Horn of Plenty

 

As a further part of broadening the recognitions in LMYE's Festive Twenty for 2020 (list / compilations / alt list [to follow]), here are 10 'projects' that went beyond the bounds of a single release - sometimes far beyond, either by sheer weight of output or - in a couple of cases - being part of a larger work in several media...

The self-description of one entry - :zoviet*france:'s long-running, unceasingly exploratory A Duck in a Tree mix series on Resonance FM - more or less encapsulates them all, happily: "genre-refusing, zero BPM, hypnatropic & maximinimalist recordings that have grabbed their attention".

Note that both Broken20's 'proper ambient' Slow Notes series & Front & Follow's inspired Isolation & Rejection benefit deeply worthwhile charities. 

Equally, Touch: Isolation - whose sprawling brilliance parcelled out across the lockdown spring was on a scale only matched by Boomkat's Documenting Sound (though without an Akira Rabelais mega-mix as the completist's reward...) - sought to support artists through the pandemic. 

Like other Bandcamp subscriptions, Scanner's Fan Club served this role for an individual artist - providing an insightful stream of often compelling exclusives from installations & other unreleased output. 

Sprawling brilliance also describes the continuing unfurling of A Year In The Country's 'year-long explorations of an otherly pastoralism, the undercurrents & flipside of bucolic dreams' - now entering their seventh year...

Longform Editions has featured in this slot before, but no matter: 2020's editions (including members of the LMYE pantheon like Celer, Robert Curgenven, Taylor Deupree, Chihei Hatakeyama & Strategy, as well as a host of welcome discoveries) were some of the strongest yet from this exceptional initiative. 

Unexplained Sounds Group's amazing geographic anthologies follow Electroacoustic Lebanese Music forming part of LMYE's unpublished selection of 2019, for what that's worth...

Finally, Le Berger's 'faint, warped, imperfect' pale blue dots: 

"The prism by which we should measure progress is the way we treat one another; locally, globally. Also the way we treat & share our habitat."

 The list:

12/13/14/15/16/17 (Longform Editions)

Anthology Of Post Industrial Music From Balkan Region / Persian Experimental Music Vol. II / Experimental Music From Mexico (Unexplained Sounds Group)

dat pale blue dot tho I/II/III/IV/V - Le Berger (self-release)

Documenting Sound (Boomkat) 

A Duck in a Tree (:zoviet*france: / Resonance FM)

Isolation & Rejection series (Front & Follow)

Scanner Fan Club (self-release)

Slow Notes series (Broken20)

Touch: Isolation (Touch)

Year 6 (A Year In The Country)

 

Touch: Isolation showreel

Top photo by NASA/JPL-Caltech. Important: LMYE only makes music available that artists/labels have chosen to share freely. Let us know if something here shouldn't be.

Decayed end

New Year's Eve ebbed away? Check. Frantic last-minute hunting & listening? Ditto.

Hair shirt? On.

Painfully clunky though it obviously is, our approach remains the same: two sets of 2019 releases (15 each) that resonated especially with us over the year, selected independently with both selections limited to no more than one pick per artist/label. Once overlaps have been horse-traded into a final 30, the list is supplemented with a previously announced quartet of projects (three exceptionally rich & ambitious compilations, plus Ben Vida's monumental 4-hour Reducing the Tempo to Zero) that fall outside normal 'release' boundaries. 

 

In all of this, our goal is as ever to spread recognition as far as possible: over & above LMYE's desire to embrace - rather than limit - the multiplicity of sounds & artists we love, this remains an attempt to acknowledge & respond to year-end lists' inevitable partiality. It's never comfortable to realise how different ours might look on another day or in another mood, given every year's surfeit of compelling music..

Moreover, the depth of some labels' output forces unpalatable choices. Outstanding releases like Corey Fuller's Break & Live in Tokyo, Stephen Vitiello & Taylor Deupree's Fridman Variations, Marcus Fischer + Burke Jam's Vanitas, Sublamp's Sister Maps, Felicia Atkinson's The Flower & The Vessel, JAB's Erg Herbe, Fennesz's Agora, Bana Haffar's Genera, Simon Scott's Soundings & Flux [as Index] (all ineligible because of labelmate selections, as were a notable if rather all-male run of Room40s - Siavash Amini, Todd Anderson-Kunert, John Chantler, Rafael Anton Irisarri, Kevin Richard Martin, Rafael Toral, Ian Wellman & more) are clearly still core parts of the year's best...

As always, for a more inclusive picture of our listening please explore the monthly Lend Me Your Radio series on SoundCloud, al's Mixcloud & jl's Bandcamp (collection & wish list)...
 

Anyway, in all its flaws, lapses & lacunae we present LMYE's 2019 Festive 33-1/3: 

ASUNA & Jan Jelinek :: Signals Bulletin (Faitiche) [jl] 

https://asunajanjelinek.bandcamp.com/album/signals-bulletin



A Winged Victory for the Sullen :: The Undivided Five (Ninja Tune) [al]

https://ninjatune.net/release/a-winged-victory-for-the-sullen/the-undivided-five

Mariska Baars / Rutger Zuydervelt :: eau (self-released) [jl] 

https://machinefabriek.bandcamp.com/album/eau

Benoît Pioulard :: Sylva (Morr Music) [al]
https://pioulard.bandcamp.com/album/sylva

 
Jefre Cantu-Ledesma :: Tracing Back The Radiance (Mexican Summer) [jl]

https://jefrecantu-ledesma.bandcamp.com/album/tracing-back-the-radiance
 

 

Kate Carr :: City of Bridges (Longform Editions) [jl] 

https://longformeditions.bandcamp.com/track/city-of-bridges

Celer :: Xièxie (Two Acorns) [al/jl]
https://celer.bandcamp.com/album/xi-xie



Kyle Bobby Dunn :: From Here to Eternity (originally Past Inside the Present) [al] 

https://kylebobbydunn.bandcamp.com/album/from-here-to-eternity

First Tone :: Reactions (Spectrum Spools) [jl]
https://spectrumspools.bandcamp.com/album/reactions

Forest Management :: Passageways (Whited Sepulchre) [al] 

https://forestmanagement.bandcamp.com/album/passageways


 

Chihei Hatakeyama :: Forgotten Hill (Room40) [al]
https://room40.bandcamp.com/album/forgotten-hill



Hotel Neon :: Vanishing Forms (Archives) [al]
https://archivesdubmusic.bandcamp.com/album/vanishing-forms

Kassel Jaeger :: Le Lisse et le Strié (Latency) [jl]
https://kasseljaeger.bandcamp.com/album/le-lisse-et-le-stri



Motionfield :: Always There (Databloem) [al]
https://motionfield.bandcamp.com/album/always-there

Not Glass :: Forma / Ήθος (Ecstatic) [jl]
https://ecstaticrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/forma



Yann Novak :: Slowly Dismantling (Room40) [jl]
https://room40.bandcamp.com/album/slowly-dismantling

Offthesky :: to break is something sacred (Handstitched) [jl] 

https://noise.offthesky.com/album/to-break-is-something-sacred

OHIO :: Interludes (12k)
https://12kmusic.bandcamp.com/album/interludes [jl]

oliviaway :: Blueberry Hill (self-released) [al]
https://oliviaway.bandcamp.com/album/blueberry-hill


 

Orphax :: Live Circles (Moving Furniture) [jl] 

https://movingfurniturerecords.bandcamp.com/album/live-circles

O Yuki Conjugate :: Sleepwalker (Auf Abwegen) [al]
https://aufabwegen.bandcamp.com/album/sleepwalker



poemme :: Frozen Passages (Stereoscenic) [al]
https://shop.poemme-ambient.com/album/frozen-passages

Julia Reidy :: In Real Life (Black Truffle) [jl]
https://blacktruffle.bandcamp.com/album/in-real-life

Rime Trails :: Dusk Embers (self-released) [al]
https://rimetrails.bandcamp.com/album/dusk-embers


 

Scott | Paul | Skeen :: Touch Live in California 2019 (Touch) [jl] 

https://touch333.bandcamp.com/album/touch-live-in-california-2019

secretflowers :: secretflowers (High Grade Media) [al] 

https://highgrademedia.bandcamp.com/album/secretflowers



Shasta Cults :: Shasta Cults (Important) [jl]

https://shastacults.bandcamp.com/album/shasta-cults

 
Wayne Robert Thomas :: Well Now You Know, Unfurled (Healing Sound Propagandist) [al]
https://healingsoundpropagandist.bandcamp.com/album/well-now-you-know-unfurled

Various Artists :: Place Language (Fluid Audio) [al/jl]
https://facture.bandcamp.com/album/place-language

Various Artists :: (eilean 100) (eilean) [jl] 

https://eileanrec.bandcamp.com/album/various-artists-eilean-100 

Various Artists :: CRXSINGS (self-released) [jl]
https://crxssings.bandcamp.com/album/crxssings-fundraiser-for-city-plaza

Ben Vida :: Reducing The Tempo to Zero (Shelter Press) [jl]

https://shelterpress.bandcamp.com/album/reducing-the-tempo-to-zero

VIUL :: Bright Decline (Disques d’Honoré) [al]
https://viulsound.bandcamp.com/album/bright-decline



Ian Wellman :: Susan's Last Breath Became the Chill in the Air and the Fog over the City's Night Sky (Dragon’s Eye) [jl]
https://dragonseyerecordings.bandcamp.com/album/susans-last-breath-became-the-chill-in-the-air-and-the-fog-over-the-citys-night-sky

  

Important: LMYE only makes music available that artists/labels have chosen to share freely. Let us know if something here shouldn't be.

Arse about face

Once more into the hair shirt, dear friends...

Having already named the four projects falling outside normal 'release' boundaries that complete our list, we press on somewhat arse about face to present LMYE's Festive 33-1/3 in full. 

Clunky though it clearly is, our approach remains the same: two sets of 2018 releases (15 each) that meant especially much to us over the year, selected independently with both sets limited to no more than one pick per artist/label. 

Once overlaps have been horse-traded into a final 30, the list is supplemented with our additional quartet.

In all of this, our goal is always to spread recognition as far as possible: over & above LMYE's desire to embrace - rather than limit  - the multiplicity of sounds & artists we love, this is an attempt to acknowledge & respond to year-end lists' inevitable partiality. 

It's never comfortable to reflect on how different ours might look on another day or in another mood, given every year's surfeit of compelling music..

Moreover, some labels' outstanding output forces unpalatable choices. Notable releases like Jana Winderen's Spring Bloom in the Marginal Ice Zone, Triac's Departure & M. Geddes Gengras's Light Pipe (all ineligible because of labelmate selections) are clearly still core parts of the year's best...

Note that a number of fine labels regrettably unrepresented here, such as ACR, Polar Seas & Schwebung, will feature in a follow-up piece on the year's key compilations.

As always, for a more inclusive picture of our listening please explore the monthly Lend Me Your Radio series on SoundCloud, al's Mixcloud & jl's Bandcamp (collection & wish list)...

ASC :: Trans-Neptunian Objects 2 (Auxiliary)

Monty Adkins :: Empire (LINE) 

William Basinski & Lawrence English :: Selva Oscura (Temporary Residence)

Tomasz Bednarczyk :: Illustrations For Those Who (Room40) 

Lea Bertucci :: Metal Aether (NNA)

Philipp Bückle :: Paintings (Moving Furniture)

Casino Versus Japan :: Suicide By Sun (self-release)

CMD094 :: Kagami Tears (No Problema) 

The Caretaker :: Everywhere at the end of time (self-release) 

Kate Carr :: the thing itself and not the myth (Glistening Examples)

Dominic Coppola :: Serenity Channel (Strange Rules) 

Sarah Davachi :: Let Night Come On Bells End The Day (Recital Program)

Etelin :: Hui Terra (Soda Gong)

Forest Management :: 21st Century Man (self-release)

Gray Acres :: Gray Acres (Sound In Silence)

Rafael Anton Irisarri :: El Ferrocarril Desvaneciente (Umor Rex) 

France Jobin & Richard Chartier :: DUO (mAtter)

Laura Luna Castillo :: Laminares (Genot Centre)

Mordançage :: Mordançage (Fluid Audio) 

øjeRum :: Selected Organ Works (Vaknar)

Orphax :: Summer's End (Low Point)

Jim O'Rourke :: Steamroom [#38-42] (self-release)

Pausal :: Volume Flow (Hibernate) 

Francis Plagne & Crys Cole :: Two Words (Black Truffle)

Poemme :: Moments in Golden Light (Constellation Tatsu)  

Positive Centre :: Forever Optimum (Horo)

r beny :: eistla (self-release) 

Mike Shiflet :: Tetracosa (self-release) 

Geneva Skeen :: A Parallel Array Of Horses (Room40) 

Tapes and Topographies :: Opiates (Simulacra) 

Ultrafog :: How Those Fires Burned That Are No Longer (Motion Ward)

Various :: All (Longform Editions)

Various :: Live at Human Resources (Touch) 

Ian Wellman :: Susan's Last Breath Became the Chill in the Air and the Fog Over the City's Night Sky (Dragon's Eye) 

Important: LMYE only makes music available that artists/labels have chosen to share freely. Let us know if something here shouldn't be.

Prolonged weekness

Highlights of these ears' listening from the past seven days...

Not sure these ears need the full 20 'ambient' tributes to Phil, but applauding Steve Flato for "exists in the vague place between Music For Airports and Music From The Disney Motion Picture 'Tarzan'"... 

...& always ready for gossamer Nicholas Burrage (formerly Szczepanik) loveliness

_

Further on NB, finally spending time with the unhurried richness of marbles.' vol. 1

"appropriation of mariah carey's '#1 to infinity'"

_

Headphones on, as guided, & quietly blissing out to Music For Sleep's A Careful Endlessly...



"Listening at low volume is highly recommended"

_

Celer is still releasing & these ears are still listening... 

...captivated by the gorgeous new I Wish You Could (Constellation Tatsu) - as natural & restful as breath



[part of Fall Batch w/Stephan Haluska, Rhucle & Ecovillage

 https://ctatsu.bandcamp.com/merch/fall-batch-2018]

_

Touching dedication to Brian Young too...

Also, applauding the line Cassettes...no longer just for dads & hipsters

_

Revisiting Bethan Kellough's glorious, grand Vision on Touch's unexpected new sub-label Sundry Items!



From Aven (2016)

_

Sundry Items also features Rafael Toral's Violence of Discovery & Calm of Acceptance




"crafted with extreme precision & care"

_

Resubmerging into Loscil's classic Submers - these ears aren't vinyl fetishists, but kranky's rerelease prompts first descent in a while into its depths...



"sourceless echoes, steely surfaces & ominous melodic & rhythmic undertows"

_

Gladly revisiting The Swifter (Andrea Belfi / BJ Nilsen / Simon James Phillips)'s magnificent Wall Sailor (Sonic Pieces)...




"like watching birds being set free from a cage to relish a newly won space for spreading their wings"

_

Not everyone approves of it, evidently - but still finding rewards in Max Loderbauer & Ricardo Villalobos's Re: ECM more than seven years in... 

"to harmonize these two worlds, without them aspiring to mutually deactivate each other"

_

Not sure I can get away with the word 'splendid', but this new Purlieu podcast for New New World Radio's 'Beauty Sleep' is...great

Featuring Jobanshi, Mt Accord, Knivtid & more... 

"Celebrating one year of sonic healing"

Important: LMYE only makes music available that artists/labels have chosen to share freely. Let us know if something here shouldn't be.