This was a very difficult list to compile because merely 10 releases over 10 years is extremely limiting. For what criteria do I possibly rate a “best of” for an entire decade?! Do I simply list my most listened to albums?
The criteria I’ve used to choose this is music that shows a big step up for the artist, music that draws the listener in and builds interest over repeated listens, music that pushes the envelope, music that achieves a certain unique atmosphere or mood, and of course music that has …

1. V/A – Amplified Humans Festival 2xDVD [ New Forces / Skeleton Dust Recordings ]

FILE UNDER: HARSH NOISE / EXPERIMENTAL / INDUSTRIAL NOISE
I am old, and so this is how I prefer to experience festivals now. Fuck having to buy a plane ticket, travel all the way to a distant city only to spend countless hours holed up in a dingy club. Now I can appreciate the festival sights and sounds, energy and vibes all in the comfort of my living room. This DVD has really incredible quality featuring mixing …

Janzeits/Altered Form 7″

Anthems Of The Undesirable Bandcamp Link

Janzeits and Altered Form both hail from the US but conjure a nostalgia for German ambient and modular artists of the 80’s that hits the hammer on der Kopf.

Janzeits’ name might be recognizable if you’ve dug into the deep discography of Chad Davis whose work includes playing for Hour of 13 and Subklinik. Fresh from his recent full length called Cosmic Orbits, here he takes a chaotic and spacious axe to the modular palette of jagged triangle waves and precise envelope filtering to …

Compactor/Vitriol Gauge – Economic Devastation CS
Bandcamp link
It’s been a minute since I last reviewed something, but I have to say, this review pulled me out of the tomb I’ve been in. Destructive sounds from two similarly minded industrial artists comprise this take on economic progress, and damn is it a rewarding experience.
The oversized tape box format is underutilized for the most part. Thankfully the team at Waste Management knew how to maximize the dimensions perfectly. It’s not often that I am taken aback by how thoughtful inserts are since most …

Silent Chaos – micro CDr
Bandcamp link
Scottish dark-ambient outfit Silent Chaos hurls five tracks of experimental dark-ambient and hopes listeners will be patient enough to see what sticks to the wall.
There’s very little that coheres Silent Chaos‘ meticulous filtering, EQ-ing, and general attention to detail to the concepts presented in the digipak. The first two tracks – “Odysseus’s Journey” and “Ab Orgenes” – plunge past the ten minute mark. Too much stuff is present. Grueling climbs, oscillating hisses, awkward percussion, resonant filtered crackles, and synth string stabs are stacked much too …

Atrox Pestis – Hewn By the Hands of the Damned CD
Chryptus records
Waste management is the topic for Atrox Pestis‘ most recent ambient project. It attempts to capture the murky haze of the place where our shit goes.
Groups like Desiderri Marginis and Raison d’Etre have been successful by obscuring direction and even melodies, leaving them lurking in drawing out their respective elements with just the right amount of creep. Contemporaries like Husere Grav also accomplish this effectively by layering deceivingly simple ideas into warping currents. I’m not picking alot of this …

Аргандаб CSUIS records Link
UIS drops another titillating compilation in less than a year. While their previous compilation covered the higher quality end of death-industrial and harsher landscapes, this one inscribes a bigger sense of mystery and sometimes downright befuddling angle to an interesting them.
To start, I think a Russian label tackling the theme of Afghanistan makes a certain kind of sense even though Cold-War era incursions are over three decades old. I don’t know how much the Mujahadin play into the consciousness of the average Russian, but this compilation seems …

Jim Haynes – Electrical Injuries LPAussen Traum records
Jim Haynes was unknown to me until I saw him live. A master at configuring hardware into precise and neurotic movements, Electrical Injuries is a saturated and cold ache of modular sounds and rusted samples.
The sounds on this album are subtle yet forceful prevarication that belie the amount of hard work Jim puts into composing his arrangements. The way these tapestries together might imply the kind of corroding VST manic fitting together normally done on a laptop. A laptop may have very well …

I haven’t had nearly the time I wanted to dedicate both to creating and listening to music this year but I did my best – at least with the latter. Out of all that I heard – and there is certainly more I’m already seeing pop-up on other’s year end lists I need to check out – here are my favorites from 2017.

10. Isenordal – Shores of Mourning C60 [ Eternal Warfare ]
https://isenordal.bandcamp.com/album/shores-of-mourning
FILE UNDER: Cascadian black metal/pagan black metal/gothic metal
Incredible atmospheric black metal album from this Seattle-based metal band. Great …

Griefer – Egress Report CassetteAbsurd Exposition bandcamp LINK
I like song structures. Griefer‘s tape is a power electronics tape is full of actual songs with a theme that is as evidently intelligible as it is challenging.
Of the five songs featured, two contain vocals with the rest featuring impressive instrumental barrages. Griefer chooses to use, sparingly, looped samples along very cranky synths. The vocals on here are the most remarkable thing because they are not only intelligible, but Griefer‘s cadence is more akin to an older chain lord with deliberate acts of …