My favourite album this year. Acoustic dub reggae and jazz ( whatever "jazz" is ) couldn't fail. The trio play masterfully, and FAB just works beautifully as a whole. Lots of competition this year, but this pips the rest to the post. RamJamRubADub, Comwidit, Woppumbigupmehead. etc.
Fucking Autopsy. I was sceptical when they announced they had reformed, and even more sceptical when it transpired that this beast was an hour long. It works though. Nothing new here musically, no real risks taken ( unless it being a long album counts as a risk ) but is full on, classic Autopsy. Dirty bastards.
William Bennett's project, original and noisy, without being an atypical "NOISE" album. This was a lot more musical than it could have been, and as a result comes across as a very serious record. Serious on a musical level, not on a "THIS IS AFRICA" level. Bloody good album!
Fresh meat, young people in new-original-expertly executed music shocker. Hearing the previews to this got me all excited. I was a little let down when the full album was released, as I felt some sections of the music were a little too idiosyncratic of Zorn / Tzadik / Radical Jewish Culture. Maybe I was alone in thinking this, and it isn't a bad thing, but....My expectations were too high and this gave them a knock I suppose. But fucking hell, brilliant album.
Is this dance music? Or perhaps I should say something poncey to describe it like "ELECTRONICA". Enjoyable music, this album kept me interested and I kept returning to it. Fuck knows where they go from here though, without wanting to look into things too much.
Wow, liking a modern grindcore album shocker. This is such an intense, fun album. I love the vocals. Better than the new Brutal Truth album too in my opinion, although I found that and Rich Hoak's contribution to it enjoyable enough. It's been quite a grindy year for me - honourable mentions for Wormrot and Cloud Rat whos releases just failed to come under THIS GLAMOUROUS SPOTLIGHT.
I have no idea what is actually going on here, but it's excellent. All I know is that his approach to recording this wasn't conventional, which I can't be arsed to go into here. Wiki it, cunts. Brilliant album is all you need to know. Interesting, original and brilliant.
Zappa's synclavier music is one of my most favourite things in the world ever. An album of unreleased synclavier music is going to be there or thereabouts come the end of the year. It would be first, but that'd be too obvious. Obviously.
This one popped up quite late in the year. She's a fantastic horn player, and this album is a 90 minute live recording edited down to 60 minutes. It reminds me of a modern take on Sun Ra's big band / live work, but that's just because it is the closest thing I can cling to. Pathetic really. Anyway, the ideas and music are better explained on her website...
Gets more interesting with each listen, mainly because it more or less blows my mind every time I listen to it, and I can never remember what the hell it is all about. This would be a bad thing if it was rock or metal. Good thing here. I know what I mean.
Forest Of Equilibrium played in full by the band that recorded it. Including REAL FLUTE PLAYER. This is a recording of that show last year, which I attended. Simple.
JOHN ZORN - Nova Express ( Omitted due to always including Zorn. )
MASTODON -The Hunter ( some great songs. Some really poor ones too )
MITOCHONDRION - Parasignosis ( Good, original stuff. Always fails to quite hit that spot though. )
WORMROT - Dirge ( Bloody hardcore )
YES - Fly From Here ( Genuinely like this album. It could have been so much worse, but it is good! Don't bother seeing them live though. )
JAMIE SAFT - Borscht Belt Studies ( His NZT walked off with my AOTY, so this beautifully played album is here. )
MILES DAVIS - Bitches Brew Live ( The Isle Of Wight set. Obviously. )
CLOUD RAT - Fever Dreams ( Not quite as good as Punch . )
MARK NAUSEEF, IKUE MORI, EVAN PARKER, BILL LASWELL - Near Nadir ( Playing. Wanted more Laswell, but... )
NATE YOUNG - Stay Asleep ( Regression Vol. 2 )
TYSHAWN SOREY - Oblique 1
MORPHOSIS - What We Learned
THE NECKS - Mindset
