Sculpture "Sound Wave" by Jean Shin
After publishing our own best-of lists, we proudly present an essential selection of albums picked by the featured artists. There were different levels of collaboration with them in 2012: some recorded and contributed their exclusive mixes, others gave interviews or both. 41 artists, listed in alphabetical order, here present their most memorable releases of the fruitful 2012. The whole list amounts to over 200 diverse entries ranging from world music to metal, from IDM to post punk. Due to music catalogs or music shops, every artist is referred to some styles, genres. But it’s obvious that they are listening and exploring much more in music. All the presented mixes show that artists usually break the limits of styles they are referred to. Moreover, it is nice to see many essential reissues here as well, what makes us to remember albums from the past influencing the sound of present artists and unfolding in new ways in a different context.
These top 6 records of the year 2012 were selected very differently. Some of them picked albums that they were listening during the last months, some of them mentioned releases they have recently bought, some of them picked by intuition, made it in a strict order or vice versa. It is obvious though, that for the majority of them it was extremely hard to squeeze all the best material into 6 entries. So we can assume, that for each of them thoughtful and careful choices are made and unfortunately many other great pieces of work were not included.
Even though you might have already heard some of the records, there is still plenty of space for new discoveries and obscure gems. Have a great time exploring this elaborate and extensive list.
36
Dam Mantle / Becoming Real – Her Woes / Paramnesia [GETME!]
Funk Obese - ECL I-VI 'Dark Matters' [Solar Industry]
Burial - Kindred EP [Hyperdub]
1991 - High-Tech High-Life [Boomkat Editions]
Lee Gamble - Diversions 1994-1996 [Pan]
NRSB-11 – NRSB-11 [WéMè Records]
Aaron Martin
OM - Advaitic Songs [Drag City]
Umberto - Night Has A Thousand Screams [Rock Action Records]
Sounding the Deep - Return to the Quiet [Sonic Meditations]
Zelienople - The World Is A House On Fire [Type]
Grand Salvo - Slay Me In My Sleep [Preservation]
Plante - Harvest [Fedora Corpse Recordings]
Aidan Baker
Codeine - When I See The Sun [Numero Group]
Mount Eerie - Clear Moon [P.W. Elverum & Sun, Ltd.]
Swans - The Seer [Young God Records]
Hangedup & Tony Conrad - Transit of Venus [Constellation]
Mount Eerie - Ocean Roar [P.W. Elverum & Sun, Ltd.]
OM - Advaitic Songs [Drag City]
Anders Ilar
Edward Ka-Spel - This Saturated Land [Not On Label (Self-Released)]
The Legendary Pink Dots - The Creature That Tasted Sound [Trademark Of Quantity]
Kettel & Secede - When Can [Sending Orbs]
Dictaphone - Poems From a Rooftop [Sonic Pieces]
Shrubbn!! - Echos [Shitkatapult]
Dead Can Dance - Anastasis [[PIAS] Recordings]
ASC
Raime - Quarter Turns Over a Living Line [Blackest Ever Black]
Voices From The Lake Feat. Donato Dozzy & Neel - From The Lake [Prologue]
Kiyoko - Sea Of Trees [Auxiliary]
Mindspan - The Second Cycle [Silent Season]
1991 - 1991 [Astro:Dynamics]
Ulrich Schnauss & ASC - 77 EP [Auxiliary]
BJ Nilsen
Scott Walker – Bish Bosch [4AD]
Mark Fell - Sentielle Objectif Actualité [Editions Mego]
Grouper – Violet Replacement [Yellow Electric]
Can - The Lost Tapes [Mute]
Anthony Pateras - Errors Of The Human Body [Editions Mego]
Oren Ambarchi - Audience of One [Touch]
Cezary Gapik
Merzbow / Marhaug - Mer Mar [Editions Mego]
Luigi Archetti - Null II / Null III [Die Schachtel]
Daniel Menche - Guts [Editions Mego]
Napalm Death - Utilitarian [Century Media]
Ambarchi & Brinkmann - The Mortimer Trap [Black Truffle]
JK Flesh - Posthuman [3BY3]
Colin Andrew Sheffield
Jana Winderen - Débris [Touch]
Eleh - Homage To The Pointed Waveforms [Taiga Records]
Ingenting Kollektiva - Lost Beyond Telling [Invisible Birds]
Howlround - The Ghosts Of Bush [The Fog Signals]
Pye Corner Audio - Sleep Games [Ghost Box]
Slant Azymuth - Slant Azymuth [Pre-Cert Entertainment]
Dale Lloyd
Laurie Spiegel - The Expanding Universe (reissue) [Unseen Worlds]
Panabrite - The Baroque Atrium [Preservation]
John Grzinich - Two Films [and/OAR]
Brian Eno - Lux [Warp Records]
Frédéric Nogray - Buiti Binafin (Déambulation À La Lisière Du Monde) [3LEAVES]
Thomas Köner - Novaya Zemlya [Touch]
Dalglish
David Sylvian - A Victim Of Stars 1982 - 2012 [Virgin]
Helm - Impossible Symmetry [Pan]
The Caretaker - Patience / Extra Patience (After Sebald) [History Always Favours The Winners]
Scald Rougish - Bardachd [Icasea]
Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words
Natural Assembly – Arms Of Departure [Avant!]
Tollund Men — Door [Bleak Environment]
Death And Vanilla - Death And Vanilla [Hands In The Dark]
Sutekh Hexen - Larvæ [Handmade Birds]
Lower Synth Dept. - Plaster Mould [Genetic Music]
Various – Kosmoloko 2 [Galakthorrö]
DJ Ilmajaam
Claro Intelecto - Reform Club [Delsin]
Terre Thaemlitz - Soulnessless [Comatonse Recordings]
Ghosting Season - The Very Last Of The Saints [Last Night On Earth]
Dariush Dolat-Shahi - Electronic Music, Tar And Sehtar (reissue) [Dead-Cert Home Entertainment]
Juju & Jordash - Techno Primitivism [Dekmantel]
Professor Genius - Hassan [L.I.E.S. (Long Island Electrical Systems)]
Ekoplekz
Red Math - Obsolete Systems [Further Records]
IX Tab - Spindle & The Bregnut Tree [Not On Label (Self-Released)]
Thought Broadcast - Emergency Stairway [Editions Mego]
The Hers - Tough Cunt [Sex Lies Magnetic Tape]
Vindicatrix - Mengamuk [Mordant Music]
Helm - Impossible Symmetry [Pan]
Enrico Coniglio
Roland Etzin - TransMongolian [Gruenrekorder]
Thomas Köner - Novaya Zemlya [Touch]
Simon Scott - Below Sea Level [12k]
Deep Listening Band - Needle Drop Jungle [Taiga Records]
Asférico - Sonidos Del Subconsciente [Galaverna]
VVAA - Somewhere On The Edge [Gruenrekorder]
Ersha
Nils Frahm - Screws [Erased Tapes]
Anduin - Stolen Years [SMTG Limited]
Kettel & Secede - When Can [Sending Orbs]
Black Swan - Aeterna [Ethereal Symphony]
Oliwa - Rituals [Zeon Light]
Mind Over Mirrors - Check Your Swing [Hands In The Dark]
Golders Green
Aaron Dilloway - Modern Jester [Hanson Records]
Gesellschaft Zur Emanzipation Des Samples - More Circulations [Faitiche]
Peter Evans / Nate Wooley - Instrumentals Vol. 1 [Dead CEO]
Fennesz - Fa 2012 [Editions Mego]
Pinkcourtesyphone - Foley Folly Folio [Line]
Jefre Cantu-Ledesma - Visiting This World [En/Of]
Grant Evans
Sean McCann, Matthew Sullivan & Jeff Witscher - Barb [Salon]
Joshua Bonnetta - American Colour [Senufo Editions]
Villages - Theories Of Ageing [Bathetic Records]
Aaron Dilloway - Modern Jester [Hanson Records]
Everyday Loneliness - Recontextualizations [Arbor]
Rain Drinkers - Yesodic Helices [Brave Mysteries]
High Wolf
Bola - Volume 7 [Awesome Tapes From Africa]
NHK'Koyxeи - Dance Classics Vol. II [Pan]
Oren Ambarchi - Raga Ooty / The Nilgiri Plateau [Bo'Weavil Recordings]
Goat - World Music [Rocket Recordings]
Various - Eat The Dream: Gnawa Music From Essaouira [Sublime Frequencies]
Pulse Emitter / Date Palms / Expo 70 / Faceplant - 4 Way Split [Immune]
Jara Tarnovski
Beak> - Beak>> [Invada]
Jessica Bailiff - At The Down-Turned Jagged Rim Of The Sky [Kranky]
Federsel & Mäkelä - An Evening With Federsel & Mäkelä [Poli5]
Parallel 41 - Parallel 41 [Baskaru]
Gareth Dickson - Quite A Way Away [12k]
Evade - Destroy & Dream [Kitchen]
Kreng
Swans - The Seer [Young God Records]
Otto A Totland / Erik K Skodvin - Harmony From The Past [Sonic Pieces]
Matt Elliott - The Broken Man [Ici D'Ailleurs]
Jonny Greenwood - The Master [Nonesuch]
Steve Roden - ... I Listen To The Wind That Obliterates My Traces - Music In Vernacular Photographs, 1880-1955 [Dust To Digital]
Gabriel Saloman - Adhere [Miasmah]
Lasse Marhaug
Scott Walker - Bish Bosch [4AD]
Okkultokrati - Snake Reigns [Fysisk Format]
Chris Corsano - Cut [Hot Cars Warp Records]
Nekromantheon - Rise, Vulcan Spectre [Indie Recordings]
Jason Crumer - Let There Be Crumer [Second Layer Records]
Entre Vifs - Heavy Duty (reissue) [Influencing Machine Records]
Lawrence English
Grouper - Violet Replacement [Yellow Electric]
Maggi Payne - Ahh-Ahh Music For Ed Tannenbaum's Technological Feets 1984-1987 [Root Strata]
Scott Walker - Bish Bosch [4AD]
Black Rain – Now I'm Just A Number: Soundtracks 1994-95 [Blackest Ever Black]
Earth - Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II [Southern Lord]
Swans - The Seer [Young God Records]
Leonardo Rosado
Parallel 41 - Parallel 41 [Baskaru]
Birds of Passage and I’ve Lost - I Was All You Are [Heat Death Records]
Steve Peters + Steve Roden - Not A Leaf Remains As It Was [12k]
Cello + Laptop - Parallel Paths [Envelope Collective]
Richard Skelton - Verse Of Birds [Corbel Stone Press]
Greg Haines - Digressions [Preservation]
Listening Mirror
William Basinski - Disintegration Loops Box Set [Temporary Residence]
Swans - The Seer [Young God Records]
William Cody Watson - Bill Murray [Bathetic]
Raime - Quarter Turns Over a Living Line [Blackest Ever Black]
Demdike Stare - Elemental [Modern Love]
X-TG - Desertshore / The Final Report [Industrial Records]
Machinefabriek
Hildur Guðnadóttir - Leyfdu ljosinu [Touch]
Greg Haines - Digressions [Preservation]
Anne-James Chaton with Alva Noto and Andy Moor – Décade [Raster-Noton]
Perfume Genius - Put Your Back N 2 It [Matador]
Will Guthrie - Sticks, Stones & Breaking Bones [Antboy Music]
Laurie Spiegel - The Expanding Universe (reissue) [Unseen Worlds]
Marcus Fjellström
Gareth Davis & Frances-Marie Uitti - Gramercy [Miasmah]
Otto A Totland / Erik K Skodvin - Harmony From The Past [Sonic Pieces]
Scott Walker - Bish Bosch [4AD]
Kreng – Works For Abattoir Fermé 2007 2011 [Miasmah]
Machinefabriek - Colour Tones [Fang Bomb]
Simon Scott - Below Sea Level [12k]
Mark Harwood
Matthew P. Hopkins - Small Entry [Horizon Pages]
Various - Wandelweiser Und So Weiter [Another Timbre]
Quentin Meillassoux - The Number And The Siren
Robert McDougall - Unfinished Studies [Angklung Editions]
Laurent Binet - HHhH
Karlheinz Stockhausen - Mittwoch aus Licht (Birmingham)
Mike Shiflet
Black To Comm - EARTH [De Stijl]
Sylvain Chauveau & Stephan Mathieu - Palimpsest [Schwebung]
Swans - The Seer [Young God Records]
Locrian & Mamiffer - Bless Them That Curse You [Utech Records]
Mount Eerie - Clear Moon [P.W. Elverum & Sun, Ltd.]
Mika Vainio – Fe₃O₄ – Magnetite [Touch]
Mnemonic45
Mirrorring - Foreign Body [Kranky]
Brambles - Charcoal [Serein]
Various - Lost In The Humming Air (Music Inspired By Harold Budd) [Oktaf]
Dictaphone - Poems From A Rooftop [Sonic Pieces]
Bvdub - Serenity [Darla]
Pleq And Hakobune - Adrift [Nomadic Kids Republic]
Mokira
Silent Servant - Negative Fascination [Hospital Productions]
Tin Man - Neo Neo Acid [Acid Test]
Norman Nodge - Berghain 06 [Ostgut Ton]
Andy Stott - Luxury Problems [Modern Love]
Shed - The Killer [50Weapons]
Sendai - Geotope [Time To Express]
Obtane
Vatican Shadow - Kneel Before Religious Icons [Type]
Charlatan - Isolatarium [Type]
Outer Space - Outer Space II [Blast First Petite]
Black Rain - Now I'm Just A Number: Soundtracks 1994-95 [Blackest Ever Black]
Silent Servant - Negative Fascination [Hospital Productions]
Bee Mask - When We Were Eating Unripe Pears [Spectrum Spools]
Orphx
Raime - Quarter Turns Over a Living Line [Blackest Ever Black]
Silent Servant - Negative Fascination [Hospital Productions]
Mika Vainio - Fe₃O₄ - Magnetite [Touch]
Shackleton - Music For The Quiet Hour / The Drawbar Organ [Woe To The Septic Heart!]
Vatican Shadow - Ornamented Walls [Modern Love]
Swans - The Seer [Young God Records]
Pillowdiver
Nihill - Verdonkermaan [Hydra Head]
Ian Hawgood - The Shattered Light [Koen Music]
Sublamp - Orphan Horns [Self-released]
Sylvain Chauveau & Stephan Mathieu - Palimpsest [Schwebung]
Cleaners From Venus - Box Set, Vol. 1 [Captured Tracks]
Horrid Red - Nightly Wreaths [Terrible Records]
Pimmon
Blank Realm - Go Easy [Siltbreeze]
Digital Natives - Parted By The Say [Housecraft Records]
Euglossine - Floridian Abstract [Rotifer Cassettes]
Vikki Jackman, Andrew Chalk & Jean-Nöel Rebilly - A Paper Doll's Whisper Of Spring [Self-released]
Sky Needle - Rave Cave [Negative Guest List Records]
Land Observations - Roman Roads IV - XI [Mute Artists Ltd.]
Scanner
Amon Tobin - Amon Tobin Box Set [Ninja Tune]
Swans - The Seer [Young God Records]
Clock DVA - Horology - DVAtion 78/79/80 (reissue) [Vinyl-on-Demand]
X-TG - Desertshore / The Final Report [Industrial Records]
Can - The Lost Tapes [Mute]
King Crimson - Larks’ Tongues in Aspic Box Set (reissue) [Burning Shed/DGM]
Steve Roden
Stephen Vitiello - Dowsing [Farpoint Recordings]
Robert Turman - Flux (reissue) [Spectrum Spools]
Vatican Shadow - Ornamented Walls [Modern Love]
Zoviet France - 7.10.12 [Altvinyl]
Ben Vida - Esstends-Esstends-Esstends [Pan]
Celer & Machinefabriek - Hei / Sou [Self-released]
Talvihorros
Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe - Timon Irnok Manta [Type]
Gabriel Saloman - Adhere [Miasmah]
Raime - Quarter Turns Over a Living Line [Blackest Ever Black]
Stian Westerhus - The Matriarch and the Wrong Kind Of Flowers [Rune Grammofon]
Kane Ikin - Sublunar [12k]
Paul Corley - Disquiet [Bedroom Community]
Team Doyobi (Alex Peverett)
Polysick - Digital Native [Planet Mu]
Le Révélateur - Horizon Fears [NNA Tapes]
Laurie Spiegel - The Expanding Universe (reissue) [Unseen Worlds]
Tod Dockstader - Recorded Music For Film, Radio & Television: Electronic Vol.1 (reissue) [Mordant Music]
Poborsk - Waiting For Junior [Icasea]
Bernard Parmegiani - L'Œil Écoute / Dedans-Dehors (reissue) [Recollection GRM]
Team Doyobi (Chris Gladwin)
Swans - The Seer [Young God Records]
Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats - Blood Lust [Rise Above Records]
Can - The Lost Tapes [Mute]
Bong - Mana-Yood-Sushai [Ritual Productions]
White Hills - Frying On This Rock [Thrill Jockey]
Pharaoh Overlord - Lunar Jetman [Ektro Records]
The KVB
Ela Orleans / U.S. Girls / Slim Twig / Dirty Beaches - The Statement [Clan Destine Records]
Tame Impala - Lonerism [Modular Recordings]
Tamaryn - Tender New Signs [Mexican Summer]
The Soft Moon - Zeros [Captured Tracks]
Led Er Est - The Diver [Sacred Bones Records]
Silent Servant - Negative Fascination [Hospital Productions]
Tropic Of Cancer
Lebanon Hanover - Why Not Just Be Solo [Fabrika Records]
Horrid Red - Nightly Wreaths [Terrible Records]
Tor Lundvall - The Shipyard [Dais Records]
Robin The Fog - The Ghosts Of Bush [The Fog Signals]
White Hex - Heat [Avant! Records]
Raime - Quarter Turns Over A Living Line [Blackest Ever Black]
One more time we would like to express big thanks to all of the artists, who contributed to those lists. You are the essential source of inspiration and drive for us. We hope to continue this mutual collaborations in the future. And of course we cannot forget our readers without whom we would not exist. All have a good Christmas and happy New Year. Hope the following year will be good, happy and productive.
