In recent years it is getting more difficult than ever to follow new releases as countless laptop artists use the net as a way to blur listener’s heads with their bedroom productions. For some, this is good as it brings creativity but I think there is a lack of sincerity in most of the productions compared to the 90s. After many years into this genre already bringing a big tolerance, it is difficult to keep on giving a chance to every noise produced today as we are more busy in life with less time for this heap of efforts from all over the world coming out everyday. So in 2008, I get to pick only three good albums and I think is an OK number. Because I’m always keeping the pleasure of owning music that I am sure I will be back in future. Consuming the music for short term pleasures has never been my way of listening and buying music.

* Jacaszek - Treny

It’s been a while since most digital processing artists’ works become more and more atonal, which I found dull and with a lack of creativity. But Jacaszek came out with an album including eleven pieces which are a journey into musical richness. Plus a good use of vocal, which is spiritual enough to bring the ethereal feeling of his music in a higher state, is also another factor in this richness. I got the same pleasure few year ago from Scanner’s 2005 release “Messe, Macht Des Klangs / Klang Der Macht’, from beginning to the end. Lament and Taniec are the highlights of the album.

* The Caretaker - Persistent Repetition Of Phrases

Ever since I heard the track Flowerhead by a collaboration of Tetsu Inoue & Uwe Schmidt as DATacide, I’ve been more on more in the interest of blending ballroom music with ambient. After a decade I discovered The Caretaker’s music whose recipe is the same. Creepy yet elegant! His 2008 album starts with few looped pieces but than turns into loungy pieces, with a lot of depth and eerie atmosphere over that 1930’s ballroom samples. False Memory Syndrome is just what I am talking about in Flowerhead example. Those two pieces of music is something I wish I could have produced. Hope to hear and discover more artists into this idea.

* Jóhann Jóhannsson - Fordlandia

Jóhann Jóhannsson’s Fordlandia is not as good as those two release but I can say it’s his best work to my taste. “The Rocketbuilder” and “Melodia iii” really nice works with nice melodies. The rest is a bit loud for my taste as I tend to own calmer pieces of classical music.

Best tracks :

* Felicia Atkinson with Sylvain Chauveau - Aberdeen: Sad, etheral and sublime

* Namlook & Move D - In The Mirror: These two can do no wrong. The opening track from their “Sexoid” album is a long piece starting with a clever use of 303 and turns into Namlook’s moving layer in the last minutes. Pleasure!

* Kuniyuki Takahashi - Flying Music (Rhythm And Trumpet mix); Deep, dark and hot tunes. Quality sound is also a plus in Kuniyuki’s recordings.

* Bootleg Bitches - Dream Bitches; European sounding deep house. Positive vibes.

* Yuri Lewitt - Bombers Acid; Slow mo acid over a deep layer. Reminds me Luke Vibert’s beat programming.

* Delta 9 - Avi Satani; Good return from dave Rodgers. Includes everything for a fine gabber production. A little bit of imagination.Also as a fan of the movie Omen, loved his vocal parts as well. (Beware!)

His newest work, a collection of pieces which he composed for filmmaker Karel Doing, is released with the apt title “Visions of Doing” on Western Vinyl also home to Balmorhea, Bexar Bexar and Slow Six. Once again his electrically driven robots create rhythms of dystopia while through his muted piccolo he blows the geist of the music. Lo-fi and jazzy but never falling into the “electronic elevator music” trap that so many fail to get out in the first place, “Visions of Doing” is another worthwhile addition to the Bastien collection.

Gonna end the night watching : The Protestant Revolution on Smashing Telly

If field recordings, shining drones, ambience, guitar processing, wall of noise and glitches are your thing you’d be happy to mooch off their back catalogue and sink into your couch with your headphones, with artists such as the prolific Ian D. Hawgood, Etienne Michelet who recently released a new EP on Frozen Elephants netlabel and Mensa you’ll be in for a treat.

Loren Mazzacane Connors and David Grubbs.

Had a database crash yesterday night, so we’ve been temporarily offline for a good 8 hours. Hope it won’t happen again.

Stefan Németh - Film (Thrill Jockey)

Stefan Németh has been creating such music for years. His work has centered around experimental videos, short films, and artist installations. For Film, the idea was to take previously created material and re-purpose it via some structural alterations and sonic additions (synthesizer, guitar, percussion). The result is a collection of electro-acoustic music that keeps the exact mix of organic and artificial a guarded secret.BC Music

Fennesz - Black Sea (Touch)

It’s one of the best things Fennesz has ever done, and a fittingly oceanic addition to his virtually aquatic oeuvre.Dusted Magazine

Edward Ka-Spel - The Painted River of Regrets… CDR (Trademark of Quantity)

Consists of a collection of instrumental pieces to form a soundtrack for an imaginary movie which the dots vocalist had been working on over the last year. A limited, personally signed edition of 399 copies. Recorded live in Stuttgart, June, 20th 2003.

The concept of psychogeography seems to be his main inspiration alongside mythology, poetry and folklore. His music is akin to Ghost Box’s hauntologic music; replacing analog synths with ancient instruments such as psaltery and harmonium. Drones, field recordings and monologues alongside primitive folk melodies create astonishing soundscapes. Make sure you dwell in cemetaries or forests to really get into the music and escape your urban surroundings.

Being one of the kind folk of this world, his sold out CDRs are now available as free downloads on his label Larkfall. This one is a limited Edition of 120.

In the initial recordings I saw my role as a receiver, picking up memories, emotions and sounds which had been crystallized in some kind of spiritual ether which surrounded the place at which I was recording. Foxy Digitalis interview

Photographer: Hans Bellmer (German) 1935 and 1949 hand-coloured.

PS : Here is the full release of the tracks on Last.fm, over at Nexsound.

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