JAZZ 2017

This mix is less of a best jazz recordings of 2017 and more of a mix of jazz that I enjoyed in 2017.  I don't listen to nearly as much jazz as I do ambient and indie music. But I liked enough releases to come up with an end of the year jazz mix. So here it is.

The year was anchored by two spectacular recordings - Aytche by Joseph Shabason and All This I Do For Glory by Colin Stetson.  I saw Stetson at a small club and was blown away by his sound and technique.  If you get the chance to see him up close definitely go.

There are two albums that I discovered while compiling tracks for my mix, Rhythm of the Rails. Those two are Eternal Stories by Michel Portal & Quator Ebene and Simultonality by Joshua Abrams & Natural Information Society. Both excellent recordings.

Another highlight of 2017 was ECM records putting their entire catalog up on Spotify. I listened to nothing by ECM for a few weeks this fall.

This will probably be my last mix for 2017. I've already started on a guest mix for liftedicons.com that will be fun to put together.  Music definitely helped me get through a messed up 2017. Here's to a great 2018.

Cheers!



[ s t r e a m ]    [ d o w n l o a d ]    [ i t u n e s ]



T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Joseph Shabason - Aytche(Aytche)
• 03:40    Vijay Iyer Sextet - Wake(Far From Over)
• 08:03    Ben Allison - Magic Number(Layers of the City)
• 14:38    Bjorn Meyer - Provenance(Provenance)
• 20:30    Quatuor Ebene - City Birds(Eternal Stories)
• 27:55    Colin Stetson - Spindrift(All This I Do For Glory)
• 33:36    Portico Quartet - Endless(Art in the Age of Automation)
• 37:46    Kamasi Washington - Desire(Harmony Of Difference)
• 42:07    Phronesis - Ok Chorale(The Behemoth)
• 45:50    Joshua Abrams & Natural Information Society - Maroon Dune(Simultonality)
• 54:48    Dorothy Ashby - Pawky(Hip Harp/In A Minor Groove)
• 51:55    end

Best of 2017

It's that time of the year again - end of the year Best Of list time!  It's always a difficult task to pick albums for one of these lists.  But it's also fun because I get to sort through a bunch of music and it's definitely cool to have a look at other lists and discover a ton of things I missed.

There is no way these lists are close to being definitive.  A lot of ambient releases can tend to blur from one into the next and the difference between making the list and not making it can boil down to what mood I was in when I first heard the album.  There's so much excellent music being released on a weekly basis it's impossible to keep up so this list and mix is just a bunch of stuff that I liked this past year.

Here are a few other good year in review lists:

http://www.astrangelyisolatedplace.com/blog/2017/12/5/asip-reflection-on-2017

https://acloserlisten.com/tag/acl-2017/

https://irregularcrates.com/2017/12/12/end-of-2017-a-list-and-mix-by-harry-towell/

http://ambientmusicguide.com/best-of-year/best-albums-of-2017/

https://www.popmatters.com/best-ambient-instrumental-albums-2017-2513144740.html?page=2

https://diveintosun.wordpress.com/2017/12/11/best-albums-of-2017/

http://textura.org/archives/articles/2017top10s.htm#10ambient


My best of list is more of a best instrumental music list than just straight ambient.  The mix is mostly ambient but the list contains jazz, instrumental & ambient.  According to my Spotify data I played a lot of 36 last year so it's appropriate that he's got two albums in the top ten. I guess I'm too lazy to write up comments about all the music except to say that there's a lot of good stuff there. So take some time and hunt down these releases, you won't be disappointed. 


BEST INSTRUMENTAL ALBUMS 2017:
1. 36 - Tomorrow’s Explorers
2. Delia Derbyshire Appreciation Society - Delia Derbyshire Appreciation Society
3. Colin Stetson - All This I Do For Glory
4. Bing and Ruth - No Home of the Mind
5. Joseph Shabason - Aytche
6. Ruven Nunez - Altar of Sunlight
7. Benoit Pioulard - Lingnin Poise and Slow Spark, Soft Spoke
8. Chuck Johnson - Balsams
9. 36 - Black Soma
10. Bibio - Phantom Brickworks
11. Dungen - Haxan(versions by Prins Thomas)
12. Vijay Iyer Sextet - Far From Over
13. Penguin Cafe - The Imperfect Sea
14. Arovane & Hior Chronic - Into My Own
15. Christopher Willits - The Art of Listening
16. Vermont - II
17. High Plains - Cinderland
18. Roedelius and Arnold Kaspar - Einfluss
19. Tonepoet - N/E/W/S
20. Halftribe - Daydreams in Low Fidelity
21. Taylor Dupree - Somi
22. Kamasi Washington - Harmony of Difference
23. Loess - Pocosin
24. Hior Chronic - Our of the Dust
25. Tale of Use - Endless
26. Saltland - A Common Truth
27. Quatuor Ebene - Eternal Stories
28. Aware - The Book of Wind
29. Grails - Chalace Hymnal
30. The Prairie Lines - Eyes Down Slowdown


If you have a list of your own feel free to leave it in the comments. Or if you just have a favorite or two that you want to recommend please let us know in the comments.

Here's to a, musically, great 2017 & a better 2018.  Cheers!



[ s t r e a m ]    [ d o w n l o a d ]    [ i t u n e s ]

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    36 - Poekhali(Tomorrow's Explorers)
• 06:33    Delia Derbyshire Appreciation Society - Cloudface(Delia Derbyshire Appreciation Society)
• 10:25    Bing & Ruth - Scrapes(No Home Of The Mind)
• 15:10    Bibio - Capel Celyn(phantom brickworks)
• 20:50    Benoit Pioulard Same Time Next Year(Lignin Poise)
• 25:10    Tonepoet - The Moment You Were Swept From My Memory(N.E.W.S.)
• 30:00    The Prairie Lines - Calm Landing(eyes down slowdown)
• 36:00    Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Arnold Kasar - Asco(Einfluss)
• 40:30    Dungen - Aladdin och lampan(Haxan (versions by Prins Thomas)
• 47:10    Vermont - Langholmen(Vermont II)
• 50:35    Island People - Ember(Island People)
• 55:10    Saltland - To Allow Us All To Breathe(A Common Truth)
• 59:10    Penguin Cafe - Cantorum(The Imperfect Sea)
• 1:06:10    High Plains - Ten Sleep(Cinderland)
• 1:09:05   Arovane & Hior Chronik - The Return(Into My Own)
• 1:11:35    Chuck Johnson - Labradorite(Balsams)
• 1:16:30    Ruven Nunez - As Above, So Below(Altar of Sunlight)
• 1:26:00    Taylor Deupree - Autumn(Somi)
• 1:31:40    Loess - Striae(Pocosin)
• 1:37:00    Halftribe - Aphotic(Daydreams in Low Fidelity)
• 1:40:55    Christopher Willits - Ama(The Art of Listening)
• 1:44:10    Aware - But God Was Not in the Storm(The Book of Wind)
• 1:47:10    Justin Walter - 1001(Unseen Forces)
• 1:51:45    Tale of Us - Distante(Endless)
• 1:59:13    Hior Chronik - Cosmos(Out Of The Dust)
• 2:02:37    36 - Black Sun(Black Soma)
• 2:07:40    end

Alternative Blade Runner 2049 Soundtrack

Being a science fiction & electronic music geek, it's no surprise that I'm a big fan of the soundtrack for the original Blade Runner film.  When I heard that they'd tabbed Johann Johannsson to do the score for the 2049 film I was very excited.  But then he was pulled from the project & replaced with Hans Zimmer.  While I've actually liked a few of Zimmer's recent scores, I wasn't overly impressed with his music for 2049.  It wasn't that I disliked it.  I think I was just disappointed that it wasn't Johannsson.

My son, however, liked the soundtrack much more than I did.  So much in fact that he went home after seeing the film, created his own track in the 2049 style and sent it to me the next day.  I was impressed with the track and immediately made plans for a Blade Runner mix.

The music here is a collection of tunes that sounds like it fit perfectly in Blade Runner 2049.  In searching for music I was happy to have rediscovered Xerrox, Vol. 2 by Alva Noto, such a great album.  I was also excited to find music and artists I'd not heard before like Ital Tek, Floating Machine & Island People.

Here's a link to my son's track which appears in the mix as track #3 - "Blade Running" by Just a Human.




Also here's his latest EP - 

Cheers!


[ s t r e a m ]    [ d o w n l o a d ]    [ i t u n e s ]



T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Alva Noto - Xerrox Moonphaser 2
• 05:00    Ital Tek - Jenova
• 10:10    Just a Human - Blade Running(unreleased)
• 12:18    36 - Black Future
• 16:05    Ryuichi Sakamoto - life, life
• 20:00    Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross - The Same Dream
• 23:51    Floating Machine - Nowhere
• 30:40    Island People - vogelsang
• 35:25    Andreas Tilliander - Syncussion Discussion
• 40:10    Boards of Canada - Transmisiones Ferox
• 41:35    Arovane & Hior Chronik - Into My Own
• 45:35    Ryuichi Sakamoto - Fullmoon
• 47:30    Island People - from the sky
• 54:35    Alva Noto - Xerrox Moonphaser 1
• 61:40    end