Monday, December 25, 2023

2023 In Music: New Music Top 100

Another year gone, and this ritual of marking cultural time begins to feel as if it arrives ever more frequently,  and the act of placing creative works (not all of them quite qualify as albums) in order feels ever more arbitrary. As ever, please see this as an act of sharing rather than an act of ranking and judging. There is roughly an ascending order here, but it is hardly rigorous. I could have chosen an entirely different set of music from my Longlist and still have felt comfortable with it. And yet I do feel remarkably happy with this list. Without much purposeful consideration for representation, it again includes a good proportion of female artists. It represents the sheer breadth of recorded music in the 2020s pretty well. It highlights some works worthy of wider attention alongside some choices that will be predictable for anyone who knows me or my musical interests. It also includes a handful of artists that are new to me this year and I am glad to still be making valuable musical discoveries in my 40s.

Some things that stand out for various reasons: The kaleidoscopic range of Dave Harrington’s musical vision (he is one of my favourite musicians right now); Mike Reed’s multidisciplinary supergroup The Separatist Party who were superb both live and on record this year; a mountain of material from the thrilling and uncompromising Kate Gentile; PJ Harvey blessing us with an old cliche by genuinely ‘returning to form’; Peter Gabriel finally ending our wait of over 20 years; L’Rain crafting something vivid, otherworldly, artful and moving; a couple of inventive and idiosyncratic hip hop albums from Aesop Rock and Armand Hammer; some moving last testaments from much missed artists (the beautiful and honest sounding reconstructed final Sparklehorse album, Ryuichi Sakamoto and jaimie branch - the sheer energy and resistance spirit of the latter showing there would have been so much more to come); Rosali making a left field album of guitar improvisations under the Edsel Axle moniker (her return as Rosali on Merge next year should be a big deal); Lucinda Williams partially recovering from a stroke to make an album as strong and confident as any she has made; Depeche Mode sadly now being a man down after the unexpected passing of Fletch but making the best record they have made since Ultra; for better or for worse the entire Tzadik catalogue going on Spotify and suddenly having easy access to the maverick and wonderful world of John Zorn; Corinne Bailey Rae’s refusal to be pigeonholed; Wadada Leo Smith belatedly channelling electric Miles to spectacular effect; my album of the year somehow combining a deft and strong melodic sense with provocative abstractions and abrasions and making it sound like the most natural thing in the world. That album, and the welcome return of Cornelius, were probably the two things to go most unfairly under the radar this year. 

Sunny War - Anarchist Gospel (New West) 

Tara Clerkin Trio - On The Turning Ground (World of Echo)

Tinariwen - Amatssou (Wedge)

Jenny Lewis - Joy’All (Blue Note)

Angel Bat Dawid - Requiem For Jazz (International Anthem)

Alasdair Roberts - Grief In The Kitchen and Mirth In The Hall (Drag City)

Nourished By Time - Erotic Probiotic 2 (Scenic Route) 

Marnie Stern - The Comeback Kid (Joyful Noise Recordings)

Patrick Shiroishi - I Was Too Young To Hear Silence (American Dreams)

Raze Regal & White Denim Inc - Raze Regal & White Denim Inc. (Bella Union)

Fergus McCreadie - Sketches (Edition)

David Preston - Purple/Black Vol. 1 (Whirlwind)

Klein - touched by an Angel (Parkwuud Entertainment)

Teenage Fanclub - Nothing Lasts Forever (PeMa)

Jamila Woods - Water Made Us (Jagjaguwar)

Kassa Overall - ANIMALS (Warp)

Blue Lake - Sun Arcs (Tonal Union)

Darius Jones - FLuXkit Vancouver (its suite but sacred) (We Jazz)

Moritz Von Oswald - Silencio (Tresor)

Emma Rawicz - Chroma (ACT)

Laura Groves - Radio Red (Bella Union)

Dustin Wong - Perpetual Morphosis (Hausu Mountain)

Ricardo Dias Gomes - Muito Sol (Hive Mind)

Sam Dunscombe - Two Forests/Oceanic (Black Truffle)

Sam Wilkes - Driving (Wilkes)

Theo Parrish and Maurissa Rose - Free Myself (Sound Signature)

Feist - Multitudes (Polydor)

billy woods and Kenny Segal - Maps (Backwoodz Studios)

Jessie Ware - That! Feels Good! (UMO)

Jlin - Perspective (Planet Mu)

Bex Burch - There Is Only Love and Fear (International Anthem)

Mendoza/Hoff/Revels - Echolocation (AUM Fidelity)

Joseph Shabason - Welcome To Hell (Telephone Explosion)

Irreversible Entanglements - Protect Your Light (Impulse!) 

Laurel Halo - Atlas (Awe)

Umlaut Chamber Orchestra - Zodiac Suite - Mary Lou Williams (Umlaut)

Amor Muere - A Time To Love, A Time To Die (Scrawl World)

James Brandon Lewis - Eye Of I (ANTI-)

James Brandon Lewis Red Lily Quintet - For Mahalia, With Love (Tao Forms)

Sufjan Stevens - Javelin (Asthmatic Kitty)

Radian - Distorted Rooms (Thrill Jockey)

Eddie Chacon - Sundown (Stones Throw)

Arooj Aftab/Shahzad Ismaily/Vijay Iyer - Love in Exile (Verve)

Waclaw Zimpel/Shackleton/Siddharta Belmannu - In The Cell Of Dreams (7K!)

Peter Gabriel - i/o (Real World)

Loraine James - Gentle Confrontation (Hyperdub)

Myra Melford’s Fire and Water Quintet - Hear The Light Singing (Rogue Art)

Allison Russell - The Returner (Birds of Chicago/Fantasy)

Moss Freed/Union Division - Micromotives (Discus Music)

Hiss Golden Messenger - Jump For Joy (Merge)

Isolee - Resort Island (Resort Island)

Paul Simon - Seven Psalms (Owl Records/Sony)

Nate Scheible - Plume (Warm Winters)

Cornelius - Dream in Dream (Like Ltd/Warner Music Japan)

Iris DeMent - Workin’ On A World (Songs of Iris)

Sylvie Courvoisier - Chimaera (Intakt)

Corinne Bailey Rae - Black Rainbows (Black Rainbows Music/Thirty Tigers)

Bill Orcutt - Anxiety Of Symmetry (Fake Estates)

Bill Orcutt - Jump On It (Palilalia)

Creation Rebel - Hostile Environment (On-U Sound)

Multitraction Orchestra - Reactor One (Alex Roth/Aion/Superpang)

John Zorn - New Masada Quartet Vol. 2 (Tzadik)

Meg Baird - Furling (Drag City)

Aksak Maboul - Une Aventure de VV (Songspiel) (Crammed Discs)

Gerald Cleaver/Hprism/Brandon Lopez - In The Wilderness (Positive Elevation/577)

Gerald Cleaver - 22/23 (Positive Elevation/577)

Blake Mills - Jelly Road (New Deal/Verve)

Slauson Malone 1 - Excelsior (Warp) 

Califone - Villagers (Jealous Butcher)

Sparklehorse - Bird Machine (ANTI-)

Setting - Shone A Rainbow Light On (Paradise of Bachelors)

Lucinda Williams - Stories From A Rock N’ Roll Heart (Highway 20/Thirty Tigers)

Armand Hammer - We Buy Diabetic Test Strips (Backwoodz Studios)

Julie Byrne - The Greater Wings (Ghostly International)

John Cale - Mercy (Domino)

Depeche Mode - Memento Mori (Venusnote/Columbia)

Historically Fucked - The Mule Peasants Revolt of 12,066 (Upset The Rhyhm)

Bob Dylan - Shadow  Kingdom (Columbia)

Edsel Axle - Variable Happiness (Worried Songs)

Henry Threadgill Ensemble - The Other One (Pi) 

Daniel Bachman - When The Roses Come  Again (Three Lobed)

PJ Harvey - I Inside The Old Year Dying (Partisan)

The Necks - Travel (Northern Spy)

Anohni & The Johnsons - My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross (Rebis Music/Rough Trade)

Sebastian Rochford & Kit Downes - A Short Diary (ECM)

Rob Mazurek Exploding Star Orchestra - Lightning Dreamers (International Anthem)

Natural Information Society - Since Time Is Gravity (Eremite)

Ryuichi Sakamoto - 12 (KAB America/Milan/Sony)

Matana Roberts - Coin Coin Chapter Five: In The Garden (Constellation) 

Jonny Nash - Point Of Entry (Melody As Truth)

Yo La Tengo - This Stupid World (Matador)

Wadada Leo Smith and Orange Wave Electric - Fire Illuminations (Kabell)

Aesop Rock - Integrated Tech Solutions (Rhymesayers Entertainment) 

Kate Gentile and International Contemporary Ensemble - b i o m e i.i (Obliquity)

Kate Gentile - Find Letter X (Pi) 

jaimie branch - fly or die fly or die fly or die ((world war)) (International Anthem)

Dave Harrington - The Pictures (Minaret)

Mike Reed - The Separatist Party (We Jazz)

L’Rain - I Killed Your Dog (Mexican Summer)

**Daniel Blumberg - GUT (Mute)**

Sunday, December 24, 2023

2023 In Music Longlist

January

H.C. McEntire - Every Acre
Meg Baird - Furling
John Cale - Mercy
Sebastian Rochford & Kit Downes - A Short Diary
Moss Freed/Union Division - Micromotives
Ryuichi Sakamoto - 12
Lil Yachty - Let’s Start Here
AKA Moon & The Orchestral Constellation - Quality Of Joy
Kali Malone - Does Spring Hide Its Joy

Deathprod - Compositions
SUSS - SUSS
Wolfgang Haffner - Silent World
Beats & Pieces Big Band - Good Days
Declaime & Madlib - In The Beginning Vol. 3
Susan Alcorn, Patrick Holmes & Ryan Sawyer - From Union Pool
Rian Treanor & Ocen James - Saccades
Davide Cedolin - Ligurian Pastoral
Italia 90 - Living Human Treasure

Tuulikki Bartosik - Playscapes
Ben Frost - Broken Spectre
Burnt Friedman - Hexenschuss
Margo Price - Strays
Marlody - I’m Not Sure At All
Rozi Plain - Prize
Lucas Santtana - O Paraiso
Gena Rose Bruce - Deep Is The Way
Complete Mountain Almanac - Complete Mountain Almanac

Yves Malone - A Hello To A Goodbye
The Zephyrs - For Sapphire Needle
Joe Henry - All The Eye Can See
Le Cri Du Claire - Le Cri Du Caire
Gloss Up - Before The Gloss Up
Mette Henriette - Drifting

John Zorn - New Masada Quartet Vol. 2

Patrick Shiroishi - Evergreen

mark williams lewis - Living

The Tubs - Dead Meat

February 

The Necks - Travel
Yo La Tengo - This Stupid World
James Brandon Lewis - Eye Of I
Iris DeMent - Workin’ On A World
Antti Lötjönen - Circus/Citadel
Kassel Jaeger - Shifted In Dreams
Sunny War - Anarchist Gospel
Historically Fucked - The Mule Peasants’ Revolt of 12,067
David Brewis - The Soft Struggles

Samuel Rohrer - Codes Of Nature
Robert Forster - The Candle & The Flame
Seljuk Rustum - Cardboard Castles
Aki Takase - Carmen Rhapsody
Quasi - Breaking The Balls Of History
Young Fathers - Heavy Heavy
Mikkel Ploug Group feat. Mark Turner - Nocturnes
Sam Gendel - COOKUP
Pile - All Fiction

Rien Faire - Peuple
Brandon Ross - Of Sight & Sound
Chris Dingman - Journeys Vol. 2
Avey Tare - 7s
Ron Sexsmith - The Vivian Line
Valentina Magaletti & Laila Sakini - Cupo
Christian McBride’s New Jawn - Prime
Lisa O’Neill - All Of This Is Chance
Kelela - The Raven

Preservation - Four The Miles Ahead
Paramore - This Is Why
Orbital - Optical Delusion
Wesley Joseph - Glow
Caroline Polachek - Desire, I Want To Turn Into You
Faten Kanaan - Afterpoem
Romance & Dean Hurley - River of Dreams
Patrick Shiroishi & Dustin Wong - A Red Thread
Biliana Voutchkova & Sarah Davachi - Slow Poem For Stiebler

Pama Int’l Meets Wrongtom In Dub
Gina Birch - I Play My Bass Loud
The Waeve - The Waeve

Khotin - Release Spirit

Tim Garland and Jason Rebello - Life To Life

King Ayisoba - Work Hard

March 

Wadada Leo Smith - Fire Illuminations
Depeche Mode - Memento Mori
Alasdair Roberts - Grief In The Kitchen and Mirth In The Hall
Rob Mazurek Exploding Star Orchestra - Lightning Dreamers
Angel Bat Dawid - Requiem For Jazz
Arooj Aftab, Shahzad Ismaily & Vijay Iyer - Love In Exile
Gerald Cleaver, Brandon Lopez & Hprizm - In The Wilderness
Richard Skelton - Selenodesy
A Certain Ratio - 1982

Joanne Robertson - Blue Car (March

Nicholas Krgovich - Ducks
Eddie Chacon - Sundown
Doug Paisley - Say What You Like
Rat Heart Ensemble - Luv Songs 4 When Ur Life’s A Mess
Deerhoof - Miracle Level
Aksak Maboul - Une Aventure de VV
Lonnie Holley - Oh Me Oh My
Lia Kohl - The Ceiling Reposes
Cough Cool - Ash In The Garden

William Tyler & The Impossible Truth - Secret Stratosphere
London Brew - London Brew
Dur-Dur Band International - The Berlin Session
Lukas Traxel - One Eyed Daruma
Elijah McLaughlin Ensemble - III
Steve Gunn & David Moore - Let The Moon Be A Planet
Sissoko/Segal/Parisien/Peirani - Les Égarés 
Fever Ray - Radical Romantics
boygenius - The Record

Molina, Talbot, Lofgren & Young - All Roads Lead Home
Benoit Pioulard - Eidetic
Decolonize Your Mind Society - A Second Invitation To An Uninterrupted Katabatic Lens
Bono Stenson Trio - Sphere
Ralph Towner - At First Light 
The New Pornographers - Continue As A Guest
JPEGMAFIA & Danny Brown - Scaring The Hoes
Lankum - False Lankum
Organic Pulse Ensemble - A Thousand Hands

Unknown Mortal Orchestra - V
Frederic D. Overland - Solstices
Yves Tumor - Praise A Lord Which Chews But Does Not Consume (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds)
Esthesis Quartet - Time Zones
Yaya Bey - Exodus The North Star
Kerkko Koskinen/Linda Fredriksson/UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra - Agatha 2
Yazmin Lacey - Voice Notes
Lana Del Rey - Did You Know There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd? 
Smote - Genog

Trees Speak - Mind Maze
Black Country, New Road - Live At Bush Hall
KUF - Yield
Cruel Diagonals - Fractured Whole
Dom Flemons - Traveling Wildfire
Steve Mason - Brothers and Sisters
Rodrigo Campos - Pagode Novo
Nia Archives - Sunrise Bang Yr Head Against Tha Wall
Ingrid Laubrock - The Last Quiet Place 

Dorothy Moskowitz & The United States of Alchemy - Under An Endless Sky
Richard Youngs - Modern Sorrow
Waclaw Zimpel - Train Spotter
Altin Gun - Aşk
Secret Machines - The Moth, The Lizard & The Secret Machines
Purling Hiss - Drag On Girard
The Reds, Pinks & Purples - The Town That Cursed Your Name
The Hold Steady - The Price of Progress
Larry June & The Alchemist - The Great Escape

Katie Gately - Fawn/Brute
Tzusing - Green Hat
Mali Mali - Spirit Tide
Laura Cannell - No Sound Is Lost
Ivo Perelman & Elliott Sharp - Artificial Intelligence
Ivo Perelman & Joe Morris - Elliptic Time

James Holden - Imagine This Is A High Dimensional Space Of All Possibilities

Tristan Banks - View From Above

April

Natural Information Society - Since Time Is Gravity
Bill Orcutt - Jump On It
MultiTraction Orchestra - Reactor One
Feist - Multitudes
Dave Okumu & The 7 Generations - I Came From Love 
North Americans - Long Cool World
Jessie Ware - That! Feels Good! 
Susanne Sundfør - Blómi 
David Preston - Purple/Black Vol. 1

Tim Hecker - No Highs
Elkhorn - On The Whole Universe In All Directions
Wednesday - Rat Saw God
Fire! Orchestra - Echoes
Mark Sanders & Emil Karlsen - Muted Language
Everything But The Girl - Fuse
Taiko Saito - Tears Of A Cloud
Dragonchild - Dragonchild
Mark Guiliana - Mischief

Josephine Foster - Domestic Sphere
Nick Waterhouse - The Fooler
Daniel Caesar - Never Enough
Jana Horn - The Window Is The Dream
Cylob - I Will Cross Any Bridge 
μ-Ziq - 1977
Matt Mitchell - Oblong Aplomb
OZmotic/Fennesz - Senzatempo
Rose City Band - Garden Party

Cindy - Why Not Now (April)
Turner Williams Jr. - Briars On A Dewdrop (April)
Nourished By Time - Erotic Probiotic 2 (April)
Burning Ferns - World Of The Wars (April)
Ruth Anderson & Annea Lockwood - Tete a Tete (April)
Lisa/Liza - Breaking & Mending (April)
Powers/Pulice/Rolin - Prism (April)

Nashville Ambient Ensemble - Light and Space
KVL - Volume 2
Ben Wendel - All One
Brigdhe Chaimbeul - Carry Them With Us
Rich Ruth - Settling In
Spencer Cullum - Coin Collection Vol. 2
Scott Fields Ensemble - Sand
Sabiwa - Island No. 16: Memories of Future Landscapes
Jakob Manz - Groove Connection

Edena Gardens - Agar
Alexander Hawkins Trio - Carnival Celestial
Leveret - Forms
Robyn Hitchcock - Life After Infinity
Calvin Johnson - Gallows Wine
Mudhoney - Plastic Eternity
Easy Star All Stars - Ziggy Stardub
Ale Hop & Laura Robles - Agua Dulce
Ken Ikoda - Sparse Memory

Dan Rosenboom - Polarity
Yaeji - With A Hammer
The Orb - Prism
Flock - In C
Civilistjävel! - Fyra Platser
Aki Takase & Alexander Von Schlippenbach - Four Hands Piano Pieces
Skinny Pelembe - Hardly The Same Snake
Maxine Funke - River Said
GoGo Penguin - Everything Is Going To Be OK

YUNGMORPHEUS - From Whence It Came
Dom La Nena - Leon
Romance - Fade Into You

May

Daniel Blumberg - GUT
Henry Threadgill Ensemble - The Other One
billy woods and Kenny Segal - Maps
Kate Gentile and International Contemporary Ensemble - b i o m e i.i 
Gerald Cleaver - 22/23
Califone - Villagers
Kassa Overall - Animals
Tinariwen - Amatssou
Nate Scheible - Plume 

Paul Simon - Seven Psalms

Wata Igarashi - Agharta (May)
Angelica Rockne - The Rose Society (May)
The Vampires - Nightjar (May)
Water From Your Eyes - Everyone’s Cursed (May)

Sparks - The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte
The Purge Of Tomorrow - The Other Side of Devastation
Brandon Seabrook’s Epic Proportions - brutallovechamp 
M. Sage - Paradise Crick
The Pines of Rome - The Unstruck Bell
Erik Friedlander - She Sees
Robert Ellis - Yesterday’s News
Asher Gamedze - Turbulence and Pulse
Cian Nugent - She Brings Me Back to the Land of the Living

Shirley Collins - Archangel Hill
Isolee - Resort Island
Kayhan Kalhor & Toumani Diabate - The Sky is the Same Colour Everywhere
Oval - Romantiq
Cory Hanson - Western Cum 
The Circling Sun - Spirits
Fatoumata Diawara - London Ko
Sylvie Courvoisier & Cory Smythe - The Rite of Spring
Eli Keszler - Live

Matthew Herbert & London Contemporary Orchestra - The Horse
Mats Gustafsson’s The End - Why Do You Mourn?
Ultramarine - Send & Return
Laurent Garnier - 33 Tours Et Puit S’en Vont
Rick Simpson - Twice Shaded
Colin Stetson - When We Were That What Wept For The Sea
The Flame - Towards The Flame Vol. 1
Craven Faults - Standers
Sam Weinberg Trio - Implicatures

Mega Bog - End Of Everything
Cyro Baptista - Chama
Alexander Flood - Oscillate
Immaterial Possession - Mercy of the Crane Folk
Graham Nash - Now
Horse Jumper Of Love - Heartbreak Rules
The Lemon Twigs - Everything Harmony
Namian Sidibe - Namian Sidibe
EABs meets Jaubi - In Search of a Better Tomorrow

Bar Italia - Tracey Denim
Durand Jones - Wait Til I Get Over
Echoes Of Zoo - Speech of Species
Khanate - To Be Cruel
Daniel Avery - More Truth
Arlo Parks - More Soft Machine
Kevin Morby - More Photographs (A Continuum)
Waswas - Just because you wander in the desert, it does not mean there is a promised land
Wolf Eyes - Dreams In Spattered Lines

Aya Metwalli & Calamita - Al Saher

June

Bob Dylan - Shadow Kingdom
Lucinda Williams - Stories From A Rock n Roll Heart
Theo Parrish and Maurissa Rose - Free Myself
Jenny Lewis - Joy’All
Theodore Cale Schafer - Trust
Dee Byrne - Outlines
Flesh and the Dream - Choose Mortality
Blue Lake - Sun Arcs
Danny Paul Grody - Arc of Day

Cornelius - Dream in Dream (June)
Philip Jeck & Chris Watson - Oxmardyke (June)

Wild Up - Julius Eastman Vol. 3: If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich?
Laura Cantrell - Just Like A Rose: The Anniversary Sessions
Knower - Knower Forever
Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit - Weathervanes
Demdike Stare & Jon Collin - Minerals
Brigid Mae Power - Dream From The Deep Well
Location Location Location - Damaged Goods
Bobby Lee - Endless Skyways
Youth Lagoon - Heaven Is A Junkyard

Ben Chasny & Rick Tomlinson - Waves
Valentina Magaletti & Zongamin - Suono Assente
Divide & Dissolve - Systemic
Alogte Oho & His Sounds of Joy - O Yinne!
Anthony Naples - Orbs
Linda May Han Oh - The Glass Hours
Tyshawn Sorey Trio - Continuing
Bendik Giske - Bendik Giske
Asake - Work of Art

Cowboy Junkies - Such Ferocious Beauty
Liam Noble & Geoff Simkins - Lucky Teeth
Pat Metheny - Dream Box
Joanna Sternberg - I’ve Got Me
Elza Soares - No Tempo Da Intolerancia
Olof Dreijer & MT. Sims - Souvenir
Tanya Tucker - Sweet Western Sound
Rufus Wainwright - Folkocracy
Greg Foat & Gigi Masin - Dolphin

Myele Manzanza - Focus
Janelle Monae - The Art of Pleasure
M Ward - Supernatural Thing
Lloyd Cole - On Pain
Queens of the Stone Age - In Times New Roman
Squid - O Monolith
Illegal Crowns - Unclosing
Susan Alcorn, Jose Lencastre & Hernani Faustino - Manifesto
Donny McCaslin - I Want More

Ricardo Dias Gomes - Muito Sol

July

PJ Harvey - I Inside The Old Year Dying
Anohni & The Johnsons - My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross
Blake Mills - Jelly Road
Julie Byrne - The Greater Wings 
Gabriels - Angels & Queens Deluxe
Aphex Twin - Blackbox Recorder 21f/in a room7 F760
Damon Locks & Rob Mazurek - New Future City Radio
Beverly Glenn-Copeland - The Ones Ahead 
Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog - Connection

Jonny Nash - Point Of Entry (July)
Jim O’Rourke - Hands That Bind OST (July)

Blur - The Ballad Of Darren
Allegra Krieger - I Keep My Feet On The Fragile Plane
Joni Mitchell - At Newport
Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band - Kings Highway
Sam Burton - Dear Departed
Jessy Lanza - Love Hallucination
Daniel Rossen - Live In Pioneertown & Santa Fe 
Gunn/Truscinski/Nace - Glass Band
Kode 9 & Burial - Infirmary/Unknown Summer

Noah Stoneman - Anyone’s Quiet, Let It Rain To You
Zoe Rahman - Colour of Sound
Gooooose - Rudiments
policepolice - policepolice
The Clientele - I Am Not There Anymore
Susanna - Baudelaire & Orchestra
Lindstrom - Everyone Else Is A Stranger
Pure Bathing Culture - Roxi’s Dream Part 1 
Nils Lofgren - Mountains

Georgia - Euphoria
Dexys - The Feminine Divine
Bush Tetras - They Live In My Head
The Lilac Time - Dance Til The Stars Come Down
Guided By Voices - Welshpool Frillies
Dot Allison - Consciousology
Zaumme - Parfum
Jason Kao Hwang Critical Response - Book Of Stories
Chief Adjuah - Bark Out Thunder, Roar Out Lightning 

Penguin Cafe - Rain Before Seven
Sam Scranton - Body Pillow
Jonny Mansfield Quintet - The Air In Front Of You
Jim O’Rourke - Steamroom 61
Goat - The Gallows Pole soundtrack
Mahalia - IRL
Mary Jane Leach - Woodwind Multiples
African Head Charge - A Trip To Bolgatanga
Molly Tuttle & Crooked Highway - City of Gold

Ziur - Eyeroll
Robin Hatch - Piano III

August

jaimie branch - Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war))
Dustin Wong - Perpetual Morphosis
Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy - Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You
Hiss Golden Messenger - Jump For Joy
Laura Groves - Radio Red
Mikaela Davis - And Southern Star
Noname - Sundial
Emma Rawicz - Chroma
Edsel Axle - Variable Happiness

Victoria Monet - Jaguar II
Buck Meek - Haunted Mountain
Spencer Zahn - Statues I
Mat Maneri Quartet - Ashes
Danger Mouse & Jemini The Gifted One - Born Again
Grievous Bodily Calm - Cascades
Mr. Greg & Cass McCombs - Sing and Play New Folk Songs For Children
Exit Rituals - Blinding Void 
Earl Sweatshirt & The Alchemist - Voir Dire

Requiem - Populist Agendas
Galen Tipton - Scarepackage
Margaret Glaspy - Echo The Diamond
Genesis Owusu - Struggler
Shamir - Homo Anixietatem
Kym Register & Meltdown Rodeo - Meltdown Rodeo
Princes Diana of Wales & Thomas Bush - Live
David Toop & Lawrence English - The Shell That Speaks The Sea
Anthony Wilson - Collodion

Ember - August In March
Daedelus - Xenopocene 
Facet - Facet
Blue Cranes - My Only Secret
Rhiannon Giddens - You’re The One
Tiki Bakorta - Molende
Warrington Runcorn New Town Development Plan - The Nation’s Most Central Location
Belbury Poly - The Path
Islands - And That’s Why Dolphins Lost Their Legs

Spellling - Spellling & The Mystery School

Maya Dunietz - Thank You Tree

Iceboy Violet - Not A Dream But A Controlled Explosion

Hu Vibrational - Timeless (August)

September 

Matana Roberts - Coin Coin Chapter Five: In The Garden
Armand Hammer - We Buy Diabetic Test Strips
Setting - Shone A Rainbow Light On
Jlin- Perspective
Anthony Braxton/Roland Dahinden/Hildegaard Kleeb- Four Compositions (Wesleyan 2013)
Sparklehorse - Bird Machine
Irreversible Entanglements - Protect Your Light
Nate Wooley - Four Experiments
Waclaw Zimpel/Shackleton/Siddharta Belmannu - In The Cell Of Dreams

Jake Muir - Bathouse Blues (September)
Raphael Roginski - Talan (September)
Miriam Rezaei - BOWN (September)
Joshua Redman - Where We Are (September)
Chris Abrahams, Oren Ambarchi & Robbie Aveneim - Placelessness (September)

Allison Russell - The Returner
Teenage Fanclub - Nothing Lasts Forever
Laurel Halo - Atlas
Animal Collective - Isn’t It Now?
Wilco - Cousin
Modern Nature - No Fixed Point In Space
Steve Lehman/Orchestre National de Jazz - Ex Machina
Corinne Bailey Rae - Black Rainbows
Loraine James - Gentle Confrontation

Tirzah - trip9love…???
Margo Cilker - Valley of Heart’s Delight
Carlos Nino & Friends - (I’m Just) Chillin’, On Fire
Tomas Fujiwara - PITH
Sally Anne Morgan - Carrying
Otto Willberg - The Leisure Principle
Kris Davis - Diatom Ribbons (Live At The Village Vanguard)
James Brandon Lewis Red Lily Quintet - For Mahalia, With Love
Speaker Music - Techxodus 

Deena Abdelwahed - Jbal Rsas
Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society - Dynamic Maximum Tension
Jeremiah Chiu - In Electric Time
Jerry David DeCicca - New Shadows
Ghost Train Orchestra & Kronos Quartet - Songs and Symphoniques: The Music of Moondog
Radian - Distorted Rooms
Enemy - The Betrayal
Idrissa Soumaoro - Diré
Kofi Flexxx - Flowers In The Dark

James Blake - Playing Robots Into Heaven
Maria Elena Silva - Dulce
Oneohtrix Point Never - Again
KMRU - Dissolution Grip
Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids - Afro Futuristic Dreams
David Grubbs - From Red Black to Black, From Blue Black to Black
Jamaladeen Tacuma & Mary Halvorson - Strings & Things
Satoko Fujii- Tsuki (Solo Piano)

Slowdive - everything is alive
Wolfgang Muthspiel/Scott Colley/Brian Blade - Dance of the Elders
Hearsay - Glossolalia
Miko Hazama M-Unit - Beyond Orbits
Darius Jones - fLuXkit Vancouver
Blonde Redhead - Sit Down For Dinner
The Orb and David Gilmour - Metallic Spheres In Colour
Valentina Magaletti - La Tempesta Colorata
Catherine Lamb - parallaxis forms

Buddy & Julie Miller - In The Throes
Alabaster DePlume - Come With Fierce Grace
Laura Cannell - Bow & Creak
Cleo Sol - Gold
Cleo Sol - Heaven
Dengue Fever - Ting Mong
Lydia Loveless - Nothing’s Gonna Stand In My Way Again
Sam Eastmond - John Zorn’s Bagatelles
Willie Nelson - Bluegrass

Cassandra Miller - Traveller Song/Thanksong
Bombino - Sahel
Colleen - La jour et la nuit du réel
Eivind Aarset/Jan Bang - Last Two Inches of Sky
WaqWaq Kingdom - Hot Pot Totto
The Binary Marketing Show - Dancing With Shadows
Sara Serpa & Andre Mattos - Night Birds
Greg Foat & Eero Koivistoinen - Feathers
Eartheater - Powders

Yussef Dayes - Black Classical Music
Barbara Eugenia - UNO
Russell Haswell - Reality Therapy
Vagabon - Sorry I Haven’t Called
Connie Lovatt - Coconut Mirror
The Pretenders - Relentless
The Paper Kites - At The Roadhouse
Piotr Kurek - Smartwoods
The Gentle Good - Galargan 

SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE - I’m So Lucky
Lyft Trio - Nord
Hey Colossus - In Blood
Christian Dillingham - Cascades
The Coral - Sea of Mirrors
Roisin Murphy - Hit Parade
Kristin Hersh - Clear Pond Road 
Romy - Mid Air
Naoka Sakata - Infinity

Serwed - Serwed IV

Catherine Christer Hennix - Solo for Tamburium

October

Mike Reed - The Separatist Party
L’Rain - I Killed Your Dog
Slauson Malone 1 - Excelsior
Jamila Woods - Water Made Us
Kate Gentile - Find Letter X
Sufjan Stevens - Javelin
Dave Harrington - The Pictures
Klein - touched by an angel
Creation Rebel - Hostile Environment

Mendoza Hoff Revels - Echolocation (October)
The Inward Circles - Before We Lie Down In Darkness (October)

Bex Burch - There Is Only Love and Fear
Sylvie Courvoisier - Chimaera
Mary Lattimore - Goodbye, Hotel Arkada
BCMC - Foreign Smokes
Daniel Villareal - Lados B
Sampha - Lahai
Rob Luft - Dahab Days
Jay Glass Dubs - You Would Love Me Now
Joseph Shabason - Welcome To Hell

Yara Asmar - Synth Waltzes and Accordion Laments
Rob Mazurek - Music for Piano and Modular Synthesizer
Shake Stew - Lila
John Scofield - Uncle John’s Band
Chouk Bwa & The Angströmers - Somanti
Sam Wilkes - Driving
Helena Deland - Goodnight Summerland
Robert Finley - Black Bayou
Bixiga 70 - Vapor

Rolling Stones - Hackney Diamonds
Jeremy Udden - Wishing Flower
Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter - Saved!
Anna Webber and Matt Mitchell - Capacious Aeration
Anna Webber - Shimmer Wince
Andrew Tuttle & SUSS - Rising
Nicole Mitchell & Alexander Hawkins - In Earth School
Itoken/Klemperer/Pahl - IKP
Shabazz Palaces - Robed in Rareness

Lee Gamble - Models
Evian Christ - Revanchist
Maria BC - Spike Field
Omni Gardens - Golden Pear
Gazelle Twin - Black Dog
Saint Abdullah & Eomac - Chasing Stateless
Ilyas Ahmed - A Dream of Another
Peter Brewis - Blowdry Colossus
Allison Miller - Rivers In Our Veins

Vanishing Twin - Afternoon X
Jolie Holland - Haunted Mountain
A. Savage - Several Songs About Fire
Butcher Brown - Solar Music
Henry Spencer - The Defector
Goat (Japan) - Joy In Fear
Goat (Sweden) - Medicine
Sam Gendel - AUDIOBOOK
Forest Swords - Bolted

John Pope Quintet - Citrinitas
Dusk - Glass Pastures
Rodrigo Amado The Bridge - Beyond The Margins
Sofia Kourtesis - Madres
Flora Yin Wong - Cold Reading
Dasom Baek - Mirror City
Crime & The City Solution - The Killer
Black Pumas - Chronicles of a Diamond
JD Allen - This

Maria Uzor - Soft Cuts
Semispecific Ensemble - Everyone is Making It Up
Hyperdawn - Steady
Laura Misch - Sample The Sky
Boygenius - The Rest
Israel Nash - Ozarker
Allah Las - Zuma 85
Green-House - A Host For All Kinds Of Life
Islaja - Angel Tape

Emma Anderson - Pearlies
Hauschka - Philanthropy 
Sparkle Division - FOXY
Lost Girls - Selvutsletter
Jane Remover - Census Designated
Stornoway - Dig The Mountain
CV & JAB - Κλίμα (Klima)
Hiromi - Sonicwonderland
The David Tattersall Group - The David Tattersall Group

The Mountain Goats - Jenny From Thebes
Isabel Del Bosco - Motifs Des Pres
Beatriz Ferreyra - UFO Forest +
The American Analog Set - For Forever
Kool Keith - Mr Controller
Glasser - Crux
The Gaslight Anthem - History Books
Terrace Martin & Alex Isley - I Left My Heart In Ladera
DJ Shadow - Action Adventure

November 

Daniel Bachman - When The Roses Come Again
Aesop Rock - Integrated Tech Solutions
Myra Melford’s Fire & Water Quintet - Hear The Light Singing
Amor Muere - A Time To Love, A Time To Die
Sam Dunscombe - Two Forests/Oceanic
Marnie Stern - The Comeback Kid
Raze Regal & White Denim Inc. 
Niecy Blues - Exit Simulation
Shackleton - The Scandal Of Time

Danny Brown - Quaranta
MoonMot - 350 Million Herring
Moritz Von Oswald - Silencio
Patrick Shiroishi - I Was Too Young To Hear Silence
Matmos - Return To Archive
Lucy Railton - Corner Dancer
Andre 3000 - New Blue Sun
Cat Power - Cat Power Sings Dylan: The 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concert
Drazek/Fuscaldo/Drake/Aoki/Jones/Abrams - June 22

Jon Collin - Nobody Nothing Never (Live)
Kurt Vile - Back To Moon Beach
Abstract Concrete - Abstract Concrete
Jules Reidy - Trances
Fergus McCreadie - Sketches
Umlaut Chamber Orchestra - Zodiac Suite - Mary Lou Williams
Tashi Dorji - Tashi Dorji
Thandi Ntuli & Carlos Nino - Rainbow Revisited
Jasper Høiby - Three Elements: Earthness

Blockhead - The Aux
Mister Water Wet - Cold Clay From The Middle West
Bas Jan - Back To The Swamp
Miguel Atwood-Ferguson - Les Jardins Mystiques Vol. 1
Kenneth Jimenez - Sonnet To Silence
Cecilia Lopez & Ingrid Laubrock - Maromas
Felisha Ledesma - Falling Farther From Me
Actress - LXXXVIII
Laura Veirs - Phone Discoveries

Tara Clerkin Trio - On The Turning Ground
Assiko Golden Band de Grand Yoff - Magg Tekki
Tuluum Shimmering - The Mountains Are Singing, The Roses Are Singing
King Creosote - I DES
Vince Clarke - Songs of Silence
Habitat Ensemble - Habitat Ensemble
Mbuso Khoza - Ifa Lomkhino
Mickey Dolenz - Mickey Dolenz Sings R.E.M.
Nikki Iles/NDR Big Band - Face To Face

Iron & Wine - Who Can See Forever
Spencer Zahn - Statues II
Teresa Winter - Proserpine
NEY - NEY
Milton Nascimento/Chitaozhino Xororo - Outros Cantos
Quade - Nacre
Rainy Miller & Space Afrika - A Grisaille Wedding
Richie Culver - Scream If You Don’t Exist
Wild Terrier Orchestra - Imperial Animism

Old Fire - Iterations
Arvo Part - Tractus
Beirut - Hadsel
Isaiah Collier - Parallel Universe
Buck 65/Doseone/Jel - North American Adonis
John Francis Flynn - Look Over The Wall, See The Sky
Kevin Drew - Aging
Sarah Davachi - Long Gradus
Lawrence English & Werner Dafeldecker - Tropic of Capricorn

Bar Italia - The Twits
Guided By Voices - Nowhere To Go But Up
Cykada - Metamorphosis
C’mon Tigre - Habitat

John Zorn - Parrhesiastes
John Zorn - Nothing Is As Real As Nothing

December

Peter Gabriel - i/o
Cut The Sky - Esz Kodesz
Ambrose Akinmusire - Owl Song
Neil Young - Before & After
Ben Lumsdaine - Murmuration Without End
Muriel Grossman - Devotion
JWPaton (no relation!!!) - Structures
James Elkington - Me Neither
Edition Redux - Better A Rook Than A Pawn

Tin Men & The Telephone - GREATEST
Ghost Marrow - Earth & Death
JJJJJerome Ellis - Compline In Nine Movements
Tal Coal - Tal Coal
Lee Baggett - Echo Me On
Elephant Gym - World
Michael Nau - Accompany
Misophone - A Floodplain Mind
Gilles Coronado - Le Main

Harp - Albion
Mureiann Bradley - I Kept These Old Songs
Slowfoam - Worlding With Earth
Natalie Beidze - If We Could Hear 

Hysterrae - Hysterrae

General Magic - Nein Aber Ja

33EMYBW - Holes Of Sinian