the ghost of gore vidal wants YOU
to read my list of special little records that are guaranteed to swell your already fearsomely swole cerebella. I took this year (mostly) off from discovering nouvelle musique and instead yielded to whatever my rapidly declining eardrums craved. These are the choicest bits of my last year of music without hearing aids, please enjoy. |
| 1 |  | Johnny Dyani
Witchdoctor's Son
Free Yazz / 1978
Countless digital squids have been slaughtered for the buckets of digital ink that have been spilled in honor of the majesty of track six, 'Magwaza.' If you haven't sat down with this cut yet, spare me a cyber cephalopod and drop everything. Check it out. Now. Oh, and the other tracks are great, too. |
| 2 |  | Astral Projection
The Astral Files
Goan Trance / 1996
if you don't know this genre, consider the Astral Files your introduction to pulse-racing, forehead-wrinkling, neck-bobbing fun. This one's a mixture of remixes of classic Astral Projection and new (at the time) jamz that will trap you in a vortex of sweat and, um, in a trance. just don't look up the producers' politics on any recent international geopolitical snafus and you'll be all right |
| 3 |  | Joey Beltram
Classics
Techno / 1996
Same blurb as for Astral Files: if you're a newbie to techno, why not start with the Classics? This one might be 28 years old, but it's still a shining example of techno at its best. Eminently danceable, hits immediately, but with lush, captivating sound design |
| 4 |  | Whitey
NOTHING IN MY POCKET BUT A HOLE
Indietronica / 2024
Remastered for your listening pleasure, Whitey's music listens like a tour through the latter half of the 20th century/early 21st in Western music. You can find everything from 1960s vocal harmonies/vocal reverb to keyboard-driven bops that sound plucked off a late 2000s FIFA soundtrack. |
| 5 |  | Wynton Marsalis
The London Concert
Classical / 1994
No imagination here at all: these are old concertos, most of which Marsalis had played as a younger man, and he brings a stilted cadence to some of the playing in the Fasch, Mozart, and Hayden movements. But then ol Wynnie hits his stride in the Hummel, and my word what a tongue on that boy |
| 6 |  | Lee Konitz
You and Lee
Cool Yazz / 1959
Now that you've worked through some of the Classical canon, have some cool, bop-inflected performances of wondrous jazz standard… |
| 7 |  | Albert Ayler
Live in Greenwich Village
Free Yazz / 1967
…and then blow that great american songbook trash out your ass with Albert Ayler. The Little Bird is at the top of his game here, where he evokes the bluer, oranger, redder side of the human emotional scale in spurts of anxiety, frustration, nerves, and fury. If you thought Love Cry was too far out there (you'd be wrong if you did), find more comfortable ground in the Village. |
| 8 |  | False Confession
False Confession
Nardcore / 1984
I grew up in the 805 and False Confession was the idol of every band whose backyard show I got punched in the face at. This is mid-80s nardcore, which is elevated hardcore for you brutes: the most obvious departure is the speed metal influence which comes alive in Fred's frantic soloing & perma-riffage and Israel's gutty growl-chat. I'd send you the address for the Santa Paula show but you're a friggin kook so gtfo |
| 9 |  | Regis
Gymnastics
Birmingham Sound / 1996
Before its recent restoration, Gymnastics was a sorta sluppy, sorta bluntly reduced collection of rhythms with all the traumatic force of the squeaky hammer from SSBB. Shit's been touched up and my word is the tension palpable.. Brummy muckers get yampy |
| 10 |  | Don Martin Three
Transistor b/w Orchestra
Light Skramz / 2024
I can sense your attention span is starting to derail due to heinous lack of sputcore. Fear not, the skramz are back! Ik a lot of you are skramzhoez like myself that have never given DM3 the time of day. This revitalized version of two of their classique tracks is well worth 10 mins of your passive listening attention |
| 11 |  | Huerco S
A Verdigris Reader
Outsider House / 2014
For my money the neatest distillation of Huerco's sound to date. This EP's got his trademark grooves, focus, and refinement in abudnance despite its sub-half hour runtime. None of us on this site can dance very well so enjoy putting this on at your desk and maybe even bobbing your head a bit. |
| 12 |  | Park Jiha
Philos
Ambient / 2019
We're lucky to see the bounds of ambient music expanded when so much fruitful ground has already been harvested. Park Jiha's traditionally instrumented, less electronically-driven soundscapes represent a new frontier of avant-garde art. This isn't just something you might imgagine blaring from a set of 5x4 TVs in a contemporary art museum (thought it might also be that). It's mesmerizing and tasteful and so so rewarding. |
| 13 |  | Sly and Robbie
Raiders of the Lost Dub
Dub / 1981
With this certificate in ambient education bestowed upon completion of Park, you are ready for yet more cerebral grooving and textures, this time a touch more indelicate. If your impression of dub is background music for a homegrown rig sesh, your perspective is limited and you must repent for your sins with a hefty dose of Burning Spear remixed by Sly and Robbie. Lock the frick in and access a higher plane of thought/no-thought. |
| 14 |  | Erik K Skodvin
Flare
Experimental Ambient / 2010
Crest your ambient journey into the gloomily chilling atmospheres of Skodvin's Flare. What tickles my spine the most about Skodvin's sound here is that he doesn't apply a horror-adjacent veneer the way that, say, Ben Frost does on the Dark soundtrack. Skodvin's work is a well-rounded blend of acoustic instrumentation and rich effects, and if you don't check out most of what's on this list I strongly encourage you to give this a listen. |
| 15 |  | Sam Rivers
Fuchsia Swing Song
Hard Bop / 1965
This record's from a sweet little nook/cranny of time where it was possible to bring four criminally underrated yazz cats (Byard!!) into the stu and have them craft a sound that, on a ten-point avant-garde axis between Coltrane (1) and Ayler (10), is about a 3.5, if that makes any sense. Just give it a damn listen |
| 16 |  | Kelly Moran
Moves in the Field
Contemporary Classical / 2024
If I cosplay as a fake synesthete for a second here I'll color Moran's sound on this record as electric indigo. Her piano work is far too intricate and textured for the second straw-person of this ranking to describe it as study music, but neither is it a grandstanding piece of piano classique like something the other Moran (Jason) might pawn off on Bandcamp for $25. |
| 17 |  | Shiina Ringo
Ze-Chyou Shuu (絶頂集)
Garage Rock / 2000
Noisy grungey Sheena isn't my favorite of her personas but I am in awe at the angle of her artistry captured on this record. The instrumental edges are a bit rougher but Sheena is in arch control. I have so many things to say about this record but I'm going to stop writing blurbs and go listen to tracks four through six a couple times instead. |
| 18 |  | Shitmat
One Foot in the Rave
Jungle / 2009
Nine years later and a million vibemeters away is Shitmat. The funnest whirlwindiest collection of bangers on this whole damn list, getaway heist jams, breaking fluorescent light tube jams, jogging eight miles jams. |
| 19 |  | Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan
Your Community Hub
Space Ambient / 2024
Like reading a sci-fi novel set in 2024 but written in 1972. The sound design is impeccable and the fact that it's all analog makes it even more impressive. If you aren't familiar with this project, give this record a listen NOW and slide into a synthy bliss. |
| 20 |  | Basic Channel
Inversion
Dub Techno / 2008
Not to lose my cool or anything but holy fuck is that first track not one of the most stunning pieces of sound you've ever done heard? I know if you're this deep into this list you've prob heard Basic Channel, but either way you owe it to yourself and to your predecessors to spin this immediately. |
| 21 |  | Blue Planet Corporation
A Blueprint for Survival
Goan Trance / 2009
Maybe let's ease our way out of this little electronic moment with another goan trance slice o' pie. It's prob more of a trance record with a few trippy moments but it's more fun to have multiple goan records on this list so we'll stick with that label. The mastering is excellent and the swirly melodies won't loose or lose you from their grasp until this 2.7 hour double disc fattie finally eases to a stop. |
| 22 |  | Keygen Church
Nel Nome Del Codice
Cyber Metal / 2024
I'm an unapologetic Keygen Church freakazoid and for great reason. Pure, unadulterated, freebased fun on display. The organ is imposing and majestic, the piano a whizzbang of fingers at ludicrous speed, but the addition of a chorus here is an almond-soaked maraschino cherry on top of a decadent gelato sundae. |
| 23 |  | Lee Morgan
Tom Cat
Hard Bop / 1964
Them modal tones, them trombones, them ART mfin BLAKEY on the drumz, them JACKIE freakin MCLEAN on the alto sax. Vintage Blue Note boppy bopness at its bipbottiting best |
| 24 |  | Arnold Rosner
The Masses
Classical / 2020
Like Rosner himself, I descend from hebraic extraction, but also like Rosner I have a particular affinity for the angelic stylings of a choral-led recording (viz. Nel Nome del Codice). Hilary Campbell's direction is consummate, steering a record that brims with energy, glory, and grace. Rosner is still the most overlooked composer of his time, but I'll change that, one sputlisticle at a time. |
| 25 |  | Kaze (FRA)
Unwritten
Free Yazz / 2024
Kaze strides up to the table and smacks its baby's arm, a 37 minute whopper, straight in your stupid smug face, so you'd be forgiven for passing on this one. If you do, though, you're missing out on on a rich quilt of improvised sound. Instruments featured include a trumpet, flugelhorn, drums, piano, and vocals, but they weave in and out of one another in interwoven textures that live and breathe as one coordinated mass. A rare treat for the sapiosexual who has made it thus far. |
| 26 |  | Mall Girl
Pure Love
Indie Pop / 2024
On the complete opposite end of accessibility, I really dug Mall Girl's take on emo's sunnier side (oxymoron? w/e). It's jingle-lite & math-lite, lyrically like an Olivia Rodrigo throwaway, and doesn't try out any brand-new musical stylings. Yet there's something charming here and it makes for a lovely lil listen. |
| 27 |  | Frog
Frog
Indie Rock / 2013
You probably haven't checked Frog's debut EP, and you should be ashamed. They're recognizably Frog at this point, but there's a dash of derring-do that is missing from their later work. 8.5 minute epic climaxer called Space Jam? Please. |
| 28 |  | Blue Whale
Process
Math Rock / 2018
I've heard more instrumental math rock than I'd care to admit, but Blue Whale's first full length LP is bouncey, jarring, and contains a fair helping of post punk influence to make it stand out from the crowd. This ain't Chon or Polyphia or some other trash, it's straight from Belfast and it rules. |
| 29 |  | Anthony Davis
Under the Double Moon
Avant-Garde Yazz / 1981
The final yazz record on this list is a string of duets between vibraphone and a gorgeous imperial grand. It's atmospheric in an "entering the bathhouse" way, and might be a bit barebones for someone who enjoyed the richer sound of Mr. Sam Rivers. In any case, any yazz aficionado should tune in for the cover of Duke Ellington's the Clothed Woman. |
| 30 |  | Bark Psychosis
Scum
Post Rock / 1992
Many of y'all are Bark Psychosis enjoyers; this one is for you. Scum is a single track titan that, in developing a hypnotically eery veneer over the course of its 20+ minutes, never fails to engage through its dynamic use new motifs and consistently refreshing developments. |
| 31 |  | The Trip (UK)
Fantasy Traxx
Italo House / 2024
Back into electronix with another dancey fun Trip banger collection. Pure nostalgia, nothing new or innovative with this release, just a record to dance into 2025 with. |
| 32 |  | Jega
Phlax
IDM / 1996
Shifting way across the spectrum, Jega's dark & melodious Phlax is a much underappreciated gem in the IDM scene. Jega never quite rose to the heights of his contemporaries µ-Ziq and Aphex Twin but that doesn't mean you should disregard him at all. Phlax is a wondrous entrance point, with a moody, slicing sound design and eyebrow-furrowing tension throughout. |
| 33 |  | Charles A.D.
West Pontoon Bridge
Outsider House / 2024
Hiroyuki Tanaka, the man behind Charles A.D., is a literal farmer. His music is understandably scenic, replete with butter-smooth sound effects and grazing strobes. Mellow enough to be relaxed/lazed/hazed too, I've lost myself in its comfortable grooves umpteen times. |
| 34 |  | Adam Pits
Synthetic Serenity
Psybreaks / 2023
I was almost tempted to sneak in a goan trance label here, but that's besides the main point. Synthetic Serenity is often squelchy and bleep-bloopy, and works best as one uncut listen. A stellar sophomore outing from a producer you should keep your eyes on. |
| 35 |  | Mandalay
Empathy
Trip Hop / 1997
Probably too late and not innovative enough to merit mention in trip hop's hall of fame, Mandalay's Empathy still manages to succeed on its characteristic warmth and lyricism. Nicola Hitchcock's wavering vocals stand out, bringing an ethereal sense to somewhat subdued instrumentals. |
| 36 |  | Ill Repute
What Happens Next
Nardcore / 1984
Closing with a nardcore record. Remember your roots, respect them, and return to them often. |
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