The year is drawing to a close and, like many others, I too have been reviewing the year in musical terms. In previous years, I have tried to compile lists of the best albums and songs. I abandoned this plan because I found it difficult to summarise the releases in a table. That's why I'm going to summarise the most interesting and perhaps best albums and songs for me in columns over the next few days.
Enough preamble.
One of the most impressive albums of this year for me was >>>> by Beak>. After Geoff Barrow left Portishead, he teamed up with Bobby Fuller to try out new forms of arrangement. Since then, they have regularly released albums with a progressive mixture of hypnotic electronics and drone-like rockism. An album for the head with deep roots in krautrock, somewhere between Neu! and Can. The opener already shows the direction. A church organ plays for a minute before synths and Liebezeit-like drums kick in. Incredibly good and a top-class album.
Craven Faults are another band that doesn't stick to classic song structures. They describe their music as background music for long walks through the north of England. All songs have a strong hypnotic and meditative touch that carries you far away and is unique in this form.
Since a couple of years Irish DJ and producer Mike Wilson releases superb music. The main thing is Balearic but with a lot of influences by classic music, psychedelia and house. His Shine A Light, which has nothing in common with the Rolling Stones is a belter.
The Woodentops are still alive and from time to time they release some new stuff. Most of them are worth to make a great rework like Coyote did this year.
