[ Aquarius Records : Customer Favorites 2010 ]

Aquarius Records : Customer Favorites 2010

Because every year we always take WAAAAY to long to compile the many, many customer best-of-the-year lists that we're sent (and we love getting 'em!), we decided that THIS year the solution would be to post them as they come in.

So this page is going to be updated with more of your lists every few days, until the deadline (end of January, 2011) we set, at which point we'll randomly select two listmakers to win $25 AQ gift certificates!

This way it hopefully won't be such an overwhelming task, plus you can spy other folks' lists before you finish up yours, if you wait...

And eventually we'll get your 2009 picks up on the site, too, we promise!

(see also the AQ staff favorites of 2010)

BARRY SARANCHUK

2010 Top 10

These aren't in any sort of order....just some of my best faves from this past weird year!

#1....Junip - Fields
#2....Expo70 - Death Voyage (really was hard to narrow this down to one favorite!)
#3....John Zorn - The Goddess
#4....Exploding Star Orchestra - Stars Have Shapes
#5....Neil Young - Le Noise
#6....Various - A Phase We're Going Through (LP on Fruits De Mer)
#7....Eno - Small Craft On A Milk Sea
#8....Black Keys - Brothers
#9....Midlake - The Courage Of Others
#10...Devo - Something For Everyone

There were TONS of cool re-issues .....so maybe that'll be another list? Have a Good Holiday!

ZOE HARRIS

Zoe's top ten!

Thanks Aquarius.

Forest Swords - Dagger Path
Best Coast - Crazy For You
TOKiMONSTA - Midnight Menu
Oriol - Night & Day
Mount Kimbie - Crooks & Lovers
Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma
Erykah Badu _ New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh
TOKiMONSTA - Midnight Menu
The Black Keys - Brothers
Chancha VIa Circuito - Rio Arriba

LANE STEPHPENS

10 - Wild Nothing - Gemini
09 - Zola Jesus - Stridulum
08 - Swans - My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky
07 - Amen Dunes - Murder Dull Mind (EP)
06 - Warm Climate - Camouflage On The River Wretched
05 - Sightings - City of Straw
04 - VA - The World Ends: Afro Rock & Psychedelia in 1970's Nigeria
03 - Child's Wife - 1
02 - Z's - New Slaves
01 - Yellow Swans - Going Places

just missed the cut ** Jonas Reinhardt -Powers of Audition, Twin Stumps - Seedbed, Liminanas - I'm Dead 7", Josh Abrams - Natural Information, VA In Search of Hawkwind, Bastard Noise - A Culture of Monsters, Rockford Kabine - Xero **

Looking forward to another year of great lists! Thanks for all you guys do.

MONTE CIMINO

Hello AQ,

Here you go:

Monte's TOP TEN(ish) for 2010

1.) oOoOO 12" ep
2.) Balam Acab SEE BIRDS 12" ep
3.) Horseback INVISIBLE MOUNTAIN cd
4.) Little Women THROAT lp
5.) Mugstar LIME cd
6.) Gnod Dropout with White Hills II double lp
7.) John Zorn WHAT THOU WILT cd
8.) Black Breath HEAVY BREATHING cd
9.) Omar Khorshid GUITAR EL CHARK lp
10.) The Fresh & Onlys AUGUST IN MY MIND 12" ep
11.) Bill Orcutt WAY DOWN SOUTH lp

BRUNO BISSONNETTE

Here are my picks, in random order, all formats (listed as, artist:title) -- there might be a couple 2009 titles in there, but I didn't have access to them in time for last year's list:

01 Tom Smith & Kevin Drumm: Reconquer Sleep or Disappear
02 Keith Fullerton Whitman: Disingenuity b/w Disingenuousness
03 Helena Gough: Mikroklimata
04 Russell Haswell: Value + Bonus
05 Weasel Walter / Artemesia Absinthium split LP, entirely for Weasel's side
06 Gino Robair: I, Norton (an opera in real time)
07 Billy Bao: Urban Disease
08 Foetus: Hide
09 RLW (Ralf Wehowsky): Herzblutanteil I.K.K. IV
10 Drunkdriver eponymous

More great stuff:

Michael J. Schumacher: Weave
Sissy Spacek: Sepsis
Fred Frith with Cosa Brava: Ragged Atlas
Core Of The Coalman: Box Of The Last Help
No Mor Musik eponymous
Zs: New Slaves
Marina Rosenfeld/George E. Lewis: Sour Mash
Rhys Chatham: The Bern Project

Best reissue: John Oswald & 1001 Vintage Pop Stars: Preplexure
Best single: Drumcorps: Headstrong & Heartfoolish
Disappointment: Squarepusher presents: Shobaleader One: d'Demonstrator

Bonus top 10, for Tom Smith's Karl Schmidt Verlag label, which is always a cut above the rest and in a league of its own:

01 Kevin Drumm & Tom Smith: Mud Keeps Lifting Me Higher
02 Katja Fregatte: Venom Zinn Funkapolitan Reynolds Reynols
03 Soi-meme: Let the Clots Come
04 Tom Smith: A Cambric Ticketing Whelk (Music for Naturally Occuring Black Metal)
05 To Live and Shave in L.A.: Die Fehde des Gemischs
06 Withered Runes: Unworthy Censer
07 Linda, Viola & Uwe: Sniper Fantasy
08 Patrick Spurlock: Les Circonvolutions du Cortege
09 Katja Fregatte: Metalized
10 Kevin Drumm: The Obstacles of Romantic Exaggeration

CHRIS VIDELL

2010 Faves

Jack Rose - Luck In The Valley
Yellow Swans - Going Places
Barn Owl - Ancestral Star
Corridors - s/t
Gunn-Truscinski Duo - Sand City
Duane Pitre - Origin
U.S. Girls - Go Grey
Blue Sausage Infant - Flight Of The Solstice Queens
Sharron Kraus - The Woody Nightshade
Elite Barbarian - It's Only When You Get To The End That It All Makes Sense
Evan Caminiti - West Winds
AMM - Sounding Music
Peeesseye/Talibam!
V/A - Honest Strings
Murralin Lane - Our House Is In The Wall
RM74 - Reflex
Karen Stackpole with Die Elektrischen - Machine Shop
Hayvanlar Alemi - Guarana Superpower

Others

Fern Knight - Castings
Xela - The Sublime
Winter Drones - Blood In The Coffin
Thomas Ankersmit - Live In Utrecht
Messages - After/Before
Jefre Cantu-Ledesma - Love Is A Stream
Magic Lantern - Platoon

Reissues

Univers Zero - Heresie
Thomas Koner - Nunatak / Teimo / Permafrost
Nagamatzu - Sacred Islands of the Mad

Still dying to hear

Bardo Pond -s/t
Expo 70 - Where Does Your Mind Go?

MARC WEIDENBAUM

Howdy, Aquarians.

Here's my top 10 of the year:

1. Marcus Fischer: Monocoastal (12k)
2. Food: Quiet Inlet (ECM)
3. George Lewis & Marina Rosenfeld: Sour Mash (Innova)
4. Machinefabriek: Daas (Cold Spring)
5. BJ Nilsen & Stilluppsteypa: Space Finale (Editions Mego)
6. Oval: O (Thrill Jockey)
7. Akira Rabelais: Caduceus (Samadhisound)
8. Scott Tuma: Dandelion (Digitalis)
9. Keith Fullerton Whitman: Generator (Root Strata)
10. Yellow Swans: Going Places (Type)

Happy almost new year!

EMMANUEL BREHAULT

Hi There,
That was hard but,
Here it is,
kind regards from France

1/Call Back The Giants-Call Back The Giants (Kye
2/Oneohtrix Point Never-Returnal (editions mego)
3/Rene Hell-Porcelain Opera/Rogue Camera (Type)
4/Forest Swords-Dagger Paths (Olde English Spelling Bee)
5/Barn Owl-Ancestral Star (Thrill Jockey)
6/Lee Noble-Our Star, The sun (Moon Glyph)
7/Pulse Emitter-Over Clouds (Root Strata)
8/Rangers-Suburban Tours (Olde English Spelling Bee)
9/Bronze Horse-S/T (Oakhill Records)
10/Master Musicians Of Bukkake-Totem Two (Important records)

GARY SIMMONS

Hello all. Here are my Top Ten Albums of 2010.

ALBUM OF THE YEAR:

Alistair Crosbie - Wanderlight Falls

The Best of the Rest:

Lance Austion Olsen - Road To Esperance
Chubby Wolf - Ornitheology
Aaron Martin - Worried About The Fire
M.Ostermeier - Chance Reconstruction
piiptsjilling - wurdskrieme
Richard A. Ingram - Consolamentum
Pawn - A Hum Of The Library
Mains de Givre - Esther Marie
Richard Skelton - Landings

Blessings for the new year.

DAVE POWER

Hi, I enjoyed reading all your favorites from 2010.
Here are my Top Ten (actually 15):

1. The National - High Violet
2. Free Energy - Stuck On Nothing
3. Hot Chip - One Life Stand
4. The Tallest Man On Earth - The Wild Hunt
5. Pirate Radio - Fires In The Woods
6. The Black Keys - Brothers
7. Chromeo - Business Casual
8. Wolf Parade - Expo 86
9. Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Hawk
10. The Roots - How I Got Over
11. Vampire Weekend - Contra
12. Surfer Blood - Astro Coast
13. Tame Impala - Innerspeaker
14. Cee Lo Green - The Lady Killer
15. Superchunk - Majesty Shredding

Cheers

DAVID GROVES

1. Fabulous Diamonds: II
2. Circle: Rautatie
3. Endless Boogie: Full House Head
4. Fatso Jetson: Archaic Volumes
5. Dropsonic: VI
6. Expressway Yo-Yo Dieting: Bubblethug
7. Jussi Lehtisalo: Rotta LP
8. ANGST SKVADRON: Sweet Poison
9. Mugstar: Lime
10. Njiqahdda: Dremoanti

Released in 2009, but didn't get until 2010 (best album in years)
*ORANSSI PAZUZU: Muukalainen Puhuu

BARTLEY HAGERMAN

Hey guys! My top ten for 2010 are as follows:

1. Holy Sons - Survivalist Tales
2. Grails - Black Tar Prophecies, Vol. 4
3. Hans Zimmer - Inception [Original Score]
4. Alexandre Desplat - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One [Original Score]
5. Cee Lo Green - The Lady Killer
6. Gog - Heavy Fierce Brightness
7. Year of No Light - Ausserwelt
8. Hammock - Chasing After Shadows...Living With the Ghosts
9. God is an Astronaut - Age of the Fifth Sun
10. Kylesa - Spiral Shadow

Have a great New Years!

RANDALL HINSON

2010, for me, was a really good music year. not all of these were recorded or released in 2010, but i did get them this year. these are my tenish top faves:

MARIACHI EL BRONX s/t (Swami / White Drugs)
KRISTOFFERSON, KRIS Please Don't Tell Me How The Story Ends: The Publishing Demos 1968-1972 (Light In The Attic)
MOTORPSYCHO Heavy Metal Fruit (Rune Grammofon)
LOWER DENS Twin-Hand Movement (Gnomonsong)
LUCAS, TED s/t (Sebastian Speaks)
SNAILFACE s/t (I + II) (Wordclock)
SKY LARKIN The Golden Spike (Wichita Recordings)
WAVVES King Of The Beach (Fat Possum)
SOFT PACK, THE s/t (Kemado)
SABBATH ASSEMBLY Restored To One (Ajna)
ARRIVAL OF SATAN, THE Vexing Verses (Black Hate)
FERRARI, LUC Ephemere I & II (Alga Marghen)
NEUROSIS Given To The Rising (Neurot) (top ten two years in a row!!)

ASSAF VESTIN

With over 300 albums heard this year it's really hard to organize all these, and there's more 2010 releases on the way to me, but these 20 are certainly on the top of the crop (and aside from places 1 and 2, all the others are not in fixed places).

1. Frogg Cafe - Bateless Edge
2. Orbs - Asleep Next to Science
3. Univers Zero - Clivages
4. Barren Earth - Curse of the Red River
5. Rational Diet - On Phenomenas and Existences
6. Equilibrium - Rekreatur
7. Fonderia - My Grandmother's Spacesuit
8. Samsara Blues Experiment - Long Distance Trip
9. Hidden Orchestra - Night Walks
10.Hypnos 69 - Legacy

11. Aranis - Roqueforte
12. Yugen - Iridule
13. Naima - Buscas
14. Cleric Regressions
15. Scott Johnsons - Americans
16. Odyssice - Silence
17. Thelema Trio - Neither From nor Towards...
18. Ciccada - A Child in the Mirror
19. Helmet of Gnats - High Street
20. Winterhorde - Underwatermoon

BRYAN CEDERBERG

To be honest, I spent a good portion of my 2010 listening free time taking in various podcasts (Radio Free Runa, Alex Jones, Thelema Now, Philosophy Bites, Lucky Mojo, etc.). However, I still got an opportunity to check out my fair share of new music. Of which, the following were (mostly) heads and tails above the rest:

Vektor 'Black Future':
Ali says I'm "cheating" on this one because it was actually released in 2009. The CD came out at the tail end of that year, but the vinyl was issued just recently. What can I say, this was far and away my most played album of 2010. It got my inner stoner's heart beating like an inmate on a conjugal visit. Take the energy of Kreator, mix it with the occasional trippy prog vibe, and ask a group of virtuoso metal musicians to add flair (without being wanky) and you have 'Black Future'. A CLASSIC heavy metal record not just of this decade, BUT OF ALL TIME!!! It's that good. Easily would have been a favorite of mine ten years ago as well as today. The shrieks are banshee like. Frighteningly good. Not a poseur in sight.

Woods 'At Echo Lake':
This just has an easy, slightly trippy vibe that I love. In some ways it would have fit in nicely with the Elephant 6 roster of the 1990s. That said, it's less playful and a bit more creepy in a very subtle way. Reminds me of their old video*, the one where the band starts stabbing each other, smiling, and for no apparent reason. While I wasn't a big fan of the songs I heard from that earlier release- they sure nailed the audio for that visual testament to psychedelic immortality this time around. Just an all around quiet, but catchy release that does all the little things right.
* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyjcFKl86Oo&p=54A732B0A3C56E41&playnext=1&index=25%EF%BB%BF

Current 93 'Baalstorm, Sing Omega':
By the time I got through the second track I knew that this was a classic. Trippy, trippy, trippy. Exotic and fun. David Tibet channels his inner hippie and the vibe he gives off is more sinister, more apocalyptic, and more engaging. It's a celebration of the end times. A patchouli scented fire storm of an album with magical cocktails with pink umbrellas and parrots that talk in tongues. Kick back, tip your glass, and have fun. God is taking us on a musical mystery tour of self-exploration and all the neurosis that entails. We're on a one way train through apocalypse so enjoy the ride.

Wooden Wand - Death Seat:
This is arguably my favorite record of the year. I'm so glad he stopped doing albums with the Vanishing Voice. His strength has always been his songwriting - and this is one of his better efforts.

Ariel Pink - Before Today:
This surprised me. I thought he might lose something in the shift to higher fidelity. It actually improved his songs.

Sean Hayes - Run Wolves Run:
A very good singer songwriter with excellent production and a great backing band. He does a lot in the realm of simplicity. Nuanced.

Ghost - Opus Eponymous:
Who doesn't like Satanic pop metal?

Christian Mistress - Agony & Opium:
Oh man is this awesome. Great riffs, production, vocals, songs - the whole package.

Die Antwoord - $O$:
Their official video sold me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q77YBmtd2Rw&feature=youtube_gdata_player
It's the type of thing where you have to have the visual to truly appreciate the art.

Salem - King Night:
Their video sold me in an entirely different way. It showed the wizard behind the curtain. And quite frankly it reminded me of my Saginaw self. Jaded, but making the best of the boredom. Taking a variety of influences (some that hipsters would turn their noses up at), getting fucked up, and making something fucked up. Not giving a shit when others laugh. Instead laughing back at them and then back to trucking along. Despite what the press/media attention is doing, this does not belong to the urban sheik. This is for small town suburban losers dreaming big and doing something about it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0ZetW6bQ7Q&feature=youtube_gdata_player
(I love the contrast between the live performance and the album)

JEROME LANGGUTH

Dear Aquarius,

Thanks for a wonderful store and newsletter. Here is my attempt at a top 10 for 2010.

1. Rachid Taha- Bonjour
2. Neil Young- Le Noise
3. James Falzone and Allos Musica- Lamentations
4. Alejandro Escovedo- Street Songs of Love
5. Mavis Staples- You Are Not Alone
6. Woods- At Echo Lake
7. Mose Allison- The Way of the World
8. Brian Eno- Small Craft on a Milk Sea
9. Robert Wyatt, Gilad Atzmon, Ros Stephen- For the Ghosts Within
10. Vox Arcana- Aerial Age

JAKE GELFAND

Thanks for all the inspiration. My one to look out for in 2011 is Light Asylum.
These are in alphabetical order.

Against Me! - White Crosses
Ceremony - Rocket Fire
Charanjit Singh - Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat (Reissue)
hollAnd - I Blow Up
Majela ZeZe Diamond - "Show Me Your Genitals 2: E=MC Vagina"
Sea Dweller - Love is Coming
Units - Digital Stimulation (Reissue)
Walls - S/T
Weekend - Sports
Zola Jesus - Stridulum

ANGELA SAWYER (Weirdo Records)

Angela's Xmas 2010

1. Muehl, Otto ~ Psycho Motorik ~ none lp 2010/1971
Mmmm, darned if I don't adore the truly wondrous, yummy world of Otto. Viennese Aktionist who, along with Hermann Nitsch, Gunter Brus & a few pals decided that painting had become boring & they would do well to make it more visceral. Shortly thereafter, Otto, who seemed to see the whole world like a big ball of playdoh, began to appear in his own films & others'; pouring ketchup into vaginas, breaking eggs onto pretty girls' boobs, having Barry White-style sex with a goose, poking his dick through fruit arrangements, & other fun & visually arresting stuff. Muehl eventually formed a commune to try & break off from typical society, and ended up getting arrested for cavorting with children. Eventually he got out & started a new commune in Portugal. Here he shows off his rather brilliant & under-documented capabilities for blubbering, burping, slapping thighs, and yelling like a deranged Nazi over classical music. Several of his commune children play trad jazz these days, and there's even a band that they all have together called the Sahara Baby Jazz Band.

2. Various ~ The Sound of Siam ~ Soundway cd/lp 2010/1964-75
Once again, Soundway shows everybody how it's done. Wonderful junket through several related subgenres of Thai 60s/70s music (Luk Thung, Luk Krung, Molam & more). Urban pop, countryside songs that explore morality & vocal tricks, the trance-inducing mouth harp that looks like a couple of sets of pan pipes glued into a pair of bird wings. Twangy high vocals that often tease, a gentle weaving rhythm, and a lot of odd western moves thumping away in the background. Funk-drenched intros kick in just like Marvin Gaye's songs do. Over here, someone nabs the bass line from Carol King's 'It's Too Late', and someone else sings a snippet of Buddy Holly/Bobby Vee's 'More Than I Can Say'. But it's not just riffspotting- you'll swoon over the featherlight voice of Ream Daranoi and the possessed beatnik noir of the Viking Combo Band. Notes detail the content of the lyrics, which are also pretty incredible.

3. No Balls ~ No Balls ~ Permanent lp 2010
Drajan Bryngelsson (drums) & Dan Raberg (who may well be the greatest trumpet player alive today) of Sweden's utterly mighty Brainbombs. All the convulsive, abrasive guitar you could want, jaggedly hitched to a rhythm section that moves like an SUV crunching down a black diamond slope. Vocals are there less often, & buried deep, but still run through some sort of shitty nazi-megaphone. One can only hope the lyrics which kept away pussywhipped listeners are still in effect too. So, so, so many bands out there who think they play heavy when they merely shovel college kid bar fodder. Get on your knees now, as the riffs of nihilism are ready to hammer your forehead & provide a cure.

4. Ike, Reiko ~ Kokotsu No Sekai ~ Bamboo cd 2010/1971
The drop dead beautiful Pam Grier of Tokyo, whose entry into pinky violence movies caused a scandal because she was supposedly only 16 years old (actually the hubub was publicity stunt & she was 18). The bad press made her enough of a star that she could switch to delinquent schoolgirl flicks, where instead of having sex onscreen she led gangs, weilded shotguns & ran around in leather jackets with no shirt underneath. Unforgettable album that takes a left turn at Serge Gainsbourg's 'Je T'aime Moi Non Plus' and never looks back. Zippy lounge & nightclub vamps, with a lot of dusky jazz-flute & vibes, behind endless orgasm sighs, whip cracks, scintillating whimpers, funny little grunts. Perhaps best of all is the somewhat badly recorded mewling that runs throughout. Only thing that could make me like this better is if it had been reished on Schimpfluch instead.

5. Adkins, Hasil ~ White Light White Meat ~ Norton lp 2010/1958-65
Yes baby, you can have peanut butter AND chicken on your hot dog. The one-and-only huncher who whipped up amateur monster makeup looks in his spare time away from his gloriously mangled home-recordings of rockabilly. A greatest hits that's collected with the same kind of obsessive care that Haze's neighbor Jesco White put into boot polishing. Folkways style jacket & easily the best (and best-earned) title of a record in 2010.

6. Tudor, David ~ Bandoneon ! ~ Microcinema dvd 2010/1966
Vintage footage of Tudor's explosive installation, inspired by a previous Maruicio Kagel piece for the tango noise box. In a very large, reverberant hall (an empty armory about the size of an airplane hangar), Tudor hooked a South American accordion up to a bunch of telephone relay systems, electronics & oscillators. The accordion ran like some horrific alarm system through the huge PA. It's blistering waveforms produced some visuals, and even radio-controlled a bunch of wooden statues on wheeled platforms puttering around the room in circles. A screaming mess, clearly incredibly loud, with harsh lights & crude mechanical monsters. And all of it run by Tudor, with his effeminate little voice, tidy suit & horn rimmed glasses. Tons of fascinating talking heads, including Gordon Mumma, Pauline Oliveros, David Behrman.

7. Sabu ~ Palo Congo ~ Blue Note lp 2010/1957
Louis Martinez (aka Sabu) came from Spanish Harlem & started playing on the street corner with cans. He went to Puerto Rico as a teenager, & landed back in the states just in time to take the conga chair from Pozo in Dizzy Gillespie's last band. Heroin kept Sabu from becoming a national name, and he spent a couple of years running a strip club in Baltimore. Utterly raw, afrocuban percussion workout that in no way belongs on the dapper Blue Note label. It seems impossible that this barbed-wire, street ugly record was issued only 1 year after Harry Belafonte's primping 'Banana Boat Song'. That thing that sounds like somebody hammering on an electric fence is Cuban bandleader Arsenio Rodriguez (the inventor of the modern conjunto lineup) playing the tres guitar.

8. Orchestre Regional de Mopti ~ Best of the First Biennale of Arts and Culture for the Young ~ Mississippi lp 2010/1970
Oh cripes, that hypnotic guitar is so bewitching! The rest of the record is good, but the phantasmal clipped riff & liquefying horns on "Recital" brings you one of the finest moments in African music. Period. The song is dedicated to Seku Amadou, the leader of the Massina Empire, who founded Mopti as a city & ruled from 1818-1845. Mopti lies as the x point in the cross of Mali's geography and it's rivers. It's the venice of the Niger delta, not far from mud mosques & where the Dogon see stars without telescopes, and the capital for Mali tourists. The band was 14 members strong, led by singer Sory Bamba, funded by the state. Besides a 10 inch sized single, this is their only album.

9. Rob Jo Star Band ~ Rob Jo Star Band ~ Pomme lp 2010/1975
French band that's very 13th Floor Elevators, but with freaky, badly-made synths in the place of the jug. Trebly fx-free rhythm guitar (it almost sounds acoustic... whiff of punk/Velvets there) & decrepit fuzz-as-frying-pan electric solos. One helluva long way from Magma, that's for sure. At the time I think it may have prompted the question 'Avez vous utilise la console de mixage avec ton cul?', as the Michael Yonkers electronics tend to be way up front. English lyrics to 'Not the Crazy Man' song are laughingly self-defeating in an accent so thick.

10. Various ~ Flipper Psychout ~ Vampisoul 2lp/cd 2010/1969-75
Nothing starts the heavy panting and the pink spotlights spinning faster than those three delectable little words: Italian library music. The orchestra/studio system/hit factory was well entrenched in Rome throughout the 60s, and the competing RAI & RCA studios employed what seems like a kazillion highly skilled musicians full time. Side forays into jazz or avant-something weren't uncommon. Many inventive composers dipped into the lucrative library recording markets for insta-jazz-lounge and psych-funk-schmaltz. Amedeo Tommasi (piano) & Piero Montanari (bass) were in a jazz band together in the 70s. Tommasi was also the electric pianist for Ennio Morricone during the 80s. Il Maestro's famous whistler, Alessandro Alessandroni, also shows off his arranging chops here. Moody fuzzy breaks & mouthwatering rarities, compiled by Italian DJ Alessandro Casella.

honorable mention, 'Let's A Go Go', 'Nippon Girls', 'Roots of Chicha 2', 'La Cripta e L'Incubo' tape

Thanks heaps

ADAM HENDRICKS

Here's my top ten of twenty ten, in order:

1) Endless Boogie - Full Head House
2) Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest
3) Mount Carmel - Mount Carmel
4) Joanna Newsom - Have One on Me
5) Swans - My Father Will Guide Me on a Rope up to the Sky
6) Christian Mistress - Agony and Opium
7) Bardo Pond - Bardo Pond
8) Emeralds - Does It Look Like I'm Here
9) Super Wild Horses - Fifteen
10) Purling Hiss - Hissteria

SCOTT KAROLY

Alex Bleeker and the Freaks - s/t
Knight School - Revenger
Gun Outfit - Possession Sound
Grass Widow - Past Time
The Mantles - Pink Information (EP)
White Fence - s/t
Broken Water - Whet
Tyvek - Nothing Fits
Woods - At Echo Lake
Happy Birthday - s/t

a few others:
Wounded Lion - s/t
the Fresh and Onlys - Play it Strange
Home Blitz - Out of Phase
Art Museums - Rough Frame
Jack Rose - Luck in the Valley

JAN DE VROEDE

hi y'all!

happy new year - wishing you a wickedly wild and fun 2011 with lots of good stuff. yay!

here's what we've been listening most to in Nuuk, Greenland: the North Pole Top 15 in random order:

1. serafina steer - change is good, change is good
2. benni hemm hemm - retaliate EP
3. giant sand - storm (25th year reissue)
4. the black keys - brothers
5. omar khorshid - guitar el chark
6. marika papagika - the further the flame, the worse it burns
7. marie fisker - ghost of love
8. nive nielsen & the deer children: pirate song EP
9. the feelies - crazy rhythm (reissue)
10. michael yonkers - lovely gold
11. arp & anthony moore - frkwys vol. 3
12. strapping fieldhands - discus (reissue)
13. daniel higgs - say god
14. michael hurley - blue hills
15. sun city girls - funeral mariachi

OLLIE ANMA MAY

Cheerio AQ!

Alcest - Ecailles De Lune
Conan - Horseback Battle Hammer
Deathspell Omega - Paracletus
Envy - Recitation
Jonsi - Go Live (CD/DVD)
Oneohtrix Point Never - Returnal (+ Antony/Fennesz 7")
Salome - Terminal
Senking - Pong
Urfaust - Der Freiwillige Bettler
Woods - At Echo Lake

STEVEN KAUFMAN

Hi aQ Friends,

Here are some of my favorites for 2010 in no particular order. Overall, a great year for music not so much for cinema, in my opinion.

Music:
Swans- My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky
Sun City Girls- Funeral Mariachi
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti- Before Today
Umberto- Prophecy Of The Black Widow
Puffy Areolas- In The Army 1981
Francis Harold and the Holograms- Who Said These Were Happy Times? (technically from 2009 but purchased in 2010)
Oneohtrix Point Never- Returnal
Tyvek- Nothing Fits
aTelecine- A Cassette Tape Culture
Dum Dum Girls- I Will Be

Movies:
Enter The Void
Leaves Of Grass
Valhalla
Human Centipede
Exit Through The Gift Shop
Tron:Legacy
The Social Network

Here's to another challenging year of music!

DAN SCHAAF

Top 10

1 the soft pack The Soft Pack (Kemado)
2 ty segall Melted (Goner)
3 black keys Brother (Nonesuch)
4 harlem Hippies (Matador)
5 nada surf If I Had a Hi-Fi (Mardev)
6 no age Everything in Between (Sub Pop)
7 surfer blood Astro Coast (Kanine)
8 thermals Personal Life (Kill Rock Stars)
9 wolf parade Expo 86 (Sub Pop)
10 bill callahan Rough Travel for a Rare Thing (Drag City)

Others:

local natives Gorilla Manor
male bonding Nothing Hurts
beach house Teen Dream
mike patton Mondo Cane
arcade fire The Suburbs
kelly stolz To Dreamers
she & him Volume 2

MIKE PISTORIO

undertow-warpaint
the waves-tamaryn
sharing orb- dirt projector and bjork
who needs a man-the fresh and onlys -
mirrorage-glasser
live in dreams - wild nothing
for now - twin shadow
dance yrslf clean - LCD soundsystem
anyone's ghost-the national
shake the shackles - crystal stilts

ALEX THREADGOLD

My 2010 best - in the order i would play them:

2009 roll-over: Hull - Sole Lord
Intronaut - Valley of Smoke
Torche - Songs for Singles
Ash Pool - For He Who Plies the Lash
Oneohtrix Point Never - Returnal
Forest Swords - Dagger Paths
Gold Panda - Lucky Shiner
Janelle Monae - The Archandroid
Big KRIT - Big KRIT Wuz Here
Curren$y - Pilot Talk

JACOB KOBRIN

So... um... a bit more than a top ten, but here's my list:

This is just copy and pasted from an article I wrote.

This year was interesting for me (musically.) On one hand, I didn't really hear a single bad album, nor were there really any disappointments. In fact, there were plenty of GREAT albums that were released this year. Unfortunately, however, there wasn't really any one (or two/three/four) albums that feel like masterpieces or I think will truly stick with me for the long haul. Perhaps that's just my state of mind? But as a whole, I'd say this year was much better than 2009, and about the same as 2008. For some genres, specifically PSYCH ROCK and MODERN CLASSICAL, this year was incredible. Those are two genres that certainly seem to be on the rise over this next decade, and I do not feel remorse for that to say the least. It was a weaker year for metal (though there were a handful or so of INCREDIBLE metal releases,) as well as some other genres (I only heard a couple of good post-rock albums, with the rest sounding horrendously clichéd and predictable.) As a whole I'd probably give music a 6.8... Kidding.

I included the genre and country because those two things usually dictates what a band sounds like pretty thoroughly. That'll hopefully help some of the people who like some stuff that I listen to but not others.

This may be my last year of doing these lists, because I find it a bit draining and I feel that it detracts from the listening experience a bit. I'm going to take some time to "fill holes in my musical education" (aka listen to the classics) and to finally start my genre exploration project.

Best album cover(s): The Third Eye Foundation - The Dark by Vania Zouravilov. I also love Sleepy Sun - Fever by David D'Andrea.

Biggest Disappointment(s): There actually weren't many this year, unlike last year. I found the new Burzum a bit disappointing, but then again, I didn't necessarily have the highest expectations for it to begin with. I also found the new Atheist to be a bit disappointing, and the new Eluvium. Both are good (as is Belus, actually) just not as good as their past material.

Best debut album: Les Discrets

Biggest Surprise: The biggest surprise for me this year was probably the new Arcade Fire, because I really didn't enjoy Neon Bible (though I do now) and I wasn't a very big fan of the band before I heard this record. This is a true return to form, and since hearing this album I've become a huge fan of AF.

Most underrated album: Les Discrets, Max Richter, and Wovenhand were all very underrated.

Most overrated album: Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy... Semi-decent but embarrassingly far from a masterpiece. I have no idea why so many have rated this album so highly... Actually when it comes to pop/mainstream rap this has to be the best thing there is. Some parts were actually very enjoyable. But there are some really bad vocal-type stuff, both from Kanye, and his back-up vocalist with that dreadful, over-produced vocal sound I hate. The lyrics (which a lot of people are praising) are good in some parts, laughable in others (though I'm unsure whether or not the humor was intentional,) and unnerving in others due to how much Kanye's pretension comes through them. Most of the lyrics are about Kanye's struggles with his "responsibility as the savior of music" or whatever. Fuck that. I guess it gets bonus points for sampling King Crimson, Can, and I think Camel in parts, as well as having Justin Vernon on board. And the string arrangements were very nice. I liked the first couple of tracks. All of the Lights is HORRENDOUS. The rest were more or less neutral I guess, with some good, and some REALLY bad. I shouldn't care about Pitchfork but I seriously can't believe they gave this album a 10/10 (which is the same rating they gave Abbey Road, Sgt Pepper, Revolver, Animals, OK Computer, Kid A, Disintegration, etc. which are all worthy of that rating.) This is literally THE most overrated album of all time, not just of this year. It's a high-4 or 5 out of 10 max. p.s. Kanye, no one thinks you're a black Beatle, sorry...

Best Reissue(s): The continuation of the King Crimson Steven Wilson re-masters.

Best Packaging: I didn't buy the record, but the packaging for Watain's new record looked really amazing from the pictures I saw.

Without further ado... The list:

Alcest - Ecailles de Lune [shoegaze/post-black metal | France]
Agalloch - Marrow of the Spirit [progressive black metal | USA]
Deathspell Omega - Paracletus [avant-garde/progressive black/death metal | France]
Jonsi - Go Live [post-rock | Iceland] - has enough new tracks to be considered a new album
Sun Kil Moon - Admiral Fell Promises [acoustic folk | USA]
Arcade Fire - The Suburbs ["indie" rock | Canada]
Les Discrets - Septembre et ses Dernières Pensees [shoegaze/post-rock with slight metal influence | France]
Enslaved - Axioma Ethica Odini [progressive black metal | Norway]
Grinderman - Grinderman 2 [experimental garage rock | USA]
Max Richter - Infra [modern classical/ambient | UK]
Wovenhand - The Threshingfloor [gothic americana/alt-country | USA]
Swans - My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky [experimental/noise rock | USA]
The Knife - Tomorrow, In A Year [experimental/drone/avant-garde/opera | Sweden]
Gonjasufi - A Sufi and a Killer [experimental/psychedelic rock/hip-hop | USA]
Philip Selway - Familial [singer-songwriter | UK]
Intronaut - Valley of Smoke [progressive/post-metal | USA]
Olafur Arnalds - ...and they have escaped the weight of darkness [neoclassical/ambient/post-rock | Iceland]
Olan Mill - Pine [ambient/neoclassical | UK]
Natural Snow Buildings - The Centauri Agent [drone/ambient/shoegaze | France]
Nedry - Condors [eclectic electronic: trip-hop, dubstep, jungle, prog-house, etc. | UK]
Black Bombaim - Saturdays and Space Travels [psyche/acid/jam rock | Portugal]
Oceansize - Self Preserved As the Bodies Float Upward ["post" progressive rock | UK]
Lantlos - .neon [post-black metal | Germany]
Jonsi - Go [post-rock/Icelandic pop... or something like that | Iceland]
Amiina - Puzzle [ambient/experimental | Iceland]
Areknames- In Case of Loss [progressive rock | Italy]
Sleepy Sun - Fever [psychedelic folk rock | USA]
Brandon Perry - Ark [ambient/neo-classical | UK]
The Tallest Man on Earth - The Wild Hunt [singer-songwriter/folk | Sweden]
Women - Public Strain [experimental/psychedelic/noise-pop | Canada]
Samsara Blues Experiment - Long Distance Trip [psychedelic/stoner rock | Germany]
Quest for Fire - Lights from Paradise [psychedelic/space rock | Canada]
How to Dress Well - Love Remains [experimental & low-fi soul | Germany]
Mountain Man - Made the Harbor [a capella/minimal folk | Canada]
The Roots - How I Got Under [experimental hip hop | USA]
Lights Out Asia - In The Days of Jupiter [soundscape/experimental post-rock | USA]
Ludicra - The Tenant [progressive black metal | USA]
Rokkurro - Í Annan Heim [post-rock | Iceland]
Mike Patton - Mondo Cane [experimental Italian baroque pop | USA]
Voice of the Seven Thunders - Voice of the Seven Thunders [folk and psychedelic rock | UK]
Black Mountain - Wilderness Heart [psychedelic rock | Canada]
Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest [dream/psychedelic pop | USA]
Demdike Stare - Liberation through Hearing [dark drone/dub/ambient | UK]
Solar Bears - She Was Colored In [eclectic electronic/post-rock/"soundtrack"/etc | USA]
Gold Panda - Lucky Shiner [low-fi electronic | UK]
Rome - Nos Chants Perdus [neofolk | Luxembourg]
Anathema - We're Here Because We're Here ["crossover" progressive rock/post-prog | UK]
Boduf Songs - This Alone Above Al Else In Spite Of Everything [experimental post-rock | UK]
Markus Mehr - Lava [drone/ambient | Germany]
The Black Keys - Brothers [psychedelic blues rock | USA]
Triptykon - Eparistera Daimones [doom metal | Switzerland]
Electric Wizard - Black Masses [stoner/doom metal | UK]
Hammock - Chasing After Shadows...Living with the Ghosts [post-rock | USA]
Red Sparowes - The Fear is Excruciating, But Therein Lies the Answer [post-rock | USA]
Consecration - .avi [post-metal | Serbia]
Massive Attack - Heligoland [trip hop | UK]
Ihsahn - After [progressive metal | Norway]
Jaga Jazzist - One-Armed Bandit [experimental/nu-jazz | Norway]
A Forest of Stars - Opportunistic Thieves of Spring [avant-garde/progressive black metal | UK]
The National - High Violet [Indie/Chamber Rock | USA]
Wild Nothing - Gemini [shoegaze | USA]
The Third Eye Foundation - The Dark | experimental electronic | UK]
Titan - Sweet Dreams [heavy progressive rock | USA]
Kayo Dot - Coyote [compositional/avant-garde rock | USA]
Mugstar - Lime [psychedelic rock | UK]
Encircling Sea - Écru [atmospheric black metal | Australia]
Yakuza - Of Seismic Consequence [avant-garde metal | USA]
Midlake - The Courage of Others [folk-rock | USA]
RQTN - Decades and Decisions [neoclassical/ambient/post-rock | France]
Wolvserpent - Blood Seed [drone/funeral doom metal / post-rock | USA]
White Hills - White Hills [psychedelic/stoner rock | USA]
God is an Astronaut - Age of the Fifth Sun [post-rock | Ireland]
Motorpsycho - Heavy Metal Fruit [psychedelic/progressive hard rock | Norway]
Atheist - Jupiter [technical thrash metal | USA]
Emancipator - Safe in the Steep Cliffs [trip-hop | USA]
Lunatic Soul - Lunatic Soul II [crossover prog/ethereal pop | Poland]
Morcheeba - Blood Like Lemonade [trip-hop/downtempo electronic | UK]
Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma [experimental electronic | USA]
In Lingua Mortua - Salon des Refuses [avant-garde/progressive black metal | Norway]
Caribou - Swim [experimental electronic/"indie" rock | Canada]
Eluvium - Similes [ambient | USA]
Burzum - Belus [atmospheric black metal | Norway]
Beach House - Teen Dream [psychedelic/dream pop | USA]
Demians - Mute [progressive alternative rock | France]
Cloudkicker - Beacons ["djent"/instrumental prog metal | USA]
Citay - Dream Get Together [psychedelic/dream pop | USA]
Efterklang - Magic Chairs [experimental electronic/post-rock | Denmark]
Murralin Lane - Our House Is On The Wall [drone/ambient | Sweden]
Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me [folk/singer-songwriter | USA]
The Ocean - Heliocentric [post-metal | Germany]
Portugal. The Man - American Ghetto [indie/electronic rock/pop | USA]
Mondo Drag - New Rituals [psychedelic/stoner rock | USA]
Blessure Grave - Judged by Twelve, Carried by Six [goth/post-punk | USA]
Peter Gabriel - Scratch My Back [singer-songwriter/orchestral/cover-songs | UK]
Orphaned Land - The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR [middle-eastern/progressive metal | Israel]
Deftones - Diamond Eyes ["alternative" metal | USA]
Earl Greyhound - Suspicious Package [progressive rock | USA]
Ephemeral Sun - Harvest Aorta [progressive metal | USA]
Group Doueh - Beatte Harab [desert blues/african folk-rock | Western Sahara]

Also:

Best EP/Single: Kayo Dot - Stained Glass [compositional/avant-garde rock | USA]

Best Official Soundtrack: Hans Zimmer - Inception or Clint Mansell - Black Swan

Best Demo: Dispirit - Rehearsal at Oboroten [atmospheric black metal | USA]

Best Live Album: Mono - Holy Ground: NYC Live [post-rock | Japan] (not counting Jónsi)

You can just put the top 10 if you'd like.

I worship your employees! :P

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