Piero Milesi & Daniel Bacalov - La Camera Astratta (Soave / Cuneiform Records)
La Camera Astratta is the soundtrack to a large-scale dance/performance work. A work that is simultaneously high-tech and organic. It's an evocative ambient sound, with rhythmic cadence, soft and repetitive, full of airiness; the music expresses the scenic aims and investigates and reproduces their sensations, marking the engendering of silences and melting moments of higher performing tension. A balanced combination between the whispering power of the voices, the electronic modulations, the rhythmic inserts and the aquatic and biological samples; each of those elements analyze the narrative intention of an almost microcosmic-embryonic exploration of the inner space-body.
Picked by Rem Gow
Reymour - Enigme (Kinship)
New family member on the young tape label based in Berlin of the infamous Etkin Cekin, Reymour is a duo of Lou Savary and Luc Bersier. These two gentle birds are based in Fribourg (Switzerland) and are working in the venue named ‘Le Mouton Noir’. This musical love story cradles my nights since a few months already, oscillating between classical, charged of emotions, synth pop, latent violence and sex in between the waves.
Picked by Low Bat
Salm: Gaelic Psalms From The Hebrides Of Scotland Volume One (Arc Light Editions)
A beautiful, contemporary companion piece to last year’s
I'm On My Journey Home: Sacred Harp Singing, 1928-1934 and an astounding example of the power of collective singing to elevate the soul. Whereas harp singing is more structured, here it’s something of a free-for-all: each psalm is sung by a ‘precentor’ who is then followed by the entire congregation in unison. The effect is that of a tidal wave hitting you each time, a flood of piety and heterophony cradling you in embrace. There’s nothing quite like it, and it really begs to be heard in a room with the sound filling its every crevice. Besides the added
ethnographic context this is simply beautiful, sacral music.
Picked by Andrei Tănăsescu
Scald - Kyjch Uyr[st (Amhain)
Chris Douglas (Aclds, Dalglish, Rook, Scald etc.) remains forever a favorite, and in my opinion, one of the greatest living musicians. Somehow, he is completely sidelined by the circus of industry, leaving me to ponder: how such a musical genius, continues (even after decades) - to go unrecognized? I cannot help but ponder: I am crazy -in my admiration of his art? Are other artists who play his music (like Autechre) also crazy? Regardless of the answer, it is clear many are now copying his sounds. Alas, if anything I’ve learned: that this is how the circus works. Pay your respect to the vultures.
Picked by Ma Yss
Sebastian Gandera - Le Raccourci (Efficient Space)
Released mostly on industrial cassette labels between the end of the eighties and the middle of the nineties, Sebastian Gandera’s work has been mostly unknown to an extended audience. Julien Dechery (co-compiler of Sky Girl, alongside DJ Sundae) was one of those who had the occasion to stumble upon his production, paying a particular attention to it. After years of meticulous searching, listening, culling and digitizing released and unreleased material, “Le Raccourci” was ready to be released this year. The result is a passionate attempt to compile an exhaustive introduction to the French prolific artist’s underrated work. From melancholic piano pieces to sampler tracks where field recording loops are featured almost as echoes, this release wishes not only to unearth Gandera’s work, but its nostalgic tone also aims to represent his vision of composition: an intimate process, a refuge from the outside. The intimacy of this record, its beautiful pieces and passionate history made me think it’s worth being mentioned in this end of year chart.
Picked by Laura Not
Sophie - Oil Of Every Pearl's Un-Insides (Transgressive Records)
The unscrupulous hyperpop performed by SOPHIE ─ the
Smartest Product Placement Award goes to "My face is the real shop front,/ My shop is the face I front,/ I’m real when I shop my front!".
Picked by Rek Abu
Spiritczualic Enhancement Center - Who Corrupted Our Wave, Back In 1969? (Kinship Records)
If Woodstock had happened in an alien, technologicallly advanced universe, this is probably how it would have sounded like but we might’ve never got to experience it. Fortunately, it was recorded this year in Berlin by seven illuminated musicians that created a timeless dialogue of textures, grooves and beats, which you can use as a post-hippie spaceship to take you wherever the fuck you want.
Picked by Gabriel Leașcu
