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 2018: Electronic

The music I put in this category is not always primarily synthetic or computer-driven yet evinces a certain artistic stance that makes it fit. My Top 25 included three albums along these lines: You Were Never Really Here by Jonny Greenwood, Zebra by Arp, and Quilt Jams by Elsa Hewitt, but there were quite a number of other excellent releases that kept me coming back for more. Find out about them in this unordered list, starting with some I covered in a post early in the fall.

Record Roundup: Electronic Excursions
Good Luck In Death - They Promised Us A Bright Future, We Were Content With An Obscure Past
I-VT - BLOC
Novelty Daughter - Cocoon Year

Various Artists - S&S Presents: Dreams Intrigued by the gorgeous packaging and the promise of an unheard track by Mutual Benefit, I picked this up at their concert at Park Church Co-Op last month. What I ended up with was entree into another world. Although I was familiar with many of the artists (Sea Oleena, Julie Byrne, Kaitlyn Aurelia Amith, etc.) the compilers, who run a blog called Stadiums & Shrines, had not crossed my radar before. Based on their series Dreams, for which they commissioned favorite artists to step slightly outside of their lanes and compose ambient tracks inspired by collages created by S&S co-founder Nathaniel Whitcomb from images clipped from one vintage travel book, they know what they're doing. As expected, Bali, the Mutual Benefit song, is a standout, a pure distillation of their current approach into instrumental form - but there is no filler on Dreams. Stream the album and you will find yourself sinking slowly into a transporting continuous experience - but if you buy it on vinyl or digital you can also lose yourself in those wonderful collages along with writings by Dave Sutton and Matthew Sage. Now leave me alone as I have to catch up on a decade of Stadiums & Shrines!

Enofa - Arboretum Displaying a command of structure not so common in this genre, Ross Baker’s 42-minute suite masterfully blends electronic and acoustic instruments with field recordings for a cinematic journey in sound. His album Melkur, which came out late in the year, finds him bringing the same approach to shorter pieces, mostly with success. Another release, the 15-hour compilation 2T: Experimental Works 1995-2017, explains why he’s so good - he’s put in the work for decades.

Masayoshi Fujita - Book Of Life Composer and virtuoso vibraphonist Fujita has a way of creating sound images that feel as natural as breathing. The use of nouns related to nature and weather (fog, snow, clouds and mist all make appearances) in the song titles is perfect for the atmosphere that will be created while you play this lovely music. There's also sense of melancholy and exploration, which keeps things from becoming too precious.

Laraaji/Arji OceAnanda/Dallas Acid - Arrive Without Leaving Just when we needed him, the man born Edward Gordon has been having a major moment for the last couple of years, from reissues and remixes to concert appearances and now this album. A collaboration with OceAnanda, his longtime partner in leading meditation workshops, and a synth trio from Texas, this album finds his trademark autoharp combining perfectly with they synths and OceAnanda’s mbira to create swirling clouds of sound that warm your heart and soothe your mind. All these years later, you can still hear the beauty and humanity that stopped Brian Eno in his tracks on a New York street corner before he invited Laraaji into the studio to create Ambient 3: Day Of Radiance.

Tim Hecker - Konoyo Almost a decade ago, Hecker corralled my consciousness (and that of many others) with Ravedeath 1972, but nothing really grabbed me since then. Until Konoyo, that is, which puts his supremely beautiful textural combinations on full display in a seven-song suite that is not so much cinematic as novelistic, with certain sounds almost becoming characters to be followed as you listen. The emotions here - wistfulness, sorrow, acceptance - are deep and deeply nuanced. It would be easy to assume Hecker is running on some kind of extraordinary series of instincts in putting this stuff together, but more likely there's a load of craft and experimentation behind it all. Either way, the end result feels completely inevitable without a hint of contrivance.

Rival Consoles - Persona Compared with Tim Hecker and some of the other items on this list, this project of Ryan Lee West's almost seems to be delivering pop songs, although of a brooding and moody variety. Take the title track, which uses a subdued dance beat to push sweeping chords through time and space, with a central hook that echoes in my mind for days. 

Nils Frahm - All Melody The vinyl package of this is so fantastic that it took me a while to reconcile it with how wildly uneven the album is. The first two tracks, for example, are almost completely forgettable, but then we get magic like A Place, My Friend The Forest and Harm Hymn. If he could have kept the quality at that level, it would have been extraordinary. The duff songs are more than made up for by an accompanying EP called Encores 1, which is all top notch stuff. Sometimes even someone as talented as Frahm might not know what his best work sounds like.

Kuuma - Level This is another collage-like blast from the mind of Adam Cuthbért (I-VT - see above, slashsound,etc.), this time purporting to the "the origin story of Kuuma, a databorne algorithm," which is fun to think about while you listen. Get the picture here - or just listen and let your imagination write your own story.

Viberous - Splintered This queasy and claustrophobic trip into sonic degradation was introduced to me by Cuthbért, who remixed the last song, Nettle, and could be seen as of a piece with Kuuma and I-VT. Do I sense a movement? Sign me up!

Ian William Craig - Thresholder Speaking of sonic degradation, no one does the "machines breaking down with film burning in the projector accompanied by Gregorian chant" like this classically trained singer, songwriter and producer. Of course, he's been doing his thing since at least 2014 when he released the stunning A Turn Of Breath. This album finds him in top form, so if you're still unfamiliar feel free to start here.

Frederic D. Oberland - Labyrinth In addition running Nahal Recordings, who released the epic Good Luck In Death album mentioned above, and his work as a photographer, Oberland is also a producer, composer and multi-instrumentalist. Labyrinth is his second album and manages to somehow be both pitch black and optimistic. With inspiration coming from Dante and the "anguish and ecstasy" of George Bataille's Inner Experience, I suppose that's to be expected!

E Ruscha V - Who Are You There is also optimism to be found here, in the latest work by Ruscha who has a large collection of vintage gear and knows how to use it. Ruscha knows how to have fun, too, such as on the title track, which would be the perfect accompaniment to an underwater robot ballet. Some of the delight to be found here may have a genetic origin, as Ruscha is the son of one of my favorite artists, Ed Ruscha. Book a flight on Guacamole Airlines if you need to know more.

Narducci - Break The Silence Matthew Silberman, who made one of the best jazz albums of the decade a few years ago, is the main man behind Narducci and one of these days I need to ask him why that name? But for now, I'm too busy being fascinated by all the ideas behind the four tracks on this EP, which feature electronics, sax, vocals and even a speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. There is enough ambition here, and (dare I say) spirituality that listening is a deeply involving experience. Sometimes I play it on repeat, which is a sure sign that I want more.

Saariselka - Ceres I've been waiting for something new from Marielle V. Jakobsons ever since Star Core came out in 2016 and just recently became aware of this shimmering collaboration between her and Chuck Johnson, a pedal steel player. The combination of his treated guitar with her Fender Rhodes and other keyboards is just sublime. If another year must go by without a follow up to Star Core, additional music like this would make the passing of time completely painless.  

Elizabeth Joan Kelly - Music For The DMV Isn't it funny that most of the artistic children of Brian Eno's Ambient 1: Music For Airports are for much less mundane uses (meditation, primarily) than visiting a transportation hub? Kelly, a composer from New Orleans, has taken her inspiration in the opposite direction, to a destination even more reviled than JFK or LGA: the Department of Motor Vehicles. While one would think that relaxing sounds would be the best thing to help survive another license renewal, Kelly uses a variety of shiny textures and bright melodies to instead provide distraction. And there's plenty of that to be found here, as well as charm, especially in the three tracks classed as Gymnopedies. Best of all, however, is Call My Number, which has an almost comical sense of yearning and absolutely reminds me of that time when the scheduling system crashed at the DMV and I lost my place in line.

Brian Eno - Music For Installations There are few artists who loom larger in the field of electronic music than Eno and even fewer that could credibly release something like this five hour behemoth of a set. Stretching back as far as 1985, the set collects nearly everything Eno created for his installation work or other visual projects like 77 Million Paintings, which combined software and sound art. The penultimate "disc" is called Making Spaces and was originally sold at installations. Featuring short pieces, including a beauteous number for guitar called New Moon, it showcases a different side of the artist, closer to the concision of Music For Films Volume II than the rest of the set. There are also four tracks for "future installations," which qualifies as a new Eno album of gleaming subtlety and proves once again that nobody does it better. 

Find tracks from all these releases, except Cocoon Year and Splintered, in this playlist or below. Want more? Check out the Archive, which has several additional hours of electronic intrigue to explore! What did I miss?

You may also enjoy:
Best of 2018: The Top 25
Best of 2018: Classical 
Best of 2017: Electronic
Best of 2016: Electronic

Best Of 2016: Electronic

There's some interesting molecular crosstalk between this list and some of the "alien R&B" I described in my last post. But genre lines are ever meant to be blurred and many is the time that one style of music has been re-energized by incorporating aspects of another. Lots of "classical" composers are also using non-organic sounds on which to hang their music, which probably influences rock-oriented musicians, further fertilizing an already prolific field. Here's the top of 2016's crop of what Mojo Magazine still calls "Electronica."

Nonkeen - Oddments of the Gamble and The Gamble Did you ever wish the intro to Riders On The Storm went on forever? The whole song is fantastic (except maybe that line about a brain "squirming like a toad"), but the opening minute is godhead. Nonkeen put out two albums this year and both of them have plenty of that beautifully simple mystery and majesty. An on-off collaboration by Frederic Gmeiner, Nils Frahm and Sepp Singwald, they channel their passion for cassette recording and chance occurrences into sublime sounds. I prefer Oddments slightly to the Gamble as it's a little groove heavier, with some of the cracked optimism I associate with Stereolab, but you can pick which one to listen to with a coin flip - which is how they chose which one to release first!

Cavern Of Anti-Matter - void beats/invocation trex Speaking of Stereolab, head honcho Tim Gane is back where he belongs with Cavern's mix of test-lab electronics and motorik rhythms, still seeming optimistic but maybe a little darker than back in the 90's. The only track that doesn't work for me is the one with Bradford Cox on vocals, which blend awkwardly with the soundscape and feel like an intrusion on the mood. Terrific album nonetheless and a must for old Stereolab heads - and new ones: if you're unfamiliar, make a plan to change that.

Marielle V Jakobsons - Star Core Jakobsons, a classically-trained multi-instrumentalist with whom I was completely unfamiliar until now, has created an immersive glittering prize of a record with Star Core. Using a base of evolving, richly evocative analog synth sounds, and adding violin, flute, bass, her voice, etc., she builds sound designs that coalesce into finished images and then evanesce. It's a little dark yet never bleak as the excitement intrinsic in creating such perfect music is transferred to the listener.

Ian William Craig - Centres Like Jakobsons, Craig has also spent time in the academy, training in vocals and composition. This is his third gorgeous album combining his treated and distorted voice with artfully distressed tape loops. Justin Vernon may be a fan as Craig mines some of the same seams as heard on 22, A Million, Bon Iver's latest album. Craig's approach is always cinematic, too, with a hidden narrative that keeps you listening from beginning to end.

Suzi Analogue - Zonez V2: The Speakers Push Air & My Tears Dry Like David Bowie, I never gave up on drum'n'bass and have even been known to gift copies of out-of-print gems like So Far by Alex Reece (get yours for 32 cents!). Analogue's stuff has a bit of that nervous energy so I was all over it as soon as I heard her on the same bill with Novelty Daughter earlier this year. She also adds an emotional overlay that seems very of the moment. Her hard beats lead you to dance, but her minimalist melodic cells keep you in touch with what fuels your abandon.

Mndsgn - Body Wash I've loved the music of Ringgo Ancheta since Yawn Zen in 2014, but that wonderful album feels like a series of sketches compared to this. Not to worry, though, his glassy sounds are still weightless, there's just a bit more conviction to the song structures, a sense of a statement of purpose, and that purpose is to seduce you into forgetting yourself and where you are just for a few moments. Do those four walls really confine you? No. Your mind's design can take you anywhere, with the right soundtrack.

65daysofstatic - No Man's Sky: Music For An Infinite Universe I'm not a gamer, unless you count chess and Scrabble, but I'm more than aware that music has become an ever-more integral part of video games. They even perform symphonic suites assembled from best-selling games at Carnegie Hall and other prestigious venues. But having the wide-screen instrumentals of 65daysofstatic soundtrack a game is a genius idea that I wish I had thought of first. I understand that No Man's Sky has received mixed reviews but it's not even necessary to know what the game is about to lose yourself in these tracks. And lose yourself you will, especially in the long pieces on disc two, which are culled from the "procedural audio" that covers the universe of the game no matter where the player decides to go. Their patented blend of live and looped drums, epic guitars and grandiose keyboards is richer than ever, suggesting that this long running Sheffield quartet has finally found their niche in the wider world.

Ital Tek - Hollowed Alan Myson, who has also released music under the name Planet Mu, always seemed to have more promise than the tight reins of dubstep allowed him to express. Hollowed finds him coming into his own, crafting prismatically structured pieces that have echoes of Eno, Popol Vuh, and John Carpenter, while sounding very individual. He could be next on the list for video game developers - either way, I'll be very intrigued to see where Ital Tek goes next.

M. Geddes Gengras - Two Variations and Interior Architecture I first became aware of this prolific L.A.-based synth magus from his remarkable entry in the collaborative FRKWYS series in 2012. That record found him working with dub specialist Sun Araw and legendary reggae harmony group The Congos. His ability to build immersive sound sculptures from a limited palette of materials was clear there and continues to be true on Two Variations. Both half hour pieces feel spontaneously generated, with a sense of discovery and play that is contagious, especially on 03.06.15, the first variation. The second work, 04.10.15, drags a little in the first 10 minutes but repays your attention in the latter half when it gets busy and a little angular. You can dip in and out of the variations but you may find yourself listening closely to follow the evolving threads. Interior Architecture is more ambient, four abstract pieces that often (ironically?) refer to sounds of the natural world. Gengras invites Seth Kesselman to contribute some new textures with his clarinet in the third piece, which is a nice touch. Maybe more collaboration is a good thing for Gengras, but he's always up to something interesting - and 03.06.15 proves his strength as a loner. 

Nicolas Godin - Contrepoint It was Mike D. who turned me onto the French retro-synth duo Air back in 1989, handing me a promo copy of Moon Safari across the table at lunch one day. He knew me well, as I quickly became obsessed with their lush, melodic, fun songs. I spread the gospel far and wide and watched delightedly as songs like Sexy Boy and Un Femme d'Argent installed themselves in the culture. But the ultimate reward never came as nothing else they did was nearly as compelling. Now we have 50% of Air (O₁?) with this solo album that is simultaneously wacky and accomplished, moving through a variety of sounds and styles in just over 30 minutes. As the title indicates, the ultimate inspiration for everything that follows is the music of J.S. Bach, the master of counterpoint. There's even a song called Bach Off in case you didn't catch Godin's drift. But instead of Baroque sounds, we get hints of Medieval prog, cool jazz, easy listening, Lou Reed's Street Hassle, and French pop to keep you guessing -  and entertained - throughout. I know nothing about the dynamic between Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel, his partner in Air, but if he wants to continue in this vein, I'll be right there with him. 

Nicolas Jaar - Sirens It's taken a while for young Mr. Jaar to win me over again after the seismic jolt of Space Is Only Noise, his brilliant debut from 2011. There were a couple of tracks from last year's Nymphs EP's that piqued my interest, which was more than I can say of Darkside, the cul-de-sac side project he pursued with tiresome guitarist Dave Harrington. But Sirens finds some of the wit and unbearable lightness of Space returning, with beautiful textures and bouncy rhythms, alongside a newfound compositional maturity and even a little aggression on Three Sides of Nazareth. Jaar has always had a narrative drive to his best work and that seems to be getting stronger. I would not be surprised to see his name on some kind of visual project, such as movie or TV show, in the very near future. 

Novelty Daughter's Semigoddess was #4 in my Top 20, which means it was the best electronic album of the year - make sure you backtrack if you're not already a fan. All the selections above can be sampled in this playlist and you may find yet more joy in the Of Note In 2016 (Electronic) list. 

Coming next: the best of the rest of the year's classical and composed recordings. 

You may also enjoy:

Best Of 2016: The Top 20

Best Of 2016: Hip Hop & R&B