Despite all this, it made sense to return to the Audio Gourmet blog to present my favourite music of 2012 since it is the brand in which all of my projects tie into. I see it as a sort of community so I would like to keep the blog going, despite under utilising it. There's always next year!
So, onto the music then...Above I mentioned a return to my Deep House roots, which pretty much got me into music in my teens. It was following a move to a new home in March, which could accommodate my turntables, mixer and vast record collection - which I have subsequently added to!
It was a combination of this and also a redundancy in the summer that saw me embrace all sorts of different styles of music. When I was out of work, I began searching for music that was less melancholy than the likes of modern classical, drone etc, to act as a sort of ambient counter balance. It was all to keep me feeling positive as I searched for a new job.
As a result, this year's 'best of' list embraces all of this, with music featuring from all sorts of genres. Past readers of the Audio Gourmet blog may remember last year's list, which was a mammoth review for each of my favourite 33 albums, as well as reviews of EPs and a separate list for minimal/drone records. This year, there is no genre segregation - everything is together in the same list.
I have also done away with the reviews, as they take forever to compile and I tend to repeat myself a lot! So this year, I have done a 3 hour show with a brief commentary in between each track. The show begins in ambient territory and works its way through modern classical, jazz, folk, indie rock, IDM, beats, deep house and goodness knows what else. The last 50 minutes of the show does away with my babbling voice in favour of a mix using my favourite 12" House records I bought this year. And that's it in a nutshell!
The final chart will follow, ordered by preference. I won't list the genre for each record, because genres can sometimes be off putting and not do the record the justice it deserves. Please support the artists and labels listed by clicking on {LISTEN / BUY}. I have tried wherever possible to direct you to the label's release page, so that you can then choose your distributor based on where you are in the world. Alternatively, why not play the end of year show above to see what grabs your ears? Enjoy!
01 GRIZZLY BEAR 'Shields' [Warp]
02 FELIX 'Oh Holy Molar' [Kranky]
03 TINY RUINS 'Some Were Meant For Sea' [Own]
04 CHRISTOPH BERG 'Paraphrases' [Facture]
05 MATTHEW HALSALL 'Fletcher Moss Park' [Gondwana]
06 EARTH HOUSE HOLD 'When Love Lived' [Love's Label]
07 HAROLD BUDD 'Bandits Of Stature' [Darla]
08 BRAMBLES 'Charcoal' [Serein]
09 POPPY ACKROYD 'Escapement' [Denovali]
10 GESKIA! '323 Sayonara Memories' [Home Normal]
11 SOPHIE HUTCHINGS 'Night Sky' [Preservation]
12 CARLOS NILMMNS 'Lune Eclair' [4 Lux]
13 MARBERT ROCEL 'Small Hours' [Compost Records]
14 AD BOURKE 'Raw Ivy' [Scenario]
15 PAUL CORLEY 'Disquiet' [Bedroom Community]
16 MEMORY DRAWINGS 'Music For Another Loss' [Second Language]
17 GREG HAINES 'Digressions' [Preservation]
18 TYNEHAM HOUSE 'S/T' [Second Language]
19 JASON GROVE '313.4.Ever' [Sklax]
20 THE GREEN KINGDOM 'Egress' [Nomadic Kids Republic]
21 ROSARY BEARD 'Halfmoon Fever' [Self-released]
22 FLYING LOTUS 'Until The Quiet Comes' [Warp]
23 FROM THE MOUTH OF THE SUN 'Woven Tide' [Experimedia]
24 MARCONI UNION 'Different Colours' [Just Music]
25 OLAN MILL 'Paths' [Facture]
26 NICHOLAS 'Still Playing House' [4 Lux]
27 THE CLOISTERS 'S/T' [Second Language]
28 DAM MANTLE 'Brothers Fowl' [Notown]
29 FIELDHEAD 'A Correction' [Gizeh]
30 RICHARD SKELTON 'Verse Of Birds' [Corbel Stone Press]
Posts
