Record of the Year 2020

[catalog]

there's a song on the ONO album (number 25) called 'I Dream Of Sodomy'. This is the band that was number 1 on john's list for gigs.

It's good to know that third's desires are getting out into the wider consciousness.

 

[hucks]

Think this might be my track of the year. Really makes me miss dancing. Which tbf I don’t do much of anymore due to my embarrassing age but still.

 

[DannyL]

Nicked off ILX:

Wire Magazine - Releases Of The Year 2020

1. Beatrice Dillon - Workaround
2. Moor Mother - Circuit City
3. Mourning A BLKstar - The Cycle
4. Bob Dylan - Rough And Rowdy Ways
5. Duma - Duma
6. Jeff Parker & The New Breed - Suite for Max Brown
7. Still House Plants - Fast Edit
8. Jennifer Walshe - A Late Anthology Of Early Music Vol 1: Ancient To Renaissance
9. White Boy Scream - Bakunawa
10. Carl Stone - Stolen Car

11. Backxwash - God Has Nothing To Do With This Leave Him Out Of It
12. Armand Hammer - Shrines
13. Sarah Davachi - Cantus, Descant
14. Zeroh - BLQLYTE
15. Bill Nace - Both
16. William Basinski - Lamentations
17. Albert Bouchard - Re Imaginos
18. Rhodri Davies - Telyn Rawn
19. Quelle Chris & Chris Keys - Innocent Country 2
20. Special Interest - The Passion Of

21. Irreversible Entanglements - Who Sent You?
22. Aksak Maboul - Figures
23. Liv.e - Couldn't Wait To Tell You
24. Ellen Fulman & Theresa Wong - Harbors
25. ONO - Red Summer
26. The Soft Pink Truth - Shall We Go On Sinning So The Grace May Increase?
27. Sun Ra Arkestra - Swirling
28. Fiona Apple - Fetch The Bolt Cutters
29. Autechre - SIGN
30. Gogoj aka Sheng Jie - Oviparity

31. Mary Halvorson's Code Girl - Artlessly Falling
32. Jay Electronica - A Written Testimony
33. PRAED! Orchestra - Live In Sharjah
34. Angel Bat Dawid & Tha Brotherhood - Live
35. Tara Clerkin Trio - Tara Clerkin Trio
36. Crazy Doberman - Illusory Expansion
37. Oliver Coats - skins n slime
38. Clipping - Visions Of Bodies Being Burned
39. Mary Lattimore - Silver Ladders
40. Pink Siifu - NEGRO

41. Sara Serpa - Recognition
42. Thundercat - It Is What It Is
43. Anna Von Hausswolff - All Thoughts Fly
44. Neptunian Maximalism - Eons
45. Headie One x Fred again. - GANG
46. Neil Charles - Low And Beyond
47. Wendy Eisenberg - Auto
48. Asher Gamedze - Dialectic Soul
49. Tricky - Fall To Pieces
50. Sylvia Hallett - Tree Time

I've only heard 5 of them which surprises me given the amount of new stuff I listen to.

 

[DannyL]

Heard "of" lots of them that I've not got to listen to yet, of course.

 

[subvert47]

That's the most unappealing list I've ever seen in my life it's put me off music forever

While I wouldn't knock any albums in particular, the resulting Wire list is always shit. It's a list of albums that several of their contributors put somewhere on an individual list for some reason or other. That always leads to a list of relative common denominator blandness that pleases no one – except the people actually on the list, I suppose.

FWIW here's a list of albums they could have chosen: https://borritwem.blogspot.com/2020/12/2020.html

 

[DannyL]

I like the list. I think it's interesting, diverse, loads of stuff I've not heard etc. But I'm not a Wire hater on principle, as I suspect Luka is. I'm favourably disposed to them, listen to the show on Resonance most weeks.

 

[john eden]

I think the rest of the "rewind" pieces in The Wire are always better but I do like reading the big list too. This is year is quite poignant as they ask bunch of contributors and artists to talk about what helped them get through 2020.

 

[DannyL]

I was doing something similar to your reviews - making sure I bought or at least listened to something I'd read about every time I picked up the magazine.

 

[DannyL]

x post to Subvert. I've cut this out a bit 'cos I've been going in so hard on Bandamp but it's an enjoyable discipline.

 

[john eden]

The Wire is an easy target, like Cafe OTO.

Like, it is self-evident what most people will not like about them. And because of the self-deprecating or quasi-hipster nature of people that consume these things you won't get many passionate defenders of them either.

It's a very English anti-intellectual thing where people are a bit embarrassed about liking stuff.

 

[DannyL]

Yeah strikes me as v classist in a weird, inverted way. A horror of the middle class, "educated" taste.

 

[IdleRich]

I think it was Luka asking for Bandcamp tips... I'm just checking out this list

The Best Electronic Albums of 2020

These are the best electronic albums of the year.

daily.bandcamp.com

 

[catalog]

Yeah strikes me as v classist in a weird, inverted way. A horror of the middle class, "educated" taste.

similar in a way to the paragraph in john's blog, about 'a certain type of man'... i felt seen in that as well, i remember it from the first time round on twitter. particularly the iain sinclair thing, but the thing is, whoever has written this, as brilliantly scathing as it is, they must know this person so well, so most likely associated with them? so there's an element of hipster self-hatred going on?

 

[john eden]

similar in a way to the paragraph in john's blog, about 'a certain type of man'... i felt seen in that as well, i remember it from the first time round on twitter. particularly the iain sinclair thing, but the thing is, whoever has written this, as brilliantly scathing as it is, they must know this person so well, so most likely associated with them? so there's an element of hipster self-hatred going on?

I got the feeling that that was just a bit of affectionate piss taking. Or partly affectionate anyway.

 

[catalog]

yeah, could be. seems like disgruntled ex maybe? the tone is quite strong... i love the way it's written actually, with all the repetitions of 'probably' and the attention to detail like 'recognise iain sinclair but don't go to dalston' that's a good bit of specifics pulling together.

 

[luka]

Can we not listen to normal music though

 

[john eden]

 

[john eden]

Listen to what you want.

Just stop posting stuff on here about how impossible it is to speak to normal people.

 

[luka]

John are you being aggressive? I'm too drunk to process this post properly but my brain registers it as very aggressive

 

[john eden]

John are you being aggressive? I'm too drunk to process this post properly but my brain registers it as very aggressive

No way man, I have a big stupid smile on my face.