[idm] Everyone's posting a top ten, so I might as well.
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Here's the skinny.... If you knew where to look (i.e. any independent
label), it seemed this year was a damn great one musically.
1. Sigur Rós - Ágætis Byrjun
Holy shit.... didn't expect this album to be this good. They have a way
with song structure, and progress their songs in directions you would
not expect. Up until November, when i got a hold of this, I thought Kid
A was the best of the bunch....
2. Radiohead - Kid A
Yeah yeah, we've all had this thread, including whether or not it's IDM
at all (Sigur Ros could fall in this argument too, they are on some grey
area genre wise), but it's amazing nonetheless. Hope the next album
Amnesiac (out in June) is just as good if not better.
3. Arovane - Tides
I heard a lot about this after getting Atol Scrap, and was completely
surprised. It has that distinct Arovane sound, but the style was such a
contrast to Atol Scrap. This cements Uwe Zhan as one of the best out
there and of all the albums coming out next year, I think Arovane's is
topping my list.
4. Amon Tobin - Supermodified
This kids' wack. But smooth. And pimp. Brilliant cd. Coke and BMW
have good taste.
5. VA - Neurokenetic
I originally got this for the CiM and Arovane tracks, but got hooked to
the rest. Amazing compilation with consistency that i haven't seen for
a long time. If only Schematic put out compilations with as many
stellar tracks as this. My only complaint is the Digitonal track (14)
that lazily uses the Electribe-ER for glitch and delay effects.
6. Jega - Geometry
This album was one that kinda let me down at first but grew on me fast.
I was first pissed that Jega went the cheap route and sold his sampler
for softsynths and began to Autechreify his tunes, but after listening
more and more, I noticed the depth and structure of the songs; they
flow very well with amazing transitions right left being thrown at you.
Recursion is my vote for IDM song of the year.
7. Max Tundra - Some Best Friend You Turned Out to Be
Talk about diverse, oddball, minimal, yet swimmingly beautiful. I can't
say enough about this record... one of the more original pieces to come
out this year.
8. Boards of Canada - In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country
We all seem to eat up whatever these fuckers release. It's true. And
we need more. Fast.
9. Arovane - Atol Scrap
What amazes me is that so many wonderful things have been released this
year, of course, by Arovane, that we seem to forget about this cd. I
thought it had some of the better melodic minimal pieces to come out in
a long time. Sure it had stylistic and textural ideas ripped from Ae,
Oval, etc, but it had it's own personality that is undeniably Arovane.
It's also undeniably beautiful.
10. Plod - Pillow Talk
The best of what now is almost the androgynous group that is the post
melodic IDM aritists. CiM, Goem, Proem, Quant, and a shitload of others
fall into this category. It's getting to the point where they all sound
the same, using the same synth settings, the same structure, and the
same slightly glitchy unoriginal percussion..... except for Plod. They
seem to be one of the only ones out there with an original sound that
sounds amazing. I see great things coming from Plod.
Artist of the year: Arovane (2 fucking brilliant full lengths in a
year? My god!)
Label of the year: tie... Planet Mu/City Center Offices (Quality over
quantity)
Song of the year: Jega - Recursion (rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggg sooooooooo
bad asssssssss)
Poop of the year: Kid 606 (second year running)
send extremely bitchy replies to me not the list.
-mark
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