SIMPLY THE BEST: It’s always an extremely challenging process to recollect your favorite spins of any given year. Sure you can use analytics and other methods, but we always prefer a more personally curated choice at Toneshift. Last year we presented a Top Three of 2018, this year we say goodbye to a decade with the 2019 FAVE FIVE (in a few different configurations)! Speaking of decades – Toneshift will be celebrating our 10th Anniversary on 02/22/20 (tell two friends)! All of our contributors mulled over countless records, tapes, downloads and CDs that revved us up and made it to the top of each of our personal charts. It’s always great to see what really stood out for us individually, and collectively. Actually, this year there were not many crossovers whatsoever – which makes for an exciting and diverse point of view(s).
Each of us selected our five favorite records of the year, along with a heap of alternative honorable mentions + a few other additions. Stay tuned also to our podcast taking center stage from here on out. As we head into the new year we have an entire series of new international Guestmixes scheduled, one every week throughout 2020! Enjoy this humble round up of the year just passed, MMXIX.
TOP 5 RECORDS (by readership)
Thighpaulsandra: Practical Electronics with… (Editions Mego)
Sir Richard Bishop & W. David Oliphant/Karkhana w/Nadah El Shalzy: Carte Blanche (Unrock)
Rafael Anton Irisarri: Solastalgia (Room40)
Edgar Valcárcel: Electronic Compositions for the Andes (1967-2006) (Buh Records)
Phew + Oren Ambarchi + Jim O’Rourke: Patience Soup (Black Truffle Records)
TOP 5 REISSUES (by readership)
Dots: Dots (Astral Industries)
Bourbonese Qualk: Laughing Afternoon (Klanggalerie)
The Pop Group: Y (Definitive Edition) (Mute)
Merzbow: Yahatahachiman (Other Voices Records)
Eliane Radigue: Chry-Ptus (Important Records)
GIUSEPPE PISANO’s Fave Five
Christian Winther Christensen: Almost in G (col legno)
Building Instrument: Mangelen Min (Hubro)
Eric La Casa & Eamon Sprod: friche (Swarming)
Akio Suzuki: Resonant Spaces (901 Editions)
Alvin Curran: Dead Beats (Moving Furniture Records)
LJUBINKO ZIVKOVIC’s Fave Five
Andrew Pekler: Sounds From Phantom Islands (Faitiche Records)
Yann Tiersen: Portrait (Mute Records)
Thibault Renou & Ensemble Bibenduum: Maisha Suite (Infine)
Maurice Luca: Elephantine (Northern Spy)
Alex Kozobolis: Somewhere Else (Phases Records)
MASSIMO RICCI’s Fave Five
Roland Kayn: Scanning (RRR)
David Jackman: Herbstsonne (Die Stadt)
Matt Sargent/Zach Rowden: Tide (For Ten Basses) (Marginal Frequency)
Biota: Fragment For Balance (ReR Megacorp)
Bill Thompson: Mouthful Of Air (Burning Harpsichord)
SAM GOFF’s Fave Five
Jen Kutler: Disembodied (EyeVee)
Swans: Leaving Meaning (Young God)
Henryk Gorecki: Symphony Of Sorrowful Songs (Domino)
(Beth Gibbons, performer; Krzystof Penderecki, conductor)
Lingua Ignota: Caligula (Profound Lore)
Elder Ones/Amritha Kidambi: From Untruth (Northern Spy)
SAUL BLEACK’s Fave Five
Rắn Cạp Đuôi: Degradation (Flaming Pines)
PYUR: Oratorio For the Underworld (Subtext Recordings)
Tapes and Topographies: Ubiquitous Clouds (Simulacra)
Cyber Shaman: Shaman’s Techno Gathering, Vol I (Shaman’s Aura)
(tie) E Millar: no instrument machine, air (Mystery and Wonder Records); Adrian Corker: Music for Lock Grooves (SN Variations)
TJ NORRIS’ Fave Five
Bruno Duplant & David Vélez: Our Seasons Reverse (Unfathomless)
S.E.T.I.: Sleep Environments for Interplanetary Travel (Loki-Found)
IMA: The Flowers Die in Burning Fire 炎の中で死にゆく花 (Buh Records)
People Like Us: The Mirror (Discrepant)
Fabio Orsi: Uncharted Waters (Zoharum)
And that concludes our FAVE FIVE for 2019! But wait, there’s more….
HONORABLE MENTIONS: Irresistible Second Spins.
Christina Kubisch: Schall und Klang (Fragment Factory); Graham Dunning & Edward Lucas: End of a cable (TSSS Tapes); Emiliano Romanelli: Untitled (9 Patterns) (Terziruolo Editions/Senufo Editions); Shasta Cults: Configurations (Important Records); Line Spectrum: Bruma (Glacial Movements); Asmus Tietchens & Frans de Waard: Oordeel (Aufabwegen); Akio Suzuki: Resonant Spaces (901 Editions); Aythar: Cosmic Resonances (Carpe Sonum Records); Carlo Giustini: Custodi (Lontano/Rohs Records); Biosphere: The Senja Recordings (Biophon Records); Tapage & Gareth Davis: States (Moving Furniture Records); Telefon Tel Aviv: Dreams Are Not Enough (Ghostly International); Damon Locks Black Monument Ensemble: Where Future Unfolds (International Anthem); Naujawanan Baidar: Vol. 2 (Radio Khiyaban); Saint Abdullah: Mechanical Flirtations (True Aether); Nihiloxica: Biiri (Nyege Nyege); Anna Webber: Clockwise (Pi); Elif Yalvaç: L’Appel Du Vide (Curated Doom); Still und Dunkel: Abandoned (Hallow Ground)
SAM‘s BEST REISSUES:
Sun City Girls: Dawn Of The Devi (Abduction); The Melvins: The Maggot/The Bootlicker (Ipecac); David Searcy/Jonathan Scully/Tiziano Tononi: Moon On The Water (Black Sweat); Lino Capra Vaccina/Untitled Noise: Perpetual Possibility (Dark Companion); Sun Ra featuring Pharoah Sanders and Black Harold (Orb Tapes)
SAM‘s BEST COMPILATIONS:
Free Percussion (TSSS); Anthology Of Contemporary Music From The Middle East (Unexplained Sounds); Strain Crack & Break: Music From The Nurse With Wound List Volume 1 France (Finders Keepers); Spectra Ex Machina: A Sound Anthology Of Occult Phenomena 1920-2017 Vol. 1 (Sub Rosa); Brazil Primitivo Vol. 1: Rhythms, Legends And Styles 1899-1963 (Sound Miracle)
That’s All Folks, Until Next Year!
toneshift.wordpress.com 