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.