Friday, December 31, 2010


Well, the postman has been by on this last day of 2010, bearing no musical packages and, as it happens, I don't have anything sitting around I've not heard, so I might as well get this out of the way. (I'll just note that the new batch of Cathnor's and Another Timbre's have yet to find their way here)

Continuing last year's trend, to these ears, the Wandelweiser crew once again created most of the music that stopped me in my tracks. Prior to a few weeks ago, I thought there'd be a virtual Pisaro sweep, but then I made the happy decision to fork over the ducats necessary to procure Frey's awesome 8-disc set and I've been able to listen to virtually nothing else since (disc 8 is on at the moment). It was recorded in 2001-02, so I'd append the caveat that Pisaro's was my favorite new music of the year. But so much wonderful music throughout, so happy to have (way belatedly) discovered this micro-world.

My 12 favorite releases of 2010 in rough order:

Jürg Frey - weites land, tiefe zeit, räume 1-8 (b-boim)
Michael Pisaro - a wave and waves (Cathnor)
Michael Pisaro - July Mountain (engraved glass)
Michael Pisaro - voyelles (winds measure)
Michael Pisaro - July Mountain (three versions) (Gravity Wave)
Antoine Beuger - keine fernen mehr (Wandelweiser)
Annette Krebs/Taku Unami - motubachii (Erstwhile)
Vanessa Rosetto - Mineral Orange (Kye)
Cage/Frey/Vriezen/Feldman/Ayres/Manion - s/t (Wandelweiser)
Michael Pisaro/Taku Sugimoto - 2 seconds/b minor/wave (Erstwhile)
Alvin Lucier/Nick Hennies - s/t (Quiet Design)
Terry Jennings/John Cage - Lost Daylight (Another Timbre)

Twelve more I liked very, very much (alpha order)

Activity Center - lohn & brot (Absinth)
Robert Ashley - Atalanta (Acts of God), vol. II
Marc Baron - une fois, chaque fois (Theme Park)
Olivia Block - The Whole (remix) (Type)
Chip Shop Music - You can shop around but you won't find any cheaper (Homefront)
Stephen Cornford/Samuel Rodgers - Zinc [extracts] (Consumer Waste)
Luc Ferrari - Les Arhythmatiques (Blue Chopsticks)
Jean-Luc Guionnet - Non-Organic Bias (Herbal International)
Julia Holter - Celebration (engraved glass)
Martin Kuchen/Ernesto Rodrigues/Guilherme Rodrigues/Santos, Carlos - Vinter (Creative Sources)
Eric La Casa - W2 (Herbal International)
Kevin Parks/Joe Foster - Acts Have Consequences (no label)

Among others that brought significant pleasure:

The Ames Room - In (Monotype)
AMM - Sounding Music (Matchless)
Thomas Ankersmit - Live in Utrecht (Ash International)
Mike Bullock/Andrew Lafkas - Ceremonies to Breathe Upon (Winds Measure)
Pedro Chambel - Utpote (Fractal Sources)
Cranc - Copper Fields (Organized Music from Thessaloniki)
Delicate sen - 20090829 (Copy for you records)
Roberto Fabbriciani/Robin Hayward - Nella Basilica (Another Timbre)
Ferran Fages - Lullaby for Lali (Etude)
Patrick Farmer/Dominic Lash - Bestiaries (Cathnor)
Matthias Forge/Olivier Toulemonde - Pie 'n' Mash (Another Timbre)
Anne Guthrie - Standing Sitting (engraved glass)
Nick Hennies - Lungs (Full Spectrum)
Nick Hennies - Psalms (Roeba)
Zbigniew Herbert/Robert Piotrowicz - Pan Cogito (Institutul Polansz
Jason Kahn - Timelines Los Angeles (Creative Sources)
Ernst Karel/Annette Krebs - Falter 1-5 (Cathnor)
Tomas Korber/Ralf Wehovsky - Walkuren am Dornenbaum (Entr'acte)
Martin Kuchen - The Lie & the Orphanage (Mathka)
Martin Kuchen/Keith Rowe/Seymour Wright - s/t (Another Timbre)
Graham Lambkin/Jason Lescalleet - Air Supply (Erstwhile)
Lethe - Catastrophe Point #5 (Intransitive)
Jonathan McHugh/Mark Wastell - Hydriotaphia (Confront)
Michael Pisaro - black, white, red, green, blue (Winds Measure)
Michael Pisaro - ricefall (2) (Gravity Wave)
Mike Shiflet - Llanos (Editions Shiflet)
Mike Shiflet/Daniel Menche - Stalemate (Sonoris)
Stasis Duo - s/t (l'Innomable)
Taku Sugimoto - Musical Composition Series 1&2 (Kid Ailack)

thanks to all.

5 comments:

less_cunning said...

great year-end list.

Bob said...

Looks like it's a Squidco morning.

Anonymous said...

No other genres? I have about half of these,I guess,but would go nuts if that were,IT.

No rock,jazz,classical,country?

Whatever (as they say).

Thanks.

Brian Olewnick said...

These were my favorites of about 275 releases heard in 2010. So not included is music I heard in other formats (downloaded in one shape or another). In the latter, there were no doubt favorites from other genres, though to be sure, there's scarce little new rock or jazz that interests me these days. But two of my favorite videos were The Tenniscoats, not rock perhaps but certainly pop and Ronnie from Botswana.

Hey, there's plenty of classical on the list! :-) If you mean pre- WWII classical, I did get, and enjoy, much of that but my list centers around new music.

Um, no, no country, I'm afraid.

Anonymous said...

no country, indeed :)

Great list, I didn't listen to a few.
Thank you!