25-21 of the Records of the Year of My Choosing

 

Before you whinge:

1. I will have forgotten records that I like a lot.

2. I will have omitted most of the records you like (I haven't listened to everything and we don't have the same taste).

3. The ordering is largely impulsive and almost certainly arbitrary.

4. I favour innovative, jarring and contemporary things over staid, comforting and snuggly things.

5. Those of you who know what I like will be unsurprised and, therefore, disappointed.

6. None of this really fucking matters anyway because I just want to show off my musical interests and you're just bored.

7. Kanye West may or may not feature.

Selections are based on:
ENJOYABILIANCE, INTERESTINGNESS, UNUSUALITY, SOUNDY-POPS and NOTHING

25 Rabit – Sun Showers EP

I don’t know anything about Rabit and I can’t remember where I heard this EP.

Nevertheless, it’s pretty good. Forged from the same stuff as guys like Ramadanman, Co La and SND, Rabit wrenches some awkwardly danceable rhythms out of really relentless, stark samples that are processed and repeated to an almost musique concrète level of abstraction.

The production is minimal and full of space, with each crisp sound given plenty of foreground, and samples dart about according to either complex or arbitrary structures. You’ll get laser blasts, glass smashes, laughter and vocal stabs flung at your head before Rabit tantalisingly drops about 3 seconds of warm kick drums in, makes you think you’re about to dance, and then changes it up again.


24 C Spencer Yeh, Lasse Marhaug, Okkyung Lee – Wake Up Awesome

Three experimental/improv stalwarts concoct a broth of thoroughly enjoyable dissonance with surprisingly tender and lush synth & string elements.

A lot of the time it’s pinging violins, squalling electronic fuzz and aural fuckery but reflective moments like Ophelia Gimme Shelter and the opening half of Tonight We Sleep Like Empty Hard Drives are really, really beautiful.

Plus, there’s a track called The Mermaids of Extended Technique.

 

23 Eric Copeland – Joke in the Hole

Copeland makes anti-dance music that’s equal parts funny and funky. He's from Black Dice, in case you didn’t know, and he kind of does what Black Dice do, but with a more focused and rhythmic sound.

It’s neater and more accessible than some of Black Dice’s wilder moments, but it’s still all frayed at the edges, collapsing in on itself and full of weird sleaziness. The cover, yet again, features a disembodied naked ass.

22 Keith Fullerton Whitman / Floris Vanhoof – Split

Keith gets into the groove! Three short tracks of generative blips, degrading synth tones and dissonant blasts precede a fourth track which is effectively a collage of each independent element; it has surprising levity and rhythm, and a strange reverberating aesthetic that disorientates as it excites.

Vanhoof’s B-Side is a swirling, panning, glittering mélange of pulses and space-age gargles that perfectly complements.


21 Mohamad – Som Sakrifis

Mohamad are a Greek trio of musicians (Cello, Contrabass, ‘Oscillators’) who, on the evidence of Som Sakrifis, make extraordinarily visceral and enveloping music that creeps towards Drone in its use of extended, layered strings.

It’s reminiscent of KTL by virtue of the dense, gravitational bass notes that sink and warp against a slightly higher, phasing register – the two stringed instruments groan and shimmer while the electronics provide a subtle counterpoint that adds flashes of colour.

Som Sakrifis has the grandeur and depth of a black hole, but Mohamad’s use of traditional chamber instruments, alongside the stark animal imagery in their videos and album art, bring it back to Earth.

Stirring and physically engrossing.

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I will post the next part shortly, featuring choices 20-16. Salivate.