In the spirit of the season, I wanted to share some of my favorite releases of the year. Such a brooding year for music, with some really strong aesthetic and political statements and boundary-pushing uses of both guitars and electronics, suggesting many exciting changes on their way in the next decade. Obviously this isn’t meant to be exhaustive or authoritative; just some personal highlights. Quite a few of these are giant major label releases, so I’ll be taking down those download links quickly or leaving them off accordingly. Let me know if links are broken. Happy new year!
Previously: 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015
A.C. Marias – One Of Our Girls, 1989
buy / download
Here’s my most recent mix for NTS Radio, in which I’m still on an autumnal tip. Psychy acoustic folk, dreamy shoegaze, and a really gorgeous, tears-inducing children’s choir rendition of a song from my childhood favorite, Watership Down. I hope you like it, and that you’re staying warm! You can download an mp3 version here.
Tracklist:
1. Woo – Fanfare
2. Eloy – Horizons
3. A.C. Marias – Looks Like
4. Maxine Funke – Make That Dream
5. April Stevens & Nino Tempo – You’ll Be Needing Me Baby
6. Esther & Abi Ofarim – Every Night
7. Woo – When You Find Your Love
8. Kyu Sakamoto – 上を向いて歩こう
9. Hydroplane – Wurlitzer Jukebox
10. Judee Sill – Jesus Was A Cross Maker
11. Colin Blunstone – Misty Roses
12. The Small Choir Of St. Brandon’s School – Bright Eyes
13. Ichiko Hashimato – A Stranger In Paradise
14. Cocteau Twins – Round
15. Linda Cohen – Madman Samba
16. Karen H. Oznick – I Miss You
17. Scribble – Mother Of Pearl
Guest mix by DBGO(Soundcloud / YouTube / Playmoss)
This is a a selection of Czechoslovak music from 1974 to 1994. Please enjoy!
Tracklist:
1. Iva Bittová – Proudem Mléka (1990)
2. Irena Havlová a Vojtěch Havel – Ta jemná gamelánie III (1992)
3. Richter Band – Křišťálové Ráno (1992)
4. Mirka Křivánková ▪ Jiří Stivín & Co. – Mlhavé Doteky (1985)
5. Jaroslav Kořán, Michal Kořán, Marek Hanzlík – Ta Naše Jediná A Nejlepší (1991)
6. The Ecstasy Of Saint Theresa – Her Eyes Have It (1994)
7. Energit – Jarní Rovnodennost (1978)
8. Zuzana Homolová – Sneh (1989)
9. Poloviční Chytání Richter Band – Čínský Potůček (1989)
10. Michal Kořán ft. Marie Steinerová – Meditace a moll pro samplované rádiové alikvóty (live) (1994)
11. Irena & Vojtěch Havlovi – Ledová Krůpěj Medová (1992)
Here’s my newest episode of Getting Warmer for NTS Radio, also marking my show being three years old! I tried to get slightly out of my wheelhouse with this one and be a little braver about mixing genres and moods, but it still feels very airy and spacey and summery to me. I hope you like it. Mp3 download is here if you’d like it. Flyer image by Eric Epstein.
Tracklist:
1. Sandy Salisbury – Come Softly
2. MJ Lallo – Before Brazil
3. Goddess in the Morning – Ucraine
4. UCC Harlo – Ceres
5. Yumi Murata – TOKIの音
6. CFCF – Closed Space
7. Enno Velthuys – In the Royal Woods
8. Annie Haslam – If I Loved You
9. Kissing the Pink – How Can I Live
10. Mouth Music – Hoireann O
11. Matt Bianco – Half A Minute
12. Masashi Kitamura + Phonogenix – ヴァリエイション・III
13. All In One – Rich Man, Poor Man
14. Sth Notional – Yawn Yawn Yawn
15. Björk – Come To Me
Scribble was a short-lived project of Australian musician and songwriter Johanna Pigott, formerly of punk band XL Capris. Acting as lead vocalist, guitarist, pianist, keyboardist, songwriter, and producer, Pigott recruited her partner Todd Hunter for bass and keyboards, as well as a slew of session musicians. She eventually dissolved Scribble to focus more on her writing, and went on to rack up many songwriting and screenwriting credits, including Keith Urban’s first single, “Only You,” which is unsurprising given how good it is (also he looks confusingly hot in this admittedly blurry video? I regret none of these opinions). Though Scribble has garnered a little bit of cult interest, it never received much critical acclaim that I would argue this record most certainly deserves.
Prim, elegant sophisti-pop tinged with post punk and new wave. Opener “It’s Blue” is such a pleasurable, effortless piece of guitar pop that it feels like taking a hot bath and is a big part of why I’ve had this record on repeat for the past few weeks. Elsewhere, find Pigott’s opiated, smoky, slow-jazz take on “The Lady Is A Tramp,” bombastic brassy new wave on “Adaptability,” and an absolutely sublime cover of Roxy Music’s “Mother Of Pearl,” which, despite being eight minutes long, always makes me wish it were longer. An ideal wintertime record that feels more and more like a favorite sweater with each listen. Thank you Flo for bringing me here via this excellent mix :}
Pristine minimal ambience from Italian musical giant Giusto Pio. Best known for his many collaborations with Franco Battiato, Pio was a composer and world class classical violinist born in Castelfranco Veneto in 1926. He was sought out by Battiato as a violin teacher, but the two went on to sculpt Battiato’s sound from post-prog to minimalism to Europop, with many other projects along the way, like their contributions to this Francesco Messina record. Among these collaborations, Battiato produced Pio’s first solo album, considered to be Pio’s crowning achievement and a holy grail of avant-garde minimalism: 1979’s Motore Immobile. Pio continued to release solo records until 1995. He passed away in 2017 at the age of 91.
Alla Corte di Nefertiti, however, is a very different beast. Though it was released by Battiato’s publishing company L’Ottava S.r.l. as a subsidiary of EMI Records, Battiatio wasn’t involved in production. The record is two long-form tracks of synth impressions, the first of which is more of a holistic composition and the second of which is a reflection, or “frammenti,” of the first, sonic pieces broken up and scattered with spaces falling where they may. I like the more pure minimalist moments the best, where single vibrating tones are left to hang in the air like washes of color, but there are also some great moments with synthetic choirs of angels radiating concern from plastic celestial bodies. A few moments of percussive texture, some which have a cinematic urgency that feels appropriate for Pio’s background, but for the most part Alla Corte di Nefertiti is just drifting in pillows of sound. Made on an Akai MG1212. Excellent for working to, or waking up to. Thanks for all the music, Giusto.
Peak dark ambient. The first of two solo records from German trance and ambient musician Thorn Hoedh, who passed away in 2003. Equally lauded as a holy grail of the genre and bemoaned as an overlooked masterpiece, Hymnvs manages to be both sprawling and claustrophobic; cinematic and lo-fi; inorganic and classical. If you’re not paying attention, these seven long-form tracks (or hymns) might appear like a flat and unchanging expanse of black tones, but a few seconds in headphones proves otherwise–there’s actually a great deal of intricate movement happening beneath the surface, so much so that tracks like “Das Geistige Universum” seem to actually evoke the nausea of being pitched around in a boat in choppy water. Elsewhere, ringing overtones and expansive, bending pitches, as on “Hoedh (Sonnenklang)” are completely sonically disorienting. There is, in short, a lot going on here.
I love the anonymity of the instrumentation–it’s frequently unclear whether we’re listening to an acoustic instrument that’s been modified, or to a synthetic interpretation of an instrument. Still, the sounds are warped around the edges in familiar ways: “Heilige (Mantra Der Rotation)” has the gape of wind instruments in a massive tunnel; other tracks feature synthetic remnants of strings, piano, horns; but always we feel a certain kind of crackling closeness that can’t simply be attributed to lo-fi production (though there is a distinct feeling of of well-worn vinyl). It’s as if the sounds have had tiny shading details painted onto them by very meticulous hands.
It seems as if listeners have consistently ascribed a deep and impenetrable melancholy to Hymnvs, and it’s true that it imparts a feeling of descent, or even of disassociation. But if listening to this record is the sensation of slowly sinking backwards into water while looking up at the receding surface, then inevitably there are beams of light penetrating the surface, sun-dappled and speckled with dust motes, which is to say that Hymnvs is flecked with joy, with optimism, as the best hymns are. For fans of The Caretaker, Gavin Bryars, William Basinski, or, uh, Wagner.
Guest mix by DBGO(Soundcloud / YouTube / Playmoss)
This is a selection of Argentinian sound experiences between 1976 and 1998. I hope you enjoy it. Thanks.
Tracklist:
1. Hebe Rosell – Lacandonia (1995)
2. Roberto Détrée – Sonne (1982)
3. Lito Vitale – Un Paseo En Chindirica (1991)
4. Comedia – Los Días Antes a Melina (1989)
5. Claudio Caldini – Celebración I (1989)
6. Litto Nebbia y Mirtha Defilpo – Los Motivos Del Azul (1979)
7. Pedro Aznar – Azul 20 Música Para Ballet (Obra En 10 Movimientos) (1987)
8. Fernando Kabusacki – Una de Estas Noches (1998)
9. César Franov – La Charola (1987)
10. Lito Vitale con Mono Fontana – Río Limay (1993)
11. Hebe Rosell – Viento II (1995)
12. Guillermo Cazenave – Aries (1988)
13. Nebbia, Baraj y González – Algo Muy Sano (1987)
14. Gabriela – Altas Planicies (1991)
15. Quique Sinesi y César Franov – Olía (1987)
16. Los Músicos Del Centro – Canción Para Dario (1982)
17. Jorge López Ruiz – El Viaje De Dumpty (1976)
Guest post by Nick Zanca (Quiet Friend / Mister Lies)
We don’t talk enough about the potential of the pop LP, as a form, to construct a kind of auditory theatre. Hounds Of Love, Big Science, Hejira, A Wizard A True Star, Jordan: The Comeback (which I’ve written about here before), more recently Blonde and Blood Bitch–these are records that build distinct sound-worlds track to track, display personalities so disparate, observations so tart, that you’re quick to forget they’re all coming from the same voice. And yet, the cohesion (where does it come from?) still exists.
For all intents and purposes, Jane Siberry’s sophomore LP No Borders Here is such a record. The title tells you everything you need to know before you press play–here she is acerbic, energetic, anxious, socially awkward and beguiled by the people she encounters with the same eye for detail present in Rousseau’s jungles. We step-ball-change between time signatures and synth flourishes as quickly as we shift perspectives from deluded waitresses to enigmatic dance class partners. The storytelling feels like the work of someone too well in tune with the anxiety of urban dwelling (in her case, Toronto) but also able to escape it. For the gearheads reading, you’re not going to find more advanced LinnDrum or Fairlight programming on a record marketed as “new wave.” You’re just not. Sorry.
I could go on about the thickness of the sound palette here, but I don’t want to give the game away, so I’ll end with a quote from Renata Adler’s Speedboat–what I feel to be this record’s literary spiritual sister–that I think sums it all up:
Speech, tennis, music, skiing, manners, love – you try them waking and perhaps balk at the jump, and then you’re over. You’ve caught the rhythm of them once and for all, in your sleep at night. The city, of course, can wreck it. So much insomnia. So many rhythms collide. The salesgirl, the landlord, the guests, the bystanders, sixteen varieties of social circumstance in a day. Everyone has the power to call your whole life into question here. Too many people have access to your state of mind.
Give this a front-to-back listen like you would for any of the aforementioned records, and then go watch this tour documentary and revel in how beautifully she presents this record in a live context (those headset mics! those backup singers!). I’ve seen Jen write this a lot, but it bears repeating here: if this record is for you, it’s definitely for you.
My newest episode of Getting Warmer for NTS Radio is a two hour long late summer ambient special. Long, lazy instrumentals with river sounds, crickets, cicadas, and bees. Ideal for heavy, thick weather, and for mid-day napping in it. If anyone remembers the two hour mix I made for LYL Radio awhile back, this feels like the more summery counterpart to it. You can download an mp3 version here.
Tracklist:
1. Hiroshi Yoshimura – Time After Time
2. David Casper – Green Anthem
3. Masahiro Sugaya – Straight Line Floating In The Sky
4. Roedelius – Wenn Der Südwind Weht
5. Yutaka Hirose – In The Afternoon
6. Inoyama Land – Glass Chaim
7. Haruomi Hosono – Wakamurasaki
8. Gabriel Yared – Un Coucher De Soleil Acchroche Dans Les Arbres
9. Maurice Ravel – Miroirs: III. Une Barque Sur L’ocean (Paul Crossley)
10. CV & JAB – Hot Tub
11. Virginia Astley – Summer Of Their Dreams
12. Satoshi Ashikawa – Still Park Ensemble (excerpt)
13. Ernest Hood – August Haze
14. Harold Budd & Brian Eno – A Stream With Bright Fish
15. Alice Damon – Waterfall Winds
16. Jansen / Barbieri – The Way The Light Falls
17. Yoshio Ojima – Mensis
18. Toshifumi Hinata – End Of The Summer
19. Carl Stone – Banteay Srey
20. Gervay Briot – Science
Guest mix by 
Here’s my newest episode of 
Scribble was a short-lived project of Australian musician and songwriter Johanna Pigott, formerly of punk band XL Capris. Acting as lead vocalist, guitarist, pianist, keyboardist, songwriter, and producer, Pigott recruited her partner Todd Hunter for bass and keyboards, as well as a slew of session musicians. She eventually dissolved Scribble to focus more on her writing, and went on to rack up many songwriting and screenwriting credits, including Keith Urban’s first single, “
Pristine minimal ambience from Italian musical giant Giusto Pio. Best known for his many collaborations with Franco Battiato, Pio was a composer and world class classical violinist born in Castelfranco Veneto in 1926. He was sought out by Battiato as a violin teacher, but the two went on to sculpt Battiato’s sound from post-prog to minimalism to Europop, with many other projects along the way, like their contributions to 
Peak dark ambient. The first of two solo records from German trance and ambient musician Thorn Hoedh, who passed away in 2003. Equally lauded as a holy grail of the genre and bemoaned as an overlooked masterpiece, Hymnvs manages to be both sprawling and claustrophobic; cinematic and lo-fi; inorganic and classical. If you’re not paying attention, these seven long-form tracks (or hymns) might appear like a flat and unchanging expanse of black tones, but a few seconds in headphones proves otherwise–there’s actually a great deal of intricate movement happening beneath the surface, so much so that tracks like “Das Geistige Universum” seem to actually evoke the nausea of being pitched around in a boat in choppy water. Elsewhere, ringing overtones and expansive, bending pitches, as on “Hoedh (Sonnenklang)” are completely sonically disorienting. There is, in short, a lot going on here.
I love the anonymity of the instrumentation–it’s frequently unclear whether we’re listening to an acoustic instrument that’s been modified, or to a synthetic interpretation of an instrument. Still, the sounds are warped around the edges in familiar ways: “Heilige (Mantra Der Rotation)” has the gape of wind instruments in a massive tunnel; other tracks feature synthetic remnants of strings, piano, horns; but always we feel a certain kind of crackling closeness that can’t simply be attributed to lo-fi production (though there is a distinct feeling of of well-worn vinyl). It’s as if the sounds have had tiny shading details painted onto them by very meticulous hands.
It seems as if listeners have consistently ascribed a deep and impenetrable melancholy to Hymnvs, and it’s true that it imparts a feeling of descent, or even of disassociation. But if listening to this record is the sensation of slowly sinking backwards into water while looking up at the receding surface, then inevitably there are beams of light penetrating the surface, sun-dappled and speckled with dust motes, which is to say that Hymnvs is flecked with joy, with optimism, as the best hymns are. For fans of The Caretaker, Gavin Bryars, William Basinski, or, uh, Wagner.
Guest mix by 
Guest post by Nick Zanca (
My newest episode of