Our soundtracks of 2012 have been characterised by works of substance:
– the long take and the inner journey
– sounds captured at the threshold of perception
– sounds that affect the body
– sounds to dwell in
– sounds to travel in.
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Our top 30 in alphabetical order:
Alog – Unemployed (Rune Grammofon) (Full 4xLP version)
Oren Ambarchi – Audience of One (Touch)
Oren Ambarchi – Sagittarian Domain (Editions Mego)
Oren Ambarchi and Thomas Brinkmann – The Mortimer Trap (Black Truffle)
John Cage – John Cage 100 Box (Wergo)
Don Cherry – Organic Music Society (Caprice) (Reissue)
Sidsel Endresen & Stian Westerhus – Didymoi Dreams (Rune Grammofon)
Jean-Claude Eloy – Yo-In (Hors Territoires)
Erstlaub – Marconi’s Shipwreck (Broken20)
Morton Feldman – Crippled Symmetry: At June in Buffalo (Frozen Reeds)
Fougou – Further From the Centre of Disturbance (Greengage Sounds)
Hallock Hill – The Union | A Hem Of Evening (MIE)
Thomas Köner – Novaya Zemlya (Touch)
Gregg Kowalsky and Jozef Van Wissem – Movements in Marble and Stone (Amish)
Brian Lavelle – The Night Ocean (Dust, Unsettled)
Locrian and Mamiffer – Bless Them That Curse You (Profound Lore)
Bunita Marcus – Sugarcubes (TESTKLANG)
Now Wakes the Sea – Hot Cygnet Tape (The Geography Trip)
Duane Pitre – Feel Free (Important Records)
Porter Ricks – Biokinetics (Type) (Reissue)
Eliane Radigue – Feedback Works 1969-1970 (Alga Marghen)
Akos Rozmann –12 Stationer VI (Ideologic Organ)
Richard Skelton – Verse of Birds (Corbel Stone Press)
Sleep Research Facility – Stealth (Cold Spring)
Wadada Leo Smith – Ten Freedom Summers (Cuneiform Records)
Jakob Ullmann – Fremde Zeit – Addendum (Edition RZ)
Mika Vainio / Kevin Drumm / Axel Dörner / Lucio Capece – Venexia (PAN)
Stian Westerhus – The Matriarch And The Wrong Kind Of Flowers (Rune Grammofon)
WITCH – We Intend to Cause Havoc (Now Again) (Reissue)
Nate Wooley – The Almond (Pogus)
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And a further fiery five of fun:
Elephant9 With Reine Fiske – Atlantis (Rune Grammofon)
Goat – World Music (Rocket Recordings)
Motorpsycho and Ståle Storløkken – The Death Defying Unicorn (Rune Grammofon)
Oren Ambarchi / Fire! – In the Mouth – A Hand (Rune Grammofon)
Neil Young with Crazy Horse – Psychedelic Pill (Reprise)
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Live Highlights:
Afternoon Tea (Ambarchi/Fennesz/Rowe/Rehberg/Pimmon) – HAU2, Berlin
Be a Hobo, The Music of Moondog – Carnegie Hall, Dunfermline
John Cage @ 100 Concert – John Tilbury, RSNO, Ivan Volkov, City Halls, Glasgow
The Fall – The Arches, Glasgow. (On the basis that any Fall gig that is not a complete car crash these days is a highlight)
Morton Feldman, Coptic Light and Charles Ives, The Unanswered Question – RSNO, David Robertson, Usher Hall, Edinburgh
Morton Feldman, SQ2 – The Smith Quartet, City Halls, Glasgow
Tim Hecker – Pilrig St Paul’s Church, Edinburgh
Archie Shepp – Summerhall, Edinburgh
Patti Smith – ABC, Glasgow
Supersonic Festival – The Custard Factory, Birmingham
Now Playing: Bee Mask – Vaporware/Scanops
