this album so much.  Having been a fair weather fan of Ms. Newsom before her defining epic Ys, I was put off by the effort required to truly enjoy that dense journey.  Imagine my surprise when her follow up, a 3-album extravaganza, wound up as something I’d have stuck in my head all day, humming and waiting until I could play it again.  Having stripped back some of the instrumental-pileup of Ys, the generous length here allows Newsom to plant every idea and watch them grow into fully realized songs and suites, with thematic unity and literary sprawl unlikely yet beautifully bound.  From simple voice-and-harp odes to her home state to the kind of compact Canturbury Tales narrative stunts birthed on Ys (here given more room to breathe), this one is truly an adventure well worth taking, again and again, until it feels like an old friend.

[pick it up right from Drag City on cd or vinyl]

Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Yeah, this album is here.  Know why?  Because it really is good.  It’s great.  Because nothing in either the Top 40 realm or the indie/blog/whatever universe jumped straight out of my speakers and demanded repeat plays – right now! – with friends, co-workers, family, anybody with a set of working ears.  The production is immaculate, the pace unrelenting, and the cast of collaborators elevates every moment.  Kanye has never been known to be a solid vocalist and several cringeworthy moments pop up on his verses, but he’s smart enough to know this and positions his voice as only one of many populating each densely packed track.  Some of the best moments are a confluence of artistry, like the pass-the-mic attack of Monster and the Wu-echoing (and RZA co-produced) So Appalled, while others are simply this bat shit crazy man at the top of his game, putting everything he is on the line with manic abandon.  It’s a rush and an experience, and an album you’ve surely already judged whether you’ve heard it or not.  Take it from me, as someone who was never a fan of West’s work:  this is the real deal.  It’s not perfect (ahem, every magazine/website) but that’s what makes it work.  This is a wonderful, liberating mess.

[buy it, like, anywhere.  Best Buy or something]

Demdike Stare – Liberation Through Hearing

Demdike Stare managed to pass almost all of 2010 without my notice so I must thank friends at Everything’s Exploding for turning me onto one of the most intriguingly dark and darkly psychedelic artists I’ve heard in months.  Standing at a weird crossroads between the hypnotic bleak dub of Shackleton (I love him) and the creaking, hypnagogic drone of Black To Comm (love him too), this music tends to blur the lines between something to chill out and nod one’s head to, and a full out dread-infused Lynchian dreamscape of smoky nighttime treks through the woods.  The best part is that it’s only one of three full length releases this year.  After getting a handle on this, the best and most accessible LP, seek out Forest of Evil and Voices of Dust, and witness an emerging artist in full bloom.

[grab at Boomkat or wait for a comp of all 3 albums, coming soon]

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To sum it up, here is the list in simpler form:

Defining Albums:

• Flying Lotus – Cosmogramma

• Oneohtrix Point Never – Returnal

Absolute Stunners:

• Dimlite – Prismic Tops

• Actress – Splazsh

• Mount Kimbie – Crooks & Lovers

• Swans – My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky

Rest of the Best:

• Daedelus – Righteous Fists of Harmony

• Rhys Chatham – The Bern Project

• The Durutti Column – A Paean To Wilson

• Gonjasufi – A Sufi and a Killer

• Caribou – Swim

• Emeralds – Does It Look Like I’m Here?

• Eleven Tigers – Clouds Are Mountains

• Bvdub – The Art of Dying Alone

• Teebs – Ardour

• A Sunny Day In Glasgow – Autumn, Again

• Darstar – North

• Joanna Newsom – Have One On Me

• Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

• Demdike Stare – Liberation Through Hearing

That’s all, folks.