Sabato 3 Gen 2009, 0:01

A.
Kaoru Abe – Solo 1972.1.21
Acid Mothers Temple and the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. – Acid Mothership Live
Animal Collective – Sung Tongs
Antony and the Johnsons – Another World

B.
Derek Bailey - Improvisation
Alban Berg – Lulu/Wozzeck
Boredoms – Chocolate Synthesizer
Boris – Akuma No Uta
Boris – Amplifier Worship
Pierre Boulez – Le Marteau sans Maître / Dérive 1 & 2
Glenn Branca – The Ascension
Anthony Braxton – Saxophone Improvisations Series F

C.

D.
Death Ambient – Drunken Forest
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft – Die Kleinen Und Die Bösen

E.
Earth – The Bees Made Honey In The Lion’s Skull
Clara Engel – Tender
Brian Eno – Discreet Music
EyeHateGod – Take As Needed For Pain
EyeHateGod - Dopesick

F.
Morton Feldman – Rothko Chapel/Why Patterns?
Morton Feldman – Three Voices
Morton Feldman – For Philip Guston
Morton Feldman – Triadic Memories
Flower Travellin’ Band – Satori
Ellen Fullman – Body Music
Fushitsusha – Origin’s Hesitation
Fushitsusha – Withrawe, this sable Disclosure ere devot’d

G.
Diamanda Galás – Plague Mass
Philip Glass – Music In 12 Parts
Government Alpha – Venomous Cumulus Cloud
Ground Zero – Null & Void
Guilty Connector – Beats, Noise, and Life.

H.
Keiji Haino – Watashi-Dake?
Keiji Haino – Tenshi no Gijinka
Keiji Haino - Hikari Yami Uchitokeaishi Konohibiki
Garry Higgins – Red Hash

I.

J.
Jandek – Ready For The House

K.
Z. Karkowski / Torturing Nurse / Dickson Dee - Penetration
Maria Kasstan – Love Songs For The Homeless Guy
Khanate - Khanate
Knurl – Scyamine

L.
Alvin Lucier – Still Lives
Gabi Lunca – Songs From A Bygone Age vol 5
Lush - Split

M.
Merzbow – Hybrid Noisebloom
Olivier Messiaen – Quartet For The End of Time

N.
Naked City – Black Box
Nihilist Spasm Band – The Best We Can Do
Nine Inch Nails – Ghosts I-IV

O.

P.
Zeena Parkins – Nightmare Alley
Arvo Pärt – Alina
Prurient – The Black Vase

Q.

R.
Steve Reich – City Life
Steve Reich – Daniel Variations
Steve Reich - Phases

S.
Arnold Schönberg – Works For Piano
Elliott Sharp & Zeena Parkins – Psycho-Acoustic
Six Organs of Admittance – For Octavio Paz
Harry Somers – (retrospective…can't remember the name)
Igor Stravinsky – The Firebird/Rite of Spring
Sun Plexus - Or Ou Ferraille ? A Quelle Profondeur ?

T.

U.

V.
Edgard Varèse – The Complete Works

W.
John Wiese – Soft Punk

X.
Iannis Xenakis – Chamber Music 1955 -1990

Y.
Otomo Yoshihide - Blue

Z.

So that was 2008. It was kind of a shit year, all things considered, although it was fun to find myself with a physical copy of an album I was a part of (Tender).

I feel like this is the year that I lost my…er…that thing that works very much like an immune system, but in social situations. A person never walks around, perfectly healthy, saying to his or herself, "thank god I don't have a cold right now." It's a given, right? Likewise, I never walked around saying to myself "Thank god I know where to place a joke/nod my head/grapple with conversation in general". When that's gone, the world becomes a pretty scary place, I find.

I also did a questionable photoshoot for a dingy hipster magazine that got me heaps of compliments from my friends down in the Toronto Village, and laughter from everybody else, haha.

I made some musical discoveries this year that have been incredibly important to me, namely Steve Reich and Morton Feldman, although listening to Keiji Haino and Iannis Xenakis have also been eye opening in further understanding the different kinds of music being made in the world all the time.

If anybody's confused by the addition of a Glass CD, please don't have a heart attack. Having heard enough about Music In 12 Parts being the closest contemporary of Reich's Music For 18 Musicians (which, in less than a year, surpassed almost any album I've ever heard in terms of absolute excellence), I found it for about 20 bucks, and felt I'd be acting childish if I didn't at least attempt to give it a try. My conclusion : Glass needs 4 hours to convey less than what Reich can in less than 1 hour. Big surprise.

That's it.