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.

Usputuspud - Live In The Shit (The Nafs, 2009)

Usputuspud - Tanja Jack Track


Last year I jizzed in my pants when I heard Usputuspud's Disco tape. And ever since, I've been jizzing my pants every time I hear it. Now it looks like I'll be jizzing my pants twice as much because Usputuspud's released a new tape.

Live In The Shit was recorded live (presumably in the shit) and it's every bit as good as Disco. It's super lo-fi warbly dance drone. Maybe Live is a bit less dancey than Disco was but I guess that makes sense. It's not like this one was called Groove or anything.

The A side, "Summer Of 83 Really," is heavy on the shimmery drone with a beat only showing up about 7 minutes in. And even then it's not like it's a real dance jam or anything, it just has this dense throbbing that escalates as the music gets thicker and louder. It's fucking awesome. But the B side is even better.

Flip the tape over and you're treated to some sweet harmonicas fading and echoing. After drifting around for a while, a quiet beat sneaks in and before you know it, you're bobbing your head while a simultaneously light and murky drone fills your mind and it grows and grows. You're surrounded by this overflowing, impenetrable beauty and you don't know if you want to start dancing or chill and ride it out. I honestly don't think I could love this any more.

Sometimes you hear some music and you think it is so perfect that it must have been made for you or something. I kind of feel that way about Fuck Buttons, Belong, and most certainly Usputuspud. It's exactly what I want in music and I seriously can't get enough of it. I'd love to have this permanently playing wherever I go.

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.

Usputuspud - Disco

Usputuspud - Cherished Wig (excerpt)


More genre mixxxing. I love it. What we have here is some dance drone. Waves of guitar with minimal beats laid down underneath. And the best part? It's all super blown out and lo-fi. My favorite!

Usputuspud (say it a few times and you'll get the hang of it) put out this limited edition tape called Disco on Caligulan Records. And it. Is. AWESOME. It's like the whole thing was recorded at maximum volume, everything in the red, only to tone it down a bit when it was finalized on tape (if it sounds like I'm spouting total bullshit, I am. I have no idea what I'm talking about.). What I'm trying to say is the tape itself isn't super loud, but it sounds like the original recording was. In other words: really cool.

Everything is so blown out, in fact, it's pretty tough to discern what instruments are being played. I'm pretty sure it's a lot of guitar on the A side. But the B side might be mostly piano based. Or it could just be more guitar. I don't know. Nor do I care.

Each side contains one track, almost 15 minutes each. That's a half hour of kick ass guitar drone with some washed out techno. It sounds like your next door neighbors are having a dance party while you're experimenting with feedback loops and all you can hear is the beat and their feet stomping.

One of the best parts is on track one, "Cherished Wig," where after about 10 minutes go by, the beat drops out, and you're left with the feedback. The cool thing is, it's like there's this phantom beat still lurking. It's totally gone, but you still hear it in your mind. It's great. The last 5 minutes morph from what was a once cohesive guitar into shapeless echoey feedback.

"Fetish Ball," the B side, leans further to the dance side of things. Not a whole lot of drone, with the guitar (piano?) creating a beat all it's out, until some percussion comes in. The notes are drawn out so they overlap each other, and it's all really lo-fi, so it's still pretty droney. There are even times when Usputuspud himself starts singing. It's certainly a nice effect.

I will definitely be picking up his first tape, Liturgikal Alcoholik from White Lodge Tapes, because this is definitely something I want to hear more of. And this packaging is seriously gorgeous. Black ink printed over the already beautiful photo, with an intricate cut out in one of the corners. Stunning.