1. OM – Conference of the Birds (Holy Mountain)
MP3: At Giza
The most consistently overwhelming record I’ve heard this year. With just the rhythm section of Chris Hakius on drums and Al Cisneros on bass this album takes you on a sonic journey of epic proportions. The gradually evolving patterns of bass and drum and the almost hypnotic chants of Al Cisneros leave you in a state of transcendence. A truly remarkable album which is astonishingly consistent throughout and never gets out of focus. Also this constant image, portrayed through both tracks is perfectly reflected by the marvellous artwork.

2. Paul Flaherty & Chris Corsano – The Beloved Music (Family Vineyard)
MP3: The Great Pine Tar Scandal
I was once asked by someone if this music could really be liked. Can you still describe this music as being attractive or even beautiful? Well, to me this is pretty much everything that music can give me. It’s raw and dirty, energetic and exuberant, full of passion and curiosity. This album gives me superhero powers as well as Zen like peace. That’s everything I could ever ask from music. So why should I care whether you can describe this music as being pretty? The powerful saxophone playing by Paul Flaherty and the rambunctious drumming by Chris Corsano make for a spectacular album which gave me the final push into free-jazz.

3. Charalambides – A Vintage Burden (Kranky)
MP3: Two Birds
Tom and Christina Carter have been responsible for some of the most interesting contributions to contemporary, psychedelic folk music. Far away from the current folk excitement they have been perfecting their own style through some amazing records. “A Vintage Burden” feels like the pinnacle of their development. The beautiful voice of Christina Carter and spectacular, yet introverted guitar playing of both create a cosmic as well as intimate album. It even surpasses my all-time favourite Charalambides album “Our Bed is Green”.

4. Joanna Newsom – Ys (Drag City)
MP3: Emily
You can’t write or speak about music in 2006 without mentioning Joanna Newsom. Such an ambitious and outspoken album is bound to raise discussion. For me, there is no doubt that this is one of the most advanced and sophisticated albums of the last couple of years that has the ability to appeal to a larger audience. Helped by a stellar crew she has made a record which not only defines the current “free-folk” movement but also takes it to another level. A level where the “free-folk” label is no longer suitable. A remarkable performance by such a young lady.

5. Sabir Mateen/Daniel Carter/Andrew Barker – Not on Earth…. In Your Soul! (Qbico)
MP3: In Your Soul!
The Italian label Qbico is always full of surprises and rarely fails to impress. With this LP we are treated with one of the most inspiring and energetic free-jazz performances of the year. The amazing drumming by Andrew Barker, the back and forth action between the two horn players and the chanted vocals make for an exhilarating and ecstatic experience. Also great about the label is their use of artwork. This one in particular is breathtaking. The musicians are captured in a moment which perfectly reflects their joyful and energetic playing.

6. Valley of Ashes – Cavehill Hunters’ Attrition (Blackvelvetfuckere)
MP3: Cavehill Hunters Magickian and a Clock of Spoons
This monumental 3LP record from the Louisville, KY collective “Valley of Ashes” was a surprise to say the least. This free rock collective (amongst them is Pete Nolan from Magik Markers, GHQ and many others) shows the ability to embrace many different styles and shape them into a strong collection of more than two hours of jams. Sweeping violins, distorted vocals, rumbling percussion and heavy electric guitars. Its all there and in a remarkably convincing manner.

7. Galbraith/Neilson/Youngs – Belsayer Time (Time-Lag)
MP3: Belsayer Time
What could you expect when such great names get together? Especially when the record is released by what is one of the most exciting labels around today. This is a beautiful dream-like album, multi-layered with droning electronics, free percussion and soaring vocals full of echoes. The title-track is exhilarating on its own, but feels like heaven when heard within the context of the entire album.

8. Boris & The Saltlicks – Cactusman Versus the Blue Demon (Frogville)
MP3: Gloriously Tangled
Not much exciting to hear in the Americana genre the last year. Luckily Boris McCutcheon & the Saltlicks are a fine exception from that downhill trend. They have delivered one of the most accomplished and sophisticated albums of the genre of the last couple of years. Boris McCutcheon has proven before what an amazing songwriter he is, but on this record he has found himself in a shape where he seems to be able to do everything right. I’ve had the privilege to see them perform twice last year and both times were nothing short of amazing.

9. Paul Labrecque & Valerie Webb – Trees, Chants and Hollers (Eclipse)
MP3: Many Horses Ride
Paul Labrecque & Valerie Webb were the happy couple around which the “Wedlock” album by Sunburned Hand of the Man was centred. Unfortunately they have already separated which adds a strange feeling to when listening to that record. Luckily enough we are treated this year with the recordings of both from a time when they were still happily married. A breathtaking album that recalls a chilly night on the American farmlands. Beautiful, yet icy folk songs with sparse banjo playing and careful drones.

10. Hisato Higuchi – Dialogue (Family Vineyard)
MP3: Manazashi No_Saki E
Barely more than a whisper. Frequently recalling the work of Loren MazzaCane Connors, yet Hisato Higuchi manages to form his own unique style of meditative blues. The former puppeteer from Tokio gives us one of the most touching albums of the year with his hushed vocals and intoxicating guitar playing. A beautiful album of which The Wire appropriately wrote: “These songs could be the whispers of lovers, the reassurances of parents to sleeping children, the prayers of the lost and lonely, or the tremulous breaths of the finally redeemed.”

And my year-end list is completed with the following records:
11. Comets on Fire – Avatar
12. Six Organs of Admittance – The Sun Awakens
13. Chris Corsano & Ben Chasny / Paul Metzger – Split LP
14. Acid Mothers Temple & The Cosmic Inferno – Starless and Bible Black Sabbath
15. Matt Valentine/Erika Elder/Alex Neilson/Moses Jiggs – Qbico 40
16. James Blackshaw – O True Believers
17. Tim Hecker – Harmony in Ultraviolet
18. Raccoo-oo-oon – Mythos Folkways Vol. No. 1
19. Centro-Matic – Fort Recovery
20. Jóhann Jóhannsson – IBM 1401 A Users Manual
21. Espers – II
22. Agitated Radio Pilot – Your Turn to Go It Alone
23. Wooden Wand & The Sky High Band – Second Attention
24. Good Stuff House – Good Stuff House
25. Cursillistas – Thrush Chimes in the Field Haunt

It turns out that while everyone here was busy practicing for Global Orgasm Day it was actually Moka’s 21st birthday last Wednesday! Boy do we feel exhausted, but boy do we also feel bummed out about missing that special day!

So let’s celebrate today with some tunes about being 21, birthdays and party girls.

The Adverts – No Time to be 21
(Crossing the Red Sea With the Adverts, 1978)

Andrew Bird – The Happy Birthday Song
(The Mysterious Production of Eggs, 2005)

Jens Lekman – Happy Birthday, Dear Friend Lisa
(When I Said I Wanted To Be Your Dog, 2004)

Diskettes – Party Girl
(Diskettes, 2003)

Otis Redding – The Happy Song (Dum-Dum)
(The Very Best Of, 1992)

Manitoba – Every Time She Turns Round It’s Her Birthday
(Up In Flames, 2003)

As little as we can grasp from Kurt Wagner’s lyrics in the following song, to me it still remains to be one of the most beautiful songs ever written about a woman or just women in general. With Moka turning 21 and officially into a woman (or at least so in some parts of the world) I thought it would be a good moment to close with this song:

Lambchop – Is A Woman
(Is A Woman, 2002)

image: olvwu

Those who knew
what was going on here
must make way for
those who know little.
And less than little.
And finally as little as nothing.

In the grass that has overgrown
causes and effects,
someone must be stretched out
blade of grass in his mouth
gazing at the clouds.
-Wislawa Szymborska, The End and the Beginning

Because, death is certain for the one who is born, and birth is certain for the one who dies. Therefore, you should not lament over the inevitable.

The end of birth is death; the end of death Is birth: this is ordained! and mournest thou, Chief of the stalwart arm! for what befalls Which could not otherwise befall?
-Bhagavad-Gita, Ch.2

“Virtus Sapientie“

01. Gábor Szabó – Los Matodoros (web)
02. Miles Davis – Solea (web)
03. Susana Baca – Maria Lando
04. Maurice Ravel – La Flute Enchantee
05. John Tavener – The Lament of the Mother of God at the Cross (web)
06. Murice Delage – Lahore
07. Philip Glass – Violin Concerto (3) (web)
08. Hildegard von Bingen – O Virtus Sapientie (web)
09. Pauline Viardot – Havanaise

Note: A straight forward end of year list. It is a list with expansive sound but simple, minimalist in a lot of parts. (Miles, Tavener, Glass, Bingen). Thematically it is a small essay about end and beginning. Second it is a small note about. a) what is depth in recording (La Flute Enchantee, The Lament of the Mother of God at the Cross) and composition b) example of texture use in string composition to add depth (O Virtus Sapientie) c) sample of duet with voice in term of clear recording (Havanaise).

image: fotogail, sahst23

…

L’ora e dispiegata nella neve
come un lenzuolo al vento.
L’ora senza fondamento,
che ha spento il prima e il dopo.
L’ora che ha cancellato ogni cominciamento

Stanno soli nell’ora il cavallo e l’albero.
Stanno da sempre nella neve.

- Antonio Prete, un cavallo nella neve.

Terje Rypdall – if mountains could sing
(If mountains could sing, 1994)
Moonspell – lua d’ inverno
(Wolfheart, 1995)
Balanescu Quartet – mountain call
(Maria t, 2005)
The durutti column – sketch for winter
(The return of the durutti column, 1979)
Japanese Seizure Robots – alone in a crowded room (extended version)
(unreleased)
Century of Airplanes – Zither Mcpheerson
(Travel in any direction, 2006)

Image: Josie Maran.

…
a meld quivers close to you, a lyric steam
of cold-pressed algae and dreaming driftwood.
From your throat, a voice unties, mythic bulbs
and whirlpool fingers, that beat in a wave
from some radio, resonating this scene
to one hundreds of years since, allusive

and having just begun your unseen
elements. Soon, a love song will outweigh
you, and split between your surrounding streams.

- Jessica Schneider , Sister Ophelia.

“The Last of the Romantic. 2 a.m.”

01. Frederic Chopin – Prelude in E minor op.28 no.4
02. Maurice Ravel – Gespart de la nuit (scarbo) (web)
03. J.S. Bach – Concerto No.5 for Piano and Orchestra in A Major
04. Krzysztof Penderecki – Miniatury No.3 (web)
05. Sergei Prokofiev – Sonata for Violin and Piano No.1 F Minor Op.80 (Andante) (web)
06. Alfred Schnittke – Piano Quintet (Moderato Pastolare) (web)
07. Osvaldo Golijov – K’varat
08. Scarlatti – Sonata in B Minor
09. Sergei Prokoviev – Visions Fugitives Op.22

note: An end of the year list with moderns I like, my continuing project trying to figure out the magic of pieces from turn of the century. One thing attracks me the most is how each pieces being interpreted as such with absolute control of timing to create tone and sound texture. Martha Argerich (Gespart de la nuit, Scarlatti’s Sonata) is still my hero in this regard. I also have to admit I still can’t forgo lyrical melodies. They makes music sweet. Prokofiev has some of the sweetest lyrics every laid on paper for Piano work. (Visions Fugitives) It’s a practical 2.m. list, part of traveling series. I hope it works. Cheers.

image credit: “the garden of my dreams… ” by strange_me