Wednesday, January 09, 2013



Ok, so this business again.

In 2012 I was entirely lackadaisical about maintaining any listing of my favorite recordings but trawling through the years posts, these are the releases I enjoyed the most, entirely beautiful work for which I deeply thank the musicians and label owners (alpha order, received by me in 2012):

Antoine Beuger - s'approcher, s'eloigner, s'absenter (Erst Live)
John Cage (organized by Antoine Beuger) - Empty Words (Edition Wandelweiser)
Lucio Capece - Zero Plus Zero (Potlatch)
Morton Feldman - Crippled Symmetry (frozen reeds)
Reinhold Friedl - Mutanza (Bocian)
Will Guthrie - Sticks, Stones and Breaking Bones (Antboy)
Eva-Maria Houben - druids and questions (Edition Wandelweiser)
Catherine Lamb - three bodies moving (Another Timbre)
Radu Malfatti - darenootodesuka (b-boim)
Michael Pisaro/Taku Sugimoto - D Minor/Bb Major (Slub)
Michael Pisaro/Toshiya Tsunoda - crosshatches (Erstwhile)
Vanessa Rossetto - Exotic Exit (Kye)
Keith Rowe - September (Erst Live)
Keith Rowe/John Tilbury - Tension and Circumstance (Potlatch)
Jakob Ullman - Fremd Zeit Addendum (Editions RZ)
Christian Wolff/Keith Rowe - s/t (Erst Live)


If I were forced to choose one, it's likely "crosshatches"

And special mention for "wandelweiser und so weiter" (Another Timbre), necessarily somewhat inconsistent given its size, but the best pieces there, including those by Beuger, Pisaro, Sfirri and Malfatti every bit as glorious as those cited above.

Other releases I also loved:

Marc Baron - ∩ (Cathnor)
Alfredo Costa-Monteiro - Umbralia (Triple Bath)
Cremaster/Angharad Davies - pluie fine (Potlatch)
Angharad Davies/Tisha Mukarji/Dimitra Lazaridou-Chatzigoga - outwash (Another Timbre)
Jürg Frey (R. Andrew Lee) - Piano Music (Irritable Hedgehog)
Eva-Maria Houben - orgelbuch (Edition Wandelweiser)
I Treni Inerti - luz azul (Flexion)
Martin Küchen - Hellstorm (Mathka)
Andrew Lafkas - Making Words (Sacred Realism)
Catherine Lamb/Bryan Eubanks - Untitled #2 (Sacred Realism)
Jason Lescalleet - Songs About Nothing (Erstwhile)
Mites - Passing Resemblance (Copy for Your Records)
Seijiro Murayama/Kazushige Kinoshita - 59:01:68 (ftarri)
Andrea Neumann/Bonnie Jones - Green just as I could see (Erstwhile)
Jin Sangtae - Sacrifice 2 (Ghost & Son)
Tandem Electrics - big hearts, small rats (Copy for Your Records)
Manfred Werder/Bruno Duplant - deux trois choses ou presque (Engraved Glass)
Anna Zaradny/Burkhard Stangl - s/t (Bocian)


And special citation to Bôłt Records for their endlessly fascinating issuance of obscure (to me) Polish contemporary music.

Deep thanks and appreciation to all.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Puzzled by the non-appearance of Skogen's Ist Gefallen In Den Schnee on AT.

Brian Olewnick said...

You know, if I recall correctly, that was one I passed on from a batch of ATs. I've often thought I missed something and, especially after I met Magnus Granberg in Vasteros, thought that i should revisit. I did notice it popping upon a number of year's favorites lists...

jesse said...

i think it's an oversight you'll be happy you remedy, right up your street, brian.

Anonymous said...

Pretty good list for that late-night improv,but number one w/a bullet:https://soundcloud.com/dead-country/dead-country-feat-alfred-23