Unfestive conclusion

So, a bathetic ending to the pathetic fallacy of LMYE's by now distinctly unFestive 50: a companion to our 20 labels of 2009 & top 10 sources of music discovery* in the form of our 20 artists of the year. Plus, given the discomfort of picking out an arbitrarily small group when LMYE exists to highlight all the less obvious music we love, an inevitable hedge: 10 more 'emerging' artists whose excellence we twigged during the year (often years too late, but anyway...).

Note that, apart from their inspired music, this list celebrates artists who typically cranked up their impact through other initiatives & efforts - running a cutting-edge label (Deupree, Sprinkles), creating compelling music on a new platform like the iPhone (Scanner), delivering genius mixes/remixes (English, KMS, Klimek, Sprinkles), collaborating far & wide (Baker, TRR), using 'free' creatively (Klimek, LJK, Monolake, Willits) - &/or sometimes just by the power of their example (The Necks' decade-plus of collective improvisation, Basinski's pioneering, Celer's fecundity, Erstlaub & Skelton's single-mindedness...).

*not including blogs like this one that mainly deal in commercial releases

Post features an exclusive LMYE hack of extracts of DJ Sprinkles' new Masturjakor. More tracks, hacks & profiles/rationales of the top 20 to follow in, er, due course. No, really...

Aidan Baker > previously on LMYE

William Basinski > previously on LMYE

Celer

Taylor Deupree >>

Dec8 MMwHloop
eclipsebow

DJ Sprinkles > previously on LMYE >> Masturjakor [Sprinklettes] (from Masturjakor, Mule Musiq)

DJ Sprinkles aka Terre Thaemlitz Live @ Decadent Deluxe, Fukuoka, Japan - 02-05-2007

Lawrence English

Erstlaub > previously on LMYE

King Midas Sound > previously on LMYE

Klimek > previously on LMYE >>

HARZ demo #1
FOR THOSE ABOUT TO ROCK ghetto ambient mix

LJ Kruzer > previously on LMYE >>

LJ Kruzer - Tam by unchartedaudio
LJ Kruzer - Tam814 by unchartedaudio

Monolake > previously on LMYE

Mountains > previously on LMYE

The Necks > previously on LMYE

Akira Rabelais > previously on LMYE

Scanner > previously on LMYE

Richard Skelton > previously on LMYE >>

Richard Skelton ~ Landings

Mark Templeton

To Rococo Rot > previously on LMYE >> Working Against Time (from Speculation, forthcoming on Domino)

Moritz von Oswald > previously on LMYE

Christopher Willits > previously on LMYE

'Emerging':

Allez-Allez > previously on LMYE

Olafur Arnolds > previously on LMYE

Floating Points

Jasper TX

P Jørgensen > previously on LMYE

Mokira > previously on LMYE

Simon Scott > previously on LMYE

Seaworthy > previously on LMYE

spatial > previously on LMYE

The Village Orchestra/TVO > previously on LMYE

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

Winter tribute

After the dense immensities of Navigare (hear full stream below), new riches from Simon Scott - a beautifully accumulating taste of the epic forthcoming soundscape Nivalis on Secret Furry Hole (download edit here) & the breathe-like, almost stately She Came from the Sea from the forthcoming Traba 12". Plus the rare Dissolving Memories from the vinyl edition of Navigare...

Scott on Nivalis: "the whole time i was writing this piece the snow just never stopped falling so i had this amazing visual flow that inspired me to keep on throwing musical ideas into the track. i had no intention to venture outside so i just kept on recording for two days, mixing as i went along, until the snow stopped. i added recordings of me clearing snow and ice from my doorstep whilst my heater was working flat out to push the sub zero temperatures up a few degrees. i see 'nivalis' as a tribute to the winter, the snow and the beauty of how the seasons change here in england."

She Came From The Sea by Simon Scott



Dissolving Memories by Simon Scott

Last track on Navigare (vinyl only).

Simon Scott - Navigare


Spring Stars by Simon Scott

"Co-Written with Rafael Anton Irisarri"

The Old Jug And Drum by Simon Scott

"featuring Jasper TX"

Ashma by Simon Scott

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

Apartment humbug

Compellingly detailed post-modern space rock from Fredrik Ness Sevendal's FNS (MySpace / Discogs), forthcoming on Miasmah (one of LMYE's 20 labels of 2009).

Fred: "This project is me all alone. I also play in bands like Slowburn, DEL, Kobi, Lucia, Marmont, Children & Corpse playing in the streets, GOM, Softrebels, and various other constellations. I have also collaborated with Makoto Kawabata (Acid mothers..), Mitsuru Tabata (Zeni Geva, Marble sheep), Mark Francombe (Ex Cranes guitarist), Bill Wood (1/3 octave band). It's both lo-fi pop, weird folk, noiserock and free-noise. Common for all the projects is the homespun lo-fi production, tape hiss, lots of different instruments and sounds sources, and a big part of the music is always improvised. Much of this has been released on various formats."



FNS - Silence to say hello

FNS - I think she´s asleep

"Tracks from the forthcoming album by FNS (aka Fredrik Ness Sevendal) out april 5th. Mastered by Helge Sten at Audio virus labs."



Bonus: Fredrik Ness Sevendal > Gamle Gudbrand / Dog Alone Home (both from No Holy Fow, Apartment/Humbug)



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

Sunny Leeds

One of the many, er, high points of picking up on Low Point - LMYE's 'new discovery' label of 2009 - last year was the chance to mine P Jørgensen's intense, refracting subtleties. Returning more & more to the iridescent textured riches of his two albums to date, my frustration at having failed to catch him in the UK before Christmas (or in in Copenhagen next month) mounts...

Fortunately, at least one of those shows was recorded. That scintillating Leeds performance features here alongside an exclusive (mostly in the sense that few others would have bothered...) LMYE hack of fragments" of Lets The Sun Drag Itself Out Into a Long Ray - plus a full SoundCloud stream of 'speed-drone' (©LMYE, ahem) masterpiece To.

Earlier coverage here. Fine furthernoise review (part of a broad Low Point overview) here ("... homes in on timbre, evoking the aura of morning mist or the long drawn out rays of light. An elegant lulling music of low attack and deferred decay, of faux-woodwinds and ersatz-organs periodically inflected with delicate oscillations; a warm, balmy flow of harmonised drones and earthy texture fields").

Blurb: "p jørgensen is a composer & sound artist based in copenhagen, denmark. his current work is primarily based on heavily computerprocessed acoustic instruments and field recordings which are turned into luminous textures, crystalline tones and vibrant ambient drones."



live in Leeds 07.11.2009 by p jørgensen

"my live set from the royal park cellars, november 2009 other acts that night were fieldhead, jasper tx with danny saul and the home current (dj'ing) kindly recorded by http://victoryrosemusic.blogspot.com/"

maxine by p jørgensen

from Lets The Sun Drag Itself Out Into a Long Ray, Monotype

P Jørgensen - Sun Rays

LMYE hack of "fragments" from Lets The Sun

10 B-25 Mitchell by p jørgensen



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

Nivalis (edit) by Simon Scott

Nivalis (edit)  by  Simon Scott

ich ich (i & i) by klimek

ich+ich (i & i)  by  klimek

"words about land & water are vulnerable"

Three salty, North Sea-lashed tastes of Jan & Romke Kleefstra's intense, unfolding poetic encounters with collaborators like Machinefabriek & Gareth Davis...

"Jan Kleefstra writes 'fragments' about inlands between lakes and near the sea and the sense perceptions of it. And because words about land and water are vulnerable, especially when the relationship with it is fragile, he doesn't want the words to hit the ground and be trampled down by people after leaving his voice. That's why he recitates on soundscapes, partly from the guitar of his brother Romke, partly on samples of William Basinski, Deathprod or Es and sometimes live with others like Machinefabriek and Soccer Committee. Jan & Romke also co-operate with other forms of art like (seascape) painting and cinematographics. So far Jan published three collections of poems:

• Stem van de stilte (2004, Boon Uitgeverij, Groningen) - a combination of Dutch poems with seascape paintings by Minne Onnes
• Fragmenten (2006, Boon Uitgeverij, Groningen) - Dutch poems with a few digitally adapted pictures by Johan van Aken
• Fragminten (2008, Friese Pers Boekerij, Leeuwarden) - Frisian poems with a few digitally adapted pictures by Johan van Aken

Romke Kleefstra has been singer/songwriter/guitarist in some groups over the last 15 years, including Shatterhole, Seascape Painters, Polaroyd and Music for the Defect. He's also been doing solo stuff (and might do that again)."

Kleefstra|Bakker|Kleefstra - Wink

"Wink is a one piece live studio recording by Kleefstra|Bakker|Kleefstra for Apollolaan Recordings. It was published in a limited number of 100 cds with handmade packages by Matt Shaw.

Romke Kleefstra: melodic and experimental guitar + loops / Anne-Chris Bakker: bowed and fingerpicking guitar + effects / Jan Kleefstra: voice, poems and laptop with 'transitive sound 6' by Johan van Aken.

Released by: Apollolaan Recordings
Release/catalogue number: Apan 012
Release date: Jun 2009"

Davis|Kleefstra|Kleefstra

"Unreleased track by Gareth Davis (bass- and contrabassclarinet), Romke Kleefstra (guitar, loops) and Jan Kleefstra (voice). Live-impro, recorded February 5th 2009 at Landscape Studio, Gauw (The Netherlands)."

Machinefabriek & Jan Kleefstra - Piiptsjilling

"Piiptsjilling was a live impro-collaboration of Machinefabriek, Jan Kleefstra, Mariska Baars (Soccer Committee) and Romke Kleefstra in Ei Studio, Amsterdam. The live piece was edited and processed by Rutger Zuyderveld.
Rutger Zuyderveld: guitar, effects, laptop | Jan Kleefstra: words, voice | Mariska Baars: guitar, voice | Romke Kleefstra: guitar.
Released by: Onomatopee
Release/catalogue number: Onomatopee 016
Release date: May 2008"


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

Mark of decency

Greg Haines - Marc's Descent

A 10-minute taste of Greg Haines' ravishing Until the Point of Hushed Support forthcoming on Sonic Pieces...



Spotify link for the earlier, immense Slumber Tides...

Ghost inferno

Bird Show - Ghost Inferno

LMYE hack of extracts from Bird Show's Green Inferno & Lightning Ghost (both on kranky): see earlier post today.

Four to the floor

After yesterday's all-too-easy HypeClouding experiments (also here), back to the MP3 grindstone: not such a chore, though, when we're trading in burbling kraut-ish post-jazz backed by a Tortoise percussion duo...

Bird Show Band > Quintet Four (from Bird Show Band, Amish)



Bonus: Bird Show > Landlovers / All Afternoon Part#1 / Always/Never Sleep Part#1 (excerpts from Green Inferno, kranky) > On the Beach / Lightning Ghost (excerpts from Lightning Ghost, kranky)


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

Skinny pelt

"Some preview snippets of the new A Broken Consort album, entitled 'Crow Autumn', which is released in February by Tompkins Square."

A Broken Consort ~ Crow Autumn (Tompkins Square)

Skeins & pelts

Heidika ~ Limn


Richard Skelton ~ The Shape Leaves (Early Version)

Fleeing further

As promised, more of the irresistible Music for Our Future giveaway compilation - from Lusine's intricate pinging poptronica to Willits & Sakamoto's stately, shuddering unfurling via staging points as diverse as King Midas Sound's sonorous future-dub, White Rainbow's accreting analogue haze & Untold's clicky warps...

Further coverage (by MfOF contributor Peter Kirn, as it happens). Photo by Lusine (Jeff McIlwain).

Lusine > Gravity (from A Certain Distance, Ghostly)

Hudson Mohawke > Fuse (from Butter, Warp)

White Rainbow > Raw Shanks a Million

King Midas Sound > Outta Space (Slow Version) (original on Waiting For You, Hyperdub)

Low Limit > Turf Day

Willits & Sakamoto > Toward Water [re-up] (from Ocean Fire, 12k)

Untold > Luna

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

Fleeing heretic

Reichian kinetics meet a kind of gleaming super-modern drum 'n' bass - the best surprise on the irresistible Music for Our Future giveaway compilation, which features LMYE favourites King Midas Sound, Lusine & Christopher Willits/Ryuichi Sakamoto alongside hipsters HudMo, Untold & White Rainbow, is Peter Kirn's fine Anaxagoras.

Too completist to not post much of the rest too. But starting with just the one to show it a little love...

More coverage (by Peter, as it happens, as are the photos).

Lusine, “Gravity”

Atlas Sound, “Walkabout" (with Noah Lennox)

Hudson Mohawke, “Fuse”

White Rainbow, “Raw Shanks a Million”

King Midas Sound, “Outta Space (Slow Version)”

Low Limit, “Turf Day”

Willits & Sakamoto, “Toward Water”

The Field, “I Have The Moon, You Have The Internet" (Gold Panda Remix)

Tyondai Braxton, “Uffe’s Woodshop”

Untold, “Luna”

Nice Nice, “See Waves”

Richard Devine, “Matvec Interior" (Feat. Otto Von Schirach)

Peter Kirn, “Anaxagoras”



Peter Kirn > Anaxagoras (from Music for Our Future)



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

Gene trees

Haven't previously felt much of a pull from either The Knife or Fever Ray, but the first track released from their new 'Darwin electro-opera' is - improbably enough - rather stunning: an appealingly grandiose 11-minute confection freighted by booming, clattering percussion...

Blurb: Commissioned by Danish performance group Hotel Pro Forma to write the music for their opera based on Charles Darwin and his book ‘On the Origin of the Species’, The Knife decided to make this a collaborative process, working with artists Mt. Sims and Planningtorock for the first time, to capture the huge width of the Darwin and evolution theme. They extensively researched Darwin related literature and articles, with Olof attending a field recording workshop in the Amazon to find inspiration and to record sounds.

‘Tomorrow, In A Year’ is a unique musical project. Richard Dawkins’s gene trees have formed the basis of some of the musical composition, artificial sounds have been mixed with field recordings, with the music inspired by everything from the different stages of a bird learning its melody, to a song based on Darwin’s loving letters about his daughter Anne. These are compositions that challenge the conventional conception of opera music.

Pushing the experimental process further still, composer, choreographer, costume designer and set designer worked separately, only coming together 3 and a half months before the first performance of ‘Tomorrow, In A Year’ in Copenhagen on the 2nd September 2009. Described as “shifting the position of operatic art in a single leap”, further performances of ‘Tomorrow, In A Year’ are confirmed to take place in Athens (8-9 Jan), Stockholm (29 Jan-1 Feb), and Munster (5 June), with further dates to be announced.


The Knife with Mt. Sims & Planningtorock > Colouring of Pigeons (from, Tomorrow, In A Year, forthcoming on Rabid/Brille)

NB: higher-res version available to mailing list subscribers

Colouring of Pigeons by The Knife

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

Benny & the pots

New Year's Resolution department (2): hear more BJ Nilsen in 2010.

The awesome Pole of Inaccessibility (from The Short Night - mapsadaisical's top pick of 2007, in case you'd forgotten...) remains my, er, touchstone for his subtly intense music. Elsewhere in my very partial picture of his output The Rorschach Train, an unreleased track from the Fade to White sessions, is more ethereal/limpid & quite haunting, while Easter Parade from the same period & Meter Reading from the new The Invisible City deal in more urgent textures.

His older recordings as Hazard tilt towards somewhat more conventional electronica, but are still absolutely worth hearing - an LMYE edit of The Vibrating Room & the rich tone poem Tangled Mass (both from North) also feature below.

By the time of Wood (2000) he already sounds like himself - juggling found sounds & other textures into often gripping & always diverting performances. Cut Out Replay is austerely playful, while to these ears the warmer, more reduced Pylons points to the sublime stuff to come...



"Track notes: Gravity Station: subharchord, pitch-regulated viola, amplified chair dragged across floor, window shutters, grand piano, virtual Hammond organ, steel whistle coffeepot, acoustic and electric guitars, B&K Sine Random Generator Type 1024, birdsong through B&K Frequency Analyser Type 2107, Studer B67, various DSP

Phase and Amplitude: bumblebees, acoustic guitar, Studer B67, various DSP

Scientia: birdsong feed-backed and overdriven through B&K Type 2107, B&K Type 1024, subharchord, wing-flaps and bird eating, virtual Hammond organ, door slam, glockenspiel, Online Voice Decoder, Studer B67, various DSP

Virtual Resistance: subharchord, birds, acoustic and electric guitar feedback run through B&K Type 2107, cat climbing up door, airplane, virtual Hammond organ, broken Fishman Parametric EQ, bowed acoustic guitar, footsteps on snow, Studer B67, various DSP

Meter Reading: virtual Hammond organ, train, Studer B67 tape cut-ups, boat ramp, feedbacked Ferrograph Series 4, various DSP

Into Its Coloured Rays: wasps run through B&K Type 2107, piano, dead trees leaning against each other, crows, Studer B67, various DSP

Gradient: acoustic guitars, virtual Hammond organ, B&K Type 1024, Studer B67, various DSP

The Invisible City: amplified chair dragged across floor, feedbacked Ferrograph Series 4, rain, acoustic guitar feedback, tapeloops of found sounds, various DSP"



BJ Nilsen > Meter Reading (from The Invisible City, Touch) > The Rorschach Train (unreleased) > Easter Parade (unreleased)

Hazard > The Vibrating Room [edit] > Tangled Mass (both from North, Ash International) > Pylons > Cut Out Replay (both from Wood, Ash International)

More downloads here.

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