1. Billy Woods – Golliwog (Backwoodz Studios)
2. Lindstrom – Sirius Syntoms (Feedelity)
3. Gwenifer Raymond – Last Night I Heard The Dog Star Bark (We Are Busy Bodies)
4. Xhosa Cole – On A Modern Genius Vol. 1 (Stoney Lane Records)
5. Various Artists – Different Circles: Ping Volume One (Different Circles)
6. Bill Orcutt – Another Perfect Day (Palilalia Records)
7. Oneohtrix Point Never – Tranquilizer (Warp)
8. Bitchin Bajas – Inland See (Drag City)
9. Joe Lovano – Homage (ECM)
10. Earl Sweatshirt – Live Laugh Love (Tan Cressida)
11. Pino Palladino and Blake Mills – That Wasn’t A Dream (Impulse/New Deal)
12. Trio of Bloom (Nels Cline, Craig Taborn, Marcus Gilmore) (Pyroclastic Records)
13. Piers Faccini and Ballake Sissoko – Our Calling (No Format)
14. Chris Corsano Bill Orcutt – Empty Bottle (Palilalia Records)
15. Orcutt Shelley Miller – Orcutt Shelley Miller (Silver Current Records)
16. Djrum – Under Tangled Silence (Houndstooth)
17. Rich Dawson – End of the Middle (Weird World)
18. Nels Cline – Consentrik Quartet (Blue Note)
19. Pulp – More (Rough Trade)
20. Various Artists – Kompakt Total 25 (Kompakt)

Singles Not on Top 20 Albums

Offset – Run It Up
Central Cee ft 21 Savage – GBP
Justin Bieber – Daisies
Tame Impala – Loser
Slick Rick – Stress
Bancal – Brancard
Nine Inch Nails – Infiltrator

REISSUES

Polygon Window – Surfing On Sine Waves (Warp)
OutKast – Stankonia (Light In The Attic)

GIGS

1. New York Winter Jazzfest (Jenny Scheinman, Trio Imagination w/ Reggie Workman, Andrew Cyrille, David Virelles, Paul Cornish, Darius Jones, Matthew Shipp), City Winery and Loove Labs, Jan 10-11
2. John Zorn: New  Masada Quartet, Roulette, May 23
3. aya and Eye, Powerhouse Arts, Dec. 5
4. Gwenifer Raymond at Public Records, Dec. 6
5. Outlook Festival: Michael Rother Plays Neu! and Harmonia, Knockdown Center, Mar. 30

Best of 2023

Albums

1. Bill Orcutt – Jump On It
2. DJ Manny – Hypnotized
3. Billy Woods and Kenny Segal – Maps
4. Lindstrom – Everyone Else Is a Stranger
5. Nondi_ – Flood City Trax
6. Tyshawn Sorey – Continuing
7. Wolf Eyes – Difficult Messages
8. Kelela – Raven
9. James Brandon Lewis – Eye Of I
10. PJ Harvey – I Inside The Old Year Dying
11. The Men – New York City
12. Zoh Amba/Bill Orcutt/Chris Corsano – The Flower School
13. Chris Speed Trio – Despite Obstacles
14. Tyvek – Overground
15. Joe Lovano Trio Tapestry – Our Daily Bread

EPs

1. Jlin – Perspective EP
2. Martyn x Om Unit – AJ^6 EP
3. Yushh – Look Mum No Hands

Best of 2024

Albums

1. Computer Fight – 終​わ​り​な​き​日​常​を​生​き​ろ owarinaki nichijo wo ikiro
2. Djrum – Meaning’s Edge EP
3. Julie – My Anti-Aircraft Friend
4. Jamie Saft – Jamie Saft Trio Plays Monk
5. Vince Staples – Dark Times
6. Pissed Jeans – Half Divorced
7. Charli XCX – Brat
8. Darius Jones – Legend of e’Boi (The Hypervigilant Eye)
9. Jeff Parker and the ETA IVtet – The Way Out of Easy
10. Holy Tongue and Shackleton – The Tumbling Psychic Joy of Now
11. Jlin – Akoma
12. Mura Masa – Curve1
13. Johnny Blue Skies – Passage du Desir
14. Tyler The Creator – Chromakopia
15. The Drin – Elude The Torch

EPs and Singles

1. Computer Fight – 新​卒​で​天​使​に​な​れ​な​か​っ​た​/​ハ​ン​チ​バ​ッ​ク shinsotsu de tenshi ninarenakatta​/​hunchback
2. Pearson Sound – Which Way Is Up EP
3. JJ Whitefield – Moon Walk

Reissues/Archival

1. The Fall – Slates Live
2. Sonic Youth – Walls Have Ears
3. Fred Frith – Guitar Solos reissue/Fifty
4. Aphex Twin – Digeridoo
5. Butthole Surfers – Locust Abortion Technician

Click here to download from Mediafire

1. Chevel – Waiting For Love – Waiting For Love (Fixed Abode)
2. Pusha T – Neck and Wrist – It’s Almost Dry (GOOD Music/Def Jam)
3. DJ Double Oh! – Cuerpo – Cuerpo Y Sol (All Centre)
4. Dome Zero – Gut Rot – Chewing The Scenery (All Centre)
5. Toma Kami – Zona Bruma – Amapicante EP (Livity Sound)
6. Otik – Paradise Mode – Soulo EP (3024)
7. Kellen03 – The Dream – Life’s Different Now (Keysound Recordings)
8. Sister Zo – Jump In (Freak Shift) – Freak Shift EP (3024)
9. 95 Bones & Wager – Purple Hilt (1315 Broadway Mix) – Purple Hilt (Scuffed)
10. Two Shell – Memory – Icons (Mainframe Audio)
11. dBridge, Madison Willing – Pulse – Made In Silence EP (Exit)
12. Overmono – Bone Mics – Cash Romantic (XL)
13. Al Wootton – Mercia – Wyre (Trule)
14. John Tejada – Shattered – Sleepwalker (Palette)
15. Duswinder – Bound in Twisted Geometry – Adrenal Vision (All Centre)
16. Lunice – Dial – 180 Deluxe (LuckyMe)
17. Feena – Dead Digits – Scuffed Presents 007 (Scuffed)
18. Low End Activist – Wow Signal – Low End Activism 004 (Sneaker Social Club)

Mixed Aug 11, 2022 in HK by Deemo

2018

1. Pinch and Peverelist – Present: In Deep (Tectonic)
2. Etch – Altered Roads (cassette)
3. Tony Allen – Asiko (Ricardo Villalobos In A Silent Mix) (Dekmantel)
4. Chevel – In A Rush and Mercurial (Enklav) / Chevel – Always Yours (Different Circles)
5. Matthew Shipp Daniel Carter William Parker – Seraphic Light (live) (AUM Fidelity)
6. Thee Oh Sees – Smote Reverser (Castle Face)
7. Parquet Courts – Wide Awake!! (Matador)
8. Nels Cline Four – Currents, Constellations (Blue Note)
9. Lil Yachty – Lil Boat 2 (Capital/Motown/Quality Control)
10. Martyn – Voids (Ostgut Ton)

Best of the rest
Gnod- Chapel Perilous (Rocket Recordings)
Acre – Hollow Body (Opal Tapes)
Dr Octagon – Moosebumps: An Exploration Into Modern Day Horripilation
Djrum – Portrait With Firewood (R&S)
Animal Collective – Tangerine Reef (Domino)
Matthewdavid – Time Flying Beats
Nine Inch Nails – Bad Witch
Drake – Scorpion
A$AP Rocky – Testing
Future – Beast mode 2
Appleblim – Life In A Laser
Mr. Fingers – Cerebral Hemispheres
LFZ – Name Plus Focus
Hanz – Plasty I (Tri Angle)
NPVR – 33 33
Beak – >>>
Ras G – Stargate Music
Wand – Perfume
тпсб ‎– Sekundenschlaf

Great discs missed in 2017
Various – Grime 2017
Tom Rogerson and Brian Eno – Finding Shore
Nicolas Kummert w Lionel Loueke – La Diversite
Ekoplekz – Cassettera
Land of Talk – Life After Youth
Moon Wiring Club – Tantalising Mews
Champion – Snapshot
Claude Speeed – Other Infinities

Missed in 2018
Various – Kompakt Total 18
Prins Thomas – Movement of the Free Spirit
Marie Davidson – Working Class Woman
Pusha T – Daytona
Various – Brainfeeder X
Thomas Fehlmann – Los Lagos
Various – Soul of a Nation 2 (Soul Jazz)
Chris Corsano Bill Orcutt – Brace Up!

2019

Special Request – Vortex
Karl Hector and the Malcouns – Non Ex Orbis
Logos – Imperial Flood
Lee Gamble – In A Paraventral Scale
Nkisi – 7 Directions
The Dead C – Rare Ravers
Ian Brown – Ripples
Julian Lage – Love Hurts
Mana – Seven Steps Behind
Prins Thomas – Ambitions
F.U.S.E. – Computer Space (reisuse)
Various – Soul Jazz Presents Fashion Records
Skepta – Ignorance Is Bliss
Curren$y and Statik Selecta – Gran Turismo
Floating Points – Les AlpX/Coorabell (Single)
Mac DeMarco – Here Comes The Cowboy
L’Eclair – Sauropoda
Velvet Negroni – NEON BROWN
Vanishing Twin – The Age of Immunology
Branford Marsalis – The Secret Between The Shadow and Soul
Ekoplekz – Kirilian Visions
Freddie Gibbs and Madlib – Bandana
David Torn Tim Berne – Sun of Goldfinger
Various – Brasil USA (Soul Jazz)
Joe Lovano – Trio Tapestry
NOTS – 3
Thee Oh Sees – Face Stabber
Ras G – Down To Earth Vol 4
Wand – Laughing Matter

Missed in 2019
Kaytranada – Bubba
The Chemical Brothers – No Geography
Uranium Club – The Cosmo Cleaners

2020

Tame Impala – The Slow Rush
Hodge – Shadows In Blue
Tim Berne’s Snakeoil – The Fantastic Mrs 10
Ben Holmes – Naked Lore
Tashi Dorji – Stateless
Coral Club – Nowhere Island
Yazmin Lacey – Morning Matters EP
Al Wooton – Witness
Matthew Shipp Trio – The Unidentifiable
Rian Treanor – File Under U.K. Metaplasm
Decolonize Your Mind Society – A Courteous Invitation to an Uninhabited Anabatic Prism
Julia Reidy – Vanish
Teenanger – GOODTIME
Theo Parrish – Wuddadji
Autechre – SIGN
Baba Zula – Hayvan Gibi
Various Artists – PlanetMu25
Sylvie Courvoisier – Free Hoops
Etch – Strange Days
Lindstrom and Prins Thomas – III

Missed in 2020
Scratcha DVA – DRMTRK X LP (DVA Music)
Xyla – Ways (Leaving)

2021

1. DJ Manny – Signals In My Head (Planet Mu)
2. Gnod – Easy To Build Hard to Destroy (Rocket)
3. Chris Corsano and Bill Orcutt – Made Out of Sound (Palilalia)
4. Moritz Von Oswald Trio – Dissent (Modern Recordings)
5. Proc Fiskal – Siren Spine Sysex (Hyperdub)
6. Parquet Courts – Sympathy For Life (Rough Trade)
7. Aaron Dilloway and Lucrecia Dalt – Aaron & Lucy (Hanson)
8. Various Artists – Pressure Dome INTLPDCOMP001 (Pressure Dome)
9. Body/Dilloway/Head – Body/Dilloway/Head (Three Lobed)
10. Andrew Cyrille Quartet – The News (ECM)
11. John Carroll Kirby – Septet (Stones Throw)
12. Appleblim – Infinite Hieroglyphics (Sneaker Social Club)
13. Tim Berne Chris Speed Reid Anderson Dave King – Broken Shadows (Intakt)
14. Floating Points, Pharaoh Sanders and the LSO – Promises (Luaka Bop)
15. Ben Goldberg – Everything Happens To Be (self released)
16. Lina Allemano Four – Vegetables (Lumo)
17. Andre Ethier – Further Up Island (Telephone Explosion)
18. Pino Palladino Blake Mills – Notes With Attachments
19. William Parker – Mayan Space Station (AUM Fidelity)
20. Loraine James – Reflection (Planet Mu)
21. Equinoxx – Basic Tools mixtape (Equinoxx)
22. Gnod – La Mort Du Sens (Rocket)
23. Palberta – Palberta5000 (Wharf Cat)
24. Black Dice – Mod Prog Sic (FourFour)
25. Alexander Hawkins – Togetherness Music (Intakt)
26. Bitchin Bajas – Switched On Ra (Drag City)
27. Seekersinternational Presents Ragga Preservation Society – Worldwide Sound (Diskotopia)
28. Joy Orbison – Still Slipping Vol 1 (Toss Portal)
29. Georgia Anne Muldrow – VWETO III (Foreseen Entertainment)
30. Dave Holland – Another Land (Edition)
31. Various Artists – PDCOMP003 (Pressure Dome)
32. ENA – One Draw (Nullpunkt)

Missed in 2021
Blackface Family – Nthena
Tyler The Creator – Call Me If You Get Lost
Jeff Parker – Forfolks

Reissue of the year
Various Artists – Cameroon Garage Funk (Analog Africa)

2021 EPs and Singles
Al Wootton – Maenads EP (Trule)
Jennifer Walton – Flash On (All Centre)
Kode9 – The Jackpot / Rona City Blues (Hyperdub)
FJAAK – WH?T EP (Tectonic)
Maya Q – I Just Wanna (All Centre)
Jurango – Retreat Ites EP (Livity Sound)
Fiesta Soundsystem – How’s That? EP (Scuffed)
ANZ – OTMI001 (OTMI)
Two Shell – Soul City EP (Livity Sound)
Gavsborg – Domestic Audio Workstation EP (Equinoxx)
YOUTH – Blazing Sound System EP
Young Muscle – Amalgamation EP (Scuffed)
SPD – Pfhin EP (Keysound)
Andrea – Sktch EP (Ilian Tape)
She Spells Doom – Rudnick (All Centre)
Fiesta Soundsystem – First Colour EP (Geotact)
Batu – I Own Your Energy
Atrice – Q (Ilian Tape)

2022

Earl Sweatshirt – SICK! (Tan Cressida)
Spoon – Lucifer On The Sofa
Gabor Lazar – Boundary Object (Planet Mu)
Central Cee – 23
Flower-Corsano Duo – The Halcyon
Space Ghost – Private Paradise
John Tejada – Sleepwalker
Billy Woods – Aethiopes
They Hate Change – Finally, New
Steve Lacy – Gemini Rights
Pusha T – It’s Almost Dry
Glaas – Qualm
Bill Orcutt – Music For Four Guitars
Gilla Band – Most Normal
Bitchin Bajas – Bajascillators
James Devane – Music Is Useless
Billy Woods x Messiah Musik – Church
James Devane – Beauty Is Useless
Flaccid Mojo – FM

Reissue of the year
Alhaji K. Frimpong – Abrabo

2022 Singles
re;ni – Revenge Body single (Ilian Tape)
Low End Activist – Low End Activism 4 (Sneaker Social Club)
DJ Double Oh! – Cuerpo Y Sol (All Centre)
Sister Zo – Freak Shift (3024)
Tamlin – Bitter Fruit (Scuffed)
Duppy – Now You See Me EP
Chevel – Waiting For Love EP

Click here to download from Mediafire

1. Mr. Mitch – “Settle” – Primary Progressive (Gobstopper)
2. The Maghreban – “Needy” – 01DEAS (R&S)
3. Peverelist – “Right Hand” – IDLE050 (Idle Hands)
4. Oscar #Worldpeace – “No White God” – IC3 (Worldpeace)
5. Bruce – “Elo” – Sonder Somatic (Hessle Audio)
6. Appleblim – “Manta Key” – Life in a Laser (Sneaker Social Club)
7. Pearson Sound – “Our Spirits Soar” – Rubble (Hessle Audio)
8. Chevel – “Palaverde Mix” – In A Rush And Mercurial (Enklav)
9. Smerz – “Half life” – Have Fun (XL)
10. Walton – “No Mercy f Riko Dan” – Black Lotus (Tectonic)
11. Swindle – What We Do – Butterz 2019 E1 gig free download
12. Jacques Greene – “Avatar Beach (Extended)” – Fever Focus (LuckyMe)
13. Special Request – “Tiresias (Anastasia Kristensen Rework)” – Through The Looking Glass (Houndstooth)
14. Proc Fiskal – “Dopamine” – Insula (Hyperdub)

Mixed Jan 27, 2019 by Deemo for a-void.ca

Original photo by Henk L from FreeImages

Click here to download from Mediafire

1. Via Maris – CU2 – Glow Wall / CU2 (Livity Sound)
2. Etch – Beggars Belief – Altered Roads Vol. 2 (Altered Roads)
3. Facta – Dumb Hummer – Dumb Hummer / All The Time (Livity Sound)
4. Djrum – Creature, Pt. 2 – Portrait with Firewood (R&S)
5. Chevel – Arp 2600 – Always Yours (Different Circles)
6. Appleblim – Vurstep – Vurstep (Boogie Box)
7. Walton – Mad Zapper – Black Lotus (Tectonic)
8. Wen – Off-Kilter – EPHEM:ERA (Big Dada)
9. Martyn – Nya – Voids (Ostgut Ton)
10. Pinch – AHH FFF SSS – Walking With Shadows / AHH FFF SSS (81)
11. Okzharp & Manthe Ribane – Dun – Closer Apart (Hyperdub)
12. Sampha – Plastic 100 °C (Batu Remix) – Process Remixes (XL)
13. Joy O – SEED – 81b (Hinge Finger)
14. Overmono – Daisy Chain – Raft Living (Poly Kicks)
15. Skeptical – Nebula – Enjoy This Trip (Exit)
16. A.T. – Icy – Boxed V (Boxed)

Mixed Nov 12, 2018 by deemo for a-void.ca

Click here to download from Mediafire

1. Kellen303 – WHB – WHB EP (Keysound)
2. Hanz – King Speed – Plasty I (Tri Angle)
3. J:Kenzo – Shark Eye – Shark Eye / Asutoraru (Artikal)
4. Deuce – Diamondback – War Serpent (Slimzos)
5. Spooky – Snow Forest – Snow Forest (Oil Gang)
6. Wiley – Let The Ink Flow – Let The Ink Flow (Chasing The Art)
7. Novelist – Nov Wait Stop Wait (Explicit) – Nov Wait Stop Wait (Mmmyeh)
8. Krucial, Filthy Gears & Kraze – Million Views – Million Views (Krucial)
9. Rocks FOE – Legion – Legion / Lacuna (AWAL)
10. Boofy – Ledge – Dead Stylus / Ledge (Innamind)
11. Filthy Gears – Treason 005 – Treason (Slimzos)
12. Jook, Jammz – No Remorse – No Remorse (Sector 7 Sounds)
13. Krucial – Different – Different (Krucial)
14. Champion – One Time – Snapshot (self-released)
15. Sully – Little Things – DRB01 (Dr Banana)
16. Pangaea – Bone Sucka – Bone Sucka (Hessle Audio)

Mixed May 2, 2018 by deemo for a-void.ca

Download from Mediafire

1. Stormzy – Bad Boys (feat. Ghetts and J Hus) – Gang Signs & Prayer [#Merky]
2. DJ Lycox – Galinha – Sonhos & Pesadelos [Principe Discos]
3. STILL – Don’t Stop – I [PAN]
4. Avelino – Energy f Skepta and Stormzy – single [OddChild]
5. 67 – This Side – Glorious Twelfth [6ix 7even]
6. Pinch – Street Light – Brain Scan [Aquatic Lab]
7. Slackk & Logos – Moroccan Squares – BOXED004 [Boxed]
8. Slimzee – Judgement Day Garna Remix – Judgement Day EP [Slimzos]
9. Lethal Bizzle – Round Here ft Giggs and Flowdan – single [Dench]
10. Killa’s Army x Chimpo – Which One – single [Box N Lock]
11. E.M.M.A. – Mindmaze – Mindmaze/Pumpkin Emoji [Coyote]
12. Errorsmith – I’m Interesting, Cheerful & Sociable – Superlative Fatigue [PAN]
13. Sully – Bullseye f Jamakabi – Escape [Keysound]
14. Gantz – Shivy (feat. Dedw8) – Dying on Acid EP [Deep Medi Muzik]
15. D Double E – How I Like It – single [Bluku Music]
16. AS.IF KID – Bombay Mix – Slimzos Allstars Volume 1 [Slimzos]
17. Tuckz – Headtop – Beginner’s Luck [Trapdoor]
18. Dizzee Rascal – Focus – Raskit [Dirtee Stank/Island]
19. Bugzy Malone – Aggy Wid It – King of the North [Ill Gotten]
20. Sir Spyro – Topper Top f Killa P, Lady Chann, Teddy Bruckshot (Kahn & Neek Remix) – single [Deep Medi Musik]
21. Yizzy x Tuckz – Big Man – single [Young Yizzy]

Mixed 20 Jan 2018 by deemo for a-void.ca

The effect on my listening is two-fold: I focus on genres I know I like, because there’s no force pushing me to engage with pop – it isn’t playing in the bars I go to, it doesn’t cross my twitter feed, I never hear commercial radio. (Pour one out for the major label marketers.) But I also feel perpetually behind, listening to records only once or twice because there’s an endless supply of new records being pushed by my genre outlets of choice (media content farms and ever-scrolling social feeds) and the FOMO is real, y’all.

So aside from the emergence of two new sounds, ‘weightless’ beat-deprived grime and dusty electro-ish drum machine industrial funk I’m dubbing CabVoltCore – neither of which I’ve seen trend pieces about so I’ve just guessed they exist – my listening this year roamed in a vast but fenced-in auditory landscape. And really, aside from the FOMO, it’s all good. I don’t miss what I don’t know exists (or don’t put at the top of a playlist). For what I didn’t miss, read on.

*Canadian
*** Not on Spotify

1. Jlin – Black Origami (Planet Mu)
   • I really liked Jlin’s debut, but I was a little suspicious of it being named The Wire’s disc of the year – arriving amid the explosion of footwork at the time it seemed more like they wanted to celebrate the idea of experimenting with its rhythms than the actual result. Now I think they were just more perceptive than me – Black Origami is not conceptually that different from 2015’s Dark Energy but it hit me like a bolt of lightning, maybe not coincidentally because the micro-bubble in radically strange footwork albums seems to have burst. With the field now largely to herself, Jlin’s vision comes across as truly her own – a haunted landscape of reptilian hihats and shakers snapping menacingly over sand-blasted vocal snippets. If David Lynch remade Dune this would be the perfect soundtrack, all alien tones and martial snares conjuring a frightening yet fascinatingly unique planet ruled by huge worms. I don’t know what worms sound like but they’re in here somewhere, I’m sure of it.
2. Kendrick Lamar – Damn. (Top Dawg/Aftermath/Interscope)
   • To Kill A Butterfly was a work of huge ambition and emotional nuance, the likes of which you rarely hear combined with mic skills. I didn’t like it much, however my politics made me want to. It just seemed so theatrical, a musical theatre approach that screamed “look at what I can do” until you cried uncle. DAMN. made me think of Pac and his own range of talents – dancing and acting along with being a wizard on the mic, but all deployed in service of the message (sacred or profane) when he was rapping. Here Kendrick sharpens his focus to laser-like precision, tackling plenty in terms of mood without losing the thread of what makes for a compelling, raw, passionate set of total speaker-rippers.
3. *Sinjin Hawke – First Opus (Fractal Fantasy)
   • The expansive vision of 80s grandiosity that acts like Hudson Mohawke and Rustie seemed to run out of steam just like the Low End Theory crew did a few years earlier, making me think my getting really really excited about something jinxes it beyond redemption. Montrealer Sinjin Hawke has made the first truly great record in the subgenre since Glass Swords in 2011 and if it doesn’t inspire imitators, I don’t know what would. Hawke combines crisp FM synths with disco horns and classical elements (countertenor vocals, acoustic pianos) that feel like little nods to Montreal’s musical history. It’s too brutal to be called reverential though – he seems to be applying stadium-house levels of compression even to gritty tracks like the mind-boggling ‘Nailgun’. I hope I’m wrong about the scene; maybe the use of TNGHT in soccer commercials means it’s breaking out. In that case, Sinjin Hawke is its newest, jaw-droppingly talented star.
4. Floating Points – Reflections – Mojave Desert (Luaka Bop)
   • Don’t let the wobbly synth ambience of this disc’s first minutes fool you. I skipped over it a few times before I landed in the muddy drum fills and early Pink Floyd organ textures that permeate cuts like ‘Silurian Blue’, and found myself going back to the well for weeks afterwards. Actually I think this is more like Tame Impala – similarly retro textures, but trading in the pop side of 60s nostalgia for loping, let-the-tape-roll experimental jams designed for dorm room navel-gazing. Makes me wish I had a bubble chair.
5. Richard H Kirk – Dasein (Intone)
   • This, the Eric Copeland, Wolf Eyes and, to some extent, the Ekoplex album are what I meant by CabVoltCore. It’s not surprising that the main man behind Cabaret Voltaire is doing it, but then much of what they evolved into was closer to the relatively slick Wax Trax dance-industrial sound than the crusty early work of “Do The Mussolini” et al, raw white noise wafting across drum machines that sound like muffled jackboots and slammed doors punctuated by distant and mysterious chanting, set to an irresistible motorik backbone. With fascism on the march, is there something sinister in how people seem to be channeling England’s darkest hour? It does add a frisson of danger, but really I’d gamble it’s as much to do with a revolt against overprocessed drums exploding all over the pop-dance airwaves – and maybe a little with the apparent decline of DIY synthpop that’s barely a step above using a Casio bossa nova preset. Kirk has learned plenty since the early days, not least how to laugh at himself – try not to giggle at the faux James Brown exclamations of ‘Do It Right Now’ – but this is just as urgent and the textures just as gloriously gritty as they were in days of yore.
6. Eric Copeland – Goofballs (DFA)
   • Speaking of CabVoltCore, there’s more 80s house in Eric Copeland’s conception than in Kirk’s, and what Copeland lacks in gloom he makes up for in sheer fun. Goofballs sounds like it was recorded to a cassette four-track, but these quirky miniatures are propulsive and buoyant. There’s no DIY indie moping in this lo-fi marvel, just jolly little perpetual-rhythm-machines that are brimming with the energy of a late-night pirate radio DJ set heard via Sony Walkman the following morning.
7. Peverelist – Tessellations (Livity Sound)
   • Hands down the best conventional dance album of the year. ‘Best Conventional Album’ might be a backhanded compliment in other genres but in techno, the true sign of genius these days lies in reimagining the template. No matter how minimal, you can’t fail to notice Peverelist’s mastery of melody (the two-chord shuffle of ‘Under Clearing Skies’ proves beyond doubt that you can make a memorable hook with next to nothing) and drum machine prowess (if there’s a better pure drum workout than ‘Sheer Chance Matters’ this decade I’ll eat my 909 clone). One of those records where you find yourself humming the hooks to yourself while in elevators, only the hook goes ‘beep beep beep BEEP BEEP’ and people look at you funny.
8. Gnod – Just Say No To The Psycho Right Wing Capitalist Fascist Industrial Death Machine (Rocket)
   • As a business journalist I like to think I catalogue the worst excesses of the Psycho Right Wing etc rather than contribute to them. Gnod would probably feel differently, but hey, if GY!BE haven’t thrown me out of their shows yet, maybe Gnod will let me listen too as they scream “bodies for moneyyyy… money for bodies” like roided-out Johnny Rottens over throwback 80s-indie sludge. It’s all quite cathartic, even if its amped-up rage also works smashingly as part of a gym playlist. Capital is voracious, isn’t it.
9. Fjaak – Fjaak (Monkeytown)
   • I was tempted to downplay this in my year-end accounting because it came out early in the calendar and there were so many recent discs clamouring for attention, but every time I put it on, Fjaak’s insistent drums sucked me back in. It veers into straight up techno a bit, which would also normally put me off, but classy old school touches like the skittering snares of ‘Das Programm’ add a bit of soul to even the most relentless throb. Besides, breakbeat driven tunes like ‘Sixteen Levels’ and ‘Against The Clock’ are my kryptonite.
10. Errorsmith – Superlative Fatigue (Pan)
    • Just when you think you’ve heard every possible ‘homage’/pilfering of Caribbean sounds, along comes Errorsmith with a fusion that’s not just rhythmically seductive but original to boot. The drums on, say, ‘Internet of Screws’ start out with a bit of a dancehall vibe but once the synth starts homing in on the coordinates of a melody, the pitch goes bananas, the rack toms are off to the races and it all goes delightfully sideways. It’s not all weirdness – ‘I’m Interesting, Cheerful and Sociable’ could arguably be the basis of a riddim, until it couldn’t, because the synth wobbles so hard you feel slightly seasick. It’s truly a fresh sound, unlike the shameless theft (or as you may know it, Pulling A Sheeran) going on in the pop world.
11. Pissed Jeans – Why Love Now (Sub Pop)
12. Ekoplekz – Bioprodukt (Planet Mu)
13. Blondes – Warmth (R&S)
14. Wolf Eyes – Strange Days II (Lower Floor)
15. Kingdom – Tears In The Club (Fade To Mind)
16. Claude Speeed – Infinity Ultra (Planet Mu)
17. Vince Staples – Big Fish Theory (Artium/Blacksmith/Def Jam)
18. Sampha – Process (Young Turks/XL)
19. Delia Gonzalez – Horse Follows Darkness (DFA)
20. Bjorn Torske and Prins Thomas – Square One (Smalltown Supersound)
21. Yo Gotti and Mike Will Made It – Gotti Made-It (Gotti Made-It/EMPIRE)
22. Queens Of The Stone Age – Villains (Matador)
23. Mura Masa – Mura Masa (Polydor/Interscope/Downtown/Anchor Point)
24. *Drake – More Life (OVO Sound/Young Money Entertainment/Cash Money/Republic)
25. The Mole – De La Planet (Maybe Tomorrow)
26. Future – HNDRXX (Epic/A1 Recordings/Freebandz Entertainment)
27. LCD Soundsystem – American Dream (DFA/Columbia)
28. ***Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe – Kulthan (Latency)
29. Farbror Resande Mac – Farbror Resande Mac (Horisontal Mambo)
30. Kelela – Take Me Apart (Warp)
31. Sherwood and Pinch – Man Vs. Sofa (On-U Sound)
32. Dizzee Rascal – Raskit (Dirtee Stank/Island)
33. Joakim – Samurai (Tigersushi/Because)
34. Gas – Narkopop (Kompakt)
35. Clap! Clap! – A Thousand Skies (Black Acre)
36. *Egyptrixx – Pure, Beyond Reproach (Halocine Trance)
37. *Daphni – FabricLive 93 (Fabric)
38. Sote – Sacred Horror In Design (Opal Tapes)
39. Tyler The Creator – Flower Boy (Columbia)
40. *Jacques Greene – Feel Infinite (Arts & Crafts)
41. Special Request – FabricLive 91 (Fabric)
42. *Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Luciferian Towers (Constellation)
43. ***Craig Taborn and Ikue Mori – Highsmith (Tzadik)
44. Circle – Terminal (Southern Lord)
45. Oneohtrix Point Never – Good Time sndtrk (Warp)
46. Ikonika – Distractions (Hyperdub)
47. ***Weightless Vol 1 (Different Circles)
48. ***Weightless Vol 2 (Different Circles)
49. The Horrors – V (Wolf Tone)
50. ***Jay-Z – 4:44 (Roc Nation)

Click here to download from Mediafire

1. Zomby – GASP! – GASP! EP (Big Dada)
2. Loleatta Holloway – Stand Up (Pangaea Mix) – Two Mixes (Hadal – Devotion17)
3. Blackdown – Ridge (XLR8R)
4. Martyn – Matt Hensley – GL Outakes (3024)
5. Chip, – Scene f Jammer, D Double E, JME, Miraa Mae and Wiley
6. Klein – Arrange – Joy Orbison Selectors 004 (Dekmantel)
7. Mala – Alicia – white label
8. Equiknoxx – Congo Get Slap (Mark Ernestus Remix) – Mark Ernestus Remixes (DDS)
9. Simo Cell – Storm Steven – Pogdance EP (Brothers From Different Mothers)
10. Phon.o – CLU5T3R – Schutt Und Asche (Cold)
11. Tessela – Hackney Parrot [10 Ton Mix] – Hackney Parrot (10 Ton mix)/Headland (Poly Kicks)
12. Boylan & Oil Gang – MurderOn – BOXED004 (Boxed)
13. Pinch & Mumdance – Control – Control/Strobelight (Tectonic)
    14 . Om Unit – Despite It All – Self (Cosmic Bridge)
14. Untold – Watton Res – Tear Up The Club/Watton Res – Hemlock)

Mixed 22 Nov 2017 by deemo for a-void.ca