Best Of 2014
Best Of 2014
2014 has been another excellent year for music & sound in all of it’s many genres. Below you’ll find a list of releases that really meant something to our writers over the last 12 months.
Roger Batty (Site owner, Editor, reviewer & article writer)
1: Albert Ayler - The Albert Ayler Story [ESP Disk]
2: Steve Roach - Structures From Silence-30th Anniversary 3CD Edition [Projekt]
3: Vomir - Deliverance - The Living Dead Noise Box [Victimology Records]
4:Bleak Existence - Love Earth Hate People [Narcolepsia]
5:Fantome De Sang - Desespoir [Vomit Bucket Productions]
6:Figures Of Solitude - The Night Watchman [Bad Rip Series/ Ink Runs Recordings]
7: Peter Ablinger - Augmented Studies [World Edition]
8: Where Is This - Stumbling Lips [Ink Runs Recordings]
9: Glottalstop - Woodsmoke [Tartaruga]
10: Wolves in the Throne Room - Celestite [Artemisia Records]
11: Cosmic Noise Waves / Ataraxy - Valles Marineris [Vomit Bucket Productions]
12: Nar - Vlad [Self Release]
13: I Watched You Die - Watching My Body Burn- 12 Suicides vol 4 [Altar Of Waste]
14: Nightbringer - Ego Dominus Tuus [Season of Mist]
15: Frank Lowe Quartet-OUT LOUD [Triple Point Records]
16: Thewhitehorse - The Returned Man [Vagary Records]
17: Halo Manash - Caickuwi Cauwas Walkeus[Aural Hypnox]
18: Mortualia - Blood of the Hermit [Moribund Records]
19: Rutger Zuydervelt - Stayed Tune [Baskaru]
20: Nightmare Castle - Potential Psycho [Bored Bear Recordings]
21: Dawn - Nær Sólen Gar Niþer For Evogher [Century Media]
22: Sadistic Fall - The Ruined Castle [Ink Runs Records]
23: Roger Ruskin Spear - Electric Shocks [Esoteric Records/Cherry Red]
24: Superslient-12[Rune Grammofon]
25: Small Hours/ Clive Henry - Split [Self Release]
26: Ennio Morricone - Una Lucertola Con La Pelle Di Donna [Beat Records ]
27: Auditor - When I Was A Little Kid I Was Just Like Anyone Else [Altar Of Waste]
28: Electric Wizard- Time To Die [Spinefarm Records]
29: Bisclaveret - Theu Anagnosis [Zoharum/Steinklang Industries]
30: Science Fiction Park Bundesrepublik: German Home Recording Tape Music Of The 1980s[ Finder Keepers]
Josh Landry (review & article writer)
1. Hakkah - Libalayera Entrance [Ektoplazm]
2. Spruce - Bel Vys Osma [Anomalistic Records]
3. Pyrrhon - The Mother of Virtues [Relapse Records]
4. Aphex Twin - Syro [Warp Records]
5. Flucturion 2.0 - Fluid [KissTheSound Records]
6. Mastodon - Once More Around the Sun [Reprise Records]
7. Reizoko CJ - Deafening Blast EP [Independent]
8. The Mixing Chef - Intense Meditative Trip Sessions Vol. 2 & 3 [Cyan Music]
9. Dekhat Bhuli & Babas [Samana Records]
10. Steve Roach & Kelly David - The Long Night [Projekt]
11. (Avey Tare's) Slasher Flicks - Enter the Slasher House [Domino Records]
12. VA - Not A Fairytale [Lunatic Alien Records]
13. Romeodark - Fragments [Jellyfish Frequency Recordings]
14. Cynic - Kindly Bent to Free Us [Season of Mist Records]
15. Bly de Blyant - Hindsight Bias [Hubro Records]
16. Neutral Motion - Zero Point Field [Wild Things Records]
17. Quadrant, Iris, Homemade Weapons & D-Struct - Pembroke / Sexy Beam [12"] [Intrigue Music]
18. VA - Passing Through Vol. 1 [N-Joi Music]
19. Shamanizm Parallelii - The World in a Drop of Rain [Neogoa]
20. Bogtrotter - Catawompus EP [Shanti Planti]
21. Dastardly - All Outta Sorts EP [Wormhole Music Group]
22. VA - Heart of Goa [2xCD] [Ovnimoon Records]
23. Perkulat0r - Transcension [Gravitas Recordings]
24. Invid Mind - Inimaginable EP [Alkhimia Records & Anomalistic Records]
25. Cristian Vogel - Polyphonic Beings [Shitkatapult]
26. Flembaz - Wild Horse EP [Blind Arc]
27. Juicy Bits - Moon Sine [Ektoplazm]
28. Urban Fury - Quadron Obdema [Ektoplazm]
29. Casualties of Cool [Hevydevy Records]
30. The Westerlies / Wayne Horvitz - Wish the Children Would Come On Home [Songlines Recordings]
Martin P(review & article writer)
1:Aby Ngana Diop - Liital (Awesome Tapes From Africa)
2:Albert Ayler - The Albert Ayler Story (ESP Disk)
3:Ataraxy – Cyanobacteria (Vomit Bucket Productions)
4:Caustic Window - Caustic Window (Rephlex)
5:Dave Phillips – Homo Animalis (Schimpfluch Associates)
6:Dave Seidel: ~60 Hz (Irritable Hedgehog)
7:Diane Cluck - Boneset (important records)
8:Dominic Lash/Will Montgomery - Real As Any Place You’ve Been/Thames Water Live (Every Contact Leaves A Trace)
9:Fatgirl – A Failure To Pause (Corpse-Grained Series)
10:Fugazi - First Demo (Dischord)
11:GRY SMK - Rendition (Altar Of Waste)
12:Krokofant - Krokofant (Rune Grammofon)
13:Martyr Of Sores - Yesterday Morning...By The Hand (H Series hnw)
14:Nawa – Ancient Sufi Invocations & Forgotten Songs From Aleppo (Electric:Cowbell Records/Lost Origin Sound Series)
15:Nightmare Castle/Robert Ridley-Shackleton - Split (Hissing Frames)
16:Nurse Unit - Town Life (H Series hnw)
17:Pauline Oliveros - Reverberations: Tape & Electronic music 1961-1970 (Important Records)
18:Rudolf Eb.er - Brainnectar (Schimpfluch Associates)
19:Seth Cooke - Sightseer (Organized Music From Thessaloniki)
20:Shift - Altamont Rising (Cold Spring/Unrest Productions)
21:Sleaford Mods - Divide And Exit (Harbinger Sound)
22:Slint - Spiderland Boxset (Touch And Go)
23:Tavshed - Ramt (Bad Rip Series)
24:Various - Hard Panning (Triangle/Somnolent Shelter Records)
25:Various - Hatred Is Nothing Without Action (Unrest Productions)
26:Various - Separated (Urine Soaked Rag)
27: Various - Voodoo Walls From Slow Death Records (Nahàsh Atrym Productions)
28:Washington Phillips – What Are They Doing In Heaven Today? (Mississippi Records)
29:Werewolf Jerusalem – Church Songs (H Series Hnw)
30:Wires & Relays – Wires & Relays (Turmeric Magnitudes)
Hal Harmon(review & article writer)
1:Various - Big Florida Noise Compilation [HalTapes]
2:Ahlzadevelopr - Collaboration [Factotum Tapes]
3:Ozone Leash - Sur Les Terres Du Metal Mort [Brise-Cul Records]
4:AODL - Debris of Romanticism [Rive]
5:Human Fluid Rot - Simplicity is Destiny [Saint Petersburg Institute of Noise]
6:xAllxForxThisx - This is the Disease You Chose [FTAM]
7:Newton - Untitled (INC 2014) [Breathmint Recordings]
8:Failures - Decline and Fall [Youth Attack]
9:Puce Mary - Persona [Posh Isolation]
10:Full of Hell & Merzbow - Full of Hell & Merzbow [Profound Lore Records]
11:Black Beast of Arrrghhh/Su Sous Toulouse en Rouge - Split (reissue) [Saint Petersburg Institute of Noise]
12:Orphan Fairytale - My Favorite Fairytale [Aguirre Records]
13::Trepaneringsritualen - Perfection & Permanence [Cold Spring]
14Juice Machine - Spiritual Nutrition [Dumpster Score]
15:Facialmess/Developer - Split [Factotum Tapes]
16:No Faith - Dead Weight [Clean Plate]
17:Waves Crashing Piano Chords - Childhood [Bookend Recordings]
18:Hal McGee & Black Beast of Arrrghhh - Hal McGee vs. Black Beast of Arrrghhh [HalTapes]
19:Breakdancing Ronald Reagan - Trip Metal [Self-released]
20:Clotting - Sensory Secretion [Self-Released]
21:Power Monster - Love is a Lie [Altar of Waste]
22:Mass Control - Raven in Reactor’s Shadow [Self-Released]
23:Parasyte - Demo MMXIV [Self-released]
24:Path to Lobster Believers/Su Sous Toulouse en Rouge - Split [Saint Petersburg Institute of Noise]
25:Bagman - Welcome to My Fucking Misery(reissue) [Crucial Blast]
26:The Rita - Ballet Feet Positions [Old Europa Cafe]
27:Trumans Water/Octagrape/Permanent Makeup - Lotions & Creams [Ghoulhouse Records]
28:Aube - Substructural Penetration (reissue) [Iris Light]
29:Pharmakon - Bestial Burden [Sacred Bones]
30:“Weird Al” Yankovic- Mandatory Fun [RCA]
Paul Casey(review & article writer)
1:Wand - Ganglion Reef
2:Donnie & Joe Emerson - Still Dreamin' Wild: The Lost Recordings 1979-1981
3:Boris - Noise
4:King Buzzo - This Machine Kills Artists
5:V/A - Hard Panning
6:Richard Ramirez - In Passing
7:Outer Space - Phantom Center
8:NUM SKULL - Ritually Abused
9:Melted Toys - S/T
10:V/A - Bay Area Retrograde V.1 & 2
11:Death - Leprosy (Deluxe Reissue)
12:Glottalstop - Woodsmoke
13:Gravecode Nebula - Sempiternal Void
14:Die Antwoord - Donker Mag
15:Skullflower - Draconis
16:Dissecting Table - Ultra Box
17:Bitchneck - No Power
18:Cripple Bastards - Nero In Metastasi
19:Contact - First Contact
20:Hal Hutchinson - Wreckage Installations & Metalworks
21:Lewis - L'Amour
22:Requiem - Provenance
23:Shift - Altamont Rising
Tyler L( review & article writer)
1. Noble Beast – Noble Beast
2. Darkspace – III I
3. Nightbringer – Ego Dominus Tuus
4. Slugdge – Gastronomicon
5. Blut Aus Nord – Memoria Vetusta III
6. Mare Cognitum – Phobos Monolith
7. Gridlink – Longhena
8. Ilfing – Against This Weald
9. Sargeist – Feeding the Crawling Shadows
10. Varathron – Untrodden Corridors of Hate
11. Thantifaxath – Sacred White Noise
12. Panopticon – Roads to the North
13. Innsmouth – Consumed by Elder Sign
14. Woods of Desolation – As the Stars
15. Folge dem Wind – To Summon Twilight
16. Horrendous - Ecdysis
17. 13th Moon – Abhorrence of Light
18. Sammath – Godless Arrogance
19. Skáphe – Skáphe
20. Satanic Warmaster – Fimbulwinter
21. Bastard Sapling – Instinct is Forever
22. Entartung – Peccata Mortalia
23. Death Fortress – Among the Ranks of the Unconquerable
24. Eastern Front – Descent into Genocide
25. Triumphant –Herald the Unsung
26. Coltsblood – Into the Unfathomable Abyss
27. Young and in the Way – When Life Comes to Death
28. Midnight – No Mercy for Mayhem
29. Moloch – Verwüstung
30. Vader – Tibi Et Igni
Viktorya Kaufholz (review & article writer)
1. Epistasis- Light Through Dead Glass
2. Blut Aus Nord- Memoria Vetusta III Saturnian Poetry
3. Nebelung- Palingenisis
4. Blood Bright Star- The Silver Head
5. Sabbath Assembly- Quaternity
6. Kriegsmaschine- Enemy of Man
7. Blood Farmers- Headless Eyes
8. Kyle Bobby Dunn- Kyle Bobby Dunn and the Infinite Sadness
9. S.T.A.B. Electronics- Instrument For Operating On Mutant Women
10. Coffinworm- IV.I.VIII
11. Blut Aus Nord/P.H.O.B.O.S- Triunity
12. Nightbringer- Ego Dominus Tuus
13. Dry Insides- Sacrifice
14. Dead Congregation- Promulgation of the Fall
15. Thantifaxath- Sacred White Noise
16. Wrekmeister Harmonies-Then It All Came Down
17. Insomnium-Shadows of the Dying Sun
18. Kampfar- Djevelmakt
19. Godflesh- A World Lit Only By Fire
20. Svartidaudi- The Synthesis of Whore and Beast
21. Sun O))) & Ulver- Terrestrials
22. Agalloch- The Serpent and The Sphere
23. Lawrence English- Wilderness of Mirrors
24. Scott Miller/Lee Camfield/Merzbow- No Closure
25. Doctor Livingstone- Contemptus Saeculi
26. Tycho- Awake
27. Mayhem-Esoteric Warfare
28. Jacaszek &Kwartludium- Catalogue des Arbes
29. Kuolemanlaakso- Tulijoutsen
30. Triptykon- Melana Chasmata
Duncan Simpson(review & article writer)
1:Erik Truffaz & Murcof - Being Human Being (Mundo Recordings)
2:Grouper - Ruins (Kranky)
3:Lumen Drones - S/T (ECM)
4:Ketil Bjørnstad - A Passion for John Donne (ECM)
5:Supersilent - 12 (Rune Grammofon)
6:Future Sound of London - Environment 5 (FSOLDIGITAL)
7:The Soundcarriers - Entropicalia (Ghost Box)
8:Micha Jacaszek - Catalogue des Arbres (Touch)
9:Nils Petter Molvaer - Switch (Sula Recordings)
10: Dalhous – Will to be well (Blackest Ever Black)
11:Deaf Center – Recount (Sonic Pieces)
12:Erik K Skodvin – Flame (Sonic Pieces)
13:Janek Schaefer – Lay-by Lullaby (12K)
14:Lussuria - Industriale Illuminato (Hospital Productions)
15:Neotantrik – Blue Amiga (Pre-Cert)
16:Pinkcourtesyphone – Description of Problem (Line Segments)
17:Wife – What’s Between (Tri-Angle)
18:The Advisory Circle - From Out Here (Ghost Box)
19:David Sylvian - There's a Light That Enters Houses With no Other House in Sight (Samadhisound)
20:Current 93 - I am the Last of all the Field that Fell
21:Lawrence English + Stephen Vitiello - Fable (Room40)
22:Lawrence English - Wilderness of Mirrors (Room40)
23:David Shea - Rituals (Room40)
24:David Chaim Smith, Bill Laswell, John Zorn - The Dream Membrane (Tzadik)
25:Swans - To be Kind (Mute)
26:Black Rain - Dark Pool (Blackest Ever Black)
27:Shivers - S/T (Miasmah)
28:Fhloston Paradigm - The Phoenix (Hyperdub)
29:FKA Twigs - LP1 (Young Turk Recordings)
30:Ensemble Economique - Melt Into Nothing (Denovali)
Russell Cuzner(review & article writer)
1:Russell Haswell & Pain Jerk: Electroacoustic Sludge Dither Transformation Smear Grind Decomposition nO!se File Exchange Mega Edit (Editions Mego)
2:Skullflower: Draconis (Cold Spring)
3:Einstürzende Neubauten: Lament (Mute)
4:Hildur Gudnadottir: Saman (Touch)
5:Fire! Orchestra: Enter (Rune Grammofon)
7:The Bug: Angels & Devils (Ninja Tune)
8:Swans: To Be Kind (Young God Records)
9:Andrew Chalk: Circle of Days (Faraway Press)
10:Aphex Twin: Syro (Warp)
11:Gallon Drunk: Soul of the Hour (Clouds Hill)
12:Andrew Liles: The Maleficent Monster & Other Macabre Stories (Blackest Rainbow Records)
13:Laibach: Spectre (Mute)
14:English Heretic: The Underworld Service (self-released)
15:Drew Mulholland: The Norwood Variations (self-released)
16:én: op.80530 (Peripheral Conserve)
17:irr. app. (ext.): I Made This For Someone Else, But They Didn't Want It, So I'm Giving It To You Instead (Errata In Excelsis)
18:Current 93: I Am the Last Of All the Field That Fell (Coptic Cat)
19:Carter Tutti: Carter Tutti Remix Chris & Cosey (CTI)
20:Ian Middleton: Well of Sorrows (Skire)
21:Kemper Norton: Loor (Front & Follow)
22:Human Greed: World Fair (Omnempathy)
23:Gustavo Santaolalla: Camino (Masterworks)
24:Nurse With Wound/Graham Bowers: ExcitoToxicity (Red Wharf)
25:BJ Nilsen & Stilluppsteya/Anla Courtis: Golden Circle Afternoon (Editions Mego)
26:Cut Hands: Festival of the Dead (Blackest Ever Black)
27:Anjou: Anjou (Kranky)
28:Scorpion Bowl: b-sides: 1978-1983 (claderec)
29:Francisco López: The Epoché Collection - Vol. 1-3 (self-released)
30:Darren Tate: Secret Mantra (Fungal)
31:Peter Christopherson: Time Machines II (Threshold House