#487

Patricia Brennan Septet - Breaking Stretch (Pyroclastic)

The album represents a huge leap forward, firmly establishing Brennan as a fiercely original talent on the New York scene. — Peter Margasak

#486

The Sea Trio - Live in Munich and Bonn (Confront)

The three men distill different generational and aesthetic information into set-long, completely free improvisation. — Bill Meyer

#485

Ernest Berk - Diversed Tapes (HCR / NMC)

[W]hat transmits from his music is unflagging excitement at the distinctive soundworld he was opening up, and fascination with the possibilities offered by this new medium. — Julian Cowley

#484

Misha Faulty - [incoherent imaging] (Multibody)

[T]here’s also evidence of a steely sense of control here: the twisting, cutting and splicing of sound feels like a way of reclaiming agency in the face of a world unfit for need. — Louis Pattison

#483

Liz Helman - The Colour of Water (Flaming Pines)

Through electronic processing, she makes the clicks, chitters and hums of London glow through cathedral scaled buzz and drone. — Daryl Worthington

#482

AMM - Last Calls (Matchless)

Things rise, gingerly, and fall, a struggle to not struggle playing out in real time, capturing vulnerabilities rarely displayed so openly in improvised music. — Peter Margasak

#481

Madison Greenstone - Resonance Studies in Ecstatic Consciousness (Relative Pitch)

At times, it sounds like they’re chewing the mouthpiece, producing harmonica-like effects and a keening buzz. — Stewart Smith

#479/480-2

Masayuki Takayanagi New Direction Unit - Mass Hysterism in Another Situation (Black Editions)

The guitarists jettison notes, chords and the last rudiments of jazz technique, instead fashioning endlessly changing shapes of feedback that manifest and disintegrate with the music’s writhing maelstrom. — Bill Meyer

#479/480-1

Barry Bermange / Delia Derbyshire / The BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Inventions for Radio (Silva Screen)

One of the true titans of modern sound creating some of her finest work. An act of sonic recovery approximately a billion times better than a so-called new Beatles song. Absolutely essential. — Neil Kulkarni

2023

Wire 15 (11)
Slumberland & Sainkho Namtchylak - Lightkeeper (Morphine)
Ryuichi Sakamoto - 12 (Milan / Sony)
Beatriz Ferreyra - Senderos de Luz y Sombras (Ina-GRM)
Satoko Fujii & Otomo Yoshihide - Perpetual Motion (Ayler)
Genesis P-Orridge & The Hafler Trio - Dream Less Suite (Cortizona)
Anchor & Burden - Kozmonautic Pilgrimage (Moonjune) +#471
Uboa - The Origin of My Depression (The Flenser)
Dwight Trible - Ancient Future (Gearbox Records)
Various - Disruptive Frequencies (Nonclassical)
JG Thirlwell / Mivos Quartet - Dystonia (Cantaloupe) +#474
Seven)Suns - One of Us is the Killer (Silent Pendulum)
Éliane Radigue - In Memoriam-Ostinato / Danse des Dakinis (Alga Marghen)
Rozenhall - Dance of the Aberrant (ADAADAT / Firework Edition Records)
Shackleton / Zimpel with Siddhartha Belmannu - In the Cell of Dreams (7K!)
Steve Lehman & Orchestre National de Jazz - Ex Machina (Pi) +#478

record of the year
Ryuichi Sakamoto - 12 (Milan / Sony)

#478

Shackleton / Zimpel with Siddhartha Belmannu - In the Cell of Dreams (7K!)

Three long pieces of overlapping drone form the bulk of the album. Its 21 minute opener “The Ocean Lies Between Us” layers electronics, gong-like sounds and vocal chanting. As vast and deep as its title would suggest, it feels like it could continue forever. — Claire Biddles

#477

Rozenhall - Dance of the Aberrant (ADAADAT / Firework Edition Records)

[Rozenhall’s] music may seem cosmic in scope, but it thrives on turbulence, conveying a sense of impending chaos rather than ethereal tranquillity. — Julian Cowley

#476

Éliane Radigue - In Memoriam-Ostinato / Danse des Dakinis (Alga Marghen)

In Memoriam-Ostinato/Danse Des Dakinis belongs to Radigue’s feedback era – a little-chronicled point in her career when she was working primarily with magnetic tape. — Hannah Pezzack