Plenty more

 

One final transmission from the last-chance saloon: in the spirit of maximising inclusion & recognition, here are 25 more 2020 releases that lightened & brightened a year in profound need of both...

This alternative list is a way of acknowledging the inevitable limitations of the original Festive Twenty (or any list...). While those 20 stood out to us as especially meaningful or evocative or thrilling, they are of course very far from constituting last year's only great releases.

It also completes our broader picture of the year's music. Besides the two Twenties, this also includes a baker's dozen of compilations & 10 'projects' beyond the bounds of a single release.

 As ever, this list is constrained to one pick per artist/label - in order to acknowledge as wide a listening range as possible. Moreover, this one had no prospect of picking up votes for multiple releases from the same artist or label since it's all on jl (whereas the original Twenty is the combined work of al & jl...).

Again as ever, this constraint also meant having to exclude outstanding releases such as Geneva Skeen's Double Bind, Past Walls & Windows by Todd Anderson-Kunert & Pinkcourtesyphone's Leaving Everything To Be Desired (all among a raft of brilliance in Room40's 20th anniversary year, as noted...) - never mind other losses to the hair shirt like Grand River's Blink A Few Times To Clear Your Eyes (Editions Mego) & Romeo Poirier's Hotel Nota (sferic). 

 

Anyway, the (alternative) list:

William Basinski & Richard Chartier :: Something From The Pink House (self-release)  

Black to Comm :: Oocyte Oil & Stolen Androgens (Thrill Jockey)

Celer :: Wasted In The Waiting (self-release)

John Chantler :: Doing Nothing / Nothing Doing (self-release)

CLEARED :: The Key (Touch) 

EMRA GRID :: five cycles through an empty chamber (LINE)

Lawrence English :: Lassitude (Room40)

FEAN :: II (Laaps) 

FRKTL :: Excision After Love Collapses (self-release)

David Fyans :: Crushing Depth (self-release)

Haarvol :: Ridge of Humming Spoils (Moving Furniture)

ISAN :: Nothing Picked & Placed Nowhere (wiaiwya) 

Kassel Jaeger :: Swamps/Things (Shelter Press) 

France Jobin :: Death is perfection, everything else is relative (Editions Mego) 

Kim's Spirit :: Blossom Everywhere (A Red Thread)

The Necks :: Three (Northern Spy)

Jake Muir :: the hum of your veiled voice (sferic)

Lynette Sandholm Evvers :: Fundamental Colours II (Other Forms of Consecrated Life)

Simon Scott :: Apart (12k)

Tom James Scott :: Mine Is The Heron (Students of Decay)

Sontag Shogun, Stijn Huwels :: The Floating World & The Sorrowful World (Thesis)

Richard Skelton :: LASTGLACIALMAXIMUM (Aeolian)

Three Point Circle :: Layered Contingencies (Palace of Lights)

Ida Toninato :: We Become Giants (Dragon's Eye)  

Jeremy Young :: Filaments (Eliane Tapes) 

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.