Outliers, Part 2: Seabuckthorn, David Garland

In Part 1, I covered two albums, one inspired by Greek Tragedy and the other by music history. The two records discussed below have more diffuse antecedents but no less musical impact.

A House With Too Much Fire - Seabuckthorn How vast is the world of music that an artist with this much talent and originality could have flown under my radar for so long? For this is the ninth release by Andy Cartwright under the name Seabuckthorn, which, as I have now learned, is a common shrub known for its nutrient-rich berries. Cartwright’s main instrument is the guitar and he usually plays 12-string acoustic or resonator guitars, often applying a violin bow to create drones. On A House... he has added banjo, clarinet, synthesizer and percussion to the sonic landscape, all of which he deploys with restraint and to great atmospheric effect. I have a lot of catching up to do but as far as I can tell, this is his most sophisticated and varied album thus far.

While there are still echoes of the American Primitive school of guitar, Cartwright is more interested in texture now. He rarely calls attention to his virtuosity in these 10 tracks, which are built up from layers of improvised parts and loops. Submerged Past, for example, starts with a finger-picked pattern that’s soon joined by spidery chords left hanging in the background before morphing into a stately ostinato, around which Cartwright develops more layers of picked and strummed elements with occasional strikes on the bell of a cymbal for emphasis. Gorgeous stuff. The spookier side of Daniel Lanois might be a touchpoint here, along with Ennio Morricone, Popol Vuh and even Tuareg desert blues. But Seabuckthorn really sounds like no one else and I hope this album draws more attention to his rich, organic sound world. A House With Too Much Fire comes out on June 1st - preorder it here. Cartwright lives in the Southern Alps but there is the possibility of New York City performance in the near future. Based on this video from March, I want to be there - how about you?

Verdancy - David Garland Starting in 1987, David Garland hosted Spinning On Air as a radio show on WNYC, quickly becoming a fixture on the airwaves and in the culture of New York City. His eclecticism, depth of knowledge and sheer love of music and creativity made it a must listen and often an unforgettable one. While WNYC cancelled the show in 2015, I'm delighted to report that Garland has revived it as a podcast and, based on the episodes I've heard, he has lost none of his curiosity or eloquence - subscribe here.

Over the years Garland has also been putting out his own music, featuring his wry vocals and sounds as much influenced by folk and rock as by classical music of all centuries. Verdancy,  which came out in March, is his first release in four years and may be his most ambitious project yet. It's essentially four albums worth of music, much of it performed by Garland alone on a daunting number of instruments. There are some intriguing collaborators including Iva Bittová (vocals, violin), Kyle Gann (piano), and Yoko Ono. Garland also handled all the technical aspects of recording, production, mixing and mastering. The artwork is his as well, with design by his wife, Anne Garland. Even if the music wasn't as wonderful as it is, Verdancy would be a landmark effort and an inspiration to independent creative people everywhere.

A central feature of the sound across the 27 tracks is an acoustic guitar modified with electronics by Garland's son Kenji. Apparently Sean Lennon is a fan as Garland borrowed one from him to record Verdancy. The hybrid instrument is "genuinely electro-acoustic" and provides washes of tonally rich chords for Garland to build on with the other instruments, often clarinet, which he plays beautifully. Part of the emotional well Garland draws on here is his move a few years ago out of NYC to the Hudson Valley, giving him an opportunity to commune with the natural world. Many of the songs do have an organic feel, seeming to grow from a kernel of an idea into something elaborate and deeply involving.

There are many highlights throughout the four albums, two of which arose out of collaborations across time. Color Piece, the first song, uses words from a 1964 poem by Ono, which Garland sings over a stately melody in a warmly meditative introduction to the world of Verdancy. Later on, there's Monteverdi's Lamento della Ninfa (The Nymph's Lament), based on a 15th century madrigal, which adapts surprisingly well to Garland's approach. Traveling Doors, a lovely piece for piano, clarinet and electronics, is another perfect point of entry. I could describe more of the beauties that await you but prefer you to discover them for yourself. I will say that out of all the songs here, Dear Golden Deer is the only one I would rather not revisit, as it pushes my personal tolerance for slide whistle past the breaking point. It might be your favorite track - don't let me stop you.

I can't encourage you enough to add David Garland's many virtues to your listening repertoire, whether through the riches of Verdancy or the ongoing inquiry of Spinning On Air. I would suggest both!

You may also enjoy:
Outliers, Part 1: Oracle Hysterical, Thomas Bartlett-Nico Muhly
Words + Music, Part 2: Scott Johnson And Alarm Will Sound
Words + Music, Part 1: Laurie Anderson And Kronos Quartet
Record Roundup: Eclectic Electronics
Record Roundup: On The Cutting Edge

Best Of 2018: Rock, Folk, Etc.

The “Etc.”in this category used to mean mostly jazz, Latin and what I’m calling “global” to refer to music from outside the U.S. that doesn’t easily slot in elsewhere. But in an effort to tame the beast, I’ve now broken those genres out into their own list. Not only will this help make this post more coherent - especially when listening to the playlist - but it will ensure that extraordinary albums from those areas don’t get lost in the shuffle. A future post will give them a place to shine.

Even so, nearly half of the songs and pieces I put in my general “Of Note” playlist for 2018 were sorted into rock and folk. Part of that is likely due to the fact that I was born in 1964, which makes rock & roll one of my first languages. But mostly I think it’s due to the power of song and its abilities as a form of communication. Of course, much of what follows is sonically adventurous as well, which speaks of the protean nature of this music, some of which was deemed simplistic at its birth. But there is a wide gulf between simple and elemental and those whom these records touch will be firmly aware of the difference.

Besides the brilliant records in this category that demanded a place in my Top 25, I found time to point you toward other great music in the previous posts I list below. Don't miss Seabuckthorn's misty acoustic fantasias, David Garland's alchemy of folk, electronic and classical, Courtney Barnett's guitar-driven deep thoughts, Father John Misty's wry soft-rock, Melody Fields' lush psych, Snail Mail's emotionally piercing indie or the tough yet melodic sounds of Starcrawler, Wand and Wooden Shjips. Unclassifiable albums by Ethan Woods, Oracle Hysterical and Thomas Bartlett & Nico Muhly should fascinate listeners of folk, chamber music and even prog rock. Then there's the gimlet-eye of Eddie Dixon, the classy pop of Dubstar, the even classier folk of Olivia Chaney, gorgeous takes on Americana from Ocean Music, John Calvin Abney and The Dead Tongues, and, finally, soul-infused folk-rock from Phil Cook and Billy Joseph. Whew! Following that are very brief takes on many others that you really should hear. The story of music in 2018 would be incomplete without at least a passing familiarity with all of them.

Previously Noted

One Day In 2018
Ethan Woods - Mossing Around

Outliers, Part 1
Oracle Hysterical - Hecuba
Thomas Bartlett & Nico Muhly - Peter Pears: Balinese Ceremonial Music

Outliers, Part 2
Seabuckthorn - A House With Too Much Fire
David Garland - Verdancy

Record Roundup: Rock 100's
Courtney Barnett - Tell Me How You Really Feel
Father John Misty - God's Favorite Customer
Jane Church - Calimocho Molotov! (Note: the version of the album reviewed here is no longer available; the new version is one of the best releases of early 2019 and will be reviewed later!)
Melody Fields - Melody Fields
Roaming Herds Of Buffalo - The Bugbears
Snail Mail - Lush
Starcrawler - Starcrawler
Wand - Perfume
Wooden Shjips - V.

Best Of 2018 (So Far)
Eddie Dixon - Coinstar

Record Roundup: Forms Of Escape
Dubstar - One

Record Roundup: Cornucopia Of Folk And Americana
Olivia Chaney - Shelter
Ocean Music - Various Releases
Phil Cook - People Are My Drug
The Dead Tongues - Unsung Passage
John Calvin Abney - Coyote
Billy Joseph & The Army Of Love - You Know Which Way To Go

Indie Rock, They Call It

Car Seat Headrest - Twin Fantasy While I hope Will Toledo isn’t planning to remake all 459.33 albums he released on Bandcamp before his move to the upper echelons of indie success with Teens Of Denial, I get the impulse to apply a bigger budget and band to these songs to push them to their full potential. And damn if it doesn’t sound even more epic than you could have imagined, a furious distillation of all the best angst-ridden guitar music from the last 30 years. If he can’t ignore the retrospective impulse, however, I recommend a live album as he is a true rock & roll legend on stage!

Phantastic Ferniture - Phantastic Ferniture Julia Jacklin is an Australian treasure and her debut album Don't Let The Kids Win was one of the best of 2016. This side project, dashed off with old friends Elizabeth Hughes (guitar) and Ryan Brennan (drums) occasionally feels too dashed off, with underdeveloped guitar riffs, but when it rips, it really rips and it's a thrill to hear Jacklin let loose. Stoked for her next album, Crushing, out on February 22.

Nap Eyes - I’m Bad Now If you opened your mouth to sing and a voice rather similar to Lou Reed in his sweeter moments came out would you end your music career? Or start it? Nigel Chapman, singer for this Nova Scotian quartet, took the latter approach and I have enjoyed watching Nap Eyes grow up in public since 2011. This third album finds their trademark warmth and humor applied to songwriting that seems more focused and extroverted, led musically by Brad Loughland’s guitar, which has a new and welcome sting to it. 

Poptones

TV Girl - Death Of A Party Girl While the hints of hip hop have drained away, Brad Petering’s vision of a take on 60’s sunshine pop assembled from spare parts continues to be durably delightful for much of this album. The lyrics, which sometimes seem to be cribbed from text exchanges between hungover yet sensitive bros regretful about repeating their mistakes, provide pithy twists and turns along with the catchy melodies. 

Watoo Watoo - Modern Express After quenching the thirst of fans of St. Etienne, Stereolab, and Air for the last decade, this French duo has announced that this is their final album. They might say, “C’est la vie," but I say “Quel domage,” as their smart, breezy pop almost never fails. 

Historian - Distant Wells When I included a song from this in my Off Your Radar mixtape, I said: "Chris Karman should be a household name — at least in any household that values chamber pop. His songs as Historian often feature exquisite string arrangements, for one thing, and usually seem designed to accompany a rainswept view seen through murky glass.” If that’s your thing, look no further. 

Alekesam - Sound Proof Heart It’s been three years since All Is Forgiven, the first single I heard from this duo of Sal Masekela (son of Hugh) and Sunny Levine (son of Hugh’s longtime producer, Stewart). I was starting to wonder. Maybe the delay was due to trying to come up with more songs to match that propulsive, haunting tune. To be honest, they haven’t - but they’ve come close on many of these tracks, using elements of hip hop, soul and dub to arrive at a unique form of pop. Masekela has a great voice, too, and sounds like he was born an old soul. Even when they stumble, I can’t really say anyone is doing what they do. I was also thrilled to see they had dragged my beloved BLK JKS (whose debut, After Robots, was my #1 album of 2009) out of hiatus to record a stirring cover of Hugh Masekela’s The Boy’s Doin’ It, in tribute to the master. 

On The Arty Side

Rafiq Bhatia - Breaking English This guitarist-composer is known for the rich sonic environments he helps create for Son Lux. On his own, he sticks to instrumentals and displays an uncanny ability to convert noise, melody and chord sequences into pure emotion. While he has been “file under jazz” in the past, the tempos, rhythms and level of distortion here should thrill anyone who believes in the power of rock music. Strong lashings of gospel feel also lend a spiritual aspect to Bhatia’s music. Truly remarkable how much Breaking English speaks to me without saying a word. 

Big Red Machine - Big Red Machine It’s always a bit dodgy when someone whose music you love, in this case Justin Vernon (Bon Iver, Volcano Choir, etc.), joins forces with someone who leaves you cold, specifically Aaron Dessner of snooze-rockers The National. But I’m happy to say that this record hits all the right buttons for me, with exploratory settings for heartfelt songs. Perhaps it was producer Brad Cook or all the other collaborators who kept things down to earth. And could there be a more “Justin Vernon” opening line than what he sings on the gorgeous Gratitude: “Well, I better not fuck this up”?

Sunwatchers - II I’ve been rooting for these guys ever since a well-written recommendation had me buying their first album off the wall at Record Grouch, sound unheard. Their shamanistic, mantric free-jazz-rock was a bit schematic on that album, but on this follow-up they come loaded for bear. The arrangements are tight, with swerving tempos and shifting dynamics. Go deeper with Basement Apes, Vol. 1, a collection of live tracks and other material. And if you’re curious about the source of the passion behind their instrumental tracks, look no further than the cover, which states, “Sunwatchers stand in solidarity with the dispossessed, impoverished and embattled people of the world.” Amen. 

Fenster - The Room Made up of three Germans and one American, Fenster wowed me with debut album Bones in 2012, but there's been a bit of a diminishing returns scenario since then. Now they have my attention again, their off-kilter art-pop lusher and wittier than ever.

Lanz - Hoferlanz II Benjamin Lanz, who has toured in the bands of both The National and Sufjan Stevens, seems to agree with me that George Harrison's It's All Too Much is one of the greatest ever songs by The Beatles. That same sense of groovy joy infuses this album, although it travels far afield from that core of inspiration. Enjoy the journey. 

Epic 45 - Through Broken Summer Seven years on from Weathering, which was in my Top 20 for 2012, these poets of a lost England return with plenty of shimmering guitars and synths to accompany their hushed vocals, creating waking dreams. The occasional introduction of 80’s production tropes is something they may want to keep an eye on.

Empath - Liberating Guilt and Fear This four-song EP by my second favorite Philly art-rock band (after Palm) is a statement of purpose, blending the tempos of hardcore punk with complex guitar parts, spraying harmonic dissonance under vocals that shout and speak, sometimes sweetly. Adding their two singles (both called Environments) made for an excellent playlist if you're looking for an album-length experience - and I definitely am!

Golden Drag - Pink Sky Sometimes it’s the side project that connects, as with this new band from Shehzaad Jiwani of Greys, who are usually described as a “noise-punk” band. With Golden Drag, Jiwani has unleashed both his gift for melody and his love for 70’s art-rock (think Eno’s first two albums) for nine punchy, colorful tracks that will have you seeing him in a whole new light. 

Young Fathers - Cocoa Sugar It took three albums, but this trio from Scotland finally caught up with their own ideas and made a near classic. This is the kind of record Tricky used to make: sonically inventive, lyrically ambitious, only coming into focus after a few listens - and demanding further engagement.

On The Heavier Side

Uni - 2018 Singles This glam-psych explosion helmed by Charlotte Kemp-Muhl (bass, songwriting, evil designs) and David Strange (guitar heroics) has been teasing us with singles since 2017 with no sign of a full-length. Pretend these six crunchy, shiny, highly melodic, and maximally heavy tracks are Side One. Kemp-Muhl has been on my radar since she and partner Sean Lennon teamed up brilliantly as the Ghost Of A Saber Tooth Tiger. Now that he’s off wanking around with the obnoxious Les Claypool, she’s the one keeping up the quality in their household. And the name is pronounced “Oonee,” which doesn’t make it any easier to Google. Put in the work, though - it will be worth it. 

Idles - Joy As An Act Of Resistance On their second album, this Bristol-based quintet finds the line between anger and compassion - and anthem and abrasion - with powerful consistency. I've heard they deliver even more on stage, so hoping to see them at Brooklyn Steel in May.

Acid Dad - Acid Dad If you seek the tight, melodic and kick-ass, look no further than these Brooklyn rockers as they deliver on the promise of their 2016 EP, Let's Plan A Robbery.

Mt. Wilson Repeater - V’ger While I try to keep up with Merge Records releases, I had never heard of this solo project by Jim Putnam, his main gig, Radar Brothers, or, in fact, Putnam himself. I don’t feel totally to blame as the most recent Radar Brothers album was five years ago and Putnam’s last under this moniker was a full decade in the past. No matter - I started here and fell fast for his fuzzed-out psych rock, which seesaws from high-energy jams to spaced-out mantras. Climb aboard and see if you enjoy the trip as much as I do. 

Folk-Infused

Caroline Says - No Fool Like An Old Fool Caroline Sallee likes to play with perceptions and expectations, taking her band name from a Lou Reed song and using titles like Sweet Home Alabama, Rip Off, and Cool Jerk on this, her second release. I think it’s a defense, cloaking her intimate, seemingly revealing songs in these costumes of the past so maybe they don’t feel so personal. I’m in favor of whatever she needs to do to get her songs finished and out in the world because they are lovely and more well-realized than ever. 

Hovvdy - Cranberry The name of this duo is pronounced “Howdy” - perhaps Charlie Martin or Will Taylor had a typewriter with a broken “W” - and some of that fuzzy 90’s slacker attitude (remember Lost In Austin on MTV? These guys are based in Austin) drifts into their low-fi, strummy aesthetic. What’s amazing is how often what seems aimless coheres to hit its target in song after song. 

Loma - Loma I’m not sure if this is a debut or a one-off as it involves Jonathan Meiburg, who’s usually pretty busy with Shearwater, and two other members, Emily Cross and David Duszynski, who have (had?) their own band called Cross Record. They met on tour, hit it off and came up with a compelling blend of haunting folk and immersive sonics. As stunning as the production is, however it would have no impact if the emotional well wasn’t overflowing. Let it quench your thirst for all the feels. 

Tomberlin - At Weddings “I wish I were a hero with something beautiful to say,” Sarah Beth Tomberlin sings on A Video Game. Well, anyone who can transform what sounds like an isolated childhood into the fully realized art of the songs on this debut is a hero to me. Singing hymns in church may have instilled her with a structural awareness as these songs, while ethereal at times, are as solid as a rock. 

Elizabeth Owens - Coming Of Age All credit due to Doug Nunnally, the fearless editor of Off Your Radar, whose new publication, The Auricular, turned me on to Owens. Her prog-folk is more well-developed from the standpoint of songwriting and arrangement than production (the drums, especially, lack warmth), which is, I imagine, due to budgetary constraints. But she is a true original (although Ode To Joni gives a clear clue about her inspirations) with a beautiful voice that demands close attention. I get chills imagining the moment when her ambitions are fully realized. 

Marissa Nadler - For My Crimes On her eighth album, Nadler’s rich voice graces 11 mesmerizing songs, some tinged with an exquisite darkness. The production, spare and atmospheric, is perfectly suited, and if you don’t get a lump in your throat when she sings “I can’t listen to Gene Clark anymore without you,” perhaps you should pay closer attention. 

Bettye LaVette - Things Have Changed Bob Dylan might want to hire the devastating team of Bettye LaVette and Steve Jordan to work on his next album - Jordan to produce and LaVette to help with song selection and maybe to tweak a lyric or three. That’ll probably never happen but we’ll always have this ripping set, which finds LaVette singing the hell out of a rather distinctive selection from the master’s catalog. LaVette has been making records since 1962 so she knows what she likes and also won’t suffer singing something she can’t feel her way into. For a taste of the true magic underway here, check out her rescue of Political World, a song I used to skip on Oh, Mercy, an album I otherwise love. Other times she turns her attention to songs I always knew were great but had trouble convincing others of their worth, like Seeing The Real You At Last or Going, Going Gone. If you’re having trouble finding this gem, look no further than the top of any list of single-artist cover albums. Or late-career resurgence albums. But don’t wait, whether you’re a Dylan fan or that other kind of person. 

There’s Still An Etc. 

Thom Yorke - Suspiria Yorke's Radiohead comrade Jonny Greenwood has been plying his trade in cinemas for years, but this is Yorke’s first feature-length score. While it would have been tempting to imitate or update some of the slippery Euro-prog of Goblin’s score for the original film, Yorke has taken a different approach, or approaches, as there are several styles at work here. Perhaps some of the more fear-inducing tonal pieces on this double album, impressive as they are, should have remained in the darkened theater as they tend to obscure the more characterful selections, i.e. the songs, which is where Yorke truly excels. What that means is that you will want to dig through to find gems like Suspirium, one of the most beautiful piano ballads Yorke has ever recorded. 

Listen to selections from all of these albums, except Mossing Around (come over, I’ll play it for you) here or below. You can also explore more in these genres with this handy archive playlist. 

You may also enjoy:

Best Of 2018: The Top 25

Best Of 2018: Classical

Best Of 2018: Electronic 

Best Of 2018: Hip Hop, RnB And Reggae

Best Of 2017: The Top 25

Best Of 2017: Rock, Folk, Etc. 

Of Note In 2020: Electronic

Continuing on in my efforts to catch up with 2020, are the six electronic albums that have called me back the most. Listen to tracks from all them here or below, along with samples from the last post. For a wider view, scroll down for the full Of Note In 2020 (Electronic) playlist.

Roger Eno & Brian Eno - Mixing Colors Roger's name is first on this gleaming collection of electronic miniatures so I'm going to credit him with adding both melody and concision, two elements often lacking from Brian's recent albums. That's not always a bad thing, as no one else can put together an hour of generative ambiance like Eno did with Lux near the beginning of the last decade. But it was no accident that it was his more songful Small Craft On A Milk Sea that wound up on my list of the best of the 2010's. Mixing Colors is charming throughout, even nodding to Satie at times, and a dazzling display of textural variety. Even when Roger's piano comes to the fore, the sonics are likely the product of many wise choices. It's too easy to take Eno's genius for granted these days and not appreciate the music for what it is. Lose yourself in Mixing Colors long enough and who made it won't matter - but your environment may be transformed.

Seabuckthorn - Through A Vulnerable Occur If a shaft of light powers through a dense thicket to the forest floor, does it make a sound? Probably not, but if it did it might sound like this gorgeous album from Andy Cartwright. As he did on his last, A House With Too Much Fire, Cartwright treats his guitar and various other stringed instruments, building them up with loops and layers into something both monumental and diaphanous. While his music is great at painting pictures inside my eyelids, for some external visual information take a look at the accompanying art book by Australian photographer Sophie Gabrielle. You may just find it the perfect gift for that special someone with adventurous tastes. That special someone may also be you. I won't judge! Either way, delve into the world of Seabuckthorn however you can as there is literally no one else doing what he does.

Beatrice Dillon - Workaround You could breeze through this album and think all the tracks, though beautiful, are kind of the same. But further listening reveals nuances among the eely bass lines, crisp percussion, and chill keyboards. Clever samples abound, like the tabla of Kuljit Bhamra or the cello of Lucy Railton, but the experience is all Dillon and it is sublime. I'm no audio snob but I really lost myself in the sound when it bloomed in my Grado SR60 headphones, which is now my preferred method to listen to this dazzling debut.

Matt Evans - New Topographics Mea culpa - in a post earlier this year I called Evans "one of the best drummers alive," which is now revealed by this astonishing album as a severe undersell. Not only is Evans a master percussionist (catch him with Tigue or Bearthoven) but he is a deep thinker and sonic architect like few others. Taking inspiration from the high-concept thoughts of Timothy Morton, which classify massive classes of sometimes immaterial things - climate, the internet, styrofoam - as "hyperobjects," and a Richard Brautigan poem that pictures us "freed" to rejoin our mammal cousins while being babysat by robots, Evans constructs little landscapes of sound out of field recordings, percussion, and electronics. There's a cinematic structure to the album, too, with the bright, busy charms of the first three tracks giving way to the tense, nervous mood of Cold Moon. By the end, an equilibrium is reached, but it remains ambiguous. That's what I heard, anyway, you can choose just to toy with the marvelous textures as they go by. This also sounds great on headphones, but almost seems mastered for laptop - listening on my MacBook creates a space where sounds are spread in a radius of at least two feet. Or maybe infinity, held back only by my own biology. Don't let yours hold you back from hearing this masterpiece.

Nnux - Ciudad The project of Ana López-Reyes, Nnux was one of my favorite discoveries of 2018, and this short album is yet another example of why she grabbed me from first listen. The incantatory singing and nearly baroque electronics are in full force on several of the tracks, but I also hear new developments. She's giving her voice more room to breathe in parts, while also revealing more of her Mexican heritage on something like the title song, which has the ghosts of old ballads in its DNA. It's been a thrilling experience to be in Nnux's slipstream the last couple of years and I suggest you join me.

Yaeji - What We Drew Queens-born, raised in Seoul and now based in Brooklyn, Yaeji has been scattering singles and mixtapes like sweet little crumbs over the last several years, building a following that includes over one million monthly listeners on Spotify. Now she gives all those hungry ears the full cake with her delightful debut album. Pulling on at least the last 40 years of electronically-infused song craft, from house and drum'n'bass to hip hop and more avant garde realms, she proves the ruler of all she surveys, bringing a deliciously light touch to every tone, texture, and melody.

Keep up with everything I'm tracking in this category - and whatever comes next - here or below.

You may also enjoy:
Best of 2019: Electronic
Best of 2018: Electronic
Best of 2017: Electronic
Best of 2016: Electronic

Best Of 2019: Electronic

Even though I attempt to craft my posts to reflect my listening throughout the year, I heard way more electronic music than I wrote about this year. Something to work on for 2020! However, four albums that could easily fit in this category, Thom Yorke's Anima, Daniel Wohl's Etat, Drinker's Fragments, and Elsa Hewitt's Citrus Paradisi, were in my Top 25, so make sure you catch up with those ASAP. Now, on to all of the plugged-in things I've waited to tell you about, from ambient excursions to more aggressive explorations. At the top is a playlist so you can listen while you read - if you haven't already beaten me to these stellar records, I hope you find new worlds of transporting sound within.



Fennesz - Agora If you read the backstory, about Christian Fennesz losing his studio and moving all his gear back into the bedroom of his Berlin flat, you might expect something spare and lo-fi. Spare yes, with slowly building slabs of sound created by his guitar, laptop, field recordings, and the human voice. But also sonically magnificent, with rich, enveloping bass and sparkling highs. The approach is mostly ambient, but when the elements of melody emerge on Rainfall, it hits like warm sunshine. One imagines Fennesz's editing talents are as good as his recording skills to arrive at these four perfectly calibrated tracks. Let's hope we don't have to wait another five years for the next one! Note: Fennesz is on tour and will be appearing in New York on March 14th as part of the Ambient Church series - should be quite a night.

Seabuckthorn - Crossing Here we have another master of the guitar + electronics micro-genre, except Andy Cartwright uses mainly acoustic instruments to make his music, lending an organic feel to his soundscapes. Crossing comes just a year after the excellent A House With Too Much Fire and finds him moving away from the epic towards the gently hypnotic. There’s still some drama here, especially he when uses a bow to create flanging shafts of sound. Cartwright is just one of the most singular musicians working today and I highly recommend finding him in his niche. 

Mary Lattimore & Mac McCaughan - New Rain Duets I had to do a Google to confirm that this is that same McCaughan who leads Superchunk and founded Merge Records - indeed, it is! He must have been developing his synth skills in private as I never would have expected him to be such a sensitive partner for Lattimore’s harp. That instrument is the star, however, and the atmospherics and treatments amplify all of its glittering qualities, so surely expressed by Lattimore’s deft hands. The result is simply lovely. 

Visible Cloaks, Yoshio Ojima, & Satsuki Shibano - FRKWYS Vol. 15: serenitatem This series creates meetings of the minds that usually have me wondering how they could have ever been thought of, much less executed, such as the classic collab of California electronic gurus Sun Araw and M. Geddes Gengras with Jamaican harmony trio The Congos, which came out in 2012. This one is more of a straight line, with Visible Cloaks (Spencer Doran and Ryan Carlile) displaying the influence of both Japanese ambient masters on their sublime Reassemblage in 2017. But just because it makes sense on paper doesn’t mean that serenitatem is any less surprising in how gorgeous it is.  In fact, even more so than any of their individual achievements, this album arrives at what seems to be a form of chamber music, one in which a collective memory or dream of what that could be provides the guiding force. It just sounds right, as if synthetic and acoustic instruments had always coexisted and there was no higher state of listening than to hear them together. Just fantastic and a new landmark in this remarkable series. 

Arp - Ensemble: Live! That exclamation point suggests that following up last year’s excellent Zebra (#18/25) with a live album seems to have surprised Arp mainman Alexis Georgopoulos as much as it surprised me. But those songs translate marvelously in this studio session performed by him and four other musicians. There are also new songs, giving us a snapshot of Georgopoulos’s methods almost as a work in progress. While Zebra remains an artistic peak for him, the delicious noodling here hints at new buds about to blossom on his creative vine. 

Daniel Lopatin - Uncut Gems Original Soundtrack I can’t tell you how someone who hasn’t seen this high-intensity movie would experience this soundtrack. But I can easily say that Lopatin (who usually records as Oneohtrix Point Never) made an enormous contribution to the film with these rich, pulsing, and occasionally bombastic tracks. Best thing he’s done and maybe he should borrow the emotional narrative from film more often. I doubt you’ll be able to turn it off - just as you can’t look away from Adam Sandler’s astonishing performance. 

Adam Cuthbért & John Adler - Scarlet Rising Moon Speaking of soundtracks, someone hand these two a script, STAT. Adler’s gleaming trumpet tells stories all on its own, and supported by Cuthbért's analog synths and dense beats, it’s a gripping tale indeed. Paging Blade Runner 2075 - your score awaits. Until then, I’ll make up my own interstellar epics as I listen. BTW, if you buy the nifty USB edition, you get 14 further minutes of this stuff plus a variety of intriguing extras. 

Elizabeth Joan Kelly - Farewell, Doomed Planet On her last album, Kelly was seeking escapism from the grind of long lines at the DMV. This time around, she has bigger problems on her mind. If that moment of exile comes, I can imagine watching the big blue marble disappear in the porthole while listening to her loopy melodicism and watery textures, which brought both Eno’s Apollo and David Torn’s guitar to mind. By the time we get to the chillier confines of Cosmonaut Chorus, however, our current home, with all its flaws - or more precisely, flawed inhabitants - starts to seem a little more welcoming!

Caterina Barbieri - Ecstatic Computation The title gives a hint of Barbieri's retro-futurist approach, which finds her putting Buchla modules through their paces to make melodic and immersive pieces that make the idea of synthetic music seem brand new all over again. The ecstatic part is maybe a reminder that electricity lives within us - as do mechanics - making for music that is strikingly human.

Suzi Analogue - ZONEZ V.4: Love Me Louder Speaking of ecstasy, whenever I can stop moving to her music, I sit in wonder at how she takes such simple elements - a kick, a snare, some pinging keyboards - and assembles them to create songs that are wickedly kinetic. Analogue occupies a wonderful *zone* all her own, adjacent to hip hop, r&b, and dancehall, but 100% electronic. Even such collaborators as RP Boo and Mike Millionz become mere ghosts in her machine - or fuel for the fire that will burn long after these tracks are ringing in your ears. P.S. Being that this is "The Audio/Visual Moodboard of Suzi Analogue," I would be remiss if I didn't point you in the right direction for some fun videos.

Hyperion Drive - Hyperion Drive This is a new collaboration between some old friends, Alice Tolan-Mee and Ethan Woods, who sometimes performs as Rokenri. This is a bit of a switch from the "chamber-freak-folk-tronica" I enjoyed on 2018's Mossing Around EP, being altogether sleeker, synthier, and sexier than that earlier collection. Tuneful, too, and unafraid to be just a bit weirder than the average electro-pop. Be the first on your block to own the cassette - unless you live on my block ;-).

Miro Shot - Servers This collective germinated in some of the ideas - both sonic and philosophic -  put forth by Roman Rappak when he was in Breton. Combining catchy melodies with dense electronics and lyrics that inquire about how technology, globalization, and our struggling planet serve to simultaneously bring us together and drive us apart, the four songs here are also part of a bigger plan to bring VR and AR to the concert experience. So far that has only happened in Europe, but this Breton fan doesn't need bells and whistles to be damned excited about what I've heard so far. More to come in 2020. Join the Collective - you just may find yourself contributing to their next video, as I did to this one.

Carolina Eyck - Elephant In Green/Elegies For Theremin And Voice/Waves (With Eversines) Eyck marked the centennial of the theremin with three releases giving an overview of her trajectory as she develops a repertoire of songs and sounds that combine her bell-like voice with the instrument. I had the privilege of seeing her in concert, which not only exposed me to her uniquely engaging stage presence but also gave me window into the structure of her music. While I'm not as taken with this direction as I was with her stunning collaboration with ACME (11/20, 2016), she's still doing something melodically, sonically, and emotionally that I can't find anywhere else.

Emily A. Sprague & Lightbath - full/new  While I've been familiar with the RVNG label for some time (see FRKWYS above), I only recently became aware of their space on the lower east side known as Commend. When I went there in November to see sets by Adam Cuthbért and Phong Tran I found a jewel on Forsyth Street, a small record store and performance space perfect for intimate performances like the one captured here. Sprague is also the singer-songwriter behind the charming Florist but has been traveling into ambience for a couple of years. Beautiful stuff, too, with stretched out chords supporting outgrowths that hint at the melancholy song-craft of Florist. Lightbath, the project of Bryan Noll, sparkles with the underwater hypnotism of early Eno instrumentals, which means I swoon as I listen. I think you will, too.

For more goodies in this vein, dial up my Of Note In 2019: Electronic (Archive) playlist and follow this one to see what 2020 will bring.

You may also enjoy:
Best Of 2018: Electronic
Record Roundup: Electronic Excursions
Best Of 2017: Electronic
Record Roundup: Eclectic Electronics
Best Of 2016: Electronic

Best Of 2020: Electronic

Electronic music comes in many flavors and sometimes it's as much about the attitude as the instruments used. But one thing all the albums below have in common is the presence of synthetic sounds or treated instruments. My Top 25 included five albums that could slot in here (Molly Joyce, Matt Evans, Nnux, Miro Shot, and Yaeji), but there were a number of others that transported me, which I have detailed below. Let them take you places.

A few of these were included in previous posts - links to those will come first, followed by new reviews.

Hear tracks from these albums here or below.

Of Note In 2020: Electronic

Roger Eno & Brian Eno - Mixing Colors (also check out Film Music: 1976-2020)
Seabuckthorn - Through A Vulnerable Occur (also check out Other, Other)
Beatrice Dillon - Workaround

Daniel Wohl - Project Blue Book Soundtrack This show, a UFO procedural on The History Channel, has ended, but Wohl's expertly crafted and evocative music lives on in this tightly assembled soundtrack album. While the emotional depths of Corps Exquis or Etat are only hinted at, Wohl's burnished textures and subtle structures are put to excellent use. 

Oneohtrix Point Never - Magic Oneohtrix Point Never I'm not sure if Daniel Lopatin, who performs as OPN, reached a new level of feeling on his soundtrack for Uncut Gems or if a key turned in me, giving new access to his music, but this new album is similarly dazzling. One main difference is the presence of hopeful and even upbeat sounds, as opposed to the unremitting (and wonderful) grimness of Uncut Gems. His use of unexpected sonic juxtapositions and overlays puts him in the class of master bricoleurs, giving us soundscapes both adventurous and assured. I'm now looking forward to investigating the last decade or more of ONP albums to see what I missed the first time around!

Various Artists - Music From SEAMUS, Vol. 3 and Vol. 23 These archival releases from the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States are consistently fascinating, whether it's the mutating piano on Larry Nelson's Order And Alliance (1991) from the first or Chester Udell's assemblage of metallic and white noises on Steel Golem (2011-12) from the second. And how cool to see Switch~Ensemble crop up here, in a recording of Christopher Chandler's Smoke And Mirrors from 2013, a gorgeous miniature of enhanced chamber music.

Mary Lattimore - Silver Ladders This is an album to sink into, as Lattimore's harp loops and echoes, like ripples on a pond, enhanced by delicate touches of guitar and synth from Slowdive's Neil Halstead. File under: Balm for the soul.

Corntuth - Music To Work To There's some of the simplicity and cockeyed optimism of Raymond Scott's Soothing Sounds For Baby in these 13 tracks "written on the fly on a 1983 Yamaha DX7 and run through a Yamaha R100," but also unexpected moments of drama and a melodic sense straight from pop music. A-009 even brings a touch of soul to the experience. Whether you choose to have this delightful collection accompany your work or a strenuous session of cloud gazing is up to you, but I think you'll find it equally appropriate to either occasion.

Epic 45 - We Were Never Here There were always ambient touches to their gorgeous future-folk songs, never more so than on their masterpiece, Weathering, which was both in my Best Of 11 and 100 Best Albums Of The 2010's. On this lush album, they go all in - no words and few beats - and have arrived at their best since Weathering, with only a hint of the 80's tinniness that has crept into their work of late. Listen carefully and it may lead you down a hall of memories you forgot you had.

Emily A. Sprague - Hill, Flower, Fog Like Epic 45, Sprague is a very good songwriter (work she releases as Florist), who also pushes into ambient electronics, and this may be her best yet in that field, with much of the tuneful charm of her song-based work. As the title suggests, engagement with nature is an inspiration for her work so if your quarantine has you missing the outside world, put up the video for Star Gazing on the biggest screen in your house and revel in imagery and sound.

Glass Salt - Greetings There's a sense of intuitive collage to these tracks by Caylie Staples and Johann Diedrick, with voices set alongside synth sounds and unidentified percussive noises. There's a gentleness here, too, perhaps a product of what appears to be a seamless collaboration, something to which we can all aspire. Yet another great release from Whatever's Clever!

Sofie Birch - Hidden Terraces and Behind Her Name Chestnuts Fall Forever On these three long tracks, Birch combines piano, field recordings, and electronics in what feel like films for the mind. The way she imperceptibly moves from section to section in each piece gives you a sense of a firm structural hand even as you lose yourself in the languor.

Michael Grigoni & Steven Vitiello - Slow Machines A shimmering combination of Grigoni's luminous work for stringed instruments of all sorts and Vitiello's enhancements, including synths, field recordings, etc. Vitiello is an old college friend and usually plies his trade more in the realms of installation-based sound art so I'm thrilled to have this cogent and supremely listenable album to enjoy at home - and share with you.

Ian William Craig & Daniel Lentz - Frkwys Vol. 16: In A Word Collaborating with pianist Lentz seems to have brought new subtlety to Craig's signature glitched and chopped vocals. Contemplative, but with an edge.

Nils Frahm - Tripping With Nils Frahm Aside from one or two overly sentimental solo piano moments, this is genuinely thrilling - in a quiet way - as Frahm builds up his hypnotic electro-acoustic tracks in front of a rapturous live audience. Get closer to the experience by watching the documentary film.

Narducci - El Viejo Soundtrack Matthew Silberman, who records as Narducci, shows great skill with texture and dynamics, drawing you through the narrative of this documentary about athlete Thom Ortiz. Narducci has been busy this year - he also released a soundtrack for another documentary, Until the Day Someone Puts Me in a Coffin, about Brazilian Ju Jitsu, and a single called Ancient Dialogue, an intriguing blend of sampled Inuit singing and electronics with a true ceremonial flair. I could do with more of that combination, but instead I'll just put the video on repeat and go tripping with Narducci.

Taylor Brook - Apperceptions Composer Brook shows a very different, but no less innovative, side of himself here than on the cutting edge chamber music of Ecstatic Music, his 2016 album with Tak Ensemble. Featuring improvisations for his electric guitar and an "audio-corpus-based AI improviser" he designed, these tracks are full of sinuous melodic lines and chords that feel lit from within, gently growing more complex as the computer takes up the themes and provides its own variations. Should the singularity ever occur, I hope Brook and his software collaborator are on hand to provide the soundtrack.

Adam Cuthbért & Daniel Rhode - Greet The World Every Morning With Curiosity And Hope The title of this latest from the modular masters of Slashsound says it all for this perfect blend of burnished tones and cautiously optimistic vibes. And what better way to start the new year?

For similar noises, check into this archive playlist with much more where these came from and follow the 2021 playlist to see what this year brings!

You may also enjoy:
Best of 2019: Electronic
Best of 2018: Electronic
Best of 2017: Electronic
Best of 2016: Electronic

Best Of 2022: Electronic

My interest in this genre leans closer to soundscapes that create an imaginary environment or persona rather than the more popular beat-driven expressions. But there are still a few jams to be had here, where songs emerge out of the synth-based constructions. At the top are previously covered releases followed by pocket reviews of other things that caught my ear and demanded repeat listening. Get the flavor of each album in this playlist or below. 

Record Roundup: 22 For 22 (Part 1)
Carlos Nino & Friends - Live At Commend, NYC
The Living Earth Show and Danny Clay - Music For Hard Times
Debit - The Long Count

The Best Of 2022 (So Far)
Bakudi Scream - Final Skin

Record Roundup: Autumn Flood (Pt. 1)
Stephen Vitiello and Bill Seaman - The Other Forgotten Letters Note: also see his collaboration with ex-Fugazi drummer Brendan Canty and his gorgeous entry in the Longform series, Prelude (00:00)
Seabuckthorn - Of No Such Place
Molly Joyce - Perspective
Corntuth - Letters To My Robot Son

Record Roundup: Autumn Flood (Pt. 2)

Narducci - Darkness To Light

Ben Seretan - Sandhills Music As he proved on 2021's wonderfully immersive Cicada Waves, singer/songwriter/guitarist Seretan also has a gift for putting a structure around the sounds of nature by combining them with electronics. Ambient music, then, and worthy of the legacy of Brian Eno's Ambient 4: On Land. Whether viewed as landscapes in sound or travels in the mind, these pieces, recorded both in Sanford, NC and Troy, NY, have a way of redefining the space around you.

Nick Storring - Music from W​é​i 成为 Made up of layers of piano sounds (both from an old upright and a computer-controlled Yamaha Disklavier), Storring's latest album is marvelously evocative. Nearly symphonic in scope, each emotionally-driven track leads to the next with a steady inevitability. The level of invention in Storring's approach is quietly astonishing, with plucking, preparations, E-bow, and other techniques deployed with remarkable assurance - never more so than in movement VI, when things really take off! The Chinese characters in the title relate to the verb "to become" so maybe that's a clue to the story being told, but any interpretation that meshes with your life is valid and may change over time. Either way, it's an album that has continued to reveal itself over many listens - compelling stuff, indeed. 

Amanda Berlind - Mousemilk As on her delightful debut, 2021's Green Cone, this EP often combines hazy atmospherics with off-kilter rhythms, for an experience not unlike standing between rooms playing different radios - but it works. The longest track, Wand, is 13 languorous minutes of piano, guitar, wordless vocals, and reverb, perfect for staring at the rain or the inside of your eyelids. While this is only available on streaming services (including YouTube) it seems it may be forthcoming as a cassette, which would be the perfect medium for these rich but low-fi audio collages. Berlind is also a witty and wonderful visual artist so be sure to keep up with her on Instagram.

Sophie Birch - Holotropica There is a lush, almost humid, enveloping quality to Birch's work here, created with electronics and occasional sax, flute, and harp, that connects it to those "rainforest" cassettes you used to find in crunchy stores in the 70s. But that reference does little to reveal how musically astute Birch is as a composer and sonic sculptor. Birch, who hails from Denmark, also collaborated with Polish vocalist Antonina Nowacka on Languouria, which has a bit more forward motion than Holotropica on some tracks and features the voice as another instrument, sometimes soothing, sometimes startling, always wordless and expressive.

Various Artists - A New Age For New Age, Vol. 5 Launched in 2019, this series has become a durable fixture on the electronic scene, with each volume having something to offer. Expanding their brief, they collaborated with the University of Michigan's Modern Percussion Lab to have students create the eight tracks featured here. From Paul Puleo's Non-Frontation, which opens the album with Harry Partch-like resonating percussion, to the space-station corridors of Chris Sies' Radiant Streams, the collection is compelling and fresh throughout - yet another new age for new age!

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith and Emile Mosseri - I Could Be Your Dog/I Could Be Your Moon I seem to have lost track of Smith since I noted the "rich and rewarding" experience of her album, The Kid, in 2017. But this collaboration with Emile Mosseri, a composer known for soundtracks for such excellent movies as Kajillionaire and Minari, caught my attention quickly. A two-part collection that feels like a story, the first few songs seem to transit us gently through the clouds, as if on a butterfly’s back, and when we finally touch down during the sun-kissed groove of Shim Sham, it’s a marvelous sensation. Smith's latest solo album, Let's Turn It Into Sound, also has a sense of narrative, if in a more oblique way. A venture into near hyper-pop, it's full bright textures and sunny moods. Dazzling and entertaining in equal measure.

Yeule - Glitch Princess Opening with a haunting and halting spoken word piece that seems to come over a fraying ethernet cable, this remarkably assured debut introduces us to Nat Ćmiel, a creature of the internet who is looking for love, acceptance, and community. Or is Yuele the creation? In their bio,  Ćmiel calls Yeule "a portal or riff" created to "communicate their art to the outside world..." The mind-bending conceptual underpinning only adds a kick to the album. The songs are indeed glitchy, and very artfully so, conveying nuanced emotions and fractured melodies. And when they go full pop on Bites On My Neck, it's wonderfully celebratory and conjures a vision of Bowie's Earthling-era self dancing in the wings. It's an immersive album, like a trip to the metaverse without a headset, and the digital and streaming versions end with a nearly five-hour bath of dreamy ambiance, the perfect way to process everything that's come before. 

Claire Rousay - Everything Perfect Is Already Here Rousay is prolific enough that it almost seems as if the steady flow of albums and EPs may be acting as some sort of diary for her. There certainly is a lived-in quality to the two 15-minute pieces that make up this album, which not so much creates an environment but comes from one, and a Cageian dwelling at that. It feels like entering a sprawling apartment filled with musicians, but as pure consciousness, allowing you to hear all sound as music and all music as sound, without making any noises of your own. Joined by Alex Cunningham (violin), Mari Maurice (electronics, violin), Marilu Donovan (harp), and Theodore Cale Schafer (piano), Rousay maps out a place of memories you never had or haven't had yet. Captivating, witty, and utterly unique.

Dawn Richard and Spencer Zahn - Pigments As much as I wanted to love 2021's Second Line, Richard's sixth album since making her name as a member of Danity Kane, the intrigue created by her trajectory from pop star to indie artist was not enough to counter the frequent nods to convention on the record. But there was the kernel of something that made me keep trying, an effort that was finally rewarded by this spacious, drifting collaboration with Zahn. While Zahn's bass, vibes, and keyboards underpin everything, the mix also includes guitar, strings, sax and flute, with the clarinets and bass clarinets of Stuart Bogie and Doug Wieselman are nearly as prominent as Richard's strong yet diaphanous vocals, creating a blend of jazz, chamber, and electronic musics. Zahn has also been busy on his own and I'm looking forward to delving into his solo work, including Pale Horizon, a delicate series of pieces for bass and piano with some of Vince Guaraldi's wistfulness, which came out in May 2022.

Snowdrops - Missing Island Featuring Christine Ott on Ondes Martenot, an early electronic instrument, harmonium, and piano, Mathieu Gabry on piano and electronics, and Anne-Irène Kempf on viola, this album continues the marvelous thread from 2020's Volutes more so than the darker and occasionally explosive Inner Fires from last year. Over 41 minutes, the players build up velvety layers of sound, creating a space for reflection just structured enough to avoid collapsing under its own weight. I note that this was recorded in 2020 - what more wonders does their seemingly bottomless archive hold? I can't wait to find out!

Finneas O'Connell - The Fallout OST From his work with his sister, Billie Eilish, you could guess that O'Connell understands how to create drama and emotion out of minimal gestures, which he does throughout this elegantly melancholy score for the 2021 film about the aftermath of a school shooting. With treated piano leading the way, you can hear echoes of the late, great Jóhann Jóhannsson, which is not bad company to be in on your first outing as a soundtrack composer. There are also a few sweetly hymn-like songs sung by Maisy Stella with and without her sister Lennon. While his own pop music is hamstrung by his all-too-obvious lyrics and all-too-anthemic choruses, this would seem to be a worthy direction for him when he's not producing the next blockbuster for Eilish. 

Transport yourself further into these realms in this archive playlist and keep up with 2023's excursions here.

You may also enjoy: 
Best Of 2021: Electronic
Best Of 2020: Electronic
Best of 2019: Electronic
Best of 2018: Electronic
Best of 2017: Electronic
Best of 2016: Electronic