1. The Beach Boys, The Smile Sessions
(Capitol, 5xCD/DL)
This stuff was majorly important to me when I first learned of it by way of the Elephant 6 swell in Athens, Georgia, when I was in college there. Can’t believe how good some of it is still. Not unrelated, I interviewed Brian Wilson in his hotel room a few years ago and will never forget the look in his eyes.
2. Dub Taylor, Lumière
(Sub Rosa, CD/DL/LP)
Good scattered musique concrète mess that revealed itself to be neither scattered nor a mess. Or maybe more of both than I have yet come to realize.
3. Franca Sacchi, En
(Die Schachtel, CD/DL)
Early ’70s electronic music by an Italian woman I hadn’t known, toggles between research and viscerality with urge and ease.
4. Miles Davis Quintet, Live in Europe 1967, The Bootleg Series Vol. 1
(Capitol, 3xCD/DL)
I think we can all agree this was the greatest band configuration of all time, and the live material here kind of blew the doors off the rest of their wares.
5. Various Artists, I Listen to the Wind That Obliterates My Traces: Music in Vernacular Photographs 1850-1955, edited by Steve Roden
(Dust-to-Digital, 2xCD + book)
Many mornings devoted this year to music older than almost all of my relatives, and this set came packaged in a book with photos for the ages. To wit: a one-man band with just one arm. (Wrote about it here.)
6. Theo Parrish, Uget
(Ugly Edits, 2xCD)
Patience, placement, parts where it sounds like even he’s not paying attention—such makes up the mix of Theo Parrish at his best. Few have such a handle on what makes dance music float or fall, and I like how he makes you work for it all.
7. Dickie Landry, Fifteen Saxophones
(Unseen Worlds, CD/DL/LP)
Transporting tape-delay pieces involving saxophone and more by a downtown New York dude in the ’70s. Love the way it sometimes wiggles in slow-motion.
8. Oz Almog & Shantel: Kosher Nostra, Jewish Gangsters Greatest Hits
(Essay, CD/DL)
Another compilation of old songs that made many a morning richer.
9. Eliane Radigue, Transamorem-Transmortem
(Important Records, CD)
This one continues to beguile, harder to sink into than the rest of her I’ve heard due to a certain high-frequency harshness but consuming—encompassing—all the same.
10. Elvis Presley, Elvis Is Back! (Legacy Edition)
(RCA, 2xCD/DL)
So good in parts, from 1960 and packed with another album from ‘61. My favorite musical moment of the year was hearing the slowly descending piano parts in “Soldier Boy” every time I heard them.
