Soundtracks of 2012

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