Music, Sound, Film
Best Of 2020
It’s fair to say that 2020 has been a year unlike any before- which most want to forget, due to all the loss, stress & inner/outer turmoil created worldwide. But there has still been positives/ reasons -to-celebrate this year- and some of those have come from either sonic or visual mediums . Below our writers select their favourite musical, sound & film moments from the strange/ troubling year that was 2020- and as always our picks cover a wide range of genres.
Roger Batty(Editor/Owner)
Top 30 Music/ Sound
1:The Residents - Metal, Meat & Bone [Cherry Red Records/MVD Audio/ Cryptic Corp]
2:Vomir & The Rita - Vamp Androidism [Ominous Recordings]
3:Oneohtrix Point Never-Magic Oneohtrix Point Never( Warp Records)
4:Renaldo and the Loaf - Song Of The Lungfish [Psychofon Records]
5:Dosis Letalis - Bizarre Activity Inside The Dream Factory [Tatô ]
6:Magnus Granberg & Skogen - Let Pass My Weary Guiltless Ghost [Another Timber]
7:Fouke - Dyatlov Pass [Room 2A ]
8:Officer! - Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes [ Klanggallerie]
9:Power Monster - Bourgeois Aspirations [Ominous Recordings]
10: Les Cauchemars Naissent La Nuit - Anna & Cynthia [Self Release]
11: Rien - The Blank Tape Recording [Veil Tapes]
12:Barry "Schwump" Schwam - The Frog Opera [Psychofon Records]
13:Damien De Coene & Julien Skrobek - Quarantaine [Marbre Negre]
14: NNHMN - Shadow In The Dark [Zoharum]
15:Llyn Y Cwn - Dinorwic [Cold Spring]
16:Death In June - The Wall Of Sacrifice Plus [New European Recordings/Steelwork Maschine]
17:Kalle Moberg - The Tokyo Sessions Vol 1- Unheard Of [KAMO Records]
18:Richard Harvey - Divisions On A Ground [Talking Elephant Records]
19:Robert Rich - Offering To The Morning Fog [Soundscape Productions]
20:Romain Perrot & Quentin Rollet - L'Impatience des Invisibles [Decimation Sociale/ReQords]
21:Rubicon Quartet - Crosscurrents [New Wave Of Jazz]
22: James Shearman - At The Bottom Of A Deep Hole [Harsh Noise London]
23:Peter Straker - This One's On Me [Strike Force Entertainment/ Cherry Red]
24:Ernstalbrecht Stiebler - Fûr Biliana [Another Timbre]
25:Anonymous Masturbaudioum/Tissa Mawartyas - Morte Perversa [Ominous Recordings]
26: Matmos - The Consuming Flame: Open Exercises In Group Form [Thrill Jockey]
27: Howard Stelzer - Invariably Falling, Into The Thickets Of Closure [No Rent]
28:Various Artists - Living On The Hill – A Danish Underground Trip [Esoteric Records/ Cherry Red]
29:Un Drame Musical Instantané - L'Homme À La Caméra/La Glace A Trois Faces [Klanggalerie]
30:Various Artists - I’d Love to Turn You On-Classical and Avant-Garde [El]
Top Twenty DVD/ Blu Ray releases
1:Holiday [Anti-Worlds Releasing]
2:Cisco Pike [Powerhouse]
3:Blood & Flesh: The Reel Life & Ghastly Death of Al Adamson[Severin]
4:Phase IV [101 Films]
5:Relaxer [Anti-Worlds Releasing]
6:Grave Robbers [Vinegar Syndrome]
7:Alejandro Jodorowsky Collection[Arrow Video]
8:Night Tide [Powerhouse]
9:The Strange Vice Of Mrs. Ward [Severin]
10:Cinema of Conflict: Four Films by Krzysztof Kieślowski [Arrow Academy]
11: Vitalina Varela [Second Run]
12:Penny Slinger: Out Of The Shadows [Anti-World Releasing]
13: Hagazussa [Arrow Video]
14:Bahia Blanca [Severin]
15: Brain Dead [101 Films]
16:Carnival Magic [Severin Kids]
17:The Caller [Vinegar Syndrome
18:Church Of The Damned [SRS Cinema]
19:Ghost Hunting[Second Run]
20:I See You [Arrow Video]
Darren Charles
1. AC/DC – Power Up (Columbia)
2. Bütcher – 666 Goats Carry My Chariot (Osmose Productions)
3. Enslaved – Utgard (Nuclear Blast)
4. Triptykon – Requiem – Live at Roadburn (Century Media)
5. Carpenter Brut – Blood Machines (No Quarter Prod)
6. Burd Ellen – Says the Never Beyond (Self Released)
7. Pigs x7 – Viscerals (Rocket Recordings)
8. Fay Hield – Wrackline (Topic Records)
9. Shirley Collins – Heart’s Ease (Domino Recording Co.)
10. Myrkur – Folkesange (Relapse Records)
11. Blue Oyster Cult – The Symbol Remains (Ward Records)
12. Pefkin – Astral Navigations (Self Released)
13. Testament – Titans of Creation (Nuclear Blast)
14. Trappist Afterland and Grey Malkin – II (Self Released)
15. Heartwood Institute – Parasychedelia (Self Released)
16. Bring Me the Horizon – Post Human: Survival Horror (Sony)
17. Caverns of Anti-Matter – In Fabric OST (Duophonic)
18. Klaus – Live (Self Released)
19. Korb – II (Weird Beard)
20. Drew Mulholland – A Haunting Strip of Marshland (Castles in Space)
21. Kitchen Cynics and Grey Malkin – The Wonder Room (Reverb Worship)
22. Garmarna – Förbundet (Seasons of Mist)
23. Mr Bungle – The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny (Ladd-Frith productions)
24. Midnight – Rebirth by Blasphemy (Metal Blade Records)
25. Ensiferum – Thalassic (Metal Blade Records)
26. Boris – NO (Fangs Anal Satan)
27. Rowan Amber Mill – Golden Strings to Tether the Sun (Millersounds)
28. Oranssi Pazuzu – Mestarin Kynsi (Nuclear Blast)
29. Night Flight Orchestra – Aeromantic (Nuclear Blast)
30. Field Lines Cartographer – The Spectral Isle (Castles in Space)
Top Twenty DVD/ Blu ray releases
1. Dawn of the Dead (Second Sight)
2. Blood Hunger: The Films of Jose Larraz (Arrow Films)
3. Alejandro Jodorowsky Collection (Arrow Films)
4. The Color Out of Space (Studio Canal)
5. The Woman in Black (Network)
6. The Lighthouse (Universal)
7. Herschell Gordon Lewis Feast (Arrow Films)
8. Camera Obscura: The Walerian Borowczyk Collection (Arrow Films)
9. Crash (Arrow Films)
10. In Fabric (Curzon)
11. Viy (Severin)
12. Kwaidan (Eureka)
13. The Fu Manchu Cycle (Powerhouse)
14. Mothra (Eureka)
15. Paranoia (88 Films)
16. The Mad Magician (Powerhouse)
17. Murder in the Front Row (Bonded)
18. Hagazussa (Doppelganger)
19. Beatrice Cenci (88 Films)
20. Love and Death the films of Jorg Buttgereit (Arrow Films)
Paul Casey
1:Abhomine - Proselyte Parasite Plague [Osmose/Hell's Headbangers]
2:Bestattungsinstitut - Glandular Formations (1988-1990) [Verlag System]
3:Bit-Tuner - EXO [-ous]
4:Blakk Harbor - A Modern Dialect [Mille Plateaux]
5:Café Türk - Café Türk [Zel Zelle]
6:Chra - Seamons [Editions Mego]
7:Colosso - Apocalypse [Transcending Obscurity]
8:Defiled - Infinite Regress [Season of Mist]
9:Fabio R. Lattuca - Matter [Midira]
10:Imagination - Shake It [The Artless Cuckoo]
11:Kave - Kave [Arjunamusic]
12:Khost - Buried Steel [Cold Spring]
13:Khthoniik Cerviiks - Æequiizoiikum [Iron Bonehead]
14:Thomas Köner - Motus [Mille Plateaux]
15:Iury Lech - Ontonanology [Amorfik Artifacts]
16:mHz - Function [Important]
17:Mr Bungle - The Raging Wrath of The Easter Bunny Demo [Ipecac]
18:Odem - Timeless Past Above [Moribund]
19:Pathogens - Soiled Cogs Forever Grinding [Scry/Black Horizons]
20:Phil Durrant & Bill Thompson - Intraspect [Burning Harpsichord]
21:Pneuma Hagion - Voidgazer [Nuclear War Now!]
22:Pornohelmut - Bang Lord [Atypeek]
23:SPIME.IM - ZERO [-ous]
24:Sutcliffe Jugend - The Deluge [4iB]
25:Thecodontion - Supercontinent [I, Voidhanger]
26:Undirheimar - Heljarrúnar [Cyclic Law]
27:This Valley of Old Mountains - Self Titled [12k]
28:Western, Creed, Spybey - Wands [Cold Spring]
29:Xiphoid Dementia - Prison of Hope [Divergent Series]
30:Zombi - 2020 [Relapse]
Josh Landry
1.KMRU - Peel [Editions Mego]
2. Nine Inch Nails - Ghosts VI: Locusts [The Null Corporation]
3. Sonologyst - Ancient Death Cults And Beliefs [Cold Spring]
4. Brigitte Barbu - Muzak pour Ascenseurs en Panne [Circus Company]
5. Divus - Divus II [Boring Machines]
6. Gargoyl - Gargoyl [Season of Mist]
7. Thy Catafalque - Naiv [Season of Mist]
8. Stein Urheim - Downhill Uplift [Hubro]
9. Polymoon - Caterpillars of Creation [Svart Records]
10. Green Carnation - Leaves of Yesteryear [Season of Mist]
11. Deep Energy Orchestra - The Return [7D Media]
12. Hedvig Mollestad - Ekhidna [Rune Grammofon]
13. Tame Impala - The Slow Rush [Island Records]
14. Act One - Ou-Topos [Digital Shamans Records]
15. Cyk - Delic EP [Sangoma Records]
16. Okta - (su)Realistic Optimism EP [Reversible Records]
17. Biochronic - Biohacking EP [Black Out Records]
18. Teorema & Friends - Endless [Samaa Records]
19. Render - Tempus Fugit [Reversible Records]
20. Dr Fractal - Deep Down Symphony EP [Digital Shamans Records]
21. VA [Axios Records] - Guardians of the Light
22. VA [Black Catalogue] - Next Lightyear - South African Underground House & Experimental (I & II)
23. VA [Purple Hexagon Records] - Sabaidee
24. VA [Sonica Recordings] - Not Recyclable
25. VA [Vertigo Records] - Unreal Fun 2
26. VA [Pleiadian Records] - Star Beings 2
27. VA [Multidimensional Music] - Acid Methods - Chapter 1
28. VA [Rules of Nature Records] - In Forest We Trust
29. VA [Padang Records] - Haunted Spectre 3
30. VA [ADN Music] - Hexagonal Perception II
Sergey Pakhomov
1. Convocation - Ashes Coalesce [Everlasting Spew Records / Sentient Ruin Laborator ]
2. Eremit - Desert of Ghouls [Transcending Obscurity Records]
3. Placenta Lyposuction - Karst [Basement Corner Emisssians]
4. Geist & the Sacred Ensemble - Waning Hymns [Scry Recordings]
5. Primeval Mass - Nine Altars [Katoptron IX Records ]
6. Farer - Monad [Aesthetic Death / Tartarus Records]
7. Dosis Letalis - Righteous Indignation [Death Bed Tapes]
8. Golden Ashes — In The Lugubrious Silence Of Eternal Night [Oaken Palace Records / Kapmes Records ]
9. Damien De Coene & Julien Skrobek - Quarantaine [Marbre Negre]
10. Clive Henry — Blessed Is The Flame [HNW netlabel]
11. Dosis Letalis - Dissecting The Truth [Botanical Dissection]
12. Exquise Esquisse + Dosis Letalis - Behind the Curtains [PERPETUAL ABJECTION ]
13. Tissa Mawartyassari - ผีแดง [PERPETUAL ABJECTION]
14. Obliteration - Debris [Marbre Negre]
15. Vomir & Uitgeschakeld - Split [Marbre Negre ]
16. Shumoizolyatsiya - Bez Nazvaniya [Self Released ]
17. Rien - black c25 [Ominous Recordings]
18. Vomir / The Rita - Vamp Androidism [Ominous Recordings]
19. Exquise Esquisse - Dans Le Noir [Ominous Recordings]
20. JSH - Derelict [Ominous Recordings]
21. Uitgeschakeld / Condo Horro - We Have Nothing To Envy In The World [8AM Records]
22. Shumoizolyatsiya- Discipline And Order [Self Released]
23. Condo Horro - Thin Red Line [Fall Into Void Recs]
24. Jåshlýkk - The Ancient Stone Golem of Agrimelch [LSD Induced Nightmares Records]
25. Enslaved - Utgard [Nuclear Blast]
26. The Flower Kings - Islands [Inside Out/ Sony]
27. Black Leather Jesus - Raw [Self Released]
28. N'yu-yorkskiy potroshitel'- Death of the Handmaiden [Self Released]
29. Blood-Stained Lips, Smell of Blood - S/T [Self Released]
30. Boris Grebenshchikov - Znak Ognya [Self Released]
Martin P
1 Andrew Tuttle – Alexandra (Room40)
2 Armand Hammer – Shrines (Backwoodz Studioz)
3 Black Sand Desert – Painted Rope (Troniks/Oxen)
4 Bull Of Apis Bull Of Bronze – Offerings of Flesh and Gold (Tridroid Records)
5 C.C.C.C. – Amplified Crystal II (New Forces)
6 Chubby & The Gang – Speed Kills (Static Shock Records)
7 Controlled Death/Rudolf Eb.er - Death Ceremonies (Cold Spring)
8 Crawl Of Time – Operation Black Widow (Chondritic Sound)
9 Emmanuel Holterbach/Blutwurst – Ricercar Nell'ombra (Another Timbre)
10 Herukrat – Darkness Over Najaf (Total Black)
11 Koufar – Middle Eastern Promises (Fusty Cunt)
12 Magnus Granberg/Skogen – Let Pass My Weary Guiltless Ghost (Another Timbre)
13 Moor Mother - Circuit City (Don Giovanni)
14 OVMN – Throbbing Pulse (Troniks/Lake Shark Harsh Noise)
15 Physique – The Rhythm Of Brutality (Static Shock Records)
16 Polwechsel & Klaus Lang – Unseen (ezz-thetics)
17 R.A. The Rugged Man – All My Heroes Are Dead (Nature Sounds)
18 Savage Gospel – Savage Gospel (White Centipede Noise)
19 Serration – The Open Mouth Of Infinite Destruction (Chondritic Sound)
20 Sewer Election – Blizzard Amplification (White Centipede Noise)
21 Shredded Nerve – Acts Of Betrayal (Chondritic Sound)
22 Terror Cell Unit – Psalm 137:9 (Found Remains)
23 that dog. – Totally Crushed Out! (Geffen Records/Third Man Records)
24 The Four Owls – Nocturnal Instinct (High Focus Records)
25 The Rita – Shark At Knife Pointe (Troniks)
26 The Rita / Treriksröset – The Rita / Treriksröset (White Centipede Noise)
27 Ulcerate – Stare Into Death And Be Still (Debemur Morti Productions)
28 Vile Creature – Glory, Glory! Apathy Took Helm!(Prosthetic Records)
29 William Basinski - Lamentations (Temporary Residence Ltd)
30 Yo La Tengo – Electr-O-Pura (Matador)
Jan Warnke
1: Quintessenz - Dauþuz / Rimruna / Schattenvald / Nemesis Sopor - Split (LP - Schattenpfade)
2:Fanebærer - Den Første Ild (LP - Nattetale)
3:Vanity Productions - But All Spiked (LP - Posh Isolation)
4: Dauþuz - Grubenfall 1727 (12“ Amor Fati)
5: V.A. - Un Cahier de Curiosités n°6 á 8 – Tirage de Tetê (Special Edition Cassette)
6:Häxenzijrkel - Die Nachtseite (LP - Amor Fati)
7: øjeRum – Nothing Is Meant To Be (6xCD – Art Into Life)
8: KTL - VII (Cassette - Editions Mego)
9:The Dead Mauriacs - Danses pour les charmeurs de sangsues (Cassette – NPH)
10: Vanity Productions & Ato Vari – Chiseled Bellows (Cassette - Dead Gods)
11: Rainier Lericolais - Ondes Courtes (Deluxe Edition Cassette - NPH)
12: Life Support - Die Like A Man (7”- Youth Attack Records)
13:V.A. Really Bad Music For Really Bad People: The Cramps As Heared Through The Meatgrinders Of Three One g (LP - Three One G)
14:Amethyst – The Journey (Cassette - VAKNAR)
15:Thorsten Soltau / Niels Geybels – To Let A Field Rest (Cassette – Holy Geometry)
16:Miasmatic Necrosis - Apex Profane (LP - Goatgrind Records)
17:Bone Awl - An Obelisk Marks The Line (LP - Klaxon)
18:Canadian Rifles - Eastern Nurseries (Cassette - VAKNAR)
19:Gaseous Acolyte - a body without organs - Vomir - -Untitled - Untitled Four Way Split Cassette (Digital - Smallworm)
20:Vanessa Amara - Poses (Digital EP - Posh Isolation)
21:Ivar’s Burial – Demo 2020 (Cassette – Legion Blotan)
22:V.A.– Join Us, There Will Be A Cocktail Party After The Plague Mass (Cassette - L'Art Pénultième)
23: François Tusques - La Chasse Au Snark (The Hunting Of The Snark) (Lp - Finders Keepers Records)
24:Alain Pierre - Ô Sidarta (LP - Finders Keepers Records)
25:Gnoll - Mörk Borg (Cassette – Heimat der Katastrophe)
26:Socialectomy - Unlive In Basement (Digital – Decimation Sociale)
27:Eisenhorn - Magos by Dan Abnet (Audiobook – Black Library)
28:Perko - Galerie (Cassette – Posh Isolation)
29:Escape The Dark Castle - Original Soundtrack (Cassette – Themeborne)
30:Carlo Giustini – Gli Spiriti Della Marca (Cassette – VAKNAR)
Hal Harmon
1:Coriky - self-titled [Dischord Records]
2:Jeff Carey - index[off] [self-released]
3:Boar - Carbon Trauma [Flag Day Recordings]
4:John Wiese - Magnetic Stencil l [Troniks]
5:John Wiese - Magnetic Stencil Il [Troniks]
6:AHLZAGAILZEHGUH - Ex-Life [No Rent]
7:Bricks - Humanity is a Sinking Ship [Flag Day Recordings]
8:Giant Monsters - All Out Destruction [GRLIX]
9:Bastard Noise - The Birthdays Continue... [Orb Tapes]
10:Swing Kids - Anthology [31G]
11:Various - Sounds and Looks Like Life: Audio Folk Art Assemblage [Electronic Cottage]
12:Fire-Toolz - Rainbow Bridge [Hausu Mountain]
13:Human Fluid Rot/SBTDOH - Chemical Reaction Signaling [Shrouded Recordings]
14:Reaper/Blood of Chhinnamastika - Split [Shrouded Recordings]
15:Sterile Garden - Acidosis [No Part of It]
16:Various - Even a Pandemic Can't Keep Us Quiet: 2020 NorCal Noisefest Audio Documentation 17:Compilation [NorCal Noise Fest]
18:CHEFKIRK - Album of the Year [self-released]
19:Juice Machine - Like Solar Fire [self-released]
20:Mortiis - Spirit of Rebellion [Skaventhrone Tapes]
21:Woods - Strange to Explain [Woodsist]
22:Blood of Chhinnamastika - Wronged Animal [MIRRORMELT Records]
23:Various - 9 Circles of Hell [Deathbed Tapes]
24:Vomir/The RITA - Vamp Androidism [Ominous Recordings]
25:Compactor - Temporary State [Waste Management]
26:Daikon Sheild - Nest [self-released]
27:Earth Machine - Clad in a Forest of Dark Fir [self-released]
28:Himukalt - Sex Worker II [Total Black]
29:Orphan Fairytale - Titania Moon [Ultra Eczema]
30:Heat Signature - Altered States of Warfare [Found Remains]