Top 10 Drone Albums Of 2009

I wasn't going to do a Top 10 list this year. I figured my Top 1 list was sufficient because that was so clearly the one thing that made such a life changing impact on me. But then the fine folks of Weirdo Records asked me to make a Top 10 for them. I couldn't turn them down, obviously, and it was an excuse to do something that I really wanted to do all along. I love making lists. And people love reading them. I don't know why I withheld from something that everyone so clearly wanted.

Once I made my list for Weirdo, though, I realized that about 75% of it was comprised of drone records. So to make things more interesting, I decided to make a Top 10 list of just drone records.

Links go to original reviews. Please check out the other lists at Weirdo because that's where this originally came from. Now, onto the heckling!


10. Gregg Kowalsky's Tape Chants (Kranky)
Minimal long form tape drone meant for deeeep sleep and/or meditation and/or my favorite kind of parties.


9. Nicholas Szczepanik's The Chiasmus (Sentient Recognition Archive / Basses Frequences)
Enormous drone, fills your house/head with wonderful smooth tones, mostly of the euphoric variety.


8. Ophibre's Approaching The Ionized Piezo Kiosk (Earjerk)
Simultaneously melancholic and blissful drone tearing you in two for a half hour. Literally stunning.


7. Keith Fullerton Whitman's Dream House Variations (Arbor)
4 tapes of differing length meant for simultaneous play and manual fucking around (fast forwarding, speed manipulation, etc) is encouraged. This is just fucking brilliant. Oh, and the music's great too.


6. Acre's Isolationist (Isounderscore)
Even though two of the three tracks on this were previously released (though unheard by me and therefor irrelevant), the brand new track is awesome enough to warrant being in everyone's top 10 list. It's the densest, warmest, drone ever and came right in time for winter.


5. Usputuspud's Live In The Shit (The Nafs)
Murky drone disco. That's why.


4. The Golden Sores' A Peaceable Kingdom (BloodLust!)
This is where drone is going. The is the new drone of the future. Everything about this record is utterly fantastic. Chill ambient style, guitar psych feedbackage, and everything else. This is how it's done.


3. Mountains' Choral (Thrill Jockey) (motherfuckers deleted my fucking review)
Unbelievably amazing ambient naturey organic drone. So life affirming. Put this record on and your stress is instantly zapped. Motherfuckers deleted my fucking review, so here's the same label approved mp3 I put up the first time.
Mountains - Choral



2. Jason Crumer's Walk With Me (Misanthropic Agenda)
This is the noisiest drone record I've heard all year. Sometimes it gets almost unbearably rowdy but it's the kind that gives you chills. The final two songs are probably the best sequenced tracks of the year.


1. Eluvium's Life Through Bombardment (Temporary Residence Limited)
This takes the number one spot with ease. Every Eluvium album on vinyl for the first time. It's like hearing each record anew and in the proper way. Plus, have you seen the packaging on this beast? It's gorgeous and epic. It's a fuckin BOOK. And it's personalized. TRL really went for broke on this and it's absolutely worth every penny.

Year End Top 1 List

Nope. That's not a typo or a joke. There has been one thing this year that completely surpassed everything else in terms of sheer awesomeness. This has honestly changed my life more than anything else this year. I have already heaped endless amounts of praise on this the first time I posted it yet it still deserves more.

I can't even imagine how many spiders I killed in 2008. I think I killed one since I saw this video, which, by the way, is shamefully underviewed on YouTube, especially considering that I account for half of the 290,000 views.

I love everything about this song and video. Let me re-cap from my original post:

I love the rhythm. I love the flow. I love every single lyric. I love the story. I love the animation. I love the imagery. I love the dad. I love the dad's voice. I love the son's voice. I love the old timeyness. I love the (faux?) outsider feeling. I love the dad's long nose and weird hair and worm nipples. I love the opening line. I love the dad caressing the spider's delicate legs. I love the page turning. I love that the dad decided to teach his son a lesson about morals upon being woken up in the middle of the night. I love that it ends with the dad saluting the spider and wishing him "Godspeed." I love every single thing about this video. I love Garrett Davis and Kirsten Lepore for making this. I hate Garrett for not making more music.

I present to you Garrett Davis' & Kirsten Lepore's "Story From North America"

A Tribute & Reformation (Or Why I Don't Like The Way I Listen To Music)

For those of you unaware, I have a music blog. On it, I write about music that I listen to and as a general rule, I try to not write about music I don't like. What's the point, right? There's so many amazing bands that I barely have enough time to write about them, let alone all the lame shit out there. And here is where the problem starts...

I listen to music the way I eat food. I scarf everything as quickly as I can. From the smallest cookie to a Thanksgiving feast, I wolf it down with no time to savor it, hardly ever going back for seconds. Each bite is merely a means to the next; I rarely enjoy the bite itself, only the whole meal. And once I'm done, I'm stuffed, simply waiting it out until it's time to eat again. Onto the next meal.

Here's the lifeline of a record in Anti-Gravity Bunny time: First, I discover a band/hear a new record. If it's good, I listen to it/them some more. If it's really good I'll try to write something about it here on AGB. If it's fucking awesome I'll probably listen to it a little bit more within the next few weeks. But then it slips away... I listen to it less and less and about 1-2 months after the post has been written, I've all but forgotten the record until the end of the year where I try my best to remember the best of the best. And that's the best possible scenario any record can hope for. Wtf?

The reason for this is obvious, though. In the world of music blogs, I'm always trying to find the next thing to write about. I don't have enough time in the day to enjoy the old and new classics while simultaneously hunting down future classics. So records get tossed aside. They get forgotten. I'm not just talking about that old Sebadoh record you were really into sophomore year. What about stuff like Asobi Seksu's Citrus? I can't remember the last time I listened to that and I fucking love it! Just because it's not the new Dan Deacon record doesn't mean I shouldn't be listening to it.

So this post is part commemoration, looking back at the ones that should still get regular playtime, and part resolution, promising myself that I will not allow them to be abandoned and refusing to let the fact that I have a music blog get in the way of listening to those that did not make the Top 10 lists.

Here's a list of some stuff from the past year or three for your pleasure. Never forget.

Tristan Perich - 1-Bit Music
Sunken - Eye Electric Organ, Brain Electric Nerve
Mamaleek - Mamaleek
Citay - Little Kingdom
The Heads - Dead In The Water... (Part 1) (Part 2)
Njiqahdda - Nji. Njijn. Njiiijn. (Part 1) (Part 2)
Xasthur - Subliminal Genocide (Part 1) (Part 2)
Asobi Seksu - Citrus
Miss Violetta Beauregarde - Odi Profanum Vulgus Et Arceo
A Sunny Day In Glasgow - Scribble Mural Comic Journal
Ex Models - Zoo Psychology
Nadja - Truth Becomes Death
Have A Nice Life - Deathconsciousness (Disc 1 - The Plow That Broke The Plains)
Have A Nice Life - Deathconsciousness (Disc 2 - The Future)
An Albatross - We Are The Lazer Viking
Indian Jewelry - We Are The Wild Beast
Pyramids - Pyramids (Disc 1)
Pyramids - Pyramids (Disc 2)
Julian Fane - Special Forces
Wizardzz - Hidden City Of Taurmond
My Latest Novel - Wolves
Alcest - Souvenirs d'un Autre Monde
O.Lamm - Monolith
The Blow - Paper Television
Jesu - Silver EP
They Shoot Horses Don't They - Boo Hoo Hoo Boo
Numbers - Now You Are This

I Ain't Perfect

So 2008 is gone and my Top 10 list has been made. But I never stop listening to music. Just because something came out 2 weeks ago doesn't mean I'm never gonna listen to it. I'm a fucking colossal squid, man. Always probing the depths of the music ocean. But contrary to how it may seem, just because I have a music blog doesn't mean I get to listen to everything ever recorded ever. So sometimes things slip by me and '08 is no exception. There were some solid records that may (or may not) have made it onto my Top 10 list had I heard them in time. If, like me, for some bizarre reason you slept on some of these, now's the time to get off your ass and listen because they're totally fucking worth it.



Zomes - Crowning Orbs

Zomes is a fucking given. Did you see my "review?" This obviously would've made my Top 10 list.



Fennesz - Perfume For Winter
Link removed.
Black Sea by Fennesz is another one that clearly should have made my list. This record is so epically beautiful and possibly my favorite Fennesz record yet. Although, this is also an album that I probably would desecrate by trying to review it. So that's the bright side.



El Guincho - Fata Morgana

El Guincho was something I thought I'd never like so I just kinda ignored Alegranza! I mean, it's crazy tropicalia that you'd see silly hipsters jumping around to in gigantic club that never has any good shows. Not exactly up my alley. But, uh, it's actually really good. Not sure if it would've made my list, but maybe if it'd had more time to simmer... you never know.



Hauschka - Rode Null

Hauschka totally caught me off guard. With a name like that, I was kinda expecting Ferndorf to be mostly electronic based. Hardly. This is acousticky stuff. Pianos, violins, and other stringy things. Totally awesome. Now I know why Eluvium put it on his Top 10 Everything list for 2008. It's wonderful music to be productive to. Cleaning, cooking, all those chores just seem so much more fun when listening to Hauschka.



Max Richter - Lullaby From The West Coast

Just like Fennesz, I have no real excuse for showing up late to Max Richter's 24 Postcards In Full Colour. I love Richter's previous albums, (I'd certainly consider The Blue Notebooks a Staple) and I knew he had a new one out. What happened? Slacking off, I guess. 24 Postcards is to Richter what Miniatures is to Eluvium: fantastic little bits of beauty that showcase a different side of the respective creator.



The Music Tapes - Freeing Song By Reindeer

I knew I'd like the new Music Tapes album, For Clouds And Tornadoes. I mean shit, I even saw Koster play some MT stuff in a mansion. It's as great as I expected it to be (I fuckin love "Freeing Song By Reindeer," which he ended his set with when I saw him) but for some reason I just didn't have it in my top priorities last year. So sad.

Obligatory Top 10 List

I'm going to act like I have to make a Top 10 list at the end of the year because this is a music blog and that's what music blogs do. I'll say that I'm doing this begrudgingly only because people love to read lists and it'll get lots of hits. You see, I don't really have an option at this point. It's fucking mandatory. But in reality, I love making lists and telling people what my favorite things are. So here they are. My top picks from 2008. (Disclaimer: Marijn came out in '07 but I bought it in '08 so screw you.)



10. Usputuspud - Disco (original review)
Usputuspud - Cherished Wig

A wonderfully dancey droney tape, easily the best tape in my collection.




9. Parts & Labor - Receivers (original review)
Parts & Labor - Wedding In A Wasteland

When one of my favoritest bands comes out with a new album, you can bet your ass it'll be on my Top 10 list.



8. The Mausoleums - Blackened Fawns Cleanse The Earth With Fire (original review)
The Mausoleums - The One Who Sees

Super blown out pop metal makes me weak in the knees.



7. Torche - Meanderthal (never reviewed it for some reason, but I did talk about their live show)
Torche - Grenades

I was a little late to the Torche parade. I didn't like 'em the first few times I heard them. I don't know what happened but something clicked and I fell in love with Meanderthal.



6. Prurient - And Still, Wanting (original review)
Prurient - Memory Repeating

At the moment, this is hands down my favorite noise/power electronics record. It's so fucking intense I can barely stand it.



5. Fricara Pacchu - Midnight Pyre (original review)
Fricara Pacchu - Possessed By Possibilities

Easily the weirdest record on this list and possibly the weirdest thing I've heard all year. Those crazy Finlanders sure know how to make good music.



4. Belong - Same Places (Slow Version) (original review)
Belong - Same Places (Slow Version)

Seriously, whenever Belong puts a record out, I will be right at the front of the line worshiping it.



3. Machinefabriek - Marijn (original review)
Machinefabriek - Somerset

This is the first record I've heard from the uber-prolific Machinefabriek and I have a hard time believing he'll ever put out anything better than this. It's a goddamn masterpiece.



2. A Faulty Chromosome - As An Ex-Anorexic's Six Sicks Exit,... (original review)
A Faulty Chromosome - Jackie O

This was sooooo close to being number one record of the year for me. It's one of the oldest records on the list and it still gets played more than any of the others. I am completely in love with A Faulty Chromosome.



1. Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing (original review)
Fuck Buttons - Colours Move

I called it. All the way back in March I knew this would be my favorite record of 2008. I said "This is so so so easily the best record of the year. I can't imagine anything else coming out that can top this. And my imagination is pretty good." Surprisingly, I was right.

Close calls:
Yoshi Wada - Lament For The Rise And Fall Of The Elephantine Crocodile
Mates Of State - Re-Arrange Us (this, along with M83's Saturdays=Youth were my top 2 most played albums)
Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles
Dan Friel - Ghost Town
Njiqahdda - Nji. Njiin. Njiiin.
Lawrence English - Kiri No Oto
Dev/Null - Necrobestial Sadobreaks

Now, just because you hate my list doesn't mean you should hate me too. Lets try not to start any fights just because there's no Animal Collective on here.

Notable Bits From Brainwaves Festival

Obama on drums

*Was there no heat in the Regent Theater? Wtf. I had frozen toes for 3 days.

*The merch tables. Ooooooh the merch tables. Tempting the music junkies with their rare wares. Damn you Mimaroglu!

*Lots of pretty projections.

*The only standing ovation was for the first band that played. Manorexia. My guess is that people realized shit, we're gonna have to give standing o's to everyone if we keep this up. So, yeah, no more ovations after that.

*The Silver Apples dude is old. And still awesome. The record label wanted him to record a "psychedelic" song. His idea was that the way kids think is "pretty psychedelic", so he wrote a kids song called "Purple Egg" which goes "I found a purple egg in the ukulele bush and the Carrot Lady said come in and play."

*Meat Beat Manifesto's projection that had Barrack Obama's face superimposed on a drummer.

*Glenn Jones making his one guitar sound like 5.

*I'm pretty sure the Rivulets dude was pissed at his drummer the whole time.

*Gary Wilson....?

*Papa Gino's!

*Weirdest performance all weekend goes to Little Annie. That woman was just too weird.

*Jonathan Coleclough heated a pane of glass with a tiny blowtorch. And made music out of it. And became my hero in the process. Best performance of Brainwaves.

*Holy shit Threshold HouseBoys Choir (aka Peter Christopherson of Throbbing Gristle, Coil, etc) is terrifying. The music sounded like the kind of thing he would listen to while he was either making or watching snuff films. And the videos he played on his TV were creeeepy. Asian porn edited so it was just dude's faces. And weird piercing/self mutilation stuff. All in super slo-mo.

*The short guy in Matmos coming out after their set and doing a cover of some song, possibly Coil.

*Hey, did you know Windy Weber looks like a prettier version of Phyllis from The Office?

*Strategy playing a couple of songs with Nudge.

*Strategy saying, "Whoops, I put in the wrong tape.....Oh no! My tape player crashed!"

*The Boduf Songs dudes make the most depressing fucking music.

*Lichens doing an all vocal performance and totally blowing me away. That man is amazing.

*The Kill A Petty Bourgeoisie was pretty rocking. Didn't expect that.

*Papa Gino's! And 3 free slices!

*Stars Of The Lid live just makes want to curl up in a ball and cry.

Notable Bits From ATP NY

*No fridge in the room at Kutscher's resulted in cooling beverages at first with ice in the sink and later by putting them on top of the AC unit.

*The part of Tortoise's projection that looked like really high contrast distorted/pixelated waves crashing. Gorgeous.

*I remember hearing Thurston Moore playing the song "Psychic Hearts" as an encore which leads me to believe he didn't play Psychic Hearts in order. Which is fine, I guess. But weird.

*The dude standing right next to me passing out during Built To Spill's "Randy Described Reality." Twice.

*The dude standing right in front of me passing out right after Built To Spill's "Velvet Waltz." Twice.

*Built To Spill playing extra songs after they finished Perfect From Now On like "Going Against Your Mind."

*Falling asleep for a couple of minutes during the movie Man Bites Dog and waking up to see a woman being raped on her kitchen table by a serial killer and the film crew documenting him.

*Only sleeping for a total of about 2 hours from Thursday morning (10 am) to Saturday night/Sunday morning (4 am) combined with eating/drinking far too little food/water and drinking far too much Red Bull (no booze for me) caused vomiting sometime Friday morning in a toilet filled with boiling water.

*Every water source at Kutcher's (sinks, toilets, showers) somehow spouting nothing but scalding hot water from about midnight to early morning. The toilet tanks can't fill up because the water evaporates before it gets to the proper height.

*Patton Oswalt saying "I'm gonna have rape for dinner."

*Easy Lionel.

*Living off of bagels, apples, carrot sticks and peanut butter got pretty tiring. For the first time in my life, I craved some real food. Like, vegetables or something.

*Seeing some of every band except Bardo Pond (arrived too late), Alexander Tucker, Silver Mt Zion (saw 'em already and didn't want to miss a minute of Les Savy Fav) Bob Mould, and Gemma Hayes.

*ATP hipsters taking over the local Shop Rite.

*Playing Tumblin' Monkeys.

*Fuck Buttons sounding a buzillion times better than that show with Caribou at The Paradise.

*Talking to some woman who recognized me from that show with Caribou at The Paradise and who knows people who used to run the radio station I used to run (WMWM).

*Wishing it was more appropriate to dance to Fuck Buttons. I mean, wtf?

*Being completely surprised at the awesomeness of Edan & Dagha.

*Being underwhelmed by Wooden Shjips but at the same time pretty sure their set would end with a bang (but not seeing it because I know Fuck Buttons is way better than any sort of exploding Shjip).

*Staying in a room that's right between stage 1 and 2 allowing for easy access of peanut butter, comfy chairs, and different clothes.

*Still not understanding the draw to Polvo. They just sound too dated for me.

*Still not understanding the draw to Low. Nothing about them interests me.

*Drinking red wine poured into my mouth from Tim Harrington of Les Savy Fav. Bonus: I never drink. One of my friends caught the once in a lifetime moment on his camera. I'll be sure to show you once he gets back to England and puts it on his Flickr.

*Getting a completely unique wine stained Les Savy Fav shirt in the process.

*Tim Harrington pointing to me and pulling me up on stage to dance with everyone.

*Shellac.

*Not expecting Lightning Bolt to be better than when I saw them at Great Scott and totally blowing those expectations away. I still don't know how it happened.

*Propping myself up by holding onto Tim Harrington's shoulders who was sitting right in front of me for the last Lightning Bolt song and then him putting me up on his shoulders and rocking the fuck out.

*Tim Harrington apologizing when I told him I don't drink alcohol but explaining to him it was the coolest thing he possibly could have done.

*Making Brian Gibson (of Lightning Bolt) smile.

*Having my face close enough to Gibson's bass that I could lick it. It's pretty dirty, though, so I opted not to.

*Playing in the playground at 3 am after Lightning Bolt on toys that are not nearly safe enough for real playgrounds.

*Robin Guthrie's god awful stock photo montage projection.

*The dude in a bear suit with a headband and a shirt that said "Rude" dancing to EPMD. I had no idea how easy it was to get ladies. All you need is a bear suit.

*Talking to Andy & Ben (Fuck Buttons) who are cool guys but sadly didn't have any copies of the Mogwai/Fuck Buttons split tour EP.

*Thinking the lead singer for Le Volume Courbe was Soko (she's not).

*Holy shit Spectrum was awesome.

*Swinging on the swings with the guitarist of Le Volume Courbe for like 5 seconds before he decided the swings sucked.

*Mogwai beating out the Big Bear/Part Chimp show at Great Scott for the loudest noise I've ever heard.

*Some dude crowd surfing to the stage while Dinosaur Jr was playing, taking his shirt off on stage, then stage diving only to have no one catch him. Funniest thing all weekend.

*Crazy ass bassist of Meat Puppets throwing his bass 15 feet into the air, catching it, and continuing to play it at the very end of their set. I was totally expecting it to smash into his face.

*Waiting for a fucking hour for My Bloody Valentine to come on. Worst torture ever.

*Breaking out in dance when "Twist & Shout" came on over the loudspeakers waiting for My Bloody Valentine.

*My Bloody Valentine beating out Mogwai for the loudest noise I've ever heard.

*My body nearly vaporizing during My Bloody Valentine's ridiculously epic 20+ minute climax.

*My ears still hurt. I'm not kidding.

Favorite Album For Every Year Of My Life Vol. 3 (2003-2008)

Here it is folks. The final volume. Volume 3 goes from 2003 to the present and was easily the most difficult of the 3 installments (see 1 and 2 here and here). I discovered that 2003 was the first year I started working at my radio station and (probably not by coincidence) was also the most difficult year for me to pick a single record.

Just to re-iterate from Volume 1's post, I allowed myself to pick up to three records for a particular year, as long as they were all from a different genre. My reasoning was that some records are almost incomparable because they're so different. But of course I always did my best to narrow it down to a single record per year (that was the basis of the list to begin with) and 2003 was the only year I ended up having 3 records.

Some may say that I'm weak-willed and indecisive. To that, I say I made my own God damn list. I'll do what I want. Go make your own if you want to. And then share it with me. Sharing is caring. Onto the list!

Volume 3: 2003-2008 (click here to listen)
2003 Explosions In The Sky - The Only Moment We Were Alone (from The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place) This is their best song. Period.
2003 The Thermals - I Know The Pattern (from More Parts Per Million)
2003 The Knife - You Make Me Like Charity (from Deep Cuts)
2004 Death From Above 1979 - Turn It Out (from You're A Woman, I'm A Machine) Turn It Out is quite easily one of the best opening tracks to any album.
2005 Eluvium - New Animals From The Air (from Talk Amongst The Trees)
2006 Belong - Remove The Inside (from October Language) One of the greatest albums of all time.
2006 The Knife - Silent Shout (from Silent Shout)
2007 Dan Deacon - Snake Mistakes (from Spiderman Of The Rings)
2007 Parts & Labor - Brighter Days (from Mapmaker)
2008 Fuck Buttons - Sweet Love For Planet Earth (from Street Horrrsing)

Some notable conflicts that occurred:
2003 The Postal Service's Give Up, The Mars Volta's De-Loused In The Comatorium (this got axed early on because while I was obsessed with it when it came out, my musical tastes have changed considerably), TV On The Radio's Young Liars, M83's Dead Cities, Red Seas, & Lost Ghosts, Melt Banana's Cell Scape (I told you 2003 was a rough year for me)
2004 TV On The Radio's Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes, Bjork's Medulla, Regina Spektor's Soviet Kitsch (I was this close to keeping this on my list because of how different she and DFA79 are, but then I realized I was just being a fucking idiot. Come on. You're A Woman is almost untouchable.)
2005 Sigur Rós' Takk..., Sleater Kinney's The Woods, M83's Before The Dawn Heals Us, Gorillaz's Demon Days
2006 Mogwai's Mr. Beast, Junior Boys' So This Is Goodbye
2007 The Besnard Lakes' The Dark Horse, Deerhunter's Cryptograms
2008 Belong's Colorloss Record, M83's Saturdays=Youth, The Mausoleums' Blackened Fawns Cleanse The Earth With Fire, Prurient's And Still, Wanting, Usputuspud's Disco, A Faulty Chromosome's As An Ex-Anorexic's Six Sick Exit,...

And now, just for ease of reading, here is the list in it's entirety. Just the albums.
1985 The Jesus And Mary Chain Psychocandy
1986 Slayer Reign In Blood
1987 Pixies Come On Pilgrim
1988 My Bloody Valentine Isn't Anything
1989 Pixies Doolittle
1990 Primus Frizzly Fry
1991 Slint Spiderland
1991 My Bloody Valentine Loveless
1992 Pavement Slanted & Enchanted
1993 The Smashing Pumpkins Siamese Dream
1994 The Toadies Rubberneck
1995 The Smashing Pumpkins Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness
1996 Weezer Pinkerton
1997 Mogwai Young Team
1998 Neutral Milk Hotel In The Aeroplane Over The Sea
1999 Sigur Rós Ágætis Byrjun
2000 Godspeed You! Black Emperor Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven
2001 The Strokes Is This It?
2001 Stars Of The Lid Tired Sounds Of Stars Of The Lid
2002 William Basinski Disintegration Loops I-IV
2003 Explosions In The Sky The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place
2003 The Thermals More Parts Per Million
2003 The Knife Deep Cuts
2004 Death From Above 1979 You're A Woman, I'm A Machine
2005 Eluvium Talk Amongst The Trees
2006 Belong October Language
2006 The Knife Silent Shout
2007 Dan Deacon Spiderman Of The Rings
2007 Parts & Labor Mapmaker
2008 Fuck Buttons Street Horrrsing

Fuck yes. That list is hot.