Bobs Favourite Spins of 2018

Bob’s favourite spins of 2018

Below are some thoughts on my favourite vibes of 2018. The list is sourced from the largest number of plays, plus some personal biases. While my musical tastes include pretty much anything but pop-country genres, these rankings are mostly electronic/hiphop/experimental/hard rock/ambient favours. I would LOVE to hear your top 10 irrespective of your musical tastes. Enjoy.

1. Susumu Yokota - Dreamer. This ones a keeper and approaching ‘desert island album’ status. Breakbeats, club thumpers and ambiance cuddled with Asian vibes. ‘Legendary Stream’ features a magical bansuri taking you to the middle of a rainforest, and offers you the closest thing to a hug music could give. Yokata had a knack for ‘less is more’ and his subtlety will be missed. RIP. https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/dreamer/1355880354
2. Morphology - Traveller. This album has some serious sombre and intentional kickers most notably Second Light and Hidden Variable. Most electronic albums become tiresome after 4ish listens but the good ones make you hear something new on every listen, like this one. https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/traveller/1398015466
3. Blood Orange - Negro Swan. This album perfectly appeals to my hiphop pop sensibilities this year while striking the right political cords. Dev Hynes ability to disarm the listener and invite you into his world is fulfilling, honest and not preachy. Long live this brand of hiphop. https://youtu.be/hIlauccaH88
4. Brian Eno - Music for Installations. Your staple ambient album from Eno reminded me a lot of Max Richter’s 8 hour opus - Sleep, with Installations exceeding 5 hours of music. Five hours brah! While there are some, to me, seemed a bit too gratuitous, Khazakstan and Kites(all versions) are wonderful tracks, but my highlight is the church choir-like crescendo in Delightful Universe (Seen From Above), which will send chills down your spine.
5. Alvo Noto - Unieqav. Nobody does Alvo Noto better than Alvo Noto. Dare I say, Alvo Noto defines noisic. This strictly headphone-candy music features a track with the relentless Anton-James Chaton (Uni Dna) who makes speaking the french alphabet an act of darkness. This is blips, blaps, twangs and static surgically organized in a way nobody else does.
6. Ministry - AmeriKKKant. Hey Al… is it over or what? Never say no to comfort food. Mr Jorgensen provides some twists into the standard Ministry rapport. ‘We’re Tired of It’ and ’Twilight Zone’ are bit of throwback tracks with a scratching DJ. Dudes still got lots in the tank. And by the way, if you haven’t read his autobiography, and ever thought about the creative process of a mad genius who makes Keith Richards look saintly, stop what you’re doing *right now* and give it read. BIG LIES BIG LIES
7. Autechre NTS Sessions 1-4. Autechre’s 4 album opus demands serious attention, focus, patience and energy. This duo create noise in their lab of circuits, computers and processors like nobody’s business. “All End’ is 58 minutes soundtrack of nightmares if you doze off to it (yes, this happened). Autechre is one of a few bands on the planet which, after a 7-minutes of work-up will leave you wanting more. ‘6 of 8’ (NTS Session 2) is such an example. Check out this x2 SLOWED version of Session 1!
8. Deena Abdelwahaed - Khonnar. Ever wonder what happened to the unreleased/forbidden “Hellraiser’ soundtrack? It died and reincarnated into this Tunisian artist. Debut album (no less!) that DJs could layer thumping beats onto. Without them you have a dark space filled with electronics and ancient sounds of north Africa. Some stand outs for me are ‘Ken Skett…, and ’Saratan’ which would be the soundtrack to MacBeth’s 3 witches. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjPguTaZ_Yg
9. Gazelle Twin - Pastoral. If you’re looking for a real ass-kicking, give this a spin. Industrial vibes with subtle precision. ‘Better in My Day’ is by far my favourite: a mad 3 beat, as well as ‘Hobby Horse’. This is certainly not for the faint of heart… ideal for those who stare at scabs. Watch the video and tell me what you think.
10. The Hacker - Le Theatre des Operations. OK... I cheated. This came out in 2017. But this is a banger. Don’t drive a car while listening  to this unless you like speeding tickets. ‘Dark Neon’ is the bangiest banger that bangs all other bangers into a bloody pulp, and ‘Time X’ features Miss Kitten in a bouncy Cabaret Voltaire-ish throwback which stands the test of repeated listens. Albums like this make we want to be a DJ.

Some notable mentions

Special K: Here to Stay… exceptionally proud of my sons debut album! This is brilliant.

Pale North Wasted Years Together: My nephew’s journey into shoegaze is almost a dream come true. C’mon… who doesn’t love shoegaze? And he KICKS ASS on the guitar! You and me against the world, baby.

The Exaltics - Das Heise Experiment 2. I love how these dudes are all over the place with the genres. Track 00022.000.8 is banger. 

Aphex Twin - Collapse EP … standard fair Aphex Twin which is always layered and intriguing... but a tad predictable. Very cool video.

Legowelt- Omnibus Babylon EP Thanks Legowelt for reminding us to dance with purpose.

Enjoy