The Bluefat Aesthetic

Best Music of 2012: The List

It's not like one could really come up with a Òmaster listÓ of all the best music made in any given yearÉor is it? You know, we are talking about a lot of truly worthy music that gets released during a 12-months' span, and of course one only has so much time and mind to devote to each and every one that comes across the old desk. Nevertheless, Bluefat presents, why yes, THE BEST MUSIC OF 2012! Now, this list emphasizes as much individual thinking as possible about the strictly musical content, direction, motivation and integrity (and taste) of the sounds in consideration, so weÕre not exactly following trends as such, and we donÕt particularly care if the music might seem square. And suffice to say that this list here is eclectic to a certain point, though it'll betray a few obvious biases and omissions ÐÐ we left certain items out because A) we didn't happen to hear them or B) we thought they were, if not out and out bullpucky, then just not quite good enough.

So, please scan this list; use it as a handy reference guide to good music if you're in need of some tipping on that. We personally guarantee that every item on THE LIST is well worth your attention and indeed will pay enormously soul-satisfying dividends.
ÐÐ John Payne

3.33 ÐÐ In the Middle of Infinity (Parallel Thought)
Aaron Freeman ÐÐ Marvelous Clouds (Partisan)
Abby Travis ÐÐ IV (CBRA)
Adam Rudolph, Ralph M. Jones ÐÐ Merely a Traveler on the Cosmic Path (Meta)
Adrian Sherwood ÐÐ Survival & Resistance (On-U Sound)
Ahleuchatistas ÐÐ Heads Full of Poison (Cuneiform)
Alasdair Roberts & Mairi Morrison ÐÐ Urstan (Drag City)
Albrecht Mayer ÐÐ Song of the Reeds (Decca)
Alec K. Redfearn and the Eyesores ÐÐ Sister Death (Cuneiform)
Alexander Tucker ÐÐ Third Mouth (Thrill Jockey)
Alexei Lubimov ÐÐ Claude Debussy: Preludes (ECM)
Allah Las ÐÐ California (Innovative Leisure)
Anders Jormin ÐÐ Ad Lucem (ECM)
Anders Nilsson ÐÐ Night Guitar (Soundatone)
Andras Schiff ÐÐ Bach: Das Wohltemperierte Clavier (ECM)
Andre Williams ÐÐ Hoods and Shades (Bloodshot)
Andrzej Korzynski ÐÐ Secret Enigma (Finders Keepers/B-Music)
Ane Brun ÐÐ It All Starts With One (Balloon Ranger)
Anna Gourari ÐÐ Canto Oscuro (ECM)
Anna Homler & Sylvia Hallett ÐÐ The Many Moods of Bread and Shed (Orchestra Pit)
Anoushka Shankar ÐÐ Traveller (Deutsche Grammophon)
Arbouretum ÐÐ Coming Out of the Fog (Thrill Jockey)
Arianna Savall, Petter Udland Johansen ÐÐ Hirundo Maria: Chants Du Sud Et Du Nord (ECM)
Arild Andersen with The Scottish National Orchestra ÐÐ Celebration (ECM)
Arizona Dranes ÐÐ He Is My Story: The Sanctified Soul of Arizona Dranes (Tompkins Square)
Arvo PŠrt ÐÐ AdamÕs Lament (ECM)
Azita ÐÐ Disturbing the Air (Drag City)
Bad Weather California ÐÐ Sunkissed (Family Tree)
Beach House ÐÐ Bloom (Sub Pop)
Beak ÐÐ >> (Invada)
Behzod Abduraimov ÐÐ Prokofiev: Sonata No. 6; Liszt, Saint-Saens (Decca)
Ben Holmes Quartet ÐÐ Anvil of the Lord (Skirl)
Bernard Parmegiani ÐÐ L'oeil Ecoute / Dedans-Dehors (Editions Mego)
Bert Jansch ÐÐ Heartbreak/Live at McCabe's (Omnivore)
Bettye Lavette ÐÐ Thankful & Thoughtful (Anti-)
Between the Buried and Me ÐÐ The Parallax II: Future Sequence (Metal Blade)
Bill Wilson ÐÐ Ever Changing Minstrel (Tompkins Square)
Billy Hart, Ethan Iverson, Mark Turner, Ben Street ÐÐ All Our Reasons (ECM)
Björk ÐÐ Bastards (Biophilia Remix) (One Little Indian)
Black Bananas ÐÐ Rad Times Xpress IV (Drag City)
Black to Comm ÐÐ Music for the Film Earth (De Stijl)
Blockhead ÐÐ Interludes After Midnight (Ninja Tune)
Bob Dylan ÐÐ Tempest (Columbia)
Bobo Stenson Trio ÐÐ Indicum (ECM)
Bomba Estereo ÐÐ Elegancia Tropical (Polen)
Brendan Benson ÐÐ What Kind of World (Readymade)
Brokeback and the Black Rock (Thrill Jockey)
Buke & Gass ÐÐ Function Falls (Brassland)
Calexico ÐÐ Algiers (Anti-)
Califone ÐÐ Sometimes Good Weather Follows Bad People (Perishable)
Camera (Bureau B)
Can ÐÐ The Lost Tapes (Spoon/Mute)
Cat Power ÐÐ Sun (Matador)
Charlie Hunter & Scott Amendola ÐÐ Not Getting Behind Is the New Getting Ahead (Charlie Hunter Music)
Ches Smith ÐÐ Psycho Predictions (Preposterous Bee)
Chris Darrow ÐÐ Artist Proof (Drag City)
Chris Lawhorn ÐÐ Fugazi Edits (Case/Martingale)
Christian Marclay-Toshio Kajiwara-DJ Olive Trio ÐÐ 21 September 2002 (Cuneiform)
Chrome Canyon ÐÐ Elemental Themes (Stones Throw)
Clive Tanaka ÐÐ Jet Set Siempre No.1 (Tall Corn)
Crime & the City Solution ÐÐ A History of Crime, Berlin 1987-1991 (Mute)
CS Yeh ÐÐ Transitions (De Stijl)
Daedelus ÐÐ Looking Ocean (Scion)
Dan Bern ÐÐ Drifter (DBHQ)
Dan Deacon ÐÐ America (Domino)
Dan Friel ÐÐ Total Folklore (Thrill Jockey)
Dan Willis and Velvet Gentlemen ÐÐ The Satie Project 2 (Daywood Drive)
Daniel Ben Pienaar ÐÐ Beethoven: Diabelli Variations (Avie)
Dark Dark Dark ÐÐ WhoNeedsWho (Supply and Demand)
Dave Dub ÐÐ The Treatment (Stones Throw)
David Virelles ÐÐ Continuum (PI)
Deerhoof ÐÐ Breakup Song (Polyvinyl)
Delicate Steve ÐÐ Wondervisions (Luaka Bop)
Denes Varjon ÐÐ Precipitando: Berg, Janacek, Liszt (ECM)
Derek Bermel/Alarm Will Sound ÐÐ Canzonas Americanas (Cantaloupe)
Dick Hyman, Judy Hyman ÐÐ Late Last Summer (Left Ear)
Donny McCaslin ÐÐ Casting for Gravity (Greenleaf)
Double Naught Spy Car ÐÐ Western Violence (Foot Pole)
Doug Paisley ÐÐ Golden Embers (No Quarter)
Dreamers (Germ)
Dustin Wong ÐÐ Dreams Say, View, Create, Shadow Leads (Thrill Jockey)
Ebo Taylor ÐÐ Appia Kwa Bridge (Strut)
Edward Rogers ÐÐ Porcelain (Zip)
Egyptian Project ÐÐ Ya Amar (Six Degrees)
Eivind Aarset ÐÐ Dream Logic (ECM)
Eivind Opsvik ÐÐ Overseas IV (Loyal)
El Ten Eleven ÐÐ Transitions (Fake)
Eleni Mandell ÐÐ I Can See the Future (Yep Roc)
Elina Duni Quartet ÐÐ Matane Malit (ECM)
Eliyahu Sills ÐÐ Song of the Reed (CD Baby)
Ellery Eskelin, Dave Ballou, Michael Formanek, Devin Gray ÐÐ Dirigo Rataplan (Skirl)
Elvis Presley ÐÐ Prince From Another Planet (RCA)
Emerson, Lake & Palmer ÐÐ Tarkus reissue (ELP)
Ensemble Orchestral Contemporaine ÐÐ The Inventive Music of Edison Denisov (Harmonia Mundi)
Eraldo Bernocchi, Harold Budd, Robin Guthrie ÐÐ Winter Garden (Rare Noise)
Esa-Pekka Salonen, L.A. Philharmonic ÐÐ Shostakovich: Prologue to Orango, Symphony No. 4 (Deutsche Grammophon)
Esthero ÐÐ Everything Is Expensive (Universal)
Fanga/Maalem Abdallah Guinea ÐÐ Fangnawa Experience (Strut)
Father Yod and the Source Family ÐÐ The Thought Adjusters (Drag City)
Fennesz ÐÐ FA (Editions Mego)
Fergus & Geronimo ÐÐ Funky Was the State of Affairs (Hardly Art)
Firehose ÐÐ Lowflows: The Columbia Anthology '91-'93 (Sony Legacy)
Fly ÐÐ Year of the Snake (ECM)
Forma Antiqua ÐÐ Vivaldi: The Four Seasons (Winter & Winter)
Gangi ÐÐ Gesture Is (OOAAD)
Garchik, Sachs, Ambrosio, Sperazza ÐÐ 40Twenty (Yeah-Yeah)
Gareth Liddiard ÐÐ Strange Tourist (ATP)
Garth Knox ÐÐ Saltarello (ECM)
Gary Sloan and Clone ÐÐ Harmonitalk (Finders Keepers/B-Music)
Gato Libre ÐÐ Forever (Libra)
Gazpacho ÐÐ March of Ghosts (Kscope)
George Harrison ÐÐ Early Takes Vol. 1 (Universal)
Georgia Anne Muldrow ÐÐ Seeds (Someothaship)
Giant Giant Sand ÐÐ Tucson Deluxe Edition (Fire)
Glenn Gould Plays Bach (Sony)
Goldenboy ÐÐ The New Familiar (Eenie Meenie)
Grasscut ÐÐ Unearth (Ninja Tune)
Grinderman 2 ÐÐ RMX (Anti-)
Guano Padano ÐÐ 2 (Ipecac)
Guardian Alien ÐÐ See the World Given to a One Love Entity (Thrill Jockey)
Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester & Pierre Boulez ÐÐ Schoenberg: Pelleas and Melisande (Deutsche Grammaphon)
Hafez Modirzadeh's Post-Chromodal Out! (PI)
Haroula Rose ÐÐ So Easy EP (Me Myself and I)
Harris Eisenstadt ÐÐ Canada Day III (Songlines)
Harry Taussig ÐÐ Fate Is Only Twice (Tompkins Square)
Heathered Pearls ÐÐ Loyal (Ghostly International)
Hecuba ÐÐ Modern (Germ)
Heiner Goebbels ÐÐ Stifters Dinge (ECM)
Heliotropes ÐÐ The Dove (Manimal)
Henry Threadgill ÐÐ Tomorrow Sunny / The Revelry, Spp (PI)
Hilary Hahn, Hauschka ÐÐ Silfra (Deutsche Grammophon)
Hilliard Ensemble ÐÐ Gesualdo: Quinto Libro di Madrigali (ECM)
Hiroe Sekine ÐÐ After the Rainfall (Sekaimusic)
Hiss Golden Messenger ÐÐ Poor Moon (Tompkins Square)
HJ Lim ÐÐ Complete Beethoven Sonatas (EMI)
Hunter S. Thompson ÐÐ The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved (429)
Hush Arbors/Arbouretum ÐÐ Aureola (Thrill Jockey)
I See Hawks in L.A. ÐÐ New Kind of Lonely (Western Seeds)
Iris Dement ÐÐ Sing the Delta (FlariElla)
Jacob Garchik ÐÐ The Heavens (Yestereve)
Jail Weddings ÐÐ Four Future Standards (Neurotic Yell)
Jake Shimabukuro ÐÐ Grand Ukelele (Hitchhike)
James Luther Dickinson and the North Mississippi All-Stars ÐÐ I'm Just Dead IÕm Not Gone (Merciless)
Jan Garbarek, Egberto Gismonti, Charlie Haden ÐÐ Magico: Carta de Amor (ECM)
Janka Nabay and the Bubu Gang ÐÐ En Yay Sah (Luaka Bop)
Japonize Elephants ÐÐ Melodie Fantastique (Not On)
Jessica Lurie Ensemble ÐÐ Megaphone Heart ()
Jherek Bischoff ÐÐ Composed (Leaf)
Joachim Cooder ÐÐ Love on a Real Train (Aeronaut)
Johann Johannsson ÐÐ Copenhagen Dreams (NTOV/Cobraside)
John Abercrombie Quartet ÐÐ Within a Song (ECM)
John Cage ÐÐ As It Is (ECM)
John Cale ÐÐ Shifty Adventures in Nookie Wood (Domino/Double Six)
John Harbison ÐÐ A WinterÕs Tale (BMOP Sound)
John Surman ÐÐ Saltash Bells (ECM)
Jon Balke, Batagraf ÐÐ Say and Play (ECM)
Jon Brion ÐÐ ParaNorman soundtrack (Relativity)
Jorg Widmann ÐÐ Elegie (ECM)
Junior Electronics ÐÐ Musostics (Bureau B)
K.S. Chithra (Finders Keepers/B-Music)
Kent Nagano, London Symphony Orchestra ÐÐ Zappa Vol. 1 & II reissue (Zappa)
Kid Koala ÐÐ 12-Bit Blues (Ninja Tune)
Kim Kashkashian ÐÐ Kurtag, Ligeti: Music for Viola (ECM)
King Tuff (Sub Pop)
Kriedler ÐÐ Den (Bureau)
L.A. Master Chorale, Grant Gershon ÐÐ Gorecki: Miserere (Decca)
La Gigantona (Numero)
Laetitia Sadier ÐÐ Silencio (Drag City)
Laibach ÐÐ An Introduction to Laibach (Mute)
Lavender Diamond ÐÐ Incorruptible Heart (Paracadute)
Lawrence Arabia ÐÐ The Sparrow (Bella Union)
Lee Ranaldo ÐÐ Between the Times & the Tides (Merge)
Leni Stern ÐÐ Sabani (Leni Stern Recordings)
Lento ÐÐ Anxiety, Despair, Languish (Denovali)
Liars ÐÐ WIXIW (Mute)
Lindi Ortega ÐÐ Cigarettes & Truckstops (Last Gang)
Lonnie Holley ÐÐ Just Before Music (Dust to Digital)
Los Nombres (Numero)
Lou Ragland ÐÐ I Travel Alone (Numero)
Louis Armstrong ÐÐ Satchmo at Symphony Hall 65th Anniversary (Hip-O)
Louis Sclavis Atlas Trio ÐÐ Sources (ECM)
Luciana Souza, Tonino Horta ÐÐ Duos III (Sunnyside)
Mad Music Inc. (Drag City)
Madness ÐÐ Oui Out Si Si Ja Ja (Cooking Vinyl)
Makoto Nakura ÐÐ Wood and Forest (AMR)
Malka Spigel ÐÐ Every Day Is Like the First Day (Swim)
Manu Katche (ECM)
Mariel Roberts ÐÐ Nonextraneous Sounds (Innova)
Mario Moita ÐÐ Fado Navegante (ARC)
Mark Fosson ÐÐ Digging in the Dust: Home Recordings 1976 (Tompkins Square)
Mark Mallman ÐÐ Double Silhouette (Eagle's Golden)
Markus Berger, Joe LaBarbera, Bob Magnusson ÐÐ Accidental Tourists: The L.A. Sessions (Challenge)
Martha Argerich ÐÐ Lugano Concertos (Deutsche Grammophon)
Mary Black ÐÐ Stories From the Steeples (Blix Street)
Mary Halvorson, Weasel Walter, Peter Evans ÐÐ Mechanical Malfunction (Thirsty Ear)
Masabumi Kikuchi Trio ÐÐ Sunrise (ECM)
Masaki Batoh ÐÐ Brain Pulse Music (Drag City)
Maserati ÐÐ VII (Temporary Residence)
Matthew Friedberger ÐÐ Matricidal Sons of Bitches (Thrill Jockey)
Matthew Shipp, J Spaceman, Steve Noble, John Coxon ÐÐ Black Music Disaster (Thirsty Ear)
Matthew ShippÕs Greatest Hits (Thirsty Ear)
Max Richter ÐÐ Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi The Four Seasons (Deutsche Grammophon)
Meklit Hadero and Quinn DeVeaux ÐÐ Meklit & Quinn (Porto Franco)
Meshell Ndegeocello ÐÐ Pour Une Ame Souveraine: A Dedication to Nina Simone (Naive)
Metamono ÐÐ Parcel Post (Instrumentarium)
Michael Andrews ÐÐ Spilling a Rainbow (Everloving)
Michael Formanek ÐÐ Small Places (ECM)
Michael Gira ÐÐ Milk: Collected Solo Home Recordings 2001-2010 (Young God)
Michael Harrison, Maya Beiser ÐÐ Time Loops (Cantaloupe)
Mi-Gu ÐÐ Choose the Light (Chimera)
Miguel Kertsman ÐÐ Amazonia (Gramola)
Mike Patton ÐÐ Luciano Berio: Laborintus II (Ipecac)
Mikel Rouse ÐÐ Boost / False Doors (Exit)
Miklos Perenyi ÐÐ Britten, Bach, Ligeti (ECM)
Missy Mazzoli ÐÐ Song From the Uproar (New Amsterdam)
Moebius + Tietchens (Bureau B)
Mogwai ÐÐ A Wrenched Virile Lore (Sub Pop)
Mohammed Fairouz ÐÐ SumeidaÕs Song (Bridge)
Mouse on Mars ÐÐ WOW (Monkeytown)
Musaner ÐÐ Once Upon a Time (Lucent)
Nadja ÐÐ Dagdrom (Broken Spine)
Naim Amor ÐÐ Dansons (Vacilando 68)
Naked Truth ÐÐ Ouroboros (Rarenoise)
Natural Slow Buildings ÐÐ Night Coercion Into the Company of Witches (Badabing)
Nels Andrews ÐÐ Scrimshaw (Ignatius)
Neneh Cherry & the Thing ÐÐ The Cherry Thing (Smalltown Supersound)
Nicholas Phan ÐÐ Britten: Still Falls the Rain (Avie)
Nihiti ÐÐ For Ostland (Lobitlandscapes)
Nik BartschÕs Ronin ÐÐ Live (ECM)
Nile ÐÐ At the Gate of Sethu (Nuclear Blast)
Nils Frahm ÐÐ Screws (Erased Tapes)
Nite Jewel ÐÐ One Second of Love (Secretly Canadian)
Niyaz ÐÐ Sumud (Six Degrees)
Om ÐÐ Advaitic Songs (Drag City)
Papercranes + Rain Phoenix ÐÐ Three (Manimal)
Partikel ÐÐ Cohesion (Whirlwind)
Pat Mastelotto ÐÐ Recidivate (7D Media)
Patrick Feaster ÐÐ Pictures of Sound: One Thousand Years of Educed Audio 980Ð1980 (Dust to Digital)
Patrick Wolf ÐÐ Sundark and Riverlight (Bloody Chamber Music)
Pelican ÐÐ Ataraxia Taraxis (Southern Lord)
People Get Ready (Brassland)
Pete Seeger ÐÐ The Complete Bowdoin College Concert 1960 (Smithsonian Folkways)
Philippe Petit ÐÐ Oneiric Rings on Grey Velvet (Aagoo)
Pollens ÐÐ Brighten & Break (Tapete)
Pontiak ÐÐ Echo Ono (Thrill Jockey)
Pop Levi ÐÐ Medicine (Counter)
Porcupine Tree ÐÐ Octane Twisted (Kscope)
Qluster ÐÐ Lauschen (Bureau B)
Quakers (Stones Throw)
Ran Blake, Christine Correa ÐÐ Down Here Below (Red Piano)
Razia ÐÐ Zebu Nation (Cumbancha)
Rebecca Pidgeon ÐÐ Slingshot (Decca)
Redd Kross ÐÐ Researching the Blues (Merge)
Regional Garland ÐÐ Mixed Sugar 70-87 (Now-Again)
Richard Galliano ÐÐ Nino Rota (Deutsche Grammophon)
Robert Paterson ÐÐ Six Mallet Marimba (AMR)
Samara Lubelski ÐÐ Wavelength (De Stijl)
Sandy Bull & The Rhythm Ace ÐÐ Live 1976 (Drag City)
Schneider TM ÐÐ Construction Sounds (Bureau B)
Scott Walker ÐÐ Bish Bosch (4AD)
Shawn LeeÕs Ping Pong Orchestra ÐÐ Reel to Reel (Ubiquity)
Shearwater ÐÐ Animal Joy (Sub Pop)
Shirley Ann Lee ÐÐ Songs of Light (Numero)
Shlohmo ÐÐ Vacation (Friends of Friends)
Shugo Tokumaru ÐÐ In Focus (Polyvinyl)
Sic Alps (Drag City)
Sidewalk Society ÐÐ Venus, Saturn and the Crescent Moon (Grandioso)
Sidi Toure ÐÐ Koima (Thrill Jockey)
Simone White ÐÐ Silver Silver (Honest Jon's)
Sinead OÕConnor ÐÐ How About I Be Me and You Be You? (One Little Indian)
Six Organs of Admittance ÐÐ Ascent (Drag City)
Skeleton Key ÐÐ Gravity Is the Enemy (Arctic Rodeo)
So Percussion ÐÐ Cage 100 Bootleg Series (Cantaloupe)
So Percussion / Grey McMurray ÐÐ Where (we) Live (Cantaloupe)
Sofia Gubaidulina ÐÐ Canticle of the Sun (ECM)
Sol Gabetta ÐÐ Shostakovich, Rachmaninov (Sony)
Sonic Liberation Front ÐÐ Jetway Confidential (High Two)
Sonny and the Sunsets ÐÐ Longtime Companion (Polyvinyl)
Staff Benda Bilili ÐÐ Bouger le Monde!! (Crammed)
Stephen Kalinich & Jon Tiven ÐÐ Shortcuts to Infinity (MSMusic)
Steve Kuhn, Steve Swallow, Joey Baron ÐÐ Wisteria (ECM)
Steve Lehman ÐÐ Dialect Fluorescent (Pi)
Stuttgarter Kammerorchester ÐÐ Musique Funebre: Lutoslawski, Bartok (ECM)
Surface to Air (NCM East)
Suzanne Ciani ÐÐ Lixiviation (Finders Keepers/B-Music)
Swans ÐÐ The Seer (Young God)
Taga Sidibe ÐÐ Wassoulou Foli (System Krush)
Talkdemonic ÐÐ Ruins (Glacial Pace)
Tame Impala ÐÐ Lonerism (Modular)
Ted Russell Kamp ÐÐ Night Owl (Poetry of the Moment)
Tessa Souter ÐÐ Beyond the Blue (Motema)
The Abe Lincoln Story ÐÐ ItÕs Story Time With (Stevetime)
The Ampersands ÐÐ This Is Your Adventure Too (Stringshot)
The Beach Boys ÐÐ That's Why God Made the Radio (EMI)
The Chuck Dukowski Sextet ÐÐ Haunted (ORG Music)
The Cinematic Orchestra ÐÐ In Motion #1 (Ninja Tune)
The Eccentronic Research Council ÐÐ 16 Underture (Bird Records)
The Gaslamp Killer ÐÐ Breakthrough (Brainfeeder)
The Growlers ÐÐ Hung at Heart (Everloving)
The Hand to Man Band ÐÐ You Are Always on Our Minds (Post-Consumer)
The Helio Sequence ÐÐ Negotiations (Sub Pop)
The Hives ÐÐ Lex Hives (Disques Hives/Sony)
The Howling Hex ÐÐ The Best of (Drag City)
The Jigsaw Seen ÐÐ Gifted (Vibro-phonic)
The Letter Yellow ÐÐ Walking Down the Streets (CD Baby)
The Mars Volta ÐÐ Noctourniquet (WB)
The Orb featuring Lee Scratch Perry ÐÐ The Orbserver in the Star House (The End)
The Sea and Cake ÐÐ Runner (Thrill Jockey)
The Soft Pack ÐÐ Strapped (Kemado)
The Souljazz Orchestra ÐÐ Solidarity (Strut)
The Steeldrivers ÐÐ Hammer Down (Rounder)
The Universal Thump (The Universal Thump)
The Whammies ÐÐ Play the Music of Steve Lacy (Driff)
TheUnthanks ÐÐ Diversions Vol. 1: The Songs of Robert Wyatt and Antony & the Johnsons (Rough Trade)
Tim Berne ÐÐ Snakeoil (ECM)
Tim Maia ÐÐ Nobody Can Live Forever (Luaka Bop)
Tin Hat ÐÐ The Rain Is a Handsome Animal (New Amsterdam)
Tomas Fujiwara & the Hook Up ÐÐ The Air Is Different (482 Music)
Torben Waldorff ÐÐ Wah Wah (Artist Share)
Tord Gustafsen Quartet ÐÐ The Well (ECM)
Tracey Thorn ÐÐ Tinsel and Lights (Merge)
Turbonegro ÐÐ Sexual Harassment (Volcom)
Turing Machine ÐÐ What Is the Meaning of What (Temporary Residence)
Two Fingers ÐÐ Stunt Rhythms (Big Dada)
Under the Psycamore ÐÐ 1 (7D Media)
Useless Eaters ÐÐ Black Night Ultraviolet (Manimal)
Valentin Silvestrov ÐÐ Sacred Songs (ECM)
Valery Afanassiev ÐÐ Franz Schubert: Moments Musicaux (ECM)
Various ÐÐ Fac Dance 02: Factory Records Mixes & Rarities 80-87 (Strut)
Various ÐÐ Imaginational Anthem Volume 5 (Tompkins Square)
Various ÐÐ Jail House Bound: John Lomax's First Southern Prison Recordings, 1933 (Global Jukebox)
Various ÐÐ Library Music Series Vols. 15, 16, 17 (Asthmatic Kitty)
Various ÐÐ Man Chest Hair (Finders Keepers/B-Music)
Various ÐÐ Metal Dance (Strut)
Various ÐÐ Oh Michael: A Tribute to Michael Chapman (Tompkins Square)
Various ÐÐ Only 4 U: The Sound of Cajmere & Cajual Records 1992-2012 (Strut)
Various ÐÐ Sofrito: International Soundclash (Strut)
Various ÐÐ The Best of Disco Demands (BBE)
Various ÐÐ The B-Music of Jean Rollin (Finders Keepers/B-Music)
Various ÐÐ The Minimal Wave Tapes Vol. 2 (Stones Throw)
Various ÐÐ Traces One: The GRM electronic music archive (Editions Mego)
Various ÐÐ 'Twas the Night Before Hanukkah (Idelsohn Society)
Violens ÐÐ True (Slumberland)
Vox Clamantis, Jaan-Eik Tulve ÐÐ Filia Sion (ECM)
Vusa Mkhaya ÐÐ Vocalism (ARC)
Wadada Leo Smith ÐÐ Ten Freedom Summers (Cuneiform)
Wadada Leo Smith & Louis Maholo-Maholo ÐÐ Ancestors (TUM)
White Hills ÐÐ Frying on This Rock (Thrill Jockey)
William Basinski ÐÐ The Disintegration Loops (Temporary Residence)
William Britelle ÐÐ Loving the Chambered Nautilus (New Amsterdam)
Woods ÐÐ Bend Beyond (Woodsist)
Woody Guthrie ÐÐ Woody at 100 (Smithsonian Folkways)
Wovenhand ÐÐ The Laughing Stalk (Sounds Familyre)
Yva Las Vegas ÐÐ I Was Born in a Place of Sunshine (Moniker)
Zieti ÐÐ Zemelewa (Grisgris)

Harris Eisenstadt
Petra Cvelbar
Sam Rivers

Mo on drums

Earth

Laetitia Sadier
David Thayer
Metamono

Lawrence Arabia

Joe Watson

Lisa Germano

Liars

Lavender Diamond

Arbouretum by Erik Sanchez
Erik Sanchez
Lee Scratch Perry

John Cale
Shawn Blackbill
Essa-Pekka Salonen
Clive Barda
Black Bananas

BMW Isetta 1955

Pop Levi

So Percussion

The Cinematic Orchestra

Sonny and the Sunsets

The Sea and Cake
Jim Newberry
Staff Benda Bilili

White Hills

Wovenhand

End of the Year