Wrapping Up 2010 IV. Electro & Beyond

Turning to genres of music that can hardly be encompassed by either electronic or experimental, the challenge mention in a previous post, is how to deal with the flood of musical creativity. Again, one can’t keep up. I don’t try. I follow my favorites, keep a close eye on credible blogs, and am open to completely out-of-the-blue investigations.

I have no problem with accepting and receiving this flood as documentation of prolix artistry. This is different than being the musical equivalent of a picky eater.  I like it that a new find, the noise and dark ambient guitarist Aidan Baker rolled out over ten recordings last year, under is own name, with Nadja, (duo with Leah Buckhart,) and in partnership with other sonic explorers. I have experienced six of ’em. Steve Roach, in my pantheon of sound painters, released four recordings; a wave of riches, and, yes, some better than others. Yet, I want to hear every last note.

For me it’s about the documentation of artistry for better or for worse. Still, I can’t try everything at the buffet. Overall, the rise of the cheap digital studio has inspired a prolific, oft lo-fi, tendency. This has caused an explosion in the aforementioned documentation, and, paradoxically, amplified the challenge of being selective, and this against wishing to take in every last note.

Half of the sixteen recordings listed here are by artists new to me last year. Pride of place goes to Open Graves exercise in deep listening, and the flood of ambient noise unleashed by Mr. Baker. Ruins of Morning is both heavy and heavenly. The Kaya Project‘s ambient post-rock meshes pedal steel with slow moving sound worlds. I have a weak spot for what I call slow music. Even Soweto Kinch‘s marvelous down-tempo hip-hop unfolds at a leisurely pace.

It’s all every-last noteworthy.