a personal choice of 13 records from 2020

Actress – Karma & Desire (Ninja Tune)

Actress returns and delivers an album that plays like a dream.

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Autechre – Sign (Warp Records)

The gorgeous, new Autechre album we thought we’d never get. Slightly marred by the very questionable marketing campaign with the after SIGN release late add-on PLUS album-in-it’s-own-right but looks the same only different. After you get over the feeling of having been subjected to a rip-off attempt and after playing PLUS too many times (trying in vain to force yourself to like it), you should return to SIGN and enjoy it’s glory.

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Coil – Musick To Play In The Dark (remastered) (Dais)

Never released in full as a vinyl edition in 1999 (when the CD was the choice medium) the original limited single LP missed one of the tracks while others were shorter edits. This is really a first time vinyl release of Musick To Play In The Dark as a three sided LP. Excellent remastering job throughout by Josh Bonati. About a dozen different vinyl colours make it a tough choice to pick for collectors, but exactly who is complaining? What matters is that this album is a masterpiece. Perfect calm straight out of chaos that lives on.

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IHVH – The Agnostic (Time Released Sound)

This collaboration between Mark Van Hoen (Locust, Autocreation) and young violinist Zachary Paul is an extraordinary experience in every way. Referencing various styles, cultures and religions, this is a world of an album. By now this seems to be completely sold out on lathe cut and CD and no longer available digitally.

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Joachim Spieth – Tides (Affin)

The eight compositions on Joachim Spieth‘s first purely ambient album are just perfect. A joy to listen to from beginning to end.

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KMRU – Peel (Editions Mego)

 A minimal masterpiece right here. Seemingly effortless Kenya’s Joseph Kamaru sets a new standard with this 2020 album on Editions Mego.

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Massimo Pupillo – The Black Iron Prison (Subsound Records)

Stunning solo album from Zu’s Massimo recorded at Thighpaulsandra‘s studio (also check their collaborations as Uruk). A deeply meditative and atmospheric work of beauty and one of my favourite 2020 albums (by the way: the smokey vinyl LP looks and also sounds ace).

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Midori Hirano – Invisible Island (Sonic Pieces)

Listening to Invisible Island feels incredibly private, as if you’re witnessing a secret process, emotional ups and downs, unsteady magic and evolution shared by Japanese pianist Midori and her machines. Captivating.

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Rival Consoles – Articulation (Erased Tapes)

“I find electronic music is often battling to say something with integrity because technology and production can easily get in the way. I think the goal of a lot of electronic composers is to find a balance between the vision of the idea and the power of possibilities on the computer. With a pen and paper sketch you can compose and rethink ideas without technology getting in the way, so for me it acts as a very helpful tool to refresh the process.“ – Ryan Lee West 

And so we received the freshest and best electronic album of the year.

(Tip: the bandcamp download version of the CD release, which combines Articulation with 2016’s Night Melody EP, contains a fantastic remix by Midori Hirano)

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Robin Guthrie & Harold Budd – Another Flower (Darla Records)

We had to say farewell to Harold Budd this December, only 4 days before his death Harold and Robin released a new album they recorded 7 years earlier. When i was young the very first „ambient“ albums i bought were Budd‘s Abandoned Cities and Lovely Thunder LPs, only recently i played the 23 minute track “Abandoned Cities“ in one of my sets. A long time influence and this is another great album gifted to us this December, adios amigo!

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Teleplasmiste – To Kiss Earth Goodbye (House Of Mythology)

Deep expanding sound-vision, Mark O Pilkington & Michael J York‘s second album proper as Teleplasmiste is their best work yet, amazing. Also worth checking out is Michal J York’s other project The Utopia Strong (with Steve Davis and Kavus Torabi), they also had three very strong, tripping releases this year, The Utopia Strong recent vinyl records with hand printed sleeves are super rare but all are available digitally on bandcamp.

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Wanderwelle – A State Of Decrepitude (A Strangely Isolated Place)