Best of 2009!!!1

[jdh]

For me,2009 was a bit strange.I am such a fan of music, have been for so long (25 years) but this year I lost much interest in it.I also found that I was listening to more of my older collection than getting newer music.I think part of it may be that I feel there is very little innovative stuff out there.After 1 or 2 maybe 3 albums from the same artist,there are mostly repeats so I feel the need to buy the 12 album by artist X is a waste as it is all the same.Now,if you like that type, 75 albums ( or more) by Roach,then great.

Brock Van Wey-White Clouds
Yagya-Ringing
Pop Ambient 2009
Biosphere-Wireless Live
Yello-Touch
Ultravox-Rage in Eden Re-issue (my fav all time LP)
And in rotation
Rapoon-Various 1994-1998
David Sylvain-Various-1982-2009
Joy Division,New Order,Alio Die,Vir Unis,Moev,kraftwerk.

[drone on]

So safe to say Yagya's "Rigning" is album of the year? Noticed it's on most of the lists here.  Yeah, I'd have to go with that one for the Academy Award of ambient 2009.  In terms of sheer jaw-dropping beauty, it's hard to beat.  It was in heavy rotation around the time my dad was battling the cancer which took his life in March.  My cousin (who is an ambient novice) even emailed me recently saying he found this great album on I-tunes, yagya's "Rigning." If you haven't got it yet, it's definitely worth seeking out...

[ffcal]

Didn't keep up with the new releases as much this year, but here are my top 10 from the ones I did pick up:

Peter Wright - An Angel Fell Where the Kestrels Hover
Steve Roach - Immersion:  Four
Celer - Capri
Ten and Tracer - Tsotsitaal (reminds me in places of the warm organic sounds of Mirror)
Saul Stokes - Metacollage (a nice sleeper of an album)
Natural Snow Buildings - Shadow Kingdom
Jon Hassell - Last Night the Moon Came...
Sleepy Town Manufacture & Unit 21 - No Traces (agreed, a fine album)
Elm - Namcatacoa

Forrest

[jim02]

i like your list, Forrest :-)
and thanks for the Ten And Tracer head up!

[hdibrell]

• Forrest Fang - Phantoms
• Steve Roach - Dynamic Stillness
• Steve Roach - Destination Beyond
• David Parsons - Jyoti
• Saul Stokes - Metacollage
• Nunc Stans - The Unnamable
• Nunc Stans & Mystified - One Thousand Dreams
• Steve Brand - She Covers The Sky

[Ein Sophistry]

Lots of good stuff this year. I enjoyed a lot of releases already mentioned ("Phantoms," "Rigning," any of the many Roach albums), but to keep things interesting, here are 10 others that've also impressed me:

Arktau Eos - Ai Ma Ra
Ben Frost - By the Throat
Mathias Grassow - Transpersonal
Mathias Grassow & Tomas Weiss - Quiet Calling II
Igneous Flame & Disturbed Earth - Harmonium
Lustmord - [ The Dark Places of the Earth ]
Raison d'etre - The Stains of the Embodied Sacrifice
Robert Rich - Live Archive (hell yes!)
Bruno Sanfilippo - Piano Textures II
Troum - Eald-Ge-Str้on / Abhij๑โ

[Alan Imberg]

On the Ambient side, I didn't buy lots of new releases but these got mucho play time when I did buy them:

• Harold Budd/Clive Wright - Candylion. Good stuff. I'm so glad Budd decided to not retire.
• William Basinski - 92982. This guy is making a career out of diggin up his 20+ year old stuff and re-releasing it but I'm a fan. I love tape loops.

For stuff not neccessarily Ambient but appealing to related portions of my brain:

• Oren Ambarchi - Intermission. Brilliant minimal guitarist.
• Sunn o))) - Monoliths and Dimensions. If Lou Reed's "Metal Machine Music could be considered the antithesis to Brian Eno's "Music for Airports", then "Monoliths and Dimensions" would be the antithesis to Steve Roach's "Immersion" work.

[Joe R]

The best I've heard this year, in no particular order:

Epeus Reichenback-Etherized; Even though this list is in no particular order, this one has to be in my top 2 or 3. Predominantly sparse piano and bowed strings. It's very eerie and alienated, and sounds like it was recorded in the basement of a haunted victorian mansion. I simply do NOT get tired of this one. And it's FREE, a 320kb download.
Elm- Nemcatacoa
Simon Scott- Navigare
Sleepytown Manufacture/Unit 21- No Traces; everyone seems to love this, and I'm no exception.
Scott Tuma/Mike Weis- Taradiddle
Nunc Stans- The Unnamable; everything Anthony does is good. "One Thousand Dreams" gets an honorable mention.
Strom Noir- Sen Zimnej Noci; likewise, this guy can do no wrong.
CindyTalk- The Crackle of My Soul; Ominous and gentle noise drones
Taylor Deupree/Stephan Mathieu- Transcriptions
Konntinent- Degrees, Integers
Fieldhead- They Shook Hands For Hours

[Ferngerms]

1. Brock Van Wey - Clouds Drift On And On - Echospace - 2xCD
2. Intrusion - The Seduction Of Silence - Echospace - CD
3. Celer - Engaged Touches - Home Normal - CD
4. Variant - The Setting Sun - Echospace - CD
5. Tu M' - Monochromes Vol. 1 - Line - CD
6. Alva Noto - Xerox Vol. 2 - Raster Noton - CD
7. Oneohtrix Point Never - Rifts - No Fun - CD
8. Thomas Loner - La Barca - Fario - CD
9. Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words - Lost In Reflections - Ideal/Release The Bats - 12"+7"+CD
10. Daizok - Autumn Scenes - Install - CDR

[mystified]

I don't really have a formal "Top 10", but a few releases stand out.

I liked Forrest Fang's "Phantoms" (I can see that one was popular). Also Nunc Stans' "The Unnameable", Viridian Sun's "Infinite In All Directions".

I did continue collecting some of my favorite artists. Rapoon's "Dark Rivers" and "Melancholic Sounds Of The Desert" I found to be ok, with some tolerable moments, others less so. I find him to be very eccentric. Lustmord, too-- even though he was rude in our budding but not to be collaboration, I did think "Arecibo" to be quite good. The "Other Dub" was not as good, suffering from a terribly redundant bassline.

Robert Davies' "Terrestre" was very nice, and deserves mention. It is pretty but also has an abstract quality I like.

[APK]

Nunc Stans mentions very much appreciated, Harry, Joe, and Thomas.

I didn't buy much this year, but here are a few albums I've played a fair bit and enjoyed
(other than a number of Dataobscura releases of course).

- Last Days: The Safety of the North
- Markus Guentner: Doppelgaenger
- Saul Stokes: Metacollage
- Lawrence English: A Color for Autumn
- Jonsi and Alex: Riceboy Sleeps
- Steve Roach: Destination Beyond

Still waiting to hear the recent Thomas Koner and the new Parks on infraction.

[hjalmer]

new this year

nautic depths | north passage
cities last broadcast | the cancelled earth
copal river | copal river
celer |engaged touches
andrew lahiff | tales of hidden algebra
circle of pines | the persistence of memory
rim | seas & deserts & skies
altus | coma cluster
phobos | darkness within
arcticology | eternal now
nordvagr | untitled navigations 1
jesus in japan | traces
jason sloan | ending light
linga saria | sonmeil
igneous flame/disturbed earth | harmonium
closing the eternity | noughtwards
steve roach | dynamic stillness
carl sagans ghost | darkness and the light
nunc stans | time
robert davies | terrestre
lustmord | dark places of the earth/beyond
aqua dorsa | cloudlands

thanks to all the artists          h

[jim02]

My list of favorite encountered releases of 2009 would be something like this (though it may change);

Kevin drumm – imperial horizon
Asher – miniatures
Zelienope – give it up / old ways to nowhere
Solo andata – s/t
Jon hassell – last night the moon came..
Yui onodera & the beautiful schizophonic – radiance
Variant – the setting sun
Alio die & aglaia – private history of the clouds
Andrew chalk – the cable house
Aglaia – white maps / naked movements / reverberant skies (i regard this as 1 CD-set cause it came out simultaneously)
Celer – capri  / close proximity and the unhindered care-all
Steve roach – dynamic stillness
Richard skelton – landings (2009 or 2010..?)

and i need to add the gorgeous 30-minute piece/CD of the new peter broderick:

music for a sleeping sculpture of peter broderick

[petekelly]

Thanks to Phil Derby for including 'Harmonium' in his Electroambient Space Best CDs of 2009 (ambient) top 10 list. Thanks also to 'Hjalmer' and 'Ein
Sophistry' for doing so here too.

cheers
Pete

[phobos]

Thanks to drone on and hjalmer for including Darkness Within on their Best of 2009 list. Your support is very much appreciated.
Regards
Phobos

[drone on]

You're welcome, Phobos! 

Thanks Jim 02 for listing that Yui Onodera/Beautiful Schizophonic.  I was not even aware of this release until now. Sounds amazing, I just ordered it... 

[APK]

Just listened to
- Parks: Hidden (infraction)
its an easy top 10 for 2009.
Fine compositions. Nice blend of styles. Highly listenable. Excellent album.