Sábado 31 Dic 2011, 2:39

(a rather chaotic list of music good enough not to be deleted, i. e. to be listened to again; it means quite a lot, actually)
(the higher the better, more or less)
(this will not be updated when I discover dozens of great releases I have missed as it would drive me mad)

the best two:
Kronos Quartet, Kimmo Pohjonen & Samuli Kosminen - Uniko
…. my desciption of this album would be repetition of the words "beauty" and "strings"; perfect; goosebumps all the time
Asva - Presences of Absences
… incredibly mature album; extremely sophisticated both in terms of composition and sound engineering; took me months to appreciate

really great, original, suprising etc.:
Æthenor - En Form For Blå
… could it be totally distorted droning krautrock?
Natural Snow Buildings - Waves of the Random Sea
… waves of the sonic sea; I love this
Haus Arafna - New York Rhapsody
… your world should be desecrated
Chelsea Wolfe - Apokalypsis
… the only singer-songwriter that is actually dark
Aluk Todolo - Ordre
… as good and apocalyptic as always
Cam Deas - Quadtych
… Bach of acoustic guitar
Floex - Zorya
… could Czech nu-jazz actually be original, interesting, beautiful and melancholic?
Virus - Agent That Shapes The Desert
… the presence of Ved Buens Ende is not so strong here, so that it doesn't remind me they were so much better; great and weird
Burial + Four Tet + Thom Yorke - Ego/Mirror
… I'll probably finally try Radiohead
Grumbling Fur - Furrier
… dislocated Guapo or multicoloured Aethenor? ambient meets krautrock meets black metal; experimental without being too abstract; hallucinatory
Grails - Deep Politics
… perfectly structured beauty; post or prog?
Tartar Lamb - Polyimage of Known Exits
… dreamy dreaminess; I am surprised music this abstract is so enjoyable
Extra Life - Ripped Heart
… schizophrenia more apparent than ever
Preterite - Pillar of Winds
… the voice of Menace Ruine
Dead Reptile Shrine - The Sun of Circles and Wood
… pagan rituals of postmodern age
Ga'an - Black Equus
… minimalism and progressive rock sometims seem to be the opposites, however, their mixture is better than this view

very good:
The Axis of Perdition - Tenements (of Anointed Flesh)
… no mercy
Barn Owl - Shadowland
… drone magic
HTRK - Work (Work, Work)
… the name fits; hate rock
Earth - Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light I
… perfect; still the same
Sólstafir - Svartir Sandar
… they have mastered dreaminess of Sigur Rós and are not that gay
Hexvessel - Dawnbearer
… a bit too long, still, the beauty of Kvohst's voice and the strength of melancholy make it great
Circle of Ouroborus - Eleven Fingers
… weirdness incarnate
Grouper - A I A: Dream Loss
… dream gain
Grouper - A I A: Alien Observer
… aliens are good, dreams are better
Björk - Biophilia
… extremely enjoyable in its simplicity
Burzum - Fallen
… I am actually smiling while listenning to this
Enablers - Blown Realms and Stalled Explosions
… great neurotic Slint-y math rock
Blut Aus Nord - 777- Sect(s)
… average release from the best contemporary black metal band
Blut Aus Nord - 777 - The Desanctification
… another average release from the best contemporary black metal band; maybe they should work on quality instead of quantity
Blut Aus Nord - The Mystical Beast of Rebellion (bonus tracks)
… fine addition to one of their greatest albums
Esoteric - Paragon of Dissonance
… I wish Blut Aus Nord had this attitude to releasing
Zola Jesus - Conatus
… I have not heard anything from her for a year or so and it is great to see she is still great
Giant Squid - Cenotes
… great as usual, heavier than usual
Burial - Street Halo
… I like this combination of simplicity and sophistication
Clair Cassis - Luxury Absolute
…. indeed
Sunn O))) - Agharthi
… powerful; reminds me of Khanate once more
Larsen & Z'ev - In V.tro
… in an ideal world, post-rock would be this interesting
Zombi - Escape Velocity
… kitschy magic and entertainment of 80s?
Six Organs of Admittance - Asleep on the Floodplain
… a bit weaker than Luminous Night, still, S/Word and Leviathan is superb
Oranssi Pazuzu - Kosmonument
… the more minimalistic, the better; which means this is great
Tim Hecker - Ravedeath 1972
… this could change my view of Hecker as a somewhat second-rate ambient musician
Combat Astronomy - Flak Planet
… chaotic Godfleshy jazz?
Negative Plane - Stained Glass Revelation
… great black metal; occult and melodic without being annoying
Big Blood - Big Blood & The Wicked Hex
… extremely catchy; I usually hate stoner, but there is some strange magic present
David Lynch - Crazy Clown Time
… quite disturbing, mysterious; well, lynchy
Maska Genetik - Strada
… disturbing minimal catchy power electronics
Bohren & der Club of Gore - Beileid
… beatiful nightmare; I have finally understood this band
Miracle - The Visitor
… great pop songs by Zombi and Guapo/Aethenor; yeah, they're not so poppy after all
Natural Snow Buildings - Chants of Niflheim
… yet another sonic bliss
Circle - Infektio
… Finnish versus American psychedely, British versus American humour
Fennesz - Seven Stars
… greatness yet again
Massive Attack vs Burial - Four Walls/Paradise Circus
… dreamy, sleepy
Larkin Grimm/Extra Life - s/t
… madness and beauty, better than most Larkin Grimm, worse than most EL
Peaking Lights - 936
… incredibly catchy tropical psychedely
Nova Drones - s/t
… drone folk beaty
Kreng - Grimoire
… what the hell is this?! jazz? krautrock? dark ambient?
Death Grips - s/t
… extraordinarily wild, violent and catchy
The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation - Anthropomorphic
… great and haunting as I am used to, or perhaps even better this time
Enslaved - Sleeping Gods
… progressive once more?
Boris - New Album
… fine pop
Paatos - Breathing
… rock that is not so much progressive as intelligent; something worth noting and praising

other remarkable releases:
Shining - VII: Född Förlorare
… has its great and unique moments, still, the moments of deja vu prevail
The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble - From The Stairwell
,,, slightly less great than Doomjazz, nevertheless, the difference is smaller than ever
Altar of Plagues - Mammal
… why do people praise WITTR so much even though are Altar of Plagues?
Vladislav Delay Quartet - s/t
… disturbing jazzy dark ambient?
Horrid Red - Pink Flowers
… catchy and psychedelic
Gnaw Their Tongues - Per Flagellum Sanguemque, Tenebras Veneramus
… ugly and grim as always
The Cosmic Dead - s/t
… kraut
Jesu - Ascension
… I like the drums
Bloody Panda - Summon: Invocation
… remixes by some very interesting people
David Sylvian - Died in the Wool | Manafon Variations
… beauty breeds beauty
Skeletons - People
… nice and very, very playful
Pale Sketcher - Seventh Heaven
… more pop than Jesu, better than recent Jesu
The Austrasian Goat & Neige Morte - split
… Neige Morte has its moments, but overall I wouldn't describe it as "interesting", but The Austrasian Goat more than makes up for this
Boris With Merzbow - Klatter
… psychedelic noise/rock jam
Thy Catafalque - Rengeteg
… somewhat similar to Nghtwish, except that it is listenable; and more than that
Current 93 - Honeysuckle Aeons
… for a completely unknown reason I think this is inspired by the 19th century American Protestant songs, but I don't even know if there is something like a 19th century American Protestant song
Cult of Youth - s/t
… I don't get it; familiarly sounding folk and "pub punk" transformed into something great
Der Blutharsch and the infinite church of the leading hand + Aluk Todolo - A Collaboration
… I would expect more from Aluk Todolo, still, very good
Arms And Sleepers - The Organ Hearts
… rarely dreamy trip-hop; does not sound too artificial
Tombs - Path of Totality
… pleasantly filthy
Necro Deathmort - Music of Bleak Origin
… yeah, ambient dub and doom metal really are quite close as genres
Skullflower - Fucked on a Pile of Corpses
… good, dreadful and violent as always
Dam Mantle - We
… twin peaksy dubstep?
Zs - 33
… strange minimalism; stranger than usually
Sun Devoured Earth - Good Memories Are the Hardest to Keep
… nice shoegaze with a tinge of black metal
Smohalla - Résilience
… nice naive avant-garde black metal
Sol Invictus - The Cruellest Month
… still enjoyable; unusually mediaval; reference to T. S. Eliot noted
Krallice - Diotima
… the source of their greatness is almost depleted; the next album will be boring
Scorn - Yozza
… yes, Mick Harris still does good records
Pinch & Shackleton - s/t
… interesting, even though Shackleton by himself is better
Tearist - EP
… weird; lo-fi; catchy
Larsen - Cool Cruel Mouth
… post-modern irony
Murkrat - Drudging The Mire
… solid gloom with great female vocals
Russian Circle - Empros
… took them quite a long time to release another enjoyable album
Combat Astronomy - Barricades
… much closer to generic metal, still, incredible groove

disappointments big enough to be mentioned:
Cynic - Carbon-Based Anatonomy
… in turns boring and annoying; I am sorry for this once great band
Of The Wand And The Moon - The Lone Descent
… boring; overinstrumentated; its magic is gone
Krallice - Orphan of Sickness
… too ordinary
Ulver - Wars of Roses
… I don't know; not very amusing, sometimes annoying
Peste Noire - L'Ordure à l'état Pur
… cheap fun; boring

didn' manage to find yet:
Pyramids/Horseback - A Throne without a King
Ulaan Khol - La Catacomb
Locrian - Dort Ist Der Weg
… I can't scrobble from soundcloud:)

(I guess I won't do a complete list like this one ever again; i started with about 150 solid releases, which means I have listened to three this year's albums every week;